A/N: Okay readers. Not sure what happened when I uploaded these two chapters yesterday, but they are all shiny and new now. Happy reading!
There are a few things you should definitely know before reading this chapter:
1. I got tired of writing Captain over and over so I'm talking about Captain Renard when I say Sean also. That's his first name.
2. I think this chapter is probably like intercourse. The first time isn't all you think it is but it gets better next time. (I think. Weird analogy, because I still have my V card. Anywho...) That's it. Hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think. (Please?)
"What does one wear to climb a beanstalk to gain a compass and possibly die in the act?" Felicity asked in the hall leading to their room.
"I feel like that's a trick question. A sweater vest?" Detective Lance responded. He didn't like seeing Felicity so unnerved. She was always so confident and sure of herself when they spoke. They weren't too close, but there's a bond formed by brothers in arms who've served together. Ever since they shut down Merlyn's earthquake device he'd felt the weight of that bond.
"Don't be silly. It isn't winter on my chest and summer on my arms" she joked. Grateful that he'd cut some of the tension she felt. Heights were the worst possible scenario for her. And what's worse? Oliver won't be there to save her on a zip line. Diggle would never let her be harmed. She trusted him with her life but she had a mild case of the shakes anyway.
"Wear something that you can move around in. Nothing constricting. Try to get some shorts and a t-shirt." Oliver piped up making his way into the room.
"Where are you even supposed to get more clothes?" The detective asked.
"Probably...ah-ha. In the dresser" Felicity fist pumped as she opened the first drawer and found it full to the brim. "Okay. Everyone without lady parts needs to leave now"
As soon as all four of them are back in the room and close the door Nick launches his feet toward the bed. The move is impressive and has him across the floor in one swift movement. Immediately he's ripping open the book looking for any passages about Emma.
"What're you doing?" Captain Renard asks bewildering look falling to the large, leatherbound book currently residing in Nick's hands. "Don't we have to talk about a plan of action here?"
"That's exactly what I'm doing" he grunts frustrated turning page after page.
"What is that? A fairytale book?"
"Yeah, it's an origin book for the storybook characters out there. Emma's part of that group..." Monroe said filling in the Captain. He'd been out for their earlier conversation. 'Where had he been?' Monroe thought to himself.
"So, if it has their lives in it, then it should have Emma's trip to the beanstalk. Excellent. We'll know exactly what she did and we can do the same"
"That's the plan," he turns more pages. Grunting the whole time he adds, "if I can ever find the passage!" He's about ready to throw the book across the room when Rosalee senses his anguish, moving in to grab the boom from his hand.
"How about I take over? Okay." She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, offering a small smile of the same sort. Then her attention was turned back to the book and she was both hastily and calmly surveying each page. (If that was possible) "So, I'm definitely reading this all the way through when I have time. It looks really good"
Monroe who was reading over her shoulder in an effort to help added, "Yeah. And this guy Neil looks like a total tool bag. Oh man, he sent Emma to jail! While she was pregnant with his kid!" He turned to Nick with a shocked face.
"Bastard..." Nick muttered trying to pull it together. Obviously Emma must have trust issues, he would after something like that. Juliette was the one who lied to keep him out of jail when he was hopped up on Zombie juice. What would he do if she had condemned him to that?
Trust. That was a value that he didn't have in spades. The Captain was his teammate now. They had to rely on each other to keep safe, but it wasn't too long ago that the Captain was an unknown.
He'd lied to Nick for a long time about what he was. Given that it isn't easy for Wesen to come out, but he still isn't sure if Captain Renard can be trusted at all. Not to mention that he had been digging behind Nick's back to find Aunt Marie's trailer and subsequently the key inside. The key. After the incident outside the trailer when the two brawled it out he'd taken to wearing the key around his neck at all times. He couldn't risk anything happening to it. Subconsciously he rubbed the spot through his shirt collar where he knew the map key to be. 'I have to be extra careful not to lose that key. Especially with Royals here'
"Ahh! Here it is. Okay, so Emma was transported with Snow White, her mother, into the Enchanted Forest through a portal in the Mad Hatter's hat...huh" Rosalee began.
