/Present Time/
"Two Weeks" Snow said as she approached David who was currently eating breakfast It had finally sunk in that he needed to slow down and face his feelings so he was taking the day off since nothing was really going on. "What?" He asked confused at her sudden exclamation.
"It says right here that if the family of a deceased town deputy or sheriff does not host a funeral two weeks after they passed the mayor has official permission to host it" she read from a small handbook as she sat down next to her husband. He sighed, "So?" Snow had been going on about wanting to have a funeral and he was getting frustrated of hearing the words 'Emma' and 'Funeral' being used in the same sentence.
"So" she said holding the 'O' for a little longer, "it's been almost three weeks and I'm the mayor, which means we can have a funeral without needing Killian's permission."
"I don't know Snow, Town Regulation or not Killian should be involved in this." Snow had been so hell bent on having this funeral and David could not understand her obsession. I mean sure he thought maybe a funeral could bring some closure, but if they were going to it they were going to do it right.
"Killian doesn't want to have a funeral, why should he be involved?"
Honestly he didn't know the answer. She was right, he wasn't going to plan it anyways so why should they even bother asking for permission. They were her parents anyways they had the right to plan their daughters funeral. But, it still felt wrong not to involve him, and thinking about it he's not even sure he's ready himself, maybe Killian isn't so crazy for not wanting one. Then again maybe it could help them heal, and Emma deserved a proper goodbye. "Okay," he responded, "your right and I guess a funeral could help us heal in some way."
"Great, well I guess we can start planning today since you're taking the day off." She said with as much enthusiasm as you can have while talking about a funeral. "I just want to make one thing very clear, if we are doing this we are doing it the right way, we are not asking for permission but that doesn't mean we are doing it behind his back." David said standing his ground on wanting to do this the right way.
Snow agreed to David's statement, what mattered was that she could finally start taking matters into her own hands. That's the real reason she wants this funeral so bad, yeah one part of it is the closure she would get by being able to say goodbye, to apologies. But the biggest part is probably the control, so much has happened, especially to her daughter, and she couldn't control it, but this, this she could control.
She contacted both Henry and Regina and told them to meet her in the loft for lunch, she knew they weren't getting along but she needed to consult with both of them and having them there at the same time was easier. Plus maybe sticking them both in the same room could help her find out what happened with them, maybe even get them to reconcile, the way she saw it she was killing two birds with one stone.
/
Regina arrived first so they made small talk, talking about he weather and such completely avoiding the subject of Emma. Thankfully Henry arrived about ten minutes later and spared them from the awkward silence that took over once they ran out of things to say. "What is she doing here" He said as soon as he laid eyes on Regina, really stressing out the 'she'.
"I needed to talk to you both," Snow answered, "So if we could all sit down we can get this over with faster."
"Whatever" Henry said as he dropped his backpack on the coach and sat down around the table next to his grandfather, compleatly avoiding eye contact with his adoptive mother.
"So what was so urgent that you had to summon both of here?" The former Evil Queen asked visibly uncomfortable and annoyed.
"Well," Snow started, "I asked both of you here today because I need to talk to you about Emma's funeral."
Henry practically chokes on the water he was drinking, he was definitely not expecting to have this conversation. Regina too was taken aback by this, "I'm sorry about what?"
"You heard me, we need to start planning her funeral and I-we want to consult both of you" She answered taking her husbands hand, he looks up from his hands and gives her a small forced smile. "So let's begin," she continued picking up her notebook but was interrupted by Regina, "Shouldn't we wait for Hook?"
"Oh he's not coming" she replied and started to talk again, but was interrupted once more, this time by Henry. "What? Why? He's the first person you should consult about this this."
"We did but he wanted nothing to do with it" David told him speaking for the first time. Henry simply crossed his arms and reclined back in his chair, confused as to why Killian wouldn't want to be involved. "So can we get started now?" Snow asked in a voice that reminded the young teenager so much about when she was his teacher. Taking everybody's silence as a yes she continued, "So first things first..."
She went over simple factors like the date, time, things like that. She basically answered her own questions since everyone was silent for the most part. David just nodded, Regina gave some pointers on the date but other than that she was way too busy shooting her son glances. Henry was completely silent given the fact that he had too much on his mind, why wouldn't Killian want a say in this?, why were they doing this without him?, why did Regina have to be here?, when was this going to be over?, and the part of his brain that was not swimming with questions was trying to block out the noise of his grandmother talking about what the coffin his mother was going to lay in looked like.
