Emma was safe.
It was the first thing that she heard the second that the four of them followed David back into the diner. "She texted!" David told them, striding forward to talk to them with a smile of relief on his face. "She texted Mary Margaret to let her know that she was alright and coming back. We panicked for nothing!" He reported gleefully. But had they? The portal had closed then opened again, she'd seen it! If it wasn't Emma then someone had gone through the portal and they really needed to figure out who it was and what they'd done…or didn't do.
But then again, time was a tricky beast, that was what all the books she'd read over the last few days had told her. Whether Emma went through or someone else, it was done, over, in the past...literally. The portal was gone, things seemed in order, David and Mary Margaret had their child, Henry had his memories, Emma was safe, she had her Rumple, and even Regina seemed perfectly content when Robin asked if she wanted to go with him to pick Roland up for some ice cream! It was already dark, tomorrow would come, and if something had changed, then they couldn't do anything about it now even if they did realize something wasn't as it should have been.
There was a hand on her back as David led Mary Margaret away to discuss "the reason he'd looked so worried". Ruby. Just behind her, smiling before she motioned over her other shoulder. "Your boyfriend is brooding," she muttered with a friendly smile.
She followed Ruby's eyes to the corner of the diner where he was sitting alone, staring out the window and even though she couldn't see his eyes she could see the tension in his hunched shoulders clear enough. Ruby was right, he was brooding, though what about she couldn't even begin to guess. In all honesty she hadn't even been aware that he'd wandered away from her! But it didn't matter in the end, not anymore. He wouldn't "brood" for long...and he wouldn't be just her "boyfriend" much longer either, a title she was excited to shed. She gave Ruby a small smile and squeezed her hand in a "thank you", promising herself that she'd tell her what had passed between them later before the night was over so she wasn't too surprised to see the announcement in the paper tomorrow, then pulled a chair up close beside him.
He gave her a gentle smile and adjusted to accommodate her before him, so they could sit close together, but she could still see the distance in his eyes! She didn't like it. "Something is wrong," she muttered, glancing at him.
His smile only grew. "Not any more than usual," he answered gently. The statement only saddened her. That suggested that there was always something wrong, always something in the back of his mind, always something itching there even if it was small.
"Are you worried?" she questioned. "About-about Emma? Because David said she was fine…" but that wasn't it. He was already shaking his head by the time she'd suggested it.
"No," he whispered quietly. "I trust what you saw. And even if she did go through I can't think of a more suitable candidate, though that still leaves me with little guarantee that everything will turn out as it should…that it already has." Cryptic. She hated when he was cryptic, when he didn't give her direct answers. It made her feel like he was keeping something from her, trying to cover something up. She hated that feeling.
"What aren't you telling me?" she asked desperately, hoping that he'd give her something more than random phrases that made little sense to anyone let alone her.
He sighed and shook his head at the question. "I don't like being afraid that we might lose each other again," he admitted almost shyly. "I didn't like thinking that at any second Emma or anyone could have changed one thing in the slightest and we might never-"
"We'd have found each other," she assured him confidently. "One way or another, we'd rescue each other just like we always do."
"And without the cold of the mountains to keep you with me, without a deal…"
"We'd still end up here," she insisted. She didn't know why she felt so confident about that, she'd often found herself thinking that she would have been doomed to another life if he'd never come for her, but even if it hadn't happened that day she knew that one way or another she would have ended up with him. They were bound together, tied in a way that not even the worst of curses could break. Even if he'd never come for her that day, she'd still be sitting with him one day…she'd still want to be married to him.
Something caught her eye out of the corner of her eye, something moving outside the diner that made her smile. "You don't have to worry about Emma…she's back!" She meant to stand and greet her but when she saw that he didn't move at all, not even to look at the girl with interest like he would have she stayed put.
"I never was," he muttered confidently. She nodded and made herself comfortable in the chair again, ignoring Emma's entrance and feeling just as confused as ever. If he never was worried about Emma, then what was it that had him concerned, that had put tension in his shoulders, what exactly had he been "brooding" over?
