Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 1: He's Not A Boy You Can Change
Nor should you want to
Emma knew it had to be at least 10 hours that they had been up there with the giant. She knew Mulan would cut it down. Mulan understood where she was coming from. She understood the importance of Hook not coming down if she didn't come with him. She understood how important it was that at least Mary Margaret got back to Storybrooke even if Emma couldn't. She knew Mulan would barely hesitate in doing her duty and cutting down the beanstalk. And yet, there it was. Of course, there was only one explanation then. Mary Margaret had somehow stopped her. Of course she did. Her mother was freaking Snow White. Emma had read the story book. She knew what Snow White had done in this land. She knew her long lost mother was more than capable of stopping the warrior. She had been hoping that Mulan would be resourceful enough to do it anyway. But right now, she was glad for her mother's strength, because tnow, she wasn't stuck up here with Captain Hook. They climbed down quickly, praying that Mulan didn't best Snow White they were still climbing down.
The beanstalk shook, and she grabbed a branch, almost losing her grip. She guessed Mulan had started the cutting. "Shall we jump the rest of the way, love?" Hook called to her. He had struck his hook into a branch.
She looked down. They still had a long way to go. "Think we'll make it?"
"I think your mother is going to have something to say about this, princess," he smirked.
She glared at him. "Don't class me princess."
"Isn't that what you are? The prophetic child of Prince Charming and Snow White," he continued to smirk at her. "If Regina's curse hadn't screwed it all up, you would have inherited this land someday, princess."
"But it did so I won't so don't call me princess," she glowered. But then she sighed. They might fall to their deaths right now, and she was arguing with him on a meaningless title? "Whatever, it doesn't matter right now. Let's get off this thing first and then I'll punch you in the face if you call me that again."
"I'd like to see you try, princess," he chuckled. He looked down again when she resumed climbing down.. "I think we should just jump. It's not too far down."
"Are you kidding we're more than half way up this thing," she called to him.
"Fine, can you lean back a bit then while you climb?" he said casually.
"Why?"
"I'm trying to see down your shirt." Again his tone was just as casual.
She glared up at him. He was so infuriating. She pulled her shirt up to make sure she was all covered up. "You're such a perv."
"I prefer the term womanizer," he called to her. "Makes me sound more manly, don't you think, love?"
"Don't call me love either."
"Not princess, not love. What shall I call you? Blondie?"
"Or Emma," she rolled her eyes. "Nevermind, let's just jump. I don't think I can stand another minute here with you."
"I don't know now. I'm kind of enjoying this too much," he smirked.
The beanstalk shook again, and they looked at each other. They both knew what they had to do. Clearly Mulan and Snow were still fighting over what to do, and if they didn't hurry, Mulan might just win. At the same time, they jumped. She was really hoping the ground here was softer than back home.
Surprisingly, she landed on her feet. Hook, unfortunately, also landed on his feet. When he smirked at her again, she pushed him down, rolling her eyes.
"Emma!" Snow ran to her, hugging her tight. "Oh thank God you're safe!" She broke away and smacked her lightly on the shoulder. "How could you tell Mulan to cut the beanstalk? What if you got stuck up there?"
"Then you could have found a way back," she winced under her mother's glare. She felt like a little girl again.
"You think I'd go back without you?" Snow smacked her again. "Never. We go back together."
"Sorry," she mumbled. It felt weird, having someone care so deeply about her, having someone watching out for her. She was so used to watching out for herself, as she had done all her life. And now here was her mother, someone she had thought her entire life had abandoned her only to find she had sent her away to protect her, was trying to protect her now too.
Mulan walked over to them with a visibly cut lip. Clearly, her mother had quite the right hook. "I am glad you made it back safely, Emma."
Snow glared at the woman. "No thanks to you."
"Mary Margaret, stop," Emma begged before turning to the warrior. "Thanks Mulan, and thank you for following my wishes." The woman simply nodded.
"Did you retrieve the compass?" Aurora asked.
"Oh," Emma dug it out of her pocket. "I completely forgot. Yes, I have it."
"What do we do now?" Snow asked as she took the compass in her hands to examine it. "Corra still has the ashes."
"And since none of you are magical," Hook stepped up beside her, "we need her to open the portal so we can go through. This compass will then guide us to your land."
"And I thought wrestling a giant to get the compass would be the difficult part," Emma grumbled.
Mulan looked up at the sky. "We should set up camp now, and resume the mission in the morning. It's going to get dark soon."