"Where they met Mulan and Aurora...this is sounding like a cliché Disney movie. Next they went to find the magic compass at the top and ohh..." Monroe trailed off.
"What? What is it?" The Captain asked.
"I guess this is where she met Hook" Monroe said. "And they weren't fast friends"
"She tied him at knife point to a tree and left him there" Rosalee added.
Pan- Okay contestants, ladies first. Team Arrow you're up. (Pan gave a wave of his hand and their surrounding turned to that of the Enchanted Forest. Everyone took in the scene. There were enormous trees growing up toward the Heavens. A light breeze was blowing through them as they swayed on the spot lazily. Up ahead lay the giant beanstalk enveloping a large portion of land. Felicity glanced up taking it all in. She nearly swallowed her own tongue in anticipation and worry) Don't forget; the team with the best time will live to fight another day.
(Everyone except Felicity and Diggle disappeared. Felicity looked around the scene wondering where the others had gone)
"Crap. Where'd everyone else go?" She asked glancing over to her partner.
He shrugged in reply before adding, "don't know. You'd think the sickos wanted to watch"
"I keep hoping Ashton Kutcher will jump out of a bush screaming that we've been punk'd" she said as they reached the beanstalk. She lifted her foot to try and gain some traction. Her hands were half-heartedly raised in a manner to grab hold of something to pull herself up, but she slid back down. After a moment of calculating she looked next to her at Diggle staring up the stalk silently thinking. "For both of our reputations I hope that there aren't any cameras hidden out here. Sorry, you got stuck with me"
He paused his assessment of the stalk to look back at her. He didn't like the way that Felicity was always talking herself down when she was nervous. He adopted a small smirk for the woman he's come to know and care for like a younger sister. "Better you than Oliver. He's such a control freak" they both gave a small chuckle before he added, "Don't worry. I've got your back" then he held out his pinkie for her. She smiled over to him and interlocked their little fingers, instantly calming her.
After their first few missions together he had come to notice the signs of an anxious Felicity Smoak. One night after Oliver had gone out Dig was set to leave a little after him for backup. Felicity had her eyes nervously affixed to the screen looking through it, maybe to find the answers she needed. Based on the scrunch of her nose as she stared the queries were going unanswered. Diggle walked up to her and turned her chair around.
"Spill it. What has you so worried?"
"I'm just...I'm invested now. It worries me when you both go out that door. I really, really want you to walk back through it" she said while examining her hands wringing in her lap.
Diggle looked softly down at her. He was against Felicity joining from the very beginning. She wasn't built for this kind of thing. It was selfish of Oliver to ask such a giant sacrifice of her. He lifted her head with a finger under her chin. Looking directly into her eyes he stuck his pinkie out for her like he did for his nephew when he was worried. "I promise to do my best to bring us both back. I pinkie promise"
Felicity tore her gaze from his own to his hand next to her. She smiled at him and locked their pinkies together. "I'm holding you to it"
Diggle was pulled back to now after ruminating by Felicity asking, "Alright McGuiver. What's the plan here?"
"I guess we climb" the two climb up for what seems like eternity. However, half way up Felicity went against her mantra, "don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down"
She looked down.
"Oh, god! Dig. Okay. I'm fine. Definitely won't plummet to my death..."
"Why don't you hum something? Or you could sing. I know that calms you down in the foundry" he said in a mixture of hopefulness toward her and discomfort for himself as he tried to grip a vine tightly.
"Summer lovin', had me a blast. Summer lovin' happened so fast" she began.
"Met a girl crazy for me..." Diggle added to her surprise. She went with it though and was extremely grateful.
"Met a boy, cute as can be" then they sang together, "Summer days drifting away to oh-oh those summer nights" they continued like that until they got to the top.
At the very top they stood breathing heavily for a minute before she flung herself at Dig. The latter caught her, lifting her weight and spinning her around. "I love you Danny Zuko!"
