Once Upon a Time in Storybrooke - OUAT DR

Chapter 17 - It's Salt Good

I had contacted my family and let them know I was safe, my "quest" was successful, and I had gotten all of their messages and would be ready to meet them once everyone was up and around in the morning. 

Sleep couldn't come quickly enough.

The next morning Emma came by and told me she was glad I was safe and everyone was meeting at Granny's for a family breakfast and she caught me up on everything I'd missed while I'd been fetching the pirate. 

Neal had decided to stick around, he wanted to get to know Henry. Plus, after his dad's near-death experience the day before, Emma suspected he would be willing to give Gold a second chance and see what happened if Gold met him halfway. 

She asked about my trip and I told her it was fine, I told Hook to get therapy and she told me she was proud of me, and sorry she hadn't taken my warnings more seriously. Neal apparently had a fiance, Tamara, and she had gotten to the apartment not half an hour after me. If I hadn't gotten there when I did she would have found Hook and then there would have been no telling what could have happened. I asked if she'd informed our parents of this fact and she assured me she had, they also understood.

I finished getting ready and we headed across the street where Henry was waiting for Emma and the two bounded inside. Snow came over and gave me a hug and told me she was glad I was back and safe. We walked inside, David behind us, and Emma did introductions with Neal. I shook his hand, still unimpressed. 

As we ate, however, I noticed a few glances between him and Emma and decided I was definitely going to be interrogating her later to give me the full story - I was clearly missing some key details. Neal asked how the drive was, and David threw in his agreement and curiosity as to where the pirate was now. Snow White interrupted them both and made me promise not to leave them like that again and I told her I'd make no such promises - if leaving meant doing the right thing for my family, I would always choose what was right for my family. Leaving Hook in New York would have been dangerous - he'd proved he's resourceful and we didn't want to risk someone like that falling into police custody or some other unexpected foe that was inevitably going to come out of the woodwork. It was the only way to keep Storybrooke safe. 

We all agreed that what was done was done, what mattered now was forging ahead and learning how to be a family. We also had to decide if we included Regina as part of that family. She had proven herself with her mother and giving her back her heart - even if she didn't know what the consequences of that action would be. She was conflicted, but she had done the right thing for Henry. That earned her a lot with our family, and with Henry, but not enough for everyone to welcome her in without caution. And then there were the magic beans that Anton and the dwarves were growing in that field to consider. They had been growing them for a while now, but I hadn't heard many updates with everything that had been going on lately. I wasn't even sure if Emma knew about them yet.

They agreed that with the pirate running loose in Storybrooke and the Dark One at full power we needed to be on our guard. The first step was figuring out where the pirate was. They told me where they had left the Jolly Roger and Emma and I headed that way, leaving Henry with Neal while we looked for Hook, letting the two bond. 

On our walk to the docks, we talked. I missed how much we used to talk before everything happened and life got turned into a fairytale. She agreed to start coming over to my apartment more and we'd definitely enjoy some porch time soon. Before I knew it we had gotten to the docks and Emma showed me where they had docked the Jolly Roger.

He wasn't on his ship, though, and nobody had seen him about the docks. Emma got a call from Neal and needed to go so I agreed to stay aboard the ship in case the pirate turned up, see if I could find any clues as to where he might be. 

This was, of course, the best possible outcome in my opinion. I had always had a love, some may call it an obsession, with ships, pirates, and all things involving the ocean. Growing up all I wanted was to be a pirate - live on the ocean, on a ship, and find deserted islands to make my own personal paradise - a life of adventure. To be on an actual pirate ship that had traveled between realms - at least three, from the stories the pirate had told me - made from enchanted wood? I was geeking out.

As I walked the ship, admiring the craftsmanship, I wondered if the enchanted wood that made up this ship was from the same forest as the enchanted wardrobe that had sent baby Emma and me to Maine. 

I contemplated that for quite a while as I admired the ship, actually.

I ended up spending the entire day and most of that evening on the ship, exploring every part of it, but her Captain never showed up. My stomach was ultimately what drove me away from the beautiful vessel and I grabbed Granny's to-go. 

I thought about going into my apartment but the idea of being couped up in there, alone, just wasn't that appealing. Instead, I headed back to the ship, no word from anyone on if I needed to do otherwise. I found a blanket below decks on one of the beds and went back up to the deck, laying it out and eating under the stars, the night unseasonably pleasant. I wondered what the stars looked like in the Enchanted Forest, in Neverland, in the realms Killian had traveled through. Did they look like ours? Was there a version of the Big Dipper, where he was from? 

I found myself circling with questions I couldn't ask and decided to do something more productive with my time. I practiced magic, deciding I was going to learn how to control the tiny fireworks until they were the exact size and color I wanted. It was the perfect place, given it was cloaked and nobody could see me. After a few hours, I could not only do that, but I was even able to make little designs with them. 

I had lost track of time on the enchanted ship and before I knew it I found myself being driven back to my apartment by pure exhaustion, the magic wearing on me after using it for so long. I had hoped to dream of fireworks and fireflies and twinkling lights but instead, I dreamt of nothing at all.