Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Pan or any characters related to him. But I do own Alice, her friends and her family (except Mary, Wendy, Jane, Moira, and Margaret). And yeah, I don't own Out of My League by Stephen Speaks and any and all the shows I'll mention/describe in this chapter.
While reviewing the previous chapter for the recap here, I realized how painstakingly obvious it is that these are just kids. I mean, Alice and James actually seem pretty shallow and James gives horrible, awkward advice. Just sayin'.
The story so far: After a particularly awkward dinner, Alice finds herself in a heart-to-heart with James and Terence. Upon Alice's return to the treehouse, Peter asks her to forget about the kiss. Meanwhile, James reports Alice's story to Hook who decides to switch to a backup plan. The next day, Alice walks into the (older) Lost Boys having a conversation about how Peter has changed through the generations of Darling girls. That evening, Peter takes Alice home to the old Darling house where Jane and her daughter Moira are waiting.
IamCattiCandi – Thanks!
Megan – Hi! Oh god, I'm sorry I wasn't able to update sooner. I know how it feels to read a fic and wait for years for the next chapter (and I do mean years). Unfortunately, I don't think I can incorporate Andrew's portrayal of Peter Pan into this, but I'll try my best. After all, my Peter is in his awkward stage. By the way, do you know that he's engaged to the girl who played Wendy (and Alice)?
amethyst3232 –I'm happy there's someone out there who doesn't hate James. There will be more of him, so I hope everyone will see how awesome he is. I think I like him more than I like Alice, because I find Alice to be a very confusing character, and not in a good way. James is confusing because he's mysterious, and I like him because of that. And yes, I put Terrence here mostly so I could poke fun at him because I love him that much.
Redrum
Summary: Alice is a teenager with normal teenager problems, except that she's another one of Wendy's descendants who get whisked off by Peter Pan. Will he be able to make her forget about Matt? Peter x OC, present generation. Disney-verse. Expect love triangles.
Chapter 10
Back to Normal
Alice fell out of bed and woke up. She was back in her bedroom. It felt so good to be home, though she did miss the smiling faces of the Lost Boys. And Peter. Of course she would miss him. It had only been two days since she left Neverland. She wasn't sure when he would visit her, but she left him her address, so he would visit her, right?
She stood up, still groggy despite having slept for nine hours, and made her way to her bathroom. Getting ready for the morning didn't quite wake her up, but she headed for the stairs anyway. Thankfully, she didn't fall down the stairs, but she did bump into her brother at the kitchen. Her eyes were closed as she headed to the cupboard, so she didn't see him standing in the way.
The older boy in front of her raised a brown eyebrow at her as he opened the cupboard. "Shouldn't you at least look presentable in the morning?" he asked incredulously.
"It's still summer vacation and I have no intention of going out today," she huffed. "Mind your own business, Andy."
A chuckle escaped him as he reached for the cereal box. "Get me some milk, would you?" he said.
Alice didn't protest. She was going to have cereal anyway, and she knew Andy wouldn't give her any cereal if she didn't get him the milk. It was like this every morning before she and Moira left for England.
"So how was Grandma?" he asked. It wasn't small talk—he honestly wanted to know. After all, he couldn't make it to England.
"Doing better than ever," she grinned sleepily. "Are you sure she's our grandmother? I've never seen Mom or Aunt Margaret energetic like that?"
"Mom and Aunt Margaret didn't survive a frickin' war," he joked. "Grandma went through zeppelins and bombings. Hell, even her old house survived the war."
The thought brought a soft smile to her lips. "I think that house will be there for a long time."
Soon their mother entered the kitchen. She seemed surprised to see her children up this early, but she prioritized breakfast. As she collected three eggs from the fridge, she glanced at Alice and Andy.
"You're up early," she stated. "It's still summer, y'know. You can still sleep in."
"I'd love to, Mom," her son replied with a cheeky grin. "But I have a few things on my to-do list that I wanna get started on as soon as I can."
"And that includes?" Alice asked.
Andy turned to his sister with an expression she'd never seen on his face. "Planning revenge."
At that instant, she realized what he meant and frowned at her brother. "You don't need to do that."
"You haven't seen him with his little slut in the alley beside the arcade," he retorted. "It's disgusting."
Alice's eyes softened and she looked away.
