Two Households Of Dignity

By Schroederplayspiano

Chapter 11: Found The Place To Rest My Head

The forest turns darker and darker every time I open my eyes after our lips part.

The last thing I want to do right now is go back to Storybrooke.

Still, I pull back.

Emma smiles and melts my heart in the process.

"Who would ever guess Pinocchio is a great kisser?"

I freeze, partly flattered and partly annoyed.

It takes me a second to decide how to respond.

I smile and bring her closer to me. I whisper, "Oh, there are so many things that will surprise you about fairytale characters once you get to know them, Princess Emma."

She smiles against my check. When she pulls back and looks at me her smile is gone. "You are breaking rule number two," she says seriously. I have to time to figure out if she's teasing or actually annoyed when she adds, "And possibly rule number four," with a smile.

I smile back, pull her into an embrace, and kiss her check. "Yeah, but let me remind you, Princess," My voice deepens at her title and she can tell I'm mocking her. "Your little rules don't exist here."

She steps back out of my arms.

"August-"

Now I know she's serious. I also just found out I don't like it when she calls me that name anymore.

"August!" I say with fervor. "Are we really back there?"

"Come on," Her light tone suggests she isn't as annoyed as I thought. "I have to call that in Storybrooke, don't I?"

"Yeah," I start slyly, "But we're not in Storybrooke now." I pause and look around the woods, continuing to mock her. "Are we? Because this place looks sort of different."

It works.

She is quickly back in my arms, laughing into my neck. She calms herself in a couple of seconds. Emma gives my neck a peak before looking seriously at me. "Do not call me Princess. I do not like it."

I mirror her serious look. "Do not call me August, I do not like it."

Emma tries to be understanding and serious, but she breaks into a smile quickly. "I know you like your second name. Plus, I hear Jiminy and your Father calling you that sometimes."

"I do not like it when you call me August," I correct her. "And I should be calling you Princess." My eyes widen as an idea comes to me, she sees them and crosses her arms, already determined to dislike it. "I should be the one helping you adjust to your title!" I say with too much excitement.

Emma loosens her grip on me and furrows her eyebrows. "How is helping me adjust to anything protecting me?"

"How is it not?" I am tempted to add 'Princess' to the end of all my sentences now, but don't. "The more adjusted you are to your role, the more protected you are."

Still smiling, Emma releases me and crosses her arms. "Right."

For a moment, we don't know what to say.

"Look," I offer. "If you really-"

"No," she says sweetly. "We were just bickering." At her words, both of us break into smiles. "I think you're right, though."

"Don't you hate that?"

She loops her arms around my neck. "You know, I really, really, do." She says before my lips are on hers.

Emma's cell phone ringing breaks us apart.

We look at each other. Her eyes don't leave mine as she reaches back to her jeans' pocket.

She checks the caller I.D. before putting it to her ear. "Hi, Dad," she says into my face, clearly warning me to shut up. "Yeah, I'm just finishing up work for a case. I'll be home in ten minutes." She is still looking at me, somewhat panicked as she listens to the other end. After a minute she says, "Okay, I'll see you soon," and puts her phone back in its place.

When Emma looks up at me, I can tell she's stressed. "So, I have to go home for dinner."

I take a step back from her, preparing to leave, but dreading it. "Right."

Both of us look sad, but I decide it's ridiculous. I try to lighten the mood. "So, tell me, how many times have you called him 'Dad?'"

A slight smile plays on her face. "That was the second." Emma puts her arms around me again. "And I did it just for you."

My arms reach around her, finally resting on her back. "For me? However can I repay you, Princess?"

Her fingers play with the hair the back of my neck. "I have some ideas, Pinocchio," she says and then leans in for a parting kiss.

My lips capture her and my hands go up and down her body. They rise and softly hold her checks. I swear I can feel them reddening beneath my palms.

I pull back only because I have to. "You need to go."

"Yeah," Emma whispers. "I should go."

We step back from each other, memorizing the other before parting.

"I'll see you soon?" I ask.

