Defy Expectations
Disclaimer: I really don't own a thing here.
Summary: Princesses were always supposed to be saved by and fall in love with the heroic and handsome princes. Thing is, she doesn't need to be saved and he's not the textbook definition of heroic or handsome.
This is a plot-bunny that popped into my head after watching "A Still, Small Voice." I don't know if anyone else ships Emma/Archie, but I realized that I like them as friends (and maybe something more).
Takes place after "The Shepherd."
I apologize if characters seem a little out-of-character.
So, here goes. I hope you like it.
For the first twenty-eight years of her life, Emma Swan was pretty damn sure that fairy tales didn't actually exist. After all, who would believe such ridiculous tripe?
A fair-as-snow princess is almost killed by her evil stepmother, escapes, finds sanctuary with seven kind dwarves, is put into an enchanted sleep, is woken up by a kiss of true love, falls in love and marries said prince. An old man without a son carves a boy out of wood, who magically comes to life and goes through trials to become a real boy. A young woman who loves her grandmother so much that she's faces down a big, bad wolf jut to bring said woman food and to save that same grandmother from the aforementioned wolf.
But things like that didn't just happen. It was all too unreal.
Happy endings, at least the happy endings in the fairy tales, didn't really happen in real life. Nothing was ever that perfect and Emma should know.
As an orphan herself who was shuffled through the foster system, she had been forced to become tough and independent, only relying on herself for anything that she needed. That toughness served her well, especially when she made the heart-breaking decision to give up the child that she had carried inside of her for nine months. Her self-reliance toughened her and made her fit to be the successful bail-bondsperson that she had been – at least, until a ten-year-old boy with her eyes and a fairy tale book came barging into her life.
Henry was precious and intelligent, bright and more perceptive for his age.
Emma was disinclined to believe that he would want anything to do with the mother who had given him up for adoption when he was born, but there he was, always persistent. And the fact that he believed that she was the only person who could bring back the happy endings was just one more stroke in the 'say what, now?' column.
Yet, despite her best intentions, Henry won her over in the end. His heart-felt belief that the fairy tales were real – and the overwhelming parallels between his book and Storybrooke, Maine, were too uncanny to deny.
Oh yes, and Storybrooke.
The name itself was almost laughably obvious, though the denizens of the town seemed to be blatantly oblivious to that fact.
Still, for an orphan from the foster system turned bail-bondsperson turned deputy sheriff of a small town in Maine, the stable environment was still a new concept to her. Emma had never really been rooted to one spot for very long, traveling with the wind.
Maybe it was because she had been looking for a home or because she never felt right anyway, but Storybrooke was slowly becoming home-like, in its own way.
Henry's theory that all of the residents of the town were actually fairy tale characters under a spell was crazy, but it was the most rational explanation for the people there as she could find. After all, Emma had read the book and had read the last few pages, before she had summarily burned them because Regina could never know what happened in the end.
She saw the parallels with more clarity than maybe even Henry. After all, Emma was the outsider here and her observations were not tainted by a life that was constructed by a stupid curse.
So, when that sinkhole formed just outside of town and Archie and Henry got stuck in the tunnel, Emma couldn't help but feel the nauseous clench of fear – not only for her son (because, let's face it, she considers Henry her son, even if Regina's his legal mother), but also for Archie, the quiet and intellectual psychiatrist who obviously cares about Henry.
Emma feels nothing but good feelings for Archie by this point.
Yeah, they had had a few rough patches, but she knows that, deep down, Archie has Henry's best interests at heart. He wants Henry to be the best person that Henry can be and not the perfect son that Regina wants him to be.
It's actually fitting that Archie is Jiminy Cricket, the wise, sage cricket who guided and advised Pinocchio.
Archie is kind and caring, dependable and reliable, brave and strong in his own way. He stood up to Regina, defending his choice to treat Henry in the way that he saw fit. Emma saw his backbone of steel then. Archie had been willing to risk his own life, just to make sure that Henry (and Emma) got to safety, as the elevator was buckling and falling beneath them. In her heart of hearts, Emma was so glad that he had his damn umbrella with him because that's the only reason he wasn't dead.
