After the events of Quiet Minds, I'm not sure whether to continue this story. I'll put in on indefinite hiatus at least for now until I know what to do.
Warning: Dark humor and slightly juvenile jokes. Some angst. Slight one-sided TinkerBae.
Disclaimer: Any references you recognize don't belong to me.
Thanks as usual to the awesome RainMirror to beta this for me.
He needed to get away from all of them.
First, there were Snow and Charming, true loves who always found each other. Even his father could bottle their love. Well, that was what Emma said. It didn't seem to make much sense, but then again, logic didn't really work in the Enchanted Forest; emotion did. He liked logic better in his current emotional state.
Then there were Emma and freaking Hook. Perhaps they were holding hands or hand and hook or whatever Emma was into these days. He didn't know. It had been 11 years. She said she chose Henry but she seemed to hang on to every word he said and smiled at him a lot. If he made her happy, he really shouldn't feel jealous. But it was Hook, the guy his mother ran away with and sold him to Pan. His brain would short circuit if he thought too much about this.
Well, then there was Tinkerbell. Tink was a very good friend but she had a tendency to loot anything of value and show it to him. It had only been fun when he was a teenager. However, her recent loot made him sick. She showed him a watch, which he recognized belonged to Tamara. He knew it because he had actually bought it for her as a Christmas present. She said that the woman she took it from was dead. He suspected Felix or one of the boys had killed the new visitors. As much as he was supposed to hate Tamara, he really didn't wish anyone dead. Luckily Tink was out doing Pan-knew-what. Otherwise, she might ask how he knew the owner of the watch.
He needed to focus on getting Henry. They said they would go to Pan's camp in a few hours time. Although he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, he made the excuse that he needed to rest in the cave and they bought it.
He missed his father. He was 99.99% sure his father was OK, but there was 0.01% chance with the Stiltskin's luck he was not. He felt guilty tricking and ditching him but it was necessary to protect Henry.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
He had apparently been too deep in thought to hear her approaching.
"You wouldn't want to hear what I'm thinking right now."
"I hope it's not something indecent."
"Emma, as much as I like our daily bantering, I'm really tired. Please let me sleep." He made a show of lying down to make Emma leave but to his chagrin, Emma sat next to him. "Please leave. I need to rest. "
"I know you better than that. You won't be able to sleep after all that's happened. You just like to stay in a corner and stew."
"Please let me stew alone." He felt like a stubborn kid. Perhaps Felix was right; once a lost boy, always a lost boy.
"Neal, despite whatever happened, we can still talk. I'm sorry that I was being terse but I really think you chose poor timing fighting with Hook over the lighter."
"I was not the only one. He didn't know what a lighter was but still wanted to light it anyway." He felt like an idiot but since Emma had thought of him as one he might as well live up the reputation. "By the way, has he apologized to you?"
Emma seemed hesitant. She kept quiet.
"As I thought."
"What's your history with Hook?"
"Didn't he say anything?"
"He said you were close. He gave me this sword which used to be yours."
"Well, he does have a way with words."
"What happened?"
"It's a long story. If I say anything, you'll think I'm making it up. It's not the time. We need to focus on Henry." It was unlikely Emma would believe him anyway.
"Has it got anything to do with how both of you were in Neverland?"
He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "Something like that. You wouldn't believe me anyway without any proof. Ask him how I ended up on this island if you're really inclined."
"We used to talk about everything. Well, not exactly, everything, since I didn't know you were in Neverland, but we used to talk. What happened to us?"
"Well, we used to be thieves but now we are not. You're the sheriff. We grew up and I screwed up. As I said, I'm trying to make it up to you but it's entirely up to you whether you accept my apology."
"So this is your cave, huh?"
That was totally unexpected. He opened his eyes. "What?"
"Well, you used to live here."
"There were not exactly many real estate properties to choose from to get away from the Lost Boys. It beats living in a cage."
She squeezed his hands. "I'm so sorry to hear that. It must be tough living with that psycho for centuries. And you were only 14. I saw you marked your days in this cave then you stopped."
"Tough is an understatement. That's why we need to get Henry away from him ASAP."
"We will. You know that we worked well together."
