Dreaming Out Loud

Stressed Out

Chapter 86: Stressed Out

"Are you sure about this?" Kevin asked, as he put the truck in park and they approached the town line.

"Yes...she may want us to take this magic far away from Storybrooke, but I'm not done with the Charmings. I don't care what she wants," Jessica spat angrily. He sighed. He wanted them to pay too, but his wife wanted to be the one twisting the knife. He was certain that they would pay with Circe free and was inclined to let her wrath take care of them. But it was much more personal for Jessica and he knew deep down, part of her even resented him for ruining their chances at a family.

Their marriage had never really been the same since they had Emma taken from their care. They had even spent years sleeping in separate bedrooms because of it, after they had been barred from fostering anymore children. Ultimately, they came to the agreement that the blame was on Emma once they met Circe, or Madam Keres at the time, as they knew her. She convinced his wife that he wasn't to blame and that it was that magical spawn and her evil parents that were the real culprits. Kevin had been grateful to Circe for that. Jessica had mostly stopped shunning and blaming him. Their marriage, which had been on the brink of divorce, healed somewhat. He wasn't really sure if there was even love between them anymore, but Jessica's new desire to see Emma and her parents pay had bolstered him as well and he chose to stay with her to see their revenge through. After all, had it not been for Emma and they had fostered an easier child with less issues, he believed none of this would have ever happened. He believed too that Emma stole their chance at a family. Had she never crossed their path, he believed that they would have been parents to another child; a normal, non-magical child, with no fairy tale parents sharing some all consuming, magical true love. He still scoffed at that. He couldn't imagine anything like that. He loved Jessica when he married her and still did to some degree, but Circe was definitely right about one thing. This all consuming, supposedly magical love was incomprehensible to him and honestly sounded like more of a burden than a blessing. In fact, seeing them both personally pay would give him a certain amount of satisfaction too.

"Okay...where are we taking this thing then?" he asked, referring to the containment cube in the trailer. She showed him the map on her phone.

"I found this on the Internet. There is this guy that has several fishing cabins along the Maine coastline in this area. He lives in Portland now and works in the city. He rarely visits any of them and says they once belonged to his grandfather, so he rents them out to make money on the side," she explained.

"This one is only fifteen miles from Storybrooke. It will be the perfect place to hide the cube and still remain close by. They'll never risk leaving Storybrooke to find it and if they do, New York will be the first place they go," she continued. He smirked.

"So actually we're safer hiding it in a place like this. They'll never suspect it," he replied. She smirked back at him.

"Exactly," she agreed, as he put the truck in gear and drove over the town line. They would return and enjoy watching this town burn...

James wandered the streets of Storybrooke late that night. He had tried sleeping, but found himself plagued by his usual insomnia. Robert...his father had implored him to seek a therapeutic or medical solution for his sleeping issues, but he had refused, stating that he was fine. After all, in the Underworld, it had been nothing a good drink hadn't been able to cure. But since being back, he was trying to stay away from alcohol. He was aware of his father's issues with drinking and how easily he himself had issues with drinking too much. He was serious about making the best of his second chance. It wasn't something that everyone got and he wasn't really sure he even deserved it.

He was well aware of the type of person he had been before his death. All the things David had ever said about him were true. He was a liar, a thief, and a grade A, asshole. He had been selfish, greedy, and an awful person that had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth and emptiness in his heart.