#emma can stick it to her mom and show how she was able to be a hero using all aspects of her powers and do actual good with helping sam

[konakoro]

Also going off some promo pics and footage, it looks like the gang ends up hiding in a nice looking home, which makes me think they're at either Jordan, Cate, or Emma's parents' house to lie low, and all have the potential for interesting character drama I wanna see

[happilychaengs]

jihyo - like a fool

word count: 1,075

jihyo x gn!reader

i wrote this late at night so i apologize if it doesn't make much sense

you hated jihyo. you really did. sure people may ask how and you'd be reluctant to say anything and jeopardize her career but you couldn't just put into words how much you hated her. the gall on her to be able to leave you behind. to leave your daughter behind. to just waste years of your life and leave you alone to raise a child.

so when your doorbell rang at some ungodly hour and you looked through the peep hole, only anger coursed through your body. you were fuming. you aggressively pulled the door handle as you glared at her.

"what the fuck do you want?" you whispered as you leaned on the doorway.

"where's our daughter?" she asked as she tried peering behind you.

"why are you asking? so you can leave us again?" you asked as you closed the door behind you and stepped on the porch.

and then she said what you had hoped to hear almost 5 years ago. but now it was one that you most absolutely despised to hear. "no y/n. i want to come back. i want to raise her with-"

"you do not get to come back here after 5 years and tell me that you want to raise her. leave right now jihyo."

"no. let me see her! I have as much a part a life as-" she said adamantly as she stared directly into your eyes.

"save your shit!" you shouted, "i don't want to hear it! i have to lie straight to my daughter's face whenever she asks where her mom is and i didn't even know myself! so no jihyo. fuck you. you had your chance."

"you're not going to give emma the chance to have two parents?"

"no! you do not get to turn this on me! my daughter will be just fine without you involved in her life!"

your jaw clenched as you kept on going, "you had absolutely no effort to try and stay in her life! look at everything you missed! her birthdays! her first christmas! you obviously don't care jihyo! i don't know why you wanted to come back now of all times!"

"what's so wrong with wanting to stay in my daughter's li-" her argument got interupted by the door peering open and revealing a little girl in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes.

"oh god..." you muttered before kneeling down in front of her. "emma honey can you please go back inside?"

she just shook her head as she looked at jihyo, surprised and with eyes of wonder, "mommy?"

jihyo's eyes softened as she kneeled down beside you and pulled her closer, "hi darling."

as they released the hug, emma pulled at jihyo's sleeve, making her wonder what she wanted. "what is it darling?"

"can mommy come in?"

jihyo's eyes lit up as she got up before glancing over at you and seeing the fire in your eyes. "of course she can." you choked out with a fake smile plastered all over your face. you weren't one to deny your daughter like that. truth be told, you missed jihyo but you weren't going to tell her that ever. hell, you haven't even tried meeting someone new after she left.

you followed the two back into your house and sat on the chair facing the opposite of jihyo. emma had excitedly went to her room and wanted to show jihyo her drawings. she was a creative and bright kid. just like her mother.

"y/n." she spoke. "i know you hate me but... please... let me be in her life."

"tell me why." you spoke.

"why what?"

"why you left. why you wasted 5 years of my life. why you left me with a kid to raise myself."

she let out a small sigh as she started looking down and fidgeted with her fingers. "i wasn't ready. when i knew we were having a daughter, i knew that. i was terrified of what may happen to me and my job. i spent years working so hard and i... didn't want to risk losing that but now i know i was wrong. i-"

"mommy!" emma shouted as she ran back to jihyo, almost tripping up on her own two little feet. "look!" she said as she proudly displayed the drawing above her head. it was mostly scribbles and three stick figures but you knew exactly who it was.

"oh? what is this masterpiece darling?" jihyo asked as she gently took it out of her hands and looked at it. and you swore you could see stars in her eyes as she glanced over it.

"it's us!" emma shouted again as she propped up on the seat next to jihyo. "we live in a big house and we have a dog!"

"a dog?" you laughed, "where'd that come from?"

"i told her that before." jihyo said softly before looking up and meeting your eyes, "i always was busy and i thought she felt lonely sometimes and i said i'd get her a dog but you know... that didn't happen."

you just hummed knowingly as you interrupted, "i think it's time to go bed honey." emma let out a big whine as she hugged jihyo tightly, "but mommy will leave again!"

you were taken aback as you were almost at a loss of words. a 5 year old shouldn't say that. not ever. "no... no. she'll still be here. right jihyo?"

jihyo almost looked as surprised as you were, "... yes of course!"

thank god that's all the convincing she needed as she just huffed and reluctantly waddled to her room which was not far at all but you knew you'd have to tuck her into bed after you were done with whatever was going on right now.

jihyo held the drawing still in her hands as she glanced between it and you, finally making you realize that she just has gotten so much more beautiful over the years. "what did you mean by that...?"

"she misses you. i... miss you. i won't object anymore if you want to stay."

"wait wha-"

"but," you interrupted, "if you leave again, i will not forgive you. do you understand?"

she quickly nodded as only one question seemed to escape her lips even when after all these years, you could tell she had a million things to say. "do you really... miss me?"

"yes jihyo. i d-"

she quickly got up and hugged you tightly, almost taking the air out of you, "god... i'm such a fool to leave."

[seancamerons]

✍

Under the cut. ✍📝😊

“You’re so unfair grounding me two days before Christmas.”

“You’re lucky to be allowed to hang with the adults, you also can’t nap because Auntie Em is probably not gonna be able to help.”

“You’re so lucky you can drink.” Kat muttered.

Emma joked plainly to Kat, “Be careful what you wish for, kid.”

“So Kat you will be a good host and help your mom.”

“Yes m’am.” She rolled her eyes. “Can I get a few bucks sugamomma for lunch?”

Manny pulled out a five and a ten, “You can get yourself something from The Dot. As far as moms go, you can do worse.” Manny was in a good mood or she was trying to be and masking by immating the wives she sees on the shows she watches, very June Cleaver as she fried the bacon on the griddle for everyone. “ Also you’re very lucky Santa is coming after the stuff you pulled at school the parties, the sneaking out, you can forget about Disney World Senior Trip you keep it up, or university?”

“Ugh! Mom please, you can be so ugh!”  She took off her sunglasses to show she ‘means’ business or wants to be tough. Kat is far from a morning person and Manny experiences this on a daily basis the back and forth. If mom says no ask dad, they both say no ask Joey, if all three are united on no she calls her rich auntie Em and of course it’s always a yes. Emma sees it from Manny’s perspective and her own and suddenly it seems kind of fucked.  “I don’t care, what’s the point? Go to college be trillions in debt, whoo hoo. It’s all a joke. Neither of your guys went to university.”

“Honey, we did, maybe not your aunt no offense.”

“None taken.”

“We saved up, your father and I, we didn’t go right away but you have an amazing opportunity. Your dad and I, Aunt Em, we didn’t go to a four year university, and your lovely aunt Emma didn’t put your college fund together and gift you money for you to throw away your potential and your future.”

She drank some coffee picking at her poptart unphased and sounding like a spoiled brat with little to no opinions or cares. She proceeded to get super cultural maybe she was trying to paint a picture for Emma and be generally rude, “Paul said that college is a trap and a money grab for the rich elite.”

“Who is to say Paul’s sticking around?" Manny questioned shaking her head and adding, "you’re going to college end of story."

“Why are you so unfair mom? Why must you have to rain on my parade all the time?” 

“Guys, I have a headache. Keep it down to a dull roar.” Emma groaned and moaned as she got up and rummaged through the fridge and got a bottle of water out and something to snack on as Manny was prepping things in the kitchen. “Oh and Kat?”

“What, Auntie Em?”

“Did you tell your mom how disrespectful you were to me yesterday when all I asked was where you were planning on going dressed like your mom at that rave circa 2003?”

Manny was shocked and a little bit humiliated, “Emma!”

“Mom! Why am I just finding that out, you held out on me? You were a raver mom? I can get used to Auntie Em, who I suddenly forgive now.” She clinked Emma’s coffee mug with her own. 

“Emma! Why?” Manny widened her eyes and was still recovering from that humbling moment, still humiliated by that revelation and her daughters reaction. “Not another word about my life before you were around. A very long eighteen years ago. You weren’t even a glimmer in my eye. Your father was not even supposed to be there.”

“You peeled off early with Kat’s father, and I walked in on you two making kissyfaces in my twin bed because you left me there if I remember that night correctly.”

“Em, must you? Now go sleep it off. I'm having a very serious conversation with my very impressionable teenaged daughter. I don’t want to remember that. We almost stopped being friends over that. Ugh, no.” And turned to Kat, “Please don’t make the same mistakes I made in fashion.”

Emma was about to retire herself from the conversation at Manny’s request and left them with, “Manny for the record I hope you’ll always remember thongs go inside the jeans.” In a sing-song voice, she bid them goodbye for now, “I’ll be outside.” With her, she took her hot coffee that finally finished percolating in the Keurig.  

[tea-with-evan-and-me]

i'm not entirely sure what i'm saying but i don't think france is a bad person i have a lot of the impression that she's very frustrated with not being rich or famous and not having a successful modeling career in the end not being able to achieve the goals she wanted deep down she feels inferior and has low self esteem and tries to hide it by playing the bad girl sometimes the closest she got to fame was dating evan and she got so excited she had to show it to the girls people at any cost she didn't know how to deal with it she wanted to try to be like emma but at that time evan didn't want a person like that anymore so i guess he had no future plans with her. with emma it was different he wanted to build a family with her i think he was really in love with her but he couldn't because of his temperament i read in a blind item that once evan was at a hotel having breakfast with his mother and father and he was complaining about emma saying that she was spoiled selfish petty who only thought about her and that he was with alexandra his ex anyway i don't think emma was ever really in love with evan she's just spoiled and sees evan as a possession and always found a way to get back with him because he had evan as his property and because of that they tried so many times and it never worked because in a relationship there has to be complicity empathy and knowing that the other person also has feelings they reached a certain point where they no longer had self-love mainly him, and even today I'm sure she feels uncomfortable if he's with someone because it's not easy to lose something or someone a phrase said by herself I hope that nowadays if they meet and she acts like a good girl who learned from the mistakes he doesn't fall for that conversation again I hope he really leaves all that behind and goes to live a new life find someone nice like hailey who knows maybe start a family and live intensely incredible moments next to that person because life passes too much to waste time . I love your page kisses ❤️

hello, and thank you! i understand what you mean about frances' behavior, because i also think the way she acts online is 1. not really representative of who she is as a person and 2. a defense mechanism. overall, i do not know her and can't say whether she is a good or bad person; unfortunately for her the image she has projected online is one that is unlikeable and inflammatory. ultimately, i do think she is resentful and frustrated that she has not been able to muddle together a successful life. she is a very beautiful girl and obviously comes from a decently well off family. it is easy to be entitled, thinking that the world should fall into your lap because of this. i don't really think frances has any particularly large career goals, i think she would like to be a stay at home mom to her bunnies with a wealthy man taking care of her.

with emma, it's hard to know exactly know what she was feeling. she comes from a very dysfunctional family and it can warp every aspect of your life. i believe she loved evan, maybe in the only way she knows how to love, which is chaotic and abusive. it's also worth mentioning they both were (allegedly) dealing with addiction issues and that certainly colored everything they went through. in reality, it's hard to find an ''evan'' - a man who could have damn near any woman he wants but will put up with someone like emma when she's at her worst, and stick around/be faithful. i'm sure it's not lost on her that she let that get away and didn't work on herself when evan apparently did, going to rehab and getting himself together.

[feathered-mushrooms]

Cherik family head cannons pt. 1

Quick summary: After DOFP, Erik stays with Charles. They start to date and eventually realize that after everything maybe their more than boyfriends and end up having a small non legal marriage(because fuck 1970 or anytime before 2015) they discuss the prospect of kids. Charles has always wanted children, and Erik has always wanted a large family to stick to Shaw. But they decide there not ready for kids as they are rebuilding the school. But of course that gets ruined when a women comes to their door claiming to need their help. This women is Natalya, the ‘best fiend’ of Magda, mom of Wanda and Peitro. Magda and Erik had gotten in a relationship a little before Erik was taken to the Pentagon. That resulted in the twins. But when they were born, Wanda’s mutation manifested and well the twins were taken but a mutant control organization. Magda later died. Natalya and made it her mission to find Erik, and the kids. So a little mission gets started and Natalya, who is a witch, and Erik break into the MCO to retrieve two practical babies. And of course Charles and Erik take them in with out question. A few months later Peter and Lorna show up looking for Erik, and they are integrated into the family. 

Wanda was a very quiet child, and was behind on development, while Peitro was the opposite. 

Lorna was 14 when she joined the family, and when Charles and Erik became her legal guardians. But Lorna held some resentment for Erik. Her mother had recently died due to cancer and she blamed Erik for not being there. However she did find comfort in Charles and quickly accepted him as her step dad. 

The first time Lorna called Erik Pa, he didn’t know how to respond and froze. She laughed. 

Peter didn’t give much of a fuck, and literally five minutes after the reveal of being Erik’s son he started calling Erik Pa, and Pops.

All the kids decided that Erik was Pa and Charles is Dad.

Wanda and Peitro called him Vati as well as Pa. 

Peitro’s mutation took some time manifest, but he was still fairly early. He manifested when he was two, and Lorna was the one watching the twins when it happened. He was just learning to walk and Lorna looked at Wanda for two seconds and he was gone. 

Peter almost threw a party when he found out his little brother was a speedster to. 

Charles burns water, Erik learns he loves to cook. Turns out Peter inherited this gift so the two are the main cookers in the family. Lorna will occasionally make pancakes and waffles from a box but that’s as much as she knows. Wanda, when she’s older, learns how to bake and loves it. Peitro only knows how to make smoothies and that’s it. 

Charles was an atheist for most his life, believing in science over religion, but he understood why it was very important to Erik that the children be raised Jewish. After a few years of celebrating Shabbat, Hanukkah, Passover, and visiting the synagogue, Charles started to feel more and more comfortable in Judaism and grew a connection with it, till eventually he converted. 

Because Wanda, Peitro, and Peter are Roma, and since Charles and Erik aren’t, and since Erik knows what it’s like to not be able to practice his culture, he and Charles got in contact with Magda’s brother, Django and his wife Mayra, who had recently immigrated to America, and made sure they could be Uncle Django and Aunt Mayra to the kids. They talked to the couple and explained how they wanted their children to be taught about their culture. Aunt Mayra and Uncle Django can often be found babysitting the kids or being over for family dinners. 

Natalya visits the twins every now and then. To them she is Aunt Natalya. But if the twins had never taken and her dear Magda had never died, than to the twins she would have been ‘mama’. However the twins were taken, and her dear Magda did die, so she remains Aunt Natalya. 

Raven is Aunt Raven to all the kids.

A speed round of the aunts and uncles: Aunt Irene, Uncle Logan, Uncle Hank, and Aunt Emma 

Wanda was a selective mute when she was little. The only times she would talk would be to say the name of the person she wanted the attention of.

Charles could read her mind and so she gravitated towards him since she could have a conversation without having to talk. 

Charles noticed that she had some telepathic abilities so he taught her how to send messages. She doesn’t use them often with anyone but her family.

Wanda used to hide behind Erik’s legs when she was nervous. Or she would pull on his pant leg to ask to be picked up.

With Charles, Wanda would pull on the blanket he normally has over his legs so that Charles would pick her up and she could sit on his lap. 

Once Charles taught an entire class with Wanda on his lap. She eventually feel asleep.

This is part one because somehow I wrote more than what was aloud on a text post haha

[heyitsyn]

RANDOM SEIJOH HCs ACCORDING TO GIGI

a/n: this is a thing i cooked up between doing trig exam and ap gov review akdsjfldskfj

IM PRETTY SURE I ALREADY USED THIS GIF BUT IM WANTING TO RE-DO MY ENTIRE PAGE AND MAKING BANNERS SO THIS IS A TEMPORARY THING AJDJDJJD ALSO I DONT KNOW HOW TO DO THE KEEP READING THING ON THE APP BYE

oikawa def listens to indie music just bc he wants to feel unique and the 'iM diFfErENt fRoM oTHeR gUrLs' vibes

i FIRMLY BELIEVE IWAIZUMI HAJIME IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CHOMPS ON HIS ICE CREAM BC HE LIKES TO FEEL THE COLD ON HIS TEETH AKSJSKSKSK

meanwhile kunimi eats a kitkat like its pizza just CHOMP

makki caNNOT sleep without a pillow between his thighs LIKE LISTEN he has 2 sisters and they all told him its so comfortable and at first he was like,, ??,, then he tried and now cant sleep without it

bUT MATTSUN LIKES TO SLEEP WITH PILLOWS SURROUNDING HIM bc it makes him feel safe and like there are two body pillows on either side of him and hes kinda trapped in the middle aksjskdk

when kyo was younger, he was really short and although he had other pants, he loved this one pair but they were really long on him and he wore it all the time and the part of the pants that touched the ground is torn in shreds

kindaichi steps on the sofa before sitting LIKE puts one foot on the cushion then the other until hes literally standing on the couch before folding to sit with his knees up to his chest (i do this)

watari sniffs his food before eating it no matter if its something he eats all the time or something new, he still sniffs it either way

yahaba is really particular with his feet and he likes to get a really big tupperware (duh one only meant for his feet) and fill it up with warm almost boiling water and he just soaks them

oikawa has sleep paralysis and he oftens hallucinates about aliens in the corner of his room

kunimi does this thing where he makes weird noises with his mouth like sounds of his mouth opening LIKE when youre tastinf something new and you do that sound with your tongue (I DUNNO HOW TO DESCRIBE IT AJDKSKKD)

makki bends his knees just to crack his ankles

iwa sneezes a ton but he has those sneezes where theyre quiet that you dont even notice or really loudly that it just echoes throughout the gym

kyo sleeps with one sock on bc his feet gets cold easily but both socks make him feel really hot so only one sock is perfect

for a tall and hunk of a guy, mattsun is a very light walker like his footsteps are very light and if he wants to, it can be practically silent

watari actually hates vegetables ajssksksk he particularly hates zucchini, eggplants, any vegetables that are that shape

kindaichi likes to stick or lean against walls because to him, they feel cold and can decrease his body heat

oikawa stands and places his feet at V position like \/ instead of ll because his sister did ballet and he was taught that was the right way of standing and it was considered graceful

yahaba has a fear of cactuses

mattsun does so badly in the heat because his body temp runs so high and the hot surroundings make him feel so uncomfortable and so he takes a lot of cold showers

iwa cannot swim like he freaks out immediately when his toetips can no longer feel the bottom and he panics with thoughts of drowning

watari has really small feet that he still buys big kids shoes to save money

kyotani considered playing baseball because he thought baseball bats were cool but he got angry and threw tantrum after missing his first pitch

iwa chomps on a whole raw chili while eating ramen akskksks

oikawa actually hates sweets bc when he was younger, he had cavities and iwa showed him a cartoon of cavities eating his teeth and will make him toothless

kindaichi really really likes hugs but hes too awkward to ask them even from his parents

yahaba chomps on mints so he goes through boxes of them in a week

i feel like theres a boy in the team who doesnt brush their teeth everyday and rubs a towel on their teeth to make it look clean and take mints to hide their bad breath

iwaizumi is actually iron deficient so he bruises super super fast and he even developed iron defiency anemia when he was younger bc his parents didnt catch on which caused him to be put on strong medication for months and still takes it now

