He was on cloud nine. He was confident that he wasn't actually walking Belle back to her library, where she was going to spend the rest of the day doing what she did best and letting him do what he needed to do…he was floating. It wasn't possible. It wasn't probable that, in the end, all would work out as he'd wanted it to. Not without some kind of divine intervention. Perhaps this was all part of the plan. In the Underworld, the Seer had said that in helping one of their own, the Fates would make sure that his own fate was resolved. And that last part of the prophecy, about the Darkest Curse of all resting with an uncorrupted guardian. Perhaps this was it.
He felt like celebrating…until a familiar sensation tickled the back of his mind as he and Belle crept closer to the library.
Someone was on his property. In his shop. Non-magical so it took a moment to sniff him out but when he did…it was the pirate.
His first instinct would always be to kill, especially after yesterday. But given his mood and the fact that everything felt like it just kept falling into his lap, he decided to take a calmer, more curious approach with the cur.
"What do you say we celebrate tonight?" he asked as he dropped Belle at the library door so she could unlock it.
"Celebrate what?" she laughed, turning to look at him.
"Everything. Us. The library. You. Let's just have a night in, a date night. We'll leave work early, go home, and…make up for the time I deprived us of last night."
A smile grew on her lips. "I could pick us up some burgers at Granny's, make everything nice and easy for us."
"I can look forward to 'nice and easy.'"
Her cheeks turned red as she nodded. "That sounds like a great idea."
He barely let her get the words out before he stepped forward and kissed her full on the mouth for everyone getting back to work from their lunch break to see. He left her smiling and happy, just as he always wanted to. Then turned his attention to his shop and the alarm still ringing in his head. Now, he had a pirate to take care of.
He saw no reason to burst into the shop or use the element of surprise. There would be no need. The closer he got to his shop, the more obvious it was that, once again, the lock had been tampered with. At least it wasn't magic this time.
With a wave of his hand, he fixed the lock and noted with a glance through the window that Hook was there, sitting atop the glass case at the opposite end of the store, tossing some bauble or other into the air and catching again and again on repeat as if he was just casually filling the time. It was lucky for him those glass cases were enchanted, otherwise they might not have held his weight and found himself in quite a bit of trouble. Although, on second thought, he was sorely tempted to unenchant it for the entertainment of watching him fall…
He dismissed that thought quickly. Hook wasn't worthy of that kind of energy.
"Making yourself at home, are we?" he hissed after unlocking the door like a civilized human being.
"I'm here to make another deal," he informed him, setting the bauble aside.
"Not interested."
"Oh, you will be unless you want Belle to learn the truth about your precious dagger."
Fuck, he knew helping wouldn't have been the end of that!
"Tread carefully!" he growled, advancing toward him just to feel his heart begin to race. He knew he wasn't as brave as he made himself out to be. "I might just take your other hand.".
"It's funny you say that 'cause my hand is exactly what I'm here about."
"Come to ask me to take the other because that I'll happily do."
"Quite the opposite." Hook suddenly leaned forward, thrusting his hooked arm toward him as if to threaten or provide an example. "I want you to fix what you broke."
That got a smirk out of him. The pirate was predictable, at least. He was only surprised this conversation had taken as long as he had after he'd helped Dr. Whale a year ago.
"Well…that request took you long enough."
"Request? What request would that be, exactly?" he questioned, drawing away from him.
His smirk grew into a full smile. Did he really not know? Was this all just a coincidence, and he'd just expected him to make him a hand out of sheer magic? "Wait, right there…" he warned before disappearing into the back room.
It sat in the most cluttered corner of his shop, out of sight and out of mind, probably because Mr. Gold had assumed that it was a specimen a Dr. had sold to him once, and he was never one to turn down any deal, even for human flesh. But there it was. Tucked out of sight, suspended in preservation just as it had been the day he'd lobbed it off, was the left hand of Killian Jones. He pulled it off the shelf and glanced over his shoulder, careful to make sure the pirate hadn't followed him back before he set it down on the table he'd been working at last night.
