A/N: Enchanted Forest Reunion Post 3x11 Verse. I started it the other day at the same time as the last piece in this verse, with the intention of posting it first (for sake of chronology), but it started giving me trouble that the other one didn't about where I was going with it. And then there was the troll in our tag, so, well, I figured we could use more fic in this trying time. And then it took me days to finish so consider this late.
Emma has entwined her fingers with Graham's, and she has every intention of never letting go.
She leans into his side as they walk, the two of them at the back of the group, in a world of their own, happy to be reunited at last. She'd never expected to be able to see him again, and this- This is more than a pleasant surprise. This is... Maybe the best thing that's ever happened to her, despite the fact that she's stuck in this new world that she barely knows.
Neal and Hook both keep tossing glares in their direction, but she ignores the looks pointedly - or, well, not ignores. Each time she catches one, she burrows a little closer into his side, trying to make it clear that she is happy with her choice. Each time he catches a glare, especially those from Neal, he leans in and kisses her cheek - an act of possessiveness that she should be pissed off at, but finds herself thoroughly enjoying.
"So- Where are we headed?" he asks after an hour or so of almost-pointless catching up, talking about little things that had happened in Storybrooke that don't even matter anymore. Between his tone and the fact that he knows this world, she knows he didn't have to ask.
"Mary Margaret and David said something about Regina's palace," she admits, "But I was thinking you and me could sneak away, you know." She had, one night after the curse had broken when she couldn't sleep, read some of Henry's book. She knows something of what Graham went through, not everything, but enough. She doesn't want to force him to go back there.
"Emma, I know you don't want to leave Henry, and he'll be safest there," Graham shakes his head at the idea, "Too many monsters out here in the wild."
"What about you?" she asks, dead serious as she's ever been, "Graham, I know I don't know everything, but I know she... Caged you in that place. You shouldn't have to go back there."
He stops walking, pulling her into a tight embrace.
"It's okay, sweetheart," he murmurs in her ear gently, "Yes, there's a lot of bad memories there- But at the moment, it's the better option. Can you trust my judgment on that?"
"Of course I trust your judgment, but if you're going to be uncomfortable at all- I mean, you'd have good reason, really good reason-"
"Hey," he pulls back, cupping her face gently, "You and Henry are my pack. The safety of the pack comes first. Even if that's- There."
"Are you sure?" she is skeptical that he's really as fine with it as he acts, and she doesn't want him to pretend just for her sake.
"I'd rather not stay there forever," he admits, holding her like he had been as they start to walk again, to make sure they didn't lose the others, "But for a while- Until we find a better option- I can deal with it. As long as we're as far from- From her as we can get. And the cells."
She frowns, a mental image of him trapped in a cell like some animal forming in her head. There was no excuse for treating a human being like that, and he- He had suffered for years. He had suffered for years and she can do nothing because Henry would hate to see his mothers fighting and, beyond that, if she knows Mary Margaret, Regina's help in Neverland, and stopping Pan's curse, and finding a way for her, and Henry, and Ashley's daughter to come to this world instead of being stuck there with no memories - Regina's help in those areas would mean that Mary Margaret will be expecting her to play nice as well. That doesn't stop her from wanting to tear the other woman apart with her bare hands. She made Graham suffer for years and she killed him and- Really, Emma is sure she can never know the full extent of it, but she knows that it was horrible.
"We'll talk to Mary Margaret and David about that, then," she declares firmly. She may not be able to get revenge, but she can do everything in her power to make sure that he was as comfortable as he could be even in an uncomfortable environment.
"And when rebuilding starts, we can see if anyone will make us our own place. Maybe close to the woods," he smiles as he says it, his eyes lighting at the thought of the woods, and she remembers the book and that moment when they were looking for David when he called the forest "his world."
She has to admit, the idea of their own place is alluring. Scary, too, but that's because every other time she's really gotten her hopes up for something like that, for a home, everything has been pulled out from under her. But the idea, combined with the look in his eyes just thinking about it... It's almost enough to make the fear... Not matter.
"Good idea. I'm not exactly 'princess in a castle' material," she agrees, looking down at the dress that the magic had put her in. They'd arrived in the Enchanted Forest and she'd suddenly had the blanket and her red jacket in her arms, and been in this completely impractical blue dress that was basically a ballgown, full skirted and everything... And his old leather jacket. She'd hoped that someone could find some more normal clothes for her, but then she'd noticed how wistfully Mary Margaret and David were staring at her in the dress, realized that seeing her like this had been one of their greatest wishes, and decided not to push it and ask for the change yet.
Thankfully, his shoelace is still around her wrist. If she'd lost that in the transition... Well, she hadn't known he was alive at that point, and she would have been incredibly hurt if she'd lost that connection to him.
"You are an amazing princess," he argues, "You're beautiful, and good. Brave. A hero. Smart. Tough. Loving. You don't back down when things get hard, you fight for what's right-"
"I get it," she cuts in, "You really like me. Doesn't mean I'm going to like living in a freaking castle. Henry, he'll love it. But me? No. That's not my thing."
"Really like is a bit of an understatement, Em."
"I know- But I'm not ready for the other word yet, Graham."
"When you are," he leans in to whisper in her ear, "I will be there to say it to you. As often or as rarely as you need. For the rest of our lives."