"Emma, I'm afraid if I left the Jolly Roger for too long I might never see it again," Killian explained. "I mean, my men..they are pirates."
"How about if I go check on it while you meet with your advisors," Emma suggested.
"That would be lovely but I don't want you going alone," Killian said worriedly.
"I'll go," Neal happened to be coming around the corner into the hallway where Emma and Killian were talking when he overheard their conversation. "I've always wanted to be on a pirate's ship."
Neal was excited by the prospect of meeting some pirates. He thought it would be a lark to meet some limeys. He just hoped he would never get kidnapped and held for ransom by them.
Killian felt assured when Neal stepped up to accompany Emma. He could trust her safety in her brother's hands. He told them the location of the Jolly Roger so they saddled up and rode for a couple hours to find her while Killian was holed up in a meeting with his advisors. When they saw the Jolly in the deep water harbor a few miles from the castle, they found the row boat that Killian stashed away when he came to shore. They took the row boat and as soon as they got towards the Jolly Emma saw Mr. Smee's face looking down at them. He gave the order to lower the rope ladder so they could board the ship.
"Princess Emma! Where's the Cap'n?" Mr. Smee asked with an alarmed look on his face.
As soon as Neal boarded the ship, he faced a bunch of pirates unsheathing their swords and pointing them at him. Emma immediately stood in front of her brother, waving her hands.
"Whoa! He's okay, he's with me!" Emma yelled.
Mr. Smee ordered, "Stand down, boys! Wouldn't want any blood on the deck since Fitch already swabbed it."
Neal gulped down his nerves but was still thrilled that he was on board a pirate ship. He took in all the sights and sounds of the trip. The sweat and stale smell coming off the men were something he could do without, however. He did observe that the ship was cleaner and more orderly than he assumed it would be.
"Smee, I need to speak with you in private," Emma asked.
Mr. Smee gestured towards the Captain's cabin. Emma and Neal went down to the cabin. As soon as she stepped into the room, her eyes landed on the bed they shared and she had the grace to blush as memories flooded her mind. When Smee closed the door, Emma told him about Killian awaiting trial for piracy. She explained to him what happened with King George and her marriage to Killian.
"The captain's been hitched?" Smee asked with a surprised look on his face. "To you? A princess? Blimey!"
A look of wonder followed by a smile slowly spreading across his face indicated that Smee was pleased with the news. At least the Cap'n will be in a good mood from now on, Smee thought.
"Captain Jones will not be coming back anytime soon until the trial is over and he is concerned about his ship," Emma explained.
"There are sum' men who witnessed King George's pifidy," Mr. Smee said.
Emma wondered what he meant by "pifidy," "You mean, perfidy?"
"Aye, pifidy, that would testify on the Cap'n's behalf but trusting the word of a pirate may not be in the Cap'n's favor," Smee added.
"It's better than nothing," Emma said. "Do you have everything under control, Smee?"
"Oh, aye," Smee nodded. "Fitch n' me decided to let the men who we don' trust much on shore leave. We dropped 'em off and returned with the boats."
"Good thinking, Smee,"
It seemed everything was in good order and Smee had things in hand. Emma was comfortable leaving the ship and Neal was sad to go so soon, just when he was enjoying the experience, but they had to leave. Emma took the list of names that Smee wrote down for her. She would send men out in search of them to stand at Killian's trial.
When Emma returned, she continued to attend security meetings where they received intelligence from their allies on the movements of Regina. Someone reported that they spotted her on a ship that was harbored on an island that was a two weeks journey away. It was the same ship that Emma traveled on when she was abducted by Regina. Captain Humbert was then dispatched to journey towards that island to trail the ship while other naval ships were put on high alert. Emma couldn't help but think that they would need her husband's military and combat experience. This trial needed to be over with so she could travel aboard his ship.
Killian met with his advisers mounting a defense against King George's charges, he gave them the full details of what happened. His legal advisers felt he had a chance to be dismissed of the charges once they heard his story. In fact if Killian's story was true regarding the poisonous plant, dreamshade, King George would have been guilty of crimes against humanity had he used it against his enemies. There had been a pact made between kingdoms that certain acts against civilian populations would not be tolerated during times of war and peace. King George, had got his hands on dreamshade and used it, would have violated that pact.
