A/N: Update 23

We stayed up late. I explained to Wendy that she had been in Neverland for a very long time. Try as I might, she wouldn't believe me when I told her that she was alive in 1900s. She did however, vaguely remembered returning to Neverland at one point, and being found by Captain Hook, but she didn't remember how she got there, or why Hook took her in.

I kept her diary hidden. I wanted her to remember on her own. I feared the diary would make her try too hard to remember. I wanted her to figure it out on her own.

"I remember being found by Captain Hook, and that's it. I don't remember what happened before that. I don't even remember what happened immediately after he found me. The next memory I can think of is sailing around the world with my dad, Uncle Smee, and Nate," Wendy sighed. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"You should go to bed," I suggested. "It's been a long night for you, you must be exhausted."

"I don't want to leave," Wendy said looking me hard in the eyes. "Hook is up there, and I'm scared."

Wendy eyes welled with tears. "You can try and sleep here if you'd like," I whispered.

Wendy dried her tears and looked up at me. She stretched up and began to kiss me; softly at first, then more aggressively. I should have put a stop to it—this wasn't the best solution to her problem—but holding her in my arms again, my lips moving in tune with hers, her fingers raking through my hair, my brain had turned to mush, I had no control over what I was doing.

I pulled away from the kiss with a sigh, "Maybe we should stop," I said breathless. "I don't think this is the best way to handle the situation."

Wendy sighed. "You're probably right." She lay down as close as she could to the wall. "I guess I should at least try and get some sleep."

Wendy was curled up in the fetal position; probably because it was so cold. I grabbed the tattered blanket and tossed it so it covered her shivering body. I turned off the small lamp, making the room dark, and slid off the bed to lean against it. I wasn't going to be getting any sleep, so I figured I could stay and keep watch.

Wendy was a restless sleeper. She awoke several times either crying or screaming. I did my best to comfort her each time it happened, but I felt like I was only making it worse. At one point, she woke up and told me she remembered her brothers, and sharing a nursery with them. That was the turning point I think. She was beginning to believe that she was from the past.

"I can't even imagine why I would have left. That has to be one of the most selfish things I've ever done, and I will never be able to apologize for it." Wendy sniffled. "I'm so sorry John and Michael," she whispered to herself. "I hope that you can forgive me." She sighed and slid off the bed to sit next to me. "What am I supposed to do now?"

I didn't say anything at first, but I leaned over and cupped Wendy's face and kissed her. I pulled away after a second. "I don't know," I replied, my heart pounding.

Wendy smiled and leaned against me placing her head on my shoulder. "Where's my fairy godmother to help me figure out what to do?"

I laughed. "There's no such thing as fairy godmothers. That's just ridiculous."

"Oh, because a land where people never grow up makes so much sense?" She smiled and punched my arm where my cut was. I winced. "Sorry, is that your cut?"

I nodded. Wendy leaned over me to turn on the table lamp, and untied the shirt from around my arm. Blood began to trickle down.

"What happened?" Wendy asked.

"I was being dragged down here by Hook. I got jerked around a lot," I replied.

Wendy picked up the small blanket and tore a long strip. She wrapped it tight around my arm and fastened it with a knot. "There, that should work better, although your shirt is probably blood-stained." She didn't look at me, but sat holding my upper arm with both hands, rubbing her thumb over my biceps.

"Thank you," I said staring at her. Wendy looked up at me smiling.

"I might've been wrong. Maybe you do need stitches after all," Wendy said leaning back on her hands.

"It doesn't hurt too badly," I said absent-mindedly.

"What's this?" Wendy asked grabbing at something that fell beneath the bed. She pulled it out. It was the diary. "Weren't you reading this when I came in? What is it?" Wendy opened the front cover. She suddenly froze. By the look on her face, I could tell she saw her name neatly written in the corner. "This. Is. Mine?"

I nodded. "From before…" I whispered trailing off.

Wendy thumbed the wrinkled pages. "Before I lived with Hook," she finished. "Why do you have it?"

"I found it. It was in the nightstand. I was looking for a blanket, and it fell out. I didn't know what it was, so I took a look."

