A Fellow Likes To Be Courted

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allaboutjmo

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The song that always makes me think of Captain Swan is The Promise by When in Rome. Definite Hook vibes.

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Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x8 Think Lovely Thoughts

GIF by dinneratgrannys

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 620

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

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They had a plan.

Thanks to Tink, they knew where to find Pan’s camp. Thanks to Regina, Rumple and herself, they had all the magical fire power they could possibly want, and thanks to Hook and her parents (and she supposed Neal, although she’d never thought of him in this way), a hefty dose of non-magical firepower as well.

And, of course, thanks to the shadow, they had a way off the island and back home.

For the first time in six days, the unrelenting vise of anxiety around her heart began to loosen.

But as her biggest fear was, well, though not exactly relieved, at least greatly lessened, other concerns began to rise to the surface.

Her parents were stuck on this island. Forever.

Emma refused, flatly refused, to accept that. She had finally, finally found her family, and she’d be damned before she lost a single one of them again. There had to be a way.

As they’d begun their trek through the jungle toward Pan’s camp early that morning, she’d approached her mother, hoping between the two of them they could come up with a plan to circumvent the dreamshade/Neverland water problem, but to her shock, her mother had serenely informed her that she’d accepted her fate; that there was nothing more to do.

Emma couldn’t prevent the quick stab of pain that response had caused. She knew her parents hadn’t chosen this, that this wasn’t what they wanted, but the little orphaned, abandoned girl inside of her couldn’t help but feel as though she was being cast aside yet again. That being with her wasn’t worth fighting for.

She knew it was irrational. After all, time wasn’t on their side. With any luck, they’d have Henry back within the hour, and then the sooner they left the island, the better for all of their safety.

Still, she wanted her parents to fight for a solution, fight for her.

Emma squared her shoulders. If they weren’t going to fight for the family, she damn well was. She’d find a solution, and she knew exactly where to start.

With the only other person on this island who knew what it was like to lose a loved one to dreamshade poisoning.

Hook had kept his distance since the whole lighter fiasco, and in particular, since she’d told him and Neal off for their behavior, and if she were truly honest with herself, she missed his constant presence, his quick wit and his teasing flirtations. They’d somehow buoyed her spirits throughout the last, interminable week, and the boost his ever-present confidence in her gave had kept her going when despair threatened to overwhelm her.

But even if his pride was stung at her tongue lashing–or he was giving her the space he thought she wanted–she knew with absolute certainty he’d help her with her dreamshade problem if there was anything in his power he could do.

The other night, he’d told her about his brother–his poisoning, Pan’s “help” in restoring his health, and then his ultimate demise aboard Hook’s ship. Despite the fact that it had to be decades–centuries even–since it happened, Hook’s voice still held such a deep weight of pain and grief as he recounted the tale. It made her heart break for him (and it added an extra layer of white-hot fury toward Pan. Trust the little demon to give Hook a part of the truth, but withhold the most crucial bit!), and she hesitated to bring it all back up again, but she was truly desperate.

Taking a deep breath, Emma picked up her pace, spying Hook at the front of their company.

She couldn’t lose her family again, and Hook was her only hope.

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Source: https://www.tumblr.com/royalswan/186252007797/killian-being-worried-when-emma-is-pulled-out-of?source=share

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x1 The Heart of the Truest Believer.

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 400

Tagging a few people who may be interested (Let me know if you want to be added or taken off the list): @sailormew4 @annaamell @flslp87 @emmateo26 @bethacaciakay @ultraluckycatnd @effulgent-mind @ilovemesomekillianjones @kat2609 @brooke-to-broch @missgymgirl @galadriel26 @the-lady-of-misthaven @charmingturkeysandwich @jennjenn615 @laschatzi @kimmy46 @snowbellewells @iamanneenigma @daxx04 @nickillian @gillie @britishguyslover @ginnyjinxedandhanshotritafirst @kmomof4 @linda8084 @golfgirld @captain-swan-coffee @searchingwardrobes @hollyethecurious @laughswaytoomuch @allyourdarlingswans @winterbaby89 @facesiousbutton82 @therooksshiningknight @lfh1226-linda @tiganasummertree @jrob64 @anmylica @booksteaandtoomuchtv

Other Chapters:

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Neverland.

