It had taken no small amount of lying for Swan to convince Bae that he and Henry should come to Maine with her, ostensibly for a case. It didn't help that it meant Henry would miss a significant amount of school on almost no notice, and when she finally told Bae that yes, it was about her parents, and yes, she had seen that weirdo with the leather coat again even though she said she wouldn't, he was extremely resistant. However, she finally put her foot down, insisting that it was important that they find her parents; she played the "you signed up for this when you married me" card, and once she got Henry on her side, Bae caved.
Bae set out with Henry early the next day with a map that Swan had carefully annotated for them, in a car that Swan had borrowed long-term from an old client of hers. After they'd departed, Hook arrived, his belongings, his leathers, and some of Bae's old clothes neatly packed in this leather satchel and a spare suitcase Swan had given him. He sat quietly at her kitchen table as she packed her own suitcase.
She sighed. "You know, we did have a good life here." She folded a pair of canvas pants and shoved them in her luggage. "And Neal and Henry still believe it's real."
"But it's not," he reminded her. He absent-mindedly checked his satchel for his hook.
"I know," she said. She packed a shirt. "You know, I always wondered what it would have been like if Neal and I had stayed together."
"Was it what you had dreamt of?" He wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"No," she said. "What's funny is that Regina's memories were all really good. I remembered years of being happily married to Neal. But over the past year, we'd been fighting a lot more."
"I should come clean," he interrupted. "I overheard your conversation the day I came to find you. I know he told you not to see me."
"You also heard the phone conversation, when he was angry with me for not being home." And she'd told him how difficult it had been to convince Bae to come to Storybrooke; in a single week, that was a lot of fighting.
"Is he always so controlling?"
"Not controlling, exactly." She placed a pair of leather boots in her second suitcase. "Patronizing. He acts like he knows better than I do about just about anything. It's irritating, since he's an architect—or I guess, he thinks he is, and I thought he was—and I've always felt like as a bail bondsperson, I have more real-world expertise."
"That doesn't make for the best relationship, always thinking you know best," Hook admitted. "Everyone has something they can learn from the other person."
"Oh yeah?"
"Like one person can teach the other person to trust. Or one person can teach the other person to let go of revenge."
She froze while packing a pair of socks. "Hook," she scolded.
"You seemed to want examples, love," he pointed out. "And I was speaking hypothetically."
"Sure," she said sarcastically, but she grinned a little. She packed the socks. "I didn't feel like Neal trusted me, or that I trusted him."
"That would put a damper on your relationship."
"I think I'm all set, if you want to grab your bags."
They walked down to the yellow vehicle without speaking; Swan looked as if she might shed a tear or two as she locked the door of the apartment, but she seemed to shake away her sadness as they got settled into the car. "I hope everyone has their memories this time. You didn't say if they did or not."
"I don't know," he admitted. "I got a message by bird, telling me that a new curse was coming, your parents needed you, and that I needed to find you and bring you to Storybrooke."
"At least I have no trouble believing this time," she said. "Last time, I didn't until Regina poisoned Henry. True Love's Kiss didn't work till I believed, and I didn't believe until I couldn't deny any longer that magic existed." She buckled her seatbelt, and Hook mirrored her actions.
"Are you ready?" she asked, smiling nervously.
He thought back to that night in the apartment, when he had kissed her for the first time (since Neverland). He thought about the evidence she'd been faced with: the apartment, his knowledge of her life, Bae's mail and his old job. He thought about when the memories began flooding back, and when they'd all clicked for good.
"I'm ready," he said, smiling back. She turned the key in the ignition.
Thank you all SO much for sticking with this story! It was my first OUaT story, and I really enjoyed writing it.
I know a lot of folks have been following, and I'd love to know what you thought of the story. I'm also really grateful for the people who've been reviewing the whole time; it always makes my day to hear from you!
Thanks again for reading!
I am no longer posting stories to FFnet. For new stories, check out my page on AO3 (same username, phiralovesloki; there's a link in my profile as well).
