Chapter 23:
The next day, everything went back to normal in town, like it was usual for people to arrive from another realm through a magic portal. Emma and Graham were back in the sheriff's station, Snow was back in the town's hall with David and even the Merry Men had found things to do to pass the time.
Bella knew that soon, she'd have to leave town again with Gold, Emma and Maleficent to look for their children. Until then, she worked on her books and, when it was time for her to meet with Henry, she dropped everything and went to Granny's. She really wanted to have her last books ready so that, while they were out of Storybrook, she could drop by her editor and get this done. Save her from having to leave again later.
When Henry arrived, Bella was waiting for him with a hot cocoa to go and a piece of brownie. He thanked her and they started walking toward the house. On the way, Henry didn't stop talking, he was very excited about this and he kept on explaining how he had found the man.
"You sound more excited than I am about this." Bella chuckled.
"I just want you to be happy, I want you to find your father." Henry replied.
"I know kid, don't worry. I appreciate it." She smiled back at him, she knew that this made him feel useful, like he was one of the active heroes.
When they finally arrived, Henry rushed to ring the doorbell but nobody answered. He rang several times, and knocked, just in case.
"Maybe we should just come in." Henry suggested.
"Break in? And what? Get arrested by your mother later today? No thanks, I have a spotless record, I'd like to keep it that way. He might just be out shopping or something." Bella shook her head before she added:
"We'll come back another day."
"Wait, maybe the neighbors know him and can tell us where he is." Henry exclaimed before he rushed to knock on the door of the house on the right.
An old woman answered, one Bella had crossed a couple of times at Granny's. Once Henry told her who they were looking for, she replied:
"He's out. He does that once in a while, he leaves for a few days. I think he goes to the woods to collect things. I know he does magic, but I don't know what kind." The woman replied.
"Do you know when he'll be back?" Henry asked her before Bella could speak.
"He left a few hours ago so probably not before the end of the week. Maybe even next week." The woman replied.
"Oh…" Henry stated, disappointed.
"Thank you for your help." Bella told the woman with a smile.
"Did he do something wrong? I mean, I know he's the Savior's son and that you're her best friend, that you work with them…"
"No, he didn't. He's not a bad guy, at least not that we know of. We just think that he might know something about my father. That he might lead us toward him or give us a clue about what the right direction is." Bella replied.
"I can give him a message if you want. Or call you when he comes back." She suggested.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. I'll have to leave town soon anyway. I'll drop back here once I come back." Bella replied before they left.
"We should have given her our phone numbers." Henry insisted as they walked back to the station.
"After all the time I've waited, I can wait another few weeks Henry. Don't worry." Bella told him with a smile.
.
Graham was happy to have Emma back with him and as soon as they entered their bedroom in the Charming family home, previously owned by Jefferson, he made sure she knew just how much he had missed her.
Going back to work with her by his side the next morning was great and even though he knew that she'd have to leave again soon to look for Gold's son and Maleficent's daughter, he wanted to enjoy the present moments they had together.
"So, I was thinking, maybe tonight we can have dinner together? Just the two of us?" he asked her.
"Sure. Did you have something specific in mind?" She asked him.
"I do actually. Be ready around 7." He replied with a smile.
"We share a bedroom Graham, it's not like you can pick me up." She chuckled.
"I'll pick you up in front of our bedroom then." He smiled back at her before he had to answer a breaking and entering call.
.
Later that evening, Emma was following Graham. They were on foot and he was leading her somewhere in the woods. When they arrived, she found herself near the Toll Bridge, in front of a very romantic set up.
"A picnic under the stars?" She asked him when they arrived.
"Yes. Too much?" He replied.
"No, not at all. I like it." She shook her head before she turned around to kiss him.
Together, they ate, talked, drank and laughed until, when it was time for desert, Graham presented Emma with a very particular cake. On the icing was a question:
"Emma, will you marry me?"
And there was a gold diamond ring sitting on top of the question mark.
"Graham?" Emma asked nervously once she saw the question.
"I love you, Emma. I know that we haven't been together or even known each other that long but I know that our love is strong, true. I don't see myself loving anyone more than I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. Will you marry me?" Graham asked her, her hand in his and an hopeful smile on his face.
"You… You want to marry me? Really? You want us to get married?" She asked him, shocked.
"Yes, I do. I know that it might be sudden Emma and if you need to take some time to think about it, I understand." He told her with a smile.
"I… Are you sure that you want to marry me?"
"Yes, I even asked your father and Henry for permission to propose." He nodded.
