Wendy now stood in the kitchen of the backup hideout slaving over a roaring fire, stirring stew in a pot. A loud ruckus was heard from up above and she couldn't help but smile, despite how tired she was. Wendy had trouble sleeping the night before. Nightmares of the pirates killing her boys and Peter plagued her dreams and prevented her from sleeping and then she spent all day strenuously cleaning the old, dusty hideout. It had been tiresome work and she had longed to go out and play with the boys, but she knew she had to make the house livable for them. Her back now ached and her joints creaked as if she was an old woman. And her eyes had gotten to the point where she had to fight to keep them open, resulting in a splitting headache.
Now the Lost Boys were back from playing all day. She could hear each boy shouting in turn to the other. Apparently, their playing was not over with yet. Wendy's smile broadened and she continued on with making the boys a real supper.
It had been a good while since Wendy and her brothers had come to Neverland. In fact, it had been so long that Peter was starting to bring more boys to Neverland, but still leaving Wendy as the only girl. She didn't mind all that much. She actually liked the fact that, other than Tinkerbell, the only other girl that was allowed in the hideout was she. But the work was starting to get tedious and tiring. Plus, it didn't help that every day there was the threat of Captain Hook and his scraggly group of pirates always out their hunting for her precious Peter and Lost Boys. And she never knew if one of them might not return home. She spent a lot of her nights and days fretting over that very problem.
Wendy shook her head and returned to what she had been doing. She had slipped off into space while dwelling on her thoughts. The stew was just about ready when a noise made Wendy jump and turn around. Peter had come down early from playing and was standing at the other side of the large open room, beaming at Wendy.
"Hello Mother!" He said cheerfully walking over to her.
"Hello Father." She returned. She smiled back at him, but it was strained. She hoped Peter wouldn't notice. But of course, he did. His smile faded and turned into a slight frown as he looked at Wendy's demeanor. Her beautiful red hair was tangled and unkempt. Her pretty hazel eyes had great purple bags underneath them and her dirty old nightgown had been replaced by a dress Wendy had haphazardly made herself from old scraps of clothing. She looked down right horrible. Even the sparkle in her eyes was beginning to fade.
"Wendy, what's wrong?" asked Peter, a definite note of concern in his not-so-boyish voice. Wendy let out the breath she had been holding and turned away from him and back to the stew. Peter placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying to persuade her to tell him what was wrong. Her mouth opened and closed several times while she thought of how to explain what she was feeling. Wendy shook her head, deciding not to bother Peter with her problems at the moment and plastered a smile on her face. She looked back up at Peter, hoping her façade would fool him.
"Nothing Peter." She said in a falsely sweet tone. Now Peter had a sixth sense when it came to lying. No one could lie to him. And if he could remember right, this was the first time in a very long time that someone had tried to lie to Peter. His crystal blue eyes darkened and he frowned even more so at Wendy. He watched as her smile faltered and slowly disappeared completely. Wendy looked into his eyes, but then quickly looked away. She had clasped her hands in front of her and was staring down at them tensely when Peter spun her around to look at him. Wendy's head snapped up in surprise and stared directly into Peter's eyes.
"Wendy." He warned. She let out another great sigh at the look on his face, but couldn't make herself look away this time.
"Oh Peter." Wendy whispered sadly as tears formed in her eyes and she threw her arms around him. "I don't know what to think anymore. All this housework, you and the boys running off everyday and me never knowing if you'll all return safely. And with the attack from Hook yesterday! I thought in Neverland you were never suppose to grow up!" Wendy wailed her despairs into Peter's shoulder, which was at the perfect height for Wendy to rest her head at. Peter looked down at Wendy confused, but comforted the girl anyway.
"Now where do you get this growing up nonsense?" Peter said looking at Wendy tersely. He did not like speaking of growing up. He didn't even like thinking of it. Wendy sniffled a bit and pulled back from Peter. She looked up into his eyes and noticed that he was taller than usual. She took a step back, but continued to look at him.
"Peter, with all the responsibilities going on around here, you can't help but act like a real grown up!" Wendy all but screamed this at Peter. The banter from outside abruptly stopped, but neither Peter nor Wendy noticed. Peter bristled at Wendy's statement, yet she continued before he could say anything to her.
"Take me for example. I do all this cooking, cleaning, washing, and sewing and it's fun and games at first, but now it's just horrible. I feel like a real mother. And you! Every other day you're out there fighting for you life against that blasted Hook like some real man! And yesterday, all the boys were in danger!" Tears burst forth after Wendy's speech and she was breathing hard from the effort trying to restrain her tears.
Peter stood perfectly still just staring at Wendy. He didn't know what to think. On one hand he wanted to blow up in this girls face for calling him a real man and thinking all the nonsense about acting grown up, even if deep down he knew it was true. But on the other hand, he wanted to rush to the crying girl before him and comfort her. He wanted to tell her that it was going to be ok. He wanted to promise that none of the boys would ever get hurt, but he couldn't promise that because he didn't know if that was really true.
Finally, Peter's comforting side won and he carefully walked over to Wendy. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her as she cried. She seemed to care so much that all of the boys were safe. It seemed like she truly did love all of them. Unconsciously, Peter had begun to stroke Wendy's hair in a soothing way and rocking her back and forth.
"Hey, sh. C'mon now. It's going to be ok." Peter whispered soothingly into her ear. "The boys are fine. They can look after themselves, as long as they stay together that is. And I'll be fine. I've never lost to Hook yet, have I? If you really want to know Wendy, it's you I'm always worried about." Said Peter. He heard Wendy gasp softly and once again she was looking up into his eyes.
