Samantha Rose

The New Norm

Belle looked on as Rumple and Sam stood in the backyard, practicing and comparing magic. Much to his confusion, Sam began quoting something he had never heard before. In response to his confusion, Sam conjured a book.

"Hey! I was reading that!" Belle called from her bedroom window. Without so much as blinking, Sam caused the book to float up to where Belle anxiously snatched it. Rumple smiled up at his True Love as she chided him, "She gets it from you!"

Each of them were still very new to the idea of being a family. It had been almost a week since the truth came out and Sam was putting in a lot of effort to make up for how her relationship with her father started. For once, Belle didn't mind magic so much because it was bringing them closer. And it was their one way to defeat Hades. Samantha had told them that she had an idea of  how to do just that, but needed time to work out how to do it. So, every day she spent hours in Rumple's old workshop in the backyard. The little family frequented Granny's diner most nights for dinner, allowing Sam to get acquainted with the other residents of the town. Dinner that night was particularly interesting for the new family. Sam's back was to the door, so she did not see Regina until she had stepped into view.

"Good evening. Samantha, would you mind if I spoke with your- Rumplestiltskin and Belle - privately?" she caught herself before calling them her "parents". Without question, Sam slid out of the booth.

"No, sit, Samantha," Rumple interjected. "Whatever Regina has to say, she can say in front of you."

"Sorry, Gold, but we're not at that point yet," she pointed out. "Please, Madame Mayor, sit."

The young lady left the diner and began walking down Main Street. By now, Storybrooke was growing accustomed to seeing her around and tried to be friendly. Sam found herself meandering through the cemetery, reading the names on the headstones. No headstone was more grand than the others, but she found herself standing in front of one that she couldn't draw herself away from. 

Neal Cassidy

"Who the bloody hell do you think you are?" A leather-clad pirate adressed her, sipping from a flask. When she gave no answer, he came closer, eyebrow cocked, waiting for her reply.

"Someone who could kill you without lifting a finger."

"Ha! I've already been dead, love. Doesn't scare me anymore."

"Spending eternity in the worst place in existence might. Let me guess...Killian Jones. One-handed pirate with a rum problem."

"So you've heard of me!"

"Don't take that as a compliment, pirate. I've met dead people with more potential than you."

"Dead people? Where do you come from, the Underworld?"

"That's exactly right, mister. But that's not what you have to worry about. So why don't you just walk away..."

"Or what? Will you summon Hades to drag me back to hell?"

"Worse, dearie." The accented voiced cut through the tension. "I would've thought you would have learned not to meddle with my family when I took your hand."

"It's a grave, crocodile. Your son isn't here anymore! All you have is Belle. You don't have a family."

"You missed a thing or two about our trip in the Underworld. After we got back, while you spent your days in a drunken stupor, you may have missed the fact that my wife and I had a baby."

"Well, where is your child, demon? I haven't seen mini demons pillaging the streets."

"That's because I'm right here, dumbass."

"Bloody hell... if you're the crocodile's daughter, why aren't you all sparkly and-"

"Shut up," Samantha commanded. And the pirate did, although not of his own volition. Gold noticed his daughter's eyebrows furrow ever so slightly as the pirate began to gasp for air. He dropped the flask and his good hand flew to his throat. Magic. Rumple remembered every time he used magic to choke people, he had to raise his arm and form a choke hold with his hand. Here was his daughter, choking a man with a simple thought.

"Put him down."

"Why?"

Rumple hated that he was defending the pirate's life, but he had to.

"Belle sees him as her friend," he sighed. "I won't let you -"

"Let me what? Kill him?" Sam let out a small chuckle that sent goosebumps up Rumplestiltskin's arms. It was summer and he was wearing his three-piece suit, sweat glistening on his forehead, but her casual laugh sent an undeniable chill through him. "Sorry to disappoint, but he wouldn't be my first."

"No...."

Sam sighed at his obvious disappointment and released Hook from her grasp, turning her full attention to her father. 

"You think it was easy being Hades' daughter? Yes, I have killed people. Some because I had to and some because their absence made the world a better place. I have separated husband from wife and father from child. I did so because Hades forced me. Hades did the same to others what he did to you - collected debts in the form of taking life. During my travels, people have come after me, knowing what I did. They were the lives I took of my own will."

She could see the color drain from Rumplestiltskin's face. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the pirate stumbling away, no doubt to spread what he had heard. 

"I'm the daughter of a monster, no matter how you look at it, Gold. Surely you knew what that would mean for me."

"Remember whose grave your standing on," he warned, growing stern.

"Your son."

"Your brother.  We are your family and you -"

"I don't have a family anymore! That was all taken from me when I stepped foot in this town. Your mayor and your sheriff destroyed everything. The respect I had for the man who raised me, the friendship I had with the first person I met here... my life is a lie. You know, out there, in the real world, they have a saying: 'ohana' means family and family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten. And by that definition, I may be your daughter, Dark One, but, make no mistake, we are not family."