He had to be careful about this, very careful. Whether he liked it or not, Hook had gleaned something from him that he'd rather not anyone know, least of all the pirate. Hook was likely to milk this blackmail thing for all it was worth. The easiest solution would have been to kill him; dead men certainly never did tell tales and obviously Hook was overlooking that possibility in his threats. The second easiest solution, of course, would be to trick him somehow, do something to keep him quiet and forget what he suspected he'd stumbled into.
But things couldn't fall into his lap this easily just for the pirate to take it away by tattle-telling to his girlfriend. Or worse, his wife. No, he could kill him, but what he had in mind was better. Revenge was always better. It tasted sweeter. And he never passed up the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson.
Intent on his chosen course of action, he carried the preserved hand back out into the main shop where Hook was still waiting and set it down on the table between them. Hook's eyes widened in immediate recognition, and he leaned in closer as if expecting to find that it wasn't what he thought it was. But he wouldn't. What was the phrase? "To know something like the back of one's hand?" He had a feeling the pirate would know the front just as well as the back.
"You kept it all these years?" he breathed in shock.
"Only to remind myself I should have finished the job when I had the chance," he lied. Or at least he thought he was lying. It had been so long ago that he couldn't honestly remember why he'd kept the hand in the moment. He'd only known that as time had gone by, he'd kept it as a reminder that Hook was still out there in the world, knowing that one day their paths would cross. Maybe even that he'd be imperative to his future. Suddenly he was glad his past self had the foresight never to throw anything away.
"Can you reattach it?"
He nearly laughed. Easy. "Indeed. But the question is, why?"
"I've got a date with Emma."
Suddenly, the fries he'd consumed with Belle turned in his stomach.
"Should things go well, and she wants me to hold her, I want to use both hands."
And now he wanted to vomit.
"Oh, I see blackmail brings out the romantic in you," he declared, seeing the perfect opportunity he was looking for. Hook and Emma were going to go on a date. He couldn't let it bother him. Now that Bae was dead, there was no point. "But this hand may bring out the worst."
"What the devil does that mean?"
Leave it to a pirate to take the bait. He wouldn't need magic at all. Only to plant the idea. "This hand belonged to the man you used to be…cunning, selfish pirate. If I reunite this with your body, there's no telling what influence it could have on you."
The pirate looked down at the jar, his heartbeat picking up just a bit before-
He laughed. His mouth twisted into a smile, and when he looked back up at him, he chuckled to himself uneasily, pointing and shaking a finger at him. "Sorry, Dark One, I'm not gonna fall for your tricks today. Nothing can change me back." His expression grew serious again as he reached for the hook on his arm and gave it a twist before placing it down on the table between them. "Now give me my hand, or Belle finds out exactly who she's married to, because unlike me…you haven't changed one bit…Crocodile."
Or so he thought. Just as he thought that the warning he'd given him was supposed to make him want to abandon the idea of having ten fingers again, when, in fact, his rejection of it was all part of the plan. He didn't need him to reject the idea. He just needed him to have it in his mind.
"Very well," he growled, trying to sound angry instead of ecstatic. He wanted Hook to think exactly what Hook thought as he summoned his magic and, after a few extra flourishes, put the hand back in the place it had once occupied on his arm.
It was wet from the preservation, but Hook turned his wrist this way and that, made a fist, and examined each fingernail and joint before he smiled in pleasure.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," he added sinisterly. The pirate's smile vanished as he looked over at him, then left for the door. Now it was his turn to smile. Perfect.
Ick! I'm so sorry, this scene just didn't translate well from screen to page. My apologies, sometimes that happens. So, Hook has now entered the picture. and of course we know that with his arrival, Dove takes a backseat. It's sad, but as I explained previously, it's necessary for the next few seasons.
Thank you Grace5231973 and Rsbeall12 for your reviews of the previous chapters. I'm glad you liked it and I hope that you'll like some of these upcoming chapters which feature Rumple finally tracking down the Apprentice. I had one heck of a time figuring out how to have Rumple find him and in the end I really loved what I came up with and I hope that you will too! Peace and Happy Reading!