Sorry this has taken so long to update. Sunday's episode definitely reminded me to start writing it again! That shadow creeped the hell out of me though...just sayin'.
Superdani4Ever - This story is a little AU, so Milah will have existed, but not have been Hook's one True Love. I like the idea of him finding love as a boy, as Peter Pan and sort of becoming who he was through the loss of Wendy. Milah is dead but that wasn't what made him become Hook...at least, not in my little AU world haha
Hope you like the chapter! Review, por favor? It makes me smile!
"So, shall we get to the briefing?" Wendy smiled as she gulped down the rest of her croissant, wiping the crumbs from the corner of her mouth when she was done.
Ah...the briefing. Emma had stayed up all night trying to figure out a way to tell, basically the New York version of herself, about Storybrooke...magic...Captain Hook...fairytales. She started to wonder if maybe she should enlist Henry's help but that might come off as weird to the newcomer.
She needed a plan B. But, she couldn't think of one. So, Emma decided to wing it.
"So, exactly who am I after?" Wendy asked as she got settled.
"A man named Killian Jones. He has been a very violent, destructive nuisance to this town..." Emma replied.
"He must be very dangerous...what makes you think I can find him?" Wendy asked.
"Our mayor seems to think you're fearless...you'll do anything to find what you're after. Is she right? Will you?" Emma asked.
"Of course I will." Wendy replied easily.
"Finding him is not the issue. What you need to do is distract him...keep him in line and out of trouble." Emma finished.
You're the only one who'll be able to do it...please understand...
"I'm up for the challenge." Wendy smiled.
Emma sighed and considered her next words carefully.
"This is going to come off as a bit odd...so, I'm begging you to keep an open mind and simply listen to what I'm telling you, okay?" Emma asked the brunette in front of her, casually reclining in her office chair.
"Okay..." Wendy said slowly.
Emma took a deep breath as she proceeded to unravel the facts about Storybrooke...its past...the Enchanted Forest...all of the towns inhabitants.
Snow White.
Prince Charming.
Jiminy Cricket.
Captain Hook.
The Blue Fairy.
Okay, so Emma realized how crazy she sounded. She remembered having to hear this explanation when she first got to town. It took Henry nearly dying by ingesting a poisoned apple pastry given to her by none other than The Evil Queen to finally make her believe.
"Do you think I'm crazy yet?" Emma asked, her brows knitted together closely as she watched Wendy's face.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Wendy replied as she pushed away from her desk and stood, her chair rolling a few feet behind her in her haste.
"What? No!" Emma replied, her tone beseeching.
"I can't believe I gave up everything...for a paycheck." Wendy sighed as she started gathering her things. Throwing her stuff into the very same box she had unpacked them from the day before.
"I could've been Captain had I stayed 5 more years and I gave it all away to help you here..." Wendy sighed, running a hand through her thick brown hair.
"Your mayor can keep the money..." She told Emma pointedly, her blue eyes flashing up at her showing her degree of upset.
"Wait...please, you gotta let me explain this better...I'm approaching this all wrong..." Emma sighed, pacing as she considered the drastic measure it would take to make her stay.
Magic.
She would have to see it for herself.
"I'm going back to New York. This is cra-" Wendy mumbled under her breath, tossing a small framed photograph into the box.
"Just...stay!" Emma cried out as a rush of warmth came over her body and an almost silver flash of light shot out of her and towards Wendy, immobilizing the woman where she stood.
"What the hell?!" Wendy shrieked with wide eyes.
"Good, I got your attention." Emma sighed.
"Uh, ya think?!" Wendy cried out, unable to move from the spot she was currently in, the only thing able to move was her head so she could talk.
"Well, you're as stubborn as I was...this is what it took to get my attention." The Savior shrugged.
Then, there was an extended moment of silence.
"So, what now? Do we think happy thoughts and go to Neverland?" Wendy asked sarcastically, breaking the awkward silence.
