Mirrored
Chapter One
For October in Maine, it was a perfect autumn day. A gentle breeze rustled the trees, sending flurries of jewel colored leaves swirling through the brilliant blue sky. It was the type of afternoon that made you want to take a leisurely stroll around town – made even better when that stroll included the perfect companion to share all of the beauty with.
Emma Swan and Killian Jones had certainly learned to take advantage of these moments. Their lives were never going to be one of calm and tranquility so it would always be necessary to embrace and enjoy the peaceful times. So far, today had been a relatively uneventful day which afforded them some time together to simply take a walk down by the harbor. To simply enjoy each other's company. To enjoy the contented feeling of still being newlyweds, having recited their vows only a few months earlier. All of the simple things that weren't always easy to do in this town.
Emma enjoyed being lost in that moment as she snuggled her head against his shoulder, the smooth black leather of his jacket so soft against her temple. While they walked hand in hand, she realized that she was still getting used to the sensation of her wedding ring intertwining with the rings he wore. It was such a new feeling for her and just the thought of it made her smile and squeeze his hand a little bit more.
"Everything alright, Love?" he wondered as her fingers tightened around his own.
"Everything is perfect," she replied. "I was just thinking about us."
"Pleasant thoughts, I hope?"
She paused, then stepped in front of him so that he could see how much her face was beaming with joy.
"Thinking about how happy I am to be your wife. And how much I'd love to spend the rest of the day in your arms, but I'll have to return to reality at some point."
"You could always reschedule your meeting with Regina," he suggested.
"I wish I could," she sighed, "but I am still the sheriff and she's still the mayor so we do have to have an official meeting every now and then to discuss this town's safety."
"Isn't your father also sort of a sheriff too? Couldn't he go in your place?"
"Not exactly. While David is a prince and is pretty good at what he does to help me out, he can't exactly discuss some of the more 'creative' options we may come up with."
"What then exactly is it that he does?" he grinned.
"Very funny," she said, his devilish smirk just too much sometimes.
"I guess we'll have to pick up where we leave off after your meeting then."
"Pick up where we left off of what?" she asked as he playfully pulled her in for a kiss. "Oh, that…," she laughed as their lips met, then suddenly, his jovial mood came to an abrupt halt as something in the distance caught his attention. "Hey – what's wrong?" she asked as he pulled away from her, staring off toward the Jolly Roger which was moored to the dock a few hundred feet ahead of them.
"I swear I just saw something move on my ship," he replied. "Or someone."
"Are you sure?"
"I know every inch of that ship and where I saw movement, it could only have been from a piece of rigging torn loose or a person. Either way, it was out of place."
"Okay, then let's go check it out. If it was a person, I feel sorry for them trying to pilfer from a pirate."
"Aye," he stated, either not getting the joke, or taking it far too seriously as he was already making his way toward the ship with determined strides. When he did reach the gangway, he froze and stood there just listening for a few seconds. Without saying a word, he pointed to the hatch leading below the deck, toward the Captain's quarters. Emma instinctively drew her gun at the thought of an uninvited guest aboard. Knowing the layout of the ship best, Killian ascended the gangway first moving slowly and stealthily so as not to alert whomever was below. Emma followed each of his footsteps since he knew precisely which boards might squeak or echo. He also knew that while the sound he heard had originated in the Captain's quarters, he could catch his unwelcome guest off guard by entering from the cargo hold instead.
Pushing aside a centuries old rum barrel, Killian removed what appeared to be a three foot by three foot wooden panel from the bulkhead, revealing a small crawl space. An old smuggling hold, Emma figured, but she wasn't about to ask now as he lowered himself to his knees and headed inside, making his way across to the far side in the blackness where he felt around for the second panel. Locating it, he cautiously popped it loose to open the rest of the passageway into the suite where he'd spent a great deal of his life.
The open panel was concealed by a rack of rolled maps and star charts, but he was still able to get his first glimpse of the intruder – a figure of average height dressed in black denim with their head hidden beneath the dark hood of a sweatshirt. Even from this distance, he was quite certain that the figure was a woman and while she was preoccupied with attempting to pick the lock of his wall safe, he crept out of the crawl space, silently approaching her.
At least he thought he'd been silent.
As he sprang forward to surprise his mystery guest, she swung an elbow backward into his abdomen, momentarily knocking the wind out of him and without a doubt - pissing him off. The woman in black tried to sprint for the hatch, but he caught her ankle and yanked her back. She hit the deck hard and came up kicking, but this time he was ready for her retaliation and swiftly pinned her shoulders to the floor, pressing the cold steel point of his hook to her exposed neck.
"Unless you'd like to find out just how sharp this hook might be, I suggest you tell me who you are and what the hell you're doing on my ship," he stated gruffly as Emma emerged from the crawl space with her fists coiled and ready to unleash a blast at the intruder's back if she felt Killian was threatened. He yanked back the would be theif's hood to reveal a mane of long, raven black hair as the woman turned her head toward him. Even before he saw her profile, he recognized her voice.
"Hello, Hook," she growled, none too happy to have been caught. "Long time since we last parted..."
