She Fell Through Time

I won’t, she thought, sighing inwardly. “I think I might have too high expectations, you know? I have this dream man in my head and he is real, but he is also taken and my father would probably never approve of him.” Motioning for the waiter to come to their table then, she ordered herself a large chocolate milkshake and was soon enough sipping slowly on it, watching Isabella eat. “I do know a few princes from the Enchanted Forest, like Prince Eric and Prince Phillip, but they are both not here and are also married. Other than that… I guess I would recognize a few from the balls I used to attend. Though I don’t know if my title would be of any help around here. I’m a Princess in the Enchanted Forest. Here… I’m the daughter of a local fisherman who works part time at Granny’s.”

“I think you should stop worrying about what others may think and focus on your own happiness. Your father should not have a say in who you will be happy with for the rest of your life. He’s busy worrying about other things anyway. Or he will be soon. I’m going to tell him about the baby later, remember? It’s the perfect time to go and find a man, even if it’s someone he would ot approve of. As long as you lie him he’s the right one. My parents probably would have disapproved of me being pregnant without being married but I’m still happy about it.”

“Ever since Emma is the Dark One… she  changed. And  she changed  a lot. That’s not the woman I got to love through time. She is…  she has  her shape, she looks like her, but the look in her eyes… it’s  empty. There’s  no kindness or passion in them anymore. I broke up with her, because I don’t want  to use her when she is in  such a  state, so  vulnerable and  not herself.”  He sighed then,  shaking his  head. Drinking  to forget  about everything  usually helped, but in this case it seemed as if it only got worse  and worse.  "I didn’t  want to get you drunk  on purpose,  love. And  I probably  should have  assumed that you’re not very good at holding your liquor. Don’t apologize for what you said though. It’s really fine.“

She could understand him, though it saddened her that Kilian and Emma had broken up over this, knowing that Emma likely needed every bit of love in her life that she could have. Everyone knew that these days her parents were more interested in themselves and Regina and Emma was pretty much alone. Nina wasn’t scared of her, she’d gotten to talk to her before they had all left for the Enchanted Forest to chase after her new Dark form and so far she couldn’t imagine that Emma could have changed so drastically. “I really hope the two of you will be happy again at some point.” Did that mean that whatever feelings she may have developed for the pirate would go unanswered? Sure. But she would never put her own happiness before someone else’s.

“Sounds great.” Chocolate had a way of helping people, a very elementary way that Emma liked very much. She couldn’t help it. The blonde was scared, deep inside, of what she could do, what she would become, who she would hurt, but in moments, as small and fleeting as those, she felt safer than in others. Chocolate offered this kind of safety to her. 

“I almost forgot you were in one. I usually tried to either break into it or break out of it so far. I’m a  princess, technically, but I never lived in a castle, so this is entirely new for me. What’s it like? To live in your own castle?”

Knowing it would take a bit of time before they would arrive in the gardens (she’d been down there before and knew the way by now), Isabella figured that they would safely be able to continue their conversation in the halls without being interrupted by people in the courtyard anytime soon. “Well, it has its ups and downs I suppose. I never had to ask for anything, never had to clean something, didn’t even have to bathe or dress on my own, but that’s also the downside. No privacy.”

As if on cue a maid walked past them, curtsies and then continued on in the opposite direction. “I was never allowed to go anywhere without either chambermaids or guards by my side. Didn’t stop my brother from getting to me, in the end, though.”

Sighing, Killian first rubbed his forehead, then ran a hand through his hair. This got more complicated than he ever thought it would, and the sudden pregnancy wasn’t helping the case either.  "What now?  I have no idea.“ He never thought of the possibility of her getting  pregnant at all.  "Will  you…  continue  the  pregnancy?  I  know there  are modern ways of stopping it. If you don’t though…  I’ll be  there for  you, support you and the child.”

She frowned the tiniest bit at his question if she wanted to keep the child or not. “Of course I want to keep it. It’s not the baby’s fault we can’t be careful and it doesn’t deserve to die.” If other women had a different view about that she accepted it, but it was out of the question for her. Hearing that he would support her and the baby, though, made her sigh in relief. She’d almost expected him to attempt to drown her for daring to become pregnant. “Thank you.”