"Funny you should mention Neverland..." Emma began as Wendy groaned.
"Christ! Not you, too! What is with everything thinking I'm from there...I'm 28 years old...Peter Pan was written, when? In like 1900?" Wendy reasoned.
"Or, you could have returned from there a few years ago...time in Neverland is slower than here. Months there can feel like a minute here...or so I've been told. Well, I guess I've seen proof of it. Hook would've been dead about 10 times over by now if it weren't true..." Emma replied more to herself than to the newcomer in front of her.
"Can you, like, let me move, please? I need a drink." Wendy sighed, looking helpless in her current motionless state.
"Oh, yea...sorry." Emma replied, releasing her magical hold on the woman. Despite being released, Wendy stayed put...visibly shaken but what she had just seen and more so by what Emma was trying to say.
Could it be true?
Could she really be from Neverland?
"How can I be from there and not remember it? I think I'd remember something like that..." Wendy said, her eyes now big and confused as Emma walked over to her, gently put a hand on her shoulder and tugged her chair back over and urged her to sit. Wendy finally bent her knees and came to a very stiff sitting position, staring straight ahead.
She didn't strike Emma as the type to be shaken up by anything.
A chink in the armour, prehaps.
"Or maybe not...Neverland is a very different place. Its magic is one I am a little unfamiliar with." Emma explained as she went to her desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a glass.
"Hell, I'm barely familiar with the magic here." Emma chuckled as she poured her partner a drink and handed it to her. When Wendy didn't reach out for it, Emma set it on the desk in front of her and crouched down beside the brunette.
"So, you're really saying that I'm Wendy Darling...like, the real one." Wendy stated.
Emma nodded twice.
"From Neverland." Wendy said.
Another nod.
"Where's Peter Pan, then?" She asked.
"That part is tricky...you see, he has sort of adapted another...shall we say, persona." Emma answered carefully.
"What do you mean?" Wendy asked, turning to finally look at Emma again.
"Peter left Neverland to look for you...when he couldn't find you, he returned to Neverland. But, he had aged in his time away..." Emma began.
"He grew up?" Wendy surmised.
"Yea...and, I assume his welcoming back wasn't very warm...he became the thing Peter despised most. An adult. Hardened by heartbreak, his innocence stripped of him once he had lost his one True Love..." Emma continued, trying to remember exactly the way Regina told the story to her.
"His true love?" Wendy asked before her face softened upon realization.
"Me?" She replied.
Emma nodded.
"Who did Peter become?" She asked softly.
"He became Captain Hook." Emma answered.
"I think I'm ready for that drink now." Wendy gulped hard, her eyes darting to the desk where the drink Emma had poured her rested. Emma nodded and handed it to her, watching as she drank slowly...taking everything in and not speaking for a very long time.
"I know this is going to sound stupid, but I need more than this story to believe all of this." Wendy said softly, gesturing around her with her free hand.
"I understand." Emma replied, standing once again and leaning against Wendy's desk.
"...and I'm supposed to be cool with this all just happening around me...Snow White and Prince Charming are just chilling at a diner having lunch while Belle from Beauty and the Beast runs the town library..." Wendy finished.
"Look, I was saying the same things a year ago. I didn't believe it either. It took me finally seeing with my own eyes to finally believe. I'm doing you a favor in telling you now, this knowledge will serve you later on." Emma assured Wendy who was sitting rather stoic in front of her, grasping her drink til her knuckles turned white.
"...you made the right choice in coming here. I promise. Please...just see for yourself. Give it time. I promise, nothing I've said is a lie." Emma reassured her.
Wendy nodded.
"Why don't we pay the Mayor a visit? Maybe she can help jog your memory." The Savior suggested.
"You mean The Evil Queen?" Wendy chuckled and Emma shrugged.
"It can't hurt." She replied easily.
Wendy nodded once as she wondered to herself what the hell had she just signed up for.