WAIT,, OIKAWA IS LACTOSE INTOLERANT BUT HE LIKES MILK SO HE EATS MILK BREAD TO MAKE HIM FEEL NOT SO BAD OR GUILTY OF CONSUMING STRAIGHT DAIRY

seijoh four bonding time is watching gordom ramsey shows and yelling and screaming 'YEA! EXACTLY!' as if theyre also cooking genuises

watari used to eat grapes all the time until his mom got worried and told him if he doesnt stop, he will eventually turn into one. he only eats it every few weeks

when he was younger, kunimi cried because he had befriended a chicken on a trip to a farm and his mom took him to eat fried chicken after and he thought it was Chicky (his chicken friend :"))

kyotani used to stick out his tongue when it was raining so he could taste the raindrops. they taste better than bottled water

one time, during a seijoh sleepover, they dared oikawa to wear his sisters old uniform, skirt and all, and it backfired so everyone turned red and couldnt look at him in the face

their pregame ritual is touching each other's shoe tips

they tried doing yoga at yahaba's house before by watching yoga youtube videos but everyone ended up having to go to the chiropractor after (how did makki even turn into the human pretzel?)

the local gym gets so scared when they see the team coming through the doors bc these men are so LOUD like they HYPE EACH OTHER UP SO MUCH THEYRE SO ANNOYING AKSKSKDK

also never take them to an all you can eat sushi place. if you do, bring them earlier of the day like 30 mins after opening time so the cooks can cook enough for them without running out of ingredients (even then sometimes they still run out)

oikawa used to eat his mom's roses from her garden because he thought it would make his farts smell good like roses

takahiro is a surprisingly good artist like he draws really cool action fighting scenes in the corner of his papers and stuff

in my work: it's canon that iwa is half filo and his nanay used to dress him up in a barong all the time during halloween bc she wanted him to showcase his heritage

yahaba drinks a lot of milk because he hopes to one day grow strong and bulky like the 3rd years instead of being seen as a pretty boy

kindaichi's mom is a hairstylist and she always scolds him for using a lot of gel bc she's always the one who washes his hair

makki never learned how to do taxes and hes had the government knocking on his door a handful of times (BOKUTO AKKDJSKKS)

kyo has a dog: a chiweenie

there's someone on the team who wears those socks with individual pockets for toes

their pinterest is so different from what they look like for example, mattsun has a board of different flower decorations and arrangements

kunimi throws up during intense horror movies

watari's celeb crush is emma watson

the team alternates from different music genres like from ateez and bts to mxmtoon and beach bunny

they still dont know how to pronounce camila cabello's name

theyre all active in social media but only oikawa is on it 24/7 and in all platforms while the others have insta and snap

mattsun has twins as little siblings and he used to get them mixed up all the time that he used to draw a sharpie dot on the girl's forehead to determine she was his sister

watari hates sitting on the floor bc his butt bone hurts really easily so he can only sit on cushions for long periods of time

the team was supposed to have a party but everyone didnt know what to bring so they proved they shared the same braincell by bringing the same thing: a box of pizza

makki's an old soul and prefers to play records on a record player or watch old movies

kyo is surprisingly good at giving massages because he really pushed hard on those tense muscles

kindaichi knows how to crack necks so everyone goes to him a lot to do it (a friend of mine does this and can i say its terrifying yet so good?)

the only one who has a license is matsukawa and thats because granny needs to go to the doctor a lot and he hates her walking by herself and cabs are expensive

kyotani and yahaba are actually,,, lowkey close,,, not like best friends but theyre nice to each other and they got a stick and poke together (yahaba's was: :) while kyo's was: >:))

watari has a collection of mangas (some bl maybe 👀)

WARNING SAD: mattsun’s future job is a funeral person right? he ends up taking care of granny’s funeral free of charge and he had to take a week off because it was really painful for him

oikawa learned spanish SUPER fast to the point he forgets japanese sometimes but there are moments where he forgets both languages and hes just,,,, ???

makki’s unemployed yea but he rooms with mattsun in exchange of cooking because makki’s surprisingly good at cooking

iwa is practically the nutritionist of the team because he knows everything about proteins, carbs, iron, and needed vitamins so they all go to him to know what to eat and what they need

kunimi has lots and lots of shoes but usually only wears 2

kindaichi has a habit of pretending hes chewing gum even though he doesnt have gum, his mouth just chomps and moves with air akasldfjkf

there was a clown phenomenon in america but in their city, they had a mascots and seijoh 4 went around scaring kids :”(

oikawa never manspreads he gets too insecure to spread out like that akdjfkd

kyotani can easily sleep anywhere like he would be standing and just fall asleep or he sleeps with his eyes open

yahaba’s parents own a restaurant somewhere in the city and he works there sometimes

IM REALLY GOING TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS YALL AKSDJFKL

SORRY IM WRITING TOO MUCH I FEEL BAD THAT I HAVENT UPDATED BUT IM IN A CAR RIDE RN AND I WAS ABLE TO WRITE AGAIN AND MY EXAMS HAVE FINISHED THIS WEEK IMMA CRY

PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO REPLY WITH ANY OTHER HCS YOU GUYS KNOW OF SO I CAN PUT IT IN HERE AND CREDIT YOU WITH IT SO WE CAN HAVE LIKE A HCS BOOK FROM EVERYONE BUT THIS IS WHAT I STARTED WITH

oikawa screams a lot according to gigi but he’s actually a really quiet guy and not easy to scare

OKAY YOU GUYS DONT KILL ME I SWEAR IVE BEEN SO TERRIBLE AT WRITING BUT YOU KNOW WHO TURNED ONE TODAY? THIS PAGE!!! MY BABY IS ONE ALREADY 😭😭😭 ANYWAYS, HOPE THIS CAN MAKE YOU GUYS SMILE TODAY AND SCHOOL ENDS NEXT WEEK AND IM ALREADY AT 132 DRAFTS AMSJKSDKSK SO OH MY GOD THERES GOING TO BE SO MUCH COMING AND IM SO EXCITED TO GET THEM OUT 😩😩

[let-it-raines]

I Hope We Never See October (8/12)

When his personal life and football career go up in flames, Killian Jones escapes England for America, finding seclusion in Martha’s Vineyard in order to hide from his demons. It’s a fresh start, or at the very least a paused moment in his life, and all he needs is a few months alone to allow his heart to heal. He doesn’t count on meeting Emma Swan.

Emma’s life depends on tourists who come to the island every summer. It’s how she makes her money working in restaurants and clubs across the vineyard, but every year, she cannot wait until autumn comes and her life returns to normal. She especially cannot wait for Killian Jones to leave.

Rating: Mature

a/n: Okay, so that cliffhanger, huh? I thought our mystery guests were obvious, but then again, I'm writing the story. But We'll answer all those questions here!

AO3: Beginning | Current Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

-/-

Killian’s side of the bed is cold when Emma’s alarm goes off. She expects him to still be there either sleeping or on his phone – he seems to do most of his work in the mornings when he doesn’t want to get out of bed – but he’s not there.

She hates herself a little bit for even noticing the cool feel of the sheets beneath her fingertips.

Emma groans and stretches her legs out, wondering how much time she has to go back to sleep before she absolutely has to go into work. She squints at her phone. She’s got two hours before she has to be at work. She could definitely sleep for another hour and a half and then look like shit at work. That might be nice, actually.

But then she smells something cooking downstairs, and almost on cue, her stomach growls.

Slowly, she gets out of bed, and the floor is cold against her bare feet. She should really go take a shower before she goes downstairs, and despite the good smell, she goes into the bathroom and quickly showers, leaving her hair dry. It’s curly and a bit frizzy from leaving it wet after her shower at the Nolans’ last night, but that’s a problem for another time…tomorrow. She’ll make it look better tomorrow. Emma grabs a pair of shorts and a button-down, putting them both on, and she pulls out a pair of sandals from her closet for later. She’s not as presentable as she should be, but maybe she can stay in her office and away from customers.

Besides, this is better than what it could have been had she not at least rinsed off the remaining sunscreen and sweat from her skin.

Emma smooths down her shirt and fluffs her hair. There’s the slightest bit of red on her chest from Killian’s beard, so she buttons up one more button before heading downstairs. From the smell of it, Killian is either cooking pancakes or waffles, and she’ll take either.

As far as her seasonal friends with benefits go, Killian is definitely the winner.

For the breakfast, the sex, and maybe the conversation. She thought about that for too long yesterday, and it’s too damn early for her to be thinking about any of this today. All she wants is food and coffee, so that’s all she’s thinking about. It’s all she can.

“Damn, Jones,” Emma shouts from the top of the stairs, “something smells delicious.”

She’s at the bottom of the stairs when she hears other voices. For one brief second, she thinks Killian is on the phone, but she’d know those voices anywhere. One haunts her nightmares, the other is the voice of her dreams, and neither was supposed to be here for three weeks.

Three fucking weeks.

Shit.

Holy shit.

What the hell has Neal done that he has to show up like this without even giving her any kind of heads up?

And how does she fix this? Killian was never supposed to know about Henry. He was the one question she’d never answer. He would have been her veto had it ever come up. When he got home from spending the summer with his dad in New York City, Emma was going to start phasing Killian out. They’d only ever spend time at his place, she’d never spend the night unless Henry was sleeping over at his friends. Usually, she doesn’t have this problem because the guy leaves way before this. He doesn’t have the chance to ever know about Henry, and Emma likes it that way.

The last guy that met Henry was Walsh, and that was only on accident. Or at least that’s what Walsh said, but Emma’s always thought Walsh showed up at the Blue Dog at that time on purpose because he knew Henry would be there with Emma. The guy never understood why Emma didn’t let him meet her son, but when you’ve never been able to trust a man besides David and possibly Graham with him, you have reservations.

His dad’s a full-blown asshole who has upended her life more than once, and she’s already so done with whatever bullshit excuse he’s got for bringing Henry home early.

Emma jumps in place, trying to breathe without really inhaling, and then she turns the corner into the kitchen.

The sight is as bad as she expected. The first person she sees is Killian, and if it were any other morning, this would be a good view to wake up to. His joggers hang low on his hips, he’s standing by the stove shirtless, and his hair is sticking in several directions from where her hands tugged on it last night. Then she sees Neal, who is standing in the corner with his arms crossed, frown on his face. He looks older since she saw him at the beginning of June. His beard is filled with more gray, his hair unruly in a purposeful way. He looks pissed, and Emma already knows this is about to be hell.

And then she sees Henry, and the tenseness fades from her shoulders when she sees his smile and the giant backpack he’s wearing. He’s got to empty that damn thing out.

God, she’s missed him so much.

“Mom!” he squeals, running toward her.

Emma opens her arms and embraces him, holding onto the back of his head and breathing him in. As much as Emma sometimes likes the freedom her summer affords her, she does miss her son. A lot. Him being gone is the entire reason she picks up shifts at The Oaks. She needs the distraction, not so much the money, until the summer is over and Henry comes back home for school.

“Hey, kid,” Emma laughs as she keeps hugging him. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. Can I have the waffles?”

“What?”

He pulls back and grins. “The waffles Killian made. Can I have them?”

“Killian,” Emma slowly repeats. She looks over Henry’s head toward Killian who is furiously scratching behind his ear, and she realizes just how much he has a deer in the headlights look going on. As confused as she is right now, she knows he’s just had a few bombs dropped on him. “Uh, yeah, why don’t you and my friend Killian eat. I’m going to talk to your dad in the backyard for a minute. Neal.”

“What? I don’t get a hi?” Neal asks.

“Backyard. Now.”

He smiles, and once upon a time, she would have found that charming. Right now, she wants to slap it right off his face. Whatever he has to say, she knows it won’t be good. Emma closes the back door behind them and moves far enough across the deck to keep Henry from hearing.

“What the hell, Neal?”

The smile falls, and Emma crosses her arms over her chest. She has to put up a barrier with him. “Why are you so angry? Are you not excited to see Henry? He has been gone all summer, you know.”

“Of course I’m excited to see my kid. But I wasn’t supposed to see him three weeks from now. And with a head’s up. We have a schedule, Neal. Like, a court-mandated schedule that you made us get, and you’re not sticking to it.”

“That I made us get?” he scoffs. “What’s that supposed to mean? If I recall, you’re the one who kept my son from me for seven years and then didn’t want to give me custody.”

How is he such an ass? Seriously. How does he still not get it?

Emma steps closer and straightens her back. She doesn’t need to make herself taller, not for him, but she does anyway. “I got pregnant with Henry when I was sixteen. You were twenty-four. Do the math on how that’s wrong in about eighty-two different ways. And if I recall, and trust me I have a pretty good memory of this day, when I told you I had something important to tell you, you disappeared off the face of the planet. That doesn’t really seem like a guy who deserves to know about his kid.”

“Oh, come on, Ems. You can’t still be mad about that, can you?”

Is it still considered assault if Emma punches someone who deserves to be punched? There must be a law making that okay.

“Why are you here early, Neal?”

She doesn’t want to get into this with him. He’s never going to understand how much he fucked up Emma’s life. There’s no need for her to try to get him to understand now when all she wants is to know why he just showed up early.

“Who’s that guy in there?” he asks, evading her question.

“A friend.”

His mouth crinkles when he laughs, and she hates it. “A shirtless friend who fixes you breakfast? I hope you don’t make a habit of this when Henry’s home.”

“You don’t get a say on my dating life. Or my parenting skills. Now answer my question.”

He blows out air, and rolls his eyes, like she’s the one inconveniencing him. “Look, Tamara wants to go on vacation before summer ends, and she didn’t want to bring Henry with us. So I thought I’d bring him back to you and it wouldn’t be an issue. I’m sure you can keep him entertained until he goes back to school.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God, Neal, are you serious? You are breaking the rules of our custody agreement because you want to go on vacation with your girlfriend? How is it possible that you’re so selfish? I mean, God, seriously.”

Emma groans and buries her face in her hands before screaming. Or at least screaming as loud as she can without Henry knowing.

“Henry is a good fucking kid,” Emma continues, slowly breathing to calm herself down, “and he loves you. He doesn’t see all the shit I do because I’ve hidden that from him, but you can’t just do this, Neal. You can’t decide you’re done playing dad and give him back to me when you nearly made me go broke fighting to keep custody of the kid I’d raised since he was born. That’s not how being a parent works.”

“That’s rich coming from the woman who has used her time away from her kid to fuck British tourists and is upset her kid is back early because her vacation has to end.”

Emma looks up into the eyes of the man she once loved, the man who gave her son his eyes, and she says, “Go say goodbye to Henry and get the hell out of my house. I’ll see you next June, if you still decide to show up then.”

It’s a dismissal, and Neal never takes those. Not sitting down at least. She’s sure there will be arguments and petty jabs for the next few months. He’ll make her life hell while playing as the good guy. He has this act where he says things like “he’s a good person now, can’t she just move on from the past?”

There’s a difference between forgiveness and moving on that not a lot of people get. They say you have to forgive to move on, but that’s not true. You can move on without forgiveness because some people don’t deserve it. At all. Sometimes all you can do is stop letting them live in your head rent free, and you have to forgive yourself for ever falling for the lies.

Emma’s chosen that route. She’s forgiven herself, has moved on with her life even with Neal constantly trying to pull her back down, and she’s not about to stand here and let him criticize her personal life when he has no business in it.

Through the window, Emma watches Neal hug Henry goodbye. It takes less than a minute before he’s gone and Henry is back to eating his breakfast. Emma would laugh, she wants to at how ridiculous this all is, but she’s not finding anything about today funny. Because while Neal will go back to New York and will be happy, she’s stuck here cleaning up the mess he just made because she has to do everything in her power to make sure her kid never knows the version of his dad she knows.

A phone call would have been nice. At least then she could have gotten Killian out of the house. She still would have been pissed, but at the very least, she would have been able to make things a little better than they are now.

“Shit,” Emma breathes out, looking toward the sky. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Emma inhales and exhales several times before forcing a smile and walking inside where Henry is eating the breakfast that was meant for her and talking to Killian about soccer of all things.

Well, not of all things. Most of the time, Emma forgets that Killian plays professionally. Hell, they talked about it yesterday, and it still isn’t at the forefront of her mind. That part of his life has nothing to do with hers…except for right now when Killian is talking to her son about it.

He still doesn’t have on a damn shirt.

“Mom, did you know Killian used to play soccer? Like, as a job. That’s so cool! Do you think he could coach my team?”

“I did know that, kid.” Emma kisses his forehead, and he squirms away. It’ll take him a week or two to get used to her kind of affection versus Neal’s, so she’s not too offended. “How do you know that?”

“I recognize him.”

“Since when do you watch a lot of British soccer? Or football as Killian calls it.” She mimics Killian’s accent, but she also knows she did a terrible job with it.

Henry shrugs and stuffs a large bite of waffle in his mouth. “Dad doesn’t have anything to watch on TV but sports channels. All I did during the day was watch old soccer matches.”

“Wait. Where was your dad?”

Henry shrugs again. “I don’t know. At work I guess.”

Neal works from home most days of the week. What an ass. Emma bets he didn’t even get someone to watch Henry. He just used old sports reruns to keep him entertained.

“Hey, kid,” Emma says, finally looking to Killian, “can you stay in here and eat breakfast while I talk to Killian in the other room?”

“Sure.”

Emma flashes a tight smile and then nods her head toward the stairs. Killian gets the message and walks upstairs without being asked, immediately heading toward the bedroom. He stands by the window, arms crossed over his chest, and Emma watches his jaw tick, the smile he had on for Henry a moment ago, gone.

Softly, Emma closes the door behind her.

“I have my personal question of the day, Swan. You have a son?”

Okay, great, so this is how it’s going to be. Emma opens her dresser drawer and pulls out a shirt for Killian. He catches it after she tosses it and tugs it on. It doesn’t help as much as she’d like it to.

“Okay, look,” Emma begins, “you were never supposed to meet Henry. He wasn’t…his dad was supposed to have him for three more weeks.”

“The contract on my rental house has more time on it than that.”

Emma runs her hands through her hair and sighs. “I don’t know. I would have figured it out. Only go to your place, spend less time together. I mean, it’s only natural, right? Because you’re going to leave, and it would make sense for things to die down between us.”

Killian laughs, but Emma gets the sense he doesn’t find any of this funny. “Yeah, it makes perfect sense. This was only about sex, right?”

“Killian.”

“No, no.” He holds his hand up. “It’s fine, Swan. I get it. It’s my fault for thinking we might be mates on top of that.”

“I mean, we are – kind of, maybe. I don’t know.” Emma sighs and sits on the end of her bed. She doesn’t know what to do. Even more, she doesn’t know what to say. She definitely doesn’t know how to feel. “It was never supposed to be like this. I’m usually better at not blurring the lines. I don’t know what happened with us that made me drop my guard.”

