Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time
XXXVI
Storybrooke, Maine
Emma ran the vacuum over the carpet in the master bedroom. It felt good to be doing normal household chores. The boys were at the grocery store (that thought terrified her, but she relented even though she knew they'd come back with more sweets than actual food), Emma was cleaning the apartment, she and the girls had made plans to go shopping for actual clothes and eat somewhere that wasn't Granny's later that afternoon while the boys took the kids to the park before they all met at Granny's (because where else could they go) for dinner. She and Killian were talking about planning another date night (and this time they may actually get to leave the house before ripping each other's clothes off). This was how life was supposed to be.
A faint rattling from the vacuum stopped her daydreaming and she yanked the contraption out from underneath the bed. She frowned as it continued to rattle. Something must've gotten stuck, she surmised, cutting the power off. Dragging over a garbage can, she carefully unscrewed the top and lifted the bag out, hoping that whatever it was would be in there and not in some pipe. She didn't relish the thought of taking it apart and she was afraid if Killian did it the machine would be utterly destroyed. He wasn't as handy as he looked at times. Sifting through it, Emma's eyes caught something shiny. It looked like a piece of metal. Cringing, she stuck her hand in and felt around. Her fingers closed around two pieces of metal. They felt like rings. Frowning she pulled them out for further inspection.
The moment her eyes landed on them she let out a yelp and dropped them and the vacuum bag. Debris scattered around her and the rings landed by her leg. They were her rings. Her wedding rings from Walsh that she'd left behind. How they had made their way into her apartment and under her bed stunned her. Graham and David assured her that after the break in they went over the place with a fine tooth comb. How had the missed her wedding rings? Rings that should be in Texas in Walsh's home that had been confiscated by the feds.
With shaking hands, Emma set the rings on the bedside table and put the vacuum back together so she could clean up the mess. She needed to call Graham.
Twenty minutes later, Graham was wrapping her hands around a tumbler of rum, the rings sitting on the coffee table in front of them, "Drink, Emma." His accented voice instructed. She barely heard it, mechanically bringing the glass to her lips, closing her eyes as the rum seared down her throat. "Now, you found them under the bed?" He asked again.
"They got stuck in the vacuum." She whispered. "I pulled them out of the bag."
Graham scratched the back of his head and sighed, reaching over for his leather coat that he'd draped on the back of his chair, he pulled a plastic bag out, "Have you ever seen this before?"
Emma tried to focus her attention on the object sitting next to her wedding rings. The rings were distracting, though. They reminded her that they were still married. She needed to get a divorce. How did she go about that? Particularly when her husband was in jail? How did she sever all ties with him? She didn't want anything. She didn't want her clothes left behind in Texas, the jewelry he'd given her, their wedding china, she didn't even want her old photo albums. Henry hadn't brought up his old toys or clothes either. She didn't want any of it. She just wanted a divorce so she could move on properly with Killian. He deserved to have her fully, with no strings to tie her to another man. He deserved all of her.
"Emma?" Graham snapped his fingers in front of her face, "Try to focus on me." He murmured, "Have you ever seen this before?"
Emma's eyes landed on the plastic bag, "It's a compass."
"Aye." Graham agreed.
Sighing, Emma picked it up, examining it, "It's familiar." She frowned, "I have seen this before." She confirmed after a moment.
"You have? Because it has one of the intruder's prints on it." Graham told her.
"They must've tried to steal it." She stood up, stalking towards the master bedroom. Pushing aside a picture, she turned the dial on a wall safe until it clicked open. After their first date Killian had told her everything about his life, including showing her Liam's compass from the Irish Navy. They hadn't taken it with them to Portland, hadn't even thought about it or the few things from her own childhood that he'd put in the safe as well. Digging through the small space, her fingers closed around the compass. "Well, hell." She muttered. Shutting the safe, she brought it to the living room. "His is here. Actually, it was Liam's." She whispered.
Graham pulled the compass they found out of the bag to compare to Liam's. It was a little more worn than Liam's, like it hadn't been kept in a safe place, but instead carried around with him. "They're identical." Graham finally surmised.
"It's from the Navy." Emma murmured quietly. "Killian and I keep our few valuables in a hidden wall safe." She told him.
Graham nodded, "We'll have Killian look at them, tell us if one is real and one is fake or if he knows who this could belong to or if there's some third option we don't know." The front door opened at that moment and they turned, "Ah, and here he is."
Killian's eyes narrowed in on Emma's pale form. Dropping the bags he was carrying onto the floor, he took the two light ones from Henry, "Henry, go play in your room." He instructed. Henry looked between his mother, Killian and Graham and sighed, mumbling something about not being included, but doing what he was told nonetheless. "What's going on?" He asked, crossing the room.
Emma stood, "I'll put the groceries away. Graham can fill you in." She brushed past him, biting her lip, as she moved into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" He turned the Graham questioningly.
"Emma found her wedding rings while she was vacuuming." Graham explained. "Somehow we missed them. She left them behind in Texas when she came here." He explained motioning to the rings. "And it made me wonder if maybe this belonged to Walsh." He held out the compass they'd found. "But then Emma recognized it as being Liam's." Killian cringed at the sound of his brother's name. "When she went to see if the one of yours was missing, she found it wasn't. I want to make sure this isn't a fake or"
"Bloody hell." His fingers skimmed over the back of the compass, "I know who this belongs to."