He touched her hand—the only comforting gesture he could make as her brother. "I'm sorry."
"Alice?" Moira murmured, approaching her daughter. "Alice, are you okay?"
The younger girl had to force a grin. "I'm fine, Mom. I've got better things to look forward to today." She stood up, left her bowl of half-eaten cereal in the kitchen sink and disappeared up the stairs.
Andy scoffed. "She doesn't have to hide it. Anyone would feel horrible after what that bastard Matt did."
"Andy," Moira reprimanded. But his words rang true. Even she wanted to exact a painful revenge on the sixteen-year-old who had wronged her daughter. "Your sister needs time to heal, and mentioning him won't help."
"I know," he sighed. "Should I go apologize to her?"
A smile formed on his mother's lips. "You already did."
Meanwhile, Alice locked herself in her bedroom. Her period had finished for the month—she woke up with no stains at all. But now she felt as though all the cramps managed to evacuate to her head. She grabbed her iPod, inserted the earphones into her ears and played in full volume all the nice angsty songs that would apply to her current mood.
She stared out her window to an area in the sky where the second star would have been were it nighttime and sighed. "Dammit, Peter," she muttered through the blaring music in her ears. "It doesn't help that it hurts less now…"
James kept a firm grip on his mop's wooden handle as he swabbed the deck. It didn't help that the crew walked all over the deck just as the floorboards were drying. He had to mop it all over again. And he couldn't complain—not unless he wanted a beating from them again.
After one last sweep, he let out a defeated sigh and grabbed the old bucket with his free hand. There was barely any soapy water inside now that he had mopped the deck for the nth time. He threw whatever was left of the water out into the sea and scowled. Now he had to clean the mop. Fun. Although considering the earful he received from Hook after he'd told the captain that Alice had left Neverland, swabbing the deck was a walk in the park.
"Pan!" the crew's lookout yelled from the crow's nest. His single warning caused the entire crew to scatter.
The young cabin boy, knowing better than to involve himself in the commotion, ran straight to the cabins where he watched the events on deck through the cracks in the floorboards. As far as he was concerned, Peter Pan had no business to be looking for Hook. Of course, knowing the child, he guessed Peter was just bored and looking for trouble.
Upon hearing the lookout's cry, the ship's captain exited his quarters with eyes burning with rage. "What business have you here, Peter Pan?" he asked in a surprisingly calm manner.
The redhead grinned at him, which infuriated the pirate even more. "To steal your treasure, of course!" The boy laughed as Hook approached him.
"Don't waste your efforts, boy!" the man yelled. "I have no treasure. Not since you blasted it into smithereens."
"No, you blasted it into smithereens. I was just helping your aim."
It seemed as though the captain popped a vein. He shot a nasty look at the boy flying in the air and yelled, "Shut your mouth or I'll blast you to smithereens!"
James flinched as a cannon fired at Peter, though the redhead dodged it with ease. He tossed a lock of black hair away from his eyes and stared at the younger boy with contempt. His breath felt like hisses as he remembered that fateful day clear in his mind—the day when Peter Pan—
CLANG!
"What part of 'Do not make a sound!' do you not understand?" a high-pitched voice whispered from behind the barrels of rum.
"I didn't do it," a cracking voice replied. "These barrels smell really bad."
The other voice scoffed. "Well, these are the pirates' new treasure, and we're gonna take 'em!"
James entered the cargo room, the smell of rum permeating the air. He was just a kid and he was never one for drinking—the stench disgusted him.
"Did you hear that?" the first voice asked cautiously. "I think someone else is down here."
"Naw, that's silly." James saw that the second voice belonged to a large boy in a bear suit. Probably one of Pan's Lost Boys. "Everyone's upstairs, being distracted by Peter."
The teenager gulped. He didn't know whether he should show himself to the Lost Boys or to continue hiding. Clearly, he couldn't trust them, but to what extent? He shook his head and made for the exit, to go back to his tiny room where he would be safe.
"There it is again!" Cubby exclaimed. "Maybe it's a ghost!"
"Well, why would there be a ghost in Hook's ship?" Slightly retorted as he hauled a wooden barrel off its shelf. "If there was a ghost, it would be hauntin' Hook, not us."