“I knew you found me charming.”

Emma laughs and falls back on the mattress. “I have a kid, Killian, and he’s back. I can’t be like I was. We can’t just fuck whenever we want or stay out late or eat pizza at three in the morning. I’ve got to make sure Henry has a place to stay and Mary Margaret is across the country visiting her parents so that’s out for awhile. And I’m still working two jobs because I thought I had time to do that. I don’t, God, I don’t know what to do about anything in my life. Plus, you know, I want to spend time with Henry, and I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“I could watch him, love. He’s a bit older than what I’m used to with my nieces, but I’m sure I can find ways to entertain him.”

Emma sits up. Her heart is beating way too fast, and suddenly, the true reality of this situation hits her.

The man she’s been sleeping with has met her son.

And he’s offering to babysit.

What the actual hell?

She needs time to think. And scream. She definitely has to scream into her pillow for at least an hour because she literally cannot think of another thing to do. This is all too much, and she needs Killian to leave. He makes this all too complicated. She needs to go downstairs and eat breakfast with Henry. That she can do. That’s not complicated. That’s something she’s done every day for ten years, even if it’s usually Pop Tarts or a bowl of cereal, not homemade waffles and eggs.

“Can you, uh,” Emma starts, biting her lip, “can you go home? I need to spend time with Henry. He won’t show it, but I know he knows why his dad brought him home early. I’ve got some crap to deal with, but I’ll text you later.”

His eyes narrow, and Emma knows that look by now. He knows she’s lying, but she doesn’t expect him to call her out on her lie.

And he doesn’t because as quickly as his eyes narrow, they widen and a slight smile creeps onto his lips. “I’ll see you later, Swan. I’ll get my clothes out of the machine downstairs and go.”

“Thanks.”

Killian doesn’t move, and Emma has a hard time looking at him until she does. His eyes are so damn blue. It’s ridiculous.

But then he moves. Leaves, actually, just like she asked him to, and she hears every single step as he leaves the house and gets into his car. Emma breathes out a sigh of relief, maybe a little confusion, and then she grabs her phone of her bedside table.

Not a single warning text or call from Neal, just like she thought. Ass.

ES: SOS. My house. 10 minutes.

RL: Are you dead?

ES: Yes, I’m texting you from beyond.

RL: I am hungover. Give me 30.

Emma tosses her phone on her bed and heads downstairs. The life she was living is over. Henry’s home, and she is his mom. That’s what she has to do, and right now, that means putting her anger at Neal and confusion with Killian behind her to go eat breakfast with her kid.

She can only partially ignore that Killian was making this breakfast for her.

For them.

-/-

“King Harold,” Ruby says when she walks through the door in her pajamas and immediately sees Henry, “welcome back to your seaside palace. Come give me a hug.”

“Only if you never call me Harold again.”

“I can’t agree to that, Harold.”

Henry rolls his eyes, but he hugs Ruby anyway. “My name is Henry.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ruby kisses the top of his head. “You smell like waffles.”

“Killian made waffles for breakfast.”

“Killian did?” she asks, looking over Henry’s head toward Emma. Emma shrugs and cocks her head.

“Kid, why don’t you go unpack? When you’re finished, we’ll go to the beach before I have work.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” Emma hums and nods at the stairs. “I told them I’d be late today. Get your bags and go.”

Henry quickly grabs his suitcases. They’re nearly bigger than him, but he manages to drag them up the stairs. Emma waits until she hears his bedroom door close, and then she moves to the kitchen and collapses on a barstool. Ruby fixes herself a plate of leftover food and starts eating. “I have eight thousand questions.”

Without lifting her head from the counter, Emma tries to answer at least half those questions. “Killian slept over and was making breakfast when Neal and Henry walked in, so they both met him, which went over as well as you’d expect. Neal didn’t tell me he was bringing Henry back early, but apparently his girlfriend got tired of having him around and wanted to go on vacation. Neal thought ambushing me was the best way to go about the situation, and then he got pissed about me having a guy over.”

Emma peaks up to see Ruby blinking. Slowly. Did she not process anything or is she just so hungover that it’s taking her a long time to figure out what to say?

“Was Neal charming or something when you guys were together?’

Emma laughs. “I was sixteen, and he paid attention to me. He might as well have been Prince Charming.”

“He’s the worst.” Ruby scrunches up her nose. “And you’re not a Prince Charming type of girl. I get more of a rebel vibe from you.”

“Yeah, because mom and restaurant manager means rebel.”

Rub leans over and pokes Emma’s nose. “I don’t think you know how badass you are, Emma Swan. Give me a minute to get some coffee and make more food because I definitely need to dissect everything that’s going on with you. Baby daddy and new boyfriend not included.”

“Not my boyfriend.”

“Oh, right. Just sex friend because you totally invite sex friends to parties at Marg’s place. That seems normal.”

Emma narrows her eyes. “I invited you here to help with a crisis. Not create a new one.”

“I’m just saying,” Ruby sighs, “Mr. Jones is a hell of a lot better than most of the guys you shack up with. Your unfortunate sperm donor included. I’d think about that if I were you. I mean, we both know you’re about to ghost him, but at least think about it, Emma.”

Yeah, maybe she will.

-/-

-/-

@qualitycoffeethings @marrtinski @klynn-stormz @scarletslippers @elizabeethan @jrob64 @therealstartraveller776 @thejollyroger-writer @galadriel26 @galaxyzxstark @idristardis @karenfrommisthaven @teamhook @searchingwardrobes @jamif @shireness-says @ultimiflos @onepunintendid @killianswannn @carpedzem @captainkillianswanjones @mayquita @mariakov81 @jennjenn615 @onceuponaprincessworld @a-faekindagirl @scientificapricot @xellewoods @ultraluckycatnd @stahlop @kmomof4 @tiganasummertree @singersdd @tornadoamy @cluttermind @andiirivera @itsfabianadocarmo @captain-emmajones @ilovemesomekillianjones @taylrsversion @dramioneswan @jonesfandomfanatic @wefoundloveunderthelight @gloriousfemaleworrier @spartanguard @snowbellewells

[lydia-yougowith-stiles]

My Top Ships of 2020

It’s FINALLY here!! The list of my top ships of 2020. What a year it was and I can’t believe it’s already January 8th as I’m writing this. Just like I mentioned with my 2020 TV Wrap Up, a lot of these ships helped me escape during 2020. I can’t wait to see where they’re headed for 2021. I have also started watching a few things in December, but I will be saving those ships for my 2021 list. (You’ll notice I have already expanded this list from last year.) Last year, I debated about including an Honorable Mentions sections. This year I will be including it because I wanted to still talk about these ships, but found it hard to rank them with the others. Without further ado here we go!  

Oh! One last thing. Compared to previous years Bellarke has not made it on this list. J. Roth did us dirty with this last season of the 100 and I will pretend it didn’t exist. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

~ Anne with an E: Jerry and Diana

These two were SOOO CUTE until Diana started acting rude and left our perfect boy Jerry. Watching this last season back, I grew not to like this couple as much as I did the first time. This most definitely had to do with the fact that I knew the outcome AND I could see Diana using him more earlier. She wanted to experience something different and rebel and Jerry was there. But they were so cute as they walked home together and shared books. I’m also really proud of Anne for sticking by Jerry when she found out the truth about their relationship. (As you probably already know I love Jerry so much and don’t want any harm to come for him, so this was a tough one, but yes I’m still including it.) 

~Umbrella Academy: Klaus and Dave

I started watching Umbrella Academy this year, so I was lucky to not just experience the first season, but also the second. I instantly fell in love with Klaus and Dave and we barely got any scenes with them. (That’s my main reason for making them an honorable mention rather than a permanent spot on this list.) I wish we had more scenes with them in love. We do get some great moments in scene two with a younger Dave, which highlights Klaus’ love for him, but it’s not the same. I really love how much Dave changed Klaus. I would argue they’re my favorite romantic relationship on the show. 

~Walking Dead World Beyond: Hope and Elton

Here’s my classic shipping people together who weren’t technically romantic (but honestly those often make the best and most satisfying ships if the writers open their eyes to the chemistry that is on screen...but I digress). While they technically weren’t “romantic” you could tell that Elton grew to have a crush on Hope as the season went on. There was definitely a lot going on between their characters as Hope ***I’m going to try and avoid a spoiler here*** was one of the last people to see Elton’s mom. I think there’s potential for these two down the road and as there are only 2 seasons slotted for Walking Dead World Beyond, I can only hope this is the path the writers take. 

~Violetta: Angie and Pablo

Okay, so even if you have not heard of the Disney Channel telenovela “Violetta” or seen many of my posts, can you just appreciate the chemistry in the above moment between these two people! For a good amount of season 1 of the show, Angie and Pablo were the couple for me and I was ESTATIC when they finally got together. I anticipated it wouldn’t be for long because of slight spoilers and more intuition, but god were they beautiful together. Friends to lovers to the extreme. Screw Herman! Now as I’m slowing watching season 3, I know these two won’t be OTP, but I can savor in this moment and remember the good times. 

17. Violetta: Violetta and Leon

Two back to back Violetta appreciation posts. This show took up my entire 2020 from awaiting for season 2 (and 3) on Disney Plus, as well as watching the 80 episodes (a piece!). Currently, I’m trying to get back into wanting to watch season 3 (as other shows took precedent). With the amount of Violetta I watched, I couldn’t leave Violetta and Leon off this list. They were the favored ship of the show (and one of the most central). In season 1 it took me a little time to like them together, but by episode 35 I could feel the mutual attraction. I remember the moment of them singing/playing piano together. I knew they’d be endgame. My main complaint is that when these two are a part they are SUPER ANNOYING! Like they (specifically I’m thinking of Leon) say rude things about the other person and I’m like how could you be okay to get back together? Their best moments are definitely in season 2, whether singing to the other person or imagining singing to them. Definitely at the end of the season when they’re in Spain. I still have to watch the end of their love story, so I hope it’s satisfying.

16. High School Musical the Musical the Series: Nini and Ricky 

So I added this ship onto my list long before I knew about any real-life/personal drama that was happening among the cast. I considered taking it off the list, but as I am discussing the fictional characters I decided to leave it. High School Musical the Musical the Series was a very early 2020 watch. I liked the show more than I was expecting and was upset to hear that season 2 wouldn’t include a performance of High School Musical 2. (I mean, Beauty and the Beast...really?) This was one of those extremely rare times where I actually liked a ship that was the main ship. Usually, I favor the other part of the love triangle or the underappreciated part. I was both shocked and happy when Ricky and Nini kissed in the finale and got together. Of course the final episode ended with some hurtles for season 2 (which now I guess there will be even more), but it was good to see them together and happy. 

15. Legacies: Hope and Josie

With all of these shows ending earlier than they should have due to COVID, I feel like I’m going to sound like a broken record when I say I don’t remember a lot of what happened in this last season. (I guess for 2021 I’ll have to take more thorough notes, but then again you can see which ships I like more.) With Hope and Josie, season 2 was a bit of a rough road. I mean, what do you expect when you erase yourself from existence for the greater good, which means that your boyfriend hooks up with your friend/eventual lover? (Yes, I added in that second part.) Josie and Landon felt very awkward in the beginning of this season when they were in “love” and forgot about Hope. (I rarely heard anyone say they liked them together.) It got more awkward when Hope came back in the picture and had to watch them together. Then we had that spill with Josie being evil (which I was surprised they tackled so early on in the show. Feels like a later plot to explore). Due to all these hurtles, there were less opportunities for my OTP of Legacies. The best moment we got was in the above photo when Hope went into Josie’s subconscious and was speaking to Josie as a fictional pig the whole time. We will never forget how the “pig” suggested Hope kiss her awake. Come on Julie! Give us what we want! 

14. Single Parents: Will and Angie

Will and Angie were far down on my Top Ships last year. Another friends to lovers, you could just feel the chemistry between these two and that was strengthened in season 2. (I just loved some couples more this year I guess.) Last year, they couldn’t really act on too much romance between these two because of Poppy and Douglas’ relationship, but as those two had some drama this season, Will and Angie had a greater chance of getting together. We watched moments where the two pretended to be a couple (for the sake of Will’s parents) and eventually Will came to the realization of his feelings for Angie. In a classic season 2 plot device of a sitcom, Angie decided to go with her real-life husband/Graham’s dad at the end of the season. But you could see she also had feelings for Will and they HAVE to act on those next season. I can’t remember if the show got a third season, and I will be crushed if they didn’t. Previously, they’ve been mid-season starts so I feel hopeful.  

13. Emma: Emma and Knightley

The last movie I watched in movie theaters was Emma. While it makes me sad that I haven’t been able to go back since, this film was a great one to hold this memory. As an avid Jane Austen fan (and period drama as you will continue to notice), I LOVED this Emma and Knightley pairing. This couple is one of my favorites of the Austen heroines and heroes and I have many favorite reincarnations from Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller to Joanna Sotomura and Brent Bailey in Emma Approved (still so sad those two broke up). So it was very hard to live up to what I’ve watched and liked before. Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn did not disappoint and will be one of the combos I think of when I re-visit the novel. I love how we didn’t focus on their crazy age difference and really highlighted on their relationship as family friends and going back a long time. I specifically like the decision to bring in some early nods to Knightley admitting his feelings for Emma and then not doing so because of the presence of Frank Churchill. Just talking about all of this makes me want to re-watch the movie all over again. :) **If you’re a fan of this combo or Emma/Knightley in general that you have to watch this video. It is amazing! 

12. Avatar The Last Airbender: Zuko and Katara

Another binge from 2020. I watched Avatar the Last Airbender in the summer and was amazed by the story-telling and how deep they could get for a kid’s program. Despite, being in MS/HS when the show originally aired, I hadn’t watched it before. So many people had told me to do and then with the help of Netflix, I felt the pull to do so during quarantine. When I headed into the show, I thought Zuko and Katara eventually got together. Mainly, because I know the fandom and love for them is so strong. I instantly felt this too. There were so many great parallels between there characters. (I mean clearly we have the whole water and fire dynamic.) Even when these two weren’t in scenes together I was thinking about how well they’d work together. So needless to say I was disappointed when they didn’t get to be endgame. We did a lot of great moments at the end of season two and definitely with season three. The Last Agni Kai scene will forever give me chills and represent how deep Zutara is. The evidence is all right there. Such a great ship. 

11. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Zoey and Max

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was one of my favorite watches of 2020 and such a feel good show for a moment with a lot of uncertainty. (I highly recommend if you haven’t watched it. Season 2 just started on NBC this week.) For a while I felt very on the fence if I shipped Zoey more with Simon or Max. As you can notice friends to lovers has been a common thread with my posts (although I LOVE a good enemies to lovers) and Max was that 100%. Plus, he’s played by Skylar Astin so what’s not to love. Despite, all of that I felt both of the men in Zoey’s life had potential and I could be happy if she ended up with either one. By episode 6 I was leaning towards Max (if I’m remembering correctly this would be the “When I Wake Up” number with the scooter) and then by episode 8 I was all in! I mean she sang “I’m Yours” to him. (Episode 8 was one of my favorites for the whole season. She did a fantastic job singing and I loved the twist of events. Also, Max being there for her was adorable. The “Pressure” song in the conference room OMG, get me a Max!) The only thing that upset me about their relationship and Max’s character was how sudden his emotions were. It became all or nothing and it felt like too much. He shouldn’t have given Zoey an ultimatum like that. Once he went to work upstairs, I grew to not like this character. Luckily by the last episode I saw some of the old Max again. We’ll see what happens with this new season. 

10. Julie and the Phantoms: Julie and Luke

Julie and the Phantoms: I cannot talk highly enough of this show. It is amazing and everyone needs to be watching it. Of course, it was created by Kenny Ortega so need I say more...but there is so much more to appreciate too. The actors are fantastic and I love the characters they portray! I also can’t stop listening to the music. But this moment is for Julie and Luke, sorry, I should stop promoting the show :) It was very obvious that two members of the band should fall in love and with Julie and Luke both writing their own music and being passionate about their craft it became a no-brainer that they should end up catching feelings for one another. Of course, there’s the major hurtle that he’s a ghost, but we can figure that out in season 2. Luke is obviously the better pick for Julie (Nick who?). They are just so adorable together and I can’t get over that moment when he talks to her at school by her locker and she pretends to talk on her phone. The way they look at each other says it all. (Such great acting!) Then there’s Edge of Great and Luke’s guitar solo. OH! They’re so meant for each other. While no season 2 announcement has been realized yet, there’s no way this show does not get renewed. 

9. The 100: Murphy and Emori

Okay, so I know this sounds hypocritical that I said I won’t think the last season of the 100 exists and here are Murphy and Emori. But in my defense they are the best part of this season and my love for them as a couple really came to a head this season. Murphy had so much character growth and I was fearing for his life almost every episode. Same went for Emori especially after her accident I didn’t feel positive. These two (along with Raven) were the shining beacon in a very disappointing and confusing season. I love how close they are and how strong they make each other. They have been through so much and it was nice to see them so happy (despite everything going on). You just knew they’d always have each other’s backs no matter what. 

8. Violetta: Fran and Diego

I feel like I would do anything for this ship and I have so many more episodes of season 3 to go. (So that’s saying something.) Another Violetta ship, but arguably the best and one that I know is endgame because I grew so obsessed that I started searching for spoilers early on. (That’s how you know it’s bad. Especially when you’re watching YouTube videos without subtitles, so you have no idea what they’re saying, but they look happy and therefore you are happy.) Fran and Diego only got together in the third and finale season of Violetta. Previously, they were a part of different romances (Diego a major one with Violetta), but at the start of this season they are put together in a lot of situations and quickly grow a strong relationship. You can feel the chemistry instantly! They just fit each other so well. Their singing voices together-OMG! While it took FOREVER for their relationship to be public knowledge, I really haven’t had any other problems with them together. (And with 80 episodes it could easily be the case.) A positive of having more than 30 episodes to go: I have more opportunity to fall even more in love with these two. 

7. Sanditon: Esther and Babington

I LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH! I watched Sanditon so long ago that my memory could get fuzzy, but one thing that stands out clearly is how great it was watching Esther and Babington get together. When thinking about this show people will probably immediately think of Sidney and Charlotte and while they are great and the central couple of the series, these two have my heart. Esther has SO MUCH character growth and development and Babington is a big influence on that. He helps her to see that she can be so much more than what she currently is doing and gets her away from her brother and that lifestyle. For a bit it was touch and go and I wasn’t sure if the two would be endgame, but luckily they were. It appeared to be a marriage out of friendship/necessity. Babington is fine with loving Esther more and hoping she’ll grow to love him. This quickly changes with a scene where we see the two looking very much in love. While this show only used Jane Austen’s unfinished novel as a stepping stone and became a lot more modern (than most fans liked), I thought it did a nice job with several aspects. The main one being Esther’s character. It is a show that I will definitely be re-watching and will always be upset that it did not get a second season. 

