PETER

Peter paced the streets, rubbing the blue ribbon between his fingers and trying to calm his nerves. Years ago, he'd taken a girl and her two brothers on a trip with him to Neverland, thinking they'd stay forever. Of course, it didn't pan out that way. The boys missed their mother and Wendy couldn't leave them to grow up without her. But he couldn't forget Wendy, couldn't bear the thought of her growing up and making a life without him. Something about her captivated him and stirred up feelings he'd never felt before. Love, she'd called it. He'd brought kids to Neverland before, a few stayed but most went home, and he'd never had a problem with them growing too old for Neverland. But she was different. And so, in his inability to forget about her and his new feelings of love that stirred up further feelings of ambition and determination, he made the decision he never imagined he'd make: he would leave Neverland, grow up, and find her again. And so he did.

Now, five years later, he was pacing, trying to figure out how to approach her. Should he fly up to her window like he had the first night? Should he approach her during one of her daytime outings and pray she remembered him? Did she even remember him?

The doubt was silly; of course she did. She had to. They each kept a part of each other all these years- her, his little green feathered hat, and him, the blue ribbon currently in his hand that was once tied in a perfectly neat little bow around her perfectly neat, brown curls.

He decided to fly to her window like he had five years ago. She still lived in the same house, though now she was in her own room. She'd been out of the nursery for a while, since growing up means leaving baby things like nurseries behind. He knew which window was hers because he'd walked down her road before. She didn't know it, but he'd been in New London for quite some time. He'd watched her grow up from afar, and she became even more beautiful as time passed. She still had the same brown curls, except now they were much longer and cascaded down her back in beautiful, reddish brown ribbons. Her eyes were still the same sky blue, with the same long, curly eyelashes that could cause windstorms whenever she batted them. Her cheeks were full and rosy and her nose a perfect ski slope, like a princess. He was as infatuated with her now as he had been five summers ago.

He smoothed his hair and placed the ribbon in his shirt pocket. All the lights in her house had been out for a good minute, and he felt safe enough to go to her without risking anyone else hearing him. He took a deep breath and floated his way up to her window. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself. He raised a hand to her window and gently knocked.

A few moments of silence almost discouraged him until he heard it. Her voice, calling him from the other side of the curtains.

"Peter?"

His heart began to race. She remembered. And she was waiting.

He leaned closer to the window. "It's me, Wendy. I came back."

WENDY

Her heart began to pound in her chest as his words repeated in her head. It's me, Wendy. I came back. It was him. It was really him!

She raced to the window, quietly, and opened the curtains. His face was staring back at hers, and she paused. It wasn't just him, but a grown up him. He still had the same messy brown hair and mischievous brown eyes, but his face had matured. His jawline was defined, he was taller, his voice deeper than it had been five years ago. He must have come back to her world earlier than she thought; he came back so he'd be able to grow up for her.

Wendy unlatched the window and slowly opened it so as to not wake her mother and father. Carefully, he climbed inside, and all they could do was stare at each other in awe and bewilderment before she embraced him in the tightest hug she'd ever given in her life. He was much taller than her; she was only at 5 feet and 4 inches while he was definitely at least 6 feet tall. She nuzzled her head in his chest and breathed him in. He was really here. He didn't forget her, and he gave up eternal childhood to be with her here, now, in this moment.

Peter pulled back and cupped her face in his hands, lightly stroking her cheek and brushing a curl behind her ear. "Peter, you really came back," she said softly. "You remembered me. Oh, all this time I knew you would."

Peter smiled and pulled out the ribbon from his shirt pocket. "I've kept this with me all through the years. To remind me of why I needed to grow up."

Her face lit up when she saw the ribbon she'd given him before parting ways years ago. She'd given him his very first kiss, though just on the cheek, and then carefully untied the ribbon and placed it in his hand. "A reminder," she'd said, "for you to come back some day." He seemed lost in thought at this gift and then placed his hat in her hands. "Keep this, so you can always remember our adventure forever." And then they shared one last embrace, and he'd flown off. She watched until she couldn't see him anymore, then closed the window and shut the curtains before quietly slipping into bed.

"I've kept something of yours, too." She tiptoed to her nightstand and pulled out a small, wooden jewelry box from the drawer. She unlocked it with a delicate, silver key and pulled out his hat. She turned to him. "To keep hope that you'd come back for me."

He couldn't hold his happiness or surprise back and a wide grin grew across his face. There it was, his little green hat with the red feather in it, just as it was when he'd left it with her. He always assumed she would have given it to Michael and John to play with, a souvenir and proof of their adventure together, and that over time it would have become ragged with wear like their other toys. But she kept it to herself, safe inside her jewelry box all this time, waiting for him to return to it. Because she knew he would.

Wendy walked back over to him and held up his hat. She'd taken care of it all these years as it was her prized possession and, in her eyes, a token of love, the same way the ribbon and the kiss on the cheek were tokens of her love for him. She watched as he brushed his finger over the feather and traced over the fabric of the hat. His eyes seemed lost in thought, like the touch of the hat was bringing up the memories of everything they'd done that night all at once. She brushed his cheek, rough from not having shaved in a couple of days. He reached his hand to hers and took hold of her fingers. His hands were rough; the hands of a hard worker. He really had left his childhood behind and matured for her.