And Emma thought that he was handsome when he smiled and his eyes lit up with happiness.
To be fair, Emma's choice in men wasn't the best, given her history, but she reckoned that, if Archie had been around when she had been pregnant with Henry, then things might have gone a lot differently. She might have been able to raise the young boy that she was growing to love, not give him up for adoption because she was alone, eighteen, and had no way of supporting an infant child.
So, it was a safe conclusion that Emma was falling in love with one Dr. Archie Hopper.
But that was the problem.
Archie is Jiminy Cricket. Emma is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. By that token, she should be a princess and princesses married princes, not wise and caring crickets, no matter how brave those crickets actually were.
Princes were supposed to be handsome, brave, self-sacrificing, exotic, leaders. Everyone might peg Sheriff Graham as the prince type, though Emma's more attracted to his bad-boy persona than his potential as a prince. It would be fitting for the attractive sheriff and his equally-attractive deputy sheriff (who also happens to be the daughter of two fairy tale characters and the reported savior of the fairy tales and happy endings) to fall in love with one another and live happily ever after.
However, Emma was not your typical princess.
She spent her first twenty-eight years as an essential orphan, being bounced around the foster system. She worked as a bail-bondsperson before she became a deputy sheriff in a quaint town in Maine. She's always been the loner, independent, rely-on-no-one-for-help type. She's not your usual princess type.
Ergo, she needs a not-so-typical man to be her prince.
Which is why Emma Swan found herself outside Archie's door, after witnessing the essential betrayal of Graham with Regina.
She needs someone who can advise her, who can give her support without ever asking for anything in return, who would make her feel better, even if it was through a jumble of psychiatric and intelligent terms that Emma doesn't quite understand.
Raising a hand, she knocked.
The loud barking of Pongo, Archie's beloved Dalmatian (oh yes, Emma gets the Disney reference here), is indicative that Archie is home. She smiles to herself. That dog had wormed his way into her heart.
Moments later, the door opened and there Archie was, in all his understated glory.
"Hi," Emma said, lamely.
"Emma!"
His tone was surprise and Emma almost made an excuse to leave, but she saw the smile on his lips and the brightness in his eyes. She melted a bit on the inside.
"Is this a bad time?" Okay, lame question, but it was a conversation starter.
Archie shook his head. "No. No! Please come inside." He stepped aside and let her into his humble, but obviously well-loved and well-tended home.
Pongo bounded toward her, barking merrily. Emma smiled and bent to pet the dog.
"Hey there, mutt," she teased, seeing the reaction from Archie out of the corner of her eye. She turned back to him as he shut the door behind her. "Sorry about dropping in on you so late at night, but I needed to talk to someone and you were the first person who came to my mind."
"Oh, it's no problem," Archie stammered. Emma smiled warmly at him as he led her into the small living room. She settled down onto one end of the couch and saw how he stood, not a few feet away, a look of concern on his face. "There's something wrong, isn't there? Did something happen to you? To Henry? Are you alright?"
It was endearing that his first instinct was for her safety, for Henry's safety.
Emma found herself mulling over the events of the night – not just Mary Margaret (Snow White?) going to David (Prince Charming?), but also Graham and Regina. She sighed heavily, trying to find the words.
"Have you ever thought about what might happen if this curse-thing is broken?" she asked finally, nearly out of the blue.
Archie raises an eyebrow and laughs. "I suppose that, if Henry's right, I'll go back to being a cricket. Can't say I wouldn't find that a change of pace, though I don't think I quite like the idea of being small and green. Neither suits me, I don't think."
At that, Emma gives him a smile.
"I like you the way you are, Archie." And it's true.
He blushes at that comment before continuing, "And what about you? You're going to save us, if Henry's right." Bashfully, Archie takes the few steps to close the distance between them and crouches down in front of her, placing a hand on her knee in a friendly manner. "Though you've already saved me once, in that elevator shaft."
