"What do you think you're playing at, Dex, eh?!" Michael asks angrily. "You're eleven years old, and you're goin' round kissin' girls at your age? I expected way more outta you, Dex!"

"Dad! I'm sorry! I don't know what else to say! I.. we literally.. that was our first kiss, I swear! And now, I think it's gonna be our only kiss! Dad.. please believe me."

"Dexter, you don't quite realise how bad this is! You haven't even hit puberty, and you.. I can't even.. why?!"

"Dad, chances are she won't want me any more now anyway! The look on your face must have terrified her when you walked in here!"

"Michael," I say. "Maybe go a little easier on him.. I know what he did was wrong, but.. just stay calm."

"How can I be calm with this? Our eleven year old son is going round kissing girls, and you're fine with this?"

"I'm not fine with it, but it's just innocent young love, sweetheart. A simple kiss is fine, anything more, I would understand. Just leave it at that, Michael. Please?" I beg.

Michael looks at me, unsure on what to say. After a few moments of silence, he looks back at Dexter, and points a finger in his direction.

"Listen here, Dex. You're not to go near that girl for at least a month, unless you're in class together. You hear me?" he says.

Dex nods slowly and nervously.

"Yes dad.. and, I'm sorry."

Michael turns to me, and comes closer to me.

"Thought it'd be harder to sway him than that," he whispers in my ear.

I chuckle a little, and pat his shoulder.

"Let him off this time, Michael."

"Alright, but if it happens again--"

"Tell him that, not me, Mike."

"Dex," he turns back around to face Dexter. "I'll let you off this once, but if it happens again I swear it'll be worse next time for you."

"Thank you, dad!"

Dex runs to dad and hugs him. Michael hugs back, a little unsure on how to react.

"Thank you, Michael," I whisper, and Michael smiles faintly.

Dexter runs from his own room, and me, Michael and Electra leave, too. The front door slams.

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" Ryder calls, and as we walk downstairs, I see Ryder sling his bag over onto the banister of the stairs.

"Where you been, Ryder?" Electra asks.

"Just out with my mates," he replies. Electra nods, and looks over at me and Michael.

"Mom, dad, can we watch Peter Pan now?" she asks.

"Yeah, why not? We can all watch it, as a family," I reply.

"Yeah, Peter Pan's my favourite," Michael smiles.

"Dex! We're watching Peter Pan!" Electra shouts. Dexter comes running.

"Peter Pan? Awesome!" he grins, and we all walk into the living room.

Dexter and Electra literally jump on to the sofa, Ryder sits on the arm of the sofa, and me and Michael sit down normally.

I press play on the TV remote, and Peter Pan starts. We all love this film, even Ryder, who's meant to be all "cool" and all that.

Ryder really does look like Michael, totally. His eyes, his smile, and his black jheri curls, which make him stand out a lot in his class. Every other boy has spiked hair, or slicked back hair. Not our Ryder. He has his father's black jheri curls, from when I first met Michael back in college. He's nearly 16, too. He's grown up so fast.

I still remember the day I gave birth to him, in the bathroom, when we were locked in there that day back in 1989. It's 2005, now, and my god, how he's evolved.

All three of my children have evolved incredibly. Looking at them now, watching them watch Peter Pan, all looking so grown up is just.. it's wonderful.

Michael places his arm around me as we watch the film.

"Girls talk too much," Peter groans.

"Yes, girls talk too-- hey!" Wendy cries, suddenly realising what she was saying.

That bit always makes me laugh.

Neverland, the place where you never grow up. What it ould be like, to live in a place like that.

--

The film just finished, and I look over at Michael. He looks like he's deep in thought.

"Michael," I whisper.

He looks over at me, and smiles. "Yeah?"

"What are you--"

"Mom, I'm going upstairs," Electra cuts me off.

"Yeah, me too," Dexter adds.

"And me. I'm bored now," Ryder concludes, and all three of them leave the room.

I turn back to Michael.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask.

Michael looks down, obviously trying to think of the right words to say.

"Well.. I'm not sure really on how to put it," he says.

"Just say it however," I reply.

"Alright.. so, we've been living here in Gary, all our lives nearly, right?" he asks.

"Yeah. Of course we have," I say.

"Maybe.. just maybe.. we could have a change of scenery."

"What, like, move house?"

"Yeah! Don't you think it'd be good, moving from this place, where all the bad memories, all the crap we faced in that past are, and just starting somewhere totally new, a whole new life?"

"Well, it's a big decision, Michael.." I say. "And the kids'll be affected, too.."

"Oh, I know! But.. we could go anywhere, New York, Seattle, California, South America, Hollywood!"

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down! Michael, isn't that a little ambitious?"

"Yeah, but I figured, life is short, why waste it by living in this hell hole, where half the people we ever met were killed, or killed themselves, and all the bad memories lie?"

"Well.. the park does give me the creeps after Daniel killed himself there.."

"And, Cam's house, well, his old house, that place will never be the same again, will it?"

"No.. but, a whole new place? Isn't that a little crazy?"

"I've been looking around at places, Becky," Michael tells me. "And I've seen some nice houses."

"I'm not sure about this, Michael. Maybe in a few years, yeah, but.. maybe not now."

"Life is short! We may only have a few years anyway!" Michael cries, obviously scaring himself with that possibility.

"There's no harm in looking, I guess.. but nothing serious."

"Not yet," Michael says. "But we will."

My phone starts to ring.

"I'll be back in a moment," I say, and take my phone from my pocket and answer it in the hallway.

"Hello?"

"Cozzy?"

It's Emma!

"Emma, hey, what's new?"