"Now Henry," His grandmother said breaking him out of his trance
"What?"
"I wanted to ask you a very important question."
"Shoot," He said rolling his eyes, all he wanted was to get over with.
Snow ignored this gesture and continued, "Would you be willing to write the eulogy?"
"Excuse me?!" Regina shouted, what was she thinking asking him to do that?
"I just thought that because he is the author and such an amazing writer he would be the perfect fit. But Henry, if you're uncomfortable you don't have to do it." She clarified
"Like hell he does, he's fourteen years old, of course he's going to be uncomfortable doing it." By this point Regina was angry, Henry was traumatized enough as it is he doesn't need to give a speech about it at his mother's funeral.
"I'm sorry I didn't realize your name was Henry" Henry said sarcastically, finally looking at Regina. He then quickly looked over at his grandmother not wanting to be interrupted and said, "I'll do it."
Giving the eulogy at his mom's funeral was the last thing he wanted to do, but seeing how much his other mom didn't want him to do it made him agree. He hated the way she decided it would be uncomfortable for him, what did she know about what he can and can't do, so just to prove her wrong he told his grandmother he would do it. And to be honest he was already regretting it, but there was no way he was going to back down now.
"Henry are you sure?" Regina asked
"Oh yeah, I'm sure" Henry replied with a look and voice that reminded her so much of Emma.
/
"Where were you m'boy?" Killian said from the coach as Henry walked in. "At my grandparent's" he replied with a sigh, sensing he looked stressed Killian got curious as to what had happened. "And what were you doing there?"
Henry Plopped down next to him, "Well, grandma wanted to discuss the joyful topic of Mom's funeral." he said in a sarcastic way. The prate just looked at him dumfounded, had they really started planning without him? Henry then remembered what his grandpa had told him earlier, "Gramps said you didn't want to be involved. Is that true?" he questioned looking up at his father figure.
"Absolutely not," Killian replied furrowing his brows, "When asked I simply stated I did not want to HAVE one."
"Sounds like you didn't want to be involved to me," the boy stated, "But why didn't you want to anyways?"
'Because if I saw her casket getting lowered into the ground it would make all of this real and I would have to feel all the pain I've been denying!' he thought. But what he really said was, "I-I don't know lad, doesn't matter now anyways."
Henry didn't buy what he said one bit, but he and the pirate had been on really good terms lately and he didn't want to push it, so instead he just grabbed the remote and turned on Netflix wanting to forget the fact that know he had to write a eulogy he was going to have to read on February 16, four days from now.
Killian couldn't keep his mind off the funeral, did they pick the flowers she likes?, what if they stick her in some dress she'll hate?, are they even burying her? "What kind of flowers did they pick?" he finally asked after a few minutes
"Ummmm, I don't know I kinda zoned out" Henry said confused, "I think I heard something about lilies, pretty sure grandma said something about them representing peace or something. Why do you ask?"
"No reason," he dismissed quickly, "but they're completely demented if they think lilies are the correct choice. Emma loves carnations, they could pair them up with some white roses and then that, would be perfect," he huffed out with a hint of anger in his voice, "you should tell them that the next time you discuss the subject."
Once again Henry didn't want to poke the bear so he didn't mention the fact that it's 'loved' now, not 'loves'. He thought about what he said but didn't feel like discussing and suggesting anything, he already had enough on his mind to be worrying about flower arrangements. "Look, grandma wants to meat up again tomorrow, you should go and give all of your suggestions, it's not like you're banned."
Killian considered what the boy said, but seeing Emma's name engraved in a stone would have the same effect then picking out the font if should be written in. However he couldn't go about letting the charmings pick out everything wrong, he was the one who knew Emma best. Then his eyes landed on the young lad sitting next to him, watching the magic light screen attentively, "Listen lad, about what you just said, I-I just can't alright, I can't." Henry looked away from his TV show and gave all of his attention to the man beside him. "But," Killian continued, "You can"
"What do you mean?" Henry asked, not comprehending what the pirate was implying
"Well, you already have to go. So now all you have to do is give my suggestions for me and pretend they are yours." Killian explained
"So, you want me to be like a spy for you?" Henry asked slowly trying to get what Killian was asking of him
"If it means what I just said then yes, like a spy. You tell me what they are planning and I tell you what you should tell them and then you do."
Henry didn't understand what the difference between living vicariously through him and just going to the goddamned meeting. But he was already forced to go since he was in charge of a major aspect, so might as well agree. What does it cost him, plus maybe he could even get something out of it.
