Hearts Fall Unnexpectedly

Chapter Eighteen: Love

"And where do ye think yer goin'?"

Pan and Royal freeze in their spots before slowly turning around, making sure to keep their faces blank as their crew looks at them with different expressions. Harry stands at the forefront with his arms crossed and his face full of suspicion. Pan sneaks a glance at the prince before stepping toward the other pirate slightly.

"Well," she starts, seeds of doubt planted into her voice, "if this really is about to happen. I need to go get my boys ready."

"And he needs to come with ye?" Harry questions, his head cocking to the side.

Pan rolls her eyes, "Fine. Let me rephrase this."

She steps forward until she is about a foot away from the hook-wearing pirate. She lifts her head to stare him directly in the eyes, "We need to go get our boys ready."

Hook scans her face for a moment, looking for something, anything, that tells him that she is against their captain. He feels something is off with the girl, but he doesn't know what. The protective right hand man is merely mistaking the girl's doubt for traitorous intentions. After a long pause, he nods to the girl, making her return it, and she and Royal walk out. Once they were a decent distance away from the restaurant, they both let out a sigh of relief.

"You know," Royal starts after a moment of silence between the two, making the Pan turn toward him while they walk, "I'm not even sure I want the barrier to come down."

"Why's that?"

"Well," he says, stopping his movements, silently commanding her to do so as well, "I have everything I need right here."

Pan chuckles softly, "You're a dork."

"But you love me," Royal teases.

"Yeah," Pan says with an airy tone, "yeah, I do."

Royal does a double take looking at the girl in shock. He wasn't expecting her to agree when he said that. He was expecting a 'shut up' or a 'nuh uh.' The same girl that he has been in love with since they were six years old, actually said that she loves him back.

"What..?" Royal chokes out, as the only word he can manage.

Pan smiles and walks up to the boy, wrapping her arms around his neck, effectively pulling him down closer to her height so she can whisper up close to him.

"I..love..you."

Royal's eyes start to water and he pulls her in for their third passionate kiss of the day. This one, though, has a new element that neither of them outwardly admitted before, and that is that they love each other. Anyone could have guessed it just by looking at them, but neither one of them would ever be able to. Pan clutches onto the front of Royal's shirt as the prince softly grabs onto the back of her green locks. The overwhelming overflow of emotions from the day is coming out for the two in their kiss.

They finally pull away and rest their foreheads against one another gently. They pant quietly as they let themselves get pulled into the other one's eyes. Letting them tell the story that words cannot say. Every emotion, every thought, every breath they have from here on out will be for the sake of one another and their boys.

"So, I guess now is a good time to officially ask you to be my girlfriend?"

Pan laughs loudly, "Do you even have to ask?"

"I guess not," Royal chuckles along with her

"You know," Pan says with a teasing tone in her voice, "I didn't even see myself falling for you. If you had asked me years ago, before I left, before our first kiss, who I would see myself with in the end, I would've said Harry, or some other random person."

"Well, I guess I just make hearts fall unexpectedly."

The two interlock their hands and make their way toward their home. Toward their boys. The sun has officially set on this rollercoaster of a day and, with no idea of what's to come tomorrow, they make a silent vow to live day by day, and take it one step at a time. They know they will overcome anything that is thrown at them, as long as they handle it together.

~~~

Just as they cross the threshold into their Neverland mock up, a gaggle of tired boys run up to them and they all start jumping and climbing on Royal, making everyone laugh.

Suddenly Pan turns around and looks directly at the viewers, her eyes glowing their vibrant purple and a mist of magenta can be seen faintly floating around her.

"You didn't think our story ended here, did you?"

As she focuses back on her boys, her family, a slim, black figure can be spotted in the background watching over everything. No features can be made out on the mass, but it gives off the impression of smirking. Golden circles where the eyes should be suddenly bore into the backs of family before flying off into the darkness.

~~~

The End

For Now...