He chuckled lightly at her words, shaking  his head  in light  amusement. “Of course I want you… I love you more than anybody else, Isabella.”  He wanted to ask her this for quite some time now, but never found the courage to do so, mostly because  he feared  rejection. She  said yes,  though, making  a wide smile appear on  his face,  arms wrapping  around her  waist and  pulling her closer to kiss her gently. “Thank you.”

A smile greeted him right after he kissed her, but she couldn’t help but tease him a bit anyway. “You love me more than anybody else?” She gasped. “Even more than yourself? I guess that really has to count for something.” She pecked his lips right after than, one hand reaching up to run over the stubble on his cheek. “I wonder what my father would have said to that. Me marrying a pirate Captain.”

“August?” She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, her mood brightening a bit. “I don’t know… he is kind of a bit too old. Though he is  always an  option if we  fail  to  find  somebody  else.  But  my  'suitor’,  as  father  would say… hmm… it would be nice if he was older than me, but not too old.  Six years older than me, that’s the top. And he should  have dark  hair. Oh  and blue eyes.  Or  green  ones. Also  quite tall  and…”  She stopped  there, turning suddenly  bright  red and  looking down,  only now  realizing that  she was subconsciously  describing  Killian.  “So…  you  said August’s  grown up again?” Andrea asked suddenly, trying to change the topic.

“Well, nothing wrong with having a type and I’m sure you’ll find someone like that around here somewhere. I mean, I bet a lot of princes came here with the curse, not all of them can already be married and you’re a Princess, after all.” As she talked she kept on shoveling food into her mouth, so her words were often interrupted because she needed to chew and swallow.  “About August, yeah, I’m not sure why but I saw him the other day and he was very much alive. I only mentioned him because he seems like a nice guy, though you’re right, too old. Do you know any princes from your time in the Enchanted Forest?”

“Are you really going to play on the age card here? Fore real, love?” He couldn’t help but laugh a little, making a few people in the Diner look at him. He wasn’t this light spirited in what seemed almost forever - when Emma was taken away by the Dark One’s curse he had closed himself up quite a bit, not exactly communicating with anybody except when he’d order a drink or something to eat at Granny’s. “If that’s the case and I’m, in your words, a rather atractive baby, then I must say that I have never met such a beautiful grandmother in my entire three hundred years of living.” It was in a way a rather strange kink and in all honesty, she reminded him of Emma quite a lot with being this cocky. His mind already wandered on a ‘what if’ situation, where he didn’t end up with Emma but with Isabella, though he mentally slapped himself for thinking of that right at that moment. It was nor the time or place for such thoughts.

“We are still working on trying to get back to the Enchanted Forest. For all we know that’s where the Dark One’s curse has taken her, since that’s where the original Dark One was created. But for now… nothing.” He once again looked at her then, locking eyes with hers. “Who did you lose?”

She felt her mouth move downward a bit as he struggled to keep her jaw from making contact with the table just from hearing him laugh at what she had said. She wasn’t the only one who was surprised by that, obviously, for it had gone a bit quiet around them. She gave him a small smile back, chuckling at the thought of being a grandmother in his eyes. In a way she very well could have been one to him. If she hadn’t been sent to the future she would have either been very old or dead by the time that he had been born. The topic changed a moment later and she sighed. Who had she lost? That was a rather long list. “Well, the first person I cared for in my life that I lost was my mother. Later I lost my brother when our father banished him. And, well, I obviously lost absolutely everybody I cared for, even my horse, when I was sent into the future.”

She trailed off, fingers running over the rim of her now empty coffee cup, catching one last drop of the now cold beverage and spreading it over the porcelain. “Everyone I once knew from my old, my real life, is now dead. I will never see them again. And I really hope you will find your Emma and you won’t have to go through what I went through.” She glanced up again, her eyes just a little bit glassy from holding back tears. “I’m sorry.”

A smile appeared on his face and he chuckled as soon as he  noticed  the  lovely  colour  on  her  cheeks.  He  gently squeezed her hand  back, then  carefully reached  with his hook under her chin to make her look at him. “I am merely stating the truth, love. You truly are beautiful.”

Had she been blushing a bit before, now her face was more and more resembling a tomato. She bit her lower lip to keep herself from grinning like an idiot, though. “I’m sure you must know many beautiful women. I bet they’re positively chasing after you.”

