The phone rang, interrupting the continuous, almost hypnotic sound of the copier in the background. Ariel reached for the button that would connect line 3 to her headset. "Good afternoon, Rider and Baba Law Firm," she greeted brightly. "How can I help you?" Ariel listened for a moment. She opened up the calendar on her computer and scanned it. "Mmm-hmm. Mr. Rider has an opening next week on Tuesday at eleven. Will that work for you?" She paused, listening. "Excellent! We'll see you then!" Ariel disconnected the call and reached for her iced tea, sitting on a coaster in the corner of her overloaded "L" desk.
"I didn't know you worked here," Eric's familiar voice said.
She started, dropping her tea. It hit the desk, cheap plastic lid cracking away from the styrofoam cup, spilling its contents everywhere. Ariel gasped in horror. "Oh no!" she moaned, frantically trying to move the piles of legal briefs away from the spreading mess. "Oh no!" She picked up the tea and set it upright again before it could make the problem worse.
"Let me help," he said apologetically, reaching for some of the folders on her desk.
"No!" she barked. "I need to keep track of where everything goes! I can't afford to mix up research or lose files." She moved another stack of briefs. "Grab some paper towels from the bathroom if you want to help. Around the corner, first door to the left." Ariel didn't look up to see if he complied, but concentrated on shifting some of her case research to a new spot on her desk.
Strong, weathered hands slid into her line of vision several moments later, placing a layer of rough brown paper towel over the spill. The liquid soaked into the towel reluctantly, and Eric pressed against it, forcing it to absorb more. Ariel swallowed, trying to ignore the movement of his hands, the play of his fingers as he traded one soaked paper towel out for a fresh one, tossing the wet one in the garbage can next to her desk.
"So you're a...secretary?" he asked tentatively, fumbling over the last word as if it were unfamiliar. Which, Ariel realized after a moment, it probably was, if he hadn't been brought over in the curse like she had been. But clearly he had picked up the word somewhere, and Ariel found herself wondering from where or whom.
"Paralegal," she answered shortly.
She could tell from the expression on his face that he had not the faintest idea what a paralegal was, much less what one did. He said nothing, however, but swiped the second towel across her desk in lazy circles instead, absorbing the last remnants of the moisture.
"What are you doing here, Eric?" she finally asked, after he threw the second paper towel away, and she'd finished reorganizing all the documents on her desk again.
Blue eyes watched her with a hint of sadness. Ariel's insides shriveled with shame for how she had been treating him, even if it was for his own good. Eric smiled faintly. The joy that usually radiated from his smiles was nowhere to be found. "Attending to a few legalities, I assure you." Ariel flushed at the implication that she might think he was stalking her. "Coming back from the dead is complicated, you know. Just ask Jones."
She blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
Eric frowned. "Jones." He sighed when she continued to stare at him. "Hook?" he uttered through clenched teeth, looking as if he had bitten into something rather sour. He continued, "The Swan woman, Emma, she brought him back to life after he died in Neverland."
"The rumors are true?"
A short nod. "Witnessed his death for myself." Grief flickered in his eyes. Ariel puzzled over this reaction. How close were he and the pirate, really? That there was a bond of some kind was certain from the way he'd spat out the nickname "Hook" with such disgust. There was loyalty between them, obviously, but why? How had Eric become entangled with a pirate, especially one with a reputation like Hook? Ariel shivered. If they were friends-and assuming she could still read Eric as accurately as she used to, they were-what did that mean? Were the rumors true about Eric turning to piracy?
She looked him up and down. He still looked like the sea-faring prince she'd known. Perhaps a bit scruffier, with the heavy stubble on his chin and cheeks, and the hair the flopped into his eyes now instead of being neatly trimmed and combed back, but nothing that definitively screamed "pirate" to her. He still felt like the old Eric to her, although she sensed a heaviness of spirit, a gravity to him that hadn't been there before. He felt older, somehow. Wiser? What exactly had happened to him since she'd last seen him?
She couldn't bring herself to ask. Ariel knew she didn't deserve to know anyway. Didn't have one right to ask that. And it was better that she didn't. It would only raise hopes in him.
"I just thought he had been injured," she admitted, thinking of the pirate's still form being carried off the ship when it had arrived back from Neverland.
"Not after Emma brought him back with her magic," he said with a fond smile. "Healed all his injuries in the process. Whale just kept him at the hospital for a while for observation. And...well...there have been complications, as I alluded to."
Jealousy flickered to life inside of Ariel at the first genuine smile to grace Eric's face, of the affection in his voice as he spoke of Emma Swan. Some devotion, she thought sardonically, transferring his affection so easily. A small voice nagged that she was being unfair to him, that she couldn't blame him for moving on when she had so clearly demonstrated that she wasn't willing to pursue a relationship any longer. Disturbed by her own thoughts, she asked in a clipped voice, "Do you have an appointment?"
Didn't she want him to move on? She had spent weeks avoiding him to that end, because she couldn't give him the sort of life he wanted and deserved. Ariel didn't have any right in the world to feel jealous of this other woman that Eric seemed so very taken with.
Shouldn't have...but did.
Irritated with herself, she made a pretense of working while she waited for Eric's answer.
"I had one this morning, but Grimsby called to cancel it. There was...a situation at the docks this morning." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, blue eyes taking on a preoccupied look, worry lines etching themselves into his forehead. "Anyway," he shook himself, shifting his gaze toward her again, "I thought I would drop by and try to reschedule while I was in the area."
In the area? she thought. What exactly brought him to this part of Storybrooke? It wasn't near any of the popular venues, like Granny's, or the Rabbit Hole, nor was it near anyplace all that useful, such as the Dark Star Pharmacy. Rider and Baba was situated at the edge of Storybrooke's commercial center, nearer to housing than anything else.
Ariel pulled up the calendar on her computer again. "I can't get you in until end of next week, on Friday."
"That's fine. I'll be able to give Jones more notice this time."
She arched a brow at him. "I have a three o'clock with Mr. Rider or a four-thirty with Mr. Baba. All the other more desirable days and time slots are filled up already."
"Three o'clock, I suppose," he told her after a moment.
She typed Eric's appointment into the calendar. "There. You're all set," she told him, keeping her gaze centered on the computer screen in front of her.
"Thank you." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, jamming his hands in his trouser pockets. "Ariel..."
She braced herself for the inevitable. The last place she wanted to discuss their failed relationship was in the lobby of the law firm while she was at work. Not that she wanted to talk to him at all. And he had moved on anyway, hadn't he? Or he was beginning to, at the very least.
He expelled a loud sigh. "Friday, then," he agreed with a resigned expression. "Bye."
Ariel stretched her neck, peering over the screen of her computer as he left the office, door shutting behind him with a loud clang of bells. She blinked several times, trying to process what had just happened. Or rather, what had not.
He really had moved on. Eric had finally given up on her, on their love. Stopped pursuing a romantic relationship with her. It was what she had encouraged, even pushed him toward for weeks. But now that it had happened, now that she had succeeded in driving him away, Ariel found that she felt none of the relief she had expected. Emptiness overwhelmed her instead, and her eyes stung with unshed tears. Whom had she been kidding? Driving Eric away, even if it was for his own good, didn't mean she would suddenly stop loving him. Ariel would always love him; she knew it in her heart of hearts, in the depths of her soul.
But that didn't mean that it wasn't more bitter than the last dregs in a strong up of coffee to watch him walk away, just the same.