"Then what-"
"You," he answered, leaning forward and reaching for her hand, whispering in that tone that suggested he didn't want the rest of the world to hear him, to see him, even catch a glimpse, of who he really was even by accident. "The only one I will constantly and eternally worry about-is you."
That talk, the discussion that she'd wanted to have with him ever since they'd realized that Pan was on the loose...this was it! It looked different than she'd expected it to, no wonder she hadn't recognized it at first! She'd expected they'd be alone and that there would be screaming involved in that "discussion". Yet here they were exchanging whispers and concerns in the middle of Granny's as Emma hugged her son to her side and spoke to her parents! How remarkable!
"You can't save me from everything," she whispered leaning in toward him and gazing down at their interlocked fingers. "You can't keep me from rushing off and wanting to help people."
She expected a quick rebuttal, maybe even a motion to go back to the store or home now that they'd officially crossed into this discussion. But instead he smiled and rubbed a thumb over the back of her hand. "You won't stop me from trying to keep you safe," he answered in a whisper. "No more than I could stop you from being the beautiful soul you are." And with that he released her hand and leaned back into his chair. That was it?! Their big, long-awaited discussion on his overprotective nature and her willingness to always run into danger?! It was over?!
It had consisted of all of thirty seconds, but...strangely enough, she fine with it...maybe even happy about it. No, maybe it wasn't over like she'd thought, maybe it was just over for now! They'd come back to it, eventually, no doubt when trouble was back and tension was high again, but for now they could exist on the easy compromise that they'd made.
He understood that her desire to run off and help people in times of trouble was part of who she was and she wouldn't stop.
She understood that he would forever be protective and want her to think of herself first.
It wasn't a great compromise...but it was enough for now.
He muttered something else, something about wanting to know what she'd learned while he'd been "away" as he put it, about knowing just how much she'd absorbed from his books. But his eyes wandered as she began to talk and as she turned her body to listen she couldn't exactly say that she blamed him. Emma was sitting in a booth with her parents, her new brother, and Henry. She was telling a story, a new story
She'd gone through the portal after all.
And worse…she'd run into them.
Nearly all of them from the sound of it.
Hook had gone with her, they'd landed right in the time that her parents had met each other and according to her it was something as simple as a snap of a branch that had interrupted and changed the course of events. It was strange though. Rumple was right it wasn't like having two memories in their head, the story Emma had to tell first was how her parents originally met, before she'd disturbed them. Mary Margaret and David baulked at each other as if it was the simplest thing in the world…too simple compared to the tale they knew, the tale Emma was telling. She'd been part of it, in their memories, though not as Emma or Hook, under aliases and false looks. A spell! One of the many things they'd given when they encountered Rumpelstiltskin.
She glanced over at him after Emma began detailing a ball that she'd gone too. He looked shocked, like all of this was new and he was hearing it for the first time, but he'd said himself that if they had any interaction he'd have those memories...why did he look like he didn't. "Do you remember?" she asked quietly, turning back to him as Emma went on talking to her parents. "Does any of what they're saying sound familiar?"
"No," he hissed, irritated. She could relate to that, not remembering something that should sound familiar, with memories not being where they should be. And if she knew him, he wouldn't take it nearly as well as she did. "Though memory potions are a particular specialty of mine. If they'd told me where they were from that would have been my first instinct…to preserve the future. Even if it was Hook's..." She smiled. All things considered he was taking it better than she thought he would.
"What about you?" he asked. "She said you were there, too."
She felt herself blush, just as she had in her memory of the day in question. "What I remember about it probably isn't what you'd expect." She meant for the comment to dismiss the conversation, so she could turn back and finish listening to Emma's tale but her comment seemed to have the opposite effect on him. Instead of looking back to Emma he watched her, his look intensely curious as he reclined against the back of his chair. Her blush deepened when she realized that he wouldn't let her forget about it without explaining further...she supposed it wouldn't be telling him anything he didn't already know.
