Pan's Tiger

Chapter 18: Trouble

I winced, preparing myself for anther punch.  Shutting my eyes tightly, I waited for the pain I knew was about to come.

But it never came.

I cautiously opened my eyes, one at a time, to see a hand clutching Jack's fist, keeping it from colliding with my face.

'Touch my Tiger one more time and I'll feed you to the mermaids, Lost Boy!' Pan screamed angrily.

'Pan, I'm sorry! It was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt her, it-' Jack began to defend himself, looking more terrified than I had ever seen him before

'Cut it, Jack!' I heard Pan yell angrily before my vision subsided and I blacked out in pain.

~

'Tiger! Tiger Lily! Wake up!' A strong, masculine voice said, shaking me firmly awake. I cautiously opened my eyes, blinking up at Peter in almost confusion. 'I cured you. Are you feeling ok? Are you in pain? Do you want me to try healing you again? '

I shook my head once, blinking into the sunlight of Neverland. I hadn't passed out for long, but it felt like hours since the fight.

'Good. Come with me.' He said and I took his outstretched hand, allowing him to haul myself to my feet ungracefully, and padded across the forest with him. I had to walk a little bit faster than usual next to Peter's long strides, but I ignored the pain in my legs as much as possible and walked behind him quickly away from the camp.

In silence, we walked until we reached Pan's thinking tree. We sat there for a long time, in silence again, allowing us both the time we needed to think.

He sent me a small smile and placed his hand gently on my back, slightly rubbing circles on it to relax me. I didn't realise how tense I was until he relaxed me in this comforting, loving way.

'Are you alright, Tiger Lily?' Pan mumbled softly, gliding into the seat beside me. His hand gently combed through my hair and then dropped to my side. He removed my hand from my side and placed it on his own lap, gently running circles across my palm.

'I'm ok.' I whispered back, returning his small smile kindly. Although Jack had hit me hard enough to knock me out, I refused to show this and confidently held my head high, refusing to show any kind of weakness to the Lost Boys, who often didn't respect me because I was "only a girl".

'Sorry.' Peter mumbled into my hair. In this time, Peter had shifted on his spot next to me on the tree even closer to me, so that I was practically sat on top of him, my left hand in his lap and our legs entangled. I barely noticed that my head was on his shoulder and he was gently stroking my hair.

As we walked through the Lost Boys, I realised that Peter was acting a little more public with his relationship with me than usual, making me suspect that perhaps after I passed out someone made a few snide comments and he wanted to remind them that I was his.

I sat on the log besides Peter, thinking things through, when I whispered softly, so that he didn't have to feel separated from the others if they could hear what we were saying, 'Pan?'

'Yes, Tiger,' Peter mumbled softly into my hair, kissing my cheek at the end.

'Did you find out why Baelfire was angry Jack? I want to understand how justifiable Baelfire's anger was.' I said assertively and Pan raised his eyebrows in confusion as if I had just committed a crime. It seemed as though it didn't occur to him to discover the context to their fight before deciding upon a suitable punishment for their violent behaviour.

'Baelfire!' Pan called and  Baelfire turned around, cringing slightly as to whether Pan had decided upon a despicable punishment for him yet. 'Baelfire, enlighten us, I want to know why you were angry with Jack.'