"I feel like I should be mad at you for reading my diary, but up until a minute ago, I had no idea I had diary. What does it say?"

"I didn't read all of it," I stated. "But mostly it was about your day-to-day life in London. The last part I read was about you leaving to come back to Neverland. But it's your diary; you can read it for yourself."

"I lived in London?" Wendy asked absent-mindedly as she opened to the first entry. She read silently to herself. When she finished she smiled up at me. "So, Neverland really does stop the aging process because according to the dates in this book, I should probably be dead."

I nodded and let out a chuckle. "Yeah the island did stop the aging process that is until I left. When I'm gone for too long, the island starts to age. I left almost five years ago."

"Why did you leave?" Wendy asked.

"I told you before: I was looking for someone."

"Yeah, and you were really vague. All you said is that she had changed, like she was a different…" Wendy trailed off.

I looked at her and watched as the realization set in. Wendy had been through a lot tonight, and she still didn't know the half of it.

"You came looking for me?" she whispered.

I nodded, "Ever since you left that first time, I knew I had to find you. For whatever reason, I knew that we were supposed to be together. My entire life living in Neverland I never thought I needed anybody. Then one night I convinced you to come with me. You showed me the comfort and love of another person, and I realized that I liked it. I craved it. I realized too late though. I was confused. Twelve year olds aren't supposed to having feelings of love, but I did. I loved you, Wendy. I still do. And for years I tried to fight it, before I couldn't take it any longer. I had to find you. I left Neverland, and this is the first time I've been back in almost five Earth years."

Wendy sat silently for a few moments before whispering, "You loved me?"

I bit my lip. "Yes, and I still do. Even when I only knew you as Winnie, I knew there was something there that reminded me of the real you. It just about killed me that I couldn't tell you who you really were."

Wendy nodded, trying to understand. She looked lost. After several minutes of silence, she simply said, "Show me the last page you read," as she handed me the diary.

Stumped at the sudden change of topic, I took the diary and flipped about half way through and handed the book back. She read silently.

"I remember now. Michael was sick. He had asthma and tuberculosis. I thought if I came to Neverland I would be able to find you and get you to bring him back so that he could get better. You were the only one I trusted. You are the only one I trust now." Wendy sighed and closed the diary. "Nothing makes sense anymore. If I'm sixteen now, but I was also sixteen in 1909, that means that we were both in Neverland at the same time, at least for some time, so why didn't we run into each other for those years we were both there?"

"That's the part I can't figure out. I don't know why I didn't run into you. Hook says he found you wandering deliriously on the beach, your memory already lost. But it doesn't add up. I'm at the beach almost all the time. I would have seen you. Hook spends most of his time out at sea. He hardly ever goes to the beach. He hates it because that's where the crocodile hangs out."

Wendy let out a small laugh, "The crocodile. I remember him."

I smiled back. I was so glad she was regaining her memory, but the puzzle still wasn't quite finished. I needed to know the real reason behind Hook kidnapping Wendy, and in order to do that, Wendy needed to remember what happened after she had been taken.

"Oh no," Wendy gasped. "I just realized: I told Hook that you had pixie dust! I'm so sorry, I probably ruined everything."

"It's okay," I tried to soothe her.

"No, it's not. If I hadn't told him, you wouldn't be here right now, and we could probably be on our date."

"You were going to come?" I asked, shocked.

"Well, yeah. If things had gone differently. If I didn't tell Hook that you had pixie dust, he probably wouldn't have lied to me about you. And the only reason he told me that was because I asked him not to hurt you because I really liked you."

"But then his lie made you mad at me, so that's why you stormed out and didn't come back up. He tricked both of us." I finished.

"We could still go," Wendy smiled softly.

"Go where?"

"On our date. Everyone is asleep, no one would notice."

"It's kind of late," I said, "What do you want to do?"

Wendy shrugged, "Wasn't it supposed to be a surprise?"

I nodded and answered, "Yeah, but I was so sure you were going to say no, I didn't really plan anything."

"It doesn't matter. Just do whatever you did plan."

So we gathered our things and sneaked off the boat.