Everyone agreed and they went into the woods to set up camp. None of them thought it was a good idea to camp right near the beanstalk in case the giant changed his mind and came after them, and since Corra knew this was where they would be. So into the woods into they went, thoroughly exhausted and hungry.
"I'll take the first watch," Mulan said after they built a fire and ate wild rabbit that the pirate had caught. "You should all get some sleep."
"Wake me up when you get tired," Snow said, standing. "I'll take over."
"Or I could keep watch," Hook suggested. They all looked at him as if he were mental. "Just a suggestion." He smirked, and leaned back on his arms.
Emma chose a spot near the fire and settled down. She was exhausted. Almost being crushed alive by a giant and climbing a beanstalk really took a lot out of you. She wondered how Jack had done it and still had the strength to fight the giants. Then again, they had found his bones in the giant's castle. So maybe he hadn't fared too well in the agility and endurance department either.
"Emma?" Snow sat next to her. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, Mary Margaret," she promised, smiling at her mother.
Snow winced. "I wish you'd call me mother, or mom. Hell, I'd settle for mum too at this point."
This time it was Emma's turn to wince. "I'm sorry, it's just – my whole life I didn't have a mother. Well I did, but I thought you were dead or gone or had abandoned me. And then I met you, and neither of us knew who you were. You were just Mary Margaret. And then I find out you're my mom, and we're all from another realm, and everything just happened so quickly. I just – I need time to adjust, that's all. I'm so used to it just being me. And there's an us now, there's a family and I," she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a minute before looking back at her. "I just need time, okay?"
Snow White smiled sadly. "I understand, Emma. Trust me, it was a whirlwind for me too. I mean, I was living a whole other life for decades. As Mary Margaret, I didn't even know I had a daughter. But as Snow, I – I've always known, and I knew you would come back to me one day. I'm just sorry it took 28 years for you to find out how much your parents loved you."
Emma smiled, her expression just as sad as her mom's. "Me too."
"But we're together now, and we're going to stay together," Snow promised. "I'm not going to let anything separate us again."
Emma was pleased, though she did not say it. Though she had always told herself she was fine alone, she really wasn't. She had always felt abandoned. She had always felt like an orphan. And now, here she was, part of a family, with Prince freaking Charming, Snow White, and Henry. It felt odd to belong to such a group, not because they were supposed to be fairytales, but because they were a family. Still, to know she was no longer alone filled her with such joy that she had never known. She finally felt complete. "Can we separate to sleep?" she joked. "I'm exhausted."
"Oh right, sorry," Snow laughed, lying down. "I forgot you battled giants today."
"I wish I'd forget," she grumbled, closing her eyes.
"Oh trust me, Emma," she could hear the smile in Snow's voice even without looking at her. "You won't be wishng to forget when you get to tell the story to Henry."
She smiled. Henry. That was the reason she would fight a hundred giants and win. Because she needed to get back to him. Because she needed to get back to her family. It was these thoughts that filled her head until finally she succumbed to the pull of slumber.
It was still dark when she awoke. It had been a bad dream that had pulled her from her sleep. She had dreamt of Corra getting her hands on Henry, calling him her grandson, trying to mold him to evil. And somehow, in the dream, she had succeeded. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, leaning on her knees. No, that would never happen. Henry was too strong, too good. And Emma was going to get back to him, she would protect him.
Her mother was still sleeping next to her, so she knew she must not have slept long. She sat up, and walked to the fire, sitting down next to a watchful Mulan. "Is everything alright?" the warrior asked.
"Bad dreams," Emma sighed. Everything in the dream had seemed off, and demented. Except for one thing: Hook was beside her, and they were rather – comfortable with each other. That had seemed normal in the dream, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. What the hell was that? She didn't like the man. Hell, she couldn't stand him. And yet, she was dreaming of him as her – significant other? What was wrong with her? "How long was I asleep?"
"A few hours."
"Okay well since I'm up anyway, there's no point in waking up Mar—my mother. I'll take over. You can sleep if you want."
"Are you sure?" Mulan asked warily.
But Emma could see how tired the woman looked. She wondered when the last time was that Mulan had slept peacefully. She always seemed on edge, always ready for battle. "Yes," she smiled. "Get some rest, I'm sure you'll need it tomorrow."
Mulan nodded and went off to sleep. Emma sighed and stared at the fire, trying to push the nightmare out of her head.
"You must not have dreamt of me then," Hook sat down across from her.
