"We're not getting any younger!" Hook hollered impatiently from on board his ship down to the couple parting on the deck. Snow and Charming were either ignoring him or they had not heard him.
"Give them some time," Emma admonished, coming beside him and looking over the edge of the railing. "What do you care, you're going to Neverland, it's not like you'll be in danger of running out of time."
"Putting it off won't change the fact that they're going separate ways," Hook griped. "Better to just get it over with, I'd say."
Emma couldn't help but agree with him. She looked down on her parents on the deck, gazing into each other's eyes as they whispered their last goodbyes, and realized that she could not even picture what that felt like. Maybe some very young version of her had believed in true love at some point, but she had given up on the idea so long ago that she now couldn't even pull one semblance of the concept back to understand what they must be experiencing in front of her. It made her strangely sad.
"Don't be rude," Neal said, pulling up beside Emma and leaning over the railing and around her to reprimand Hook.
"I will not suffer manners in etiquette from a thief, Pan," Hook bit.
"Better than a pirate," he retorted. Emma rolled her eyes.
"Oh, just whip them out, already," she grumbled, pulling away from the edge of the boat and leaving the two boys to squabble. Honestly, she would be glad to leave the bickering behind.
Before she had let Hook out of his cell, Gold had had a few words to say about it, barging into her office and striding straight up to where she sat leaning back in her chair, her feet on her desk.
"He's tried to kill me numerous times, he's rendered Belle memory-less," he recounted for her. "What makes you think you can trust him around my son?"
"You and I both know the answer to that question," Emma had responded in a quiet voice. She had cast a dark look at Neal, distracted trying to put the finishing touches on his map on the other side of the station, and had pulled Gold by the elbow into a corner of the room, speaking softly but sternly. "Does he know?" she asked.
"Know what?" Gold snarled.
"That the death Hook wants vengeance on you for is his own mother?"
The hesitant glance that Gold cast his son answered her question for her.
"Despite the fact that he hates you with every fiber of his being, he will never be able to hate or harm him, because he may be your son, but he's also hers," Emma explained, nodding towards a still oblivious Neal.
"He's a pirate," Gold spat. "Just because my wife happened to be his flavor of the week…"
"He loved her," Emma said with meaning. "Believe me – I've had my heart broken, I can tell. Now I don't know why Hook hasn't exposed what you did to his mother, but whatever the reason, I can only assume it is for Neal's sake, because lord knows he would never do anything for your benefit. But I wouldn't be surprised if that resolve wears thin. So unless you want him spilling all the skeletons in your closet to your son that he doesn't know yet, you don't get to complain."
Emma descended to the dock, stepping tentatively up to her parents, unsure if she was intruding. Her father's smile as he looked up at her assured her that she wasn't. She returned it.
"Try not to kill Neal while I'm gone," Emma said as they embraced. Though she felt a bit awkward about the whole thing, she knew it meant a lot to him as he held on one moment longer, squeezing a bit tighter. "Henry wouldn't appreciate you killing his father."
"I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises," Charming jested with a laugh that didn't quite meet his anxious eyes.
"And try and be civil with Hook," she implored him. She and her father simultaneously glanced up at the pirate, who had been watching Emma. When he saw them both looking at him, he gestured a motion implying the ticking of a clock to demonstrate his growing impatience. Charming's eyes darted between him and his daughter, uncomfortable with her lingering glance.
"That might be impossible," he huffed.
"You may need him," Emma said. He caught her father's eye until he finally nodded in reluctant agreement. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, making her blush. She was still very new to having parents, and while sometimes it made her the happiest she'd ever been, more often than not it just made her uncomfortable.
Charming gave his wife's hand one last squeeze as he boarded the ship. Emma saw her mother swallow hard as she stepped back and he climbed the stairs. While Emma and Red cast off the lines on either side, she just stood watching him, and he her from where he settled leaning out over the railing.
"You guys settle on a time for the first meeting?" Emma asked, joining her as the ship pulled away. Snow nodded.
"Three days from now," she said. She turned to face her daughter. "It will take them longer to get there than us, so with any luck we might even have some news for them by the time they are arrived."
Snow draped her arm around her daughter comfortingly and the two turned back to watch the ship floating farther away as Hook and Neal began to hoist the sails.
"Be nice, Hook," Emma called out as the ship drifted farther away.
"Will you punish me if I'm not," Hook asked with a wink. "Because that's not great motivation on my end, I'll warn you."
Emma rolled her eyes as she vaguely saw her father, growing smaller and smaller in the distance, aggressively make for Hook down the deck of the ship. But already they were too far away for her to make out the altercation.
"He's going to get himself bitch slapped at best," she sighed. Red came up beside them, the Mad Hatter's hat in one hand and the bag of fairy dust in the other.
"Are we ready?" she asked them.
