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~Chapter Six: Lily's Cooking~

The Lost Boys trailed in one after another, each bringing in an item that Lily had asked for. Lily smiled and thanked them one by one. By the time Peter had returned, she'd already had a pile on the table. He looked at the pile curiously. There were a bunch of plants he didn't recognize and then there were a bunch of vegetables. There were potatoes, onions, celery, these tiny green sticks he'd never seen before… and carrots.

"I hate carrots." Peter's face scrunched up at the sight of them.

"They're good for you." Lily replied.

"Just because they're good for me doesn't mean I'll eat them."

Lily sighed. "Peter, I haven't even made dinner yet and you're refusing to eat it. Won't you at least give me a chance?" she asked giving him a hurt look. "You won't even taste them, I promise."

Peter looked away. "Alright… but I better not taste them!" Lily smiled. "What do you want me to do with these?" he asked, holding up two dead rabbits.

Lily frowned a bit, she hated to ask Peter to kill the poor things, but it wasn't like there was a corner store where they could buy some meat… and growing boys needed their protein. She instructed Peter on how to skin and cut them up and asked him to do so outside of the hideout. While he was gone she separated the pile of vegetables in half, placing one pile in a nearby basket and spreading the other on the table.

"Whatcha gonna do with that other pile?" Nibs asked.

"I'm going to plant a garden outside."

"Why?" Curly inquired.

"Because then when the garden grows we won't have to go searching all over the place for the vegetables."

"Oh."

She smiled at the boys. "Why don't you all go outside and play while I'm cooking? I'm sure you'd have more fun playing than watching me." They cheered and rushed out of the hideout.

Lily grabbed an overturned kettle and placed the vegetables in it. She hulled her cargo out of the hideout to find Peter walking towards her with a plate of cut up meat. "Is there a stream nearby?" He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. He walked behind the hideout and she followed.

"oh!" she exclaimed as she saw the tiny stream flowing not too far away from what she could only assume was another entrance to the hideout. She kneeled by the stream and began to wash her hands and face. Then she placed the vegetables on the ground next to her and began washing the kettle. "You should wash up too Peter… you're all bloody." Peter nodded and did as he was told. When he was done he sat and watched Lily wash the vegetables.

"Lily?" She looked at him.

"Where're your parents?"

"I don't have any. I'm an orphan remember?"

"But you used to have parents right? Even I did before I ran away." Lily looked away.

"My mother didn't want me. She ran away from my father and left me in his care. My dad hated me for that. He'd hit me and yell at me for no reason. My neighbors called social services and they took me away from him. They put me in a bunch of different homes with selfish people who used me for money didn't care about me, so I ran away from them. They put me in the orphanage because none of the foster parents wanted me."

"Oh." Peter clenched his fists. Adults were horrible.

Lily stood, pulling the water filled Kettle with her. "It's all in the past now." She said, smiling at him. "Can you bring in the vegetables and meat?" He nodded. They walked together back into the hideout. "Just put them on the table." He did as told and watched her as she lit the fireplace and hung the kettle over the fire. Then she began to cut up the plants that he didn't recognize.

"What are those?"

"They're herbs, they'll add flavor to the stew."

"Oh."

"He continued to watch her as she peeled, cut, plopped the vegetables into the kettle one by one. She stirred the contents of the pot, added the "herbs" and stirred again. A few minutes later she took the plate of meat and dumped it into the kettle.

Peter took a deep breath. The hideout was filled with a delicious smell.

"Peter, would you set the table?" he nodded. Wendy had taught him to do that once. She hadn't cooked for them, but they'd gathered fruits and eaten them. He set the table as best he could and looked at Lil who nodded in approval.

"Thank you." She smiled at him before turning back to the kettle. Peter watched her from behind. He looked at her from head to toe. He still couldn't believe how pretty she was. Even from behind he could tell she was beautiful. He wanted to reach out and touch her hair, it looked so soft. Peter shook his head. What was he thinking? He'd never had such weird thoughts when Wendy was around. "One more thing, Peter," Lily said turning around. "Could you go get the boys? Dinner is almost ready. Make sure they wash up, I want to see clean hands alright?" He quickly nodded and made a hasty retreat. What was wrong with him?

The boys weren't that hard to find, and when Peter mentioned that dinner was ready and they needed to wash up they all rushed to clean up before speeding into the hideout and sitting at the table.

"Did you wash up?" Lily asked. They all nodded eagerly. "Alright, hands out!" they held out their hands for inspection. "Good." Lily placed a bowl of stew in front of each of them. "Eat up!" The Boys immediately began to dig in.

"Wow!" Tootles exclaimed. "This is yummy!"

The boys nodded in agreement and let out muffled compliments from full mouths.

"I'm glad you all like it." Lily said as she began to eat her own.

"Will you cook for us again?" One of the twins asked.

"Of course I will! I'll cook for you whenever you want."