The larger boy shrugged. "It could be the ghost of that cabin boy—"
James took a wrong step, the floorboards creaking under his foot. "Fuck," he mumbled as he grabbed a dirty rag and covered his face with it. Then he grabbed a small dagger from his belt and turned on the faucet of the nearest keg of rum. Almost instantly, the barrel expelled its dark red contents, the splashing sounds catching the Lost Boys off-guard.
"A drowned ghost!" Cubby shrieked as he grabbed onto his partner.
"Will you let go of me?" Slightly's voice was muffled as he spoke into the larger boy's fur hood. The blonde shoved him away. "There's somebody else here!"
The teenager aimed carefully. He only had one shot to scare them off, and he didn't want to waste it. Despite the barrels around him impairing his movement, he threw his dagger across the room, pinning Cubby's hood onto the wall.
"It's a ghost!" the boy yelped. "I swear it's a ghost!" He grabbed his partner and shook him frantically.
Slightly, not wanting to endure his sufficiently creeped-out companion while lugging a barrel of a peculiar red liquid, put the barrel back in its place and sighed in exasperation. "Fine, but I'm not going to face Peter when he finds out we didn't get the treasure!"
James smirked at himself when the two Boys disappeared with a ripping sound, leaving Cubby's hood still stuck on the wall. However, his smirk turned into a scowl when he glanced at the rum that dripped from the keg and into the red puddle on the floor. He would have to clean that up eventually.
No, that wasn't the only reason for his scowl. He hated the color red. The color of blood, the color of Pan's hair, the color of rum—RED RUM.
He decided to pretend that he hadn't seen the Lost Boys until after they'd left. When Hook questioned him about the wasted rum in the cargo room (after James had cleaned up the mess, of course), he simply shrugged and said that he spent the entire time hiding in his cabin. Naturally, the pirate believed him. After all, he had been loyal to Hook for so long—even when it concerned Alice. Why would the cabin boy turn from him now?
James had his reasons, and he had his plans.
April watched as her brunette friend ate spoonful after spoonful of the chocolate ice cream she brought. Both girls had tried their best not to mention Matt as they watched BBC Sherlock on the blonde's MacBook. It was Alice's way of coping. But halfway through the episode, she broke down and began sobbing. April comforted her, brought her the ice cream she hid in the Carlisles' fridge because she knew Alice would need it. And she did.
"If he didn't want me, he could've just broken up with me before I left," the brunette mumbled through sobs with her face pressed onto her knees. "That way, I could've gotten over him, sort of…"
Her best friend put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I tried to tell you he was bad news, Alice…" April murmured. "He tried to hit on me once, y'know."
"I know." Alice lifted her face from her knees and moved to hug her best friend. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before, April…"
Andy was downstairs in the kitchen. It was his turn to make dinner, and he was glad, as he didn't want to have Alice do any chores in her emotional state. But now that dinner was ready, he had to go upstairs and face the emotional wreck of a sister hiding in her bedroom as though it were a cave, her only companions being April, her MacBook and a collection of Disney movies, BBC series, Korean romances, shoujo anime (whatever that meant), and anything else the two girls could watch.
With a deep breath, he knocked on the door and said, "Alice, April, dinner!"
That wasn't so bad. But then the door opened and he saw his sister. He was right to think of her as a wreck, because that was what she looked like. She had dark circles around her eyes, her hair was a mess that had lost its vibrant brown color, her clothes were wrinkled with her knees wet with tears… and the list went on.
As soon as she stepped outside, Andy grabbed her and hugged her. It had been a while since he held his sister like that. The last time he hugged her was probably when she was ten. They were still close as siblings, but siblings generally don't hug each other freely once they enter their preteen years.
He closed his eyes as the petite girl in his arms fell limp and leaned on his shoulder, her damp cheeks marked with tears. He hated seeing her that way, but he had to let go. When she looked up at him and gave him a tiny smile, he ruffled her already messy hair and motioned for her to go downstairs to eat.
As Alice tottered down the stairway, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to eat at all, April exited the bedroom. It was then that she came face to face with her best friend's brother. He was the same as when she'd last seen him, which wasn't that long ago. Still handsome, with dark brown hair that fell over his blue eyes—dark brown hair that contrasted his sister's chocolate brown. The blonde's brown eyes widened as his blue orbs inevitably gazed into hers. But then he turned away.
