Wendy's Return

Chapter 3 ~Insanity*

Pan had woken up. He was new. With his arms wrapped around Lily, he felt whole. He didn't love her, not yet, but maybe he could.

He didn't dwell on feelings too much for precautionary reasons...

He hadn't dreamt about her in four months.

Pan was always worried something would trigger the nightmares again, but he was beginning to hope. It finally felt like it was over.

She was gone for good...but it was beginning to be tolerable.

~~~~~~~

4 months ago

"So you're sure you want to go to school?"

"Yeah, it will help keep my mind off things."

"And you want to walk by yourself?"

"It helps me think better."

Although she wasn't, Angela could have sworn she saw Emma Swan staring at her and Spencer from inside of her yellow bug. Dr. Hopper, who was walking Pongo, surely hadn't been looking at them. When they had walked by the elementary school, Mary Margaret was only letting a sparrow fly free from her hands, not glaring at Angela accusingly.

What had gotten into her?

Maybe it was because Spencer was holding her hand. This was the usual behavior she was used to from him, however his hand felt warmer that morning. In fact, Angela herself felt warmer than usual...

Angela looked at the ground when they reached the front of Granny's diner. Spencer leaned against the white picket fence with his tousled black hair in his eyes, "Just...don't be afraid anymore, okay?"

"I won't be," When Spencer didn't give her his usual concerned look, suddenly Angela felt extremely self conscious. He was gazing at her openly. When he realized he had been caught, he didn't look away like he used to. Instead, his perfect lips formed an even more perfect smile. Her thoughts flooded with the Spencer from the night before. The boy who held onto her in the wee hours of the morning. The one that refused to look away from her eyes.

"You should go, I'll see you at school." She said it before she could stop herself. There was a fluttering in her stomach that hadn't been there yesterday. She couldn't look at him, it was too embarrassing. Of course, after last night, she was the only one acting different. Angela's cheeks turned slightly pink when she looked up and found him staring. His blue eyes were too captivating. It should have been illegal. Angela swiftly turned before he could agree and stumbled up the steps to Granny's diner. She heard Spencer chuckle before she closed the door on him.

What Angela hadn't expected was to see Ruby giving her an angry look.

"Where the hell were you?" Yeah she was a little late, but Angela wouldn't have expected Ruby to be the one that cared.

"I forgot to take out the trash last night," Angela lied smoothing gesturing to the front door she had just came out of.

"Oh really? So I didn't just see you and Spencer walking here from down the block?" Angela was incredulous. Why now was she suddenly paying attention to her actions? "What were you doing last night?"

Angela let her smile drop, "Isn't that supposed to be Granny's line?"

"Yes it is," Granny stood behind the counter with her hands on her hips. Why, oh why, did this have to be the day Storybrooke decided to skip breakfast? The diner was completely empty. Granny never showed mercy on punishment unless their argument was a public spectacle.

"I was with Spencer."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Yes, but it's not what you think. I forgot we had a project due in physics. I called him, he was still up, so I went over." Granny's eyes were boring a hole into Angela's head. She would have given it up by now and apologized if not for the recent events. Suddenly facing Granny didn't seem as horrible as being captivated by a monster. Not even worse than suddenly getting nervous around her best friend.