A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
“Sheriff Swan.” Regina walks into her office like she owns the place, not bothering to knock. “Where’s my son?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well he’s not at home so I assume he must have snuck off to do something ill-conceived with you as that seems to always be the case.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t seen Henry since the weekend.” In fact, he’d told her that they needed to hold off on Operation Cobra because his mom was getting suspicious. She knows though that it’s because he’s mad at her. He has been since she had to tell him she had Killian committed. And he’s been avoiding her. “Are you telling me you don’t know where he is?” Emma demands as Regina’s face grows from smug and annoyed to concerned. “It’s after seven!”
“He didn’t come home from school. I just assumed… He’s probably with a friend.” Emma wants to snap at her. Even when Henry is concerned she can’t back down, needs to be right rather than admit she screwed up and needs help.
“He doesn’t have any friends - at least none his own age,” she reminds the woman, even though it’s painful to say. It’s Regina’s fault Henry never befriended any of the kids at school. How could he, with a terrifying mother who kept him under lock and key? “Did you check his castle?”
“No. I came straight here.”
Emma grabs her keys off the desk. “You go check the park. I’ll go to Granny’s and see if he’s been there.” She may hate the woman, but this is Henry. It seems Regina’s willing to put their mutual distaste aside for this as well since she shockingly agrees and follows her out to her own car.
“Call me if you find him,” the Mayor orders and Emma nods, demanding the same courtesy in return.
She reaches Granny’s quickly, both the owner and Ruby hurrying over to her when she walks in and she realises she must look as worried as she feels. “Have you seen Henry? Is he here?”
Granny shakes her head. “No. But he was here earlier pouring over the storybook and a couple others.”
“Which books?” Knowing her kid, wherever he is it probably has something to do with the damn curse.
“I’m not sure. Kids books from the looks of them. Ruby, you served him.”
Ruby shrugs apologetically. “It was busy. But yeah they looked like regular kids books - fairy tales and stuff. One had a picture of a ship in it. I only remember because he covered it when I came up to him.”
“A ship?” Ruby nods. “Maybe he went down to the docks?”
“Hey Leroy!” Granny calls and the gruff, stout man looks up in annoyance. “You see the Mills boy today?”
“Why would I be hanging around with kids? I ain’t a babysitter.”
“You’re looking for Henry?” David walks over to them, a tray of takeout cups in his hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’s missing. Have you seen him?”
“He came by the animal shelter about an hour ago. Wanted to know if we’d found any crocodiles.”
@donteattheappleshook Wow, this one left me just as on the edge of my seat as the last one!! I’m dying to know what happens next!! I know that crafting something this good takes time, but I am going to be so anxiously awaiting your next installment. I love how I feel like we’re piecing it together and we have some clues and suppositions to how things connect and what is going on, but you still have me wondering what is going on exactly at the same time. Is Pan there? Or is Gold involved in what happened to Henry instead? What will happen to Hook if he helps Emma and returns to Neverland? All of it is just swirling around in questions and guesses and intrigue, and it just keeps me glued to your every word!
Still, you never lose the emotion or the characterization despite the amazing plot you have going. That is seen particularly in Emma’s conversation with Henry, both at Killian’s cell and then out in the street. You feel so much for both of them and where each one is coming from, and also how true to both characters they are written. We see it again when Emma confronts Regina outside Gold’s shop, and in Hook’s manner when Emma comes to beg his help. You write all of them so well, and it adds so much impact to your tale. I only hope they can get to “him” - whoever Hook believes to have taken Henry - in time. I’ll be waiting with bated breath!
I finally had a chance to read your lovely reviews. Thank you as always for your lovely words I’m on holiday for 2 weeks and I can’t write but I’ll get you more chapters soon
A season 1 Neverland AU. Emma is still trying to adjust to her new life as Sheriff of Storybrooke and mom to Henry, who still believes everyone in town is a fairytale creature. When she finds a badly beaten, one handed man while patrolling, she’s convinced he’s crazy. He is, after all, rambling about fairies and shadows and crocodiles. But when Henry is suddenly taken by what Emma swears (but can’t believe) was a shadow, the madman in the hospital might be her only hope of getting her son back. Whether he likes it or not.
