Topic: Not So Lost

Ashlyn Radcliffe

Date: 2017-11-27 03:47 EST
Perhaps the new house on the bay was ringing with the sound of a child's laughter several years ahead of schedule, but it was at least laughter and not tears. Thankfully, Peter had been convinced to take a bath by means of a liberal amount of Ashlyn's bubble bath in the water, finally washing off the grime accumulated by years of not washing particularly well in warm water, with a little help from a fellow male. When they'd been in there for an hour, however, Ash knocked on the door.

"I promise I won't look," she called, opening the bathroom door just enough to pass a handful of clothing inside. "Mom sent these over - used to be Dom's when he was little. They should fit you. Everything okay in there?"

"Everything's fine!" James called back. "Almost finished," he said, grabbing the handful of clothes and setting them down on the counter near the sink. "I'm going to step outside while you dry up and get dressed," he warned Peter, not wanting to make either of them uncomfortable by seeing the boy naked.

Peter didn't seem to mind much, not a shy bone in his body, despite James' insistence on leaving him to it. "Who's Dom?" he asked as he worked on building a tower of bubbles as high as it would go.

Leaning against the wall outside the bathroom, Ash grinned at the question. She'd put Cora down, so Peter had their full attention for the time being. "Dom is my big brother," she called through the door. "Which makes him your uncle. I'll show you a picture when you're dry and dressed."

"Okay, Mummy," he replied, still debating between which form of address to use for her. Mummy was fun to say anyway. "Where's your family, Papa?" he asked, as James reached for a towel. "Are they all gone?"

James frowned, though the question didn't really bother him so much as make him wonder how much Peter really understood about the passage of time. "Aye, they died a long time ago, Peter."

Overhearing this, Ash settled in outside the door. "When your Papa married me, my family made him one of us," she called through the wood, getting comfortable in her lean. "That's what good families do when someone needs them."

Peter thought about that a moment while James pulled the plug on the tub. "Like I need you," he said, not only meaning Ashlyn but James, too. "Because I don't have a family."

"Aye," confirmed James as he handed Peter a towel. "Now, get yourself dry and dressed and we'll have some hot cocoa," he told the boy, not realizing he might have some issues sorting out how to put on his new clothes.

Quite how they had managed to keep Peter from bouncing off the walls all day was anyone's guess. Despite being tired, he hadn't been able to nap when they'd got home this morning, and the day had been filled with questions and answers, and exploring his new home. Now it was late afternoon, and in a snatched moment of quiet, James and Ash had decided that the plan of action would be bath, cocoa, dinner, and bed.

"Might need a hand with the shirt, baby," Ash called to James.

"Er ..." James replied, uncertainly. He wasn't really accustomed to taking care of small children, outside of Cora, who was still in diapers and would be for a few years yet. He sighed and turned away, hands on his hips, so as not to embarrass Peter or himself. "Very well. Let me know if you need help," he told the boy.

"Papa, don't you remember when we went swimming in the lagoon together?" Peter asked, alluding to the fact that they'd both been naked as the day they'd been born.

"Are you sure you're remembering right and not mixing me up with some other boy?" James asked.

"Oh, no! I remember all of them! But you were the first," Peter said.

"The first?" James repeated, curiously. Peter had helped him remember a little of that time, but he wasn't sure he could trust those memories as being real.

"The first Lost Boy!" Peter explained. "After me!"

"I see," James said, turning back around to help Peter with his pajamas.

"It was after your mother died. Your father wasn't very nice, was he" You wanted to run away from home, and I promised you an adventure," Peter explained further, while James helped him get dressed.

"Okay, is everyone covered up in there?" Ash suddenly announced. She knew James probably wasn't ready to have this conversation with Peter; chances were he needed to talk it out with her first. "Doesn't matter, because I'm coming in!"

Thankfully, Peter had managed to get his pants on. Those weren't too difficult. It was the buttons of his shirt he needed help with. They hadn't even started on trying to get the tangles out of his hair. James let go of Peter to stand up and block Ash's entry into the bathroom, for some reason, but it wasn't anyone's state of undress.

"That's not a good idea, Ash!" James warned. "Why don't you go make the hot cocoa and we'll meet you downstairs?" he suggested.

