A/N: 07/26/2015 Sooooo sorry I took so long...again T_T I wanted to wait until I had the alternate ending up to post this, buuuut I figured you guys have waited long enough for an update. Am I right? Of course I am. So please enjoy this chapter! :D

BIG thank yous to everyone who's been reviewing lately and egging me on to get this done, especially StarBurst10. I honestly don't know when this thing would get finished if it weren't for you PMing me all the time :')

Reading time:

if you're fast: 9 mins or less.

if you're slow: 16 mins or less.

Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time.

Chapter twenty-four: Reunited~

Peter Pan sat by the campfire just outside the Hollow Tree, fingers laced together just below his chin as he hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and watched the Lost Boys play tag.

He sighed, trying not to let his brooding mood show through so as not to upset the others, though they all knew the truth; he was upset that Emma wasn't there anymore, and it was showing through. Terribly. The Lost Boys practically walked on eggshells around him nowadays, steering clear of him like he was his Shadow for fear of being snapped at. A broken toy, an unfinished plate; it was hard to tell what would set him off these days. And he knew that. Which was why he was trying so hard to reign it all in.

Not that it was working. The current shroud of tenseness hovering over them like a big, black cloud was testament enough to that. Of course, that didn't stop them all from ignoring the elephant in the room and pretending that everything was fine, that the outsider who had captured all of their hearts hadn't gone away to be with her family, hadn't abandoned them all because of him and his actions. When he had decided to send Emma back to Storybrooke, he'd thought it was for the greater good, that his unselfish heart and good intentions would somehow erase all the bad he'd done, but he saw now that it was just the opposite. In giving Emma back to her family, he had taken away the one semblance of a family the Lost Boys had ever had, and probably ever would. Their parents were long dead, and he could never bring himself to kidnap another girl to try and fill the hole the Savior had left.

So which was worse? The fact that he'd sent her back to Storybrooke without so much as a goodbye or warning for the boys, or that he'd given them reason to hope for something resembling a regular family unit in the first place? He didn't know. All he knew was that he had made his choice, and he could do nothing now except hope, just hope, that it was the right one.

Pan pursed his lips, biting his tongue back to keep from reprimanding the Twins for playing too roughly with Tootles, and idly wondered where Felix was.

He had gone out some time earlier to go in search of firewood, and seeing as how time was nearly irrelevant in Neverland, he honestly couldn't say how long he'd been gone. Felix had been acting...strange, lately. Well not strange, exactly, but something was definitely different about the boy. Ever since Emma had gone away, his loyal follower had been more distant, closed off from the others, even from Pan himself. In fact, he wouldn't be too surprised if-

"Pan!"

Pan's head snapped up at the sound of his name, turning this way and that until he found the source; Felix was running up to him, noticeably without firewood, and in a manner that was rather unsettling. He slowed to a jog and stopped a few feet away from him, leaning down on his knees to regain his breath, and Pan awaited whatever news he had to bring with growing alertness.

"Pan," he breathed urgently, a strange light in his eyes.

He almost sounded happy.

"What is it?" Pan asked guardedly, pinching his eyebrows together.

"The beach. Come quickly." He looked around at all the others, whose attentions were now completely grasped, and waved his hands in an upward motion as he urged, "Come! Now!"

The Lost Boys all started running excitedly in the direction of the beach, whooping and hollering like mirth-filled madmen as they went, their laughter quickly fading in the distance as their curiosity grew. Felix began to catch up with them, but Pan grabbed him by the arm and spun him around, stopping him from doing any such thing.

"What's this about, Felix?" Pan asked dangerously. "You know I don't like surprises."

Felix looked down at him, and smirked softly. "You'll like this one. Trust me."

Pan reluctantly released his arm, not daring to even consider letting his mind go in the hopeful direction he wanted it to, and Felix walked backwards to keep eye contact with him for a few moments longer before turning around and breaking into a run. "Come on! We need to hurry if we want to catch them in time!"

Pan said nothing, but obeyed nevertheless as he ran to join up with the others, not daring to get his hopes up.

Emma stared in awe at her new surroundings, mouth falling open in genuine surprise.

The beach.

They were on the beach.

In Neverland...

It wasn't that she had been skeptical that Gold and Regina's portal would work – she had complete faith in their abilities with all things magical – but to actually be there, to cross that threshold and step over into another dimension, was beyond her. It was just amazing.

The townsfolk looked around them, at the endless waters of the ocean and the white sands of the beach, at the countless trees ahead of them and the surreal hues of oranges and yellows of the bleeding sunset filling the sky, bathing everything in gold.

They did it.

They really did it...