6. Legends of Tomorrow: Ava and Sara

A great ship since Ava was introduced. These two balance each other out so well and are one of the most constant ships on the show. (As the Waverider’s doors continue to be revolving in recent seasons.) Each season we watch their relationship deepen and I truly felt that with this most recent season of Legends. Now this might sound super ironic, because from what I can remember (remember 2020 brain, it’s been a while since watching), Sara was off the Waverider a lot, leaving Ava in charge. Sara was away for so many episodes that I started to question (and do a lot of Google searching) if she was leaving the show. Despite the two being a part, I feel we got to know Ava’s character more. She has definitely grown since we first met her all those seasons ago. Due to this development, I felt this couple deserved this spot on the list. When we got to the end of last season ***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*** and it looked like Sara (and actually all the Legends) might die, my heart broke for them. Ava and Sara deserve the world. And with the way the finale ended it’s going to be some time till they get it. Once again, Legends is the best CW Superhero show (I said it) and everyone should be watching it.

5. The Spanish Princess: Mary Tudor and Charlie Brandon 

This ship is so underappreciated and deserves to be talked about more!!! (Another common thread in many of these entries.) I have searched for Tumblr posts and YouTube videos and have only found a few dedicated to this couple. There needs to be more!! As the second season of the Spanish Princess dragged for me a bit, once Mary Tudor and Charlie Brandon got more screen time and a plot-line I was instantly sucked in. They nicely balanced the falling out of love of Katherine and Harry. There should have been more scenes with Mary and Charlie. Right away, you could feel some sort of chemistry, but Mary had to be married to the King of France. Then the King dies and she’s promised to pick a marriage of love for her second marriage. Knowing her brother and expecting that she will be married off again she marries the messenger come to get her from France, Charlie Brandon. Super intrigued by their story I looked up the history of the real Mary and Charlie Brandon and their story matches very closely. They got married despite the King’s rules and had many children together. It seems to be a marriage of love like she wanted. This couple will forever be one of my favorites. 

They are also one of my major reasons for wanting to watch the Tudors. While they completely change the Mary and Charles romance (Firstly by naming her Margaret), at least it was very easy to watch. As Charles Brandon is played by the beautiful Henry Cavill. 

4. The Outpost: Talon and Garret

Speaking of underappreciated ships (and TV shows), I present Talon and Garret from CW’s The Outpost. It was SO HARD for me to find a picture from the third (and latest season) of them to put with this post. It’s even hard to watch any scenes of the show on YouTube. Talon and Garret FINALLY got together this season and it was ABOUT TIME! Since season 1 you have felt the tension between these two, but there were always obstacles and people in between them. There seemed to be potential in the first season and by the start of third I was not holding out hope anymore that they would be together. So, it was such a joyous occasion when they became endgame (is that too soon to say? I have no idea if there’s another season on the horizon). This couple solidified my love for a WARRIOR romance. One where, despite being two different genders (and for this show species), both partners are equal in strength and fighting ability. (Well, Talon could take Garret, but they are such a powerful duo!) I now want to read and watch more romances/ships with this trope. [Please let me know if you have any suggestions.] Just talking about them, I can’t help but smile (almost as big as Garret when he saw Talon again before she left for another mission). At the end of the season they might have tried to make it seem like they would pick other partners and I’m so glad they didn’t. You seriously need to watch this show if any of the above sounded appealing/you like high fantasy and maybe a little CGI cheesiest. 

3. The Society: Grizz and Sam

It breaks my heart talking about this ship ever since Netflix released that they were taking back the second season renewal of The Society. I started watching the Society during quarantine (shocking I know), but I do remember a lot from my time watching (more shocking, right?). Hands down the best couple from this show was Grizz and Sam. They weren’t introduced right away and again I might have cheated when I suspected the two might get together, so I looked up some spoilers. (Honestly, that’s the best sign of a ship in my book. If I can’t wait and need to look up spoilers then your show has a good thing going.) Individually Grizz and Sam were my favorite characters and then pairing them together I was dead. So many amazing moments with them. Naturally we didn’t get enough and I will continue to watch fan videos (because there are so many). They are precious and I’m so glad we got some closure at the end of the season because if we didn’t this cancellation would have been even harder. 

2. Nancy Drew: Nancy and Ace

Okay, I’ll try to keep this brief because I know I’ve talked about this couple A LOT on this page in 2020 (but that might be difficult FYI). From an honorable mention thought last year to #2 this year-THAT’S HUGE! But they deserve it, even if they haven’t officially become a couple on the show...well not yet. Early on in the first season I felt a pull between these two characters, which is super ironic seeing as how they had few scenes together and were a part of two different romances. (I mean Nancy had two different love interests.) I thought I was just imagining things (as I do often pair people who barely share plots), but then episode 14 happened and I was sold. Then I came onto Tumblr and discovered the amount of people that felt it too and knew we had something. Shout out to all the other blogs that mention Nace or are made just to honor this amazing duo. I know they will be endgame too and value all your posts that I’m constantly liking and looking for. 

Again, there’s so much I could talk about, but I’ll focus on how much they trust and listen to one another. (I mean Ace drank that stuff because he trusted Nancy!!!) I love how they get paired up on cases and go into investigator mode. They speak SO CLOSE to one another and just all the looks! If we don’t get more moments in the second season I don’t know how I’ll survive. They are just so perfect and I could easily see them become number 1 next year. I cannot wait for the start of season 2 on Jan. 20th!! For now I’ll fast forward through old episodes and watch my favorite moments. Like these:

AND NUMBER ONE.... DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

1. Anne with an E: Anne and Gilbert

Now I know what you’re thinking...’Stephanie, didn’t you pick Shirbert last year too?’ Why, yes that is true. But back then I had only watched seasons 1 and 2 with some spoiler videos of season 3. The release hadn’t come to Netflix yet. Since then, I have watched the last season (and the show as a whole multiple times). It’s just so good and watching the growth of the characters (not only Shirbert) means so much more when you can watch the episodes back to back. But we’re here for Shirbert and how we watched them rise. Yes, it departed from the novel, but I love the twists and turns it took getting to endgame. So many looks and unspoken feelings. I thought it was great how Anne discovered her feelings. I hated Winifred, but understood her purpose. Anne and Gilbert will always be one of my top OTPs no matter which adaptation. Of course, the book will always be the tops, but so many great representations of it have been done on screen. Ultimate enemies to friends to lovers. I hope to one day create characters that could be so strong and beloved. 

[killiansprincss]

Could This Be Us?

This is my work for @csjanuaryjoy​ this is my first year taking part and I’m excited to share with you all! I’ve made it my goal to write more this year and this seemed like the best way to do that goal! This is just a cute fluff missing scene that I hope brings you joy!

Also on A03

Summary: set in the few weeks before 4b when everything was clam, Emma and Killian agree to babysit Neal and Emma slowly begins to let down her walls and Killian becomes vulnerable. Pure fluff. Babysitting adventures.

___

Emma was happy. The Snow Queen was gone and Gold was banished to the real world. There was nothing and nobody that could hurt them anymore. They could begin their normal life, well as normal as a town filled with fairytale characters could be. Her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming and her boyfriend was Captain Hook, so it was a little crazy, but for the first time in her life, Emma was truly happy.

She goes downstairs to see her parents cooing over her baby brother. Again, still weird that she was 30 and the same age as her parents, and had a newborn baby brother. Even weirder that he was named after her dead ex boyfriend, but his death did allow them to defeat Zelena. And she couldn’t tell them the horrible things Neal did to her, it would only ruin their sense of hope and belief that everyone could be a hero.

“Morning Kid, want me to drive you to school?” Emma asks her son, as she pours her coffee.

Henry spent 4 days at the Apartment Lot with Emma and his grandparents, and the other 3 days at Regina’s. It was their best attempt at normality, and Henry seemed to like spending time with David, dropping not so subtle hints that he wanted to take up sword fighting lessons.

“It’s okay Mom. I think I’ll walk, Ivy is meeting me early as we’ve got our science project due today so we need to go over everything.” He tells her. He was getting pretty friendly to this Ivy girl, Emma was sure he had his first crush, but wouldn’t say anything in case she ruined anything.

Checking the time and realises she’s late, she takes a final sip of her coffee before saying, “I’ve gotta go. Killian’s helping out at the station today and I’m meeting him at Granny’s for breakfast.” It had become a weekly tradition to meet Killian for breakfast, she was getting him to try everything on the menu, and this week was Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup.

“Wait, Emma before you leave.” David says, picking up Neal from his crib. “We wanted to know if you and Hook would babysit tonight. We haven’t had a night to ourselves in a while.”

Emma smiles, “We would love to. And since when do you approve of Hook babysitting? Does this mean you like him now?”

David rolls his eyes, but can’t stop the smile from his face. Truth is he was warming to the fact that a pirate was dating his daughter, he was a good guy, he cared for Emma and he was proving day by day that he wasn’t the man he was years ago. “He’s still a pirate dating my daughter, so he’s under careful supervision. But if he makes you happy I’m not standing in your way.”

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

“Morning love.” Killian waits for Emma outside the lot, which he really didn’t have to do seeing as he lives in the room he rents at Granny’s.

She gives him a quick kiss, and takes his hand as they start walking. “So my parents have asked us to babysit my brother tonight. I told them we would, I hope that’s okay.”

Killian gives Emma a worried look. “Just so you know Swan, I know nothing about babies, I’m not so sure how helpful I can be.”

Emma smiles at her boyfriend, he could’ve easily said no, but he didn’t. “That’s okay. I didn’t raise Henry, I also don’t know the first thing about babies, so it’ll be an adventure for both of us.”

Killian was so lucky. He truly was the luckiest man in the universe. He never imagined Emma would be with him in the way that she is. He also never imagine he would help look after her baby brother with her. If Liam could see him now, he hoped he would be proud.

They walk into Granny’s hand and hand and sit down in the booth. Emma orders them both Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and waits patiently to see what he thinks of them. She shows him that he has to cut into the fluffy circle stack and pour the syrup all over them, the more syrup the better.

His eyes go wide as he chews and realises it’s delicious. “It’s so sweet. This is breakfast food?”

Emma laughs as she digs into her plate. “Oh yeah it’s breakfast all right. I don’t know what you eat for breakfast in the Enchanted Forest but we have many sweet options in this world.”

“Much better than the things I was eating whilst at sea.” He says as he pours even more syrup onto the pancakes.

“And what was that, Rum and more Rum?” She teases as she takes a bite off her plate.

“Ha-Ha Swan. Contrary to your belief, I did eat actual food as a pirate. Not nearly as sweet as this though, it consisted of dried fruits and nuts, then once we docked into port, we were able to have bread and other fresh pastry delicacies.” He chooses to leave out that in Neverland his diet did consist mainly of Rum and non poisonous fruit from the Island.

Emma smiles. This is what happiness looks like. Watching her pirate boyfriend eating Pancakes for the first time. She could get used to it.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

That night, Killian comes over around 6. Her parents had decided to go to a restaurant in town that wasn’t Granny’s, but after constant reminding that Emma had their number to call should anything go wrong. Not that it would. Hopefully.

Emma’s donned her leather jacket for some comfy clothes, leggings and an oversized hoodie, hair in a messy bun. Not her usual sheriff, or saviour look. Killian however is still in his modern leather jacket and jeans, not quite understanding that babysitting would be much easier in comfy clothes.

“Here, put these on.” She tosses him a pair of David’s clothes, sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, hopefully her dad won’t mind, he did say he was liking Hook more and more every day.

“Swan, the clothes in your world are utterly ridiculous.” He says as comes out of the bathroom, looking a lot less like a pirate, and more like a man.

Emma smiles, she had to say he looked good in sweatpants. “Trust me if Neal pukes all over you, it’s a lot easier to get it out of an old t shirt that it would out of leather.”

Killian looked vulnerable. For the first time really. She’d seen him in a lot less clothing before, but she never noticed how vulnerable it makes him look. Underneath all the leather, was a man who had been broken before.

He looks down at his Hook, “do you want me to take this off?”

Emma immediately tells him no. “I don’t see why you should. It’s a part of you, and he’s gonna have to get used to it.”

Killian smiles, the little prince will have to get used to it. Because he’s not going anywhere, he’s sticking around. He will never leave Emma like all those before.

“So where is the Little Prince then?” He asks.

Emma leads him over to the crib in the corner of the room, “Do you want to hold him?”

Emma trusts him. Wholeheartedly. So he agrees to hold the baby.

Neal fusses at first in Killians arms, but he fusses with everyone. He just needs to get used to it.

“Am I doing it okay Swan?” Killian asks as he fusses, but he isn't crying which is a good thing.

“You're doing great.” Emma smiles at him. This was a rare sight, Captain Hook in sweatpants holding a baby. Emma was getting butterflies in her stomach looking at it. She and Killian had been together for a few months now but she could already see a future with him. Being with him was so different than it ever was with Neal, even Walsh, despite it being all fake, was so different to Killian. He never tried to shower her with gifts or presents or big romantic gestures like Walsh. Killian was just there, by her side. And that's all she wanted.

“I think the Little Prince likes me.” Kilian beams as Neal starts laughing at the faces Killian was pulling.

It was scary. Emma was sure she was in love with him. She just couldn’t bring herself to say the words out loud. Because as soon as she said them, things would change between them and it would become real. When she told Neal she loved him, he left her. Killian wouldn't leave, she knows that. But it still scares her.

“Oh no. No. Swan. What’s happening, why is the little lad crying?” Killian asks frantically, starting to panic that he was doing something wrong.

“He’s hungry,” Emma tells him, grabbing his bottle from the counter. “This should be warm enough by now.”

Killian takes the bottle and gets Neal to drink.

“You gotta make sure you’re holding his head, it’s sensitive at this age.” Emma says making his arm support her brother's head.

“You’re good at this you know.” He says as she helps him. “How is it you know all this?”

“Just watching my mom do it really. Also, my cursed memories of me raising Henry. Even though it didn’t happen, I remember learning everything from the books. I remember staying up all night when he cried, and learning how to be a mother at barely 18.” She decided to confide in him, she’s never told anyone about her cursed memories, or about her time in prison, but she feels like she can confide in him, tell him anything without being judged.

“I was 17 when I gave birth, cursed or not, I turned 18 a month later and a few weeks after that I was released from prison. It wasn’t my finest moment, but in my cursed memories I had Henry to keep me going. When I woke up and got my memories back, it made me wish I never gave him up. Because those 12 years were the best 12 years of my life.”

It feels good to open up. She’s letting him in slowly, but it feels nice. He doesn’t pry, he doesn’t ask too many questions, he just listens to her.

“After our father abandoned us, Liam practically raised me. I felt empty and hurt, but Liam, he was there even in my darkest days. The best years of my life was when we were in the Navy together, before it all went wrong.”

They were two halves of the same coin, both abandoned and lost everyone they ever cared about. But together they were healing, both themselves and each other.

“I think he likes you!” Emma says wiping her tears away as Neal becomes fascinated with Killian's Hook.

Killian looks down at the little prince in his arms to see him trying to grab his Hook with his tiny little fingers. “Everyone likes me Swan. I’m not surprised your brother does too.”

“I didn’t like you at first.” Emma teases.

“Aye but my charming wits and looks won you over eventually.” He teases back, causing the smile that he loves to see.

It would be so easy in this moment to say the three words. Killian knew it the moment she kissed him back in Neverland, and in the missing year he realised how much he loved her when he thought he’d never see her again. But he knows better. If he said the words right now, it would cause a rift, and maybe cause her to run. So he doesn’t, he will wait for her to say the words first. He’ll wait forever to hear her say it, it doesn’t matter. As long as they’re together.

“I think I’m getting the hang of it Swan!” He speaks too soon as he begins to rock the little prince to sleep, he decides to bring up the contents of his tiny stomach all over Killian.

Emma tries not to laugh, but she can’t help it as laughter fills the lot.

She takes Neal from Killian so he can clean the sick off his shirt, “told you this would be a better idea, imagine trying to get that off your leather vest. There's another one of David shirts on top of the dryer, you can put the dirty shirt in the basket with the other dirty laundry.”

Looking after her baby brother with her 300 year old boyfriend is honestly not even the weirdest thing about her life at the moment. But it’s something that she never thought she would be doing, she was 17 when she gave Henry up and she thought she would never want kids, or even be ready after that. But just seeing how good Killian was with her brother, it got her thinking could she want this life? It wasn’t off the table. A baby with her hair and Killians eyes. Maybe one day.

___

“He won’t stop crying. Why won’t he stop crying?” Emma cries. They had been trying to settle him for almost an hour now and she’s getting tired. If this was a recurring thing then maybe having a baby of her own wasn’t something she wanted. Especially as it was barely 8.30.

“What else can we try?” Killian asks with Neal in his arms trying to send him to sleep by rocking him slowly.

“I don’t suppose you know a lullaby?” Emma asks, half joking, not really expecting him to.

Except he starts to sing, or hum a melody. It’s quiet enough that she can’t hear the lyrics properly, but Neal seems to like it. So much so that it stirs him off to sleep.

Emma’s really impressed. “That doesn’t sound like a sea shanty. Since when does Captain Hook know a lullaby?”

“My mother used to sing it to me and Liam. Before she died that is.” He tells her, putting Neal down slowly into his crib.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don't be, love. It was a long time ago.”

“Can you tell me about her?” She asks.

“I was 5 when she died, Liam was 8. I don’t remember much about her, Liam probably remembers more. But I know she was tough, she wouldn’t have taken my fathers bullshit. She used to sing that to Liam and I every night before we went to sleep. I sang it to myself sometimes on the Jolly in Neverland after Liam died. It comforted me.” He brushes it off as if it’s nothing, similar to how Emma talks about her past. She takes his hand and interweines their fingers as she leads them back to the couch.

“I like hearing stories about your past. About your pre-pirate days. Reminds me you weren’t always cursed.”

She wraps her fingers around his Hook, she’s never been afraid of it. Or afraid of the man attached to the Hook. She can’t help but imagine one day a baby with her hair and his eyes fiddling with his Hook the way her brother did tonight. And that’s scary.

Emma has a way of seeing the good in him, despite his cruel actions she sees beyond it, sees the pain it’s caused him in the past few years as he attempts to better himself. “I certainly was cursed with bad luck but sadly my actions were of my own accord. But I’ll tell you one story of the time Liam and I got caught in a storm at sea. Liam was a Lieutenant at that point and wanted to prove he could handle it, the stubborn arse.”

And so he tells her stories of his time in the Navy. He tells her anything she wants to hear, and he realises this is the first time anyone has really asked about Liam, or his past. The women he spent the night with back in the Enchanted Forest, well they never did much talking. And with Milah, she was focused on forgetting her past so didn’t care much to ask about his.

“I wish you could’ve met him. He would’ve loved you.” It’s nice, speaking about Liam, telling her the stories he hasn’t really ever told anyone-or thought about in centuries.

Snow and Charming return a few hours later, to find their daughter and Hook asleep on the couch, Emma’s head resting on the Pirates chest. Snow smiles at the sight, and even David isn’t appalled at the sight either, appreciating that his daughter is happy. Snow grabs a blanket and covers the two of them.

“Is that my shirt?” David whisper screams at his wife seeing the pirate wearing his clothes.

[alleycat97]

Slippery Slopes Pt. 1

MTFL:

A day on the slopes ends up ruining everyone’s day and backfires for another.