Blocked from coming in, Ash laughed, meeting James' eyes with a grin. "You made a mess, didn't you?" she asked in amusement, tilting her head to look around his shoulder curiously. "Was it at least a fun mess?"

It was almost comical to watch James trying to block her view of the bathroom, swaying this way and that so that she couldn't so much as peek over his shoulder. "Nothing I can't handle," he replied, with a cheeky grin. "Now, you be a good little lass and go make some hot cocoa. We'll join you in a few," he promised, turning her around by the shoulders and giving her rear a playful pat to send her on her way.

She narrowed her eyes playfully at her husband, squeaking at the pat to her backside that sent her from the room. They could hear her laughing down the stairs, her footsteps making it quite clear that she was definitely going to the kitchen.

That laughter was echoed by a boy's laughter in the bathroom, though it was unclear just what he was laughing about. There was something to be said about a child's laughter, whether they be a nine-year-old orphaned boy or a baby girl, that warmed even the coldest of hearts and made a house a home and by the time James and Peter joined Ash in the kitchen, both of them were smiling again. Peter was dressed in a pair of slightly over-sized flannel pajamas, his hair neatly combed to one side, a pair of borrowed socks on his feet that looked suspiciously like Ashlyn's.

"Well, would you look at that?" Ash teased fondly, gently chucking Peter's chin. "There was a boy under all the dirt! And he's so handsome!" She smiled, pouring cocoa into three cups on the counter just as Cora started to fuss. "I guess she's hungry," she sighed, looking over at James. "Boob or bottle, your choice."

"Er ..." James stammered again, with a glance at Peter as the boy beamed a pleased and proud smile at his mother. He didn't really want Ashlyn whipping out the boob in front of the boy just yet, and so the choice was an obvious one. "Bottle, I suppose," he replied. "I'll get it," he volunteered, letting Ashlyn have a turn at handling the boy.

Ash smirked faintly, understanding the answer better than James might think. Letting him see to the baby for now, she pulled the packet of marshmallows out from the cupboard, opening them up to hand one to Peter. "This is a very special ingredient called a marshmallow that makes cocoa not just good, but awesome," she informed him. "But you should taste it first, in case you don't like it."

Ashlyn Radcliffe

Date: 2017-11-27 03:47 EST
"Awesome?" Peter asked, unsure about that word, though it sounded as if it meant that something was very good. He took the marshmallow between his finger and gave it a gentle squeeze, laughing at the spongy feel of it between his fingers. "A marsh mellow?" he repeated, laughing again at the sound of the word before popping the entire thing into his mouth. He chewed and nodded his head enthusiastically at the sweet, spongy taste of it. "S'good!" he mumbled around a mouthful of the sweet, sticky stuff.

"Awesome is a word that means even better than good," Ash explained with a grin as he scarfed down the whole thing in one go. She dropped a marshmallow onto the top of each cup of cocoa. "Let it melt a bit, and then you can drink the cocoa through the sticky goo." She glanced over at James. "You okay there, baby?"

"Aye, just making sure Miss Poopy Pants is clean," James replied, before returning with Cora on his arm and a bottle in his hand. He claimed a seat at the table before offering Cora the bottle, the little girl greedily latching on.

"I've never seen a new one up close before," Peter said, as he took up his mug with both hands and sipped at the hot cocoa, leaving a little brown mustache above his upper lip. He made an appreciative sound at the taste of it. "Mmm, it is awesome, Mama!"

Sliding down into a seat at the table with her little family, Ash sipped from her own cup, smiling as Peter enthused about his cocoa. "I'm glad you like it," she chuckled. "Haven't decided what we're making for dinner yet, but it'll be an adventure all on its own with me cooking." She wasn't a bad cook, just a noisy, messy one. "So what is the verdict on taking a bath' Not as bad as you thought?"

"No, it was fun!" Peter enthused, though it was uncertain he would feel the same once he realized he had to repeat the task every other night or so. "The bubbles were fun and it smelled nice, too!"

"I'll buy you some bubble bath that doesn't smell so ....girly tomorrow," James promised. "And we'll have to get you some clothes, too." And that was just for starters.