"Alright, I'll be your little spy, but on one condition," Henry said, then continued when he saw Killian waiting for the condition, "We order pizza and hot wings for dinner tonight." He knew how much the old fashioned pirate hated that kind of junk food, Henry hadn't eaten it since before, that night, and honestly he was really craving it. He and Emma used to do movie nights all the time, and when they did they would eat pizza, hot wings, ice cream, chips, and a bunch of other junk foods. He thought of doing that as his condition, but it felt wrong to do it without her, plus he and his mom were experts, all that food was probably too much for Killian anyways so he settled for pizza and wings, maybe ice cream.
"But that's just pure rubbish!"
"You know what throw in some ice cream too while you're there," Henry said standing his ground
"But-" Killian started to protest again
"And extra sprinkles"
Killian considered for a moment, reluctant to let the boy and himself eat all that rubbish, before sticking his good hand out for the boy to shake, "Deal"
/
So the next day Henry went to the meeting and gave all of the suggestions Killian had given him, everyone was a bit surprised about the boy's sudden interest but he was giving really thoughtful ideas so no one really questioned it. Regina was at the meeting as well but Henry pretty much ignored her, she tried talking to him a few times but he quickly started a new conversation with one of his grandparents, or went to pick up his baby uncle.
Neal was growing up now, he was about to turn one next month, it broke everyone's hearts to think about the fact that everything he was going to know about his big sister was going to be from stories. No doubt his grandparents would tell him all about her, but it wouldn't be the same. Everything about this situation was just so messed up.
Once their little meeting was over Henry went back and reported to Killian, this time around Killian was less opinionated but he still had a few things to say. So, as promised Henry agreed to pass them along as his own comments at the next meeting on Thursday. It is now Tuesday and the funeral was on Friday, which meant he had only three days (counting today) to write his eulogy if he wanted to have it done before the day of, and he really did not want to leave it for the last minute.
Henry spent the rest of the after noon teaching Killian how to play Mario Kart, it was an old game but always a classic, plus it was the easiest for Killian to understand. He then ate a quick dinner before heading upstairs leaving the pirate to have some alone time. On nights before when Emma and Henry were busy and Killian had the house to himself he would either do some work around the Jolly Rodger or drink rum while tidying up his old pirating gear and trinkets that reminded his of his old life.
He would go through his old chest and remember about what he did back in the day, the good and the bad stuff. He would remember his childhood, Milah, Neverland, and all the other adventures he went on during his pirating days. It helped him remember what he lost and more importantly what he's gained, who used to be and who he is now.
But tonight, it was way too cold to be out on the boat, and he could barely hold up with his present so he was definitely not revisiting his past. So all that was left was drinking rum, he had a special bottle of the "best rum you'll ever try" if you asked him, that he saved to drink when he was alone. He was tempted to bring it our now, but he had stopped drinking, he was already numb inside so what would the alcohol be doing? Besides he wasn't about to risk drinking to much and lashing out like he had done the night after that fateful final battle, not with Henry in the house.
Instead Killian cleaned around the house a bit before sitting down to read a novel Henry had lent him a while ago. Meanwhile Henry was upstairs sitting in his desk with document sitting open on his laptop, the only words written on it being, Good Morning. Which wasn't even right, he wasn't giving a presentation in class he was talking at a funeral, there was going to be nothing 'good' about that morning.
To say he was having trouble writing this eulogy would be an understatement. He had never had trouble at writing, the words always flowed naturally, but now it seemed that he couldn't fond the right words to save his life. I mean, what was he even supposed to say? How she died a hero? How she sacrificed her life to once again save everyone's sorry asses? How he is never going to see her again but hey, everyone get's their happy endings right?
As tedious as this task was proving to be he remembered something his mom said, "People are going to tell you your whole life, you have to push back and say no this is who I am." Regina thinks he can't do this, well now she's going to have to watch him give the best damned eulogy ever written. All he has to do is figure out what to say, how hard can it be? the answer to that, is Very.
Well there it is, I know this took me forever to write but it's pretty long so hopefully it makes up for that. Don't worry I'm very exited for next chapter so the update will probably come faster. So now we see how the funeral is starting to come together, and just wait for that because things are going to BLOW UP! But before we get to that there are still some mysteries about the two weeks, which is what next chapter will be about, and it will be Killian centric because I know we've been missing him in this story a bit. Thank You! :) P.S: Reviews make me write faster.