"Oh, Peter, I've missed you dearly. Everyone thought me crazy but I knew you'd come back. I waited all this time."

"When I went back to Neverland, I couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again. I'd been a boy for so long, thought love was nothing but a silly concept for girls and fairy tales. But you left an impact on me and stirred up feelings I couldn't explain. The magic of Neverland wore off. I had to come back, so I did."

"Where have you been all this time? Why didn't you come see me?" The question had been burning in her mind since she saw him on the other side of her window. He'd grown as much as she had; you don't age in Neverland, meaning he'd come back soon after their last encounter and had been here the whole time. She'd never seen him, but if he knew she was still living here, and he knew which window belonged to her, that meant he'd seen her.

"I wanted to make sure I was enough for you before I saw you again. You were prepared to grow up; you helped look after your brothers and already had a sense of structure and properness in you. You knew you'd have to grow up eventually and you were prepared for it, even welcomed it. This…was a new concept for me. I had lots of learning to do, a work ethic to build, skills to develop. I wanted to be good enough."

She noticed the sincerity in his voice. "Are you upset with me, Wendy?" he asked her.

She shook her head. She could never be upset with him. In fact, she admired his dedication, his patience. He didn't just come back and expect her to teach him everything about becoming a man and getting older. He worked on it himself, and waited until he saw himself worthy before finding her. She knew all those years of holding onto hope would be worth it. Anything was worth it if it brought her back to him.

"Not at all, Peter. I've never been happier, actually."

This made him smile. She hugged him again and then he turned her face up to his and he gave her a kiss, a real kiss. She lingered on his lips for a minute, taking in the softness, the scent of wood and grass in his hair, the feel of his toned arms around her waist. She was in bliss. This was her own fairy tale come true.

He kissed her again and again, the intensity and passion increasing as they tried to make up for five years of separation. He lifted her bridal style and floated to her bed, laying her down gently and landing next to her, never once breaking their kiss. She ran a hand through his hair and traced down his arms, the other hand placed on his cheek. She broke the kiss before it could go too far; she still had principles, after all, and needed to remind him that he needed to have them, too.

"We musn't go too far, Peter. There are things not appropriate outside of a marriage, you know, and we still have so much catching up to do and, oh, well, Mother and Father will want to meet you of course and- oh my! -what if a neighbor saw you or Nana or-"

She was nervous rambling, the same way she had when she'd excitedly chatted his ear off before he'd told her that girls talk too much. He spoke up.

"It's okay, darling. Nobody saw me, and Nana was fast asleep in her dog house. I was careful. But you're right, I don't want to push you too far. I've just missed you…I've dreamt of this day for years."

A wave of relief washed over her. "I've missed you too. Will you come see me tomorrow?"

"I'll come see you every day and every night. I'm going to make sure your father approves of me. One day we'll have a home of our own and we'll start each day in each other's arms and end each day in an embrace as we drift off to sleep. I'll make sure of it." He paused, and she wondered what sparked the sudden look of nervousness across his face.

"Wendy," he said.

"Yes, Peter?"

"Wendy Moira Angela Darling…I love you."

She could feel the warmth rise in her cheeks hearing those words, the words she'd waited five years to hear from him. And how charming, he even remembered her full name. "Oh, Peter," she sighed, "I love you."

They shared a few more innocent kisses, each one sweeter than the last, and then they embraced by the window before he floated down to the street and began to walk home. She latched the window shut and closed the curtains, already missing him like he'd been gone for days.

A voice at her door startled her. She thought everyone had gone to bed. "Wendy?" Michael's soft voice, now nine years old but still just as sweet as he was at four when he'd tagged along with her and Peter. "Wendy, can I come in?"

"Yes, Michael."

He opened the door and stepped in, then shut it back as quietly as he could.

"Are Mother and Father awake?"

"No, it's just me."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "You couldn't sleep?"

"No, I'm not tired." He looked around her room. "Did I miss him?"

"Did you miss who, Michael? Nobody's here."

His big blue puppy eyes looked up at her. "It was Peter, wasn't it? He came back?"

She couldn't lie to him; he'd heard him in here. He knew he was back. "Yes, he came back. And he'll be back again."

Michael smiled big. He remembered everything from that night and knew it wasn't just a dream like everyone had tried to tell him. Wendy didn't know it, but he'd been waiting for him, too.

"Does he remember me, too?"

"He does."

This made him smile even more and Wendy couldn't help but smile too. She motioned for him to come sit with her and wrapped him in a blanketed hug. "He remembers all of us and he won't be leaving ever again. And some day, Michael, we're going to get married, and you can come to our home and see him every day. But you have to promise to keep this between us. Could you imagine Father finding out a boy had been in my room at this hour? Oh, he'd turn red as a beet and keel over on the spot."

They giggled at the thought and agreed to keep it a secret. She walked Michael back to his bed in the nursery and tucked him in, smoothing the blanket over him and straightening up his nightstand before going back to her own room. She hid the hat back in her jewelry box, locked it tight, and closed the drawer it stayed hidden in before slipping under her covers and drifting off to sleep, picturing all the things she and Peter would get to do now that their future could begin.