AN: Back again, this time with more celebrations. And if you couldn't tell by the title, Wendy makes an appearance. Now I am by no means a Wendy fan and neither is Nibs. But I know some of you are excited about Bae and his role and I promise you that will all come into play very soon.

Thanks to Amelia-bella1 for reviewing again! Happy reading!

Chapter 9: The Dreaded Wendy-Bird

"And she's utterly useless! And has an imposed curfew rule that we all have to be in bed by seven! Seven! Thankfully Peter had been making the days longer but sometimes he forgets to change it from night to day. But she still has Slightly's pocket watch..." Nibs complained as they lifted a board onto Tinkerbell's house.

Tink laughed at her friend's plight. She hated Wendy too of course, but couldn't imagine dealing with her everyday like Nibs did. Of course, the self proclaimed "Lost Boy Mother" had stopped by Tink's house one too many times asking for pixie dust and then had the gall to ask her to activate. Even village idiots knew not to ask an ex-fairy anything about magic unless you were given explicit permission.

"Well what time is it now?" Tink asked, hammering a stubborn nail into place.

Nibs checked their pocket watch. "About six thirty. You know she didn't even want me to go over here?"

Tink smiled. "And you disobeyed because...?"

"She's not my mother. And she's younger than me as well. Looks-wise and actual age, I'm at least twenty years older than her. Maybe more, time travels between realms so differently," Nibs said thoughtfully, laying another board down.

Peter's latest tantrum (Wendy induced, mind you) had caused a lightning storm, causing a tree to fall over onto Tink's old house. So a few Pincanny braves and Nibs were helping her rebuild. The braves had worked hard, up until they decided they were hungry and went into the forest. They never came back out and Tink hoped they were alright. Nibs was a hard worker, but also couldn't keep focused on one task, a trait most of the Lost Boys shared.

"And she says she forbids us to go on any more pirate raids. That's practically the reason we went to get more Lost Boys, to outnumber the pirates. Even though we only picked up two more..." Nibs flew over to the other side of the almost finished house.

Tink snorted. "And do you follow her orders?"

"Only Felix, me, Rufio, and Peter think she's insane, but Peter's off being mopey," Nibs pointed to the sky, at the perpetual clouds that had surrounded Neverland since Wendy's arrival. "And the rest of us just don't listen to her. Why should we? She's just a silly little girl playing pretend. A vast, twisted version of pretend."

Of course Nibs hated Wendy. In fact, Tink was certain nearly all of the hated Wendy. But still, she giggled at the absurdity of it all. Here were kids that wanted to be young forever, but already most had rejected a defining figure of childhood: a mother. At least it kept most of them out of trouble, Tink thought. They were wild, but a civilized mother might bring back the shreds of humanity that they possessed.

Nibs looked up from her board, listening for a moment before leaving her post to head towards the entrance of the jungle, as if responding to a call only they could hear.

"I'm sorry Tink, that was the pan flute, I can't ignore it," Nibs huffed out before disappearing into the expanse of trees. "I'll come back tomorrow and help!"

Tink just shook her head, pounding another nail into the wall. Nibs' loyalty to Peter surpassed any of the others, except possibly their brother. But Tinkerbell feared that it would cause the teen more trouble than it was worth. That it possibly get them killed one day.

• • •

As I was building with Tink, a sharp, high pitched note hit my ears. Peter had taught the call to all of us, it was a sign that camp was in danger and immediate aid was required. I dropped everything and ran, shouting a hurried explanation to the fairy and a promise to come back tomorrow.

Branches tore at my arms, leaves getting stuck in my wild hair that flew behind me. I didn't have enough pixie dust to fly all the way back, so I interlaced my strides with longer jumps. I needed to get back to camp. My brain conjured terrible things as I ran through the forest. The Lost Boys lying around the fire, all lifeless and bloodied, a horde of Neverbeats tearing the camp apart, Peter mangled and barely breathing. The mental images only made me run faster.

As I arrived at camp, nothing seemed to be out of the normal. Wendy was sitting by the fire staring at some socks and the rest of the boys were just milling around. Not laughing, not playing games. Just stood there with blank faces. While this wasn't normal, it was a great deal better than what I expected to see.

Wendy caught sight of me. "Nibs! Do you know what time it is? You were supposed to be back in camp an hour ago. You've picked up our leader's nasty habits-"

She couldn't finish, because I had marched up to her and held the girl by the collar of her pretty little nightgown. "Where is Peter?" I growled.

"Another nasty habit-" she began, but trailed off as I tightened my grip. "He went with Felix and Rufio! Oh Nibs it's just terrible, Hook captured Tigerlily and they were all on Marauder's Rock-"

I let her go and dropped to the floor. Marauder's Rock becomes covered with water every time the tide came in, the most recent one being just about fifteen minutes ago. If they were tied down, there was no possible way the four had gotten free and pixie dust doesn't work when wet. They were surely dead. A friend, a brother, and a true love gone in the blink of an eye.

I didn't stay sad for long when I heard a familiar voice shout "Boys! Come meet our new friends!"

The remaining Lost Boys turned around to see Peter, soaking wet but still alive, standing at the edge of our clearing. Behind him was Tigerlily, Felix, Rufio, and about fifty Picanny braves. While they all looked dead-beat tired, Peter had a triumphant air about him.

Tigerlily stepped forward. "We have decided to reinstate the treaty between our tribe and your... Tribe."

With shouts of joy, a huge bonfire was lit. Warriors and Lost Boys danced together. Even the littler boys seemed to be having fun, teaching some of the younger Indians how to shoot a crossbow. Wendy turned up her nose at all of it, "humph"-ing her way to her little house.

Peter saddled up to me. "That was clever of me, wasn't it?"

I rolled my eyes, before hitting him on the arm. "Don't scare me like that. I actually thought you might be dead," I admitted.

Peter smirked. "Have you found your heart, Nibs?"

"No-yes, I've always had one!" I tried to answer his question, but my brain wouldn't cooperate.

He laughed, only causing me more exasperation. "Oh, really now? Where was that heart when we were killing the Neverbeasts? Or for loving. There has to be someone on the island you like. I won't judge if it's Tinkerbell-"

"Shut up and dance with me," I playfully growled, dragging him to where most of the dancing seemed to be happening. Peter was a bastard and said things to get on my nerves, but he was my bastard. One I would unfortunately go to the ends of the earth for.

The Picannys did have good music. I'll give them that. Unlike the raw, uncut beat we got from our own celebrations, it was strangely ordered. Each note had a place to fit and the dancers seemed to know exactly when to move. I felt Peter's body behind mine and smiled. We hadn't lived like this since before Neverland. I liked though.

The party went on into the early hours of the night and only ended when the chief declared that the little ones had to go to bed. We bade our new allies goodbye, and settled down around the much smaller fire. I laid out with my back against a log, Peter and Felix beside me. Everyone else stretched out, too tired to even care what Wendy would think. I drifted off to sleep with my head of Peter's shoulder, not even noticing the pirates creeping up towards us, cutlasses gleaming in the pale moonlight.