Authors Note: Hello again, I hope everyone is enjoying the new season. Although Dark Waters had its faults. It has triggered a burst of inspiration. I will add more one shots to this as I get more ideas like I did with the last season in Proof. These two are filling in some missing conversations that I think were needed to round off the episode. The first is a look at Henry and Emma and the second is dealing with Liam. I hope you all enjoy reading them please leave me a review and let me know what you thought.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or story elements from Once Upon a Time, this has been written for fun only.
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"Come on then," Emma said nodding towards Granny's where she could see her family noisily getting settled into the large booth at the window.
"Actually Swan, I think I should miss this one," Hook replied his hand drifting behind his ear. Emma turned and gave his embarrassment a suspicious eye.
"What? Why? You spent half the afternoon complaining that you missed lunch," she asked.
"I shouldn't intrude," he replied.
"Intrude?" she spluttered, not believing her ears. When had he ever worried about being where he shouldn't be?
"Aye love, you should have some family time, you know... with your family," he said lamely and stepped backwards away from her. She instantly stepped forward and grabbed his arm.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. She looked up into his face her eyes wide searching deep into his in a move she knew he couldn't resist for long. "You are a part of this family now."
"Not everyone feels that way Emma," Hook sighed "And I don't want to irritate so soon after being allowed to live with you." Emma felt a flicker of anger, no one had allowed anything, it was her house and her life and he was her boyfriend, as ridiculous as the term sounded.
"Was it Dad? Because we talked about it and-" Emma cut herself off as she turned to glare at where her father was in Granny's window but instead her frown met a matching one etched onto her son's face. Emma felt her heart sink.
Henry's wide eyed innocent optimism had been slowly and surely turning into the condescending disapproval of all teenagers over the last few weeks. She'd been shrugging it off as just being due to his age and hormones but glancing back at the uncomfortable look on Hook's face she got the horrible feeling she had missed something significant.
"I knew something else happened on that submarine," she said. "What aren't you telling me?"
"The lad and I talked some things out," Hook said stepping away again. This time Emma didn't follow him. "Don't worry love, he's nearly grown," he continued, as if that would make her feel better. "He's deciding what kind of man he's going to be and he doesn't need a one handed pirate forcing himself into his life at every turn." The sinking feeling in Emma's stomach grew into a cold rock pulling at her. "Hey, no need for faces like that," Hook said, quickly stepping back into her space and rubbing his thumb on her cheek, smoothing out the pinched worry lines. "I think all this business with… Liam has made me rather maudlin," he said, hesitating over his half brother's name in a way that made Emma's heart break for him. "It's really not as bad as I just made it sound, just giving Henry some time with just you and your parents. That's all love. I'll be back waiting at home before you I wager."
"Where are you going?" she asked with a deep breath.
"Snow tells me Belle had something of a day today, I know how destructive it can be to rattle around a pirate ship alone, even one as fine as mine, I thought I'd take her some food and keep her company a while." Emma smiled and dropped a kiss on his lips.
"That's sweet," she said, forcibly pushing her anxiety away. "I'll see you later."
"Of course Swan, I'll be there," he replied his eyes speaking of promises his simple words didn't express. She was reluctant to turn away but he gave her his best rakish smile and she gave him an exasperated one back, then he left to walk to the docks.
Granny's was as warm and noisy inside as it had looked from outside as Emma dropped heavily into her family's booth.
"Hook not coming in?" Snow asked immediately.
"No," Emma replied. "He wasn't sure he'd be welcome." She gave Henry a look and was surprised when Henry's face flashed with surprise and concern rather than the victory she'd half expected.
"When's that ever stopped him before," David scoffed.
"I think that attitude is exactly the point," Emma replied, the accusing sharpness in her tone aimed at herself for thinking the same, as much as at her father. An awkward silence fell over the booth, Snow casting worried glances at everyone over Neal's head.
"I'll go get him," David said as he started to get up.
"No," Emma said shaking her head apologetically for making things uncomfortable. "He's having dinner with Belle so she's not alone on the Jolly, we'll see him later." The silence fell again. "So, you never told me much about this submarine," Emma said to Henry trying to get them talking with the first thing that came to mind and then wishing she'd thought of something else.