Great, just what she needed. Why the hell wasn't he asleep? And why had he waited until Mulan left to make it evident that he was awake. It was like he lived only to irritate her. "Actually, in the dream, I was forced to have to deal with you forever," she rolled her eyes at him.
"If it was a bad dream then, we must not have been naked," he smirked.
"Do you always have to be such a pig?" she asked, grateful the heat of the fire had already brought color to her cheeks. He wouldn't be able to tell how flushed that statement had made her. After all, he was a very good looking man. And she was human. It wasn't like she could just ignore it. Not when being with him had felt so right in the dream.
"I'm a pirate, love," he winked. "It's in the job description."
"Why are you even up right now?"
"Bad dreams," he said vaguely. He was absentmindedly rubbing his forearm. She remembered the tattoo that was there. Of course, Milah. He still loved her, of course. Otherwise why would he be so hell bent on revenge against the man that had taken her away from him?
She didn't respond. He hadn't left any room for conversation after that. Besides, what could she say? She just looked back at the fire, silently wishing to reunite with Henry soon.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked suddenly.
"It's a free country," she shrugged. "Er at least I think it is."
He smirked slightly for only a moment. "Would you have left me there?" he asked quietly. "At the giant's castle. Would you have left me to die?"
"He was going to free you in 10 hours," she countered. "You wouldn't have died. I just needed a head start."
"That sounds like a yes."
"I'm sorry."
He just nodded, still looking at her. Despite her skills, she could not read his expression. "After all I did for you? After I got you there? You would have left me behind? You would have abandoned me? Like you were abandoned as a child?" his tone was not angry. Instead, it was curious, simply curious.
She winced. That was the reason she had freed him. Because she knew what abandonment felt like, because she knew what being left behind felt like. She had already done it to Henry once, when she gave him up. She couldn't do it again, not even to Captain Hook. Still, she would have, if that was what she had to do. Sure, something had changed up there. She had seen his sincerity in helping her. But Henry was too important. She couldn't risk being wrong about him, not like she had done with Neal. She could not trust like that again, not that easily. "What if it had been the other way around? What if Milah was in Storybrooke and the only way to protect her was to get back there as soon as possible? And you met me, a pirate, who, no offense, but had the cards stacked against me already because of my cartoon counterpart who had tried to trick you once already? Who was working with the one woman that can never be allowed back to that land? What would you do?"
He thought about it for a long time, his eyes never leaving hers. She too could not look away. Finally, he spoke. "I would have done the same."
"Emma?" Snow awoke. "What are you doing up?"
"I took over watch for Mulan."
"Why didn't you wake me?" Snow sat up and moved closer to the fire.
"I couldn't sleep," Emma said softly, knowing her mother would now ask her a million questions.
And of course, Snow White did not disappoint. "Why? Is everything okay? Did something happen? You should have woken me. I would have sat with you."
"I'm fine, Mary Margaret," Emma promised. She yawned involuntarily. It seemed sleep would come to her again.
"Sleep," her mother prompted. "I'll take over watch now."
"Yeah I think I'll try to go back to bed," Emma stood.
"Shall I join you?" Hook smirked at her. "Keep you warm and cozy?"
Emma was about to retort, but she saw her mother's look. Snow White was glaring at the pirate. Which made sense, of course. After all, she was her mother.
"Just joking, love," Hook chuckled, seeing the look as well. "But I think I'll turn in as well."
Emma wasn't sure if she should laugh or not. Captain Hook being shamed by Snow White. Now that was a sight to see. She lay back down, staring up at the sky. It was so much more clear here than back home, even with the trees overhead. She guessed it was because pollution hadn't ruined this world. She stared at the stars, wondering if she'd wake to find her mother had killed the pirate. She didn't want to admit it, but a small part of her was really hoping not.
xxXLoneWolfXxx: sooo excited! They're definitely gonna meet again! Can't wait to see what he does about that!
aslanbrooke: hmm interesting correlation. It definitely seems similar. I think seeing Hook again might be similar for Emma as it was with Jack and Elizabeth where she's going to be eaten away by the guilt and wanting to make sure he's okay and all that because she left him. As for Aurora and Henry, I definitely think there's a connection there. I personally think they saw each other in their dreams which could lead to a bunch of possibilities (one of which I shall be exploring in this fic * spoiler alert* :])
New update! I got it out faster than I expected cause class was boring lol BUT WHAT DID YOU THINK? Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! They made me smile :D LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER! I have the next 6 chapters planned out already and I'm excited for them :) EXPECT CRAZINESS! Reviews make me smile ;) Much loveee bye x3
