A/N: Am I the only one who feels like they've left the filming of the second half of the season a little late? I mean, if Adam and Eddy are writing 3x19 now, and something goes drastically wrong where they get writers block, and actors are sick, and then the editing takes a bajillion years (which, judging from what I've done myself, it does) like, they'd be finishing a day before they have to give it to the station.

That being said, homygosh, I desperately need to work in the television industry. I don't care if it's in post production or writing or being that assistant to the assistant director who does the coffee rounds. I need this.

And Australia's television industry sucks. You have Neighbours and Home and Away and that's about it.

Rant over. That is all.

Hope you guys are enjoying this! Leave me a review if you are; I don't bite (heaps).

Enjoy! xx

Wake Up

xxx

Four Years Ago

"Seven steps north, fifty metres west…"

"What are we even looking for, Pan?" Evie couldn't deny her frustration.

"We're looking for stars, Evie," Pan smirked.

"Stop being frustrating!"

"But I love teasing you, Evie," he answered, giving her a glance that hinted at more than what Evie considered at the time. But he didn't push it any further and the comment went over her head.

"So, the treasure is made up of the most beautiful things you can find on the island. The lost boys and I have taken to calling them stars because of the way they shine." And the cross dimensional magic they emitted, not that he was going to tell her that. Or about the one that sat around her neck. Or the one that was sitting on the chain below his shirt.

She was just behind him as they walked through the night of Neverland, branches and tree roots unavoidable. She tripped at one stage, but kept walking, and Pan thought nothing had happened. Until her breathing became sharper behind him and he spun around, an annoyed gleam in his eyes. But Evie was limping behind him, trying to ignore the pain shooting up her leg with each step, lest she seem weak in Pan's eyes. She already knew she was the underdog in this foreign environment, and Pan was obviously older…

But she couldn't stand the pain anymore, and her leg finally gave out. She was wearing breeches and a shirt with a coat in order to protect against the ferns, but her pants were less than friendly when it came to thorns. Leaning up against a tree, she leant down to touch it the wound and Evie couldn't help the words that escaped her.

"Shit, that hurts!"

Pan chuckled at her outburst before he came down to see what was wrong and his face grew into a mask tainted by worry.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"It wasn't too bad. I thought it was just a scratch."

"Scratches can do a lot of harm around here," Pan said, his face growing more frantic with each passing moment. He was peeling aside the split in her pants and staring at the cut inquisitively.

"It wasn't a black plant was it …"

Evie thought back. No, everything around them had been green, and…red…

"It was red," she said with certainty. A closer look at the cut revealed her words to be truth, with only blood being visible and no black venom of Dreamshade.

"That's good." Evie couldn't tell if that was a hint of disappointment in his voice. The pain made it fairly difficult to concentrate on anything. Pan's face was hard as he continued, "We need to get this cleaned up."

"But the treasure –"

"Will still be there tomorrow," Pan answered, sweeping her up into his arms with only the briefest of painful yelps from her lips. "Besides, it's more of a game for the lost boys than for you and I."

"So…" Evie was distracted momentarily for a moment as she processed that. Realisation dawned, "It was just an excuse to spend time with me."

Pan didn't answer, keeping his strides even as he carried her through the forest. His face was hard, staring straight ahead.

"You going to talk, Pan?"

"Not if I can help it," he answered, as Evie began to hear the sound of a creek streaming nearby. For the first time, in Pan's presence, she found herself frowning.

He placed her down gently by the water's edge, before placing her calf into the softly trickling water. Evie hissed as he began to roll the material up towards her knee. Without the remnants of the plant and the stain of her blood, the wound actually didn't look too bad. But silently, Pan was pulling off his tunic and ripping off the bottom of his shirt in order to create a bandage for her.

As he wrapped it around her leg gently, Evie watched his face. He was concentrating entirely upon the task at hand and trying not to let himself think too much. He was angry because he'd wished it had been Dreamshade. He could have given her the water and she would have been his forever.

And he questioned why, why somewhere in him, there was a part of him that didn't actually want that.

He may have tied the bandage a little tighter than normal, and felt Evie jolt, but that didn't stop him from tenderly running his hands up to her knee before gently rolling her breeches back down to cover it.

"All done," Pan murmured, finally daring himself to look up at her. Her brown eyes were looking at him questioningly, and he tried his best to ignore his thoughts. Stick to the initial plan, he reminded himself. Because that plan was sure to succeed.

Evie noticed the wave that passed over his darkened face. All of a sudden, that sparkling green mischievousness was back in his face and he said, "Surely carrying you all this way and ruining my shirt to bind your wound deserves something, Evie."

"Some truthfulness would be nice as well, Pan. And deserved too."

Damn it. He thought her being smart would make her fun, not a prying nuisance.

"Maybe I did just want to spend time with you, Evie," he said with a smirk, as he crawled up to her. "Maybe I brought you here so that you could be with me."

"And that's all?"

"That's all," Pan lied with a perfect smile that made Evie take his head in her hands and kiss him feverishly.

"I do still kind of want to see those stars though," Evie admitted when she pulled away. Pan was reluctant to move his hand from her waist, and so rather than letting her walk on her own, the moment she was standing, he knelt down in front of her, giving her his back.