"It would have been really cool if we hadn't been kidnapped," Henry replied and Emma couldn't decipher if his tone was sincere or not. Had she stopped knowing her son at some point? Even with Hyde looming in the background she'd been feeling like she had when they'd been living in harmony in New York, but now she realised she was actually back to when she'd first driven into town with him, this strange boy who knew and loved her but who she had no clue about.
She should have told him about asking Hook to move in before she'd asked Killian. It had been one of those wild romantic feeling impulses at the time, impulses that she had not allowed herself for so long. She'd got caught up in her own excitement and not considered Henry's feelings about it. But then again he'd never said anything against Hook and had encouraged her to ask him out in the first place. He only lived with her half the time anyway, the rest of the week she was alone in that big house, that Henry had helped Hook pick out, expressly so they could live in it together. Why was she making excuses for herself?
"You mean there's a military submarine floating somewhere in the docks?" her father demanded loudly jarring her back into the conversation at the table.
"Yeah," Henry said matter of factly.
"We need to talk to them," Snow said urgently. "They can't go out of Storybrooke, can you imagine if they meet someone from outside or another submarine? They could set off a war!"
"I think Liam will be staying in town until Nemo is better anyway," Henry said. The casual way he said the name such a contrast compared to Killian's effort that it made Emma blink for a second.
"What's he like?" she asked quietly. Henry gave her another surprised look.
"I didn't really meet him, I only saw him when he was attacking Hook so… angry and vengeful," he replied.
"Run in their family does it?" David asked jokingly and then cowed under the dual glares from Emma and Snow.
"Hook thought he was justified," Henry said and something in his voice made Emma turn to him properly.
"And you?" She asked. "What do you think?" Henry shrugged. "It's a good thing you don't have some sort of mystical responsibility that relies on your use of words." There was that look of disapproving teenage condescension. "I thought you liked him." Emma asked in a pained voice, fully aware her parents were listening avidly but she kept her focus on reading her son's response. There was no way she had got this situation so wrong was there? Hadn't he been play fighting and gossiping about her with Hook just the other day?
"I do, I mean, he's alright. I don't hate him," came the vague reply.
"Walsh got more of an endorsement than that and the only thing he ever did with you was take the three of us to lunch now and then and hang around the apartment," Emma reminded him in exasperation.
"I know, I know," Henry said, sounding frustrated. "It's just Mom- er, I mean the Evil Queen came and kept calling him my new dad and I just… I just didn't like that!"
Emma actually felt her brain seize up. New Dad? Crap. That was so not something that anyone had been thinking, let alone said out loud. This is what Killian and Henry had talked about? No wonder Hook was being so awkward.
"When did she say this?" Snow asked.
"This morning-" Henry started to explain.
"What? When-?" Emma cut in.
"At the house-" he started again.
"What?" Emma cut in again. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I got kidnapped and taken to a submarine," Henry answered flatly. Okay maybe Emma could concede that point.
"What else did she say?" she asked.
"That's it and about Hook not getting rid of the sheers," Henry assured her. "She didn't hurt me, she wanted to help."
"That bitch," Snow said. Everyone stared at her open mouthed in shock. "I'm sorry," she said defensively. "But how can she pretend she did this out of love for you Henry? She saw Emma and you were finally getting some happiness, some normality and she had to come and ruin it. She can't stand the thought of others being happy. She wants us all to be miserable like her. What did she think would happen? That you'd demand Hook left and force Emma to choose between the two of you?"
"I wouldn't do that," Henry frowned.
"Of course you wouldn't sweetheart," Snow agreed. "Which is why her plan failed. Like always. She's incapable of letting go of her hate, and she thinks everyone else will be the same."
"Well we're not," David joined in.
"No we're not," Snow repeated sharing a smile with him.
"You'd think she'd know that after everything we've all been through the last few years," Emma sighed.
"Maybe that's the part that got left in Regina?" David suggested as he waved to the waitress to take their order.
"That's it!" Snow said excitedly making everyone jump.
"What's it?"