Emma met his eyes and put a hand on top of his, taking it and squeezing tightly. "You saved yourself, Archie." She gulped and realized that, if he hadn't had his umbrella, he would be gone now. "I had Henry because you gave him to me. I couldn't have done that without you." Unexpected tears filled her eyes. "You were the one who hooked yourself onto my harness, not me. I was too busy freaking out about the thought of losing you so soon."
"Emma."
His voice was quiet, soothing, and altogether caring as he spoke her name. Emma raised a finger to silence him.
"Archie, you were one of the first people in this town to reach out to me and to befriend me, even under the weirdest of situations. I value you" – and love you – "and if you had died, I would have been devastated. Henry would have been devastated. He cares so much about you, Archie."
That was true. All of it was true.
"Then it's a good thing I didn't die," he said, smiling that bashful, humble, oh-so-wonderfully-handsome smile of his again. Emma's heart warmed. "Because I had you there to hook onto. I knew I couldn't fall, not with you there."
Emma leaned forward so that their noses were mere inches apart.
"You can hook onto me anytime, Archie."
His smile widened even further. Emma couldn't resist herself any more. She closed the scant distance between them and pressed her lips against his.
Seconds later, Archie was responding by leaning up and pressing her back against the couch gently. Emma looped her free hand around the back of his neck and held him close to her as she opened her mouth to let his tongue enter and explore. He was oh-so-warm and delightful to touch, some semblance of experience coming forward from underneath his quiet demeanor as they continued to kiss.
When they finally broke apart, Emma panted for breath and smiled. That was, hands down, the best heated kiss she had ever had.
"I'm sorry," Archie said quickly, retreating away from her, fixing his glasses, which had been knocking somewhat askew.
He wasn't getting away that quickly. Emma grabbed his wrist and used her leverage to pull him onto the couch next to her. Archie gave a surprised gasp as he landed beside her on the cushion.
"Do not apologize for something I started," Emma reprimanded him. Archie flushed. "Besides, you seemed to like it as much as I did."
"That was – that was –"
"Wow," she concluded.
He nodded in agreement and Emma took that as a sign to curl up and put her head on his shoulder. Archie wrapped an arm around her instinctively, holding her lightly against him. It felt so right.
"What was that anyway?" he finally asked, after a few minutes of silence.
Emma looked up at him, assessing his bespectacled profile. A sly smile crept across her lips.
"I'd say that that was us being adults and taking the first steps into an adult relationship."
"I know that, but why me?"
His self-consciousness, usually so endearing, was actually working against him right now.
"Because, you idiot, I really like you," Emma told him, flat out.
"Oh." He was smiling now. "I think I really like you too, Emma."
"Think?"
Okay, maybe she was needling now, but Emma saw no reason in not pushing her luck at the moment.
Archie laughed. "Alright, I definitely really like you, Emma."
"That's good, Archie."
Emma knew that, whatever come in the morning, she would have Archie there, at her side because, let's face it, if she was going to pick a prince, Archie would be at the very top of her list. The man might have been the cricket before the curse got levied, but he was a man now and a man who had woven himself so inexplicably into her life and into her heart.
So, if he got turned back into a cricket, she would still fight for him because, as far as princes went, Dr. Archie Hopper – Jiminy Cricket – out-classed all of them.
He might not be the Prince Charming of the fairy tales and she was the usual princess from the stories, but that didn't matter to Emma. No, she was a real-life fairy tale princess (maybe) and he was her real-world Prince Charming (definitely).
And, unbeknownst to them, a Blue Fairy had, a long time ago, crafted a spell around a guilt-ridden Jiminy, turning him into a cricket, in order to help a now-orphaned boy named Gepetto, a spell that would only be undone when the boy had grown up to be a well-loved and well-respected man on the Fairy Tale War Council and the now-cricket helped save the fairy tales and had found someone who loved him for him.
After all, happily ever after always tasted sweeter when the couple it affected actually loved each other.
Well, that's that. Let me know what you think.
This is my first adventure into the "Once Upon A Time" television series fandom, so I would really appreciate your feedback on my story!
Hugs and butterfly kisses!