"Thanks for comforting her," he mumbled, standing aside so she could make her way downstairs as well. "She's been a wreck. I think the movies and ice cream will help."
She smiled at him, fighting back the pink that rushed to her face. "She was avoiding Peter Pan though," April said. "Would you happen to know if that has anything to do with Matt? She used to love that movie…"
Andy shook his head. "We're related to the girl in the movie. She was our great-grandmother."
"I see…" The girl put hand under her chin and looked up thoughtfully. "It must be something else…"
He headed to his bedroom as the younger girl disappeared down the stairs. While cooking, he had decided not to eat with them. Alice needed the space. He got on his PC and proceeded to his usual internet routine—9GAG, Facebook, Twitter… Then he heard a creak from Alice's room.
"That girl…" he huffed as he stood and stalked toward the other bedroom. "I thought she'd finally learned to keep her windows closed when—"
His blue eyes widened at the sight of a red-haired boy, clad in green tights, standing on his sister's windowpane with a glowing golden light perched on his shoulder. What the hell? He moved to grab the boy, but the redhead flew—yes, flew—to the ceiling and stared at him with bushy eyebrows that shot up to his hairline.
"Is this Alice's room?" the younger boy asked.
Andy was freaking out. But the boy knew his sister's name. What the hell was happening? He was about to grab the closest projectile when the boy suddenly flew down to him and showed him his sister's DS.
"Is this Alice's room?" he asked again. "She left this in Neverland."
"Never—Neverland?" Andy stammered. He glanced at the open door behind him, though he didn't want to take his eyes of this peculiar stranger. "Alice!" he yelled. "Alice! Get over here!"
Soon enough, he heard the girl's footsteps heading up the stairs. They were particularly loud—he had probably interrupted a conversation, or maybe she simply didn't want to have to go upstairs for whatever he had to show her.
"Peter!" she gasped upon seeing the redhead.
Andy stared at his sister, mouthing 'You know this kid?' to her with an incredulous gaze.
The golden light on Peter's shoulder flew toward Alice and the brunette grinned. "Tink! How are you guys?"
Her brother watched as the fairy replied in rings as though it were a bell, his eyes widening in disbelief. He grasped his sister's wrist as though it was his only link to reality and dragged her out of her room, leaving Peter and Tink standing—or rather, floating—mouth agape.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Andy asked once he and his sister were out of earshot. "Who is this Peter kid and what is that thing flying around him? Actually, screw that—why is he flying?"
"Peter Pan," Alice said simply. "God, Andy, for someone descended from Wendy Darling herself, you should at least be able to identify Peter Pan when he comes flying into your room. Well, into your sister's room, in this case."
"Alice!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and fought the urge to shake her. "What. The. Fuck."
"Trust me, Andrew, this is a much better explanation than what I got when I first met him," she huffed in exasperation, recalling her first experience with the boy.
Andy blinked. If his sister was using his real name, then she must be dead serious about this, and that boy in her room was, in fact, Peter Pan. The Peter Pan. He backed up and leaned against the wall, trying to remember the stories about the green-clad boy he had heard as a child. He did remember a pixie. Or a fairy… or whatever she was. Tink… Tinkerbell.
"I don't expect you to believe in any of this," Alice murmured, disturbing her brother's train of thought. "But don't mention it in front of Tinkerbell. You remember Grandma's stories about when she said she didn't believe in fairies, right?"
He nodded meekly.
"Well, I owe that fairy my temper, so I don't wanna risk anything," she joked before grabbing the doorknob and turning back to her room. "Peter, Tink—what the hell are you doing?"
Andy followed his sister inside to find the two foreign objects (err… people) flittering over Alice's prized plushie collection. He knew exactly how she would react whenever she saw anyone so much as look at the pile of plush, and he couldn't tell if he was either amused or afraid that Peter Pan would get scolded by his sister over her collection.
"You do not touch that!" she shrieked. "God, Peter, ge—get off!"
The redhead dropped a caped plushie when Alice raised her voice and his fairy companion hid under his green hat. He and Tink stared at her, their jaws dropping at how red she had become. Not nearly as red as Tinkerbell would get in a state of jealousy and rage, but Alice was rather close.