Upon further inspection, Emma realized that the section of the beach they were occupying was incredibly familiar, and once her eyes fell on an all too familiar tree and rock, she realized that this was the exact same spot she'd ran to when she had tried to escape Neverland all those weeks ago.

"Emma!"

Emma turned her head at the sound of her name, she and Snow's eyes falling on Charming and Henry making their way towards them through the crowd.

"Dad! Henry!"

Emma ran to them, wrapping her arms around them and sighing in relief.

It was irrational, but a part of her feared that they wouldn't make it through the portal or that something would go wrong and they would be sent hurtling off towards another dimension and she would never see them again. But of course, that was ridiculous.

"I'm so glad you guys made it through okay," she whispered, shutting her eyes and squeezing them tight.

"Believe me, we are too," Charming replied, stroking her and her mother's hair as they hugged each other close.

"Oh, to have the family together again."

They broke their group hug to stare at Regina, who sneered unpleasantly at them from a few yards away.

"Regina," Snow greeted tersely, joy fading. "I'm glad you made it through okay."

The raven-haired woman scoffed. "Please. In case you don't remember, it was my magic that helped get us here. If anything had gone wrong, Gold and I would have been just fine."

"Hey!" Charming snapped. "You're lucky that we even let you come along! You should be grateful that we even-"

"Dad, please," Emma pleaded. "We just got here. Let's not fight."

Her father bit his tongue, pursing his lips and taking a few long, calming breaths as he obeyed his daughter's wish. Regina smirked at him, crossing her arms in silent victory as Gold and Belle came to join her side.

"Well," Gold said, looking uninterestedly at their surroundings as Belle hung happily on his arm. "This place hasn't changed a bit."

Emma furrowed her brows. "Wait, you've been here before?"

"I never said that, Dearie," Gold smiled falsely, showing off his sharp teeth. "Anyway, it appears as though everything is in order, so, if you don't mind, Belle and I were just leaving." Smiling once more, he tipped an invisible hat to the Swan family and stepped away, taking Belle and walking off to stroll down the shoreline.

Regina curled her upper lip at their retreating figures, disgusted. "Ugh, look at them. All happy and carefree. It's disgusting..."

"I dunno," Red said, coming up behind her. "I think it's cute."

"And I think you need to take a hike and go back to grandma's house," the Mayor snapped, smile dropping.

The wolf-girl stared at her, withstanding the older woman's glare before brushing past her and moving to join Emma and her family, smile returning as she moved to hug Snow.

Regina bristled, averting her eyes from the sight of Henry being so close to them and briskly walking off.

Emma noticed this, and, feeling sorry for the Evil Queen, decided to do the right thing and stop it. She knelt down beside Henry, putting her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, Henry, why don't you go and see how Regina's doing?" She suggested.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why?"

She blinked a few times, not thinking that it would be this hard to get her son to check on his stepmother, and ended up opening and closing her mouth like a fool for a good few seconds before coming up with a feasible reply. "Uh...well, because she helped get us here. Aaaand I think it would be really nice if you went and let her know how much you appreciate it."

Henry lowered his eyes, reluctantly agreeing. "Well...yeeaahh..."

"Pleeeaase, Henry?" She pleaded. "For me?"

Her son sighed, looking up at her and letting a small smile come to his lips. "...Yeah. Okay."

She grinned. "Great. Now go tell her how much you love her before she snaps and decides to kill us all."

"Okay," Henry giggled, letting her ruffle his hair before scampering off to find Regina.

She stood up, watching him go, and smiled to herself. Henry was such a sweet kid. And he was her kid. She couldn't have asked for a better son...she wondered if-

"Look! Over there!"

Emma whirled around, going on the alert as she turned around to find the source of the voice, gaze falling on the extended arm of a stranger pointing toward the tree line at the edge of the beach. She followed the tip of their finger, eyes recognizing the source of the person's alarm, and gasped.

Her breath caught in her throat, eyes going wide as she stared at the little pairs of eyes peaking over some bushes beside a tree. She could only see the tops of their heads, but she didn't need to see their full figures to know who they were; Tootles, the Twins, Nibs, Slightly, Cubby...they were all there. Every one of them. Movement came from behind the boys, and her eyes landed on Felix...Felix. But then where was...?

A hand came to rest on her left shoulder, and she gasped, surprise overtaking her as she whirled around to face-

"Pan?"

He smiled at her with pure disbelief, as though he couldn't quite believe that she was really there, but there was an unmistakable light in his eyes that made it clear he was happy to see her all the same.

"Hello, Emma."

Emma sat at the dinner table inside the Hollow Tree, trying not to fidget as Pan stared her down.