"Nonsense! Why should you be worrying about me? You have so many other things to worry about." Wendy said completely contradicting herself in the matter of worries.
"And so do you. Like you said, you cook, you clean, you wash, and you sew. You look after all the boys and I and the hideout. If it weren't for you, I don't think this place would have been livable." Peter shot back. Wendy blushed at his compliment and averted her eyes somewhere else. Peter sighed to himself. He grabbed Wendy's chin and forced her to look him in the eye. Their faces were mere inches apart from each other and that strange tingly feeling was starting to spread through Peter's body again. He started to notice how close they really were standing and how soft her skin felt underneath his fingers. He liked the feeling and wanted see if her whole face felt the same as her small chin.
Slowly his hand drifted up the side of her face to where his large palm was flat against her smooth cheek. Unknowingly, Wendy had closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. "What are Mother and Father doing?" could be heard amongst other whispers coming from outside of the hideout, but Peter and Wendy yet again did not notice.
"You've been cooped up in here enough for today Wendy. How about I have the boys take the table and food outside and we can eat under the stars? And tomorrow you can come with me to see the Indians. I have to tell them we've moved and I bet Tiger Lily would just love to help you." Suggested Peter. Wendy, still with her eyes closed, smiled faintly and nodded.
"That would be lovely Peter." Her voice was airy and dreamlike. Peter smiled at her statement and felt like he needed to do something to show how happy he was that she agreed. That's when it struck him. Quickly he pulled his hand away from Wendy's face and reached inside a pocket Wendy had sewn for him.
Wendy, startled by Peter's hand suddenly being removed from her cheek, opened her eyes and looked at what was extended in Peter's hand. It was an acorn button. She smiled at the gesture but soon realized that she had nothing to give to him. Slowly she took the button from his hand and added it to the string with the first one with the hole in it.
"It looked like you needed something to cheer you up. I thought a kiss would do." Said Peter still oblivious to the true meaning of the word kiss. Wendy blushed at the statement and racked her brain for something she could give him in return.
"Why thank you Peter. It's wonderful, but I don't seem to have anything to give to you." Wendy frowned and looked around the room for inspiration when it struck. A smile flashed across her lips and before she could chicken out she leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on Peter's cheek. The blush on her cheeks deepened at Peter's broad smile and dazed eyes.
"Thank you Wendy." He said placing a hand on his cheek where she had kissed him. "I think I'll go round up the boys now. You just sit down and rest." And with that Peter turned around and walked up the stairs and out of the underground hideout.
As Peter made his way up the stone staircase, he could hear little feet scurrying in all directions. Peter laughed and shook his head, thinking how silly the Lost Boys were. When he emerged from stony stairs into the evening air all the Boys had run off to one corner or another trying to make it look like they had been playing board games and marbles all along. Peter smiled to himself and shook his head yet again. With his hands on his hips, Peter stepped forward into the small clearing beyond the boulder that covered the entrance to their new home and called the boys to him.
"Alright you lot! You heard what I said to Mother, now go downstairs and get that table and food up here." Ordered Peter in his best authoritative tone. All the boys smiled guilty at being caught eavesdropping and immediately saluted Peter.
"Aye, aye!" They said in unison. Peter laughed again at the boys' reaction and so did they. Slightly made the first move to go down the stairs when Peter called to them again and stopped them.
"Oh and boys! You're Mother's had a very hard day, so before you do anything go wash up and then all of you give your Mother a nice big hug. And make sure your extra nice and polite. We don't want to give Mother anymore trouble today. Understand?" Peter warned. The boys all nodded again and ran down to the small bucket they used for washing up and then ran down to greet their Mother hello.
Wendy smiled hearing the last part of Peter's speech to their children. It was so sweet that he was thinking of her in such a kind way. A smile formed over Wendy's lips as she promptly plopped down into a nearby chair, exhausted. But before she could allow her mind to wonder back to the moment her and Peter had just shared Slightly and Tootles came running into the kitchen from the stairs.
"Alright, we'll leave the chairs for the littler guys and you, me, Curly and John will get the table." Said Slightly taking on his second-in-command role. Wendy smiled at the boys as one by one they all came over to her and gave her some of the biggest hugs she had ever received. And each boy, in turn, had whispered a pleasant greeting into her ear.
"Good evening Mother." Said Slightly.
"Hello Mother dear." Said Curly.
"Mother, dinner smells wonderful this evening." Said Tootles.
Wendy laughed at all of their sayings and returned them with pleasantries of her own.
"Good evening to you too, Slightly."
"Hello dear Curly."
"Why thank you Tootles. I do believe that I have made your favorite, mashed potatoes and corn."
After all the boys had said their hellos, they immediately began to follow Slightly's orders and took to taking the table and chairs upstairs. Then they came back down and each took a bowl of food up to the table. They set the table, got the drinks, and were seated ready to eat when Wendy walked up the stairs into the cool evening air. The sun was setting and once again the sky was painted in a multitude of beautiful colors. A large smile crept onto Wendy's face as she looked around her. All the boys, the beautiful sky, and the wonderful place she was in. She sighed, realizing that she had been looking at all the negatives of Neverland before. She hadn't even thought of all the good things that this place offered.
At seeing Wendy smile the boys, along with Peter, all smiled at each other. They had made Mother happy. And if Mother was happy, then they were all happy. Wendy sat down and their first real meal at the underground hideout began and lasted long into the night.