"There are lots of bubble baths," Ash agreed. "You can choose one that just yours, that smells just the way you want to. And my mother wants to meet you, too. She's invited us to dinner tomorrow." She flicked a curious glance at James - was that a good idea, or a bad idea"

James met her gaze with a light shrug. That all depended on how much Ashlyn's mother wanted to smother the boy. "Tomorrow is a bit soon," he said, though he supposed word was going to get around Maple Grove quickly about Peter's arrival and it was probably better he met her sooner, rather than later. They hadn't been prepared for a small boy to come into their lives so unexpectedly. "How are you feeling, Peter?" he asked, surprised to find himself actually concerned for the boy's well-being.

Peter shrugged, as he gulped down half the cup of cocoa. "A little tired," the boy admitted. It had been a long day, after all, and he had run the gamut of emotions.

"I'll call her," Ash promised, unable to resist stroking her fingers through Peter's now soft, clean hair as she leaned back in her chair comfortably. "Maybe she could pop by for a visit tomorrow, and we can arrange dinner some other time" After all, we've got a lot of people to show you off to, little man."

"Whatever you want, Mama," Peter replied, agreeably, slurping down the remainder of his hot cocoa. "Can I have some more, please?" he asked, holding the mug out once it was emptied, a sweet smile on his face.

James exchanged glances with Ashlyn again, one dark brow quirked upwards. He saw no harm in letting the boy have another cup of hot cocoa, seeing as he'd never had it before, but then they didn't want him to spoil his dinner either.

She laughed softly. "Just this once, you can finish mine," she told Peter, nudging her half-full mug toward him. "Cocoa's a treat, so we only have one cup at a time usually. But today's a special kind of day, so you can have half of mine." Smiling, she gently wiped a trickle of chocolate from his chin.

Peter beamed a happy smile back at her, as bright as sunshine, already in love with his new mother, though he had only just met her a few hours ago. What wasn't to love about her" Winning James' heart might be a little more of a challenge, but so far, the ex-pirate had been nothing if not kind and caring. "Thank you, Mama!" he told her, lifting his chin so she could wipe the chocolate from his face.

Ash grinned back at him, moving to rise to her feet to inspect the contents of their cupboards. She flashed James a cheeky smile on her way past, dipping to kiss his temple affectionately before applying herself to the prospect of dinner. "What about ....spaghetti carbonara?" she suggested after a quick perusal of the shelves.

"What's sketti carbo ....carbo ..." Peter attempted to ask, stumbling over the long word, even as he furrowed his brows in concentration. The long word just didn't want to come out of his mouth properly. If he didn't know what spaghetti was, there was no chance he was going to have any clue about the different dishes that could be made with it.

"It's a type of pasta," James explained, not quite realizing that wasn't going to tell him much.

"This stuff," Ash said, pulling the packet out of the cupboard. She pulled a piece free, leaning over to hand it to him. "You can't eat it like that, but when you cook it, it goes soft and chewy. Carbonara is the sauce I'll make to put on it."

Peter examined the piece of uncooked spaghetti, which didn't look very appetizing to him the way it was. "It looks like a stick," he said, breaking the piece in half and in half yet again.

"It does," Ash agreed with a grin, half filling a pan with hot water and setting it on the stove. "It doesn't taste too good like that, either." She measured out the spaghetti using the age-old method of how much fits in my hand, and set it into the water to do its thing.

That sounded almost like a dare to Peter, and he was not one to ignore a dare. He bit into the stick of uncooked spaghetti, pausing a moment to weigh the flavor while he chewed. "It tastes like a stick," he decided once he'd swallowed it.

On the opposite side of the table, James chuckled. "You're not supposed to eat it like that, Peter."

Laughing, Ash tipped a salute to the boy now crunching on raw pasta, whisking together the various ingredients for the sauce as bacon lardons sizzled in a separate pan on the stove. "I promise it tastes better cooked," she assured him, glancing over at James curiously. "How is her highness doing over there?"

"What is that smell?" Peter interrupted as the scent of bacon cooking reached his nose. He'd never smelled anything quite like it, though he and the Boys had hunted for wild boar and other wild animals on the island.

James pulled the bottle from Cora's mouth and laid her over his shoulder to coax a burp from her, setting the bottle on the table so that Ashlyn could see just how well their little piggy was doing. "I almost forgot to burp her!" he replied with a chuckle at their daughter's fondness for her dinner.

Ashlyn Radcliffe

Date: 2017-11-27 03:48 EST
"What's that?" Peter asked, pointing to the bottle on the table. He'd never seen anything like it. Wendy had mentioned something about babies and bottles, but he hadn't been paying much attention at the time.