Emma was glad his case was coming along nicely. It eased her fears that he would be declared guilty and possibly hanged or imprisoned for a very long time.
There were still some guests that were staying at the castle. Neal had met a pretty girl named Hannah at the party who was the daughter of a Baron that lived near the border of the kingdom a week long trip away. He took a fancy to her bright blue eyes and light brown hair with red highlights and was intrigued by her vivacious spirit and good humor. Flirting came naturally to Neal and he had a natural ease about him.
That evening he managed to charm Hannah into a secret rendezvous in the palace gardens.
"So what were the pirates like?" she asked as she took a casual stroll through the paths.
"Oh, you know, missing teeth, stale breath, bad body odor, but the deck was amazingly clean," Neal marveled. "They looked fearsome enough, but I wasn't afraid. Anyway, enough about my day, how was yours? Did you miss me?"
Hannah giggled, smacking him playfully in the chest as he gave her his most cheekiest grin, "You're incorrigible, Neal."
"I'm many things, incorrigible, charming, smart, and a damn good kisser. Do you want to find out?"
Hannah's eyes became wide as saucers and her breath seemed to leave her chest.
"Okay," she breathed.
Neal then gently placed a kiss on her lips. Little by little he deepened the kiss, taking his time, not wanting to scare her away. He gently pried her lips open so he could slip his tongue ever so softly. He could feel Hannah weaken so he grasped her to him. Hannah gripped him by the shoulder and neck tightly. Before they knew it they were against the garden wall, nipping and kissing and bruising, their bodies grinding against each other for more contact.
As their breathing got louder, Neal heard voices coming closer. He tore himself away from Hannah's mouth, cursing the people that walked near their location. He didn't want Hannah and him to get discovered. He didn't want the young lady to be embarrassed if some people spied on them and then went on to gossip about what they saw, possibly casting aspersions on the young Hannah.
He started hearing a man's voice say, "We followed Princess Emma and her brother, the prince, this morning and we found it."
"Good, have your men be ready to commandeer the ship. I want my vessel back," Neal overheard what was clearly King George's voice talking to his man about the Jolly Rodger.
He signaled Hannah to keep silent while the voices faded.
Oh no! King George is planning on taking the Jolly Rodger. As much as he didn't want to leave Hannah, he needed to let his sister know of their plans.
He escorted Hannah back to the hall explaining what he knew he overheard and that he needed to tell his sister. He apologized profusely for cutting their evening short. She understood and told him to be careful as she coaxed him to hurry up and tell his sister. He left her with a kiss on the hand and ran to find his sister.
He knocked on his sister's door. He heard faint sounds of moaning on the other side and he wanted to cover his ears knowing what that sound meant. Thank goodness, she was already married. He kept banging on the door and calling Emma's name.
He heard her sister call out, "Neal, go away! I'm occupied right now!"
"It's important!"
He heard an exasperated sound, "It can't be that important! Go away!"
"It's about the Jolly Rodger!"
Then he heard silence and some sounds of getting up from bed. His sister answered the door in a huff, "What is it?"
Her face was flushed and impatient. She was wearing only a robe.
"King George found the Jolly Rodger and is going to take it tonight!"
"Bloody hell!" Killian's voice said as he stumbled out of bed. From what Neal could hear, Killian was putting on some clothes.
Once Killian was dressed, Neal was let into the room to explain what he heard.
"We need to leave and get to the Jolly," Emma said.
Killian found some more clothes to put it on.
"Killian can't leave the castle. He's under house arrest, or castle arrest, that is," Neal said.
Killian turned on him with a scowl, "It's my ship. I can't let that bastard near it."
"Fine. Then it'll be only us. We won't let the guards know, we can sneak out of the castle and we can take them by surprise," Neal offered.
"It could get ugly. I won't let my brother-in-law go into danger with me, much less my wife," Killian was firm.
"You need back up Killian," Emma said. "There's no way I'm letting you go alone. It's either us or the dungeon."
Killian stopped and stared at his wife. Even Neal was surprised, she'd threaten with throwing him in the dungeon rather than going to get his ship back on his own.
"Fine, but you stay back while I handle it," Killian gritted out. "Promise?"
"I promise, just back up," Emma smiled. She always smiled when she got her way.
