a/n: don't worry, i have not given up on this story, nor do I plan to! :)

ALSO. because I am completely pissed about what happened in the last episode (my post about why is on my blog, killiancharmings, post/67327584378/would-appreciate-it-if-you-would- stop-criticizing), I am completely disregarding Peter Pan's backstory that they revealed last week. instead...i'm just going to stay in my little peter pan headcanon bubble forever, and that's where this story will be too.

so, just a recap: in this story, peter pan is NOT rumple's dad. so...I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Wake up."

It's him. Of course it is. She can tell by his scent and by the feel of his breath on her shoulder blades. He's the only one who ever bothers to come over to where she sleeps.

She turns over to face him, rolling her eyes, and he smirks. "Right, of course. How could I forget? You're the girl that never sleeps."

"What's going on?"

"Target practice," Pan replies, quickly glancing back at the Lost Boys who are playing with their wooden swords behind him. At his words everyone stops what they're doing and puts down their weapons.

Wendy can feel herself getting hot. "Target...practice?"

"Yes, quite a useful skill in Neverland," Pan says, the ghost of a laugh on his lips. He extends his hand to pull her up, and she grabs it, trying to shake the dirt off of herself as she stands up. She still doesn't feel like herself in Pan's clothes.

"Felix," Pan enunciates clearly, gesturing for his second-in-command to stand next to him. "Why don't we show Wendy here how we shoot?"

Felix grins, placing an apple that seems to come out of nowhere on his head and backing up. Pan steps back and cleanly shoots it off the top of Felix's head with his bow and arrow.

"Do you want to try?" he questions her, and Wendy can't tell if his tone is mock polite on purpose. She steps back a little, shaking her head. "No, I-"

Pan chuckles. "Wasn't really a question, you see, Wendy. You're going to shoot."

She swallows thickly, knowing that it's for her own good to go along with what he says. She doesn't exactly want to know what happens if she doesn't.

The Lost Boys are still all crowded around the three of them-her, Pan, and Felix, and she can feel her heart thumping wildly. If she accidentally shoots him, or, even worse, some other innocent Lost Boy-

The thought enters her mind of turning the arrow on Pan, but it's out as soon as it comes in. For some reason she can't allow that to stay a possibility.

With Pan dead, she has no idea what would happen to her in Neverland. He's the only one who's talked to her, gave her new clothes, fed her...

He hands her the bow and arrow, and she tries to figure out what he's communicating behind his icy eyes, but Peter Pan is a guarded person, and she never knows what he's thinking.

Wendy attempts to hoist the arrow into place, but she's obviously doing it wrong, because she can hear titters from her audience. She dares a quick glance at Pan to see what he thinks, and he's merely staring at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I don't-I don't know how," she admits, willing herself not to cry again.

He smirks and tilts his head to the right, mocking her. "Here."

In a flash he's next to her, behind her. He reaches out, tugging her hand so that it's extending and holding the bow out as far as her arm can go. Then he reaches for her other arm. Her heart beats faster. Peter Pan radiates heat.

Wendy can feel his chest on her back and side as he wraps his fingers around her small hand that's clutching the arrow back at her chest. "Pull," he mutters, and tugs her hand back with his. She holds her breath for the second where they're both completely static together.

And then he lets her go.

The arrow goes flying over Felix's head and into the apple, pinning it neatly into the tree directly behind him. Wendy lets out a shaky breath.

"Thank you," she manages softly. Pan's lips quirk up for a second. "Just target practice," he replies, walking over to the tree and yanking the arrow out of the tree and into the pack that hangs loosely on his side.

Wendy wonders if she'll ever shoot an arrow again.

She grows to feel some sort of companionship, at the very least camaraderie, with the other Lost Boys. A lot of them are younger than her, and even the ones that are older seem to have some sort of respect for her. She likes it.

She often finds herself looking over at them playing-whether it's something childish like hide and seek or something above their level like sword fighting-and wishing that she could join in. But she is not a Lost Boy and she is not a Lost Girl, she is the Lost Girl with no true place in Neverland and she cannot join in.

Until one grey afternoon when Peter Pan is nowhere to be found, which isn't that strange, but she feels even more bored and fidgety than usual when he's not around, and the Lost Boy that served her dinner that night asks if she wants to play with them.

Wendy tugs on her hair-down and messy, as usual-and considers it, then feels herself nodding without really thinking about it. She does want to play with them.

"What are we playing?" she asks as she makes her way into the clearing where everyone else is.

"Hide and seek," says one of the Lost Boys excitedly. "It's my favorite, Wendy."

Wendy half-smiles. They know her name. Even though she doesn't know his.

It takes only a few minutes before she's running through the trees, barely missing uprooted branches and plants, so fast she feels almost as she's flying, because she has to find a good hiding spot. She feels free.

Yet she's obviously not very good at it-or maybe it's just because the Lost Boys have been here for decades and have probably figured out all the good hiding spots already, but for some reason they're still not tired of playing-because she gets found the first few times in under five minutes.

But she laughs and nods and swats away the Lost Boys that tease her playfully, that look at her like she's one of them now, because she's playing with them, and so she must be one of them, right?

Concealed in a tall tree, Peter Pan watches her smile.

a/n: reviews make me smile, they really do. also, they keep me motivated to keep writing. :))