"Back at you Sandy! Now let's beat these chumps" he said as he put her down. Suddenly there was an earth shaking movement. Both were trying to stay straight up.
"Shit! They're the fairy tale group! There's a Giant in this story!"
Pan waved his hands and everyone was transported to what appeared to be a movie theater. There were two screens side by side. "So I lied. They'll both be battling at the same time. After all can't have one team forming a strategy from the second team's failures" Nick and Captain Renard appeared on one screen at the base of the beanstalk at the same time that Felicity and Dig were on the other screen. There was a massive clock timer in the middle of the two screens. Everyone was watching the challenge happen simultaneously. They could see as well as hear everything that was going on.
Oliver and Detective Lance had their eyes glued to Felicity and Dig's screen. Rosalee and Monroe likewise couldn't look away from Nick. The rest were torn. Watching everyone and no one.
Emma felt bad that they had to go through what she did. But even if they were charged with the same task it wasn't a fair challenge. She had been with someone she didn't trust. Someone she barely knew. And when she had finished with him, she tied him up to leave him behind on that beanstalk. Looking back she knew that she did what she had to do. She couldn't trust Hook then as she did now. But watching them made her relive the memories making her feel guilty for leaving him there.
As if he was reading her mind Hook looked to her with a small smile. She hadn't realized that she was staring at him until that moment when he turned his head toward hers. Actually she was frowning at him. "Hook, I..." she began in a low voice. He leaned toward her stopping close enough that she could feel his breath on her skin but he could still see her eyes.
"You did what you had to, I respect that. I've met Henry. If he was my son I'd have left you up there as well" he was trying to make her feel better for a wrong that she committed against him. She wasn't sure how she felt about the one handed pirate but she did know that ever since he turned his ship around to come back to Storybrooke, had come back for her, he had rapidly been gaining her favor. With his stupid beautiful eyes, stupid gorgeous smile that felt like the sun with its warmth only for her eyes, his unending loyalty, ingenious resourcefulness...oh crap.
Nick and the Captain were set at the base of the beanstalk. Both had paranoid, cautious demeanors causing them to glance around constantly. With trepidation they began to climb up the beanstalk.
"So, have we decided what to do about the giant at the top?" Captain asked as they made their way up the massive stalk.
"Not really. It's not like we have any sleeping powder"
"That's true. But maybe my full woge will trip him up long enough to take him down together"
"Yeah. Let's try that. Only if it's necessary, though. I want to try and stay under the radar though" Nick said as he pulled his leg over the top. They were in the middle of an enormous room. Thanks to their studying they knew exactly where the compass was when Emma had defeated the giant. He had the compass on him. "I just remembered that he might have the compass on him. Maybe we should just knock him out first and then search for it?" Hopefully they can knock him out to get it when they take him out. They don't want to hurt him, but Nick doesn't think that they can convince him that they're friendly. Especially not with Captain Renard as his partner. The guy is anything but friendly.
They quietly make their way around the room. Nick hops onto a table leg, shimmying his way up. At the surface of the table he nods to Sean still on the floor. Sean goes full woge into his half Zauberbiest form.
Sean jumps around making a lot of noise in order to draw out the Giant.
Nick hides on the table and his heart beat slows down. All of his senses become sharper as noises sound between heartbeats. Footfalls are heard coming down the hall. The ground is moving slowly. His breathes are deeper and longer in between. He seizes the opportunity once the Giant is in his sights. Life becomes a blur. Suddenly he is everywhere all at once and the giant can't reach him in time.
With a thud Nick is rolling across the floor.
"What?" He looks around at the scene holding his head in his hand. Slowly he pushes himself up. As he stumbles a bit Sean lunges forward wrapping an arm around Nick's middle to steady him. "What happened?"
