Felix wished he could say that Ariel and Eric weren't nearly as aggravating as he had first anticipated but he was wrong. They were worse. Much worse.

As if the couple's constant exchanges of loving gazes and casual touches weren't bad enough, Ariel insisted on questioning Felix about every aspect of his and Peter's relationship. How they had first met, was it love at first sight, when did they realize they loved each other, had their feelings changed over the years, had they ever thought about children. Hook had practically choked on his rum at that.

It all made Felix feel very uncomfortable. He didn't even like talking about things like that with Peter himself. Felix and Peter silently accepted their relationship for whatever it was without question and didn't worry about the details of how or why too much.

Felix tried to answer the questions as vaguely as he could, giving Ariel enough information to satisfy her curiosity but still keeping things private between him and Peter. After the question regarding children, Felix excused himself, claiming he was beginning to feel a bit ill and needed some fresh air.

"Oh, no!" Ariel gasped, placing her hands on her cheeks and rising from her seat in a panic. "It was the salad wasn't it? I knew those carrots looked weird!"

Felix shook his head slightly, opening his mouth to respond when Eric suddenly spoke with a chuckle.

"Honey, I told you carrots are supposed to be orange."

"Well, they looked too orange!" Ariel immediately responded, casting another worried look over at Felix who was now standing by the back door.

Hook took a swig of the rum in his glass and glanced over at the boy. In the brief moment their eyes met, Hook could tell Felix needed to get out of there. This was worse than any family Christmas dinner Hook had ever been to.

The pirate cleared his throat, deciding to help the boy out just this once.

"You know lass, I'm having some love woes myself regarding Emma. Perhaps you could help me out with that."

Ariel's eyes immediately widened, her thoughts of Felix quickly fading into the background.

"Wait. You like Emma?" She asked in surprise.

"Aye. That I do," Hook responded a bit reluctantly, taking another drink from his glass. Good thing he had already downed two of those. He was going to need to be completely drunk if he was going to get through this meal.

Felix cast a grateful look at the pirate as Ariel began bombarding him with questions and thrilled gasps at this prospect of new love. The look Felix received back from Hook told him that he absolutely owed the captain one for this.

Out on the pier in the salty breeze away from the incessant chatter, Felix began to relax. He leaned onto the wooden fence overlooking the ocean and wondered what Peter would have thought about Ariel's curiosity. He probably would have thought of some clever way to spin the unwanted questions around so that Ariel would talk about herself and Eric more. Felix wasn't good enough with social interactions to be able to do that though.

He placed his elbow on one of the posts and rested his chin in his hand as he watched a tiny wooden ship sail across the waters several yards out.

"What a surprise. I didn't expect to see you out and about," a female voice Felix immediately recognized spoke from the beach beside the pier.

Felix looked over just in time to see a blonde woman with her hair tied up in a tight bun and wearing a green dress ease herself over the top of the fence. She stepped over to Felix casually with an almost sly smile and leaned with her back against the fence beside him.

"Hello, Tinkerbell," Felix greeted with a slight smirk. He knew he should dislike the fairy now that they were no longer on Neverland and she had betrayed him and Peter by working with Emma and the others but he had always appreciated her company. Besides, it wasn't like anything that had happened on Neverland mattered much here.

"I'm guessing Peter told you about his trip as well," Felix continued, the edge of his lips twitching.

"Actually, no," Tinkerbell responded, smirking a little at the boy's annoyance. "His trip is the talk of the town though. In all honesty, I think he only told Emma and Belle about it but they can't exactly keep a secret. There's no need to get your knickers in a knot over it."

Felix scoffed quietly but did feel a bit relieved by the fairy's words. It made sense that in such a small town like Storybrooke news of Peter's absence would spread like wildfire. He and Felix had become very well-known since their arrival from Neverland.

"I am thankful to see that you're not holed up in your room awaiting his return though," Tinkerbell continued. "It's nice to see you enjoying yourself without him around."

Felix almost scoffed again. He wasn't sure what the fairy saw that made her think he was enjoying himself. Perhaps she was mistaking tolerance for pleasure.

"Well, you're not sad and that's good," Tinkerbell remarked as if reading the boy's thoughts. "You never left his side on Neverland and not much has changed here. He's not our all-powerful, all-knowing ruler anymore, you know. You can have a life outside of him."

Felix's jaw clenched as he turned his gaze back out across the ocean. As clever as Tinkerbell was, the one thing she never understood was Felix's relationship with Peter. He guessed nobody really understood that though. Even the boys themselves. All Felix knew was that he had been happy in Neverland under Peter's command and he was happy here in Storybrooke just being by his side. Was it really so bad that he didn't care much for anything outside of Peter? As long as Felix was happy, wasn't that what was most important?

The last couple of days had shown Felix something he never anticipated though. Playing those games with Henry had been fun. Listening to Belle chatter about her books had been pleasant. Hearing Snow speak of her worries had been comforting somehow. Even hashing out old wounds with Rumplestiltskin and Hook had been interesting.

And Felix had done all of that without Peter by his side.

Perhaps Peter wasn't Felix's entire world anymore but he certainly was a very large part of it and he always would be. Felix had never wanted Peter because of his power. He wanted him simply because he was Peter and he made Felix's life that much more meaningful somehow. If Tinkerbell and the other residents couldn't understand that, well, only Peter's opinion had ever mattered to Felix anyway.

"What are you smiling about?" Tinkerbell suddenly asked with a raised eyebrow at the quirk of Felix's lips.

"I was just thinking about Peter," Felix responded, flashing Tinkerbell a tiny smirk.

The fairy rolled her eyes and let out a sigh that was more amused than annoyed. "Of course you were. That's all you ever think about."

"Because that's all that matters," Felix replied simply, meeting Tinkerbell's gaze straight on.
The two just stared at each other for several long moments before Tinkerbell finally looked away, shaking her head a little in resignation.

"After all my years on Neverland, I never understood your relationship and I still don't. And that's okay," Tinkerbell quickly continued, meeting Felix's gaze once more with a slight smile. "Because it's not my relationship to understand. You two are clearly happy together and you always have been. I don't need fairy dust to tell me who you're meant to be with. It's been obvious since the first day I met you. I may not understand your relationship but I do understand love. And that's something you and Peter clearly feel for each other. Who am I to judge whether that's unhealthy or not?"

Felix and Tinkerbell just stood there in silence for a few more moments. Felix actually felt quite touched by the fairy's kind words but, of course, he couldn't say that aloud. Instead, he simply gave her a sincere and thankful little smile that hopefully said everything for him. The tiny smile Tinkerbell flashed back told him it had.

The door to the wooden shack suddenly creaked open. Tinkerbell looked over at the figure now standing in the doorway and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Felix turned slightly to see Hook smirking at the fairy.

"Well, hello there, Miss. Tink," he grinned, dipping his head dramatically in greeting.

"What do you want, pirate?" Tinkerbell demanded with a hiss.

"Ooh. Fiesty. I like that," Hook responded with a grin that wrinkled his nose. His good spirits had returned after his third glass of rum. "I'm afraid I'm just here for the lad though. We have some work to do on the Jolly Roger. You're welcome to come with us if you'd like, Miss. Tink."

Tinkerbell's lips twitched as she fought back a snarl at the pirate's mischievous grin.

"I think I'll pass," she responded coldly.

Hook shrugged.

"Suit yourself then. Come, boy-o. We best be off."

Hook bowed dramatically once more to Tinkerbell, eliciting a glare and a scoff from the fairy, before leading Felix around the shack and down on the coast. Felix could feel Tinkerbell's venomous stare on the two of them as they walked away.