She had her voice back, her father back and she had both his love and approval, and they were ready to return home together. Once she'd shared Rumple's plan with Hook after he'd found a way for her singing voice to be returned, Ursula frowned after she took only a single step toward the water. The one-handed pirate had fled the pier to warn the others of what Ursula had told him about Rumple and Ariel was long gone, off to continue living her happy ending with Eric, so it was just her and her father.
"What is it, Ursula," her father asked with concern.
Ursula shook her head as if that would rid her of the feeling that she was missing something. She didn't verbally answer him and nothing else she did made it obvious as to why she wasn't already in the water or even a little more excited to finally be going home, her problems with Poseidon finally resolved once he'd apologized and assured her he would be better.
"Don't do that," her father insisted. "It's been many years, but I still know how you look when something is wrong. You're unhappy."
Ursula sighed and slumped her shoulders.
"All I wanted for so long, before and after it was taken from me, was to have my voice so I could sing and make people happy."
Poseidon nodded and waited for Ursula to continue.
"And now I also have you again," Ursula added. "But…I feel like there's something more, something else."
"Tell me. What is it?"
She thought about Ariel and how she had missed so much time with Eric, and not just at one specific point in time. She thought about how many years after she herself was banished to the Land without Magic that she had gone with but also away from Cruella. She thought about how Ariel kept getting second and third and fourth chances to reunite and be happy with Eric and how she'd also recently reunited with Cruella. Infiltrating Storybrooke had given Ursula a second chance to rekindle something with Cruella and she had gladly taken that opportunity when the usually callous woman comforted her at night in their shared room at the bed and breakfast like no time had passed.
Cruella was vicious as a villain, but as a lover she was both fun and compassionate, tender when she needed to be and playful and punishing when asked or simply when she chose to spice things up. Even after she'd left Ursula to make her way in the world they'd both found themselves trapped in, Cruella still cared for her. Maybe she still had a place in the small but bold woman's life and maybe would always have one.
"Ursula?"
Ursula snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her father with wide and slightly timid eyes. She took a deep breath and hesitated to explain what she needed before she could leave and live happily ever after, but she found the strength and the right words after a moment.
"One more thing," Ursula said.
She didn't wait any longer to express what it was she needed him to know and what she needed to do to truly be happy.
"You've always tried to tell me not to trust or like humans, but…I met someone. Father, I- When I swam off, vowing never to return home again, I made some friends. They each wanted revenge and destruction as much as I did. We all had our reasons, no two of them alike, and while I worked with them to get revenge and to create destruction wherever we went, I found something that meant as much to me, if not more, as getting my singing voice back."
Poseidon's brows rose toward his hairline. Her father seemed shocked to hear that from her, but he didn't protest or question her feelings. Instead he asked, "What did you find?"
Ursula flashed him a smile. She didn't even have to think about the answer.
"Love."
"For a human?"
"She has magic," Ursula informed him. "She's not exactly an average human."
"She," Poseidon said it as a statement and not a question.
Ursula clenched her fists at her sides and tensed a little while she paused before replying.
"Yes," she nodded, and her smile brightened as she thought of Cruella.
"Then…why aren't you with her now?"
Ursula was completely thrown off by her father's question.
"No yelling, no refusing to accept that I've fallen in love with a human, a woman no less? No demanding I forget about her and leave for the sea where I belong?"
"Ursula, I have had a lot of time, too much time, to think about all the wrong things I said and did to you. To think about how I still managed to lose you like I lost your mother even though you were still alive. I will not make those same mistakes again. I only want you to be happy. If you say you love her and want to be with her, what's stopping you?"
Ursula sighed with relief and a hint of sadness.
"She won't want to come with me."
"How do you know if you haven't asked?"
"I just…know. As soon as I knew I loved her I would have been content to leave the rest behind just to be with her. She's made it clear in the past that she wouldn't be willing to do the same. She's driven, but not by love."
"Things change," he said.
Ursula shook her head and said, "Even if they have, even if she did decide I meant more to her than working with Maleficent and Rumple, she couldn't come back to the sea with us."
"Who said we had to go back there?"
"But, Father, that's our home."
"Home is wherever we want it to be. And what is a home without happiness and love?"
"I would have your love and I'd have my voice. I could sing and dip my tentacles in the water whenever and however often I want. If I stayed in this world, I'd never be able to leave Storybrooke if I still wanted to be all that I am."