How he despised this accursed island with its perpetual darkness and poisonous plants and fetid air so humid one felt as though he were drowning if he took a deep breath. After he’d made his desperate deal with Pan to get off of Neverland, he had vowed to never return, and yet here he was. Why the hell had he broken his vow?

Because of her.

Oh aye, it was also because of his inherent sense of good form, the debt he had to Baelfire, but she was the impetus. He couldn’t bear to see her so utterly panicked and turn from her when he knew he could help.

They’d no sooner landed upon this realm’s filthy waters than the horrors began. How had he been so blind as to not see the storm was of their own making? A physical manifestation of their strife and discord? He should have realized.

If he had, Swan wouldn’t have had to take desperate measures, plunging herself within the depths of the sea to make all of them see reason.

Her tactic had worked, however, and with a common goal in mind, they’d ceased their sniping and begun working together. Where once was the fury of the wind and the waves, now was absolute calm and silence, as all aboard his ship waited, barely daring to breathe, as they waited for the prince to resurface.

It felt like ages, but then he did break the surface, pulling in a deep, gasping breath–and then hauling up his daughter. For a moment Killian felt relief flood him; they’d done it. They’d saved her.

But then they’d laid Swan on the deck of the Jolly, and she’d been still, silent, lifeless. Horror washed over him as he remembered the last woman who’d lain lifeless on his deck. Milah. He’d felt the same helplessness, the same disbelief, the same despair looking down at her.

As Swan’s parents worked over her, begging her to breathe, begging her to live, he stood still, frozen in place with his fear and dread. This couldn’t be happening again. It couldn’t.

And then she took a breath, coughing up sea weather, as her parents supported her. He let go of the breath he’d been holding.

Neverland was still dark. It was still evil. It was still stifling.

But for the first time, there was a new-found beacon of light. Of hope.

Reblogged hollyethecurious

kwistowee

Unfair…

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gentlesleaze

fyesemmaandhook

Hook + please learn from my mistakes, Emma

kmomof4

😭😭😭

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swan-road

Cs hiatus meme

Week 1 : Captain Swan + No Color

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles: 2x6 Tallahassee

GIF by dinneratgrannys

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 500

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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Emma turned toward the hole in the wall Anton had made for her, fully intending to get the hell off this beanstalk, but a sudden thought arrested her.

Hook.

He’d kept his word, helped her more than once. There was no question without him, she wouldn’t have the compass. He deserved for her to keep her part of the bargain.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t.

She tried to tell herself it was because he was a pirate, that he couldn’t be trusted, but in her heart, she knew that wasn’t the reason.

It wasn’t that she sensed she couldn’t trust him; it was that she sensed she could, and that terrified the hell out of her.

There had been something between them from the moment she first pulled him from the pile of bodies down in the refugee village, and that something had only grown and strengthened the more time they spent together on their beanstalk adventure.

Her mind went to the moment when they’d first reached the top, the moment he’d noticed the cut on her hand and insisted on bandaging it himself. Her face flamed and her breathing hitched at the very sight of those blue eyes looking up at her from beneath hooded lids as he took the makeshift bandage between his teeth and secured it with his mouth.

It had been sexy as all hell, there was no denying that.

But it was more than that. She’d felt a deep and inescapable pull to him in that moment that went far deeper than carnal desire. Soulmates. The single word had echoed in her mind as he finished his ministrations, and it continued to echo as he told her of his past heartbreak and then continued to assist her.

She hadn’t felt a pull like this to a man—to anyone—since Neal, and therein lay the problem. She’d given Neal her entire heart and soul, trusted him with every fiber of her being, and he’d betrayed her in the most painful way. It wasn’t just that he’d left her, wasn’t even just that he’d sent her to jail for his crime.

He’d given her a son, and through his actions, taken that son from her before she’d even had the chance to hold him. That moment, chained to a hospital bed in the prison infirmary, had shattered the last bit of her innocence, shattered her heart so completely it could never heal again.

It was at that moment she’d promised herself she would never again let herself be so vulnerable, never again give another man the power to destroy her.

Her intuition told her she could trust Hook, but her intuition had been wrong before. She couldn’t take a chance that she was wrong about him.

And so, she knew what she needed to do. She didn’t need to harm Hook, only to detain him. She tamped down the guilt at what she was about to do and turned toward Anton.

“Actually, I get two favors.”

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles: 2x5 The Doctor

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 491

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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“Emma, are you sure about this? Mary Margaret asked, brows furrowed.

