Cherry Meets Peter Pan

chapter 9

Peter came after they all celebrated the disappearance of Captain Hook and his men. Peter wore Hook's coat and hat.

"Hooray!" everyone cheered. "Hooray for Captain Pan!"

"That was awesome!" Pat cheered.

Chris nodded in agreement.

"Peter, you look so fancy," Cherry blushed at Peter's new clothes. "What are we gonna do now, Captain?"

"Alright, you swabs!" Peter commanded. "Aloft with you! We're casting off!"

The Lost Boys went to steer the ship away to a new place. The question was just to where. Wendy went over to Peter, meeting up with Cherry and she properly curtsied. "Captain Pan." Wendy greeted.

"At your service, madame." Peter took off his hat and bowed respectively.

"Could you tell us where we're sailing?"

"London, ma'am."

Wendy and Cherry felt delighted as Peter told them that. Wendy then rushed off. "John! Michael! We're going home!" she ran to her brothers.

"I'm gonna miss you, Peter." Cherry sighed, uneasily, with her hands together.

"I'll miss you too, Cherry, you can always stay, you know." Peter said.

"Thanks, but I need to get back home, I don't want my parents to be home alone until I go to college."

"Alone?"

"I'm the youngest," Cherry explained as she took out a family photo. "I have a brother named Mike in college, a sister named Teresa who's an engineer now, and... I don't know what Tom does, I never met him."

"Big family." Peter cracked a smile.

"Indeed," Cherry pulled him into a hug. "I'm really gonna miss you, can I take one last picture?"

Peter smirked and tipped his hat. "That'd be an honor, miss."

Cherry chuckled, took out her camera and snapped a picture of Peter to put in her adventure scrap-book. "Thank you, Peter." she smiled.

"Anytime," Peter smiled, then noticed the ship was ready to go. "PIXIE DUST!" he called to Tinkerbell.

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Tinkerbell saluted and doused the whole ship with pixie dust like she was instructed to. The ship was then taking off in mid-air and they were headed to London. Later, it was 11:00 at night, Bud, Michelle, George and Mary had returned from their party and decided to check on the children with Nana tagging along.

"George, I'm so glad you changed your mind about Wendy." Mary told her husband. "After all, they're still children."

"Mary," George yawned slightly. "You know I never mean those things, do I, Nana? What do you think, Bud and Michelle?"

"I wonder why Cherry wasn't on the couch like we left her." Michelle thought out loud.

Mary opened the door and was shocked to see Wendy wasn't in her bed. "Wendy?" she then saw Wendy was lying by the window and Cherry was there with her. "Cherry, Wendy, what on Earth are you two doing there?"

Cherry and Wendy woke up once Nana licked Wendy's hand and Cherry yawned. They saw Mary and Naomi and rushed to their respective mothers.

"Oh, Mother, we're back." Wendy smiled.

"Back?" George and Bud asked.

"All except the Lost Boys, Chris and Pat," Cherry pushed back her glasses. "They weren't ready yet."

"Lost Boys? Chris and Pat? Ready?" George wondered what his niece was talking about.

"To grow up," Wendy explained. "That's why they went back to Neverland."

"Neverland?" George looked at his daughter.

"Yes, but I am."

"Am?"

"Ready to grow up."

"Oh, oh!" George smiled about to pat Wendy on the head. "All in good time. Perhaps we need to-"

"Oh, Aunt Mary, it was such a lovely adventure," Cherry said. "Tinkerbell and the mermaids and Peter Pan! Why, even when we were kidnapped-"

"Kidnapped?" George asked.

"Mm-hmm," Wendy decided to continue. "I knew Peter Pan would save us and when he did, we called him a codfish! Oh, Captain Hook, I mean. And then we sailed away on a ship in the sky."

"Ship in the sky?" George was surprised, then grew exhausted as he heard the most strange things from his daughter and niece. "Mary, I'm going to bed."

"Time for bed, you two." Michelle said as she picked up Cherry in her arms.

"George?" Mary called as she saw something out the window. "George! Bud! Michelle!"

"Oh, what now, Mar-" George's eyes widened. He looked back at Cherry's parents, then at the window. "Nana, Bud, Michelle, do you see...?"

Nana barked in agreement as she saw a cloud ship in the night sky with the family.

"You know, I have the strangest feeling that I've seen that ship before," George walked over with Bud. "A long time ago, when I was young."

"I have the same feeling, George." Chester agreed.

The Darling parents and daughter looked out with Cherry, Bud and Michelle, along with Nana. Michael and John were asleep, but the remaining family happily looked out the window as they felt the shivers of nostalgia and growing up. All children grow up eventually, but except for one known as Peter Pan.