"So we won't leave Storybrooke. There's plenty of water to swim in and the people here aren't half bad. There are worse places to get comfortable in. Besides, we can still visit the kingdom."
"We?"
"You don't think I came all this way just to leave you again if you didn't ask me to go, did you?"
"You would stay. If I stayed to be with her then you would stay too?"
"Oh, I'll do more than that." When Ursula looked at him with a confused expression, he added, "I'll do everything I can to help you convince this special, important woman of yours to choose you above all else."
Ursula smiled.
"Now let's go fight for her," he said with a smile of his own before he draped an arm over her shoulders.
The two of them walked away from the pier side by side and made their way back into town. Together.
She waited and watched from behind a few bushes and trees several feet away from the cabin, her father close behind her but not as hidden from sight as her. She stared at the cabin porch where Cruella primly sat with one leg crossed over the other in a wooden lounge chair. The other woman partially faced her direction, but hadn't seemed to notice her yet. She seemed more interested in the calm water that surrounded three out of four sides of the cabin and Ursula wondered what the woman could possibly be thinking as she sat alone near the large pond.
"Well," her father nudged her. "Aren't you going to talk to her?"
"I don't know if she's alone. If someone else is there with her, it won't matter what I'll say. Hook should have warned the others by now and I'm sure they think it's all my fault that their plan might be falling apart. Cruella may listen to me, but the others won't."
"Then I'll go. I'll make sure she's alone and wave you over if she wants to talk."
"Father, no. It's too dangerous. Cruella knows who you are. She'll know you're the reason I so gladly sold them out. If she even sees you she'll probably yell for Maleficent or Rumple."
"I don't care. The least you're going to do before we decide whether to leave or stay is talk to her."
Poseidon pushed forward and shrugged off Ursula's hand when she grabbed his shoulder and tried to stop him before he was noticed. He proudly and confidently walked through the dirt and uncut grass around the front of the cabin.
Ursula watched, scared and worried, while her father approached Cruella. The woman was startled by him, but also didn't look pleased to see him. She shot of her chair and raised her voice at Poseidon the closer he got to her.
She couldn't be sure of what Cruella was saying, but she knew without a doubt that her father was persistent and determined. Not only was that just how he was, but she could see it in the way he held up his hand to Cruella as if to convey he meant her no harm while he still continued, very carefully, to approach her.
Cruella relented and allowed Poseidon to talk without any further argument, but she crossed her hands over her chest and made sure he knew she didn't want to listen.
Her father looked through the cabin window as he walked along the side of the porch then stopped a few paces in front of Cruella before he spoke again. He said a few words and then motioned to Ursula's hiding place in the bushes. The other woman followed the motion of his hand and Ursula gulped and took a small step back when she was sure the fair-skinned woman locked eyes with her.
Poseidon said something else and after a moment, Ursula saw Cruella look down at the ground and nod before she looked up at Poseidon again. Ursula's father turned his head and looked at Ursula from across the way for a couple of seconds before he signaled her to join them. As he did, Cruella turned her attention back to Ursula as well.
Slowly, she made her way over to them and took the time to breathe in deep. She tried to calm her nerves, which built to new levels of intensity to combat Cruella's makeup the closer she got to the cabin.
"Hello, darling," Cruella greeted in her usual low and slightly raspy gin-soaked voice.
A shiver ran down her spine and she resisted the urge to close her eyes and bask in the familiar sound.
"Hi," Ursula nervously, cautiously greeted.
"So this is your father," she asked. "I suppose I can see where you get your good looks."
"Actually, I've been told I look more like my mother."
"Well then both of them gave you the attractive gene."
Ursula flashed a brief and hesitant smile. So far their conversation was normal and part of it felt like old times again. It hadn't even been a full day since Ursula chose to help Hook for a chance to get back what she thought was the key to her happy ending.
"I…" Ursula started to say, but immediately trailed off.
And then came the hard part. How to explain everything and ask Cruella for another chance together, no villains or heroes to affect her decision. Only how they felt about each other.
"I'm…sorry if you feel that I betrayed you," Ursula tried to speak again and was finally successful. "You and Maleficent both deserve your happy endings too, but I thought I'd found mine. Hook had offered to give it back and I thought…I thought it was enough."
"Are you saying you can sing again?"
