Well, it's New Year's Eve here and I actually managed to complete this story as planned! This has become my longest completed fic and I'm both happy to see it completed and a little sad to see it come to a conclusion. Anyway, here it is - the last installment of Only a Little Superstitious.
Returning to what now seemed like the mundane routine of his normal life as a National Parks Service Ranger was proving to be a far bigger challenge than Carlos Littlecreek had anticipated. He'd grown up exploring these mountains but in the past week, they'd taken the on an entirely new majesty. He'd witnessed the supernatural first hand and traveled through a swirling vortex seemingly created from the intensity of the lightning to be dropped into a town on the opposite side of the continent – a town that didn't even officially exist. It was an experience that flying back home in a commercial aircraft just wouldn't muster the same excitement.
He was due to start his shift in a few hours but there were a few small matters Carlos had to attend to first. He bargained with a co-worker to drive him up to the service road where he'd left the borrowed company SUV three days ago and he was well prepared a plausible cover story if needed. He was ready to say that he'd ventured out here to retrieve an item lost by the tourists he'd rescued earlier in the week, needing to locate it before he'd joined those same tourists on their chartered flight home to Maine. It was already public knowledge in the office that he had volunteered to travel with them as the wife needed assistance getting her injured husband back home. He'd just never divulged exactly how they'd made that voyage and since hospital records would reflect that Killian Jones was an amputee, Carlos would say that he was retrieving the man's prosthetic hand which had been dislodged during the scuffle with the man who had assaulted and stabbed him. He'd then been forced to leave the SUV behind when it wouldn't start so he'd hiked down to the road where he could get a cell signal and had called Grandmother to pick him up so he wouldn't miss the flight. It was all entirely believable and only one other person here in Phoenix knew the truth. He absolutely wasn't worried about her revealing anything to refute his fabricated story.
But thankfully, no one had asked and as soon as the other Ranger dropped him off along that desolate service road, Carlos made the twenty minute hike back up the trail toward the cavern, needing to recover the sled they'd abandoned on the mountainside and make sure they'd not left anything else behind. He didn't want to say it, but he was also mentally preparing himself to find the remains of Nehemiah Kronk as he passed the familiar landmarks, but as he reached the clearing between the rock ledge they'd sheltered under and the cavern, he grew increasingly anxious about what he wasn't finding.
Save for the sled that was still resting against the rocks where he'd left it and one of the empty canteens they'd probably dropped in their haste to jump through that portal, there was nothing else here. Nothing. No blood pool identifying the spot where Killian had lain unconscious, no lightning-scorched earth and most worrisome – no sign of the man who had attacked and stalked his friends. He could rationalize the missing bloodstains and maybe even the burn marks he expected to find in the sandy soil as having been washed away by the torrential rain that was falling too fast and too hard to soak into the desert crust. That he could believe, but where the hell was Kronk?
As soon as he'd reached the Ranger Station near the main visitor entrance to Lost Dutchman State Park, Carlos immediately made his way to the activity logs for the previous days, searching for any entry that would explain Kronk's disappearance. Had another Ranger or a hiker stumbled upon the body or in the unlikely event Kronk had survived, had any vehicles had been reported stolen? Of course, the SUV they'd left behind would have been the most logical one taken, but despite all of Carlos' hopes that he'd find an entry that would provide answers, there was nothing that matched either the description or the location. He was back at square one and it had him scrambling to reach Emma.
Could Nehemiah Kronk actually have survived the amount of electricity that they'd witnessed surge through him? Had he somehow recovered rapidly enough to follow them through the portal before it collapsed? The tourists gathering outside the visitor center would just have to wait a few more minutes because he had to deliver this warning.
On the other side of the country, in her Storybrooke home, Emma was already dealing with plenty of chaos. After three days in the hospital, Killian had successfully negotiated the terms of his release from his hospital captivity, eager to get home – and get as far away from Victor Whale as he could. While he had regained limited mobility in his legs over the previous days, Killian still didn't have enough range of motion to walk, although he was able to stand for short periods if someone else helped him to his feet or if he had something to support himself. He had agreed to have a physical therapist visit the house once a day to assist him with exercises that would build his strength and increase his mobility, but in securing the deal, Killian had forgotten to take into consideration the most daunting feature of their home – the stairs.
While her blistered hands had greatly improved, they were still in no shape to be hefting a stubborn pirate so it wasn't surprising that Emma was dealing with conflicting feelings over her husband coming home. As happy as she was that he was on the mend, part of her would have preferred that he stay in the hospital for a couple more days, at least until he could hobble well enough to get himself in and out of the first floor powder room. It was going to take a lot of magic - and patience – to make this work. Unless she chose to hire a very strong, live-in nurse.