She lunged at the plushie before it hit the carpeted floor and cradled it gently in her arms. "Oh my god, Robin—baby—my little Dickie-bird, are you okay?" she murmured at the stuffed sidekick before putting it back on its blue shelf. "It's okay, Mommy's here, my loves."
"She's had that collection since she was five," Andy said, shrugging at the outsiders. "Some are new, but she loves them all equally. Even I've never touched any of those, and I'm her brother."
Alice shook her head vehemently. "No, you've touched Mr. Snugglybear, you heartless fiend."
"It was falling during an earthquake," he retorted in a whiny voice. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Wingardium leviosa, levitate it, use the force, use telepathy, I don't know. Just. Don't. Touch. Him."
He gave his sister an incredulous look and turned back to their visitors. "Okay, how were you able to stand her for a week?" he asked the redhead.
"It's a pretty easy thing to do, Andrew," she hissed, "something apparently even a fairy has over you. Even Mini Jesse McCartney has more social skills than you!"
"Mini Jesse McCartney is a plushie!"
"Actually, I was talking about Terence, but yeah, that works too," she smirked. Then she let out a breath and glanced at Peter and Tink. "Yes, we're like this in front of everyone."
Tinkerbell laughed, though the sound she made was a tinkle instead of an actual laugh. She gripped her stomach and rolled over on Peter's red hair. Andy and Alice reminded her too much of herself and Terence, and Alice referring to the sparrow-man as Mini Jesse McCartney did not help.
"A—anyway, you didn't get lost on the way here, did you?" Alice asked worriedly as she approached Peter.
The green-clad boy shook his head. "You didn't forget the candles, so I found your room right away," he beamed.
Alice glanced at her windowpane on which she had left lit candles before watching Sherlock with April. She'd forgotten those candles were there at all. April? Forget?
"Shit, I left April downstairs!"
The outburst was met with a chuckle from the stairway. "No, Alice," her blonde friend said from outside the room. "I'm on my way. What's going on up there?"
"A lot," the brunette mumbled to herself.
"It was huge and—and it had sharp fangs and bat wings and—"
Slightly scoffed. "No, it didn't! Cubby has the story all wrong again." He shifted in his seat until he found a comfortable position. "First of all, it was a ghost, not a monster. And the ghost was white and flowy, slightly like a blanket."
The Twins scooted closer. "Did it make weird sounds, Slightly?" one of them asked.
"Like this?" the other added before wailing eerily at his brother.
"Yes, and it was slightly like that," the Boy in a fox-suit said. "Anyway, the ghost—what were we doing again?"
"We were getting the treasure," Cubby replied, having forgotten that Slightly stole his thunder and told the story himself.
The blonde nodded. "That's right. I was getting the treasure—and it was really heavy—and Cubby was telling me there might be a ghost."
"And I was right!" the large Boy exclaimed. "The ghost threw a knife at us!"
"The ghost threw a knife at you, Cubby," Slightly corrected, "'cuz you were so noisy! You woke it up with all your whining."
"Then what happened?" Nibs asked, his open mouth showing his buckteeth clearly.
"We ran away."
Slightly and Cubby were then bombarded with complaints of a bad story and remarks that Peter could tell a better story with his mouth closed. Cubby braced himself under his heavy arms, as though hiding would cease the nitpicking.
"C'mon, tell us a real story!" Nibs demanded, crossing his fluffy bunny arms and pouting at his seniors. "Peter tells the best stories, and you can't just tell us something lame like, 'We ran away.'"
The blonde Lost Boy in a fox suit sighed in defeat and stared at his comrades with fiery eyes. This somehow made them quiet down and gaze at him intently as though he had the same commanding power as Peter Pan had over them. Well, after all, he was second-in-command, and with Peter gone, he was their substitute leader.
"Fine, I'll tell you the story of a real ghost," he said. "Some of you may find this slightly scary. Some might already know about it. Some might have even been there when it happened. But know that this is entirely true."
"A ghost story?" one of the Twins repeated eagerly.
They both flanked Slightly and the other added, "What is it about?"
"This is the story of the ghost cabin boy…"
James sighed in utter boredom as he sat in the captain's quarters. Captain Hook was playing the piano again—this time some sort of love song (he really couldn't tell if it was) from whatever century he didn't exactly care for. The cabin boy could barely keep his stance from sheer boredom and had resorted to leaning on the piano for support.
