Here I am again! thank you so much for the reviews, it made me so happy that you liked the first chapter... Hope you like this one too! I'm so curious about tonight's episode (I'll watch it tomorrow)... Le's hope to see something with these two ;)
Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae
Chapter 2.
Altea Gold didn't take long to be born and paradoxically among the first to know there were Right them two: the pirate and the queen. Maybe that "let me know" that she had said to Charming more to the occasion than for a real interest, had been taken too much seriously by the prince that after about a hour and a half didn't hesitate to call her again to let her know the happy news. Hook, comfortably seated on the sofa in her living room with a glass of the wonderful apple rum in the hand, remained in silence for a while and then slowly made an amused face finding out the name of the newborn: Altea's meaning was "the one that heals", ironic to be the daughter of the Dark One, so ironic that when he let her notice the etymology, she chuckled too.
And it was with that last laugh and that last toast in honor of the little Gold, that Regina left the room with the precise intent to put away the unused dishes and wash the few where the unexpected dinner for two had been served. But right when she was about to push the button of the dishwasher, a deafening noise reached her ears, immediately followed by a yell of terror.
"Hook?" she asked worried, looking out onto the living room.
It was enough to link the vision of the pure lost expression on the captain's face and the one of the television on very high volume to change anyway the worry in irresistible amusement.
"You get scared by a bit of technology, really?" she teased him with a smirk, looking at him from the door.
"Don't stand still, come and help me, love!" he shouted to dominate the noise, moving his look between her and the devilish object in front of the sofa "What Do I have to do?" asked then, beginning to push some buttons of the TV remote at random.
Different channels and functions alternated on the screen but the volume seemed to remain constantly on the highest level. It seemed that Hook hadn't got used yet to that world's things and that, as his agitation suggested, they potentially scared him more than magic.
"This is it" the woman finally said, deciding to intervene, taking the TV remote from his hand and showing him the right button.
While the sounds dimed, Hook's expression visibly relaxed and the usual arrogant face became to show up again.
"It's all over, relax" she reassured him, with a clearly mocking tone in a new provocation.
"Not a word" he interrupted her giving her a nasty look, looking back then to the television, getting captured this time not by the sound but by the image "Is that a ship?" asked hinting at the screen where a great number of people of different social levels were getting on board on a huge luxurious ship.
"Oh no" Regina murmured recognizing immediately the scene and looking up to the sky clearly annoyed.
"What?" the man asked curios of that reaction looking between the woman flash and bone near to him and the elegant redhead protagonist of the framing.
"It's the film Titanic… It's about a tragic love story and the background is a real happening: the sinking of a transatlantic in 1912" she explained with a bored tone that yet denied the evident interest proved by the amount of information she knew about the topic.
"I never heard about it…" Hook answered thoughtfully "So, why don't we watch this… film?" proposed then underling the word that sounded still partly unknown to his ears, even after the six months he had spent in Storybrooke.
"You can forget it, I have watched it already five times at least!" the woman refused shaking energetically the head.
"That only proves that you like it, love"
"Seroiusly, it lasts more that three hours"
"It's little time more than three hours for who had lived more than three centuries, don't you think so, love?"
The confident smile on the captain's face, while he retorted to the new attempt that she had made to dissuade him from the idea of watching Titanic, let only intend how much any other one could only be a failure.
"Okay, that's fine, let's watch this film" she finally agreed "But only if you stop calling me love" added then staring seriously at him.
The captain feigned to think about it and then slowly nodded "Fine… Love"
Regina looked up to the sky to that predictable answer, but with a resigned sigh seated anyway next to him on the sofa.
"So… Who's the one that dies?" he asked her interrupting the short silence, broken only by the voices from the television.
"Excuse me?" she said turning slightly the head to him with a confused expression.
"Yes, you have talked about a tragic love story… So, who's the one that dies in the end: the sexy redhead or the idiot?" he explained alluding with the second epithet to a young version of Leonardo di Caprio.
"If you want to know, you'll have to watch it…"
With that simple answer, accompanied by a spiteful smile, the two, sitting near (maybe too much) to each other, came back to dive in Jack and Rose's tragic love story. Smiles, nasty looks, comments and questions alternated until the principal scene of the film; the attempt of runaway of the protagonists, the events of the other characters, the music of the orchestra and the vision of the impressive end of a so impressive ship: the special effects and the pathos that the intense event could create were the signs of a masterpiece of direction, that to Hook's eyes must have appeared even more fantastic. And yet it was Regina's expression that, despite the first oppositions, was showing now more emotion.
"Are tears what I see?" he asked in fact in her ear noticing her watery eyes, finally getting back at her mockery about his fear of the television.
"Yes, of boredom" she quickly answered, trying to appear indifferent, but continuing to stare at the screen.
"I say that she could have made some space to the idiot too… In two they could stand" commented again the guest, annoyed by Jack's death and especially situation in which it happened.
"He saved the woman he loved" Regina exclaimed glancing at him "And this way he became a hero" added while the scene was showing now how Rose with the whistle between her lips was trying to call the attention of the lifeboats.
"This is exactly our problems… Eroism doesn't coincide with intelligence…" he pointed out ironically.
"Yes, the idiots are heroes"
"No, I'd rather say that the heroes are idiots"
Regina chuckled at that corrdction and turned compoletely to him, but when she found Hook's face very close to her and his blue eyes fixed in her dark ones, she felt her smile slowly fading. Before she could do something or even stop a moment to realize what was happening, the captain placed his lips upon hers with a passion that took the woman by surprise, but not for too long since a few moments later she was already returning that famelic kiss. His only hand was soon in her hair, attiring her more closer while, continuing to kiss her, he made her stand down on the sofa, until he found himself completely on her.
When they separated for mere need of oxygen, they remained to stare at each other in silence for a while: they wanted and desired each other and there was no need to say it at loud since their eyes had already made love a lot of times. They had played with fire and they never realized that and now they were going to burn together. Regina closed her eyes, trying to escape her own desire hat she saw reflected in the captain's eyes and for a moment she thought that maybe it was time to stop it, but when she opened them again that moment was gone along with that thought and she found herself saying right the only thing her wisdom was trying to prevent her to say.
"Stay here tonight"