Heroes (Just for one day)
The anchor was lowered, the ship stopped on the calm sea: they were back. Cheerful voices and enthusiastic applauses were the signs that probably all Storybrooke was there to welcome the winners, but Regina almost unwarily turned her back on them, she didn't want to see any kind of celebration, because she knew that not even a small part of that was for her. No matter how many people were now climbing down the Jolly Roger setting foot on the town for the first time or the fact that most of them were lost boys who spent so many years under terrible peter Pan's service, the villain would have always been only one.
"Ready to face them, love?"
The captain's voice behind her awakened her from her bitter reflections and made her smirk.
Maybe they were two.
She slowly turned back to him and a sigh escaped her lips. New thoughts run in her head at that question, as she tried to consider a proper answer, but there were too many pro and con to value and she found herself suddenly completely unaware of her future, now that the rescue operation was over. They had saved Henry, that was all she cared about but what would have been of her?
Feeling alone among nasty people was the possible worst feeling ever, even when you are the nasty one.
"The real question is: are they ready to face us?" she finally managed to reply, hiding with a new smirk her inner fear.
But somehow he knew better and not because of a particular ability of empathy, but more likely because he could recognize his own feelings.
"I don't know" Hook answered sincerely, shaking his head.
They shared a look in that little space of silence among the noise of the crowd. Then he took a breath and took a step forward, as the end of a certain conversation they had a while before on that same place, seemed to have formed in his mind.
"I think that we do" he suddenly whispered "We deserve a happy ending"
Regina looked surprised to his words but the slight hint of hope went away as soon as it appeared and another emotion crossed her face: disbelief.
"Do you really think that?" she asked, bitterly chuckling "All your life… hasn't it proved you otherwise?"
The subtle allusion to Emma's too recent rejection was immediate for him to understand, but yet he believed in what he said, he really did. He believed that he could have a happy ending some day, or at least he believed that he deserved it after all. He was about to say something, but then he noticed that she hadn't finished yet.
"Mine has proved that too" she commented in fact, glancing at Snow White and her Prince.
Sighing deeply, she reached the side of the ship and lingered on it, staring at what was in front of her: not Storybrooke, not the crowd… But the sea, its mistery and its freedom. Hook sighed as well and slowly approached her, silently putting his arm around her in an unpredictable attempt to comfort. Even if he actually didn't know who was the one who needed that.
"What would you think about going away?" he asked out of the blue, fixing his eyes on the horizon line too "We could do that, right now, if you want… But you have all you want here" he completed, half smiling, nodding to Henry who was now laughing with Emma and Baelfire "He needs you too, you know that"
While he was speaking, he let his good hand gently caress her cheek and she let him, too taken by surprise to have a coherent reaction. A simple smile of recognition was all she did in return of his bitter kindness. It was rather unexpected, but nonetheless it was something she needed.
"And what about you?" she asked, after some moments with a hint of concern "Will you stay or will you go?"
Hook looked away and broke the contact between them, taking a step back. Milah, Baelfire, Emma: three names, three names to surrender to the fact that his life has been a waste so far. The thought of frequently meeting the happy couple around was enough to take a bean, his ship and never look back again, but it was surely more enjoyable than being alone. Besides, in Storybrooke there was still the crocodile if he decided to come back to his old habits.
"I'll stay for a while" he replied eventually, letting his good hand slide under his jacket to grab his flask.
He took some sips and then offered the rum to the Queen, who, with no much surprise for the captain, refused it. He just shrugged and softly chuckled, she was actually one of the few women he ever met who hadn't actually accepted his drink and that was after all one of the things that most intrigued him about her. She always played according to her own rules.
"I think you should go… People are waiting for their queen" he added after some other moments, glancing to the crowd and there were among those people someone who was, despite everything, looking back to them.
She followed the direction of his eyes and another silence fell again, broken only by the sound that Hook was making while drinking.
"No, they're looking for the savior of Prince Charming" she replied ironically.
He chuckled again and then, without saying anything else, he gently grabbed her arm and attracted again her to him.
"Let's go facing the heroes"
A nod, a smile, a simple sincere one this time and the queen and the captain finally climbed down the ship too. Of course there wasn't any applause for them, but not even all that hostility they both have imagined.
Because after all they were heroes too… Even if just for one day.