"Sinclair…," Killian muttered, his response was clearly more one of disgust than just acknowledgement.
"You two know each other?" Emma demanded, unsure of whether or not she should lower her defensive posture.
"Aye," Killian replied, releasing his hold on the now identified visitor. "Emma, meet Devereaux Sinclair."
"You know, the word 'Captain' should be in there somewhere," Devereaux responded, pushing herself up off of the deck, deep hazel eyes flashing angrily as she stared at her old rival and his blonde companion whom Devereaux was certain could hold her own in a skirmish.
"She's a pirate?" Emma asked, still not ready to lower her guard until all of her questions were answered.
"Yes, a pirate - and a damned good one at that!" Devereaux snapped back. "Now that we've established who I am, just who might you be?"
"Not that it happens to be any of your business, Sinclair, but she happens to be my wife," Killian replied.
"Your wife? Never pegged you for the marrying type," Devereaux laughed as her gaze shifted to Emma, her eyes sizing up Killian's choice of woman to finally settle down with.
"How about you answer the question about what you were doing here on the ship?" Emma demanded.
"She's certainly got fire. Is she always this forward?" Devereaux taunted, directing her question to Killian and now ignoring Emma who was growing weary of this crap.
"Considering that I'm the sheriff of this town, unless you want to be arrested for trespassing or breaking and entering, you had better have a damned good answer!" Emma shouted, but Devereaux merely shook her head and grinned slyly at Killian.
"You married the sheriff?" she wondered, smirking at the mere implications the relationship implied. "This just keeps getting more interesting by the moment…"
Killian was getting aggravated himself and found himself fighting back the urge to punch his fellow pirate in the face - preferably with his hook.
"I still haven't heard an answer," Emma pressed.
"Answer the bloody question, Sinclair," Killian growled, letting irritation get the better of him.
"You really want to hit me, don't you?" Devereaux teased. "You can't hit a lady though, can you?"
"You're hardly a lady," was his response, but he kept his temper restrained.
"Back in the day, you'd have already swung. The infamous Captain Hook has gone soft, hasn't he? Maybe looking for you was a bad idea," Devereaux said.
"Why would you be looking for me? I haven't seen you in nearly half a century and considering the last time we saw each other, I guess I hoped you'd be long dead."
"Could say the same for you," Devereaux replied. "But after my ship got blown off course in a storm and ended up in this foreign harbor, one can only imagine my surprise when I saw the Jolly Roger anchored here. My curiosity got the best of me when I decided to see who she belonged to now."
"Well, as you can see, she's still very much mine. And I can certainly see that even after all of these years, you haven't changed after I catch you trying to break into my safe."
"You know what they say about old habits…," Devereaux said. "So, are you going to have your lovely wife arrest me?"
"Just get off my ship now and I'll forget you were ever here."
"Are you sure you don't want her arrested?" Emma asked, really wanting to slap the handcuffs on the smug pirate. Killian shook his head. He just wanted this bad memory from his past gone.
"Well, a girl knows when she's not wanted," Devereaux said. "See you around, Hook." With a coy wink at him, she scurried up the stairs and disappeared. He listened to every one of her footsteps as she crossed the deck above them, then descended the gangplank.
"You two must have some serious history," Emma sighed, finally relaxing a bit as she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets.
"Not a pleasant history," he replied, still visibly annoyed at the entire situation.
"Were you two…?" Emma wanted to ask if they'd been lovers, but he didn't let her finish the question.
"You know damned well that I was a pirate, not a monk. I have a lot of regrets from the years I spent in that life and she was definitely one of them."
"You've never mentioned her before so I know she didn't break your heart."
"No, we were never that close. She just can't be trusted."
Following behind him as he slowly made his way up the stairs to return topside, Emma's keen eye caught a glimpse of an object that seemed out of place. It was round, about three inches in diameter and had a shiny bronze case. It had been partially hidden by the shadows at the base of the steps, but she stooped to retrieve it, realizing it looked like a woman's mirrored compact.
The case was covered in a lovely filigree design that appeared to have been painstakingly engraved by hand and was likely several centuries old. As she emerged on the upper deck, she held it up into the sunlight to get a better view.
"Killian – any idea what this is?" she queried as she admired the intricate designs in the light. He turned around to see the object in her hand, but didn't recognize it.
"Never seen that before, Love."
"Wonder if your friend dropped it?" she wondered, noticing that it was hinged. "It looks like a really old mirrored compact." Her hunch proved correct as her thumbnail found the tiny button that released the latch. The compact unfolded to reveal two small mirrors, one on each side and one of which had a tiny chip missing.
"Not exactly Devereaux's style. Probably something she stole."
"Well, I'll hang on to it for her," Emma said as she snapped the compact closed and tucked it into a pocket of her jacket. "She can come and claim it if it's hers. I've got to get going though or I'm going to be late. Meet me at the station later?"
He nodded in reply, but she could tell that he was still distracted by Devereaux Sinclair's unexpected visit. His eyes were still scanning the vicinity, making sure that she was gone.
"I'll see you later," Emma stated, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before heading back ashore.
So much for their idyllic afternoon.