Emma's attention snapped to Killian and Graham in the living room, "Who?"
Killian shook his head, "His name is Jack Sparrow. He was a captain in the Irish Navy around the same time Liam and I were in, this belongs to him."
"How do you know it's his?" Graham asked, leaning forward.
"You can just barely make it out," Killian pointed to an inscription on the side, "it's his name, rank and the ship he led." He gingerly picked up Liam's compass, "Here it is on Liam's."
Emma moved back into the living room at that point, "Did you know him well?" She asked quietly.
"Aye, love, well enough. He and Liam were the same age. They were friends during academy." He paused, "I can't imagine why he would break in here and who he would know who would hire him."
Graham paused, "Well now that we know who we're dealing with, we'll find him and find out." He hesitated, "Is there a chance he could've left the rings? Did he know Walsh?"
Emma shrugged, "I don't recognize the name. Maybe if I saw a picture, but I doubt it. I didn't know any Irishmen before I came here and met Killian and you." She told Graham.
"If there's a connection, someone will find it. I'll have the Dallas PD check his home, see if the rings are accounted for. I'll have the town jeweler confirm they're real." He pocketed the rings and slipped the compass back into the evidence bag. "Just let me know if you think of anything else, but this indicates they were hired by Walsh, and Walsh is in custody. You don't have anything to worry about as far as I'm concerned." He told them honestly.
OUAT
Los Angeles, California
"You're all set to go?"
Neal looked down at his mother, "Yes, Mom, I've got everything I need. And after I get Henry, I'll bring everything back to you. You're sure they can get us transportation out of town."
Milah reached up on her toes and pressed a kiss to her son's cheek, "Trust me, Bae, you just tell Jack what you need and he, Will and Elizabeth will take care of you."
"For a price." Neal muttered.
"Everything is for a price, Baelfire." Spencer Elliot leaned in the doorway, "You should know that by now." He shook his head, "Now, there's a car waiting to take you to the airport. You've got your new ID, go get your boy and get back here." He smacked Neal's back in support before pressing a kiss to Milah's forehead, "I'm going to make some breakfast. You want anything, sweetheart?"
"I'll come help after I walk Bae out." Milah murmured, hooking her arm through the crook of his. "You'll have a safe flight and call me when you land?" She requested.
"Yes, Mom, I promise." Neal pressed a kiss to her cheek before sliding into the waiting car.
OUAT
Storybrooke, Maine
"Graham," August followed Graham into his office the moment he stepped into the station, "I just got a tip from a friend who works airport security at LAX."
"What kind of a tip?" Graham emptied his pockets and hung up his leather coat.
"Someone matching Neal's description boarded a plan that has a layover at O'Hare and then he's got a connection onto Portland. So I called a guy I know in Portland. He's got a rental car ready for him. He's coming back here."
Graham processed the information slowly, "Are you sure it's Neal?" He asked.
"I checked the ID," he pulled a photo out of the folder he'd been clutching, "it's Neal."
"I'll have the police pick him up in Portland at the airport. You and David mind driving down to get him?" Graham asked, picking up his desk phone and dialing a friend of his at the Portland PD office.
"We'd love to." August grinned.
OUAT
Emma twisted the edge of the blanket she was tucked under in Regina's living room. "Everything is going to be fine, honey." Mary Margaret patted her hand before moving back to her own chair. "David and August will be back with him in a few hours and he'll be locked up tight. Daddy isn't here to bail him out."
"I just want to know how he got that new identity." Emma murmured, weaving the blanket through her fingers.
"Same as he became Neal Cassidy I'd imagine." Elsa pointed out, "We know he has underworld connections, at least August's friend recognized his picture from the news."
"Yeah, it's just all too easy, though." Emma murmured. "Him coming back here like this and being so easy to track, there has to be something we're missing or another player who will fall out of the sky the moment we think we've won. I mean we catch Walsh, then we have the questions about the break in magically answered and wrapped up, and then we catch Neal. Don't you think someone's orchestrating all of this?"
"Or we could just take the win for now." Victor suggested softly. "Let's hope that this leads us to some quiet moments, okay?"
Emma bit her lip, but nodded absently, accepting the cup of cocoa from Killian as he came to curl up next to her. As much as she'd like to believe there was a quiet moment coming, she knew someone bigger than Neal was coming to town. And Neal was either the distraction or the catalyst. Either way, her stomach was doing somersaults at the thought.
OUAT
Los Angeles, California
"You were right." Milah hung up the phone. "They arrested him."
"Well then," Spencer turned down the comforter on their bed, "what do you say we fly out to Maine in the morning. We can handle everything then."
"Thank you, darling." Milah reached over and pressed her lips to his.
"Of course, it would be nice to tear David's department apart while we're there." Spencer mused.
"We can take care of all the loose ends while we're in town." Milah agreed, tucking herself into Spencer's side as he turned the lights off.
OUAT
XOXO
MAS