Yours, now and forever.

Chapter 20

Noah was curled up, hidden under a blanket and shaking. His loud cries and become tiny sniffles and sobs, muffled from under the sheets. His tiny hands clutched at the edge of the cover, preventing Oliver from peeling it back and letting me see him. Oliver was sitting patiently and calmly next to the quivering boy, shushing him soothingly and stroking his back. "Hey buddy, got someone here to talk to you." He whispered as I knelt down next to Peter in the tent. A small hum of question came from beneath the still shaking blanket. "It's Bella and Pan, do you want to say hi?" The little figure shook their head. No. Please say he will talk to me. I can't have him hate me. Please please. "You sure mate?" The sound of his muffled voice mumbled from inside the cotton.

"Just Bella." He whispered back to us.

"Not me or Pan?" Oliver reassured, not in shock or offence, but simply checking.

"Just Bella, everyone else go away." The grumble of his voice came.

"Ok buddy, we'll go." He nodded at me. I felt Peter's arm slowly slip away from around my shoulders as the tent door opened behind them and it was closed seconds after. A deadly silence filled the room. Peter's put a silencing charm on so he can't hear us I'll bet.

"Have they gone away?" Noah's voice peeped out.

"Yeh, it's just me." I breathed through the sheer force of holding back tears. Don't cry Bella, this isn't your time to cry. A tiny hand crept out from under the cover, pushing it back to slowly reveal the red and flushed face of a crying little boy. It broke my heart. "You ok?" He nodded slowly as he sat up and hugged his knees into his chest. Just like I did. I took a deep breath. Preparing myself for what I needed to say. "Noah, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to fall on your shoulders. I mean you're just a little kid and-"

"I know." He said. It silenced me, "I know your sorry. And it's ok. It's not your fault it happened. So you shouldn't be sorry to me." I was taken back by the maturity shown by him. He had never been a complete baby of a boy, but he was always just little Noah. I was seeing a whole side of my little brother that I never imagined existed.

"Noah Im still really sorry. Im sorry that you couldn't stay at home. Im sorry that you found out like this. Im sorry I hadn't figured it out sooner then this!" He was quiet and listening intently, yet pitifully to my apologies. "But most of all, I'm sorry I was born Noah. Im sorry that you couldn't stay with Mum, I'm sorry I'm the reason you left to Neverla-"

"What?" He questioned as words were once again cut off.

"I'm..I'm sorry you ran away because of me." He painted a frown onto his face. I was almost scared. The frown looked angry and aggressive (well as aggressive as a seven year old boy could look) as well as upset and confused.

"I didn't run away because you were born." He said quietly. If it weren't for the charm, I don't think I would have heard him at all. "You and mama were the reason I was gonna stay!" He said, his voice raised with surprise and annoyance in his tone.

"But, Dad always told me you ran away because I was born..." I whispered, breathless.

"No. I wanted to stay with you and mama. But I didn't want to stay with Papa." A piercing feeling sank into my stomach. I knew what he was going to say next, and the thought of it made my stomach turn over. "Papa was horrible. And he hurt me and mama a lot." His head tucked into his knees a little, hiding his face from the nightmare memories that were sunk into both of our minds. "I thought I'd run away then I could get help for you and mama!" His voice lifted with his body and shoulders, as if the optimistic memory had, for just a second, made his entire body fizz with happiness and hope. Then his body sank back down, his shoulders hunched over his knees again and his chin rested on them. "But..." he sniffled a little. "On the way, I found the shadow, and then I fell asleep and I woke up here."