Pairing: Ava x MC (eventually)

Kinda follows the book and MCs decisiveness. Ava is endgame on this one eventually. Slow burn but not that slow.

Tags list: @samanthadalton @fundamentalromantic @penda-bear and anyone else!

...

This vacation was everything everyone needed. Unexpected by everyone involved but welcomed by the mega mansion and all its luxuries. If you told Emma Price that on Christmas Break she’d be sitting in a hot tub in nothing but her underwear with the 3 people she loved, she’d have called you crazy.

But this trip was about becoming friends and finding out who she really loved the most, a lesson that was soon to be learned.

Fresh powder graced the gang the next morning on the slopes. It had been years since the Price’s had come to ski. It was something that their mother loved to do and ever since her passing, they just stopped coming. And the time away was showing in Emma’s skiing.

She was rusty but it was like riding a bike. A couple falls and face plants were expected but every once in awhile, Noah, Mason, or Ava was there to catch her. Emma loved the way each of their hands lingered on her waist as they helped guide her down the slopes. It may have been freezing outside, but their touch was burning her up.

Principal Jennings took note of the forwardness of the group toward Emma. Mason was spending way too much time with her trying to teach her, when he could be shredding with Ava. All Emma Price was, was baggage. She was handicapping Mason and this year was showing on his academic and athletic performance.

He had to get Mason away from her and back into Ava’s arms. That girl was going places, much better suited for Mason.

“Ah Mr. Harris!” Jennings said coasting up to Noah.

“Just the man I needed to speak with.”

“Me? Why me I didn’t do anything.” Noah asked in question.

“Oh now. I need a favor. I’m planning on having a downhill race amongst you kids, Mason always did love a good race and I’m much too old to be competing.”

“Ok spit it out Jennings.” Noah said annoyed.

“Down on the last curve before the finish line I need you to place a barricade. The outside curve is much too fast with the banking so we need to block it off so no one gets hurt.”

Noah raised an eyebrow in suspicion, “Why me? Just do it yourself?”

“Well I need to get in touch with the crew working that slope to make sure it’s available to only us for the race. I’ll be back here before we start.”

Noah bought it and agreed to setup the barricade, he slowly made his way down the course checking to make sure it was safe and he saw what Jennings meant, that last curve was sketchy. He pulled out some of the barrels outlining the course and stuck them in front of the curve for easy visibility and made his way down to the lift.

Jennings did as he said a ‘cleared’ the race with the crew and huddled everyone up at the starting line.

“Ok we are going to do this race tag team style. Dave? I want you to make sure we start on time and the start is fair. Mackenzie, you will wait at the next spot to make sure it’s a clean transition and I will wait at the finish line.”

“Where is mom?” Mason asked looking around. “She’s going to miss the race.”

“She’s back at the Cabin overseeing lunch.” Jennings spoke.

“Ok the two teams will be Noah and Emma, and Mason and Ava.”

Of course everyone thought. Classic Jennings.

“Noah and Mason will start the first leg and tag off to Emma and Ava. Take your mark boys and have a clean race. Dave at exactly noon, send them on. Girls? Follow me to the next location.”

The adrenaline was pumping between the boys, it was a simple race but they are boys and competition clouded their mind to anything else going on. They just wanted to beat the other.

Down the slope, Jennings placed Ava and Emma into their positions while Mack sat off to the side. He slid over to Ava before taking off, “Remember before the last curve, hold tight into the inside. I’ll tell Emma.”

He hurried over to Emma to tell her the same, “Before the last curve, hold to the inside and you’ll be fine. You girls be ready the boys should be here any minute.”

The race had done started and Mason and Noah were neck and neck. Neither of them gaining the edge as the cold air kissed their faces. They twisted and turned down the course and Noah accidently bumped Mason.

Mason slacked up a little to regain himself and quickened up overtaking Noah tossing fresh snow into face as he rounded the curve tagging Ava to start. Noah finally able to see tagged Emma who quickly thrusted herself forward squatting down to become aerodynamic.

She had to catch Ava, but just like sprinting, she was faster and had the endurance. Ava began to tire as they approached the final curve and Emma easily slipped past her to the inside forcing Ava out. But as they approached the curve Ava could see an obstruction in Emma’s path, a tree limb was sticking out at knee level on the blindside of the curve and Emma couldn’t see it.

“Emma look out!” Ava screamed but it was too late. Emma took the limb to the shin and it sent her end over end flying into the woods taking a face full of limbs and softly coming to a halt in the snow.

Ava stomped on the brakes and rushed over to find Emma buried face down in the snow. Jennings watched from down the hill with a smirk on his face and hurried to the crash site. He made it the same time the others did all to find Emma, not Ava as the victim. Jennings swallowed hard as his plan backfired and began to think of his way out.

Emma was unconscious and her leg was at a bad angle. Dave rushed over to check on her, “We need an Evac quick!”

“Boys! Hurry down to the lift and call for help.” Jennings barked trying to seem concerned.

“Will she be alright Dave?” Jennings asked to break the silence.

“Her leg is shattered and she’s unresponsive, we have to get her out of the snow or else she will get hypothermia.

“I tried to warn her! I screamed and yelled, I was...I was too late. It’s all my fault!” Ava cried out while Mackenzie grabbed her into a hug.

“It’s not your fault Ava.” Mack tried to calm her down, as the boys returned.

“They’re sending a helicopter, ski patrol is coming to move her to the LZ. They said this slope was shutdown for maintenance?” Mason spoke.

“Impossible. Mr. Jennings spoke to the crew and got it approved.” Noah replied looking at Principal Jennings.

Ski patrol rolled in a shoved everyone aside before he could lie. They quickly and carefully scooped her onto a gurney and drove her to the LZ down the hill right as the chopper arrived.

Dave stepped in and argued with the crew, “I’m a doctor and her father! I will be riding with her.” The crew finally gave in and let him in as they took off.

The shock had worn off as the ski patrol turned to the bunch looking for answers.

“Who’s in charge here?” The man asked.

Jennings, being the oldest was singled out, “Ah yes that’s me. Jennings, Jim Jennings.”

“Ok Mr. Jennings, are you aware this slope was shutdown for the day?”

“Uhhh well.” Jennings stuttered.

“Yeah he knew. He called you guys and got permission.” Noah spoke up.

“He did no such thing. There are signs at the top of the slope and on the lifts closing off this slope.”

“We didn’t see any signs.” Mason spoke up.

“Yes that’s right no signs.” Jim spoke up.

“And we checked the course beforehand. It looked safe. But that limb wasn’t there when I set the barrels up in the curve.” Noah recalled.

“It wasn’t there when I came through either...must have just fallen.” Jennings lied.

“So Noah is it?” The patrolman asked, you placed these barrels into the curve directing the skiers into the inside?”

“Yes, only because Mr. Jennings told me to. He said he was contacting authorities to ok this so I setup the barricade.”

“Hmmm and this limb wasn’t here?” He asked.

“No sir. Mr. Jennings was the last one through. He can tell you.”

“Um yes it wasn’t I swear it must have fallen right after I passed.”

“Ok but the fact remains, this slope was off limits and you broke the rules...”

“We did not, there were no signs!” Jennings protested. And their wasn’t because he removed them. The patrolman’s hands were tied.

Surveying the scene one last time something stood out, “You claim this limb...fell?” The man asked Jennings.

“That’s what I assume. Looks like a fresh break.”

“Yes it’s fresh I’ll give it that. But this limb was healthy and it was clearly placed here. You can see the tree it fell from. Limbs don’t just fall this far.”

“What are you insinuating?” Jennings barked.

“That someone placed this limb here on purpose.”

“Dad!!!!! How could you!” Mason screamed.

“It wasn’t me boy! Hush! This is all one big misunderstanding.”

“I’m going to need you and Mr. Harris to come with me.” The patrolman asked. “As for the rest of you. Get your butts off the slopes, you’re banned for the rest of the day.”

[chidoroki]

TPN - Ray one-shot

Me? Writing about new tpn manga content? Even I'm surprised, but I am certainly not complaining! The main series may have ended but this extra chapter gives us even more details regarding Ray's realization about the truth of Grace Field house.

I'm gonna start off and say that this whole backstory about him is absolutely wonderful and it's great to see this new side of Ray. In the main series, he was always portrayed as the calm and collected one out of the full-score trio. Right from the beginning, he comes off as an intelligent tactician who's a little closed off and quiet. So to see him finally freak out and be completely clueless.. is great (in a sad way).

We all had to be just as surprised and scared when we first learned the truth alongside Emma and Norman during our first read/watch. The idea of all the children being raised as food for the demons is enough to scare any child, as we saw from many of them throughout the entire main series.

So when Emma and Norman first inform Ray about the “shocking” news and their plan to escape, he kept his composure rather well, compared to everyone else (and probably us).

I know, at this point he was well aware of the truth for years now and had to fool everyone else so his own plans would succeed, but that's why this extra story is so good. We finally get to see his true reaction and just how scared, panicked and worried he really was, so much so that Ray also had nightmares about the truth and demons, like Emma (ch2/ep2) and Norman (ch15/ep5) did, only he had to deal with them almost every single night, for years, and it breaks my heart.

Why was he the only to realize the life they were all living was a complete lie? Should he tell the others or feign ignorance and ignore everything? Why must this precious young child be stressing out so much and I can't help him?? All he wanted was happiness!

But bless these adorable panels of the young trio though.. they make my heart so happy. I just wanna protect all of them!

Anyways, what I really like is that despite how firm Ray was about saving only Emma & Norman in the main series, this story shows he wasn't always like that. Even if the truth completely terrified Ray, he did once consider saving everyone else in the house. However, he lacked the amount of information needed and therefore couldn't come up with a solid plan.

Not being able to help his family live is painful and he wishes for this crazy world to stop so badly. Back when Emma asked Ray about the shipments, he just kept quiet, so seeing now how upset he used to get whenever one of their siblings got shipped out hurts so good.

I never doubted this boy and how much he cares for his family, but seeing how he had to harden his heart to continue with his own escape plan really hits me in the feels. Ray might have said years later that the younger kids would just be a burden during the escape, but I'm sure that just thinking about that bothered him just as much as it did for us hearing it.

He knows saving everyone will be impossible, especially after he learned more about the trackers. In the main series, we know he's performed many tests on tracking devices and became very knowledgeable on how they work. That being said, I originally thought this one scene from the manga was just showing us that Ray had just learned the location of the device and made an attempt to remove it, by scratching it or something..

I had no idea he completely broke the thing though! With a simple stick nonetheless! No wonder he spends those six years gathering parts to build a taser just to disable the devices, because damn boy. Not only that, but he used that opportunity to time Isabella's movements and confirm that the trackers indeed have an alarm that inform her once they're broken.

And yes, learning he broke his tracker raises many questions, like if he broke his when he was six, then why is there one still present year later during the fire scene of the escape? Did Isabella somehow stick a new tracker in Ray's ear? Or is this one tracking device from somebody else, perhaps one of the other 13 kids Emma and Ray escaped with, since they claimed they did remove their trackers before they left the house. I briefly saw others mention something from Shirai regarding that there's another transmitter Isabella has that's different or something? Anyway, whatever the true explanation may be, Ray amazes me okay?

One of my favorite things about this extra chapter is how it compares to the main series, especially with a scene like this. With the stick scene and this one from the main series, one could almost believe that Ray pulled off such a stunt out of retaliation, an act of defiance, maybe anger or just to test Isabella and what she's capable of.

But then the side story continues and dives even deeper as it shows us how scared Ray really was in this moment. He had no idea if destroying his tracker would result in the end of his life or a golden opportunity for more information and temporary safety. And it's here he realizes that the mom he once loved doesn't care for him at all, even if he still desperately wishes she did in this crucial moment. (hold up, my heart is breaking ahhh)

Thankfully for everyone and the entire story, Isabella accepts Ray's deal, which leads him to gather all the information he can by any means necessary. With all the spent alone reading, the anxiety that came with keeping quiet, and all the pain he had to hide as he watched so many people he cared for be sent off to die, just everything.. he endured it all to just have a chance to save somebody.

Y'all.. I've been thinking about this entire one-shot all afternoon and I can't express how much I appreciate this boy. Ray is simply the best boy and my mind can't be changed!

[the-falcon-of-the-fall]

An Analysis of Laverre

I’ve been in the Spe fandom for 5 years, and have been around during the early days of the XY arc. The only content I got, like many English speaker fans, were Coronis’s summaries of the arc being released, and theviolenttomboy’s comics based on those summaries. Even though they don’t show much details at the time, I was enthralled by the fast pace, the action, and how interesting X and Y are, especially X. He’s a shut-in, and Y is his ever faithful friend who stuck by him despite him being a hardass at times, while also keeping their friend group together. I fell in love with them as a ship because of how loyal she was to X, an ideal many would want but unfortunately may not have, as depressed people are hard to deal with, shown with his friends having already given up on him begging him to leave his room because they have their own lives. X returns this loyalty with deep care and trust for her, while also considering her needs and emotions.

While I had other ships that eventually fell out of interest, Laverre has staunchly remained as my absolute favorite ship of Spe, and perhaps one of the top faves among all of my ships. It’s because it’s been with me for a long time, but it also resonates with me. I do have depressed friends, some lost and some still present, and I understand the pain it is at times to try to help them, not being depressed myself. I have a long-term boyfriend who faces similar issues X has, who I sometimes can’t understand because I don’t have those same issues. I can relate to Y of the frustrations felt towards X, and sometimes, my friends are too frustrating for me. However, Y has the ability to make it clear when he has pissed her off, and X has the ability to recognize he causes her stress and try to own up to it and change instead of blaming it on circumstances, most prominent when she points out how him running off to fight Team Flare is an incredibly awful decision that endangered him and everyone else to try to back him up, and cause them a lot of grief. He apologizes for doing that to Y, and listens to her for the rest of the arc by communicating properly on what he plans to do.

But even before that most notable moment between the two, during their time with Cassius, X gives Y distance when she finds out Grace was kidnapped by Team Flare and makes it clear she wants to be alone. While it may look like he’s not considerate of her needs, X’s already established to be a bit of a mess, already has pissed off Y by using her Rhyhorn as his new room, and is very mad and stressed about those news too, so him trying to help her with that would make things worse. Not only that, it’s established he has a much better relationship with Grace, with X stated to care a lot for Grace by Y, and we can see  that as him venting it out by needlessly Mega Evolving and defeating a wild Pokemon, and being even more snappish. Not only is X a mess who has grief on top of that, he’s going to be biased to Grace, and he knows that won’t help Y whatsoever, who already is acting withdrawn to everyone else.

We can see that Grace tries to drag X into her argument with Y the day before Vaniville gets destroyed, but he refuses to get involved, not only because that is a shitty move on Grace’s part, but because it’s not his own problem. He can’t solve Y’s problems with Grace, only she can. Grace’s her mom. So, he gives her space to process her feelings while he and the rest of the group try to move with their best course of action.

As shown here, X still shows concern for her. Y tells him while she is still upset, she decided to let go of it because the situation right now is dire and she can’t sit around and grieve. All it matters at the moment is to stop her brainwashed classmates from crashing the helicopter everyone’s in.

As shown here, X trusts her to fight them off, while they focus on trying to stop the brainwashing, show in the next panel. She doesn’t keep it bottled up for long either, as she vents out her problems about Grace on Yvette while she fights her, and finds herself feeling better from it, and realizes that she shouldn’t have been so secretive about her stress to her friends either.

While it may hurt, giving space to those who you care about when they are stressed and make it clear they want to be alone is sometimes the best option. Trying to help them when you know you aren’t in a good position to do so is only going to make things worse for them. Let them decide how to solve their stress and how to express it, as they’re the ones in charge of it, but let them know you’re there for them. X understands this and thus gives Y space, but still makes sure she’s fine enough to battle, then trusts her when she makes her decision, even when she admits she’s not completely fine.

Not only are they able to be honest with each other, own up to their faults, and know when to intervene and when to not, they both inspired the other to change for the better. X deeply inspired Y, as seen in their childhood flashback of him encouraging her to pursue her dreams of being something not a Rhyhorn Racer. This radically changed her view of herself from being helpless to the whims of others and to hide her true feelings, to having control over her destiny and to be honest about them. Y is deeply grateful for this, and despite him being a hardass, she sticks by with him because she truly loves him for that.

Y in turn also inspires X, as it takes until the end, where X realized that while people have tried to exploit him and his Pokemon and Team Flare are powerful assholes, he had people who were always supporting him, including Y, waiting for him to go out before the entire mess happened. This makes him realize his view that the entire world is out to get him is wrong, as while he agrees with the misanthropic Emma the world is terrible, there are good people who want to help him. It may have taken years instead of probably a few months for Y, but she has inspired him to change for the better, and he’s grateful for that too.

Interestingly enough, while X is a hardass to Y at times, he never is very aggressive to her, whereas he is towards Tierno and Trevor when they want X to try something out and cooperate respectively, though both happened for one time and both situations were particularly stressful. While he certainly shouldn’t be so aggressive to them, this makes his respect for Y more prominent, as while Y yells and scolds at him all the time to stop being a dick and get out of his room/tent, he doesn’t really do anything as direct as that. This seems to indicate that Y’s extremely important to him, unfortunately for those two, or he knows Y really won’t put up with his bullshit unlike Tierno, who while nice, is firm that he shouldn’t have done that, and Trevor’s very easily scared, though is able to assert himself.

While it’s a popularly held belief X and Y have a sibling-like relationship, I very much disagree and dislike. And it’s not just because there's a lack of Western content from that notion. It also feels very shameful to even like them romantically because of that. The manga itself doesn’t even seem to support it either. Grace may have taken care of X for at most five years and that takes up a big part of their life, but X and Y don’t seem to think they’re siblings. While of course, it varies case by case, kids being raised together starting at the age of 7 is generally not young enough for them to consider the other siblings. Hell, it seems to support there may be some romance going on on Y’s part:

I would never call my theoretical brother that in a serious situation if you ask me. Of course, you can view it as a phrase with deep platonic love, but this wording is most certainly not sibling-like. It also seems to imply Y has been trying to get X out of his room for so long because of her infatuation for X that evolved into pining, though that could just be shipping goggles.

In a previous panel shown here, X also refers to Grace as “your mom” when asking Y if she’s going to be fine after isolating herself from the bad news of Grace being kidnapped, instead of “our mom” or “mom”. That kind of wording is way too detached for someone who is seen by the fandom to be a sibling-like figure, and again seems to say they’re merely just childhood friends who were taken care of by the same woman.

While X’s aggression towards Cassius teasing him that Y’s his girlfriend twice was taken as disgust, it’s quite a common trope. It makes sense in character too, as X’s established to like bottling things up, so it’s not a surprise that he’d also deny that he likes Y. Cassius, while helping them, is still an adult, and X doesn’t like them so doesn’t trust him either. His extreme aggression towards Essentia assuming Y’s his girlfriend is fairly justified in that situation, as they had to separate despite it going against their rules, and X is very aware of how Y acts that it takes only one word and a slight change of attitude to crush her head. While that may be seen as extreme disgust, it’s way more likely he knows Essentia could pretend to be anyone given how she accidentally activated the mimicking people function, and knows she’s a big threat because of her Trevenant and she’s superhumanly fast.