"I remember the two strangers, because the girl, Emma apparently, knew my name. It was the first time in months that anyone besides you or Robin Hood knew my name. But even then it wasn't them that I remember most about that day, in fact I barely remember Hook being there or Emma's face because the person I remember most was you. The conversation we had when they arrived. They knew my name and I thought that meant they knew me, but they only said you told them about me, which of course you denied fervently. Knowing what I know now it was probably true, it would have explained your shock of course but I couldn't stop thinking…" that he might like her? That they were becoming friends? That maybe she crossed his mind as often as he crossed hers?
"I told you," she went on finally, thinking back to the day they'd remembered their past just after the curse had broken and they'd had a discussion similar to this. "I was taken with you long before I ever knew I was, just the thought that you'd been talking about me made me feel..." Amazing? Nervous? Happy? Sad? Scared? All of it all at once?! She shook her head and swallowed the feelings back down along with the tears that had stirred in her eyes because of that day.
"Their arrival and departure was quick Rumple, but you were the one I remember then. I was excited you'd come back early, that we'd have our tea together like always, and dinner, and even if I didn't want to admit it when you moved into our room soon after and began working on a potion, maybe the memory potion as you predicted…I was happy when you were around, even if I didn't know it."
Yes, Emma's face had long since faded from her memory, Hook was nearly gone completely just a black blur in the corner of her vision, but the feeling she'd had when she thought he'd been talking about her to others, the way she'd felt lighter because he'd been home, and the feel of her stomach fluttering when she'd been reading downstairs and he'd appeared there on the table, saying that one of his potions had backfired and he couldn't work in his tower that day…those feelings were still there, clear as day in her head. And they were telling.
"I wouldn't have had any reason to be working in that room, other than to be close to you," he whispered with a smirk. "Even if I can't remember it I know that whatever excuse I would have come up with for doing it would have been a lie. You weren't the only one to feel it and not understand it, I have always liked being close to you. It's soothing."
She smiled. That was what she'd always suspected. Of course then she hadn't expected that it was because he loved her, she just figured he'd been lonely. Sometimes it was nice to know what had really been happening, what thoughts had been in his head. She wanted to do more than smile, even if they were in Granny's even if they were surrounded by people. She wanted to reach over and grab his hand, tangle their fingers together again. She wanted to kiss him and take the opportunity to tell everyone that this wasn't just a passing flirtation or temporary attraction the two of them shared. It was more, and she wanted them, her friends, to know that without doubt, before they read the paper tomorrow. But before she could do anything David stepped into the center of the room shouting above the hum of conversation "Excuse me! If I could have everyone's attention just for a moment!"
She smiled and turned herself in her seat, paying attention to David, instead of the strange memory she now held in her head that she knew hadn't been there when she woke up this morning, and yet could never remember being without. Later, she promised herself. They'd tell the town about their engagement later, after the Charmings had their moment. Right now wasn't about them, it was for the Charmings baby, it was about his name.
"Uh, this Coronation Ceremony is something we've looked forward to for a long time. The arrival of our new son has been the cause of great joy for our family," David announced, walking back and standing beside his family, every bit the proud father that she'd only glimpsed in the past and not a hint of the fear that had seemed plastered there over the last few months. "And we hope you can share in it as we name him for a hero, someone who saved every one of us, who we loved, and he loved back." David glanced down at Mary Margaret, looking as though he was about to burst into tears at any moment. His father perhaps? Mary Margaret's? An Uncle maybe who'd died in some war?
"People of Storybrooke," Mary Margaret proclaimed grinning happily, her own eyes shining with tears that she suspected were happy and sad all at once, "it is our great joy to introduce you to our son: Prince Neal."
I love chapters when they talk about the past. I don't even really know why I just know that it makes me ridiculously happy. Now, of course, because this new past is canon MK&U has been updated to incorporate that scene in it, but in order to preserve the rest of Moments, specifically MS&U I made sure that Belle hardly paid attention to Emma during that scene. It is just as she says here, she only really focuses on Rumple. I hope you'll find that chapter and this one acceptable!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to Meredith Pechta, Sara K M, Katido, Raizen Yusuke, Onlyinyourdreams77, Deweymay, Rumbellefan, Grace5231973, and LaurieAHancock for your reviews of the last chapter! Research!Belle in my opinion is definitely the best thing to come out of MR&U and I can't wait to use her more! Peace and Happy Reading!
