Believe in Happy Endings

Prelude

The story always ends the same.

"Goodbye, Jane!", Peter Pan shouts from above, blazing through the starry sky, leaving trails of Tinkerbell's pixie dust, who was waving to the window from his shoulder. Jane's eyes lit up brighter than the stars. Her face pulled back to a smile. Her mother, Wendy, looked down and smiled at her daughter, then turned her head to bid her final adieu to Peter Pan for another while. Danny could barely balance in his mother's arms. It was Peter Pan!

"I'll always believe in you, Peter Pan!," Jane beamingly shouted back at him. She waved vigorously out the window. Peter chuckled. Wendy let out a sigh of relief, happiness, and pain. She felt bittersweet. She knew Peter Pan wouldn't come around again for a long while. Who knows where she'll end up. Who knows where Jane will end up? Within five seconds, memories of the past twenty years flashed through her mind. Years of waiting and waiting for Peter Pan to come back. Waiting for coverage. Waiting to see how he is. Is he alive? Is he still in Neverland? What if he's forgotten about her? He stayed on her mind for the remaining years of secondary school until she met a man at a local library. She'd been working as a librarian for about two years and hadn't any thought of leaving her house any time soon. She couldn't possibly leave the idea of being with her family.

She worked at the front desk to help with books and occasionally read to the children, switching out with one of the other librarians. She'd been reading Alice and Wonderland to a circle of children one Sunday afternoon, and a handsome man by the name Edward had taken his nephew to the library that day. He had been listening to the story with the other parents forming a perimeter around the children, attentively listening to the darling Wendy. Edward had been attentively looking at her with curiosity and delight, the time she was reading the book merely flying by. He could barely pay attention to the story she was reading. His nephew tugged at his coat as Edward maintained a zoned out gaze to Wendy, who was occupied in meeting the other children and engaging in conversation with them.

"Can we stay a little longer?", his nephew begged, pointing far out into the open, "I wanna look at books with Charles!" An anxious little boy waved at Edward enthusiastically, accompanied by a ripe lady sitting beside him on a sofa. She was preoccupied with reading the Great Gatsby and was supposedly the child's mother. Edward shifted his head, signaling for his nephew to get lost in the bookshelves of the children's aisle. The little boys laughed with joy and skipped towards books for their crowd, nearly skipping.

Edward caught Wendy nearly heading out the door as she picked up a coat and bag from her desk. Edward, nearly running, attempted to tap Wendy on the shoulder, but instead pushed her to the ground, causing them both to topple over each other like Dominos! They lay there for a brief second and Wendy nervously laughed.

"I'm Edward," he said shakily.

"I'm Wendy."

"I know." He stopped himself as they were pulling themselves back up. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the beautiful lady before him -- of whom he blurted something dumb in front of. She gazed into his eyes for a moment. His eyes reminding her of a boy she once knew. A boy she swears wasn't a dream. A boy she fell in love with. The first one, in fact. She couldn't help but wonder if this mystery man would make her feel the same thrill she had with Peter Pan. It was time to grow up. She couldn't dwell on things she didn't know were her last goodbyes. She had to live in the moment. She kept staring at Edward and smiled at him with a chuckle. "It's very nice to meet you, Edward."

The next years flew through Wendy's mind: many summer carnivals, trips abroad, surprises, fancy dinners. Wendy felt a thrill with Edward she's never felt with anyone before. Not even Peter. She may have even felt happier. Sometimes memories of him would pop up into her mind at very unlikely times. Such as shopping, looking for a spare pen, finding Edward's keys, bathing her newborn, Jane, etc. She wondered for years, Will Peter Pan ever come back?

And so he did. She watched before her very own eyes her dearest daughter sharing wonderful experiences with Peter Pan as she did. It felt bittersweet to see the boy again. But as she learned that he was safe, she's learned she can move on with peace and no concern for Peter's life status. He's going to be okay. Now that she's grown up, she truly felt just motherly love for him. She is now able to live in peace knowing that the boy is going to be okay.

Peter is out of sight as Jane gazes at the bright star to the right. Her moment of peace is interrupted as she hears a vehicle full of chattering men pulling up at the front of her home. She looks down from her window and spots her father, Edward. Her eyes open wide with shock.

"Daddy?", she takes an even closer look down, nearly falling onto the roof, "Daddy!" Her alert forces her and her family's feet to rush to the front door. "Edward!", Wendy gasps with delight and content. Nana Jr. Barked happily for the whole neighborhood to hear. The entire family is pulled outside the front door, all mixed with feelings of excitement, surprise, relief, and happiness. Edward drops his bags to the ground in an instant as soon as he sees the faces of his beloved family and secures Jane in a warm hug as she runs as fast as she can towards him. Nana is second out the door and surrounds the two, celebrating. Wendy walks as fast as she can, securing Danny in her arms as they both reach for Edward's embrace. The entire family hugs as tight as they possibly can, making up for the lost time they've had with each other.

Peter watches from a chimney with Tinkerbell. They smile. Tink, her hands on her heart, wipes a tear from her eye. Peter turns to the little fairy and whispers solemnly and quietly, "C'mon, Tink. Let's go home." She nodded and followed a cartwheeling Peter across the roof, and both flew away back home, the family left with peace, unity, and love.

The story always ends the same. But what about this one?

HAHAHAHAHAHAH IM SORRY I'm literally obsessing over Return to Neverland it's like the one Disney sequel I can tolerate but this story is to prove Jane and Peter belong together