A lonely soul… He could sense that now, like many other things. Not maybe that good - after all he  had only  found out  about his abilities, something  he at  first wasn’t  happy with.  Neither was he happy with all the voices in his head, no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. “Hello, Princess,” he finally  said, stepping up from behind and hugging her, bending down to kiss her neck. “Miss me?”

She watched as strong arms wrapped around her and placed her own hands on his hand and hook, leaning her head to the side to give him better access to her neck. “Of course I missed you.” His voice alone had made her shiver a bit, though something in it told her that he seemed to be troubled. It was deeper, somewhat rougher.  “It’s been too long.”

Everybody here had a story to tell. And this woman next to Emma had one, too. It never occured to the Savior why everyone would demand that she listened to theirs but when it came to others like Nina, people suddenly felt distrust. Perhaps Emma changed enough to see the bigger picture. But something urged her to approach the other, start talking to her. “Bluntly speaking, I hope they felt sort of bad not believing you. Sorry I wasn’t really around to help.” the sheriff curved her lips into an apologetic smile and to hide the little sting of guilt, drank from her cup. “We’re, I’m —– not always that brave. Trust  me, there were so many situations I wanted to run. Things which maybe scared me more than fighting monsters… but in the end, I stayed for those I care about.” A soft chuckle was to be heard; if someone had asked her that question only a few weeks ago, Emma’s response might have been quite different. “My strength comes from my loved ones. There is no need to admire me. Really, I am not good with compliments. But—” And here she paused. “Since I’m actually trying to befriend you right now, I want to return the compliment. I admire you for, despite everything, staying that strong. I can imagine it’s not easy around here. In this time.”

It was hard to not drop the cup at the revelation that she wanted to be friends with her. The savior herself? She glanced up, completely unable to hide the surprise in her eyes. “T-thank you. I-...” She could still make it sound like she was just thankful for the compliment and not make a complete fool out of herself. “I distracted myself with work. The curse did me a bit of a favor,a actually. I love working with children, though I didn’t know it before I was cursed.” Sure, sometimes it had been hard when their parents had looked at her oddly, eyes full of distrust and uncertainty, but no one had gotten her fired or anything. It had been a bit of hope in her relatively bad situation. The children had been nothing but welcoming during and after the curse, though. They were more perceptive than adults anyway. Henry had often looked as if he’d understood her pain, the pain of no one believing one’s story. “You’re not responsible for my happy ending.” She chuckled a bit. “So you don’t have to apologize for not being there. Regina didn’t take it from me, I don’t think I had one to begin with. And, for the record, I’d love to be friends with you.”

This was an answer Andrew didn’t exactly expect to get, and it confused him quite a lot. Perhaps it was too bold of him to ask such a thing? She did tell him just moments ago that she usually didn’t celebrate Christmas, so maybe she just didn’t feel comfortable enough around so many people in a smaller space than Granny’s was. Andrew of course understood that and certainly wouldn’t push her into anything she wasn’t comfortable with, though deep inside he did hope that she would agree to his suggestion. He nodded lightly, then took a sip of his punch again. “You don’t exactly have to be one for the party in question. It’s more like sitting by the fireplace and chatting while Christmas songs play in the background.” Which in all honesty sounded like a party in a retirement home now that he said it out loud.

This wasn’t actually going according to the plan he had in mind, so he’d need to improvise quickly. “It’s not as dull as it sounds though,” he added quickly, a small smile on his face which only grew once she finally, after all, agreed to come to the party. “I would really like it if you’d come over. And you really won’t be a bother at all. The more, the merrier, and my Mom will be  overjoyed to finally have another woman except for herself at the Christmas lunch.”

She stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom and eyed the dress she was wearing. It was made from red velvet and had a white seem at the bottom and, all together, made her look a bit like a female version of Santa. Thankfully it was elegant and not slutty like 99% of the other Christmas dresses she had found. It would be fine, though she hoped that she wouldn’t be over-dressed. Just a bit of make-up now and she was ready to grab her long white coat and head to her car. Nervousness had taken over by then and she tried to keep her hands from shaking at the wheel, blaming the cold weather for ho much they were trembling and turning up the hating system just a little bit a moment later. Of course it didn’t hep bur she’d already known that before trying it out. The cold wasn’t to blame, but it was easier to do that than to admit that she was somewhat scared of this evening. It had been so long since she’d been at such a private party. And the first time that she’d been invited to one by a man.

