Chapter 1: There's no way out of it
Emma had been visiting the Jolly Roger for the last few days. She needed to make sure that he was still there and not causing any kind of trouble in town. She knew how Neal would react as soon as he found out that Hook had been on the ship the entire time. And he would probably find out soon enough.
Emma opened the door of the cabin. It was dark in there and her eyes needed a few seconds before she could see anything. Hook was –
Gone?
"Damn!", she muttered to herself. "This bastard!"
She searched for him on the entire ship but the pirate was just gone. Every cabin was empty and he wasn't on deck either.
Emma sighed and crossed her arms. Not good.
What was she supposed to do now? She had to find him as quickly as possible. But who to ask for help? Nobody knew that she hadn't left him on his own in Manhattan. She had hidden him on his ship, hoping he wouldn't cause any trouble and Neal wouldn't be wondering how the ship could sail without its captain. So far, everything had gone unbelievably great. And now? Now he was being a problem again.
Emma's phone rang.
She took it out of her jacket and looked at the display.
Mary Margaret. Great.
Emma sighed again and answered her phone. "Yeah?"
"Emma, where are you?", asked Mary Margaret. Her voice sounded concerned. "We wanted to meet you at Granny's."
"I'm sorry, I had some things to do.", answered Emma. She knew that her mother kind of accepted it if Emma had a few secrets she didn't want to share.
"Well, okay. Do you still want to come over and have dinner with us?" This time her voice sounded hopeful. She wanted to spend time with her daughter. Emma was still not really used to the situation and as much as she wanted to spend time with her parents, too – she often prefered to be on her own to figure out all of this.
"Not today, sorry." She really was. "I'm busy at the moment."
"Okay, then… see you at home later."
"Yeah, see you.", Emma answered before she hung up.
Maybe she should've asked her parents for help. She needed to find Hook. But she could not asked anyone for help. It was her fault that he had been here the whole time. And it was also her fault that he disappeared. And it would also be her fault if he caused problems. And everyone who'd find out that she was responsible that Hook was here in Storybrooke was also allowed to blame her.
She told herself to concentrate. Where could he possibly been gone? The only thing he was out for was his revenge on Rumplestiltskin. Was Hook really that stupid to try it again? Was he up to kill Rumplestiltskin? Or Belle?
Belle has lost her memory which was one part of the revenge. Hook almost killed Gold which he actually wanted to accomplish. Didn't work out.
Only one way to find out if Gold was still alive. Her phone still in her hand, Emma dialed Neal's number.
It took only a few seconds before he answered. "Emma…"
"Neal, just wanted to ask you how Henry is.", Emma said honestly. She wanted to call Neal for over one hour now.
"Great. We've ordered a pizza and now we're talking. He had a really interesting life, having an adoptive mother who's the Evil Queen and having his real mother who did never want to believe.", he said in a slightly accusing tone.
Emma swallowed her anger. "And your father? Is he okay?", she asked, hoping the question wouldn't seem suspicious.
"More or less. He's working. He wants to find a way to get Belle's memories back.", answered Neal. "So far, it doesn't look good."
"Tell him we're gonna find a way. And tell Henry not to go to bed too late. Tomorrow's school.", Emma said. It was a strange feeling to see her son spending time with Neal. She got used to spending all the time with Henry since he's not living at Regina's house anymore. She finally had the feeling to be part of a family, living with her father, her mother and her son. But since Neal was back Henry was also spending time with him and something changed. It was suddenly not only Emma's son anymore. It was also Neal's. And somehow she didn't want to accept that.
"Will do.", Neal said, bringing back Emma from her thoughts to reality. "If you want to, you can come over. Tamara is out for a walk and we've got enough pizza to share."
Emma blinked. "Thanks for the offer, but I got some things to do. Enjoy your meal!" She hung up.
The sun was gone now and it was dark on the ship. The water reflected the moon light. She listened to the waves that were goaded by the wind. It was an ice cold wind foreshadowing all the bad things to come. The sea had always given her strength and calm - and hope. The only thing she wanted to do was to sail far away from all her problems. She wanted her freedom back.