It can be quite easy to say Y has feelings for X, but because X has forced emotional constipation, we can’t be sure if he reciprocates. X’s moments of ship tease is muddled with other factors, like the aforementioned denying Y’s his girlfriend to Cassius and crushing Essentia’s head for pretending to be Y, but there’s one tiny moment that stands out for me:

This is a rather major contrast compared to this:

Despite his acknowledgement of being a great trainer, he gets surprisingly flustered when Y tells him it was thanks to him she’s more honest towards others and herself. X, who while may not want to admit it, is arrogant on top of easily blaming himself for a lot of problems, which is why he felt secure to infiltrate Team Flare’s base. To see him surprisingly embarrassed of changing Y for the better hints he has a special attachment to Y, and possibly surprise from X himself that Y still is grateful for that and knows he can be more than a reckless idiot, even though she made it clear he stressed her and the others out a lot.

To wrap up this very long ramble up, X and Y are an example of two people, with flaws and their own issues, being able to support each other, care for each other, and be the most important people in their lives, even if X is depressed and having sometimes very unbearable flaws. However, Y makes it clear he is not allowed to get away with them just because he’s depressed and has good intentions, and he acknowledges the same. He makes it clear that he trusts and cares for her, and she appreciates and gives that in return. It’s a two-way relationship with honest communication and positive growth for the two of them, of moving as much as they can together from danger and past wounds, even if they never completely heal.

[suwya]

Till the Stars Had Run Away - Chapter 2

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Summary:  Killian Jones was a voyager. Actually, he was many things, or at least he had been - a lieutenant, a brother, a loving boyfriend - until everything had turned upside down and his life had hit an all time low. So, he gave up. Aboard his spaceship he abandoned Arcadia, his planet, navigating the stars and other solar systems in search of... well, he still didn't know what he was searching for, but his rule was "never remain in the same place longer than necessary."

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Rating: M

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Prologue; Chapter 1,

AO3

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A/N: Thank you @thisonesatellite​ for being the best beta I could ever ask for. And thank to all of you who are reading this.

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Chapter 2.

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There are no strangers here;

Only friends you haven’t yet met.

(W. B. Yeats)

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In the past three weeks, Killian had had no news of Henry or his mother. He knew he should concentrate on something else: whatever was happening in their lives was none of his business. But he hadn't been able to let go of the memory of their last encounter. What if the lad was right and Emma was in danger? She didn't look like the successful Princess of a remote planet anymore, and maybe her life wasn't any fairytale. But what could he do? And above all, was it really his problem?

Tonight was a fillglow night. Killian was waiting for Robin and Roland to join him and watch the match together on his big projecting screen. He and Robin had been long fans of this sport, and Roland took the same passion from them. 

Killian had already prepared some bowls of multicolored pop grains. The only kind of grains that could grow on this desert planet, and they didn’t need to be rehydrated to be eaten. Luckily Roland loved them, especially the cones and star-shaped ones. The boy and his father were supposed to bring the drinks, which consisted mainly of berry juices. It was the most similar to a family routine they had, every fortnight a match was broadcast and Killian enjoyed the time together with his buddies.

Fillglow was a very popular sport in many galaxies, there was even a Multiverse Championship. Roland would have given anything to get tickets for the FMC finale, he had never watched a match live, none of them had. Tonight’s match was a local one, not pivotal, but it didn't matter, it was a good excuse for Killian to spend some time with his adopted family. 

But the thoughts of the late events had distracted him, and he didn’t realize what time was. The projector was already on and the match was about to start. A knock on the door startled him. He hurried up to open with a big grin, “you're late, mates!” Two puzzled pairs of eyes were staring at him, but they weren't Roland’s nor Robin’s.

“This is a terrible idea.” Emma sighed while Henry enthusiastically exclaimed, “Killian, you're home, great!”

Killian was a bit taken aback by the unexpected visit and he didn't know how to react. Before he could say anything Emma went on, “I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have come.” 

She was already turning away when Killian stopped her with a gentle touch on her arm. “Well, now that you're here, why don't you come in?” 

Emma reluctantly entered the house followed by her delighted son, but when Killian was about to close the door, a shoe between it and the frame stopped him. “It’s bad form to close the door on someone’s face, mate!” Robin appeared in Killian’s sight, mocking his friend imitating his way of speech. “I didn't know you were having guests.” The surprise on Robin’s face was apparent as soon as he spied the other people inside Killian’s living room.

“Uh…” Killian was a bit lost for words and he lifted a hand to scratch a spot behind his right ear, a habit he had when feeling uncomfortable. “Robin, this is Emma Swan; Emma, meet my best friend Robin of Locksley.” 

Roland ran inside the house. “Hi!” he exclaimed with a big dimpled grin.

“...and this is Robin’s lad, Roland,” Killian added.

“Nice to meet you. I'm Henry, Killian’s son.” Henry extended a hand to shake with the other boy.

Killian sighed and shook slightly his head towards a baffled Robin, who was staring at him with wide-open eyes. He hoped that his friend wouldn’t ask. “Why don't we all get comfortable?” He suggested and then turned to his guests, “we were about to watch the fillglow match. We would be happy if you join us.”

Robin took a seat at one end of the couch, Killian was in the middle and Emma took the other end, leaving as much distance between them as possible. She was wearing a beige blouse with metallic colored sleeves, and a loose keen-short matching skirt, with long light brown leather boots. At first glance, it might seem like a casual choice of clothing, but the ensemble was in harmony. Killian would take a peek at her from time to time while she wasn't looking, and it struck him how beautiful she was.

Roland and Henry sat together on the double footstool in the middle of the room, with a big pop grains bowl in the middle. “What's your favorite fillglow team?” Roland asked.

“I'm not really into it,” was Henry’s answer.

Roland was surprised. “You do know the rules, don’t you?”

“I’ve never been a big fan of sports in general.”

Killian decided to help the boy and started explaining, “Well, it’s quite simple. Two teams, six players each. The goal is to score into the other team’s round target until it lights up.”

“What’s difficult is that they play in no gravitational environment. So they are a bit limited in their movements. Plus their suits are heavier than they seem.” Robin added.

“You have to block opponents using a laser stick, but you can’t hit the adversary wherever you like - you’re allowed to hit only certain spots of the other’s suit.” Killian went on, “when you touch someone with your stick on one of those spots, this person gets paralyzed for a few seconds. The more difficult the place you hit, the more time your opponent stays immobile. The belly usually gives you the most time stuck.”

“But if you touch someone where you’re not allowed to, you get stuck for six seconds,” Robin added. 

“If you get to touch the other team’s target with your stick, it will start glowing, but you are not allowed to score again before other players touch it,” said Killian. “You need 27 scores to make the target glow completely, or better said, to fillglow it. And that’s when the match ends.”  

“You may think it’s easy, but it’s not,” Roland said excitedly. “You know, I went to a fillglow stadium once with daddy and uncle Kil. I could enter the field, but with the heavy suit it took me almost 20 minutes to reach the other team’s target, and I was alone, with no opponents to block me. It’s strange because you’re floating in the air, so you can’t walk. It’s almost like swimming, but more difficult.”

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~·~·~·~

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After the fourteenth point of the opposite team, the commercials started and Killian took a handful of pop grains from the main bowl near the kids.

“Why are you always wearing a glove on your left hand?” Henry asked.

“Uncle Kil has got a bionic hand,” Roland explained.

“Can I see it?” Asked Henry with curiosity.

“Henry!” Emma scolded, but Killian dismissed it with a wave of his right hand. “It's alright,” he said and removed the glove to reveal a transparent synthetic hand full of cables inside.

“Cool!” Henry exclaimed. “Did you make it?”

“No, lad. I bought it.”

“But he changed it way better,” Roland added.

Killian chuckled, “I just improved it to achieve some more movement.”

  “Now it's almost the same as a real hand.” Roland was clearly proud of his uncle’s job with the prosthesis.

  Henry put his hand on it. “Do you feel it?”

“I'm sorry, I can't,” was Killian’s gentle answer, and when Henry retracted his hand a bit disappointed, he went on, “but I can do this.” He took a big star-shaped pop grain and showed it to Henry with his bionic hand, then he closed it into a fist and turned it upside down; when he opened it again the grain had disappeared. 

“Wow!” The kid was impressed. “Would you teach me to do it?”

Killian put the glove on the hand again. “Maybe, someday.”

When the boy asked, “why do you keep it covered?” his mother coughed to draw his attention and stared at him with a reproaching look. But Henry didn’t relent. “Mom, don't you think it's impressive?” He asked enthusiastically.

Killian smiled at Emma, trying to relieve her clear embarrassment. “Indeed it is, yes,” she sheepishly smiled back at him.

Henry asked, “How did you lose your hand?” Emma sighed but before she could scold her son again for making so many private questions, Killian said, "Well that, lad, is a story for another night." 

“Killian is right.” Robin stepped in. “It's time to go to bed, Roland.”

“Oh no!” The little kid complained. “The match is not over yet.”

“And you know perfectly well that it can go on for ages because it doesn’t have a time limit,” his father reasoned.

Roland looked up at him with big pleading eyes. “Can I at least show Henry my room before going to sleep?”

Robin sighed but gave in. “Ok. But don't be long.”

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~·~·~·~

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Emma looked concerned when the boys disappeared out the front door. “No need to worry,” Killian said. “Robin lives just next door.”

“How did you two come to know each other?” Robin asked while the three of them were moving to sit at the table, and Killian was handing them some cups filled with a liquid a bit stronger than berry juice.

“Uh… we met many years ago.” 

Killian exchanged a questioning glance with Emma. He didn’t know how much of their story she was willing to share. But apparently, the silent communication didn’t go unnoticed to Robin, who, clearly remembering where he had already heard her name, asked Killian, “Is she the Emma?” But then he immediately turned towards the woman, “I beg your pardon.” He said apologetically. “I’m not used to being in front of a Princess.”

“Please, don’t call me that, especially not in front of my son. He doesn’t know the whole story.”

Robin nodded. “I had that impression. And I’m confident he is not actually Killian’s son, right?”

Killian half-smiled at his friend in assent, then he turned to Emma, “Henry seems to be a clever lad. How long do you think you can hide his past?”

Emma sighed. “I hate keeping things from him, but it’s safer this way.”

“Is he right?” Killian insisted. “Is there truly someone that could represent a danger for both of you?”

She didn’t reply, she lowered her stare and fixed it into a specific spot on the table. “Not an immediate danger, no. But maybe in the future... yes. That man that Henry thinks I’m afraid of, he’s my contact; maybe not the sweetest person in the galaxy, but he’s reliable. He told me there will be raids soon in my neighborhood. That’s why we came here tonight. I hoped you could give us some advice. You’re a trader, aren't you? You should know a lot of people, maybe, influential people.”

“Does anybody know you are here?” Killian inquired.

“I didn’t choose my job by coincidence. If I'm good at finding hidden people, it means I know exactly what to do when I don’t want to be found.”

“Who’s after you?” Killian went straight to the point.

Emma seemed to ponder the question for a few seconds, then said, “not me, Henry.” After a small pause, she went on, “the King and Queen of New-Tolemac are still in need of an heir.” 

“Do you think your parents will harm the boy?” He asked inquisitively. 

“They are not my parents.” Killian and Robin shared a surprised look, but Emma kept her gaze fixed in her cup; she didn't seem inclined in giving more details, and Killian knew it was neither the time nor the place to pry. But then she added in a whisper “...I can’t lose Henry. He’s all I have.”

Killian studied the woman in front of him, there was no trace of the pompous arrogance he saw in her when they first met. She was now a mother, a tough one, fighting her demons for his son’s sake. 

“I have to go away for a few weeks, I have a commercial trade to make for a client. Why don’t you and your boy come with me? I’m not going very far, and maybe you can consider it as a holiday. What do you say?” He suggested. 

“Henry would love it, he’s never been on a spaceship.” She smiled to herself, her gaze lost in thought, then she lifted her eyes to find Killian’s “Thank you,” she said serious, “but I can't answer right now. I'll think about it.”

“Ok, guys, while I enjoy the company, I have to put Roland to sleep.” Robin stood up and took his cup to the little sink in the corner.

“Yeah, sure, I’ve already taken up so much of your time.” Emma stood up as well and started moving towards the door.

“Stay. Just for the night... or more.” Killian was stammering, but at Emma’s bewildered look, he scratched behind his ear for the second time that night, a bright red colored his cheeks “...I… I didn’t mean…” 

“What my friend is so awkwardly trying to say,” Robin explained, “is that it’s already late, and it could be dangerous for you and your son to go back to your place by yourselves, especially if those rumors of raids are true. If you want, Henry could sleep with Roland, you could stay in my room and I will crash on Killian’s couch. You won't hear any complaints from us.” 

.

.

~·~·~·~

.

.

The Jolly Roger wasn't the biggest spaceship in the multiverse, but it was big enough to host a small crew and a little cargo.

In the middle of the main entrance, there was a round table with four chairs, everything well secured to the floor. A lot of lockers filled up the walls and a counter opposite the gate served as a kitchen, with a microwave, a little fridge, and a sink.

A big electric sliding door on the right, usually open, led to the main cabin. A semi-oval room mainly occupied by the control dashboard full of buttons, LEDs, and levers, two comfortable leather armchairs in front of it, and walls as well rich of small lockers when not occupied by the big curved window.

On the other side of the entrance, opposite the control cabin, there were a couple of automatic doors. One of them led to the passengers’ cabins, each one with bunk beds, a small desk, and more lockers on the walls. The other door led to a hallway and a little but all equipped restroom. 

In the hallway, a metal spiral staircase led to the under part of the ship, which consisted mostly of the engine room and a storage room with its own gate used for loading the cargo.

Killian was sitting in front of the control dashboard, checking the air pressure inside the cabin, and verifying that all the levels were stable. 

The last four days had been different, with Emma and Henry at Robin’s house, the routine had been turned a bit upside down. They had decided that going back to their house wasn’t safe. Henry had been occupied with school and homework most of the time and he had spent the rest of it with Roland; the two of them had connected quite well, despite the age gap. 

Emma had been concentrated on her job, and although Killian would have liked to give her a hand whenever he could, she hadn’t even let him help her when she brought some of hers and Henry’s belongings from home to her new lodging. 

Dinners together had been sometimes awkward, and Killian had had the feeling that she was trying to avoid him. That’s why he had been surprised when she abruptly accepted to go with him on his next trip.

And now he was sitting in his spaceship cabin waiting for her and her son to come. Everything was ready for takeoff and the engine was already roaring. A red LED on the dashboard started to blink and a cold metallic voice was heard through the cabin. 

I detect intruders on this ship.

Killian smiled. “They are not intruders. They are guests, so be gentle.”

Emma entered the cabin carrying a small suitcase. “Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.” She said looking around, but when she didn’t find what she was looking for, she added “Uh… I thought I heard voices. To whom were you talking?”

Killian stood up from his seat “Where are my manners? Emma Swan, let me introduce you to the Jolly Roger.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “The Jolly Roger. Seriously?”

“What can I say? I have a soft spot for pirates.” He smiled.

The metallic voice spoke: It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Swan. 

“Your ship speaks!” Emma was astonished.

“Indeed she does. She's a marvel.” He explained with a big grin.

A sound like a soft metallic cough could be heard, and Killian couldn't help giggling.

“Well... then, nice to meet you, too.” She said to the air, and then looking at Killian again: “Where can I put our bags?”

“Right. I'll show you your cabin and the rest of this place.” He said, and then with an overdramatic bow and a wink added: “Consider yourself at home.”

Emma rolled her eyes but couldn’t suppress a smile.

Another soft cough could be heard.

“Are you sure your ship is fine?” She asked, perplexed. “It sounds a bit congested.”

“Don't worry about her, she can be a bit of an arse with strangers. But give her some time and she will grow fond of you.” At those words, the red LED suddenly stopped blinking and went off. Killian shook his head and chuckled.

As soon as he was sure that Emma and Henry were well settled in their cabin, Killian came back to the controls and took off. When the ship was out of Althea-Seals’ atmosphere he sighed in relief because everything had gone as planned, but he knew that he couldn’t relax until he’d reached a certain distance.

The red LED started blinking again. Would you do me the favor and stop referring to me as a female?

“You're a spaceship,” Killian answered the voice.

Exactly my point. And you and I both know I'm not only that.

[peterpan-ouat-imagines]

In Hell I Will: Part 2

What the heck I met the guy I’ve been dying to find out more about within under an hour?  Not even intentionally!  This is crazy and I’m a bit unprepared because I’m taken aback by his appearance.  He looks so professional and serious in a suit... not a ginger head wearing green.  Plus I was not prepared for this like how do I act around him?  I start feeling nervous.

“Um, sorry,” I put it down gently, “Can I just look around for five more minutes?” I smile hopefully.

“That’s fine, take your time,” he tells me and I keep looking trying to find hints or things that belong to Hook having trouble not focusing on Peter Pan in the same room as me, “I haven’t seen you around here before are you new?” he asks.

“That’s a bad pickup line that won’t work on me, but since you asked, I’m temporarily new I guess. I am not dead though, I’m on a trip to find Captain Hook, who you obviously know because of your story.  My family is gonna save him,” I share.

He chuckles.

I stop searching and turn to him, “What’s funny?”

“One, I wasn’t flirting, I was simply asking a question, and the really funny part is that you say your going to save him like it’s easy,” he explains.

I start feeling a bit attacked and the confidence in my voice starts to quiver, “Well obviously it won’t be quick and simple, but it’s not like it’ll take a week or anything,”

He catches me off guard and suddenly goes from across the room to two feet away, “Well maybe I can help you with being more prepared,”

I jump,” Ah! How did you do that?  You were all the way over there less than a second ago!”

“It’s magic, which I’m pretty sure you know of because of your families story,” he answers using my words.

“One, you don’t need to make me eat my words, two they were right, you aren’t like the movies and stories I grew up with, and three, you don’t scare me which apparently you’re trying to do I think,” I tell him.

He chuckles again, “I don’t get it why do you keep making fun of me?!” I exclaim.

“No reason, you’re just funny.  And just so you know, I am as bad as they tell you,” he tells me in a low, serious tone.

I roll my eyes and go to the backroom to get away and he follows me.

“I can help, we can make a deal, just say the word,” he tells me.

I look in his eyes and see the thirst for getting what he wants, which is off-putting but attractive at the same time, “I was told that making deals is a bad idea, so I appreciate the offer but no,” I say politely.

“Alright then, it was nice meeting you...?” he waits for my name.

“Y/n, and thanks.  And you don’t have to go, I’m finished here.  But I’m not going to lie I don’t know whether to say the same about you because your kind of annoying, I hate to be blunt but it’s true,” I admit with no filter.

He chuckles once again but I ignore it and go.  So much for meeting the person I was so defensive about just to be wrong.  But if I didn’t like him why did his voice and eyes, and everything else make me drawn to stay and talk to him?

Henry is waiting for me outside.  “What took you so long?  You were in that shop forever!” he asks.