After running into each other at the beach (whether intentional or not, she didn't know) Pan and the Lost Boys lead the townspeople back to their camp. Felix had told them that Pan had requested meetings with Regina and Gold, but first he would like to speak with Emma.

Needless to say, she was nervous, as she had no idea how he'd react to her bringing an entire army's worth of fairytale characters to the place he called home, but she was also filled with an excitement that could barely be contained at the thought of finally being alone in the same room with him after all this time, where they didn't have to worry about Regina or her parents or anyone else listening in on their conversation. The mixture of the two feelings melted into a sickness in her stomach, but she knew that, after they'd had the chance to hash things out between them, it would go away soon enough.

Pan crossed his arms and tilted his head as he stared down at her, and she knew that he was ready to speak the no doubt long and strenuous monologue he'd probably been preparing for their next meeting from the moment she left.

"So tell me," he began, walking lazily around the length of the table. "You were able to convince Gold and Regina to convince an entire town to move to Neverland just so you could see me again, is that correct?"

He stopped and rested his hands on the table, looking at her for a response, and she looked down at her lap, blushing. Well when he put it that way...

"Um...y- yeah. Are...are you okay with that?"

He launched himself off the table and made his way around to her, sighing. "Well, I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do with a whole town full of people now, let alone deal with their luggage and housing and seemingly incurable addictions to gaming devices and electricity-" her gaze dropped to the floor in shame, her self-esteem plummeting with every problem he noted off. "But I'm glad you're here," he finished softly, walking up to her and cupping her cheek. "And that's all that matters."

Emma's face flooded with relief, and she smiled gratefully as her eyes filled with joyous tears, reaching up to rest her hand over top his.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "I...honestly can't tell you how much I've missed you. I thought...I thought that I would never see you again."

Pan smiled genuinely down at her before bowing his head to try and hide the mischievous smirk forming on his lips. "Well, I wish I could say the same about you, but-"

"Oh, shut up!" She laughed, slapping his arm. "You missed me and you know it!"

She wrapped her arms around his waist and he chuckled, holding her close as they stood there laughing together in the Hollow Tree like they'd done it a thousand times before and enjoying the soothing presence of the other.

"Well like I said, I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong."

She rolled her eyes and lifted an arm to hit his back. "Stop it..."

He quietly snickered in response, clearly pleased with himself at having delivered a worthy comeback, but said nothing more as they remained in each other's arms. Emma had to admit; in the moment, she was truly happy. Never could she remember a single point in her life where she had felt good and happy and whole, like she wasn't torn into several different pieces and strewn across seven continents. And now, as she stood there with Pan and listened to the sounds of Henry and her parents talking outside, she felt just that; good and happy and whole.

And it was then that she realized; this was what she needed in the first place. She needed all of these things to be happy, her parents and Henry and Pan. Though each one by themselves brought her a small amount of happiness, nothing could compare to the feeling of having all three of them at once. And she couldn't deny – it felt absolutely amazing.

"Isn't this great?" She asked suddenly, pulling away from him. "You get to meet your step-parents! Yaay!"

Pan gave a look of exhaustion. "Oh, joy..."

"Put a cork in it, they're not that bad. They're actually really nice and very understanding once you get to know them."

"Please refer back to my previous statement for pointers on how I feel."

"Ugh, you're impossible."

She broke away from his embrace and took his hand, slipping her fingers in between his, and gingerly led him out of the Hollow Tree to greet the parents he had made such a terrible first impression on. And as they stepped out of their enclosed haven, she knew that this wasn't the end. If anything, this was only the beginning. And after all they had been through, both together and apart, she couldn't wait to see what lay ahead.

Life, for them, would be never-ending.

A/N: Sorry for any typos! I'll fix 'em later. I hope you liked it. Like I said I've still gotta write the alternate ending, so don't take this off your watch-list just yet!

Also, on a completely related note: I've got a Youtube account now! And a Wattpad! I'm using my YT account to post fan videos (one of which is a Pemma vid!) so you can totally check it out if you want to. As for Wattpad, I'm using it to upload all my 'finished' stories, meaning only full works and no short vignettes or oneshots. So far I've only got a couple of Hunger Games fic on there, but more will come. Links to both accounts are on my ff profile, so click away if you wish! :D

Also, I'd really like to write more for Pemma (like a whole other story unrelated to this one) but I've had this idea for a PanxTinker Bell fanfic floating around in my head that has to do with modern AU gangs and ballerinas. What do you think? Do you like PanxTink? I'm not sure if I do. I think I do. Maybe. Idk. Anyway it's been a while, so if you wanna give me your thoughts on that I'd love to reply back and toss some ideas back and forth with you. Just a thought :)

'Til next time (hopefully before the Summer is over)!