On a stretch of wet highway a small diner sat huddled by old pines trees and spruces. On a chalk board it boasted that they serve the best lobster in the entire state of Maine. Rain splattered against the board, making the chalk run in streaks of orange and blue, overlaying years and years worth of built up chalk. Inviting warm light spills out from windows hung with tartan styled valances. Picturesque but unassuming, not the sort of place amazing stories would begin or fantastical characters would converge but on that rainy night it happened.

A young man hurried to the entrance. He was impeccably dressed, almost old fashioned, and handsome but there was an unmistakable air of superiority about him, as if the sneer on his lips was permanent. He squinted through the foggy doorway before entering. He sat beside another man, just as pale, just as well dressed who spoke without looking at him.

"It's done."

"The Hatter?"

"Rescued from Wonderland and placed in the path of the curse…poor man was a jabbering wreck. I wish…" he trailed off and sighed. "Did she prove a problem? The mermaid?"

John actually blushed. Not giving him an answer he took a French-fry from a basket that Michael was eating from and ordered a cup of tea from a bemused looking waitress. If only she knew that the remaining members of the Darling clan were now eating in her diner. It was only in this world that she would actually know who they were. Well, of a sorts.

As Billie Jean played over the radio the door opened again and a little boy staggered in. He was wet, shivering with the cold and in his arms was a woollen blanket that was almost as big as he was. One look at the frightened little boy would tell you that he was not local, a fact picked up by a squabble of teenagers huddled around a booth.

"I think the Renaissance fair is next week little dude," a teenage boy drawled, which produced a cloud of giggles and chuckles. John and Michael Darling turned to look at the new arrival as the bundle in his arms started to cry softly. The staff and patrons around them looked up in surprise but the Darling brothers remained seated and impassive. They were there for a reason, just as two others were, and that was to observe.

In a booth with a clear view of the diner a couple sat side by side, watching the little boy who had just entered. The boy was dressed in a simple dark green t-shirt and black pants while the girl was wearing a powder blue cashmere cardigan and white summer dress. It was the middle of October, Halloween approaching but you would not guess it from these two. They were sharing a milkshake, though now the girl pulled the only straw to her, bumping her cheek against his until he sat back, watching her suck the drink through the straw with a strange smirk. The young man slung his arm over the young woman's shoulders and though the gesture looked careless that was something protective about it, possessive. The boy curled a strand of sun bleached hair behind her ear as she sipped her drink and she absentmindedly brushed crumbs from his lap. They were movements conveying familiarity and ease only glimpsed in couples who have reached their silver anniversary. They touched each other as if touching themselves. There was a wicked, playful gleam in his eyes, a sense that his mind was whirling and buzzing with cruel but giddy thoughts and though he possessed a strange vitality you could not miss the dark circles under his eyes or how pale he was. The girl was his opposite. She permeated an air of distraction, as if her thoughts were a thousand miles away. Though she gazed about her with spacy, serene eyes there was a sharp danger lurking, like a sleepy bird of prey. Though they both blended in better than the brothers they still drew eyes to them, as if on some level the inhabitants of the realm knew who they really were.

Peter Pan and Wendy Darling watched as concerned patrons began to crowd around the shocked looking boy as he tried to explain what had happened.

"I – I got lost, I was walking for hours in the forest. Where – where am I? Where is my papa? I saw a shiny thing in the sky, it was flying…" he muttered, looking dazed and deeply bewildered. As the baby in his arms started to cry loudly someone offered to take the weight from his arms and he sighed to be free from a long held burden.

"There, there," Wendy cooed softly, rocking the newborn back and forth in her arms. She drifted to her brothers but never took her oddly hungry eyes away from the baby's face. Her brothers leaned over and each kissed her cheek in greeting.

"You never guess who I saw?" Michael asked as Pinocchio was lead to a booth so he could sit down. Someone placed a blanket around him but he hardly seemed to notice.

"Who?" Wendy asked faintly, brushing her finger down the baby's cheek. She stopped crying and Wendy smiled.

"Tinkerbell."

At this Wendy looked up as Peter came to her side. He nodded, as if he expected it but Wendy was surprised.

"You saw her? Where is she?" For a moment she considered that Tink had been swept away by the dark curse and her stomach plummeted. It had been years since she last saw her friend but she still cared about her, still hoped that she was well and happy.

"She wanted to go back to Neverland. She's there now," he opened his mouth, about to say more but then thought better of it.

