Mostly just fluff again, the adventure will return soon enough, I promise.
As always Please review
:)
David watched as "Junior" sat on his Daughter's knee and practically inhaled his food all the while chatting away like there wasn't enough time left on Earth to discuss everything that he had to talk about. David gave a chuckle when the Kid suddenly leapt to the floor again and did a little happy dance as Emma stood up.
"When I am going to see Henry and Gina?" he giggled as he came up onto his tiptoes and peered into the bag that Emma was putting the empty take out cartons in.
"Soon Kid, Grandma is going to drop you off when she heads home but before you go we need to talk about something"
Junior dropped back down to the floor and looked up at her with a worried look.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Nope but my friend Archie is coming in to see Hook. Archie helps Hook with his bad dreams, he helps him to try and make them better by talking about them. They talk about all kinds of things and I just wondered if you wanted to talk to him too."
Junior looked unsure at the thought of talking to yet another stranger but when he looked towards David he made sure to give the Kid a reassuring nod of his head and it seemed to work as the kid turned back to Emma with a nod of his own.
"Great, Archie is a good man. He helped Henry when he was having a rough time. You can trust him, I promise"
Junior seemed a bit quiet after that, he wandered across to the window and looked out across the parking lot just staring at the outside world with a little frown on his face. Emma and Mary-Margaret were chatting back and forth but David could see that Emma was watching the kid closely. After a while she made to get up to go to him but David moved first, he gave her a smile and motioned her to stay where she was as he slowly walked across the room to come down on his knees to kneel next to Junior. David rested his arms on the window sill and stared out the window too.
"What you seeing Kid?"
He had expected him just to say nothing in particular but the boy looked him right in the eye and the words that came out of his mouth had David's jaw hanging open.
"Cirrostratus, Nimbostatus, Cumulonimbus and Stratocumulus"
"You've lost me Kid" David chuckled
But Junior looked just as confused by David's statement, he raised that damned eyebrow and looked at him like he was an idiot.
"I have not lost you Grandpa, you are right here!"
Everyone laughed and Junior looked even more confused so David explained quickly before the boy took it to heart.
"Saying "You've lost me" is just another way of saying that you are confused, I didn't understand what you said when I asked you what you were seeing"
"Ooooohhhh" Junior said with a giggle "The clouds"
He looked back out the window again and pointed to the sky
"I like to watch them, they are the same over land or sea so it doesn't feel so strange that the ground is not moving, I miss the sea."
"You'll get used to it Kid, it might just take a while." David said with a reassuring chuck to Junior's chin "Now where did you learn all those fancy names for the clouds?"
The kid just shrugged and said "I do not know, I have always just known their names"
He went back to staring and David joined him for a while before peeking to the side to watch the Kid, his eyes never stopped moving, they danced around everywhere taking in every little thing that was going on outside and David felt like he was seeing a little snippet of how Hook's mind worked. Hook was always so guarded about how he saw the world but Junior had not learnt that skill yet, he was pretty much an open book and David found it intriguing.
"Is that Archie?" Junior suddenly asked pointing down to the Cricket as he walked towards the building.
"How did you know that?" David asked in awe
Again the kid shrugged but he had a little smirk on his face, yeah he was already developing that sneaky mind of his. David looked back out the window and narrowed his eyes, how had he known?
But Junior was obviously done, he skipped his way back across to Emma before crawling his way up onto her knee and just sat watching the door until it pushed open.
"Good Afternoon all, what a beautiful day it has turned out to be" Archie cried with a happy smile, he lent his umbrella against the wall then pulled off his suit jacket and placed in on the table before rolling up his shirt sleeves "I think I may need to carry that on the way home, it's a might warm to be wearing it"
Junior was sitting gripping onto Emma's top again, he didn't look scared maybe just a little unsure but as Archie walked forward the Kid lent back into Emma's arms a little. Archie just gave him a huge smile and bent down sticking his hand out
"You must be Killian, I am Archie, I'm please to meet you"
Junior looked up at Emma with a little frown on his face, he didn't look happy and Emma seemed to know why, she gave a little chuckle and said
"Archie, this is Junior and you wouldn't believe that half an hour ago he was practically bouncing off the walls. It's OK Kid, Archie is our friend"
"Junior you say, that's a fine strong name. One to be proud of" Archie stood back up and let his eyebrows raise high on his head as if he were impressed.
Junior's little chest puffed up and he gave a grin before hopping off Emma's knee and holding his hand out to shake Archie's hand before he turned on his heels and ran back towards Hook's bed speaking in a hushed tone.
"Come see Hook but you will have to be quiet, he is still sleeping. When will he wake Swan?"
"I don't know Kid, why don't you talk with Archie until he does then you can all talk together"
But Junior all of a sudden didn't seem so keen, he came back to Emma's side taking hold of her hand and looking up at her with big wide eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you" Emma said quickly "Come on, let's sit down"
She pulled the Kid up into her arms then dropped back down into the seat pulling him into her lap before giving him a slight tickle, the kid squirmed away trying not to laugh but in the next second David's gaze jumped to the bed when the Pirate spoke.
"Poor form Swan, you know where all his weak points are"
Emma looked up at him with a loving smile and replied "Yeah I do but I have to be careful... he still has all ten fingers, if he goes for the counter attack I'm gonna be in trouble" she finished with another tickle to the Kid's side and he squealed with laughter, David couldn't help but laugh too, the kid seemed happy.