“Sorry, the things down here are just more interesting than normal Storybrooke,  haven’t seen some before ya know,” I tell him low-key referring to Peter Pan.

“Hey follow me, there’s someone I want to find and I want you to meet him,” he walks towards the bed and breakfast and I walk with him.

“How are you dealing with all of this?  I know it’s your first real adventure,” he asks me standing kind of close.

“I haven’t been here very long but it’s all so interesting and different, I like being in on something like this!” I tell him.

“You can stick with me if you’d like, I have some experience when things go south,” he says.

“I’d like that,” I smile.  I can tell he’s kind of liked me romantically for a while and I wasn’t so sure about it but lately with being around him more and him trying to make me feel better and help me out just shows how sweet he is.

We arrive at the bed and breakfast and he goes behind the counter and grabs a old dirty bronze key with a tag attached but I’m not at the angle to read it clearly.  I follow him up a stairwell and he opens the door to room eight.

“Dad?” he asks as he steps inside.  He looks around, “Dad are you in here?” I walk in a little watching him.

He looks all around the room and I put a hand on his shoulder softly from behind, “Henry, I don’t think your father is in here,” I say gently.

“Yeah I think you’re right, we should go back down to the diner,” he says and I follow him.

We get down and some of the normal gang are already there regrouping.

As usual Mr. Gold left and went his own way because he never believes in teamwork to get things accomplished.  The rest of us stayed and tried to workout a plan.  

An hour passes by and Gold is back holding a small, white, dainty, glass bottle.  He explains that if we pour it on Hook’s grave than we will be able to see and communicate with Hook.  We do just that and apparently he’s in some really crappy shape because Regina and Robin Hood, who’s also her boyfriend block him from me and Henry’s view.  It turns out to be a bust which is really unfortunate because I really want to find him and save him.

We go to Mary Margaret’s and David’s apartment to regroup later on.  We all split up and me, Henry, and Robin go to Regina’s office to get maps that are a replica of the hell Storybooke.  There is a protection spell on it so me and Henry crawl through the air vent.

“It’s so dusty in here,” I cough.

“Don’t worry it isn’t much of a distance just keep following me,” he tells me.

We continue to crawl until we finally bust in.  I get up and see a older woman dressed in black and white with her hair half black and white in color.  It isn’t a “I’m an old person” type of white but intentional as if she dyed it like that, “Henry who is that?” I whisper.

“Don’t worry,” he tells me avoiding the question.

She starts talking to him about this pen that I’m confused on and goes on about  writing the fairytales in the book and bringing her back to life and Henry finally confronts her, “Cruella, why would I do that?” 

She explains and when I hear how Emma killed her I blurt out, “Oh shit,” shocked that Emma would do something so awful.

“And who is this here?  Your little girlfriend?” she asks walking up to me slowly and I hear her heels slowly click.

“Leave her out of this,” he tells her stepping in front of me but she lingers.

I stare at her kind of afraid as she looks me up and down slowly, “pretty face, but I can tell you don’t have a clue what your doing,” she ridicules.

“And why’s that?” I ask a bit angry stepping in front of Henry .

“Y/n, don’t let her get to you,” Henry tells me being protective but I roll my eyes.

“Why don’t I know what I’m doing?” I ask her ignoring Henry.

“Where do I begin?  Your with him, using him as protection, you’ve just been standing here and not trying to talk or intervene with me, and you just... look... weak,” she criticizes telling me I look weak in a slow way

My jaw drops and I clench my fists shocked by her bluntness, “y/n don’t let her get to you,” Henry whispers.

I huff, “Fine,” I unclench my fists.

We exit not finding any maps.  

We all meet Mary Margaret and she says Hercules can help us and like half my family go to find and get him to defeat some 3 headed thing that’s guarding where Hook is but leave me and Henry behind which is annoying.

I kinda want to spend the spare time seeing Pan but remember how he was annoying and I need a reason to visit so me and Henry just go back to the apartment being useless.

The following day Gold says he knows how to get Hook back and my mom and him go off to save him.  A few hours after they return with Hook and even later his brother arrives and joins us all.  We all talk about Hades and try figuring out his story.  Everyone but me and Henry go off in search of answers.

“Hey I need to go see someone I’ll be back,” Henry tells me, “It’s about the quill that Cruella was talking about,”

I get up to follow him and he stops me, “Y/n, this is kind of awkward because I know I said you can stay with me, but this is something I have to do alone,”

“So your just gonna leave me alone? It’s not like anyone will let me in on what’s going on with their plan,” I tell him feeling left out.

“I’m sorry,” I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me but he leaves anyway and I watch him get in this black and white hurst from inside.

The car speeds off and I just sit where I am being useless.

I think about how Pan said he could help contemplating going there.

After a lot of talking myself out of it I decide to do it anyway because what else can I do?

I walk on in and look around the shop and the backroom but don’t see him anywhere, “Pan!” I shout.

“Hello y/n,” he appears directly behind my shoulder after I shout that, “What do I owe this visit?” he asks.

I take a deep breath and turn to him and he’s awfully close to me, “You said you could help with Hades, and I want to make a deal for it,” I say.

“I said I could help with Hook, not Hades.  Sorry love,”

“But! I was going to make a deal!” I complain.

He smirks, “A deal can be made still, what else can I do for you?”

I think for a second, “Well everyone is trying to figure out what Hades story is or where we could find it.  Can you help me there?” I ask.

“I can give you information, but it might be too late,” he tells me.

“Any lead would be helpful right now,” I tell him.

“I will tell you where you could find his story and let’s just say you’ll owe me a favor at some point,” he tells me.

“It depends, is it a bloody favor, that ends with people getting hurt, because I really don’t want to darken my heart anymore,” I tell him.

“Your heart is dark? You seem so innocent so sweet,” he avoids the answer.

“Whatever, avoid the question, I’ll do it,” I gulp and take a deep breath, “It’s a deal,”

He smirks, “I’m glad.  There is a mansion that has the popular storybook, you know the one, it is hidden inside it.  Find that, you find his story,”

“Can I have details on the mansion?  Like where is it?” I ask.

“Ask your brother, he knows,” he tells me.

“Thank you,” I say sincerely.

I head out of the backroom but something in me makes me pause where I am once I walk past the register.  It isn’t magic, it’s just me staying still.

“Something tells me you came in here for more than just to be resourceful,” he tells me following me.

“Okay, yes, maybe a part of me did come to see you, but I have my reasons,” I say still not heading towards the exit.

“And what are those reasons?” he asks leaning in some.

I can feel him have a hold on me as I stare in his green eyes but have to remember Henry is good and who I’m starting to like, unlike him who I know nothing about and could be a bad idea if I get involved.

“I’m leaving before I do something I regret,” I walk towards the exit.

“And what is it that you’ll regret?” He asks appearing in front of me standing very close again and I skip a breath staring in his eyes.  I turn my head again to ignore him reminding myself it is a bad idea and keep going.

“If you need me again you know where to find me,” I can feel his smugness which has a certain charm to it as I walk out.

I walk back into the apartment where everyone else already is, “Y/n, where have you been?”

“Just a walk, no one needed me so I thought why not?” I lie.

“You could have told us you had nothing to do, we could have had you do research on Hades while we were gone,” Regina tells me a bit annoyed.

“I think I know how to figure out what Hades story is though!  Apparently there’s this mansion that has the storybook inside.  I figured if we find that we will see what his story is,” I explain.

“The sorcerers mansion,” Henry says.

[swanqueeneverafter]

The Once & Future Queen Pt.19

Camelot. Courtyard. (While Merlin is joined by Guinevere, Lancelot and the Charmings, Henry speaks to his moms.) Henry: "Are you guys sure about this? I mean, aren't you worried Merlin's going to want revenge for what Emma did to him?" Emma: (Scoffs:) "Mr. Holier-than-thou?" Regina: "Merlin isn't the revenge type, Henry. He's far more likely to want to prove his brilliance than dwell on the past." Henry: "Yeah, but even so-" Emma: "What's important right now is that we as a family are safe." Regina: "Your mother's right, Henry. This whole situation with Morgana was never about us. It's about who belongs on the throne of Camelot. Let them figure it out." Henry: "That's a little cold, don't you think?" Emma: "Honestly? No. Merlin is more than capable of dealing with Morgana on Camelot's behalf." Regina: "And if you don't believe us, just ask Merlin."

(A short distance away, Merlin converses with Lancelot and Guinevere.) Lancelot: "I'm glad you're free again, but if Arthur finds us here there will be trouble." Merlin: "I agree, we must leave this place, but not together." Guinevere: "What does that mean?" Merlin: "Send the knights who are loyal to you back to Arthur. Allow them to be our eyes and ears in Arthur's camp." Guinevere: "All right, that makes sense, but what about Morgana?" Merlin: "She has grown too powerful for any mortal blade to kill her. That is why we must separate. (To Lancelot:) I need you to seek out your Mother, the Lady of the Lake, for help." Lancelot: (Nods in understanding:) "My mother once forged the Vorpal Blade that trapped the Jabberwocky, perhaps she can do the same again for Morgana?" Merlin: "Exactly. Your mother does have great power." Lancelot: (To Guinevere:) "We should leave right away. The lake is a two-day journey from here." Guinevere: (To Merlin:) "What about you?" Merlin: "Though Arthur is but a shade of his former self, I very much doubt my presence in Camelot will be welcomed. I shall therefore return with the others to Storybrooke. There I can come up with a plan to end Morgana's scheming once and for all." (Standing against the short stone wall lining the courtyard, Snow and David weigh up their options.) Snow White: "I think we should go with Guinevere and Lancelot, they may need our help." David: "Absolutely not. (At Snow's look:) Have you not understood why Regina and Emma are doing this? It's to keep us all safe. The fight for Camelot is not one we need to involve ourselves in." Snow White: "Oh, David. Not you too? We can't just walk away. That's not what heroes do." David: "That is not what we're talking about here." Snow White: (Stubbornly:) "Well it seems that way to me." David: (Sighs:) "Do you even remember the last time either one of us could claim to be heroes? Let's face it, Snow, ever since the first curse was broken, we've relied on either Emma or Regina to fight our battles. Against Gold, Zelena, the Snow Queen, Pan-" Snow White: "That's only because magic was involved all those times. And it wasn't just us, the entire town relies on them." David: "Which is exactly my point. And now, since the Realms were joined, they've been called upon to use their powers even more. All I'm saying is there has to be another option, one that doesn't lead to our daughter and the woman she loves putting themselves in harm's way." Snow White: "But, David, we've always found a way to defeat whatever comes our way." David: "I know that, but the day may still come when we won't be able to win. Listen, Emma and Regina have already gone up against Morgana several times now and she's still out there causing mayhem. So maybe this time, we let Merlin be the one to come up with the answers."

Forest. Near Caerleon's Army Camp. (Agravaine sneaks through the woods while checking for any pursuers, then turns and is surprised to find Morgana standing there.) Agravaine: “Morgana.” Morgana: “You seem troubled. What is it?” Agravaine: “Arthur is Camelot’s King once more, as you wanted.” Morgana: “Yes, I know, I saw the fireworks. That can’t be what you came to tell me.” Agravaine: “Merlin. He’s free.” Morgana: “How? When?” Agravaine: (Shakes his head:) “I do not know, My Lady. Merlin’s tree was gone by the time we returned to the castle.” Morgana: “We?” Agravaine: “Arthur insisted on scouting Carleon’s army.” Morgana: “There is no need for that. You gave him my note, I trust?” Agravaine: “Yes. He did not seem pleased by it.” Arthur: (Appearing at the top of the ridge above them:) “Not pleased at all.” Morgana: (To Agravaine:) “I don’t know whether to be impressed by Arthur’s tracking skills or annoyed by your incompetence.” Arthur: (His sword pointed towards them as he approaches:) “You know, back when I was alive, I learned to despise Merlin. However, there was one thing about him that earned my admiration.” Morgana: (In a bored tone:) “Really, and what was that?” Arthur: “His ability to resist my commands even when tethered to Excalibur and under the most desperate of circumstances. In fact, it was what inspired me to do this!” (Sensing the attack before it even began, Morgana’s eyes glow and she uses her powers to send Arthur flying backwards into a tree, knocking him unconscious.) Morgana: “Not a word, Agravaine. Not a word. (Agravaine stands quiet as Morgana walks over to Arthur and begins an incantation, her eyes glowing once more:) Efencume ætgædre, eala gastas cræft ige. Hige hefe. Hefe mæst sara. Fornéðe þas, ende hie æra. (Her eyes return to normal:) There, my hold over Arthur has now tripled in strength. He will give us no more problems.” Agravaine: “Yes, My Lady.” Morgana: (Casually:) “What news of Guinevere?” Agravaine: “Ah... Arthur did send out men to search but unfortunately, Guinevere and Lancelot’s whereabouts are currently unknown.” Morgana: (Scoffs:) “Of course they are. The knights are loyal to them both. No matter. I have a feeling I know exactly where they’re headed.”

Storybrooke. Swan-Mills House. Morning. (Regina and Emma are making breakfast when Henry enters.) Henry: "Good morning, Moms!" Regina: "Henry. You're looking chipper this morning." Henry: "And why shouldn't I be? Ella and I both have jobs, my parents are about to retire from putting themselves in danger on a regular basis and the sun is shining." Emma: "Well, can't argue with that I suppose." Regina: "So, everything is back to normal with you two?" Henry: "Things got a little shaky there for a little while, but I think we're okay. Plus, Ella and I have an agreement that should an adventure come our way, we'll both jump in with both feet. Together, I mean." Emma: (Smiles:) "Yeah, we got that." Regina: "And in the meantime you're okay with driving people around all day?" Henry: "Well I'll admit it's not my ideal job, but it pays the bills. (Kisses Emma on the cheek:) Bye, Mom." Emma: "Have a good day, Henry." (Henry kisses Regina on the cheek and, carrying his coffee, leaves the kitchen.) Hallway. (Henry walks to the door and picks up his keys from the bowl. He's about to leave when Regina speaks up.) Regina: "You know there's still college, Henry. Higher education sounds like a pretty wonderful adventure to me." Henry: (Smiles:) "I know and I'll think about it, I promise. But things have just got back on track with Ella and I don't want to rock the boat too much." Regina: "But you could be so much more. I thought you wanted to make a serious run at becoming a writer?" Henry: (Nods:) "I did and I do but for right now I have to put that on hold. I have to think of what's best for Ella and me. We may not see each other much during the day with us both working jobs, but if I went to college Ella and I wouldn't see each other at all." Regina: "Okay, well as long as you're happy and you know what you're doing, you know I'm happy." Henry: "I know, thanks Mom. (Pulls her in for a hug:) I love you." Regina: "I love you too, Henry." (Waving as Henry walks down the pathway towards his car, Regina closes the door and returns to the kitchen.) Kitchen. Emma: "Has he gone?" Regina: "Yeah. (Distractedly, walks into the kitchen:) I can't help but think he's making a mistake by not going to college." Emma: "Oh don't worry about that now. Here. (Slides a plate across the table to Regina:) Have your breakfast." Regina: "Thanks. (Finally looking at Emma, Regina sees the naughty smirk on her lips before noticing her complete lack of clothing. Casually:) You know your shirt is buttoned incorrectly?" Emma: (Innocently:) "Oh. (She unfastens the last remaining button:) Better?" Regina: "Much. (Emma winks and drinks her orange juice:) Although now I don't feel much like pancakes suddenly." Emma: "I can get you something else if you like?" Regina: "No, no. I already have my eye on something." (Picking up a stick of butter from a side plate, Regina slowly approaches Emma. Upon kissing her wife, Regina gently pushes the shirt down off Emma's shoulders, exposing her breasts to her ravenous gaze. Reaching over, Regina grabs a croissant from the table and hands it to Emma.) Emma: "Thank you." Regina: (Before Emma can take a bite:) "Uh uh. (Regina holds up the butter:) Room temperature. (Emma nods then watches as Regina takes one finger and rubs it into the butter before smoothing her digit over the croissant. Then, moving Emma's shirt out of her way, Regina proceeds to liberally coat Emma's breasts with the butter, rubbing it in slow, generous circles. When Emma clears her throat, Regina looks up at her:) Oh, how thoughtless of me. (Reaching for something, Regina picks up a little pot and shows it to Emma before removing the lid.) Cinnamon. (Before Emma can say anything, Regina taps the bottle over her croissant and adds a little cinnamon. Pulling up a chair beside Emma, Regina leans forward. Looking up at her:) Bon apetit." (Regina lowers her mouth to Emma's left breast and begins to feast. For her part, Emma bemusedly watches her wife for a long moment before finally bringing the croissant to her lips.)

Caerleon’s Army Camp. Queen Annis’ Tent. (The sentries bring Arthur into the tent.) Queen Annis: “What is the meaning of this?” Arthur: “Your Highness, I’m here to– (Annis slaps him:) Your Highness, I know that you feel nothing but contempt for me. You feel I’ve done you a grievous wrong, and you would be right. I’m ashamed of what I did. It was cowardly, it was unjust, and I am deeply sorry.” Queen Annis: “Sorry does not bring back my brother. Sorry does not give his people back their king.” Arthur: “I realise that. I know there’s nothing I can do to repair that loss.” Queen Annis: “Then what are you doing here, Arthur Pendragon?” Arthur: “I want to call off the battle.” Queen Annis: “It’s a little too late for that.” Arthur: “I don’t propose a truce, but an alternative. I invoke the right of single combat. Two champions to settle this matter between them.” Queen Annis: “And why should I grant you this favour?” Arthur: “There’s been bloodshed enough already, Your Highness. Many hundreds of lives will be saved this way.” (Annis nods for her men to release Arthur’s arms.) Queen Annis: “And your terms?” Arthur: “If my man wins, you must withdraw your army.” Queen Annis: “And if mine is the victor?” Arthur: “Then half of all Camelot is yours.” (A guard brings Agravaine into the tent and shoves him to his knees. Agravaine is seething at being treated this way, but holds his tongue.) Agravaine: “Sorry, my lord." Queen Annis: “You know him?” Arthur: “He’s my advisor, he must’ve followed me here. I knew nothing about it.” Queen Annis: “Kill him.” (Agravaine’s eyes flash toward Arthur, imploring him to do something. Arthur lets him sweat a moment.) Arthur: “Wait. Please. Let him go. He’s just…a simpleminded fool.” Queen Annis: “That is two favours you’ve asked of me, Arthur Pendragon. (Queen Annis turns and sits on her throne, considering Agravaine. Arthur is calm while Agravaine is tense, waiting for her decision:) Very well. You shall have your trial by combat. (Arthur nods:) Announce your champion by noon.” (Arthur bows.) Arthur: “Thank you, Your Highness, but there will be no need to wait. There can only be one choice. One choice which is just and honourable. This fight’s mine.” (Annis is impressed by this while Agravaine is very pleased.) Queen Annis: “Noon it is then. You may leave to prepare yourself. And take your fool with you.” (Arthur nods and Agravaine glares at Annis, for her slight upon him.) A Short Time Later. (Annis is now joined by Morgana.) Queen Annis: “I don’t like it. It must be a trick.” Morgana: “What concerns you, Your Highness?” Queen Annis: “Arthur. Why would he choose himself as the champion?” Morgana: “Because he’s Arthur. He’ll always risk his own life before those of his men. Trust me, it’s no trick. Arthur will fight.” Queen Annis: “It’s as if you were pleased, Morgana. Whatever else he is, Arthur is a great warrior. You have as much to lose as I if he wins. You desire the throne of Camelot, do you not?” Morgana: (Enraged:) “I don’t deny it. It’s rightfully mine, after all. (Annis considers Morgana’s emotional response. Morgana calms herself:) Arthur will not win.” Queen Annis: “How can you possibly know that?” Morgana: “Because I have the power to ensure that he doesn’t.” Queen Annis: “Then you must use it.” (Morgana smiles and nods.) Shortly After That. (A mean looking giant stands before Annis and Morgana.) Queen Annis: “You have served me well, Darian. I know you’ll do the same again today.” Morgana: “And Darian, no pity, no quarter. Do not hesitate for one second. Arthur Pendragon must die.” (Darian grins menacingly.)