Presently, she was in the middle of magically redecorating the parlor to accommodate Killian's limited mobility. She'd teleported the two chairs that had been sitting in front of the dormer window out of the room, replacing them with the queen-sized bed from one of the upstairs guest rooms. It was an improvement over the sofa, which was a bit too short for Killian to sleep comfortably on at the moment and it was big enough for both of them. If Killian was going to be home, she wasn't about to leave him downstairs alone to inevitably get himself into trouble and she absolutely didn't want to be running up and down the stairs every time he needed something. Her quads definitely wouldn't have appreciated that workout.
While this bed wouldn't be as spacious as the king-sized one in their master bedroom, it would allow them to finally share their sleeping space for the first time in days. She'd missed the warmth of his body next to hers and the tickle of his breath on the back of her neck. They might seem like small things but after nearly losing him, she was quite happy to celebrate the small things – especially since they wouldn't be able to do any other things for at least six weeks. And that might end up feeling like an eternity…
She'd just read the text message from her father informing her that he and Killian were on their way to the house. David had volunteered to pick Killian up in the Sheriff's cruiser, believing that it would be at a better height for his son-in-law to transfer into than either his truck or Emma's Bug. Knowing they'd be here in a matter of minutes, she sat her phone down on the console table next to the wall, but just as it left her grasp, it started ringing. Expecting it to be her father calling – probably butt dialing as he tucked the device into his pocket, she nearly ignored the call. Something convinced her to look at the display though and she saw that the caller wasn't David, it was Carlos.
"Carlos! How are things back in Arizona?" she greeted him as she answered the call.
"Well, I guess that depends on how well you take this…" he replied as she strained to hear him over the crackle of background static.
"I can barely hear you. Where are you?"
"At work. Signal sucks out here at the Station, but I had to call you right away."
"Okay… you sound like there's something wrong…"
"It's Kronk… He's gone…"
"So you found his body?"
"No, I mean he's gone. There's nothing out there. Nothing!"
"Well, we all saw him get electrocuted… Could he have survived it or do you think some coyote or something dragged him off?"
"If That was the case, there'd be signs of animal activity, but the site was pristine. Except for the sled and one of our canteens, there was no sign we were ever up there. No blood, no lightning burns in the dirt and definitely no dead guy from the 1800s."
"You think there's a possibility he followed us through the portal?" Emma asked, pausing for a moment to consider her words. "The protective sphere was gone so if he came to before the portal collapsed, he could potentially have followed us, although I would have thought someone would have seen him exit behind us…"
"Maybe not. All of the focus was on you and Killian. Kronk might have been able to slip through unnoticed… Anyway, Emma, I have to go back to work, but I knew I needed to warn you right away."
"I appreciate that. We'll keep our guard up. Thank you, Carlos."
"Anytime. Stay safe and keep us posted," Carlos urged as he disconnected the call. Emma stood in stunned silence for a moment, phone still clutched between her thumb and index finger. Before she could fully regain her composure, the front door swung open and she nearly fired off a burst of magic as David froze at the threshold.
"Emma, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I guess you didn't hear us pull up to the curb." David flushed with guilt that he hadn't thought to knock first.
"It's okay, Dad," she brushed it off casually as her heartbeat finally began to slow. "I got a little distracted when Carlos called."
"Oh. They made it back alright then?"
"Yes. He's back to work today and had to call with a little follow-up to our adventure in the Superstition mountains."
"Everything okay then?"
"Yeah, yeah…" she stammered. "Nothing we can't handle…"
"Emma, what aren't you telling me?" David asked, stepping through the doorway and approaching his daughter, positioning himself directly in front of her so she would have to make eye contact. "Something isn't right…"
"It's really... probably... nothing. I can deal with it, Dad, really… It's just that Carlos didn't find Kronk's body when he went back up to the cavern to recover some equipment."
"Well, coming from someone who grew up in a forest, it was the middle of the wilderness. Some predator must have found him…"
"Carlos didn't think so. He said there weren't any signs of animals and he's the expert Park Ranger. He sees that sort of stuff all the time, I'm sure…"
"You think Kronk might have survived?"
"I honestly don't know… it was a lot of electricity but I guess it could have just stunned him? Maybe he got up and followed us through the portal?"
"Wouldn't we have seen him? That's a pretty open field…"
"But we were all focused on saving Killian. Was anyone actually still facing the portal? He might have tumbled out behind us unnoticed…"
"Possibly… Look, if it will make you feel better, I'll start asking some questions around town. If he did come through the portal after all of you, he's been hiding somewhere for the past three days. Maybe someone spotted him? First though, we need to get your husband out of that car and get him in here before he starts thinking we're ignoring him and tries to crawl up those steps."
"Okay, just don't say anything to him about this yet. He's got enough to worry about right now and I don't want to get him riled up."