Emma stopped pacing and stared at her mother. Truth be told she wasn’t sure about anything, hadn’t been, well, really since Henry knocked on her door back in Boston, but especially since she pulled the “blacksmith” out from under the pile of bodies. It was the strangest and most exhilarating thing she had ever experienced, a shoot of pure, unadulterated electricity running through her entire body as soon as she touched his hand. For one moment, one singular moment, everything came into focus, like a camera zooming in on its target. It was like she’d suddenly found something that she didn’t even know she was missing, like in one blinding flash of light, everything in her entire insane life just made sense.

She’d blinked, let go of his hand and stepped back. The spell was broken. She’d felt something else, too, when she’d looked into his eyes as he sat at the table, accepting the drink they’d brought him. She’d felt her superpower kick into high gear. Whoever the hell this man was, he wasn’t a cowardly blacksmith who’d hidden under a pile of bodies to escape murder at Cora’s hands.

"I’m sure,“ Emma said, her eyes hard. "He’s lying. There’s no doubt about it. We can’t trust him, anymore than we can trust Cora. Mulan. Tie him to that tree until we can get him to talk.”

The man protested weakly as Mulan complied, pulling him roughly with her, slamming him against the tree and binding his hand and stump behind his back. The other princess, Aurora, Emma thought it was, looked troubled, wringing her hands and shooting the man pitying looks.

Snow pulled her aside and tried one more time. “Emma, I know Cora. I know what she’s capable of. If this man is her victim, maybe we can use that to our advantage.”

Emma glanced over at the man again, saw the look of cowardice leave his eyes and a look of defiance take its place. Her heart began racing again as her stomach swooped. She hadn’t felt anything remotely like this since Neil, and she knew very well how that had ended up. In the space of a moment, Emma built up the walls around her heart thicker and higher and more unscalable than they’d ever been. Never again would she let herself be hurt like that period never again would a man destroy her like Neil had.

“Whether he’s her victim or her coconspirator, he’s going to give us answers, and he’s going to give them right now.”

Ruthlessly shoving the feelings this man inspired into a deep, dark, secret closet of her heart and then padlocking it, Emma clenched her fists and stomped over to him. She was getting those answers and she was getting them now. Then she was going home, far far away from piercing blue eyes and a devilishly handsome face.

~*~*~*~*~*~

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles: 2x4 The Crocodile

GIF by dinneratgrannys

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 480

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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A man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets.

As Killian arrived at the designated duel sight just as dawn began to paint the eastern sky with lovely pinks and purples, his words from years ago rang in his ears. Back then he’d been faced with a coward, a pitiful excuse for a man, someone who had not even the courage to fight for his wife when she was threatened with a fate worse than death.

He’d never have harmed Milah, of course, and any of his men who had attempted to do so would have been dealt with swiftly and mercilessly, but his ruse served to point out in glaring detail just how correct Milah had been about the character of her husband.

They’d had a decade together, happy years full of travel and adventure. They’d fallen in love, and he’d never know how very pleasant it could be to be so completely united to another person.

But she’d had her moments of agony and doubt as well, wondering if she’d done the right thing, leaving her husband and especially her lad. From time to time she’d even considered going back to him, not out of any sense of love, but out of a sense of duty and maternal instincts. He’d always convinced her to stay, terrified of the prospect of losing someone who had become as much a part of him as his left hand itself.

But he’d hated himself for asking it of her. He knew what it was like to be a child abandoned by a parent, and the fact that he was partially the cause of it was bitter gall to him.

When he’d come face to face with the man—or whatever manner of creature he now was—yesterday within this very alley, it had been driven home to him with startling clarity just how right he’d been to allow Milah passage on his ship and his protection.

Should the Crocodile find a way to force Milah back to him, she would no longer face misery alone, she would face danger, and that Killian could never abide.

And so, before the dawn he’d slipped silently from their bed, kissed a still slumbering Milah with muttered words of love, and then came to face his own fate.

For he’d heard tales of the Dark One, tales so dark and disturbing they could freeze a man’s blood within his veins, but Killian Jones was no coward. He would fight to protect the one he loved to the death, and would no doubt come to that. Proficient as he was with the sword, Killian had no illusions he had the skill to defeat an enemy with unlimited power and magic.

He was more than willing to fight for what he wanted, and if death was what he got in return, so be it.