Hook struggled to sit himself up a bit wincing as the movement obviously pulled on his ribs so David moved to help him whispering to him as he leant across the bed.
"You OK, with speaking to Archie and the Kid I mean"
"Aye Mate... I think it's time that I finally figure out how to stop these attacks... the boy, he... he knows everything." Hook gave a gulp, his eyes moved about nervously before meeting David's gaze again "He has seen my dreams David, he's felt my pain... I don't want that for him. He deserves a better start to life than I had and I am going to do my damnedest to give it to him, to make sure that he never feels like I did as a boy"
David gave Hook's arm a reassuring pat "You want me and Mary-Margaret to go? Leave you guys to it?"
David had expected Hook to nod but the Pirate surprised him when he shook his head "I want you to stay, I want your insight, both of you. I mean what I say, I need these attacks to stop. I trust you and you need to know everything if you are to help the boy through this"
David blinked a few times, totally stunned at what he had just heard.
"You sure?"
"Aye Mate" Hook gave him a sincere smile before talking to he Kid "Right Junior Jones, I have a space on this bed who do you think would fit in it?"
"ME, ME!" Junior cried out hopping off Emma's knee again and darting around the bed where he scrambled up onto the mattress before settling himself into Hook's side.
"OK" Archie said to everyone "So who wants to start?"
And with that they started and David sat listening intently as Hook poured out his very soul, he spoke of his childhood, of the things that both he and Junior had endured at such a young age. At one point Snow reached over and grasped David's hand as Junior told his version and how he had felt when he was taken from his Liam, the boy seemed to be relaxed and willing to share obviously taking lead from the Pirate's honesty but before David knew it Archie was standing up to go.
"You all did well, I think we made good progress here today and as for you Junior your Brother would be very proud of the way you are handling this"
"Thank you Sir" Junior looked so pleased with himself as he sat leaning back against Hook "Can we do this again? It makes my head feel less scared"
David didn't know if the kid had meant his head or if he was referring to Hook's but either way this had helped both of them so it didn't matter.
"I do believe that we are scheduled for another visit on Monday, perhaps next time you can come to my office. That way you can meet my dog, Pongo"
"A dog!" Junior cried out sitting up straighter "I have never met a dog, I have only seen them in books. Can I come and meet it now?"
"Calm down Kid" Emma chuckled "You'll meet him on Monday, you're going to stay at Regina's remember"
"Aye, Gina... Gina and Henry"
Junior was back to bouncing on the bed again but he was being cautious not to get to close to Hook's leg so David left him but he suddenly stopped and looked at Archie with another frown of confusion
"Why do you have that?"
David turned to see that the boy was pointing at Archie's umbrella.
"It's to keep off the rain" Archie answered with a smile as he picked the umbrella up and tucked it under his arm.
"But it's not raining" Junior replied looking out the window
Archie gave a laugh "Very observant my boy, can I let you into a secret?"
"Aye" Junior nodded vigorously
"It brings me comfort, it is something I have had for a very long time and I like to keep it with me no matter the weather."
Junior gave a little nod of understanding before looking at Hook "Like Mother's ring. I wish I still had it but it was under my pillow, it is gone"
"Well that is not strictly true" Hook suddenly said with an eyebrow high on his head before looking to David and saying "David, can you help?"
David went straight to the small cabinet and opened it, it took only seconds to find the Pirate's necklace that Emma had threaded his rings onto. He grabbed it and stood quickly handing it to Hook who held it straight out to the boy.
"Here, you can keep these safe for me for the moment and once I am out of here we will get you a chain of your own to put Mother's ring on"
Junior took hold of the necklace and just held it in his hand for a minute staring in wonder.
"You still have it?"
"Aye Lad and now it is back with you, keep it safe"
"I will, thank you"
Junior pulled the necklace over his head before slowly crawling forward and tucking himself back into Hook's side where he immediately took hold of the necklace and looked at it more closely, the boy tipped his head to the side so that he was leaning further into the Pirate but his eyes danced in wonder as he studied the skull and crossbones that he gently turned in his fingers.
David looked back to Hook with a smile on his face only to find the Pirate sleeping again, David couldn't blame him, he looked exhausted... hopefully today's attack would be the last but somehow David knew that it wouldn't be, this was going to take time.
He sighed heavily as Mary-Margaret came up to his side and gave him a sad smile, he could see the tears in her eyes as she spoke so he pulled her into a hug
"I had no idea what he had been through, what they have both been through."
They just stood watching Junior as he mumbled to himself, he looked at each thing on the necklace in turn like they were precious jewels.
"I know but now we do and Hook's right, it will make it easier for us to understand Junior. That Kid is gonna need us" David whispered to Snow
Emma wandered over and tucked herself into David's other side, he dropped a kiss into her hair and asked
"You OK?"
"I will be. That was tough but I think it will help. He talked about things he'd not even told me and he did that for Junior, he really doesn't want the kid to keep suffering because of him"
Just then the Pirate in question gave a jerk in his sleep and his brow furrowed, without even looking up Junior took hold of Hook's stump and pulled it to his front. David smiled at the sight but it didn't end there, the kid suddenly started to sing in a low voice and in an instant Hook's features smoothed out and he settled back into sleep. Junior finished his little song then looked across to Emma and whispered.
"I won't let the bad boys hurt him Swan, the song helps to keep them away"