"Definitely," but Emma doesn't move. With one step forward, she is close enough to reach my lips. Her lips brush over mine quickly and before I know it, they have already left. "Bye," she says sweetly. Emma turns her back to me and begins to walk through the woods.

"You better watch out for yourself in these big, scary woods, Princess Emma!" I call after her.

"Our woods aren't scary!" She calls back and I smile.

I give her a couple minutes start to drive home before I leave our spot.

Dinner is already on the table when I walk through the door into my Father's kitchen. Jimmy and Father are sitting at the table, clearly waiting for me.

Really?

I can't go through a day in this town without getting in trouble.

"Hi," I say faintly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were waiting for me."

Father indicates the third chair at the table and serves my plate without asking. He doesn't say a word and it almost kills me.

"We've had dinner together every night since the curse broke." Jiminy is clearly disappointed as well. "Did you really think we wouldn't wait for you?"

I look at Jiminy for a second, but his eyes are x-raying me so I have to look away.

"I said I was sorry," I say as take my plate from Father.

We start eating in silence, and I'm thankful. But of course, it doesn't stay that way.

No, Pinocchio has to be lectured by his Father and Jiminy Cricket to make his day complete.

"Pinocchio," Father starts. By his tone, I know I am in even more trouble. "Were you with Emma?"

And then I feel like I'm seven again.

"With Emma?" Jiminy says in a surprised tone. "How much trouble are you trying to get into?"

I decide to be quiet; not saying anything is better than lying.

"Were you with her all afternoon?" Father asks into my eyes. "Since I let her into the house?"

"Pinocchio," Jiminy adds right after Father. "I agree with you Emma needs a friend and a support system, but spending all afternoon with her is a different story."

Crickets are so annoying.

"What do you want me to say?"

"You need to be careful," Jiminy warns.

"And be on time for dinner," Father insists.

"Fine." I say clearly and focus my attention back to my food.

"What were you even doing all that time?" Jiminy won't let me eat peacefully.

"Appreciating growing up outside of Storybrooke," I say flippantly.

"Hey!" Father says angrily. He puts his fork down and points at me. "I don't ever want to hear that tone out of your mouth again."

I hold my eyes on Father's until he breaks out starring contest. I try again to eat dinner peacefully, realizing this is the first dinner with them that I would rather be somewhere else.

Or with someone else.

Is the change in relationship status with Emma really the cause of all of the discomfort and tension at the table? It can't be, since they don't know about our status change.

Then what is the problem?

Jiminy can't hide his emotions very well from me. I look at him quickly across the table. The fact that he is still disappointed in me makes me start to detest him.

He is still trying to be my conscience!

Unbelievable!

"I'm finished." I say after ten minutes in silence. "May I be excused?"

I know the answer before I asked.

"You may not," Father insists. "You will sit here with us until all of us are finished."

Do I look seven? He might have missed me growing up, but that doesn't mean I am still seven.

Seriously, parents around here need to chill out. If they wanted to parent their children they shouldn't have given them away in the first place.

I can't believe I just thought that.

I wait for both of them to finish, stand up from the table, and do the dishes in silence. After dinner, Jiminy and Father engage in some small talk, but most of the time the three off us stand in the kitchen together, festering in our now unbearable home environment.

When the last dish is put away, I storm out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going, young man?" Jiminy calls after me.

"To my room," I tell him with my back still facing him. I turn around to add, "That's not a crime, is it?"

"No. But it is if you keep speaking to me like that."

"Well, what can I say?" I start walking up the stairs. "Sometimes, people are just mad at their consciences."

I don't turn back to see his response.

My room is stuffy when I enter it. I open a window to find the night breeze warmer than I hoped. I go to the next window when I step on something and hear a 'crack!'

That damn chair.

It is still broken to bits from this afternoon. If I didn't feel the urge to run away from Emma, I wouldn't have a splinter in my foot right now.

"Urg! I wish I was home!" I raise my voice even though I'm talking to no one. "At least at home we have decent chairs and crickets stay little creatures without turning into parental figures I have to respect."