Thank you @the-darkdragonfly for helping me figure out what the hell is even happening in this fic and thank you @elizabeethan for letting me complain and virtually shout ideas at you <3
***
Part 3
Emma glances up over her phone at the man lying motionless on the hospital bed, wrist firmly secured to the railing with her cuffs. The cuffs that Whale had refused to let her take off him, right before he’d refused to let her leave the hospital while ‘that psycho’ was still in here. Take him to a jail cell or stay here with him; I don’t care. But I’m not taking responsibility for him! the doctor had insisted, rubbing gingerly at his neck, his eyes nearly as crazed as his patient’s had been a moment before.
She’d taken a look at him, the bruising and the dried blood - he needed a hospital, not a cell. And so here she is, nearly three hours later, curled up in an uncomfortable hospital chair, switching between apps on her cell while she waits for this guy to wake up. She could have sworn she saw him move or heard him make a noise but as she watches him still as the dead, she knows it was just wishful thinking. Whatever was in that syringe really did a number on him.
Groaning, Emma looks at her watch. She wonders if she’ll have to spend the night here. Maybe the Sheriff’s station would have been a better idea after all. At least there she could have gone home and taken a nap or at least used the cot Graham had kept in the back. The hardest part had been convincing Henry to go home - even after Regina had shown up and chewed her out for putting her son’s life in danger. Emma hadn’t bothered to explain that she’d explicitly told Henry not to come.
“You let him run wild while there was a violent madman with a knife on the loose?” she’d demanded.
“It was a scalpel-” Emma corrected somewhat under her breath.
@donteattheappleshook Sheesh! I wish I weren’t three whole chapters behind, but I am hoping to do my best at getting caught up tonight. You do such a good job with this one in particular of grounding Emma very much in the here and now. She doesn’t believe in magic and fairy tale villains and all of that yet, but -practical as she is - she also believes that this stranger believes what he is telling her. She can sense this injured (and maybe crazy, to her mind at least) man is telling the truth, and she is genuinely trying to help him. And that scene where he was trying to help the little girl, and Emma stepped in to defuse things? She could see that he was genuinely worried and wanted to protect the child, even if his methods were off. I just really like the way you are portraying her in this, and I am really enjoying revisiting your story’s version of this timeframe I’m the show as well!
It really gets me when you give us those little moments where Emma breaks through to him, and she sees the pain and trauma he has been through, sees the fear that is also deep in his psyche. She doesn’t know who this “Crocodile” or “The Boy” are- but she can tell they are dangerous. That feeling of being kindred with him, or sensing they have something deep in is really nicely woven throughout this chapter as well. I am still very much curious and anxious to find out how Killian was hurt in this story verse, and if “the Crocodile” was behind it. Or is Pan there in Storybrooke? (That would be really bad! ) I am definitely worried about MM’s suggestion that Emma go to Gold with her search for who these people might be…
I’m going to try to rein in my rambling so I can read the next chapters as well, but as ever, you are telling an amazing story, and I really do love it!!
GASP! A Marta reblog!!
Thank you so much for the lovely words @snowbellewells You always make my day
After an injury, Killian moves from Boston to Storybrooke and finds himself bored out of his mind by the lack of action seen by the Sheriff of the tiny, sleepy town. But his mind may be changed when he answers a call about a drunk woman causing a scene outside of Dark Star Pharmacy.
Rated T for language and drunkenness
Because apparently there’s nothing I enjoy writing more than drunk!Emma.
These aren’t the type of nights he was expecting when he went to the academy. He thought he would be getting action packed, heart pounding excitement; he thought his life as a police officer would be constant adrenaline. But when he lost his hand and moved to bloody Storybrooke, Maine, he knew those days were behind him. He knew from his first shift, when the most exciting thing to happen to him was quite literally helping a dog find its way home.
Now, he’s a few months in, and nothing has changed. He’s certain as he drives down the dark, quiet streets of the small town, that the call he received from the local pharmacy about a drunk woman in distress will be nothing close to the drug busts he led in Boston.
Perhaps his mind can be changed, though, he thinks to himself as he puts his squad car in park outside of the pharmacy and keeps the flashing lights on. As he walks towards the door, he sees her, or at least, he must assume that the woman lying face down on the ground and sobbing into her own arms is the drunk in question.