"Hop on," he dared her. Evie's eyes widened, but it didn't stop her. She climbed on nimbly, laughing as he set off into the woods.

Princesses didn't get piggybacks.

But in Neverland, Evie was glad she wasn't a princess.

xxx

"What the hell happened to you?"

Emma had been in lessons all morning, but it was post lunch now. And after spending her morning in the library, Evie was now sitting with a sketchpad in the gardens. But unfortunately, Emma was perceptive and she knew how Evie normally sat when she was drawing. On the ground.

Instead, she had her knees drawn up on the edge of the seat, biting down on her lip as she tried to draw with a precision that currently eluded her. Occasionally her hand would jolt down to press on her leg, the healing wound giving her phantom pains every so often.

And Emma, walking up to her, happened to notice all of this in one glance.

"I tripped."

Emma's eyes narrowed and she took no hesitancy in reaching over and pulling up Evie skirt to her knee where she saw the minimal blood seeping through the bandage. She dropped the material back down quickly and folded her arms expectantly.

"Unless you tripped and fell on a knife, I'll ask again. And, who, may I ask, is this?"

Emma had the sketchbook out of Evie's hands before she could say anything. Evie, in that moment, made the promise to work on her reflexes so that stuff like that would stop happening.

"It was a thorn; and that," she snatched it back, "thank you very much, is Pan."

"Peter Pan?" Emma said with her eyes wide. "The boy you were with on your birthday?"

Evie nodded, looking at the picture, afraid to look up at her sister.

And it was for a reason, because when she eventually did, Emma was frowning at her. Sitting down beside Evie, the expression didn't leave her.

"You know, I'm not sure about this guy, Evie."

"That's just because you haven't met him yet, Emma!" Evie said, turning to Emma quickly as she put the papers aside. "Oh, he's lovely! A perfect gentlemen with the most wonderful smile and grin. He's cheeky and young but he's old and wise and he's –"

"It's just a crush, Evie," Emma said softly, her shining green eyes meeting Evie's as the young girl spiralled back down to earth. "You know that's all it can be."

"I know that, Emma," she said, an edge of frustration in her voice. "But I've got two years left of freedom. I'm not going to spend it here while I'm waiting for some Prince to come and take me as his prize. I'm not just the Princess of Talinor! I don't want to –"

Evie stopped herself before she could betray her feelings. So what if it was what her parents had planned. They were dead; it didn't matter anymore. Emma saw how upset the topic had made her and threw her arms around her best friend comfortingly.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up, Evie," Emma whispered genuinely. "You do have two years. I just…he does live in a different realm."

"And at night," Evie answered, pulling away, a wistful happiness flooding her tired face, "So do I."

xxx

Present Day

When Killian woke up before dawn the next morning, Evie was dozing. Her eyes were closed and her head sinking onto her shoulder. Killian couldn't help the small smile that graced his face as he spotted her. He slipped his shoes on, followed by his coat. Heading out, he travelled down the corridor towards his room where he drew himself a bath, cleansing his body for the new day.

He was gone for little over fifteen minutes in his room. And pulling his leathers on, he returned to Ash's room where Evie was still sound asleep.

He felt a twinge of happiness run through him at the sight, and began to run his hand across the smooth skin of her cheek. He stiffened when he felt her stir, but she merely nuzzled further into his palm murmuring, "I don't want to go back home just yet."

"Evie?"

The sound of Killian's voice jolted Evie awake and she flinched away from his touch, her eyes seeking his out in horrified surprise.

"Sorry," he muttered, completely untruthfully.

"What are you doing?" Evie asked breathily.

"I was waking you up," Killian continued to lie, ignoring the hurt that was edging at him with the distance in her gaze. "We're rostered on for breakfast duty."

"Oh, okay." She took the lie, ignoring the possibility of the truth because that would make things weird and she knew exactly what she didn't want from Killian. "What's the time?"

"It's almost six thirty," Killian responded.

"I'd better wake Ash then."

Evie walked over to the crib, looking down at the little girl fondly.

"Who was he?"

Evie looked up at Killian from where she was gently waking Ash from sleep. Ash had only woken once in the night and it wasn't loud enough to awaken Killian, so Evie had fed her and put her back down quickly. The little girl had definitely had enough sleep for the moment. Evie, however, was simply ignoring Killian, even though she knew it was childish. Eventually though, when she had Ash stirring awake in her arms, she turned back to him.

"That's really none of your concern, Hook."

And knowing Evie only called him Hook when she shut herself off, he bowed out gracefully. But just as he was walking out of the door he heard her muttering almost indistinctly.

"It doesn't matter anyway. He left me."

But she couldn't lie and say that he was never coming back. Because he already had.

And she was doing all she could to forget that beautiful dream that Killian had awoken her from, because she knew exactly what to expect from Pan. It wasn't the loving touches she'd used to know, no hidden playfulness...

When she saw Pan again - and she knew she would - he wouldn't be the boy she fell in love with.

He would be the boy who took her heart and abandoned her.

And Evie couldn't possibly forgive him for that.