"That was stealing and surviving though. Not fighting psychos. I don't think we fared well fighting Cora. We ended up in the forest. "
"Well, at least no one from our side got killed. I doubt we'll ever starve because you can always light a fire with your lighter," she teased. "Why do you carry it anyway?"
"To live up to my name, Baelfire, of course." He smirked.
"That joke is so bad that it's good. You failed lighting it anyway."
"That was a one-time thing. I don't work well under pressure." He then blushed realizing what he had said.
Emma smiled. "Yes, I can tell. Performance issues."
He turned away from her. "And you call me childish."
"Do you carry it around because of the shadow?"
"Yes. From past experience, I find it handy to always have one around." He turned back to Emma and smirked. "Not to mention when I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere and I need to cook."
"You're incorrigible. How do you know so much about the shadows?"
"I don't really want to talk about Pan or his shadows if you don't mind."
Emma paused sensing his serious tone. After a while, she said, "I didn't know that you can draw."
"My mother, Milah, used to teach me. Well, as you can tell, I'm not exactly Da Vinci, but I just drew for myself."
"Your mother's name is Milah?"
"Yes. Why?"
She looked hesitant. "Nothing. I just saw her name somewhere."
"Where?" Where could she have possibly seen it? He doubted his father would put her name somewhere in the shop. He could see she was not forthcoming but he wasn't either so he didn't push it.
"So what did you draw?"
"Well, that's the Darling family at the bottom left. They took me in until the shadow took me."
"So they're like your foster family."
"Sort of."
"How were they?"
"They were very nice people. They took me in after I hid in Wendy's closet for a few weeks."
"Wendy, huh? Wendy Darling as in the Peter Pan story."
"Perhaps. I tried to avoid any movies or books related to Peter Pan when I was in our world, I mean the world we met."
"Was she pretty?"
"Emma, she was like a little sister to me. And yes, she was."
"A pity, when you finally you came out of the closet."
"Are we really into juvenile jokes now?"
"How long were you with them?"
"A few weeks."
"At least you were happy for a while," she said wistfully. "Then you were here. At least you were happy in those few weeks."
"I was happy with Papa too before he became the Dark One," he defended.
"OK, sorry, touchy subject. If you must know, I'm still on shaky ground with my parents."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I'm working on it. Thanks for the offer. So why the turtles?"
"I drew what I saw."
"I thought maybe you had escaped on the back of the turtles by tying them together."
"You're really into the Pirates of the Caribbean thing, aren't you?"
"Nah, I'm just messing with you. I didn't know that you're quite the MacGyver, with all the tools you made, especially the shadow trap. That's pretty cool."
"Well, I was bored. That was a way to spend time. I didn't really have anyone to hang out with."
"I understand what you mean."
"I know, Emma, I know." He then added with a smirk. "MacGyver's got nothing on me. Where do you think he got the ideas to make those tools?"
Emma swapped his shoulder playfully.
"Bae, am I interrupting something?" Tinkerbell asked. She stared at Emma.
"Nothing, Tink. Emma just asked about my drawings."
"Snow and Charming said they were ready so you'd better be prepared. Don't waste time joking around. I'll wait outside." She walked out in a huff.
"What was that about?" Emma stood up.
"I have no idea. She is usually moody when I talk to someone else." He stood up and checked whether he missed any last minute item.
"You have no clue, do you?"
He looked at Emma and was completely perplexed. "I really don't know what you're talking about."
"Never mind. Let's get ready! We're getting Henry back!"
"Yes, we are. By the way, thanks, Emma."
"For what?"
"For talking to me and making me laugh. I needed that."
"Well, as we said before, no matter what happens in the future, we have got each other's back."
"Indeed, we do. Let's kick Peter Pan's ass!"
Notes:
-I really hope the show will address what Hook did to Neal and his "dalliance" with Milah. Not sweeping everything under the carpet and pretending S2 never happens.
-I think Emma and Neal are better as friends at least for now as they need to sort their messes. That's why I write them only as friends. Sorry for the hardcore Swanfire shippers. Please check other stories if you want them as a couple.
-Depending on the reunion with Wendy, I may continue this or write a new one-shot. What do you think?