"The smell is bacon, sweetheart," Ash explained to Peter, chuckling as James wrestled Cora up onto his shoulder for a burp or seven. "We had some at breakfast, remember" It's one of the best smells ever." She grinned at him, pausing to stir the bacon bits and the pasta before adding the sauce to the meat to warm while the spaghetti was doing its thing. "Cora can't eat real food yet," she added. "So she has a bottle of milk every few hours. When she gets bigger, we can start feeding her other things."

Peter made a face at the thought of having to subsist on just milk all the time. "That's boring! When I was little, Tink fed me fairy nectar. That's how come I don't need pixie dust to fly," he explained, as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world.

"Well, human babies drink milk," Ash told him. "Because that's what mummies make when they're small so they can grow bigger. It's a special kind of milk made just for them."

"I thought milk comes from cows," Peter remarked further, innocently moving into territory he might not quite be ready to understand yet. There were no cows or goats on the island, though Wendy had explained a little about milk when they'd been playing pretend.

Ash made the attempt to explain this one, too. "A lot of animals make milk especially for their babies to drink when they're small. But animals like cows and goats make milk that other animals, like humans, can drink safely as well. Does that make sense?"

"I guess," Peter replied, furrowing his brows in thought. "Doesn't it get boring for her, drinking milk all the time?" he asked, looking over at his new baby sister.

James practically breathed a sigh of relief, as they were saved from explaining breast feeding, at least for the moment. "She doesn't have any teeth yet, Peter. All babies drink milk when they're little," he explained.

"She's never tasted anything else, so she doesn't find it boring," Ash added, pulling plates from the cupboard as she spoke. "It would be like you drinking nectar all the time when you were little. You didn't find that boring, did you?"

"No!" Peter exclaimed in answer. "Nectar is sweet, like ..." He trailed off as he tried to find the words to properly describe the stuff, brows furrowed in concentration. "Like honey, sort of!" he declared, at last. On James' shoulder, Cora let out a loud burp that got Peter laughing. "That's an awesome burp, Corabelle! Better even than Nibs! He was the best burper ever!"

"Milk is sweet, too, you know," Ash pointed out, laughing at the eruption from the smallest member of the family. "Wow, Cora, are you trying to deafen your daddy?" On James' shoulder the baby girl gurgled happily, wobbling her head around to cuddle into him.

Peter gave Cora a long look, before speaking again in a tentative voice. "Can-can I hold her?" he asked, blue eyes full of youthful hope and longing.

James' brows quirked upwards at Ashlyn at Peter's question. He'd been about to explain that there was milk in Peter's cocoa when the conversation had been derailed by Cora's burp.

Ash caught James' glance, her expression softening reassuringly for her husband. "I don't see why not," she said quietly. "You have to be gentle with her, and stay still. But yeah, I think you should cuddle your baby sister a little."

"She's very small, isn't she?" Peter asked, though that much was obvious. She wasn't as small as Tink, but she was still the smallest child he'd ever seen. Had he been that small when Tink had found him 'bandoned, he wondered.

"She's only four months old," Ash told him with a smile. "She'll get bigger." She met James' eyes thoughtfully. "Maybe we should save a cuddle until after dinner, though," she added. "It's almost ready, and Cora's not going anywhere."

"Can I teach her to fly someday?" Peter asked further, actually asking permission, as he at least knew that flying wasn't something that came naturally to most children.

"She won't be able to fly the way you do, Peter," Ash explained, draining the pasta with a loud splash and gush of steam. "But when she's bigger, and if you promise not to take her too high or too far, then we'll talk about it."

"When she gets bigger," Peter echoed, agreeably. Now that that was settled, he immediately forgot about that and circled back to the subject of holding his new sister. "Can I still hold her after dinner?" he asked, hopefully.

"Of course you can, sweetheart. Wanna be helpful?" Ash offered this with bright, wide eyes and an encouraging expression, laying a handful of cutlery on top of the plates. "You could put these plates on the table, with one of each bit of cutlery next to each one - that's called laying the table."

Peter finished off his share of Ashlyn's hot cocoa and licked his lips clean or at least, practically clean. "Yes, Mama," he replied, sliding down from the chair to do as he was asked. It was a simple enough task for a boy of his age. "They're heavy, aren't they?" he asked as he set the table, one plate at a time.

