AN: Thank you for the reviews, and thank you to ChealsP1013 for helping me with this chapter; this chapter is a continuation of the previous one, read and review please. As it would be greatly appreciated, MysteryFan1997
Disclaimer, I do not own any of the characters from OUAT
Ch16 - The Other Shoe Pt2
My heart clenched again, as I realised I wouldn't be able to give him that; I wouldn't be able to give him a baby, or a family of our own...
I watched as he interacted with Alexandra, he would be a great dad; I mean, he's been great with Henry. I swallowed softly, as Thomas came over; he smiled at Ashley, who turned and thanked Killian.
As they got up to leave, she smiled at me; before they left, I made my way over to Killian. Sitting beside him, I grinned; before speaking.
"That was adorable, you're really great with kids"
He huffed, as he spoke.
"Pirates are not adorable Swan, especially this one..."
He trailed off, as I I giggled; before speaking again.
"Well, I happen to think that you are; and it's cute"
I watched his face, as his expression changed; he smiled, before he spoke again.
"I'll show you cute..."
I laughed, as I spoke; in a slightly mocking tone.
"Oh, I'm so scared"
He smirked, before he leaned down; his head, burrowing into my neck. I laughed softly, as I tried to prize his head away from my neck; he laughed at my efforts.
I spoke, while laughing.
"Killian, stop..."
His words muffled against my skin, I squirmed; he finally relented. He looked at me, before placing a soft kiss on my lips; I grinned into it.
He pulled back, and I noticed he looked happy; and my heart sank a little, as I wasn't sure if it was because of our kiss or because spending time with Alexandra has made him think of our future.
What if he wants that future to include children, and that's something I can't give him; because of these visions, I peered up at him.
I then spoke.
"I...I uh, have another session with Archie in a couple of minutes, so I'll see you later"
He nodded, before kissing my forehead; I smiled, as I moved to leave. I got to the door, turning slightly; to smile at him again, before walking out.
I didn't actually have a session, but I hoped when I got there; he would be free, as I need to talk to someone. As I made the short journey, I kept thinking about the future; one I wouldn't be part of.
I climbed the stairs, that led to his office; opening the door, only to realise that he was in session with Leroy. I spoke quickly.
"Archie! Oh...Sorry, I can come back later..."
He spoke.
"Oh, no need; um, we were just wrapping up..."
Leroy spoke.
"Wrapping up? I paid for an hour; we haven't even gotten to the work stuff. I mean, I'm stuck toiling in the mines; and Dopey goes off and gets his master's degree? Now, I got to pick up his slack? He's flirting with coeds"
I must have looked as confused as I sounded, as I spoke.
"I thought Dopey was a tree?"
He looked at me, before speaking again.
"No, we got him out weeks ago"
I spoke again.
"Really?
He answered me.
"Yeah...you think we sit around waiting, for you to everything?"
My eyes widened at that, as he left; I turned, as I tried to find the right words. I studied Archie's bookshelf, as he spoke.
"Um...you want to sit down?"
I sighed internally, before speaking.
"No..."
He continued.
"Last time you were here, you were worried about Regina"
I stared out the window, as I spoke.
"I don't want to talk about Regina..."
He spoke again.
"But you want to talk about something?...Ok well that's good, that's progress..." He laughed softly, as he spoke. "Go on..."
I spoke, trying my best to keep my tone light.
"You know I'm not a jealous person..." he interrupted me "But?" I sighed, before continuing. "But seeing Ashley today, with her perfectly happy family..." He spoke again "Made you jealous?"
I sighed, as he continued.
"Because...because you're not happy?"
I tried to stay calm, as I answered him.
"No, because I am happy and I know that's going away! That vision, of my future; my number is up, and every time I think about it...then that thing happens..." I raised my hand while staring at it in disgust, before continuing. "And my magic goes away..."
He sighed softly, before speaking again.
"The mind has a profound effect, on the body; whenever I get nervous, I get hives"
Seriously? That's so not the same thing, as this; I spoke.
"My magic doesn't have hives, my magic is failing!"
I sighed again, before flopping onto the couch; frustration seeping through my body, as I did. I heard Archie sigh, as he spoke.
"Ok, Emma; um...let's just say it is ok? Is that a reason to stop striving for what you want? Emma, any day; I could walk out that door and get hit by a bus, but that hasn't stopped me from walking out the door"
I scoffed mentally, as I spoke again.
"This is not about a bus, it's very hard to keep this secret from my family; like Hook and me, we should be living together...he wants to, I want to; Hook's waiting for me to ask him..."
Archie spoke again.
"So why don't you?"
I sighed, before answering him.
"Because, he deserves a future; and I can't give that to him, I feel like a fraud. This happiness is an illusion, I went and fought for everyone else's happy endings, and then...I don't get mine"
I felt tears build up in my eyes, as I said that; and it was frustrating, because Killian was sent back to be with me and now I can't even give him a future. We'll never get our happy ending.
Archie sighed, as he spoke.
"Emma, maybe it's not about how you end things; maybe it's about how, you live them"
I sighed, before thanking him; I got up, smiling at him as I left. I know he's right, I just need to make use of the time I have left.
I made my way back into town, and I heard someone call my name. "Emma..." I looked, and I realised it was Thomas; and he had Alexandra.
So where's Ashley? That's when I noticed he looked panicked; I spoke.
"Thomas, are you alright?"
He shook his head, before answering.
"It's Ashley, I went to drop Alex home; and she wasn't there, but I found this..."
He handed me a note, I looked at it; as he spoke.