"Good, back where she belongs," Peter said as the sound of sirens approached. That was their cue to leave. He touched Wendy's arm but she avoided him, turning her back and he sighed. Everything was going according to plan, he was satisfied but even after everything Wendy was still a sentimentalist at heart. He stood behind her and whispered into her ear. "You can't take her, she won't grow up."

"I know that," Wendy replied curtly as she stared down at the baby sadly. "I would never do such a thing...I just wish things could be different for her."

"Cheer up old girl. She'll be snapped up by a nice family and she'll be watched over her entire life. I've waited far too long to risk anything happening to this child. She can't fulfil her destiny with us, you know that," his words were silk in her ears but she had grown impervious to his silver tongue years ago. But he was right. She could not take the baby, it would be a deep cruelty on the child to take her with them but it was still a wrench to hand the now sleeping baby over to a waitress. Wendy sighed.

"Goodbye Emma, until we meet again."

The waitress frowned but then noticed that the baby's name was stitched onto the blanket. When she looked up the girl and boy were gone. The Darlings and Peter watched from the tree line as an ambulance and police car arrived and moments later Emma and Pinocchio were driven away. Peter turned to the brothers.

"Follow them. Don't lose contact with the boy either, I think he will be of use," the command issued the brothers reluctantly walked to the car they had been driving before venturing to the Enchanted Forest. It stung to take orders from a teenager, even if said teenager was really hundreds of years old, but they were used to it by now. As they got into the car Michael turned to John.

"Where are your glasses?" his lips twitched as his usually composed brother went red.

"Just drive."

Wendy watched her brothers driving away with a laden feeling, one she always got whenever they were parted. Peter stared at her sullen face and sighed.

"I don't know why you're so down, everything is going as it should. She will grow up and I'll make sure she is at the right places at the right times to meet Baelfire. It's all so close now," he said hungrily, gaze losing focus and if he hoped this would lighten Wendy's mood he was wrong.

"You're not God, you can't play with people's lives as if they have strings."

"I prefer to think of myself as a match maker but if you insist," he quipped with a teasing smirk.

Learning that the saviour was Balefire's True Love had come as a shock to Wendy but for Peter it was merely an unlucky contrivance. Just as he and Wendy were born centuries apart so were Emma and Baelfire. It had taken years worth of plotting and scheming to get the two together at the right time, moving Bae from one timeless realm to another until the time was right. Even now he was still holding Baelfire back, only a few more years until he would be used. Everything had to be timed perfectly to ensure that Henry would be born. Peter looked upon his deft mastery of the board with pride but it sickened Wendy, even now. He did not see people, he saw movable pieces he could and has sacrificed to get the ultimate prize: the heart of the truest believer.

"At least you could show some pity for what you're doing? You know that poor girl will have a hard life."

"Pity?" his mouth downturned, the very sound of it repellent. "I told you years ago that the time for sentimentality is gone. You know what's at stake."

"Yes, the complete destruction if Neverland and magic itself," she jeered and almost rolled her eyes before stopping herself. She believed deep down that what he craved more than anything was power and that trumped the supposed danger to the island. But there was another reason why it stung her so much, a reason that both of them shied away from. If he succeeded, if he saved Neverland and himself it would be at the cost of their love. Peter gazed at her intensely, the weight of it heavy but then his mouth curled into a smirk but there was nothing humorous about it. He brushed his hand down her arm, his grip firm.

"You know the danger if I fail but you don't fully believe, even now. You don't grasp it. Even I had been ignoring it but I think both of us should see what fate awaits Neverland if this doesn't work."

He offered a hand to her and after a pause Wendy slipped her fingers through his. Many years had passed and Wendy had moved past the desire to leave. Neverland was her home and her place was by his side but she would never stop the quiet voice of morality that spoke up inside her. That goodness had changed over time as she had, had warped and twisted but it was still intact, still a vibrant cord that never diminished. That was the one thing that set her apart in Neverland and the one thing he loved and resented her for. He needed her to truly understand the dire morality of the situation, he needed to speak directly to her heart and the best way to do that was to show her.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he produced a bean and threw it.

"Somewhere you've been before, though somewhere I haven't."

"Where?"

"Fantasia."

a.n:

Next part hopefully up tomorrow! I'm sorry if anyone thought I had given up, I just didn't have the time to dedicate to this till now! Thank you to those faithful readers and your patience!