For Emma, Forever Ago
Summary: Neal never believed he'd have this chance again. Their love survived the test of time, the test of absence. Now they're done waiting.
I wanted to write a Neal/Emma story. It's short, but yeah. I tried the best I could to keep in-character, so I hope it's believable. Set a couple of months from now.
Title is from Bon Iver's album. Listen to it, it's beautiful
Neal never believed he'd have this chance again. Emma Swan, whose name depict an image of innocence, but the hardened expression on her face told a different story. When she stole the car he'd stolen twelve years ago he never knew she came from the same place, the place of magic, good and bad, a place she had escaped before she'd even seen her first night on earth. Now, she was here, in front of him. Fragile.
Her hair was in blonde waves, falling down her shoulders, making her look as much of a princess as she were, worthy of the gold and the stars, worth of all the love her small kingdom had to offer. He knew she'd not be willing to take it, commitment to anyone didn't come easily for those who always ran. Back when she was 18 she was the same, yet different. There had been a longing of connection, belonging, in her eyes. She was willing to get attached, to stick to the first person who showed her that she was worthy more than the space she took up.
They'd aged, the two of them, in ways he hadn't expected. There were lines he hadn't seen before, the baby fat had completely vanished from her body, stretching the skin taught against her. He ran one hand down her spine, watching her shudder and close her eyes, breathing shallow. A kiss in the crook of her neck made her gasp. He smiled. Years may have passed, but he still knew her body, knew the way it yearned, what made her quiver.
He brushed her hair away, stroking her blushing cheeks as her eyes fluttered open, watching him carefully, seemingly unable to decide whether to run, cry, scream, or if to fall into his arms. She chose the last one, crushing her lips against his, holding her arms tightly around his neck. His hair was more coarse that she remembered it being, she felt it with her finger tips, before she tightened it in a fist.
Never had they loved anyone as they'd loved each other. He'd escaped from his past, and she was running towards it, but they both ended up in the same place. For years he'd tried to convince himself that he did not love that 18 year old girl that threw a whirlwind into his life, that it was just a dream, but she stayed there, never leaving the corner of his mind, never letting him forget how he ruined her. He found someone else, burying her image, because Emma had a future he did not want to be a part of. A future in the presence of something he'd never see again. He never expected their son, never expected that he'd have no choice but to return, to see her again where he never wanted to be.
Now there was no reason to run from her, to escape from the image of her smile, the way she cried. Never did he have to press away the image of her sleeping next to him from his mind again. She was there, her lips against his, hot and soft. Her body molded against his, and it was as if those 12 years had never gone by, as if it was just yesterday he felt her under his fingertips the last time.
Her body felt different though. He kissed down the front of her, tracing the skin and tasting it with his tongue, feeling her heavy breathing under his palm against her chest. Once she'd carried their son inside of her, she'd given him life, created him within her womb, birthed him. He stopped and stared at her, at her heaving chest, her stomach that desperately tried to aid the process of getting air inside of her. She looked at him confused, eyes wide as he was leaning above her. He kissed her, properly this time. Tongue against tongue, his hand holding the back of her head while he reminded them both of what they'd done together.
Loving Emma was simultaneously the hardest and the easiest thing he'd ever done. He never had to think about it, he just did. Her smile made his heart contract with longing, even if she was just right there, her laugh caused him so much joy, her tearful expression hurt him more than most things could. But her love trapped him, trapped him in a town where his father lived, the father he'd been running from for so many years, trapped him in a town where there was magic. He wanted to run, escape from what this meant. He could not run from her. Not anymore.
She was familiar, yet different. She touched him like a woman now, not like a girl. There had been other men, he could taste that in her kisses, feel it in her touch. Just as there had been other women for him. It did not matter, she was in his arms now. She was the one unbuttoning his jeans, stroking him while never breaking his stare, with a smirk on her lips. Until he kissed her, licking her lips playfully. The playfulness was gone then. She gasped.
She was warm, not in the way all women were warm, but warm as in there were no better place on earth. Her sighs, her moans, it was music in his ears. He kept touching her, feeling the warm skin of her thighs, scratching her back, feeling the skin of her throat down her chest. He kissed her so that she'd know that there was no escaping him now. He was here. He found the nub by their connection, and watched her as she fell apart, trying to hold himself from tears as he recalled of the decade then deprived themselves of this love.
Afterwards she was curled up against him, her hip resting over his stomach, her head on his chest listening to his beating heart. Whatever life had done to them they were together now, and that was all that mattered. Her beautiful blond mane was an array across her back and his chest, her cheeks were beautifully flushed, her eyes were lazily fixed on her own hand on his chest. The simplicity of that moment when she sighed and kissed his chest caused his heart to swell so much it hurt. She noticed his sharp intake of breath and looked up at him with worry, but she was met with a smile.
"I love you so, so, so, so much," he said then, pressing his lips against hers. She smiled, lips turning downwards, and eyes filling with tears.
"I love you too."