I think I hear something outside, but I ignore it.

"Damnit, Emma! If you were anybody else, with any other name or role in this town, I wouldn't break chairs by accident or run out of my Father's house!"

"Please give me some other name or role in this town." I hear a voice from outside. "I would gladly take it."

"Emma?" I walk to my window and look down. She is looking up at me, grinning, standing in my yard. "What are you doing here?" I whisper downwards.

"Waiting for you to give me another name. Don't you know how to work a little magic?"

I lean against the windowsill. "Not that kind of magic. Sadly, I don't know how to change your name without changing who you are," I pause, considering my options. "And I wouldn't change that for the world."

"You make it sound so noble and romantic," Emma's tone changes. She is teasing me again. "But you don't want to change my name because I am the only one who can, as you just put it, bring you to the home where chairs don't break and crickets stay animals."

"Speaking of, shouldn't you be working on that instead of coming here?" I suggest. "Considering both my Father and your Father will kill me if they find you here."

"Oh, now it's you Father too?"

"You know you shouldn't be here after dark," I warn her.

"Yes, how dare I wonder the town by myself at night." She says with a hint of sarcasm.

"Emma, it's a full moon." I inform her. "Which mean Red has changed forms."

"Oh, I'm so scared." Emma smiles and then walks closer to the house. "Let me up," she demands.

"What?" My shocked words come out of me before I can control them. "Are you crazy?"

"Yes!" Her obvious tone worries me. "It's a full moon. It makes everyone crazy!"

"I can't let you up." I tell her. "For one, my Father would kill me. And two, I don't know how."

She crosses her arms. "You don't how to offer a princess refuge?"

I smile. "You're breaking rule two."

She ignores me. "I am just more prepared than you are." Emma looks down in her purse and pulls out a rope.

I laugh. "You've got to be kidding me. You have a rope!"

Emma is unamused. "Red has changed forms. I'm not stupid."

"No. Crazy and reckless, yes, but stupid? No."

She throws me her rope. I catch it. I don't like this idea, but can't help laughing as she awkwardly climbs up. I'm thankful the house's stories are shorter than most. Emma doesn't have far to go and it's not dangerous. I help her through the window.

"Now what?" I blurt out before she is even on her feet.

"Now, we sleep."

What?

"What?"

She is crazy.

"I'm tired and my parents are driving me crazy. I couldn't sleep there even if I wanted to. Which, by the way, I don't."

"What about Henry? Your pride and joy?"

She kicks off her shoes. "Pride and joy went to bed an hour ago."

"Emma," I take hold of her arms, trying to snap her into reality. "We can't share my bed tonight, here, in my Father's house."

"Duh," now she looking at me like I'm the one who's crazy. "I'm going to sleep on the floor and you can have your precious bed."

Before I can say anything, she is pulling a pillow off my bed and then my quilt off the foot of it.

"Emma, you need to go home." She ignores me, continuing to set up a bed for herself. "What happened tonight?" I ask, but she is silent.

When she is done, Emma pulls the quilt over herself and turns her back to me. "Goodnight, August."

Within seconds, I know she is sleeping. I stare at her for a half hour, watching her breaths go in and out, wondering what on earth happened tonight. Part of me loves her here, but my better half knows, however way you look at it, this could turn out to be a very bad situation.

Still, against my better judgment, I carefully pick her up and place her on my bed. I take off my shoes and my sweater and climb in next to her, bringing the quilt over both of us. I kiss her hair before falling asleep in the crook of her neck.

I wake just as I feared I might:

With Jiminy Cricket standing over us, yelling, "What the hell is going on here?"

A/N: Is Jiminy going to turn into the friend or the foe? ;D!

A/N #2: Hey guys, I'm gone this weekend - I tried really hard to get the next chapter ready for you before I left, but it is midnight and it's not ready for everyone yet. :( I'm sorry. I'm almost done, so look for it on Monday or Tuesday. THANKS!