Once Upon A Happy Beginning

Chapter Forty-Three: My True Love

David

Emma faints and Hook catches her. My son-in-law, that is. It's been a year and I'm still not sure how I feel about the man. I know my Emma loves him. I know that he loves Emma. A little too much sometimes. I know from the way he looks at Emma that he's perfect for her, because it's exactly the same way I look at Snow. I think back to when Hook first arrived in Storybrooke and of the time we spent in Neverland. I think about the look on his face and how that's the exact same way I used too look at Snow. Not even in person. Every WANTED poster I walked past, I saw the woman I knew I was in love with.

That's why I've always been wary of Hook, I'm scared that he'll give her too much love and she'll snap. She's been so alone her whole life, and I'm scared that one day, she'll run. She'll see Hook as the man that loves her way too much than she thinks she deserves and she'll run from that commitment. I love my daughter but she has her walls and her barriers and try as he might, I don't think Hook can pull them down.

Their engagement and wedding was overpowered by Gideon and the Black Fairy. Their honeymoon by the 'Caribbean Magic Zone'. Emma's pregnancy by trying to find a portal for Elizabeth and Captain Jack. Now, they're trying to get their daughter back. All these happy moments in life that Emma and Hook should treasure in their hearts forever are barred by evil.

I'm afraid that when the evil stops, and life just is, Emma will feel too much. She won't have a villain to fight or a curse to avoid, she'll just have a husband and two children that she'll be scared half to death of.

"Emma, love. Are you alright?" He asks, leaning down to kiss Emma's forehead when she comes to.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"No, you're not Mom. What is it?" Henry's a good lad. He's there for Emma, each and every time. He's there for all of us. Maybe he was always meant to be the Author, because Henry has always been the one for us all. Something wise. Something hopeful. Something to make us think. Five years ago, I couldn't have admitted it but it's true. Regina raised my grandson right.

"He called her Elizabeth Swan. I know it sounds stupid but... Elizabeth Swann is in Storybrooke right now. Elizabeth Emma Swan-Jones sounds better than Francesca Emma Swan-Jones, right? That's why you chose Elizabeth, right, babe?"

Hook swallows. "Yes, love."

Wow. If that's true then Emma's missed out on all the parenting moments that we did with her. She got me to give all the puberty talks to Henry - that went down like a house on fire with Regina. It was in Zelena's curse. Henry had turned thirteen in the missing year... and I was meant to know all about how to talk to a young lad about all the things that quite simply were never taught in the Enchanted Forest. You just had to discover things for yourself and learn how to make do. The first 'milestone' that Emma's had with Henry was his first date. She never got his first step or his first word or his first time writing his name or the first anything, she never even spoke to him about becoming a teenager. We never had that with Emma. We knew we had Neal to have that experience properly. To be parents. Emma didn't get that second chance.

I break from my thoughts when Emma says my name. There are tears in her eyes, and I know I have to pull her close and hold my daughter. "Mom. Dad. I'm so sorry about how I acted when I broke the first curse. You just wanted your daughter."

"Oh, Emma." My wife says, coming to wrap her arms around the two of us. "We have our daughter. She's strong and independent and perfect and we love her so, so much. You're still our daughter, Emma."

"Nothing will ever take away how much we love you." I say, speaking in a low voice so only Emma and Snow can here. "If your Elizabeth is the Elizabeth in Storybrooke, she'll still be your daughter. Believe me, you'll always be my little girl. Even with a little girl of your own, you're still the baby girl I said goodbye to thirty-three years ago in the Enchanted Forest."

Emma sniffles and I run my fingers through her hair. "Thank you, both of you. I love you."

There's a shuffling and I hear Captain Hook and Baelfire talking in small voices. Hook's voice sounds out sharp, and confused above the mutterings of his past self and Neal's younger self. "Elizabeth?"

Emma moves from our embrace and rushes to his side. "What is it? Where is she?"

"Well, that's the thing. She's gone. And, I'm wearing a different vest and Bae's changed too. Swan? Where's our daughter?"

Emma turns to look Gold square in the eyes. "This is your game, Gold. Where is my daughter?"

"I believe I told you this was like a window. Think of it as a window to the past. This is everything you commanded me to show you about your daughter."

"You mean, we're watching Elizabeth grow up?"

"Aye, love. But no one grows up in Neverland. So she's either still a babe in arms, or she's not here." He wraps his hooked arm around her, and together we all watch Captain Hook and Baelfire.

296 Years Ago

Baelfire

I don't know exactly how long it's been. The Captain says everything's different here, in Neverland. Time doesn't move as it should.

I know the patterns of the stars and how they change each night. They repeat every six days. I've counted. It's been four hundred and eighty-seven repetitions. I'm good with numbers. I used to do the sums for Papa back at home. He'd sit and teach me about numbers whilst we waited for Mama to come home. She never did, for a while it was just me and Papa and numbers.

Until it was me and numbers.

Four hundred and eighty-seven repetitions. That's two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two days of stars. Two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two days is eight years.

It's been eight years since we last saw the Captain's daughter. Or she might have been the Captain's daughter.

I tell that to the Captain when we're below deck one night. "I want to see her. I'm going to get my shadow to take me to her."

"Are you mad? She doesn't know who you are!"

"I'm forever twelve as long as I'm here, Captain. I'll see you again, when I've grown up. Maybe we can be proper mates then, sir."

The Captain looks at me. There's a strange look of hurt in them, like saying goodbye to me is losing a dear friend. It's strange, I can't shake the feeling that more eyes are looking at me in that way. He clears his throat and nods, reaching into his pocket for something. He hands it to me, a gold medallion on a long chain. "Very well. An old friend of mine from the Navy lives in the port I sent her to. Show him this, and he'll take you with him."

"Aye. Thank you, Captain, sir."

"My name's Killian, Bae. I'll see you when you're older."

~ ~ ~

My shadow drops me in the water near a giant Navy ship. I wonder if this belongs to the Captain's friend. The water fills my eyes with black and I can't quite see. There are still the eyes though. I can feel the eyes, watching me.

When the black subsides, a girl is standing over me. She's only young. About ten years old. But she has the eyes, I remember. And the hair. Both have darkened slightly as she's grown. But the smile is still there, the Captain's smile.

"Hello, I'm Elizabeth." She says, in a melodic voice. "What's your name?"

"Erm..." I think. Baelfire's not who I want to be anymore. Baelfire was scared of everything, but he's not me. Not anymore. I've lived with pirates. I've walked the sands of Neverland. I've seen Peter Pan and ran from his Lost Boys. I think of the name of one of the boys I knew on Neverland, and for some reason I say his name. Pan killed him because he refused to give my hiding place up. I think I should remember him now, try to be as brave as he was. "William. I'm William Turner."

Ok... did anyone see that happening?

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