"I… I totally didn't see this coming. You… This is a big surprise." Emma breathed out, her eyes going between Graham and the ring he was presenting her.
"Take your time, you don't have to answer today." He smiled gently at her.
"I… I don't have to take my time. I've always been closed up, wearing my red jacket like an armor to protect me from the world, from feelings. You broke through that armor and I do love you. I can see this future with you. I will marry you." She replied with a bright smile before he passed the ring on her finger and kissed her.
"I need to tell Bella." She announced as soon as they broke the kiss.
"Shouldn't you want to tell your parents and Henry first?" he asked her, confused.
"They'll get the news second. Bella has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We always promised each other that if this happened we'd be the first to know. It's a best friend thing." Emma smiled.
"I'll cut us a piece of cake while you call her." He nodded.
Emma took a picture of the ring on her finger, sent it to Bella and waited for her best friend to call her.
.
Bella was happy for Emma, really happy that her best friend was getting engaged to the man she loved but she couldn't help feeling lonely when she hung up so she decided to go for a walk. She even considered going to the bar for a drink but she changed her mind and made her way to the docks instead. There, she sat down and watched the moon and the stars, thinking about her life.
"Need some company, love?" Captain Hook asked her, surprising her by his presence and making her jump a little.
"Hook! Sorry, I didn't see you here." She replied, nodding.
"Is something wrong? You don't look like your cheery and hopeful self." He noticed, handing her his flask of Rum.
"Just a bit sad… It'll pass eventually." She replied, accepting the rum.
"Talking about it might help." He offered gently.
"Maybe… It's silly really. Emma just called me to tell me that she got engaged to the man she loves tonight. Of course I'm happy for her but I always thought that I'd be the first one out of the both of us to get married."
"You're jealous. It's a natural feeling. I heard that you recently lost someone, it's natural to think about what could have been with him while your best friend gets it." Hook replied understandingly.
"Yes, but it's not my style." Bella shook her head.
"How did you lose your love?" He asked her.
"You didn't hear it?" She asked him.
"No, I just understood that you lose your love from what I heard around town. How did he die?" He shook his head.
"He's not dead. We didn't break up either. We were in a good place, happy and deeply in love with each other. The Blue fairy turned him back into a child under the pretense that she was giving him a second chance after he wasn't truthful, even though the secrets he kept were forgiven. He's still alive, still walking around town. He's now an 8 years old child who doesn't remember ever being an adult and knows me as a member of the town, a friend of his father's. We weren't together for that long but with him, I could see a future, I could see us getting the fairy tale happy ending and I know that he did too… I guess it just wasn't meant to be." Bella replied, feeling comfortable with the pirate and opening to him like she had rarely before.
"Aye, that's got to be hard." He nodded, taking a drink of his rum before giving it back to her.
"Not harder than your loss, or Regina's. Every loss of love is hard and sad." Bella replied.
"Maybe you'll find someone else." He suggested.
"Maybe… I used to believe that but…"
"But?" he asked, wanting to keep her talking.
"You've lost Milah about 200 years ago and you still haven't moved on." Bella explained.
"I'm not the best example when it comes to that." He chuckled.
"Why not?" She asked him.
"I didn't hold on to my revenge because of an undying love for Milah, even though I tried to believe it was. I held on to my revenge because it was the only thing I had to keep me alive." He replied, surprised by his ability to be open and honest with her.
"I guess it makes sense." She nodded.
"Milah was my first love, Swan. For a long time I thought that I wouldn't be able to open my heart to any other woman. Now I see that there's hope. There's hope for everyone, especially in this place." He explained to her.
"Well, that's surprising coming for the famous Captain Hook." Bella replied with a smile.
"What can I say? Apparently, everyone can change."
"Even you?" She asked him with a smile.
"Especially me. I was once on officer in the king's navy, then my brother died because of the mission the king sent us on and I became a pirate. Before that my brother and I were simple sailors working on another Captain's ship. I guess every major event in our life has the power to push us one way or the other." Killian told her.
"This sounds very familiar." Bella realized, it was a quote taken right out of the first book of her saga.
"Maybe because Mister Smee gave me your books. I started reading them." He smiled.
"And what do you think so far?"
"I can't wait to know more about the author of these wonderful books." He replied flirtingly.
"There isn't much to know."
"I disagree. I think you're full of mysteries to discover." Hook smiled.
"Right now, the only mystery about me is my father's identity." She sighted sadly.
"I heard about that. The Savior's boy, Henry, he told me about it earlier today. He told me about both of your parents."
