Pan's Tiger

Chapter 7: Ex-husband

'What? On the floor? Come up here with me.' He said, patting the space beside him. In the depths of my thoughts, I had almost forgotten he was there.

'No, thank you.' I said as politely as possible. As kind and thoughtful as his actions were, I preferred the company of myself when sleeping, particularly if the alternative was someone I had only just met who had almost killed me. Even though I married him, I hadn't seen him in ages and he looked entirely different.

'Tiger Lily, we were married.' He reminded me eventually, raising an eyebrow at my reluctance to sleep in the same bed as him. Then, he reminded me,'That's normal, it's ok to feel weird about it, but I'm still the Malcolm you married.'

'Yep,' I mumbled, but it was clear that I disagreed: he was nothing like the man I married; he was nothing like Malcolm. I decided against telling him this, however.

Peter Pan huffed and clambered drunkly out of the bed, almost knocking over his chest of drawers as he did so. 'I know you don't want to believe it, but I haven't changed, Tiger.'

I contorted my face into an unimpressed expression, trying to show him that he had changed, he wasn't the man I married. Malcolm wouldn't lose and risk the life of his only son. Malcolm wouldn't emotionally hurt his wife. Malcolm wouldn't kill an entire native tribe. Peter Pan wasn't Malcolm.

He smiled warmly at me, gesturing to the empty bed to show that I could sleep there instead of on the floor. I glanced at him for a second, suddenly seeing a side of him that I thought had vanished with his appearance when he gave up our son: humility, kindness and submission.

'I couldn't possibly-' I began, following his arm gesture to his own spot on the bed, which was heavily laden with beautiful, warm blankets and quilts. It was enough for him to allow me to be there eating his food and becoming a Lost Girl, let alone give up his bed for me too. I didn't want to impose on him.

'No, no, not at all.' He smiled, shaking his head to emphasise his point and giving me his hand to pull me to my feet. 'The floor won't do for you, but I can go and sleep in any of the Lost Boy's tree houses, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Whereas you, who won't share a bed with me, your own husband-'

'Ex-husband.' I corrected, rudely interrupting him.

'-probably won't share a bed with any of them either.' He assumed, ignoring my interruption, and I nodded. Climbing under the covers, I shifted closer to the wall, allowing myself to be swamped by the vast bed spread, which was at least a double bed for one person. 'Thank you...' I mumbled, but was startled when he also climbed into bed next to me.

'I choose you to be the Lost Girl I sleep with tonight, ex-wife, you should be honoured.' He smiled a lop-sided grin arrogantly, sending me a smirk of happiness at how he had outsmarted me and cornered me on the edge of the bed with no way out to the floor again. I groaned, smacking my head against the covers.

'I hate you.' I groaned angrily.

'I know, I hate you too. But not as much as I love you.' He mused, chuckling to himself and tucking himself in. Even after all of this time, after all of his betrayal, my heart skipped a beat and fluttered for a few moments, before he interrupted my thoughts by sayin, 'Goodnight, ex-Wife Tiger Lily.'

'Goodnight, ex-Husband Pan.' I replied, before he blew out the candles and nestled himself to sleep. I sat there awake for a moment, suddenly feeling cold for the first time since I arrived in Neverland. The cold swept in through the floorboards and comfortingly hugged my body, reaching every part of my frozen fingers and toes. But, eventually, I managed to drift of to sleep.

~

I dreamt that night. I dreamt that I was reliving one of the most terrifying, traumatic experiences of my life: my own escape.