"They are," she chuckled in agreement. "It's because they're made of pottery - you know, baked clay' - and the cutlery is made of metal. But they're not as heavy as some of the plates Humphrey has!" She stirred the spaghetti into the sauce, tilting her head toward James. "Do you think she'll lie quiet while we're eating?"

"I don't mind holding her," James replied, looking perfectly content to hold Cora as long as she wanted to be held, even if it meant eating one-handed.

"Okay, then." Chuckling, Ash switched off the stove and snagged a potholder from the counter, bringing the pan of spaghetti and sauce over to the table. "So how does it smell, Peter" Think it smells edible?"

Peter inhaled deeply, drawing in the smell of the sauce, which made his tummy grumble. "Yes, Mama! It smells delicious!" he confirmed, his mouth watering in anticipation. There hadn't been any cooked meals like this in Neverland. Oh, the boys had learned how to catch and cook rabbits and such, but nothing quite like this.

"There is something to be said for modern cuisine," James added.

"What's queen's seen?" Peter asked curiously.

Ash chuckled. "Cuisine is a posh word for food," she told him, serving out their portions before taking a seat herself. "You have to use your fork like a spindle ....look, I'll show you." She demonstrated how to catch spaghetti on her fork, shoving the mouthful past her lips before leaning back for the tea towel to wrap about his neck. "Just in case of drips."

"What's posh mean?" Peter asked, each answer only leading to another question.

"It means fancy," James explained, settling Cora against his shoulder, so that he could use his free hand for eating.

Peter wasn't sure what a spindle was either, but he understood the concept Ashlyn was trying to show him. "Like this?" he asked, twirling his fork in the spaghetti so that he could catch hold of some of the stuff.

"Exactly like that." Ash grinned encouragingly at him. Small steps - at least this was a meal where he couldn't cheat and use his fingers with any degree of success. Something fun that would fill him up; that was a good place to start.

Peter laughed as he twirled his spaghetti around a fork and lifted it to his mouth, losing his pasta and having to start all over again, but after a while, he seemed to get the hang of it, noisily slurping the pasta off his fork and into his mouth. "S'good!" he declared through a mouthful of the pasta mixture. Good in a different way from the hot cocoa.

Ashlyn Radcliffe

Date: 2017-11-27 03:49 EST
"I'm very glad you like it," Ash beamed back at him. No fear of him eating too quickly with spaghetti, either - each forkful took a fair amount of effort to get to his mouth. She looked at James thoughtfully. "So I guess we're going into town tomorrow to pick up a few things the little master here needs?"

"Aye, seems that way," James replied, not unhappy about the prospect, but not necessarily overjoyed about it either. The fact was he was even more perplexed about the newest addition to the family than the new addition himself.

"It shouldn't be too hard," she commented, pausing to wipe sauce off her own chin. "Clothes, shoes, toys, and a couple of things to brighten the bedroom' Does that sound like the right kind of thing?"

James arched a brow, mostly at the suggestion of toys. What kind of toys do you buy for the boy who refused to grow up" A boy whose favorite toy was probably a dagger" A boy who could fly and had had a fairy for a best friend" But James didn't comment on that, as he had other more pressing concerns. "Are we putting him in the guest room?" he asked, curiously.

"His bedroom, yes," Ash corrected him gently. She tilted a curious glance toward her husband, not entirely sure what was going on there. He was the one who had brought Peter home and told her they were going to be the boy's family now, but James seemed to be struggling with the permanency of that declaration now.

"Aye, his bedroom," James echoed, still not quite believing it. How long before Peter decided he didn't want to grow up and flew out the window" Or until he tried to chop James' hand off again, in a fit of anger" And yet, there was a part of him that felt sympathetic toward the boy. He just couldn't quite wrap his head around it yet. Beside them, the boy had grown quiet - a little too quiet - and James turned his head to find Peter resting his head on his arm and quietly snoring.

Ash followed his gaze, a soft sound of amusement leaving her lips at the sight of the little boy fast asleep on his own arm at the table. "Oh dear," she smiled, shaking her head. "I guess I should put him to bed, huh?"

James thought about volunteering to do it himself, but he still had Cora on his shoulder, and he thought it was more important for Peter to bond with Ashlyn than with him. "Aye, it's been a long day," he said, softening a little at the sight of the little boy asleep at the table.