Ursula nodded.
"So you have the one thing you've always wanted and you're saying it isn't enough," Cruella asked.
Ursula didn't answer. She only continued to stare into Cruella's blue eyes.
"If that wasn't enough for you then what does that mean for the rest of us, darling?"
"It wasn't enough for me because…because I don't have you."
In the back of her mind, Ursula knew her father still stood nearby but she was also aware of the fact that as she spoke to Cruella nothing else in the world seemed to matter or even exist. And because of that, she was even more aware that Cruella's eyes were wide and her lips parted just as slowly as her jaw dropped.
"What are you saying," Cruella asked.
Ursula weakly smiled at her, at a loss for any more words.
"Darling, you can't be serious. There is no way I could mean more to you than your voice. I remember very clearly how you sat by the water and tried to listen to the sounds of the sea, including the mermaids. Some nights you would smile at what you heard and some nights it was just too painful. It was all you ever dreamed of having again and you're telling me that you're still not happy?"
"I also remember very clearly how you sometimes you sat with me by the water. Some nights you said nothing and some nights you said all the right things. I remember how I made you smile and how I didn't need to sing to do it. That was all I wanted when I sang. I wanted to share it with others and make them happy while a piece of my mother still lived on. You showed me that I didn't need to sing to do that."
"Well of course you didn't," Cruella said. "There's always been something about you, Ursula. And it doesn't come from being able to hold a tune."
"So…where does that leave us? Where do we go from here?"
Cruella frowned.
"I don't want to go anywhere. I still think we can win if we stay with Maleficent."
"It shouldn't be about winning," Poseidon spoke up and caught their attention. "You should be asking yourself what you really want."
Cruella stared at Poseidon for a moment before she looked at Ursula again.
"I want you to sing to me."
"Is that all," Ursula sadly asked.
"Please," Cruella politely, gently said.
Ursula took a deep breath and gulped before she nodded and took a moment to collect herself. When she was ready, she closed her eyes and began to hum a melody. While she enjoyed the more operatic sounds that the Land without Magic had to offer, there was a particular song that could still express just how it felt to love Cruella.
"Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can't help falling in love with you. Shall I stay, would it be a sin? But I can't help falling in love with you."
She felt Cruella step a little closer and she just had to open her eyes to see the other woman. Cruella was enthralled and her expression was soft. Her serenity clashed with the contrast of Cruella's dark and drastic makeup and it reminded Ursula of nights spent together under the moonlight with their hair a mess, their lipstick smudged and nearly kissed completely off each other's lips, no eyeshadow to overpower beautiful blue eyes that were deep and understanding and so very loving when no one else was around to see.
"As the river flows gently to the sea, Darling, so we go. Some things were meant to be."
Cruella continued to slowly move toward her. Her eyes were wet with tears and her red lips curled into the most genuine smile she had seen from the other woman in a long time.
"Take my hand. Take my whole life too. But I can't help falling in love with you. I can't help falling in love with you."
As she finished her shortened rendition of the song, Cruella didn't take Ursula's hand as the lyrics requested. Instead, she cupped the side of Ursula's face and stroked her thumb over the darker woman's cheek. The last note tapered off when Ursula's voice cracked from the emotions she felt within herself, but she didn't cry. She only hoped that Cruella's tears weren't because she was about to kill her or tell her goodbye.
"Go on," Poseidon piped up again and broke up the heavy moment. "Kiss the girl!"
Cruella laughed and Ursula glared at her father in an attempt to tell him without words to shut up. She should have thanked him, however, because Cruella turned Ursula's head so they were looking at each other again before she pulled her in for a kiss only a second later.
Ursula didn't hesitate to melt into the feel of Cruella's lips on hers. She had her father's support, she could sing again, and she finally had another moment with Cruella untainted by magic and vendettas and good versus evil.
When the kiss ended, Ursula opened her eyes and looked at the other woman with a hopeful gaze.
"What do you say, Cru? Will you be my happy ending?"
Cruella leaned forward and rested her forehead against Ursula's. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a small sigh that sounded almost content before she smiled again, that same genuine smile from before her serenade.
"And now I can't help falling in love with you. Again."
"Is that a yes," Ursula asked with a hint of laughter in her tone.
"It's a promise, darling."
A/N: And they lived happily ever after. Because I needed a Sea Devil happy ending. :)