Listen~ CaptainSwan AU

Chapter 1: A Bright and Sunny Morning

Hello, everybody!!! SO! This here is a book I've been trying to put into motion for about a year now but with three others, I haven't had the time. Luckily, thefeelsarecrunchy, being my guardian angel, swooped in and convinced me to start it!! Read on and enjoy a 2687 word first chapter!!

Writer's P.O.V:

It was a bright and sunny September morning, the perfect day for the first day of preschool. 5-year-old Henry Swan walked by his mother Emma Swan's side to the nearby school and was excited. Although he would not be in his mother's class, it was nice to know that mommy was near if he needed her. Plus, he was looking forward to meeting some new friends. Emma Swan, on the other hand, was far from excited. Nervous was the word that described her. She had just been hired by the school principle, Regina Mills, to teach a class of deaf children. Being deaf and mute herself, it shouldn't be very difficult. She was to teach them how to read other peoples' lips and to improve their limited sign language. She would also guide them through basically all of preschool but through sign language. The children would learn to read and write all through Emma Swan. It may have seemed like an easy task, but Emma was nervous nonetheless.

Home life for Emma and Henry had become a sort of routine. Henry was, luckily, not burdened with being deaf, and therefore could hear perfectly fine. Emma had taught Henry sign language at a very early age so that they could communicate. Since Emma was mute, she couldn't speak to her son. Any time he wished to speak to his mother, Henry would turn to face her so she could read his lips. Emma would answer him in sign, then he would speak, and so forth. It upset Emma that her son would never hear her voice. That she could never soothe him beyond hugs and kisses. She wished to speak them to him. Sure she could sign them, but there is a difference between a mother speaking, and mother flailing her hands about. They worked through the obstacles, however, and Emma and Henry developed their ways of communication. Henry loved his mother more than anyone else in the world.

While Emma was pregnant with Henry, the father of her child, Neal Cassidy, had gone off with the military. He was shot and killed all before he ever got the chance to propose or to see his son born. It got kind of lonely between just Emma and Henry.

Emma Swan lost her hearing I'm a childhood accident on the way back from the hospital. The accident had not only made her deaf but had also taken her parents' lives as well. Never had she ever heard a single sound in her life and it drove her mad every day. She'd grown up without parents, and now, Henry was growing up missing half the set.

Emma's P.O.V:

We walk into the school, straight to Henry's classroom. Turns out mine is just across the hall. I help him get his things into his cubby and walk with him to the rug where several students already sat waiting for the others. I crouch down to Henry's level and turn his attention to me.

You be good okay? I'll be right across the hall in my classroom all day. Remember, when school is over you just come to my class okay? I love you. I sign.

"I love you too mommy," Henry answers, hugging me tightly. I hold him close, stroking his hair gently. Finally, I pull him away from me and guide him with me to speak to his teacher.

Let me explain something.

Yes, I'm deaf that's why I sign to Henry.

But what's the use of my teaching kids who can all already sign?

I read lips. When people speak I watch the movement of their mouth and tongue so I can understand what they are saying without them having to sign. That way I can communicate with people. The only struggle is that I can't speak so I always have to have a notepad on hand. Yay me.