"For you as well, you know," she pointed out gently, leaning over to brush her lips against his temple. "Won't be long." Rising, she carefully drew Peter up, looping his arms about her neck to lift him and tuck his legs around her waist. "C'mon, sweetheart, bedtime."

Peter muttered something indistinct under his breath as Ash picked him up, while James watched, that perplexed look still on his face, despite Ashlyn's reassurance.

"It seems you have a big brother, Cora," he told her as he picked her up to change her diaper and get her ready for bed.

It was more of an effort to carry a sleepy boy upstairs and into his own bedroom than Ashlyn had realized, but somehow she managed it without dropping him. He landed on the bed with a bit of a thump, but thankfully the pillows were soft enough to absorb that impact as she carefully guided his legs underneath the covers. Her fingers gently stroked his hair from his brow as she watched him, leaning close to kiss his head. "Good night, little man," she whispered to her newfound son. "Sweet dreams."

At any other time, Peter might have asked her to stay and sit with him awhile and tell him a story, but tonight, just like any other small boy his age, he was too tired to resist the pull of sleep. By the time Ash returned, James had already tucked Cora into bed and was working on cleaning up the dishes.

As she wandered into the kitchen, Ash picked up the cloth to dry the dishes as he washed them. "Out like a light," she told her husband. "So ....what?s bugging the captain?" She eyed him with a gentle smile. "What happened over there, Jamie?"

James practically winced at her question, though he knew it was coming. He wasn't sure if she was asking about what had happened most recently in Neverland or two centuries ago. "He chopped off my hand and threw it to the croc is what happened," James said, unable to correlate what had happened then and what was happening now.

"Hey." Putting the cloth down, she touched his shoulder, urging him to turn and look her in the eye. "That's not what I asked. And if that's really how you feel about that little boy, how dare you offer him a home with us" Sort it out, Jamie. Talk to me."

James sighed, knowing he had to sort his own feelings out sooner or later or he'd never be a good father, not only to Peter, but to Cora, too. "Do you know what Barrie wrote in his book?" he asked as he turned to face her, the dishes forgotten for the moment. "He wrote that Captain Hook hates children and children hate him. That's me, Ash. I'm Captain Hook."

Ash stared at him. "So help me, James Radcliffe, if you justify throwing that kid out to another family because of that book, I will slap you so hard," she warned, though there was little heat in her voice. "It's done. I know the book's a lie. You know the book's a lie. Hell, I bet even Peter would point out the lies. So forget the damned book, would you? It has no bearing on this situation. This is about you and him, the reality."

"He still cut off my hand, Ash," James said, remembering how delighted Peter had been when he'd noticed that hand had been healed somehow. Could it be Peter felt remorseful about it' James wasn't sure Peter was capable of feeling remorseful about anything. "I've been thinking about whether this was meant to happen all along."

"Yeah, he cut off your hand," she said, and given the brittleness of her voice, that was something she was struggling with, too. "But I can't exorcise that memory, Jamie. That's something you and he need to talk about. And no, he might not feel sorry for it. Because he's a child - children don't understand consequences very well, and as far as he's concerned, it's all fine anyway, because you got your hand back. His understanding of what happened and how it affected you is going to be very different to yours."

James sighed again and dropped into a chair. "I know. I know what he told me, and I know he's lonely. He said his mother abandoned him when he was a baby and that Tinker Bell brought him to Neverland. Gods, it sounds preposterous talking about it, doesn't it' But I've been there, Ash. And if that's true, then he never had a choice, did he" He never had a mother or a family to love him. What if he's telling the truth' What if all these years, that's all he's wanted" What kind of monster would I be to tell him no?" He ran a hand through his hair, clearly perplexed and struggling to reconcile the past with the present.

"You're not a monster, Jamie," she told him, crouching down between his knees, her arms on his thighs as she looked up into his eyes. "But if you can't handle him staying, then ..." She hesitated. The thought of hurting a child was painful, but Peter wasn't her son. Not yet. James was her husband, the father of her daughter. "We'll have to make the decision tonight, before he gets too attached to us."