“Miss,” he says in a demanding tone, thinking better of tapping her side with the toe of his boot and clearing his throat instead. “Miss, you can’t be here doing… that.”
“Bugger,” the key scraped against the lock, light and flighty as though it was teasing him. His tongue poked out the side of his mouth, concentrating harder as if sheer stubbornness would get him to her faster.
His pocket buzzed, and he grunted at the interruption, closing one eye in an attempt at better aim. It took a handful more tries, curing under his breath while the silent anger of his cell phone thummed as if alive in the back pocket of his jeans.
Rob would no doubt be looking for him, annoyed that he’d left, or perhaps worried as to where he had gotten to, disappearing out the back entrance, jacket abandoned in the booth, hailing a cab and returning to the apartment he hadn’t wanted to leave in the first place.
“Ah ha,” he grinned, turning the knob quickly, the smell of cranberry candles- I don’t care if it’s not Christmas yet, babe, I’m burning it- hanging softly in the air. They had gone shopping, him smiling indulgently as she skipped around Bath & Body Works, thrusting bottles and jars into his face- smell this one!- asking which he preferred. When the dozens of overly scented products had started to smell the same, he had pulled her to him, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, her hands occupied holding three different soaps, and pressed a kiss to her mouth, tasting her smile under his lips.
♥️♥️♥️
Tag List (let me know if you would like to be added!):
Emma & Killian have found their way back to their own time, but finding their home again will prove to be another adventure entirely…The Tale of a reunited family, an inescapable destiny and the marvels of indoor plumbing.
Thank you to the world’s best beta and most wonderful human ever @elizabeethan
♥️♥️♥️
“I can see three from here, lad,” Killian heckled, delighting in Henry’s frantic searching of the bookshelf, the small multicolored wrapped chocolates glittering in the morning sunlight. He had stayed up late, having plotted for weeks since learning of this pirate-approved holiday- it’s religious, babe, not pirateous- mapping out the perfect places to hide his grocery bag of loot- hiding treasure? That’s a pirate activity, Swan.
She had stolen a handful of eggs from his bag, and he tsked his tongue at her, setting a small egg on the ledge to ensure it would stay in place, before snatching it back and moving to the next location he had selected. “That’s not a word, Swan.”
“It’s on Urban Dictionary,” she defended, cheeks bulging from the eggs she had popped into her mouth lest he try to retake them. His answer was a disgruntled grunt and the side look he shot her told her exactly what he thought of the dictionary he had never heard of.
The morning was slightly less chaotic than Christmas, but the children vibrated with an energy echoing the sugar which awaited them, and Killian couldn’t help but feel swept along with their enthusiasm, heart skipping as he watched Henry kneel and point to the eggs he had hidden in plain view for Hope.
The sight settled something, a small piece of his soul which still remained anchorless and drifting, calling out to the memory of a home they left behind. This was better, his heart whispered, warm and solid in his chest, this is far, far better.
Hope vibrated with excitement, hoping like a bunny through the living room as Henry helped her find enough eggs to fill her small basket. She was sated for the time being, small fingers diligently unwrapping yet another foiled chocolate egg- she probably doesn’t need any more today, kid- attention entirely on her task as she ignored the dramatic hunt taking place in the next room, Killan’s laugh reverberating through the main floor- warmer…ah, no…. cooler now…. warmer- dressed in bunny pajamas Mary Margaret had brought the evening before, declaring she had informed the Easter Rabbit- it’s a bunny, Mom- that it was to stop by the loft on its way through town.
They were heading to the loft for dinner, instructed to bring baskets for the eggs that the Rabbit would leave- rabbits are the same as bunnies, Emma- and the boardgame Henry was telling them about the weekend before.
“Ugh.”
“Getting warmer.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re cheating,” Henry groused, dragging a chair from the kitchen over, the feet scraping angrily over the gleaming hardwood Killian insisted they keep polished with the floor attachment her mother had bought him for Christmas- aye, Swan, I do like this contraption- before hopping on the seat, cawing gleefully when he seized a caramel filled egg from the top shelf.
“I would never,” Killian scoffed, hiding a smile behind the mug of coffee Emma had pressed into his palm, weary eyed and grumpy over the early morning- enjoy this for me, babe.