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles: 2x3 The Lady of the Lake

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 458

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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“Back away from my daughter!” Snow White pulled an arrow from her quiver, took aim and let it fly, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction when she hit her mark and the ogre tumbled to the ground.

Moments before, still gathering firewood, she’d heard the beast’s roar, and her maternal instincts, which had lain dormant for twenty-eight years, suddenly flared to life. She’d rushed to the scene, her fear spiking as she saw the ogre towering over Emma, who was laying prone on the ground.

She hadn’t taken the time to think, to wonder if she was capable, to be concerned for her own safety. Her daughter was in danger, and she would do anything to save her.

Snow looked down at the dead ogre for a moment before retrieving the arrow from his eye. Beyond her, Emma got slowly to her feet, her mouth hanging open in wonder.

“You have to shoot them in the eye,” Snow said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Emma’s eyes were still wide when she stepped over to Snow. “When was the last time you shot an arrow?”

“Twenty-eight years ago. I guess it’s like riding a bike,” she said simply.

“Yeah, but how did you know you could hit that?” Emma persisted.

“I didn’t,” she shrugged. It was true. She hadn’t known she could still hit the eye of an ogre, but instinct had taken over, and with it the resolve and confidence Snow White had developed as an outlaw on the run. “Next time listen to me? That kind of thing isn’t going to work here.”

Emma looked down at the gun she’d retrieved and then back at Snow before nodding slowly. “Yeah.”

With a smile, Snow led Emma away from the clearing. She wanted to get back to David and Henry; of course she did, but there was something right and rejuvenating about being back in the Enchanted Forest. For twenty-eight years, she was trapped in the life of Mary Margaret, a woman who was unsure of herself, a woman who had no real roots and no confidence in her abilities. Here, she was once again Snow White. She knew who she was, and she knew what she wanted, and she would do whatever it took to get it.

Here she was a mother, and here, finally, she was able to be the mother she’d always wanted to be; the woman who would guide and protect her child from any dangers that might come her way.

Here, Emma needed her.

No, things weren’t perfect; they never were, it seemed, but here she’d found herself again, and that renewed her hope that they would get their family back together, and this time, she’d never let her family go again.

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles: 2x2 We Are Both

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 435

Other Chapters: (1) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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Note: Today’s selection is another character musing–this time about David, as he tries to navigate life as both Prince David of Misthaven and David Nolan

Prince David of Mistahven had always been a decisive man. When he knew what he wanted, he went after it with everything within him, and so it was only natural that when Snow and Emma got pulled through a portal to—he didn’t even know where—his top priority was to get them back.

He went about it with his normal single-minded devotion.

He had one lead, only a single one—Jefferson, who’s hat it was that took his family from him—and when that lead ran from him, threatening his only hope, he jumped up from his table outside Granny’s and tore after him.

Only to be stopped by Ruby.

“David, Stop!” she said, eyes wide and panicked. “Regina has Henry!”

He tried to break free. “Get out of my way! He has the way!”

She wouldn’t be deterred, grabbing his shirt, holding tighter, getting in his face. “She has Henry! She’s threatening everyone!”

“She has Henry?” he asked, the threat to his grandson finally breaking his concentration for a moment.

“She showed up at your meeting, the one you missed,” Ruby continued. “Her magic’s back; everyone’s panicking. They want to leave town; they’re going to lose Everything.”

He waffled for another moment, his duty as prince warring with his heart, his duty as husband and father, his pain at losing his wife and daughter again after twenty-eight excruciating years apart.

“Okay, okay, but I have to go after him first; he’s my only way to get Emma and Snow back.”

David tried once more to break free, but Ruby was not to be deterred.

“Back to what? This town is about to come apart. You’ve gotta do something.”

David closed his eyes, the guilt and agony close to breaking him. David Nolan threatened to take over. David Nolan, the weak, indecisive man who knew what he wanted, knew what he should do, but didn’t have the strength to follow either his heart or his conscience.

David Nolan was a part of him, yes, but it wasn’t the only part. He was also the prince, and as the prince, he knew what he had to do.

Ruby was right. He was the prince. For better or worse, he was their leader, and currently their only bolster against the Evil Queen.

He would get Emma and Snow back no matter what it took, but for now, his kingdom needed him.

“Okay,” he finally conceded. “Let me go get Henry, and then I’ll meet you at the town line. She may have cursed us, but I’ll be damned before I let her destroy us all again.”