"I was going to ask you that. You were all over him. I thought you were possessed for a minute there" taking his arm back, Sean stepped away from Nick as soon as he was sure that Nick could stand on his own. "Let's get this over with before they do"
"Crap. Okay, okay...plan. Think of a plan!" She was murmuring to herself. They definitely couldn't fight him. That was out of the question. She wasn't strong enough by any means to even attempt a takedown. Maybe they could talk to him and explain what was going on? Was this real or was it just a bloodthirsty vision made from psychos who kidnapped them to make them fight each other.
"Okay. Plan. We're going to reason with him. That's the only option" she said developing a more casual stance than the defensive one that she had adopted at first.
Diggle just looked incredulous at her. "What? It's a giant. He'll probably want to eat us"
"Really?" She shot her own bitchface at him before adding, "Do you think you and me" she gestured between them, "could take down a giant? Maybe if you were with Oliver or even Detective Lance that could possibly happen. But there is no way that I could be of any help taking him down. So dial down the bravado and let's table the violence as plan b"
Just as she finished speaking the giant stomped around the corner into view. Diggle had to stop himself from reciting the speech. This giant may actually grind his bones to make bread.
"What are you doing here!?" He bellowed deep in his throat.
"Hey there." Felicity said with a little wave. "How's it going?" After a pregnant pause she nervously swallowed around the lump in her throat. "Okay, not too chatty are you? We're just here for the compass? Do you have one of those? I'm not really even sure what it looks like to be honest. I just really need it so that my friends don't have to be sent to purgatory because that sounds really bad. Have you heard of purgatory? Well it's not a nice place and if we don't get the compass then they'll have to do something else crazy and then they might fail that and if they fail that then their stuck in purgatory!" Her eyes closed as she took a deep calming breath. "So...can we please have the compass?"
Both Diggle and the giant were staring at Felicity as though she had two heads.
"So, you don't want to just...take it?" He asked the pair in his living room.
"That would be rude. I don't steal things...unless you stole from me first. Kind of like Robin Hood"
"Is she serious?" Looking to Diggle now, he was visibly relaxed more as he stood before them.
"I've known her a long time now. She doesn't get more serious. She even does archery, so that's pretty accurate. We really only need the compass"
The giant stood contemplating for a minute before he nodded his head. A knee came down to the left of Felicity. "I'm Tiny" he said by way of name. "I know, ironic. I'm the smallest in my family. I used to be anyway. Now I'm the only person in my family...oh, right" sadly staring at his hands he remembered himself, reaching inside his tunic pocket. He pulled out a small compass and handed it off to them.
Felicity gingerly grabbed it from his hands. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this helps us" they were about to head back down when Felicity turned once again to Tiny. "I'm so sorry to hear that about your family. Things will get better with time" She whispered "I'm the last in mine as well".
She and Diggle made quick work back down the beanstalk. Just as they stepped foot onto solid ground a burst of smoke surrounded them. The next thing that they knew they were in a giant movie theater. Everyone was staring at them. Glancing around they saw the big screens with a clock timer in between them. Instantly they knew what must have happened while they were gone.
"Smile," Diggle leaned in to tell her, "you're on candid camera"
"What? Sorry I was looking around for Ashton" she replied.
Slow beat-ed applause could be heard from above them. Pan began speaking from the balcony where all of the perpetrators were congregated. "That was a rush! The teams were seconds apart from each other! Well done. But the winning team was...Team Grimm"
Everyone let out a breath. For some a breath of relief, and for others one of defeat.
"Now I feel like Kinickey" Felicity told no one in particular as she walked away.
Sam was standing nearby. He'd watched only Felicity along with Dean. Probably for different reasons. Sam knew that Felicity was reading Chuck's books. Anything he knew about her and her team would help to level the playing field. He didn't think of anyone of the others as enemies because he knew that if they worked together they had a better chance of escaping. It was in his very nature to care about others. Maybe too much, sometimes but it couldn't be helped. Especially not someone that he'd seen his brother pay special attention to. The fact that he saw her kick Dean's ass was just another notch in his favor.
"Why do you feel like Kinickey?" He asked her as she walked by him.
His reply was a short, defeated, "because Kinickey was a jerk"