"I'll let you deliver that news when you're ready. Now, come on and help me get your pirate out of the car…"
Killian may have been fatigued and more than a little doped up on painkillers but he still knew instinctively that something was bothering Emma. She'd been strangely distant all afternoon despite playing the role of the doting wife to the fullest. Even with her blistered hands, she'd made him soup for dinner and even added a little plastic cup of chocolate pudding on the side. It was probably more for her than for him since she knew he wouldn't finish more than a spoonful or two, but he appreciated the gesture. She'd taken the time to prepare a bed for him downstairs, complete with a pile of pillows for him to prop his head and shoulders since he was forced to sleep on his back until his rib cage healed. She'd thought of everything – except how to tell him what was troubling her.
Emma knew she was going to have to break the news about Nehemiah Kronk sooner or later, but she couldn't do it just yet. She wanted him to get settled and comfortable before she disrupted his recovery with such unpleasant revelations. She'd done everything she could to prepare the house for him, wanting things to go as smoothly as possible. She'd stacked pillows on his side of the bed so he could elevate his upper body, knowing he preferred to sleep on his side. He'd spent so many years crammed into tiny bunks on ships that he'd learned to sleep curled up on his side with his back to the wall so that no one would dare sneak up on him. It wasn't unlike the way she'd learned to sleep in foster home after foster home and if he couldn't rest on his side, she wanted the alternative to be as pleasant as possible.
As evening descended, she dropped onto the bed beside him, taking a moment to check the messages on her phone one last time before placing it atop the bedside table. She then went through the routine of fluffing her own pillows before turning out the light. Killian pretended to be asleep already as she stretched out beside him, but he couldn't go through this any longer. He had to know what was vexing her.
"Swan?" he called out to her while her back was still to him. "Is something bothering you, Love?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," she replied, stalling to think of a response. "I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed. My hands are itching like crazy and I've been worried about making sure everything is okay for you…"
"Emma, I'm going to be fine, but I'm concerned about you. You haven't seemed yourself today…"
"It's really nothing you need to worry about. You just need to get some rest."
"I've been resting for days," he stated as he pushed himself off of the fluffy cushions and into an upright sitting position. "What I need is for you to look at me and tell me what the bloody hell is going on."
She exhaled a deep sigh as she let her chin drool against her chest in defeat. This man just knew her too damned well.
"I was trying to figure out the best time…best way to tell you… I didn't want you to worry about things we don't even know for sure…"
Her incoherent ramblings were only increasing his frustration. "What were you trying to figure out how to tell me? Didn't we agree – no more secrets?"
"It's not really a secret… It's really just more of an unconfirmed rumor, I guess…"
"Emma…"
The dam finally broke and everything blurted out in one rapid-fire statement. "Carlos called this morning to tell me that he went out to the mountain and couldn't find any sign of Kronk."
She stared at him as he raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What do you mean no sign of Kronk?"
"He wasn't there. There was no body, even though we watched him get electrocuted and there wasn't any sign that something dragged him off. We don't know where he is…"
"I see…" Killian paused to process this development. The man who had attempted to kill him a week earlier might still be alive and no one knew his whereabouts. "I gather you believe he may have pursued us through the portal?"
"I mean, it's possible. No one saw him exit the portal, but then everyone was looking at you laying unconscious in the middle of that field and barely able to breathe. No one was looking at that portal at all once Carlos dropped you into the grass."
"It has obviously been a couple of days now since we returned. There have been no sightings?"
"None. Of course, we didn't know that he might be back in Storybrooke until today, but he's stayed well hidden. There's no way for him to get the dagger out of Regina's vault and even if he could, it won't take him where he want to go so it's really pointless. I have to be honest, it makes me a bit uneasy to think that he could be around here somewhere, but at least I have magic here to defend us."
"Swan, if he's here and intended to do me harm, he certainly had plenty of opportunity while I was vulnerable in that hospital bed. Perhaps he's still wandering around those mountains? Until we know for certain that he's alive and where he is, we can remain vigilant. I, for one, do feel safer here at home – magic or no magic."
"You're taking this surprisingly better than I thought you might," she smiled, feeling a weight lifting away as he leaned in to kiss her before settling back into the mountain of pillows.
"Until we know where Kronk disappeared to, we just move forward with our recuperation. I'm eager to heal enough to get back aboard the Jolly Roger. After too many days spent in hospital beds and dusty desert wilderness, I'm very much in need of a day at sea."
"Aye, Aye, Captain," she laughed. "As soon as you get your sea legs back, sailor."
Author's Note: I decided to leave this story with a very open ending. Did Kronk survive? Is he in Storybrooke? Killian no longer views Kronk as a threat so the answer is inconsequential as far as our pirate is concerned. To him, they just need to move forward and as Emma believes, enjoy the little things.