As the song turned into Beethoven's Für Elise, a tune that the teenager actually recognized, the tall pirate glanced at his cabin boy with a knowing smirk. "Alice seems to have an affinity for music," Hook stated suddenly.
The younger James nodded. "Most teenagers these days do. Contemporary music is easier to appreciate than classics. Although, yeah, I think Alice is really into music."
"She once asked me to teach her how to play. She even played what she knew."
The pirate began playing Out of My League by Stephen Speaks on the antique piano, which James almost immediately recognized. Considering that Alice had only touched that piano once, which meant that Hook had only heard the song once, James realized that his superior was a virtuoso, a true prodigy with the piano.
"I know that song."
Hook stopped playing and sat aside. "Would you like to play it?"
A thin black eyebrow rose. "I meant I know the lyrics," he corrected. "I don't know how to play it on the piano."
Captain Hook nodded and resumed playing. "Sing it, then. This may be the only thing you have over Peter Pan."
The boy scowled at the remark but obeyed anyway. He cleared his throat and tried to recall the lyrics as the first verse neared.
"It's her hair and her eyes today,
that just simply take me away…"
His blue eyes widened at his own voice. It had been a while since he last sang anything, and his voice had rasped somewhat since he began working in Hook's crew. But his singing voice was the same and he sounded… okay.
"And the feeling that I'm falling further in love
makes me shiver but in a good way."
His mind faltered its mechanical typing of lyrics and moved instead to imagine the situation of the song. It brought him back to the past, to the times when he lived a normal life—going to school, complaining about homework, playing video games, teasing his friends who had gotten themselves girlfriends (or rather, gotten soft). He missed those times.
"All the times I have sat and stared
as she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair.
And she purses her lips, bats her eyes and she plays,
with me sitting there slack-jawed and nothing to say…"
There was a girl in his mind, and the song was describing her. It felt like one of those music videos they showed on MTV—all cheesy and weird and ugh.
"'Cause I love her with all that I am,
and my voice shakes along with my hands,
'cause she's all that I see and she's all that I need
and I'm out of my league once again…"
As his voice trailed away, James slammed a closed fist on the piano and glared at his feet. He muttered gruff curses to himself and paced toward the door before raising his head and turning to look at his superior.
"It's a stupid song."
Hook smirked. "My dear boy, love, in general, is stupid," he replied, "which is why it must be exploited to achieve our aim. We've the same goal, after all."
James chuckled in derision. "Don't compare yourself to me, Captain. The only thing we have in common is our first name." He cleared his throat and opened the wooden door before him. "I'll take my leave now, Captain."
Once left to himself, Captain Hook sneered. He hated that he needed to depend upon these irrational, unthinking teenagers to carry out his plots, yet he thought himself a genius for having come up with schemes that, if executed properly, would lead to Peter Pan's vulnerability and, ultimately, his demise.
Alice contemplated on her current situation. Cheeks flushing, breath shortening, heart racing. She glanced at the figure that floated over her bed, completely engrossed in the glowing object that was her laptop, and thought of the events of the past thirty minutes.
She spent most of those thirty minutes explaining to her best friend that the flying boy in her room was Peter Pan—the Peter Pan, as in the one in the Disney movie. The rest of the time seemed rushed as April took her leave, all the while giving Peter and Tinkerbell peculiar glances, and Andy offered to walk the blonde home. It was refreshing to see her brother reciprocate her best friend's feelings for once, but Alice's mind was otherwise occupied. She had been left alone again with Peter, though Tinkerbell was flying comfortably around the boy's shoulder.
The redhead shifted in his seat midair and repeatedly stole glimpses of the girl perched precariously at the edge of her bed. He saw that she was in deep thought and looked instead to the pixie hovering beside him. However, he couldn't maintain his silence for long.
"Alice," he murmured, "come back to Neverland."
She looked at him. "Peter, I'm not sure if I should go back there so soon. A—and Andy will worry if he comes back and I'm not here."
His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced outside the window to the gleaming star in the night sky. "But the Lost Boys miss you so terribly, Alice," he pleaded with a pout. "We need our mother with us."