"Yes," Emma confirmed, taking a deep breath and trying to sound more confident than she felt. She had been mostly on the run the last time she had been to the Enchanted Forest, and she knew it was her parent's home and everything but she hadn't exactly found it homey or welcoming. She still felt so far from finding her son. She had no idea where they would end up when they jumped through the portal, and once again she was diving into a land where she wasn't in her element. She didn't like the idea of having to rely on her mother and Red. She was so used to being self-reliant that putting herself in a position she did not know or understand well made her uncomfortable.
With all these doubts and uncertainties coursing through her mind, she pulled on the bravest face she could muster as she took the hat from Red and placed it on the dock in front of them. She crouched beside it and reached for the bag in Red's hand. She pulled out a fistful of the powder and dumped it inside the hat, feeling silly at first until she felt it shudder and watched it take on a slight glow, ensuring that the magic had worked. She handed the rest of the bag back to Red, which she stored in her bag for safe keeping. It was agreed that they should take the remainder in case they needed it in the Enchanted Forest.
Emma thought back to the time she had helped Regina get the hat to open a portal the first time. She had not realized it had been her touch that had done the trick back then, but thinking back on it, she realized she must have had magic pulsing through her even then. She took another deep, steadying breath, grasping the brim of the hat on either side, then spun it like a top.
The hat erupted into a whirling black portal, causing a current in the air that blew the three women's hair out of their faces, forcing them to squint. Snow reached out for her hand, and Emma grasped it tightly. On her other side, Red had done the same. The three women regarded each other for a moment, taking a collective breath. Out of the corner of her eye, Emma caught Snow casting one final glance at the pirate ship, now far into the horizon. Then, the three of them jumped.
Emma pinched her eyes closed and held her breath until the journey was through, which was a matter of mere moments. Still, those moments were a tumble of motion, a swirling sensation she had only felt once before as she sensed the gravity of being ripped away from one world and thrown into another.
She landed roughly and tumbled to the ground, her companions falling likewise by her side. She could tell by the pad of pine needles that met her back that she was on a forest floor. She blinked and took a stabilizing breath. They had made it, and there was no going back.
Emma stood and wiped the dirt from the back of her jeans.
"Are you ok?" her mother asked her, stepping forward to inspect her. She nodded.
"Yeah, you?"
"Fine."
The trio looked about them, Emma's eyes scaling the tall trees. She had a strong craving for a cheeseburger and fries, most likely because she knew that was something she could never get here. Snow may be skilled at shooting game with her bow, but grilled over a makeshift fire on sticks with no spices or condiments to flavor them, the food had definitely not been on the very short list of things Emma had missed from the first time she had been to this world.
"Do you know where we are?" Emma asked, again feeling uncomfortable as she realized her dependence on the other two women with her for information. This patch of forest looked no different from any other patch of forest.
"I think… I think I do," Snow answered slowly, turning in a circle as she inspected their surroundings. "This place seems very familiar to me. Hold on, let me get my bearings."
She spent a few more moments stationary, concentrating. Emma wondered if she wasn't just looking, but also listening. In the movie she had seen growing up, Snow White had been able to talk to animals. Although that version of Snow White had also been able to sing, which Mary Margaret had insisted to Emma a number of times was not an accurate portrayal in any way shape or form.
Red too was looking about her with a vague sense of familiarity.
"Snow," she started. "Are we where I think we are?"
Emma turned for her mother's response, but Snow did not answer. Instead, she took a few steps forward distractedly. Emma made to follow her, and not ten paces later, she stopped, staring at something in the forest.
"Yes," she whispered, a nostalgic smile spreading on her face. "Yes we are."
Emma looked around. She could see nothing about this patch of woods that distinguished it from the patch of woods they had stood in ten paces back. She had spent her childhood running through crowded city streets and back alley ways, every once in a while finding a particularly warm bench or subway staircase to sleep under when she didn't feel safe going back to her foster homes. She could tell a homeless man from a drug dealer in the blink of an eye, but she could not for the life of her find anything noteworthy in the forest before her.
"And where is that, exactly?" she prodded, hating to be left out of the loop. Snow looked up at her and smiled still wider.
"I'll show you," she said. She walked towards what appeared to be the rotting end of a very large fallen tree, but as Emma followed her, Snow disappeared into it. Emma paused and did a double take for a moment before hesitantly following suit. She ducked under the opening of the trunk and emerged in a small, dark room.
"What is this?" she asked.
"This is where I used to live," Snow beamed. Emma raised her eyebrows. "This was my hideout when I first started living in the woods, after Regina ran me off."
"I thought you lived with Leroy and the others," Emma said. "You know, the seven dwarves."
"That was later," Snow said with a wave of her hand. "This came first. I camped out here for quite a while. I chose it because it was close to the road that ran from the kingdom to Regina's summer palace. I used to steel jewels from her carriages as they passed and use them to trade for food and firewood and things."
Red entered behind them, the cramped room becoming still more crowded.
"I can't believe this is all still here!" she exclaimed, looking around. "Brings back some memories."
"We stayed here together, for a short period of time," Snow explained off-handedly to Emma.
"Sounds like a sitcom," Emma snorted. "Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood are roommates in a studio hide out in an overgrown log in the woods."
"Never a dull moment," Snow concurred. "This will be a perfect home base."
