Originally Posted: May. 1st, 2008
Length/Rating: 230 words, PG, Gen
Pairing/Warnings: none
Summary: “Second star to the right and straight on till morning.” That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions. Peter, you see, just said anything that came into his head. — Peter Pan. Written for sga_flashfic Must Be Dreaming challenge.

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It’s never ‘just dreams’ to a medical board, even when night terrors are par for the course in Atlantis. Declaring someone fit for duty isn’t a responsibility the SGC takes lightly; too many lives depend upon that designation.

The returnees argue that everyone has nightmares, heck, in Pegasus they even have nightmares about having nightmares. –not ‘just’ a vase of flowers, the smell– It’s normal, accepted, a minor stumbling point that everyone has learned to deal with. After all, they still manage to save the world and that’s what counts. –how can you not hear that–

The SGC’s well acquainted with the kind of damage a universe can bestow –he was acting suspicious, I had to be sure–, and still they don’t realize how badly Atlantis is broken. –I left it right here, I must have– Not until medical teams on the near side of the gate start dealing with the city’s refugees. –wasn’t a shadow, now check the damned sensor agai–

They seem so normal –second star to the right– but somewhere along the way –every breath, every heartbeat, everything you see and everything you can’t see; all of it can kill you– Atlantis has forgotten where nightmares begin and end. –want me to think it was just a dream–

It’s the central lie in Peter Pan, that Lost Boys can come home again.

–spent too long in Neverland–