"I'm not really your mother," she mumbled. "It's just pretend—like a dream that you wake up from, and you have to live another day before you go to bed, drift off to sleep, and continue dreaming."
"Then dream again, Alice." He floated toward her and held her hand. "Dream again with us. With me."
Her eyes widened. What answer did she have for that? None; she was speechless. Apart from that, the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest didn't help at all. She avoided his eyes—looked away.
Peter stepped forward, leaning in on her, perhaps to try and kiss her. But she leaned back and kept her arms in front of her as a barrier between them. She had an obligation to stay, but she wanted so badly to go back. But she knew she didn't belong there.
Or perhaps she could just pay them a visit…
"I—I'll go with you," she murmured.
He sighed, relieved, and wrapped her in a warm embrace. "Yes!"
She found herself lost in the embrace, but quickly came back to her senses and pulled away. Alice looked him in the eye and said, "But I can't stay for too long. I'll just visit to… straighten things up. I'm sure without me around, the treehouse is a complete mess again." She paused before continuing. "How are the boys doing?"
"Well, why don't you find out for yourself?" he laughed before scooping her into his arms.
She laughed as well and struggled to break free from his grip. "Wait, Peter, I have a few things I wanna bring."
He let her go, and she walked over to her bed and grabbed her Mac. Without Terrence and his pixie dust around to power her electronics and whatnot, she needed to make the most out of it. Thankfully, she had gotten Peter to agree with not staying for too long.
When she had her things ready (as well as a note for Andy when he returned), she jumped at Peter and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He grinned at her and pulled her up into the air with him. And then it was off to Neverland again.
"You think she really likes that boy?" April asked as she traced along the sidewalk with her foot. She had her hands shoved in her pockets, the same way as Andy did. "Peter Pan, I mean."
The older teenager shook his head. "I'm not really sure," he shrugged. "I mean, he's nice and all—but I'm gonna give it an overall no."
"She hasn't gotten over Matt yet…" the blonde murmured.
"She hasn't even broken up with him yet," he added in exasperation. "Don't you girls have that, like, two-month rule or something?"
"Three-month," she corrected him. "But I don't think they're, like, that or anything."
He shook his head again. "The guy's like something out of a fairytale, and I love my sister, y'know."
"Probably more than a brother should," she added under her breath.
"Yeah," he chuckled. "I don't want her to get hurt. That Peter kid—he's got hurt written all over him."
"But are you gonna do anything to stop them? If worse comes to worse?"
For the third time, Andy shook his head. "Alice is smart, and I trust her. Matt was an anomaly—everyone makes a mistake. The chances of her making the same mistake twice, and in a row? Well, if she does, I'd expect another one and the streak is over."
James sat in the bird's nest, his legs dangling precariously over the wooden railing. He liked using the little place as a makeshift hammock whenever the crew was below deck. It gave him some privacy—some time to think.
And he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the tiniest shooting star fall toward where the treehouse was, following by a rather large silhouette—too large for a young boy like Peter Pan. He knew exactly what that meant.
A smile formed on the boy's dried lips. Then he grabbed the rope and swooped down like Tarzan did in the movies. Yeah, that was always fun.
It wasn't time yet, but maybe if he walked really slowly, he'd get there in time. Maybe. On the way, perhaps he would distract himself with things that distracted him the most, whatever those things were.
I'm sorry it's so late. Okay, so I've had this chapter for a while now, but I couldn't finish it due to a severe case of writer's block. I was able to get through it because I was also writing a YJ fanfic, but I still couldn't finish this chapter. But yeah, now I finished it, but the fic is far from over. Way far.
By the way, I realize that I've been spelling Terrence's name both ways (Terence and Terrence). Well, the official spelling is Terrence, but I couldn't change it here because I had a whole chapter entitled Terence, so I had to stick with that. Then I left this fic for a while and forgot how I spelled it, so now I'm inconsistent. I'm not entirely sure if I'll bring him back though. As much as I want to shed some spotlight on his relationship with Tink, I can't. Seriously, I fail at boy-next-door fluff.
Explanations aside, I'll try to work on the next chapter as soon as I can. Again, I'm sorry to those who kept waiting for this. I still have all (well, most of it, I guess) the plot bunnies for this fic, so I can probably finish it. The only problem is putting it into words.
R&R, lovelies!
~ froggy