"Clorinda, was on the newcomer list; she's in Storybrooke..."
I read the last few lines out loud.
"And I have to find her, before it's too late"
I looked at him, as he spoke again.
"Clorinda, was...I guess, you'd call her the evil stepsister..."
I sighed, as I spoke.
"Do you think, she's gonna hurt Ashley?"
He sighed softly, before answering.
"More like, the other way around; my hunting riffle is missing"
I shook my head, as I tried to comprehend what he just said; I then spoke again.
"Wait...you think that Cinderella's gonna kill her stepsister?"
He nodded quickly, as he answered.
"Some scars don't heal, you know?"
I nodded, understanding completely; and I knew he had a point, I sighed. I turned to walk away, and he spoke.
"Where are you going?"
I continued walking, as I spoke.
"To find her"
He questioned me.
"How?"
I turned to face him, speaking as I did.
"The way you find Cinderella..." I conjured up a shoe, Ashley's shoe to be exact. "With her shoe..."
He smiled, silently thanking me; I smiled, before walking off. I lifted my phone from my pocket, unlocking it; before calling Killian.
He answered immediately.
"Swan...Is everything alright?"
I smiled, before answering.
"Yeah, everything's fine; I'm fine, but the same can't be said for Ashley"
He spoke.
"What do you mean?"
I sighed, before explaining.
"I ran into Thomas, he told me that Ashley found out that her stepsister is here; she's one of the newcomers, and apparently she has to find her before it's too late...and she's taken Thomas's hunting riffle"
There was a pause, before he spoke again.
"I take it, by your tone; that we should find her, before something happens"
I smiled, before speaking.
"That's exactly what we're going to do, are you still at Granny's?"
He replied.
"Yes, I'm here with your boy; are you on your way here?"
I spoke.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a couple of minutes"
He told me, he'd see me soon; we ended the call, as I made the short journey to Granny's. When I got there, I noticed Henry first; and then Killian, as they were duelling.
I smiled internally, as I noticed they weren't fighting with swords; but with sticks, I heard Killian speak.
"Swan, see that parry? Think, he's finally getting the hang of it..." He stopped, as he playfully jabbed Henry. I smiled, walking towards them; as I spoke.
"Oh yeah, what are you doing here Henry?"
He looked at me, before speaking.
"Hook, told me; you two were going to find Ashley, I thought I could help"
Killian smiled, as I spoke.
"Was this your idea? Some sort of weird, pirate; teaches him to be a man thing?"
He smiled at me, as turned to look at Henry; before speaking, in a light teasing manner.
"No, this was all his idea; he said it was a...what did you call it?"
Henry spoke.
"Mother, Son bonding"
Killian smiled at me again, as he remembered.
"Ah yes..."
I smiled at them, before speaking.
"Alright, Operation Cobra part two; every shoe, belongs to a foot. And this one, will take us; right to her..."
I turned, before throwing the shoe into the air; the magic carrying it down the street. We broke into a run, while following it.
As we followed it, I silently hoped that; I wouldn't be overcome with a vision, as it would cause the magic surrounding the shoe to fail.
It led us to the docks, it disappeared around the corner; the shoe worked, I looked up, and noticed that Ashley was in front of us, she had the riffle trained on us.
I spoke.
"Ashley! What are you doing?"
She raised her voice, before speaking.
"Go away!"
I spoke again.
"We're your friends, why are you threatening us?"
She cocked the gun, before speaking again.
"Look, I don't want to hurt you; there's just something I have to do, just as soon as I figure out where my sister's hidden herself"
I moved closer, while speaking.
"We cannot let you hurt her"
Ashley looked perplexed, as she spoke.
"Hurt her? No you've got it all wrong, I'm not trying to hurt Clorinda; I'm trying to help her..."
Henry spoke this time.
"Why? She's your wicked stepsister"
He's got a point there, Ashley spoke again.
"You don't know the real story...in the end, Clorinda wasn't the wicked sister...I was"
Ashley wicked? There's no way, this had to be a misunderstanding. I spoke.
"So you did something bad, we've done a lot of bad things; a long time ago, I told you if people saw you a certain way, you had to punch back and show them who you are. If you see yourself, a certain way; punch back, and see yourself differently..."
She looked at me, and I could see the fear in her eyes; as I spoke again.
"You can change this, you can fix this; whatever it is, I can help you"
She shook her head, as she spoke.
"No, but that's the thing; you just said it, I have to throw the first punch. That's why I came out here alone, you can't do it for me this time; do you know how if feels, when you know all your happiness is a lie?"
I knew exactly what she meant by that, so when I spoke; it was barely above a whisper.
"Yeah I do"
Ashley's facial expression changed, as her gaze fell to my hand; which had started to shake again, I really thought that wouldn't happen anymore. Apparently it's still happening, I raised my hand; to stop the shaking, as Ashley turned to leave.
Killian spoke.
"Swan?...Swan, stop her; use your magic!"
I sighed internally, as my thoughts raced; "I would if I could" I felt him, as he stood beside me; I spoke.
"I can't..."
He reached out, while speaking. "Hey..." he grabbed my hand, taking it in his; as I spoke again. "I'm sorry, I can't..." He held my hand, as he spoke. "Hey, it's ok..."
He pulled me into his arms, and I leaned into his embrace; I really thought the tremors were gone, because I talked about them to Archie. And talking about what's bothering you, is supposed to help stop things; like this from happening.
I guess, he was wrong; they're never going to stop, so I guess that I should just get used to them happening more frequently...
TBC
Part 3 will be published in a couple of days