Storybrooke. Granny's Bed & Breakfast. (Ruby sits down to talk with the Reporter.) Reporter: "So, it's been a little while now since Mulan and Emma returned from the past, how have you adjusted to having Mulan back?" Ruby: (Smiles:) "I won't say it's like she never left because I missed her terribly, but Mulan and I have pretty much picked up where we left off. It helped a lot that I was surrounded by friends and family and I know Mulan kept herself busy in the Enchanted Forest." Reporter: "I'm pleased to hear that. (Writes a few notes then changes the subject:) Today marks the beginning of Snow White's quest to find a candidate for Storybrooke's next Mayor. You've moved around a lot recently but for almost thirty years you lived among the people of Storybrooke, so who would you like to see nominated?" Ruby: "Gosh, I mean where to start? Naturally as Snow is one of my best friends I would've voted for her, but she's not interested in taking the job on full time." Reporter: (Pushing for an answer:) "So who else?" Ruby: "Um... Archie might be a good choice. He knows the people better than most, being the town's only therapist. Then there's David, I think he'd be a great candidate for Mayor. However I think, like Snow, he's content tending to his flock." Reporter: "Would you ever consider the position yourself?" Ruby: "Me? (Chuckles:) I don't think I'm meant for public office. I spent most of my time under the curse trying to leave this place. Anyway, I love my nomadic lifestyle with Mulan far too much to give it up." Granny's Diner. (Snow White shares a booth with Jasmine while she looks over the various CV's she's received from interested candidates.) Snow White: "Oh this is going to be a nightmare." Jasmine: "I don't see why. You managed to run the Mayor's office while still keeping a full teacher's schedule." Snow White: (Holding up a binder:) "Only because I'm organised." Jasmine: "So start your search looking for someone else equally as anal then." Dr. Whale: (Arriving at precisely the wrong time:) "Hello, ladies. (Places his CV on the table:) I'll just leave this here for your consideration." Snow White: "Thank you." Dr. Whale: "By the way..." Snow White: (To Jasmine:) "Here we go." Dr. Whale: "Did I overhear correctly that you're looking for some anal?" Snow White/Jasmine: "No!" Dr. Whale: "Oh, my bad." Granny: "Move along, Doc, you're holding up the line." (Dr. Whale gives them a courteous smile and leaves. To Jasmine's amusement, Snow tears up Whale's CV before he's even left the diner.) Jasmine: (When Granny places her CV on the table, surprised:) "Granny, you're interested?" Granny: "Sure. Thirty years of getting to know everyone's likes and dislikes makes me a front runner in my eyes." Granny's B&B. (A short while later, Granny also speaks with the Reporter.) Granny: "Not to speak ill of Snow White, but she has no clue how to run this town and it was same back in the Enchanted Forest. Of course, Snow and David meant well and fought hard to reclaim her father's kingdom, but then what?" Reporter: "Surely their time as rulers was cut short by Regina's curse?" Granny: "To a degree I suppose, though to my mind that's just another example of poor leadership on their part. True leaders don't blame their failures on others, they tackle adversity head on. She may not have been universally adored back in the day, but at least Regina got things done." Reporter: "So it's safe to say you're pleased Snow White has chosen not to take the position of Mayor herself?" Granny: "Put it this way, Snow is technically still Queen of the Enchanted Forest. (Leans closer:) And I don't know about you, but I haven't seen her do much Queening lately." Reporter: "I hadn't considered that." Granny: "Oh yeah. Rumour has it that Snow wasn't best pleased with Emma and Regina's decision to retire.” Reporter: “And what would you say to that?” Granny: (Shrugs:) “I figure if Snow's moved on from her old life, why can't Regina and Emma?"

Sheriff's Office. (Lily walks with Regina towards Rumplestiltskin who is sat at Hook's desk.) Lily: "He's been coming here a lot lately. I think he misses his friend." Regina: (Smiles:) "How adorable." Rumplestiltskin: (Leaning back in his chair:) "Regina. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Regina: "I may be the outgoing Mayor and not have my eye on every detail of this town like I once did, but I'm pretty sure you don't work here." Rumplestiltskin: "Perhaps not, but I like to think I add a little charm to the place." Lily: (Scoffs:) "If you mean like a good luck charm, I think we're all lucky you and my Dad aren't off indulging in one of your drinking binges." (Lily walks away.) Regina: (Shaking her head:) "And at your age." Rumplestiltskin: "Is there something you wanted?" Regina: (Leans down towards him:) "Just to tell you that Merlin is free and that means so are Emma and I." Rumplestiltskin: "I see. And you think Merlin is the answer?" Regina: "Not my problem." Rumplestiltskin: "I hope not. We'll just have to wait and see." Regina: "Has anyone told you how infuriating you are?" Rumplestiltskin: "Yes. (Regina glares at him then walks away. Quietly to himself:) Mainly you in fact." Camelot. Ridge. (The armies of Camelot and Caerleon face each other. Darian and Arthur walk towards each other at the centre of the neutral ground. Arthur looks up at the giant while Darian bears his teeth. Morgana watches from Caerleon’s lines. Agravaine, now joined by the knights loyal to Guinevere and Lancelot, grins in Camelot’s front line. Arthur twirls his sword and the fight begins. After exchanging parries and thrusts, Darian eventually knocks Arthur to his knees. When the giant attempts an overhead strike, Arthur rolls out from the blow and slices Darian’s cheek. Darian checks for blood and howls, enraged.) Morgana: “This has gone on long enough. (Annis turns her head to listen:) Time to turn the tide. I’ll enchant Arthur’s sword. It will hold the weight of a thousand ages. No one could bear it for long.”

(Morgana’s eyes glow and Arthur’s sword drops like lead behind him. He looks at it, unable to lift it. Darian swings and misses on the down sweep. Arthur punches Darian’s face and gets caught on the up-sweep of Darian’s sword. He cries out in pain. Arthur tries to lift his sword again. Darian begins to strike, but Arthur leaves his sword and rams his shoulder into Darian, knocking him over and falling. Morgana is confused. Darian gets up first and kicks Arthur over. Darian picks up his sword and Morgana and Agravaine smirk. Annis waits. Arthur lies helpless and Darian raises his sword over his head. Arthur looks up at his men on the ridge before the giant runs Arthur through with all his might. Annis’ army cheer while Camelot’s forces look on, aghast.) Morgana: (Turns to Annis:) “You are victorious, Your Highness.” Queen Annis: “Indeed. And now we must ensure that CameIot’s forces comply absolutely with the terms of our agreement.” Morgana: “Worry not, Your Highness. Lord Agravaine is an honourable man and can be trusted to do the right thing.” Queen Annis: (Following Morgana’s line of sight to stare up at Agravaine:) “Arthur called him a fool.” Morgana: “Arthur is dead. That is all that matters, Your Highness.” (Annis considers Arthur’s slain form for a moment, then turns to leave.) No Man’s Land. (Arriving too late to witness the duel, Merida, Anastasia and Xena & Gabrielle stand watching the aftermath as the giant Darian absorbs the cheers from his fellow soldiers while standing over Arthur’s body.)

[lilacmoon83]

Mysterious Fathoms Below

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 10: Peril in Portland

Their cross country trip so far was a rousing success. They had hit many lakes and beaches along the way and the morning after they arrived in Portland, Snow and David took them to a secluded beach they had found a couple hours from the city. It was their first time seeing the Pacific ocean and they were all very excited. After spending the day together as a family, they headed back to Portland and to a park that was near the office David would be working.

Snow kissed him tenderly, as they prepared to say goodbye for a while.

"Go on...we'll be fine, but we'll miss you," Snow assured him.

"I'll miss you too," he said, as he hugged the kids and headed for the office. Snow sat back down with her book, while the kids ran around the park and Emma joined her.

"Hey Mom...can I go get some snacks for me and the squirts?" Emma asked. Snow noticed that there was a convenience store down the block and nodded.

"Okay...but be careful and try to get more than just sugar laden stuff," Snow said, as she handed her some money and shifted the baby in her lap. Emma smiled and headed down the block, while her brothers and sisters continued to play. Jackson whimpered a little and she dug his teething ring out of his back.

"Oh that tooth is giving you trouble, isn't it baby," she cooed, as he watched onto the teething ring.

"Hey Mom...shouldn't Emmy be back by now?" Ben asked. He was right and she started to get concerned.

"Go round up the twins and Astrid. We can all walk down there together," she said. Ben did as she asked and she put Jackson and Astrid in the double stroller, as they left the park together.

Emma browsed the snack aisle and put a few things in her basket. She smiled, as she picked out some gummy bears. Astrid loved gummy bears. She looked ahead and noticed a boy stuffing a box of pop-tarts in his jacket. He turned and saw that she saw what he was doing, but they were both stunned.

"Bae?" she asked in disbelief.

"Emma...how are you here?" he asked.

"Nevermind that...I'll get that for you," she replied, as she grabbed the box from him.

"You don't have to do that," he insisted.

"Do you have any idea how long me and my family have been looking for you?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked, as she picked up a few other things and waited, as she paid for them. Once she took the sack, they exited the store and she handed him the box. He tore open a package and started eating hungrily.

"Because...we thought of you as family and wanted to help you," Emma replied.

"No...you want me to go back to Storybrooke with you and to my Dad!" he cried.

"Would that be so bad?" she asked.

"Yes! Do you know what he did?" he asked.

"Yes...we have the book, remember?" she replied.

"He abandoned me!" Neal insisted.

"And then made sure the curse happened so he could find you," Emma replied.

"And ruined a bunch of people's lives in the process!" he cried.

"But he told my parents that he knew he made a mistake! I mean, doesn't he deserve a second chance?" Emma asked. He was about to retort when two men approached them.

"Not a peep there lass and start moving," the man said, as he showed her a gun in his coat.

"You too, young man," the other man said, as he also showed his weapon.

"Who the hell are you two?" Neal asked.

"Keep walking, boy...or you'll get lead poisoning," Jasper hissed.

"Emma!" Snow called, as she approached with the kids. Horace smirked.

"Well...you've made this really easy for us," he said, as he grabbed Ben by the arm and held a firm hand on him.

"You'll follow along with all the brats, beautiful or I'll pick a few of them off," he threatened.

"Excuse me?" Snow asked dangerously.

"Do it...or I rip that necklace off your pretty neck and all of Portland will know your secret," he warned. She gasped, wondering how he could know, so she followed them, afraid they would make good on their threat or hurt one of her children.

Once they arrived at an abandoned dock, they were all tied up, except for the little ones, who were frightened by now.

"Shut that brat up!" Jasper snapped, as she did her best to soothe him, even with tied hands.

"He's frightened...lower your voice!" Snow snapped, as Horace looked through her phone.

"Okay...we're going to call the hubby now and then the Madam will be along to meet her catch," Horace said.

"Who is the Madam?" Neal asked.

"Nevermind kid...you're not a part of the plan, but since you seem important to blondie here, you're still alive. But that can change," Horace threatened, as he dialed David and put the phone to Snow's ear.

~*~

David looked through the documents that Cleo had collected.

"So...Neal Cassidy. He jumped a huge bail in Phoenix and now he's been spotted here in Portland?" he asked. Cleo nodded.

"Both the Phoenix PD and Portland PD are clamoring over who gets him. Phoenix wants him for stealing twenty grand in pricey watches. Here in Portland, it's petty stuff mostly, so Phoenix hired us. Either way, we get the payday and their district attorneys can fight over who gets to prosecute," she answered. David squinted, as he looked at the grainy photo of the culprit.

"This is the best photo they have?" he asked. She nodded.

"He's young...but he's good. Knows where all the cameras are and how to avoid them," she replied.

"Okay...well, if he's sticking to petty stuff, we should canvas the convenience stores and the grocery stores," he said.

"Agreed," she replied, as they prepared to head out when he got a call on his cell phone.

"David!" Snow cried, before someone else was speaking.

"She's a lovely lass...a spitfire too," a man said in what sounded like a British accent.

"Who the hell are you and where is my wife?" he demanded to know.

"My name isn't important, mate...but I am enjoying the company of your lovely woman and your noisy brats. Six is quite a brood...but then I guess I wouldn't be able to control myself with a fetch like her," the man said.

"If you touch one hair on her head or any of my children…" he growled.

"You're not in the position to make threats...Mr. Nolan and you'd do yourself well to hold your tongue. I know your secrets, mate. I've seen the...tails and I have the proof," he said. David went pale at that and swallowed thickly.

"What do you want?" he growled.

"Come to the Highland Docks tonight at nine pm...it's an old defunct dock on the east side of the city. No cops...or me and my partner will have some fun with your gorgeous wife, if you get my drift," he said.

"I'll be there...but touch them and I'll be your worst nightmare," David warned, as he hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Cleo asked.

"Someone has S...Margaret and the kids. They want me to come to the Highland docks tonight. No cops or they're going to hurt them," David replied.

"For what? Why would they take your family?" she asked. David didn't know who they were, but he knew that they had somehow seen them in their other form.

"I don't know...but I have to go," he replied.

"I'm going with you," she insisted. He was about to protest, but she put her hands up.

"David...I know you and your wife have secrets. I've been an investigator for a long time. Whatever it is...it's safe with me," she assured him. He sighed.

"Okay...but you'll have to believe it to see it," he said, as he put his jacket on. She got hers and they headed out. Their search for Neal Cassidy would have to wait...or so they thought.

~*~

Snow had finally gotten the little ones to quiet down and she glared at their captors, before turning her attention to Emma and Baelfire.

"We've been looking for you for a long time, Bae," she whispered.

"So Emma told me...but you shouldn't have," he replied.

"We care about you, sweetheart...and I know that your father did some really terrible things. But he does love you," Snow said. He opened his mouth to retort, but she put her hand up to stop him.

"Hear me out," she requested and he remained silent.

"Before David and I had kids, I wouldn't have understood what he had done, because I would have sworn that I wouldn't have done anything remotely close to the things he had done, even for a child," she said, pausing for a moment.

"But then I became a mother and David became a father and that completely changed. I would do anything for my children...and I mean anything if I had to, even bad things, I'm afraid. When it comes to our kids, we would act in the moment and think about our actions later. It's just what a parent does and it makes us very imperfect," she continued.

"And someday, you'll understand that. And maybe, just maybe you'll be ready to give him a second chance then," Snow said, giving him something to think about.

"Right this way, Madam," Horace said and she stiffened at that, as she could hear the clicking of high heels on the floor.

"Well, well...long time no see, Snow White," the woman said and the raven haired beauty was shocked to see the woman before them.

"Mom...do you know her?" Ben asked.

"Mummy huh? My, my, that gorgeous husband of yours has been busy," she purred.

"Cruella De Vil…" Snow said, spitting the name in disgust.

"In the flesh...or fur, rather," she said, as she ran her hands over the monstrosity she was wearing.

"Do you like it? It's my newest purchase," she said, referring to the black and white mink coat she was wearing.

"Why...or how are you here?" Snow demanded to know.

"I could ask you the same thing...though I think I'm about to find out," she said, as she looked at Horace.

"Show me," she requested, as the man advanced on her. She shied away, but he ripped her necklace off.

"No!" she cried, as there was a poof and her legs became a brilliant white mermaid tale.

"So...that's how you and chisel chin escaped the curse," she realized, as she admired her tale.

"A curse?" she asked. Snow glared at her.

"At first…" she answered.

"Ah...then you saw the value in this magic. Tell me though, how did you get your hubby cursed with this?" she asked.

"Our story is none of your business, but if you must know, Charming found me even though I was cursed and had no voice," Snow replied indignantly.

"Yeah and Daddy gave Mommy true love's kiss!" Rose added and then got shy, as the woman's eyes raked toward her.

"Then why do you still have a tail?" Cruella asked.

"Because the Pink fairy told us that we could use true love's kiss to restore me to my human form...or she could use the reverse and make Charming like me...make us both this way. I thought by doing that and escaping that Regina would give up on her revenge," Snow replied. Cruella snorted.

"Well, she didn't," she said.

"I know...how did you escape the curse?" Snow asked curiously. Cruella smirked.

"I have my ways," she said, as Jasper suddenly hit the ground, unconscious.

"Oh good...it's about to get interesting. Come out, dahling...and careful with your movements. I have everything important to you in grave peril," she called. David emerged from the shadows.

"Ooohhh...you are certainly a treat for the eyes," she gushed.

"Cruella?" he asked in disbelief.

"The one and only," she replied.

"What do you want?" he demanded to know.

"Well...as someone who has found a family of mermaids, I could make a fortune, while the lot of you would end up in some circus somewhere," she replied.

"You're going to sell us?" Emma asked in horror. Cruella cackled, as Cleo emerged beside David, her eyes wide at what she was seeing.

"Your wife…" she uttered.

"Yeah…" David said. While he knew it was overwhelming information for Cleo, he had a feeling he could still trust her.

"Just let my family go! You're not making any money off us," he said.

"No...actually that's not why I need you anyway. But if you'd like to keep them breathing, you will all board this yacht with me and take me to Storybrooke," Cruella replied.

"You want to go to Storybrooke?" Snow asked.

"Yes...mummy is in a bit of trouble, you see. The man I married in this land is dripping with money, but he was just indicted by the Feds for fraud and if I don't escape, I'll be going to prison too. But in Storybrooke...I'll be safe," she replied.

"You're worse than Regina...why would we lead you right to Storybrooke?" David asked. Cruella smirked and Horace cocked the gun in his hand.

"Because if you don't...my associate is going to make a terrible mess out of your beloved wife," Cruella threatened. David put his hands up and Cleo did as well. Jasper, who was coming around, frisked them both and confiscated their handguns.

"Now...shall we be on our way? It's a smooth ride on my husband's yacht and it has all the amenities," Cruella said.

"I can't walk without my necklace," Snow replied. Cruella motioned to David.

"No funny business or bullets fly," she said. He picked her and the baby up in his arms and they shared a torn look. He carried them onto the ship, while their children, Baelfire, and Cleo were taken hostage as well. It would be a long trip to Maine and there was no telling what havoc Cruella would unleash on a cursed, unsuspecting Storybrooke...