"Just rang to check how you're doing, really. So, how are the kids?"

"Good, thanks. How are Daryl and Diana?"

"Trouble," Emma chuckles. "But they're great, thanks."

Daryl is the son that Emma fell pregnant with just before me and Michael's wedding. He's 14, nearly 15, and a spitting image of Emma, and was born in 1990.

Their daughter, Diana, is 10, born in 1995, and she looks more like Mark. Mark and Emma got married in 1990, the same year as Daryl was born, on March 7th.

"And how's Mark?" I ask.

"Oh, he's alright. He's complaining that he hasn't seen you and the Jax boys all together for some time now.. but it's only been a few months, right?"

"Yeah, we need to get together soon, though."

"Yeah, true. Anyway, how's Michael? Not heard from him in a while."

"He's still perfect," I chuckle. "Oh, Emma. He's started talking about moving house, to another part of America."

"And do you want to?"

"I'm not sure.. he says he's been looking at places, but.. I don't know."

"Well, maybe you'll make more of a decision if you find something you like the look of."

"Yeah, but I doubt we will. We've been living here since.. forever! Since I moved from my old house, Ryan and Janet have been living in it."

"Yeah, how are Ryan and Janet?" Emma asks.

"They're fine, and their little bundles of joy, too," I reply.

Ryan and Janet got married in 1992, and have four children, beating me and Michael by one child. They have Autumn, a little girl born in 1993 who is now 12 years old, ironically, another girl called Summer, who was born in 1995 and is 10, a boy named Jack, in honour of our brother. He's 7, and was born in 1998, and finally, another little boy called Spike. Unusual name? Nah, it's cute. He's 5 years old, and was born in 2000. Me and Michael call him "Spike The Millenium Child." States the obvious, but oh well.

"Ah, good. I'll have to come see you guys soon, won't I? It's been quite a few weeks!"

"Yeah, we'll sort something out, Emma."

"Alright, Cozzy. Speak more soon, love ya."

"Love you too, speak soon. Bye!"

"Bye!"

I hang up. Me and Emma are still hyper in each other's presence, just like we were in college.

I place my phone in my pocket, and walk back into Michael.

"My guess is that the caller was Emma, just based on the fact that you turned hyper right there," Michael says. I chuckle and join him on the sofa.

"Might have been. Whatcha looking at?" I ask. Michael's on his laptop.

"Oh, just different houses that we could move to. What about this one?" he points to a small house, with a pretty design.

"Too small," I say.

I won't back down on this. We aren't moving so soon.

"This?" Michael offers, pointing at a bigger house.

"Nah, those windows would be smashed within seconds of being there," I reply.

"This one?"

"Nope. Look at where it is, over 10,000 miles away!"

"Fair enough," Michael scrolls down the list, until he sees one he likes.

"How about this one?" I look at the house, and read the name of it.

"Sycamore Valley Ranch," I read.

"You like?"

"It's very expensive," I say, looking at the pricetag of nearly a million dollars.

"But look! It's perfect! It has a house, and 2,700 acres of land that we can do whatever we want with! We can grow flowers, make a garden, get a huge swimming pool, oh, it would be great!"

"Why can't we just have a normal sized house?" I ask.

"Cos.. since when were we normal?"

"Fair point well made," I chuckle. "But still.. nearly a million dollars. We can't afford it."

"We could get a loan," Michael suggests.

"How? I swear those loan places only lend out, like, a thousand dollars at a time!"

"Maybe our friends could help us."

"Yeah, I doubt any of our friends would pay for our house."

"Well.. I don't know.."

"Wait!" I cry.

"What?"

"Mum and dad's inheritance money, they left everything to me and my brothers! I mean, Jack's gone, so that gives me and Ryan more between us.. they left us everything! The house, the money, their everything. We could use that!"

"But how much did they give to you, money wise?"

"I don't know.. but it could be a lot!"

"Wait.. how come you're suddenly changing your mind about all this?" Michael asks.

That's a point. Why am I?

"I don't know.. just, the way you're speaking about it I guess.. it's making me wanna do this thing."

"Great! We could get this place I bet. And we could haggle down, get it cheaper than it is. Then it'll be less to pay."

"We could do this, actually.." I smile a little. "And it's only in California."

"Exactly! Is this little dream becoming more of a reality for you, now, baby?"

"I think so.. but, it depends on the kids."

"Kids!" Michael calls, and they all come running downstairs.

"What?" Electra asks. Michael shows them the laptop.

"How would you feel about living here?" Michael asks, pointing at the house.

All three of the kids widen their eyes.

"We can live there?" Dexter asks.

"Yes, but not yet. Soon. It's in another part of America, are you prepared to leave everything behind?" I ask.

"Uh.. maybe.." Dexter and Ryder mutter.

"Well, I would leave everything behind. My life here is crap anyway!" Electra says.

"Language, you," I scold with a giggle. Michael turns to me.

"I can tell you like this," he says.

"Yeah.. but, I'm not so keen on the name of the place," I reply.

"We can change it.. to whatever we wanna change it to."

"Like what?"

"Well.." Michael takes a moment to think.

He squints his eyes to think of something, and it finally comes to him.

"We can be real life Peter Pans.. we can call it Neverland!"

Author's note: I think people are starting to go off this book now.. but hey, that's ok! I may be going through a rough patch, doing bad writing, but I don't know. Writer's block? Or a bad storyline now? Anyway, the Neverland in this story won't be the same as real life, but similar. Cos Michael isn't famous in this story, it's gotta be a little more believable, right? So it's significantly cheaper than Neverland's real worth :D