Emma blinked, her mouth hanging open slightly. She stared about the tiny compartment.
"Any chance we can stay in that palace?" she suggested. "You know, the big regal one with lots of space?"
"You mean the one that has been totally demolished by the curse?" Snow reminded her. "I know it's small, but this is ideally situated. It's not far from the summer palace, which is where I banished Regina when Charming and I took the kingdoms back and defeated her the first time."
"You banished her to a palace?" Emma said, raising her eyebrows again. "Wow, that must have shown her."
"I was going to suggest we try there first," Snow continued, ignoring Emma's jibe. "But it looks like the sun is about to set, so we might want to pitch camp and wait for tomorrow. I don't want to be poking around in the dark. I honestly have no idea what kind of condition that palace will be in, if Regina is living in it once again. She may have guards or sentries."
Red was tasked with finding firewood while Snow donned her bow and sheath of arrows and took Emma on a short hike to a small pool for water, keeping an eye out for game along the way. Eventually they came across the small, shallow pond. Snow looked down into the water.
"I used to come here all the time as a little girl," she reminisced, a nostalgic haze glossing over her eyes. "I would come here whenever I felt sad or lonely. The still water comforted me. I came here after my mother died, and again when my father died. I ran here when Regina sent Graham to kill me," she said, and Emma looked up to catch her eye. "This is where he spared my life."
Emma stepped up and stood beside her, looking down at her reflection, visible in the light of the growing dusk.
"I had something similar," she shared. "Most of my host families were in cities, but once I was placed with a family in rural Michigan. They didn't have very much time for me, and eventually I got found out and sent back with the Social Worker discovered I wasn't being sent to school, but for a few months I really just ran around in the woods. There was this stream in the back yard, and I would go there, sometimes even sleep out there, just watching the water rush by. There is something very soothing about water. Especially when..." she hesitated, "...when you're feeling lonely."
"Yes," Snow agreed, truly touched at Emma sharing her memory and trying to maintain a certain emotional composure so as not to frighten her from opening up with similar stories in the future.
The two stood in a calm, peaceful silence for a moment, then Snow took a deep breath, shaking her head as if breaking from a trance.
"It's getting dark, I should really go and try to find some game," she said, readjusting her sheath on her back. "Why don't you fill the containers we brought with water and I'll meet you back here so we can walk back to camp together."
Emma was grateful for the suggestion, saving her from having to admit that she had no idea how to find her way back to the hideout, especially as the evening was growing darker. She knelt and pulled the water bottles they had brought with them from her bag, beginning to fill them.
As she was finishing, she heard a disconcerting rustling from up the bank. She froze. She heard it again, this time closer. Footsteps hurriedly coming towards her. She glanced about her, but the sun had set some time ago and already it was quite dark. She couldn't see a thing. She quickly slipped the final bottle quietly into her bag, flinging it over her shoulder as she shuffled her way, quickly and silently as possible, to hide behind some nearby bushes. She waited, trying to calm her breathing, as the footsteps came closer.
At length, someone appeared amongst the trees in the distance, hurrying forward and not seeming to pay too much attention to where he was going. As Emma squinted, she saw it was a boy. Her breath caught in her chest, irrationally hopeful as he continued in a flash, not slowing down until he was at the pool, where he dropped to his knees, skidding to a halt at the water's edge.
She heard a sniffle and realized that the boy was crying. She shifted slightly, and her heart melted as his face came into her view. There was no mistaking it, despite the red eyes and splotchy cheeks as tears continued to leak from his eyes. It was her son.
"Henry?!" Emma exclaimed, her voice hoarse with disbelief and excitement as she emerged from the bushes. Henry looked up and gasped, startled. He jumped and began to back away. "Henry, it's ok, it's me," Emma cooed, stepping forward. She wanted to wrap him in her arms, but she stopped as she saw her son continue to back away. There was no trace of recognition on his face, of joy or relief, only a startled and anxious fear. She froze, devastated, when he asked her in an uncertain stutter:
"Who are you?"
The longest chapter yet, and perhaps a bit nondescript, but I had to get us from point A to point B. Hopefully there is enough fluff and the ending is startling enough to keep you entertained until the next installment, when we dive more into Henry's strange reaction to seeing his mother.
I really appreciate all of the positive feedback, I'm so glad this story is entertaining for at least a few fans! Especially the encouragement for my writing is particularly nice, as I do like writing and it's good to know I can carry a story effectively enough. I am sorry for all the dependencies and avenues that are not explored. I'm really just writing this as I go. I know some of this is simplifying things, especially when it comes to Regina's character, but I want to make sure that the story moves forward and doesn't get too caught up in keeping track of everyone's emotions and redemptive qualities to have a moving plot line. I haven't come up with an ending yet, but rest assured I'm not a fan of endings where 'the good guys win and the bad guys lose'. That's too simple for me. I want the ending to be a happy one, and with this family dynamic that can't happen in a simple way, so I guess I'll have to get creative.
Thanks for all the support and the feedback. I hope you keep reading!