Disclaimer: Just playing, will put everything back when finished.
Neverland.
A place where you never had to grow up, a place where you could fly and fight pirates and no adult told you what to do ever. She doesn't care to admit how many times she'd stayed up late waiting at a window as a kid, hoping and praying for a familiar shadow to appear.
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. She sighs, watching the approaching land with a wary eye.
The part of the story she chose to ignore was how much the Lost Boys wanted a mother, and now she has her own lost boy…
"If you think any louder you'll give away our position, you know," the voice accompanies a hand grabbing hers and holding tight, and Emma glances over to see her mother's kind smile before looking ahead again.
"Got a lot to think about," she shrugs, but when Snow's grip tightens, she squeezes back.
It's been their thing ever since she'd first reached out that morning when 7:15 had come and gone. Something that ties the before and after of their lives together like nothing else has. Friend to friend, parent to child or child to parent, the message is the same.
I'm here, I won't let go.
I know.
And suddenly she remembers another hand, a smaller one, reaching out and holding on before she even realized she needed it, and can't stop the one tear that slips out.
But her mother's grasp only tightens that much more, and Emma breathes deep, wondering. She can't fly, but maybe something else can. And on her exhale she wills her love and belief out past the sea, the land that divides her and him.
I'm here, kid, I won't let go.
Maybe she's just imagining it, but she swears she can hear something on the breeze:
I know, Mom, I know.
But then she hears Snow gasp.
"Emma, did you just-"
"Yeah, Mom," she smiles, squeezing her hand this time, "I heard."
*Inspired by this post