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles--2x1 Broken

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 325

Other chapters: (2) (3) (4)  (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

~*~*~*~*~*~

Note: We start with a character musing, as Emma tries to take in all the monumental changes that have taken place over the last day.

The desire to run was nearly overwhelming. In the last 24 hours, Emma’s son had eaten an apple turnover poisoned with a sleeping curse; she’d learned his storybook was actual history–her history; she’d fought a dragon who lived under the abandoned library and defeated it with her father’s sword; she’d retrieved, and then lost, a vial of True Love magic; she’d saved her son’s life with True Love’s Kiss; and she’d broken a curse over an entire town.

And yet none of it scared her as much as her parents–literal Snow White and Prince Charming–hugging her, looking at her like she hung the moon, and insisting they talk about what was happening.

On the one hand, it was what she’d dreamed of all her life–finding her parents, learning they loved her, finding out that they hadn’t wanted to give her away but had been forced to. On the other…she’d endured 28 years of trauma and loneliness and, well, it was just a lot.

“I just need time,” she’d told Mary Margaret–her mother.

It was true; she did need time to process everything, but in the meantime she was itching to run as far and as fast as she could.

Henry stepped up and took her hand, his face screwed up in conflict and worry, and suddenly the world righted itself. She had a lot to work through, but his whole world had just turned around too. Everyone in town was out for his other mother’s blood, and even though she’d gaslit him his entire life and even though she was the literal Evil Queen, she’d still been the woman who’d raised him, and he loved her.

Her kid needed her, and as long as her kid needed her, she refused to run, no matter how crazy this insane town got.

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Season 2 Rewatch Drabbles--2x10 The Cricket Game

Summary: A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my rewatch of season 2 of Once Upon a Time as an attempt to finally jump start the muse again. There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season. Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on the very beginnings of Captain Swan’s epic love story, as soon as a certain dashing pirate makes his appearance.

Word Count: 499

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (17.5) (18) (19) (20) (21-22) (22)

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Note: I never expected to write a fic from Pongo’s POV, but here we are!

He could tell from the moment she walked into his human’s office that something was off.

This woman who confidently walked into Archie’s office looked like the mayor, but Pongo knew differently. He knew the mayor’s scent. This one was similar—but it wasn’t the same. It was foreign. Something he’d never smelled before.

Life in Storybrooke had always been predictable, routine, and Pongo loved routine. Every morning just as the sun peaked through the curtains, he woke and then fulfilled his first task—waking the human. Archie liked to grumble about Pongo waking him up with a lick to the face, but then Archie would do that thing that humans did with their faces where their lips go up. Pongo thought it was called a smile. All he knew is that humans did it when they were pleased with him and he was being a very good boy.

Later, Archie would feed him, and then they’d take their morning walk, greeting all their neighbors. Then it was off to work. While his master talked to other people and helped them to feel better, Pongo sat by in his bed, ready at a moment’s notice to provide assistance if he was needed.

Every day was the same. Every scent was the same—at least until that woman, Emma, arrived. She had a different scent, but Pongo liked her. She gave him pets and sometimes even treats.

And Henry loved her. If ever Pongo was to adopt a little boy, it would be Henry. Pongo knew he’d been lonely, and he’d hoped he would someday find someone to love. This Emma was good for his favorite little boy, and that made Emma good in Pongo’s book.

But this new woman who’d just walked in—the one who wore the mayor’s face—she wasn’t a good new scent like Emma. She was a very, very bad scent.

Pongo felt his hackles rise and he sat tall, growling menacingly as she walked in the door. Archie chided him for his reaction, but Archie didn’t know, couldn’t smell who this was. Humans had the worst noses!

It didn’t take long for Pongo’s instincts to be proven right. No sooner had the imposter walked in the door than she raised her hand, putting Archie in a choke hold. Pongo sprang to his feet, barking for all he was worth, but it was all over too soon for him to save his person. One moment the woman wearing the mayor’s face was holding him, and then they both disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the lifeless body of a man behind.

This man looked like Archie, but it wasn’t him. Pongo knew it wasn’t him.

Something was very, very wrong here, and Pongo knew he needed help. Emma would help him! Emma and Henry, but how would he tell them what had happened?

Then it clicked. Ruby. She was different. She understood him. He had to find her; there was no time to lose!

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