Hey there friends :)
How we all doing? Everyone surviving the hiatus? I'm sending hugs out to you all. Thank you to all those who are reviewing and alerting and favouriting and everything! You're all wonderful!
Sorry for leaving you on a bit of cliffy last chapter, hope this makes up for it, sort of :) Just a few more chapters of this baby to go now! Keep letting me know how you're going! And come say hi to me on Twitter and Tumblr (tadpole24_ and wonder24), I'd love to get to know the people who are reading :)
Enjoy!
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The Thief and the Pirate
Chapter 12
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It's all a blur for Emma. Henry's cries of pain are killing her with guilt and anguish and she wants nothing more than to take it all from him. There has to be magic that would allow her to swap places with him. She's vaguely aware that she's voicing this idea to everyone around her, but no one seems to understand her. Focusing on her words, she realises that all anyone can hear from her is a quiet, whimpering sob.
Neal lifts Henry into the waiting ambulance, climbing in after him and beckoning for Emma to join them. Her eyes are alight with concern; of course she wants to go with her son, but Killian is still here and so is Rumple, and she doesn't want to come back to any more damage.
But before she can even mull the thoughts over in her head, Killian is by her side, hand on her lower back, guiding her into the ambulance. He kisses her forehead, casting a wary glance at Henry, "I'll meet you there, lass."
She nods, not quite understanding what is going on, but following gentle orders from everyone around her, once again grateful for Killian and his ability to shoulder burdens with her rather than relying so heavily on her. She takes a seat next to Henry, holding his small hand. He's been slipping in and out of consciousness since being hit by Gold's magic and she's grateful to see that while they're hooking his small body up to so many machines, he's laying there quite peacefully.
Neal tentatively brushes a hand over her back, "He'll be okay."
Emma shrugs off the touch, not wanting reassurances from the man who knows best exactly what Rumpelstiltskin's magic can do. She knows it's probably hurtful, but she really doesn't see how anyone could be so optimistic right now.
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The waiting room is bustling with noise; people moving around in their seats, some standing and pacing back and forth, some tapping their fingers against the plastic. Nobody is still, nobody is quiet.
Except for her.
She sits with her parents, Mary Margaret rubbing gentle circles on her back, David trying so hard to not apologise again. He knows it's starting to her on her nerves. It wasn't their fault; Henry was just a very sneaky little boy.
A very sneaky little boy who she loved to the end of all the realms and back.
Her body shakes with a silent sob, trying to think of anything to help. She is so exhausted, physically and mentally and she's struggling to keep her head above water.
Dr. Whale has been out to talk to them several times, Henry's condition steadily worsening. Emma had tried kissing his forehead again and again, but this wasn't a curse that could be broken, it was merely a spell designed to inflict pain. They know that their only solution is to get Gold to help them.
Regina walks in then, offering a take-away coffee to Emma. She raises her head slightly, taking in the appearance of the Evil Queen. She looks so composed, but there are fraying edges, tiny cracks that only a mother can see in another mother. She accepts the coffee with a quiet, "Thanks," before Regina nods and goes to take up her seat again at the opposite end of the room. Despite the warring glances between her own mother and Regina, they're all here for Henry and it warms her that they can at least be civil when necessary.
Her eyes fall to the entrance of the room, watching as another shadow approaches. She can tell it's not Whale by the gait and suddenly hopes, for reasons outside of her control, that it is Killian. Her eyes meet the pirate's as he steps in and Mary Margaret quietly whispers to David that they should go and see if they can find anything out, giving her daughter a knowing look as they walk away.
Killian takes a seat next to her, breathing out a sigh. She can tell he's not enjoying what he has to say and as soon as the words pass his lips, she understands why, "I'm to apologise, love. The Crocodile has awoken."
She barely has any time to react before she hears the sound of Gold's cane bouncing off the wall of the hallway, "And he's here?"
The pirate bows his head, "Aye."
She can see something lurking in his eyes, an untold story. And she knows Killian has once again been bested by his Crocodile. She reaches a hand out to his cheek, not caring who sees, "What did he do to you?"
He seems conflicted, "It was but a threat, love. A threat to someone very precious to me."
And she knows it's her. She's not naïve, she can read the signs. There has been something building between them for a while now, something that they haven't exactly been careful or sneaky about, something that could easily be used to their enemy's advantage.
As the sound of the cane ticks closer, Killian's eyes meet Neal's, "He wishes to speak with you."
Neal nods, rubbing his hands over his tired face and standing to face his father. He throws a glance back at Emma and Hook as he waits by the doorway and Emma finds herself grateful that he's going to be standing between Rumpelstiltskin and everybody else.
Killian takes her hand in his, watching as the father and son converse, their voices just above hushed whispers.
"Why them, Bae? Why stand by the man who stole your mother from us?"