"He did? Why?" Bella didn't understand why Henry would speak about her parentage to someone she didn't know that well.
"He was wondering if maybe, during all of my travels in the different realms, I'd heard of someone who could fit the description. Sadly I never did."
"It's okay. He saw that we'd be reunited eventually. I just have to wait for someone else to find him and introduce us. I just need to have faith." Bella replied, taking another bit of rum from the pirate's flask.
"I'm sure things will turn out well for you, Swan." He assured her.
"How are you sure?" She asked him.
"Because I've seen a lot of people, a lot of life and the lesson I've learned is that people like you always get their happy ending."
"People like me?" She asked him, confused.
"People who help others, give second chances, fight for other's happiness, sacrifice their own peace and happiness for others." He replied, taking a sip from his flask and handing it to her.
"How do you know that this is the kind of person I am?" She asked him with a smile, flattered that he'd compliment her this way.
"I've seen you, and Smee told me about you. You befriended Maleficent, became her friend and offered to help her find her child. You managed to get the Crocodile to open up and even I can see that he's changed a little. He's trying to be a better man and I know you're the one who put it in motion. You make people want to be better. You're special and if you don't get your happy ending, then the world isn't as fair as I thought it was." Hook told her, deciding to be honest with her.
"Why would Smee talk to you about me?" She asked him, confused.
"Maybe I asked him." Hook confessed, hiding his face in his flask.
"Why?"
"I'm not sure. You intrigue me." His words and his tone held so much promise and emotions that Bella had to turn her head and look at the ocean to keep her composure.
"I should go. We have to plan our trip tomorrow." Bella decided, standing up.
"I'll walk you back. Even with your powers, you never know what's roaming in the night." He offered and she nodded, accepting his presence on her way back.
They kept on talking about various things as they made their way through the streets until she stopped, turning her head to the side and taking a step in that direction.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"I heard a child cry, this way." She told him before she turned and half ran down a street.
They both stopped when they found themselves in an isolated and very dark street in which a small boy was curled up and crying.
"Hey, are you okay?" Bella asked, coming closer and bending down.
"I'm lost, I don't know how I got here." The boy replied looking up to answer her.
"Pinocchio?" Bella gasped.
"You're Bella! Please, help me find my papa. I don't know how I got here. I didn't mean to be a bad boy." He asked her, crying even harder now that he knew that he was in presence of someone he could trust.
"Is that, him? August?" Killian asked her in a whisper when he saw the distraught look on her face.
"Yes. Come on Pinocchio, stand up. I'll take you home. Then we'll try to find out how you got here." She told the boy with a kind smile on her face.
When she saw that he had a hard time standing up, she realized that he probably hurt his ankle.
"I'm not sure I know how to heal with my magic yet." She apologized.
"I'm alright, I'll carry the boy. Come here mate." Killian offered and Bella was thankful.
At first, Pinocchio was hesitant to go to Killian but when he saw that Bella trusted the pirate he nodded and let the man in black leather carry him.
On the way back to Marco's house, Bella tried to find out what Pinocchio remembered but sadly, the last thing he remembered was going to bed and his father reading him a story. He felt guilty about not remembering but she calmed him down. When they arrived, Bella rang the doorbell a few times until Marco finally arrived obviously just waking up.
"Bella, what? Pinocchio? What happened?" he asked them, letting the three of them come in.
"Killian was walking me back home when I heard Pinocchio cry. He hurt his ankle but otherwise he seems fine. He was afraid, lost and doesn't remember how he got there. He was a long way from here." Bella explained after they put the boy back to bed.
"Thank you for helping bringing him back." Marco told Hook who nodded and, deciding it didn't concern him anymore, told them goodnight and left.
"The last thing he remembered was going to bed and you reading him a story. He might be sleepwalking. He could have hurt his ankle by going out the window." Bella suggested.
"Yes, it was open when I put him back to bed, I closed it. He's been having dreams lately…" Marco nodded.
"What kind of dreams?" she asked him.
"Dreams of you. Of the simple moments the two of you had when he was older like walking together down the street or having dinner here with me. It started after he first saw you as a boy. I thought he just had a crush, that I didn't need to worry about it…" Marco shook his head.
"It's not an easy situation. Maybe some memories of his adult self are coming back… But they shouldn't, there must be a reason behind it." She replied.
"I didn't want to trust Blue with this so I asked Gold about it yesterday. He thinks that maybe the secret August was keeping was important and magic is trying to get it out through Pinocchio. It's just taking some time." Marco admitted.