"That's how we defeat her, we have to get her and Regina back together." The rest of table exchanged glances. "Oh come on," Snow complained. "It's just like you said the last few years Regina has grown and moved past the Evil Queen. Despite her. We just have to show Regina she can do it again, she can be who she wants to be even with the Evil Queen as a part of her. She's the one who can defeat her, she did it before with our help."
"But, Jekyll is gone, how are we going to-"
"We find a way," Snow said firmly. "We have our own mad scientist and plenty of magic users in town and there's so many people from Untold Story, maybe one of them will know a way."
Emma bit her lip, she wanted to believe her mother's latest hope speech and she did wonder why no one had thought of the possibility before, but she had no idea where they would even start and after everything would Regina really accept her evil side back inside her heart?
The mood now lightened and submarines and step fathers shelved for the time being the rest of the dinner passed as normal, or as normal as it could. The atmosphere tensed up as soon as Emma and Henry were in the car driving back home, the half discussed issue of Hook and his new brother hanging between them, but neither of them could bring themselves to break the safe silence that had fallen until the bug pulled up outside their house and they saw the windows were all dark.
"He must still be with Belle," Emma sighed, trying to force some lightness into her voice. Henry looked from the quiet cold looking house to the fake smile on Emma's face and felt miserable.
"I didn't mean for him to go away. I was just angry," he said quietly. Emma sighed.
"I'm sorry, I should have told you I was thinking of asking him to move in, it must have been a surprise."
"It really wasn't," Henry groaned. "I sort of expected him to move straight in after he came back."
"Then what-"
"I don't know."
"You can tell me," she said earnestly. "Whatever it is. I won't be angry. I want us to all work this out."
"I really don't know!" Henry repeated frustration making his voice louder. "I didn't think it was a problem until it was." Emma slumped back into her seat and studied his face.
"I understand," she said. Henry gave her a disbelieving look. "No I do," she stated. "Foster system remember. All these new families, made up of random parts forced together and everyone else seems to know what's best for you and how you should be behaving or talking. How could they know when they barely know you and why do they care anyway? It's not like they're really your family." Henry swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat and nodded.
"I might have said something like that to Hook," he admitted.
"Yeah he might have said something like that to me," Emma replied with a sad smile.
"Was he mad?"
"No, I think he was a bit sad." Henry felt the lump grow bigger and frowned intensely at the floor mat at his feet.
"He'll get over it," Emma said with breezy confidence she hoped wasn't misplaced. "I think he understands too, but Henry, Evil Queens aside… I wish I could say let's take things slow and take time for everyone to adjust and find our new normal-"
"But you might die," he cut in with an understanding resigned tone. Emma face became pinched wishing she could channel her mother and give a confident optimistic speech, the only thing she knew was that she really didn't want to waste what time she had discussing her death.
"He already died twice," she pointed out, the strangeness of making a joke out of some of the worst moments of recent months not lost on her. "And he's always getting into trouble. I'm thinking of getting one of those tracking chips and implanting it in his head."
"I suppose it's cheaper just to keep him at home, keep a close eye on him," Henry agreed his eyes getting back some their spark.
"Maybe I should get one for you," Emma replied squinting at her son in mock suspicion.
A sudden sharp tapping on Henry's window made them both jump and Emma send out a flash of warning magic that left spots in their eyes.
"Bloody hell," Killian cursed outside. Emma and Henry climbed out of the bug to find a disgruntled pirate rubbing his eyes. "What was that for? Why are you two just sitting in the car?"
"We were talking," Henry answered. "But we can all go in now." He said the last part slightly too loudly and Hook gave them both a sideways look. Emma leaned in and linked her arm with his, earning a dashing smile and a kiss on the head before they followed Henry along the path to the door.
"You have a nice time with Belle?" she asked.
"We are rapidly running out of things to talk about," Hook complained.
"I'll lend you my laptop and you guys can watch movies. I'll set you up a play list! Then you'll finally get what I'm talking to you about," Henry declared as he unlocked the front door and waited impatiently for them.
"I understand most of what you say," Killian protested and was met with full force disapproving teenager. He turned to Emma for help but she just shook her head and patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry," she said as she turned and closed the door to their home.
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