Neal went to saddle up the horses while Emma and Killian snuck out through a hidden passageway in the castle. He met them at the exit and they rode off towards the Jolly.
When they got there, it was already the middle of the night. They could see from the shore that King George's men already took control of the ship. A man in uniform was patrolling the deck. This meant they couldn't go in Killian's hidden skiff. They would have to swim to the ship.
Emma was already taking her boots off and in the water before Killian could say anything. Neal and Killian followed her into the water quickly and swam towards the ship. The entire time they were worried that they might get spotted but they swam making very little ripples in the water. The moon hung low on the other side of the ship so they were hoping they had enough cover.
When Emma started to climb up the anchor cable, Killian pulled her back and signaled her to wait there so she was left to wait in the water while Killian and Neal climbed aboard the ship. She started looking around the water when her imagination ran wild.
Aren't there sharks in the water? Mermaids? Sea monsters? They could pull me under at any moment.
Emma decided to quickly pull herself up and she hid on the other side of the rail just in case, but her muscles got tired of holding her so she hoisted herself up and over the rail onto the deck. She then noticed a body lying on the deck and her heartbeat sped up fearing it was Killian or her brother. She went to inspect it and was relieved to find it was King George's soldier. She quickly bound his hands with a kerchief she found around his neck and stuffed another handkerchief in his mouth.
Then she heard swords clanging. Oh no! They've been found out!
She needed to do something to help. She crawled behind some barrels to watch the fighting. Killian was taking on two of King George's soldiers while Neal was fighting one. Emma brought her own sword just in case. She decided to cut a rope to let down a sail on top of one of the soldiers that was fighting Killian. Now it was a fair fight between Killian and the other soldier.
Emma realized that most likely Mr. Smee and the rest of the crew were being held down in the brig. If she could sneak down and release them, they could help them take back the ship.
She quickly went to the door latch and went down the ladder to the brig.
Killian spotted her in the corner of his eye and knew what she was planning to do so he quickly dispatched the soldier he was fighting and knocked him out. He went down the hatch and when he saw one of the soldiers with a dagger at Emma's throat, he was livid. The soldier was holding her by the waist inching his hand up toward her chest.
"Let her go! That's the Crown Princess you've got there! Harm one hair on her head and you start a war between kingdoms!" Killian yelled, clearly pissed off that he was manhandling his wife.
The soldier sneered, "She's not a princess! She's a pirate's whore! No lady would conduct themselves in such a manner and debase themselves by bedding a pirate!"
Killian wanted to bash that soldier's brains in, but he kept calm. He took out his pistol which he knew was useless since the gunpowder was wet but pointed it at the soldier anyway.
"How dare you insult my wife! I'm going to enjoy putting a bullet in your head!"
The soldier's bravado faltered for a tiny bit. "You wouldn't want to hurt your whore …I mean wife, would you?"
"If you want to get out of this ship alive then you remove the dagger from my wife and let her go!"
The soldier hesitated. He knew there was no way out unless he was to fight his way out. He then saw Prince Neal come down the ladder which meant his comrades were down and he was the only one left.
Emma concentrated and focused her magic.
The soldier started feeling like his hands were on fire where he touched the princess. He let go of her because the pain was too unbearable. Emma ran to the far side of the room to get as far away from the soldier as possible and to find the key to unlock the crew from the cage.
"There's no where for you to run, put your weapon down!" Killian yelled at the man.
"You'll be strung up someday pirate!"
"But not today."
The soldier finally dropped his weapon and Killian cold cocked him with the butt of his pistol.
Killian turned to look at Emma to make sure she was alright. "Emma, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, Killian," Emma assured him. She scolded herself for walking right into the soldier when she went to the brig.
Killian hugged her as soon as he saw she wasn't bleeding anywhere. He then let his crew out. Mr. Smee and the rest thanked him and went upstairs to take care of King George's soldiers. They tied them up and put them on a skiff attached to the ship. They were going to sail them to the main harbor and cut the rope letting the tide pull them into the harbor where they would be found in the morning.
Emma, Killian and Neal took one of the boats back to shore where they rode the horses back to the castle. Killian ordered Smee to drop anchor at another location. They all got back in time to the castle to catch a few hours of rest before the sun rose. No one had any clue that Killian left and Emma breathed a sigh of relief.
They are still not out of the clear yet. We still have Killian's trial and Regina.