The boys cheered and continued to eat.

"So Peter, do you taste any carrots?" she asked.

Peter paused. He hadn't even thought about the carrots, he'd forgotten about them. He shook his head and blushed. He didn't taste them at all.

"Good."

They all ate their stew and chatted happily.

"So, who wants desert?" Lily asked as each of the boys finished their second bowls of soup. They all replied with a chorus of 'Me!'s and raised hands. Lily cleared the dirty bowls and replaced them with slices of apples with honey drizzled over them.

"How did you get honey?" Peter asked. There was a beehive hanging from the top of the tree about the hideout, but as each of the boys could tell you by experience, the bees were none too happy to share their honey with anyone.

"It's a little trick I learned from an old friend. If you use smoke it'll chase the bees out and you can get in the hive before they get back. As long as you don't take too much it doesn't hurt the bees and you don't get stung." She pointed to the rope ladder that lead to the tree branches above ground. "I got it while you were all gathering the vegetables and herbs and rabbit meat.

"Wow Lily, you're really smart." Slightly commented.

"Thank you."

When they were done eating Lily gathered the plates together. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Where are you going?" Tootles asked.

"To wash the dishes."

"Why?"

"Because if I don't, they'll attract bugs."

"I like bugs," Curly said.

"I'm sure you do." Lily laughed. "But if the bugs get into our food the food won't taste good and will make us sick."

"Then let us help you!" The twins chirped. The boys agreed and grabbed some plates from her and headed towards the stream. They all laughed and talked as they cleaned the dishes, and with so many hands to help, they were done in a few minutes. When they were done, a few splashes turned into a full out water war and they all ended up soaking wet.

"Well, I guess that counts as a bath," Lily laughed as she shivered. The sun had gone down long ago and they'd finally decided to head back inside. She watched as the others shivered and yawned."You boys go change into some dry clothes and get ready for bed. Leave your wet ones by the fire and I'll hang them up." They all nodded sleepily and changed. Lily looked away as they changed. When she heard them all getting into their beds she turned around. Peter was standing in front of her.

"Why aren't you changing?"

"I don't have any clothes silly!"

"Oh yeah." He scratched the back of his head. "Well I'm sure I can find something for you to wear. Come on." She followed him into his room. She looked around. There was a large bed in the middle of the room, it was covered in some kind of animal pelt. There were a lot of handmade toys and instruments lying around. There were also other knickknacks and jewels around that she wasn't quite sure Peter had obtained honestly. Next to the bed was a large chest. Peter walked over to the chest and opened it. He began pulling out different pieces of what Lily assumed was clothing and tossed them to the ground.

"Aha! Here!" He handed her the clothes in his hand. "You can change here." He said as he walked out of the room.

Lily looked at the clothes in her hands. "I guess this'll work." she muttered to herself.

Peter watched as the Lost Boys chattered to each other as they got ready for bed. He was glad that they were back. It had been too quiet… too lonely without them around. He walked to his chair and sat down.

"Um, are you guys ready?" Lily said as she walked into the room. Peter couldn't help but stare. He hadn't really had anything that would fit Lily, but he had found an old outfit that would work. It was an old pair of ripped shorts and a shirt. On Lily, the shorts were very short and the shirt was a little too big, one of the sleeves were completely off of her shoulder. While the shirt was too big for her… it was also too short. It was just as ripped as her shorts and one end was longer than the other so that her pale stomach showed. Peter swallowed. It seems that it doesn't matter what she was wearing, she was still pretty.

"Yeah!" the boys shouted, pulling Peter out of his thoughts.

"What would you like? A song or a story?"

"We want a song!" The twins said.

"Alright, is everyone okay with that?"

They nodded. As she sang to them they laid there, eyes closed, with happy smiles on their faces. Peter listened intently. She had a wonderful voice, so soft and soothing. She continued to sing softer and softer as she noticed the boys fall asleep. When she ended her song, she turned to Peter, who was himself half asleep.

"Peter?" She whispered.

"Huh?" he murmered.

"Where should I sleep?" she asked.

"Oh, well," he yawned, "You can sleep with me."

Lily blushed. "Are you sure?"

He nodded sleepily. He stood and walked to his room. "Are you coming?"

"Um, I'll be there in a few minutes, I have to hang up those clothes."

"Kay."

"Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say… I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"You'll find out." She turned towards the pile of wet clothes and went to work.

Peter shrugged and went into his room. He plopped on the bed and got under the covers. He fell asleep before Lily came in.

Lily quickly hung the clothes up and stoked the fire a bit. She grabbed a metal door, which she assumed the boys must have found or taken from an actual wood stove, and placed it in front of the fire.

When she was done she tiptoed into Peter's room and crawled into bed on the opposite side and faced away from him.

"Goodnight Peter." She whispered to his sleeping form.

~End of Chapter~

~AN~

Alright! I hope you liked it! Let me know what you think.