"Did Rumpelstiltskin have a solution? An idea to sort it out? This can't be healthy for your son." Bella asked, worried for the little boy.
"Well, he could turn him back into a man, permanently or temporarily but it would be dangerous for his health to turn him back into a boy later. He thought about using a dream catcher to get his memory but he was unable to reach it." Marco explained.
"Having him run around in the middle of the night can't be healthy either." Bella shook her head, feeling so many different emotions that she gave up on trying to identify them.
"I told him that I needed time to think about it but we might not have the choice anymore. Tomorrow I'll ask him to turn him back into a man. It's the best for him." Marco nodded.
"Are you sure? If he turns him back into an adult, you might not get your boy back, he might not be able to change him again without hurting him." Bella warned him, forcing herself not to feel too much hope.
"He's not happy Bella. He feels that something is missing from his life, he doesn't understand why but he doesn't feel in his rightful place. The only time he truly smiles is when he sees you from afar and the entire time you were in the Enchanted Forest, he looked… depressed. I tried to ignore it, to pretend it would change but I was fooling myself. What Blue did, it's not for his best, and if he's not happy, I can't be either. My boy grew up, he needs to go back to being the adult he's supposed to be." Marco confessed to Bella who didn't know what to think.
"I… I'm sorry." She told him.
"Don't be. I know that you've tried to forget him, I also know that you couldn't do it. Maybe it's because, deep down you knew that he'd come back to you." Marco told her with a smile.
"This doesn't have to be the end of you being a father, you know. There are lots of orphans in the world. Lots of little boys and little girls who'd love to have you as their father." Bella tried to comfort him.
"And eventually maybe some grandchildren." He smiled at Bella, making her blush.
"I... I don't know what to tell you, Marco." Bella shook her head.
"You don't have to say anything. Now, about that pirate who helped you bring Pinocchio home…" Marco started to ask.
"Oh, nothing happened. Emma called earlier to tell me that she was engaged and I was feeling a little sad so I took a walk and ended up by the docks. He was around and we started talking. He was just being friendly." Bella replied, reassuring the man.
"He wants to be more than your friend." Marco replied.
"You can't know that." Bella shook her head.
"I may be old Bella but I'm a man. I know these things. He's interested in you." Marco assured her.
"I… He's just a new friend. It doesn't matter if he wants more. I love August, I still do and if there's a chance of him coming back…" Bella replied shaking her head.
"Let's hope he'll be fine being just a friend then." Marco smiled.
"Are you sure you want to bring August back though? I don't want you to make this decision just to make me happy." Bella asked him.
"I'm not doing it just for you, child. As I said, he's not happy right now and if my boy isn't happy I can't be happy either." Marco replied.
"Alright then. It's getting very late, I should go. I have to meet with Gold and Maleficent tomorrow to plan our trip to look for their children. I guess I'll see you then." Bella declared.
"Yes you will, and if my instinct is working right I'd say that my boy will be going with you." Marco smiled, walking Bella back to the door.
As she walked back to her apartment, Bella had a hard time believing that this was really happening. She was getting August back, the man she loved was coming back to her and Blue would have lost. During her walk, Bella took a minute to think about what Marco had told her about Hook but she shook it off. She'd make a point to show him that she was still his friend and that she was there for him, to help him find love if he wanted it, or any happiness.
.The sorcerer's thoughts.
I'm really happy to see that things turn our for the best for my daughter's happiness but I'm worried. I hope the pirate will be able to take her friendship and leave it at that. I'd hate to see my daughter in the middle of a love triangle, but then again, it would be better than her not having love at all in her life.
I'm happy for Emma and Graham, but I have a bad feeling. Their relationship won't end well and I don't think it will have anything to do with Neal's coming arrival in their lives. I hope I'm wrong because they really deserve their happiness, especially Emma.
Seeing Henry's enthusiasm to find me, I can't help but smile. He'll be the one to find me, to put the pieces together and to reunite me with my daughter, I can see it clearly now. I just hope that he'll find me before people find out that he is the Truest Believer and hands him out to Peter Pan. I won't be able to help if I'm not with them and given his history with the man, The Dark one won't be much help either.
So, I could call this chapter: the chapter who forced me to change what I had planned because it just wrote itself.
What did you think of it? Please tell me in a review.
Hook will be paired with someone. Who do you think it will be? Guess right and I'll answer a question. A hint? it's someone who's going to enter the story in the next few chapters but who has been talked about before.
Thanks for reading me,
Lorelei Candice Black