"Aren't I?" James echoed back at her. "All these years I've called him a demon child, when he's only just a little boy who's never had a mother or father to teach him right from wrong. How can I turn him away when ..." He trailed off, needing a moment to steady his voice. "He's lost, Ash. Broken. Maybe we both are. Maybe we need this. Maybe this is how we heal, how we go on. Maybe I just need to forgive him. I don't know. He asked me to be his father. Me, of all people. Maybe all he wants is to be loved. I just ....It will take time. That's all."

Ashlyn Radcliffe

Date: 2017-11-27 03:49 EST
She reached up, her hand gently cupping his jaw, drawing his eyes back to hers. "You're a good man, Jamie," she told him, not an ounce of insincerity anywhere to be found in her. "You are a wonderful father. And despite everything that's happened between you, you found it in yourself to offer that lost little boy a real home. No monster could ever do that. I'm proud of you."

"I don't know that I'm a very good father, Ash. Being a good father isn't just about feedings and diapers. I don't know if I know how to be a good father," he told her, appreciating her faith in him, but unsure if he had any faith in himself. Oh sure, he was capable of providing for a child, but that wasn't entirely what being a father was all about. His own father hadn't been much of a role model, and he wasn't too sure what he was supposed to do.

"Jamie, you're not listening very well," she pointed out, her smile gentle. "You brought home a son today. A little boy who needs you. And you didn't push him away, or say it was someone else's problem, you stepped up. That is being a good father."

"But I ..." he started, trying to make her understand. "I don't love him, Ash," he confessed, the pain in his eyes proof enough that he wanted to. Maybe that was enough for now.

"Neither do I," she pointed out softly. "I don't know him. You don't know him, either. You know only the version of him that Tinker Bell nurtured. But I haven't seen that boy today. Have you?"

James thought about that a moment before answering. "No. No, I haven't," he replied with frown. No, this Peter hadn't been the same one who'd been his sworn enemy. Had Peter only been playing pretend then or was he just playing pretend now" Who was the real Peter Pan' Or maybe that was the point - that he wasn't Pan anymore, just Peter.

"It sounds like Tink gave him all the joys and fun of being a child, with none of the rules or boundaries that make being a child, having a family, so important," she said quietly. "Sure, he'll hate having the law laid down. And we'll have arguments, and he'll fly away a couple of times, I'm sure. But we can give him something he won't find anywhere else. Love comes later. Right now, he needs warmth and shelter, and consistency. We can give him that."

James smiled softly. How was it Ashlyn always knew just what to say to make him feel better" He touched her cheek, his fingers sliding into her hair. "You really are an amazing woman, Ashlyn Radcliffe," he said, using her married name, rather than the one she'd grown up with.

Her smile brightened, glad to see him come back from wherever he had gone in his confusion. "Well, I'd have to be," she accepted with teasing affection. "You'd only marry an amazing person."

He chuckled in quiet amusement at her reply. "How can I argue with that?" he asked, leaning in to brush a tender kiss against her lips. "Shall we finish cleaning up and go to bed" It's been a long day." For all of them.

She smiled against his lips, her thumb caressing a soft line against his cheek. "That sounds like a very good idea," she agreed in a low tone. "We need a good night's sleep after last night. All of us."

"I love you, Ash," he whispered as he kissed her lips again. There was no doubt in his mind that she was quite literally his saving grace. Maybe she could be Peter's saving grace, too.

"Love you back, Jamie," she promised in a hushed whisper of her own, gently rising to her feet to pull him up with her. "Forget the dishes," she murmured. "Let's just go to bed."

"You will regret that decision in the morning," he warned her, smiling as he moved wearily to his feet. He didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was tired, not only in body, but wrung out emotionally. He knew what he was feeling was probably nothing compared to Peter.

"I'm allowed to regret a few things from time to time," she shrugged, rising onto her toes to kiss the tip of his nose. "C'mon, captain. Your wife wants you to put her to bed."

"If that's what you really want, who am I to argue?" he said, again, smiling fondly as she kissed his nose. He tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow to lead her to bed. It had been a long day and night, not only for them, but for Peter and Lyneth and the twins and their families. It was time to get a good night's sleep before facing the challenges the morning would bring.

It wouldn't be plain sailing, that was for sure. But with a little luck, and a lot of persistence, Peter Pan would be a thing of the past. Peter Radcliffe had a whole lifetime ahead of him, and a family who would make sure he was ready for it, no matter what.