“You do,” Henry surveyed the room from his new perch, leaping down and dragging the chair behind him to retrieve two candies from the window ledge. “All the time!”
He found two more eggs before gloating that there could not possibly be any more left hidden, and he was more than prepared to move on to the kitchen.
Killian’s response was to raise an eyebrow, push dramatically away from where he had been lounging on the sofa and swipe four eggs Henry had missed from the picture frame above the mantel- Hey! Wait!- smirking as he unwrapped and popped them into his mouth. “Now, the living room is clear,” he ruffled Henry’s hair and picked the chair up to return it to the kitchen.
Emma & Killian have found their way back to their own time, but finding their home again will prove to be another adventure entirely…The Tale of a reunited family, an inescapable destiny and the marvels of indoor plumbing.
Thank you to the world’s best beta and most wonderful human ever @elizabeethan❤
“I can see three from here, lad,” Killian heckled, delighting in Henry’s frantic searching of the bookshelf, the small multicolored wrapped chocolates glittering in the morning sunlight. He had stayed up late, having plotted for weeks since learning of this pirate-approved holiday- it’s religious, babe, not pirateous- mapping out the perfect places to his grocery bag of loot- hiding treasure? That’s a pirate activity, Swan.
She had stolen a handful of eggs from his bag, and he tsked his tongue at her, setting a small egg on the ledge to ensure it would stay in place, before snatching it back and moving to the next location he had selected. “That’s not a word, Swan.”
“It’s on Urban Dictionary,” she defended, cheeks bulging from the eggs she had popped into her mouth less he try to retake them. His answer was a disgruntled grunt and the side look he shot her told her exactly what he thought of the dictionary he had never heard of.
The morning was slightly less chaotic than Christmas, but the children vibrated with an energy echoing the sugar which awaited them, and Killian couldn’t help but feel swept along with their enthusiasm, heart skipped as he watched Henry kneel and point to the eggs he had hidden in plain view for her.
The sight settled something, a small piece of his soul which still remained anchorless and drifting, calling out to the memory of a home they left behind. This was better, his heart whispered, warm and solid in his chest, this is far, far better.
Hope vibrated with excitement, hoping like a bunny through the living room as Henry helped her find enough eggs to fill her small basket. She was sated for the time being, small fingers diligently unwrapping yet another foiled chocolate egg- she probably doesn’t need any more today, kid- attention entirely on her task as she ignored the dramatic hunt taking place in the next room, Killian’s laugh reverberating through the main floor- warmer…ah, no…. cooler now…. warmer- dressed in bunny pajamas Mary Margaret had brought the evening before, declaring she had informed the Easter Rabbit- it’s a bunny, Mom- that it was to stop by the loft on its way through town.
They were heading to the loft for dinner, instructed to bring baskets for the eggs that the Rabbit would leave- rabbits are the same as bunnies, Emma- and the boardgame Henry was telling them about the weekend before.
“Ugh.”
“Getting warmer.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re cheating,” Henry groused, dragging a chair from the kitchen over, the feet scraping angrily over the gleaming hardwood- aye, Swan, I do like this contraption- before hopping onto the seat, cawing gleefully when he seized a caramel filled egg from the top shelf.
“I would never,” Killian scoffed, hiding a smile behind the mug of coffee Emma had pressed into his palm, weary eyed and grumpy over the early morning- enjoy this for me, babe.
“You do,” Henry surveyed the room from his new perch, leaping down and dragging the chair behind him to retrieve two candies from the window ledge. “All the time!”
He found two more eggs before gloating that there could not possibly be any more left hidden, and he was more than prepared to move on to the kitchen. Killian’s response was to raise an eyebrow, push dramatically away from where he had been lounging on the sofa and swipe four eggs Henry had missed from the picture frame above the mantel- Hey! Wait!- smirking as he unwrapped and popped them into his mouth. “Now, the living room is clear,” he ruffled Henry’s hair and picked the chair up to return it to the kitchen.
♥️♥️♥️
Tag List (let me know if you would like to be added!):
this whole “job thing” is rlly starting to get in my way. i need to watch made up people falling in love on tv, and then i need to read more extensively about it online. why is that so hard to understand