They see him shrug, folding his arms across his chest, clearly uncomfortable, "Because Hook was there for me when you abandoned me." He shifts from one foot to the other, "You constantly choose magic over everything. Emma could kill you in a second, but she won't. Nobody will because they all believe you have it within you to be given a second chance."
Emma squeezes Killian's hand, "You were there for him?"
He nods, "Aye, in Neverland."
She closes her eyes for a moment still trying to wrap her head around the whole story. Summoning the knowledge she had gained in Neverland, she asks, "After Rumple killed Milah?"
He nods again.
There is just so much to their story that is still untold, but she's certain that Killian will be honest with her when the time is right for her to know. Right now though, she needs to focus on her son and the one person in Storybrooke that might be able to help him.
Casting a quick glance around the room, she notices that nearly everyone is still in their own little world, worrying about Henry in their own way, however Regina makes eye contact with her and then flicks her eyes towards Gold, silently begging her to listen carefully. Emma is sitting closer to Rumple and Neal and can hear better than from where Regina is sitting. Despite it all, the fighting, the evil nature, the constant attack on her family, Emma can't help but feel a connection to the Evil Queen in that moment. They share the common link in Henry, and for the first time, Emma can actually see remorse flickering in Regina's eyes. Hints of a change in her rattling on the brink of her frayed edges.
She turns her attention back to Rumple and Neal. Their voices have lowered further, their heads bent together trying to keep the conversation just between them. She can't hear them at all and she fears looking back at Regina to tell her just that. This could so easily become the tale of another person she has let down.
Emma finds herself not being able to handle all this waiting and at this point she is running purely on the coffee Regina had given her, making her whole body jittery and her heart pound. She can see people still milling about and wonders why she is the one who has to keep it together. Why can't she be the one to break lose and just scream? It's her son. And she can't even hear the conversation happening ten feet from her concerning him.
She feels Killian's grip on her hand tighten and turns her frightened eyes towards him. He inclines his head towards the exit and she nods, wanting to be out of this suffocating room. He keeps a tight hold of her as they make their way out into the early morning air. She pulls her jacket around her, drawing in deep breaths of cool air until Killian's arms come around her and she just collapses into him.
"He's so small in there, Killian. I've lost him before and I can't do it again," he rubs surprisingly soothing circles on her back with the curve of his hook and she finds that she can't stop the torrent of words that have wanted to pour from her in the last few hours, "Everybody thinks I'm the saviour, that I'm going to magically fix everything, but they don't know that most of the reasons I even have for trying are Henry. If he's gone, I let everybody down. He's the real saviour."
Killian's lips press against her aching temple in an attempt to soothe her, whispering soft words in her ear.
As though realising where she is, she pushes back from the pirate for a moment, "I've gotta go back in...I can't be out here when Henry's in there…I just…I can't."
And he knows what she's saying. That it's complicated and messy and she's trying to feed him excuses, but he can see that she's in desperate need of someone to take care of her for a change. Even if just for a moment.
And so he reaches out, tugging on her arm with his hook, pulling her back to his chest, "It's okay, love," he says quietly, as her sobs break against his heart, "It's okay."
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Neal presses a hand to his forehead, "Why can't you just see past it all? You want me in your life, yet you refuse to help. What happened to my papa?"
Gold watches his son with sadness, wishing he could just reach out to comfort the boy, but he knows he's so far from being able to do that. In his exceedingly long life he had made many mistakes, he knows that, but none will ever match losing Baelfire in favour of keeping his dark magic. And yet, the voice inside his head, that evil voice of darkness, beckons him, tells him that what he has done cannot be undone, so why even try? "I'm still here, Bae. I just can't lose you again."
Neal shakes his head, "I'm not fourteen anymore. The ogre wars don't exist in this world. The only way you're going to lose me is by pushing me away yourself."
But Rumple isn't listening. Neal tries not to be offended, but it does hurt him. It kills him that his father still can't find it within himself to care enough about him. Especially in a moment like this, the moment his son is in agony in the next room at his own father's hand.
He turns his head over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever has distracted the Dark One and he sees immediately that it's not a 'whatever', but a 'whoever'.
A woman with dark hair slides out of one room and into the hallway, pulling an IV drip in one hand, carrying an open book in the other. She looks up at the crowd of people gathered in the waiting room, a sad expression in her eyes at all the pain of these people she doesn't even know. Neal watches her scan the room, even makes eye contact with her, but it's not until her gaze lands on Rumple that her expression changes.
It's minute, the quirk of her lips into the smallest smile of hope. Hope and promise.
Neal frowns, perplexed by the woman as she turns her head back to her book and continues walking. But he doesn't get a chance to say anything before his father is patting him on the shoulder, grabbing his attention once again.
It's a different man that he turns back around to, one unmarred by the burdens of his magic. One who is reminiscent of the papa he had loved as a child.
One who, only seconds ago, started hearing the good voice within him again after so long shutting it out.
It doesn't makes sense to Neal, but as Rumpelstiltskin says, "Okay, I'll help," he finds that it doesn't matter.
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