She parked the car and got out, then locked it and carefully made her way to the house she knew they all lived in, knocking on the door and then wrapping her arms around herself a moment later. She stepped back and kept her eyes on the door, still feeling nervous and wanting to be able to control her trembling hands like that. It worked. No one would notice, she was sure of it. And then the door opened and she stared right at Andrew, remembering to give him a welcome smile only a bit later. “Hi.”

“No. I tried, when I was there with just Merida. I couldn’t. I just sat here and hoped for sleep until” Yeah she wasn’t going to mention seeing Gold in her head. That would be just weird and make her crazy. Nope. “until I figured out it had to do with the darkness and being immortal and all that. No sleep.” Emma shrugged.

“We could go for a walk. I think tat will be easier than trying to find chocolate here. I don’t even know if they know what chocolate is.” This was essentially middle ages here and during those people didn’t know about cocoa in her world. “Lets go?”

“A walk it is then, though I thought I’d seen some chocolate puddings and other deserts when I passed by the kitchen earlier, maybe we can try to find some of that when we’re back.” Perhaps it wasn’t just for Emma. Who didn’t like chocolate and while she wasn’t the biggest cocoa fan, she certainly wouldn’t say no to a nice slice of chocolate cake. Definitely the best medicine against depression and sadness.  She followed the other out of the castle, though, walking silently next to her as they passed thrugh the halls. “I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to be in a castle.”

Killian glanced around, making sure that nobody was looking at them before sitting down  across from  her. “I  might be  a pirate, love,  but  I  do  recognize  when a  woman’s pregnant.  I’ve been watching you for a few days now. Morning sickness? You could have been more subtle about it.”

Rolling her eyes a bit, she placed the paper back on the table. “It’s not exactly easy to be subtle about having to run to the bathroom every five minutes and not being able to even look at food without feeling sick.” Folding her arms in front of her chest she expected to be yelled at at any moment. It had been a one-time-thing, after all. “So what now?”

“Well dad’s always busy, you know that. But we should really try to get him outside more. It’s not healthy to be locked inside the house all day.“ Her eyes wandered down then, looking at Isabella’s hand on top of hers before  she looked  at the  other and  shook her  head. "It’s  really okay… The only young man you will find in Storybrooke is probably Henry and I don’t really think that would be appropriate.”

“I bet there are tons of suitable boyfriends for you, you just haven’t been looking hard enough. I mean, August’s all grown up again now, but he’s just an example. Probably too old, I would imagine? What kind of types are you interested in?” The first part of her order arrived and she began to eat immediately. “Younger? Older? Dark, blonde, women perhaps?” She grinned. “As for your father. I’ll try my best to get him outside more from now on. Tell him I need lots of long walks and don’t want to be alone on them.”

“Why would you make me feel uncomfortable? It’s always nice  to hear that a woman loves me.” He chuckled a bit, teasing of course, doing so to break the lightly awkward silence  by their  table. Perhaps  what she had said was said  in the  wrong place  and at  the wrong  time -  he still had feelings for Emma, even though he had broken off their relationship, but as days passed, he had less and less hope that there  was a  way to draw the darkness out of her. Perhaps he should just move on.  And he did fancy Isabella.

“Because  everybody  knows that  you are  in love  with Emma. And I would  never have  said anything  if I hadn’t  been in  such  a talkative mood thanks  to the wine. A very  cruel trick by  the way. Remind me to never drink  with you again. I  had no idea  just how easily  you can drink someone under the table, though I guess I should have guessed it since  you  were a  pirate and all.” She cleared her  throat, rambling because  she  was nervous. “I can’t believe  I said that I love  you. I’m sorry.” Did she, though? Had she  fallen in love with the pirate without noticing it?

* @fellthroughtime

❛            oh, forgive me. ❜  One of her sheep had mistaken the stranger’s skirts for a meal. Pippa beckoned the ewe back to her.  ❛ She’s usually very well behaved.❜

“It’s not the end of the world.” With a small chuckle she tried to get the wrinkles out of the fabric, then wiped her hand on it. “I like animals so I’m not bothered by being tested for food.”

“Well those where different times back then,” Andrew replied, nodding a bit. He didn’t know much about the actual time Isabella came from, though perhaps she would later on be willing to share a few stories about her time. He certainly wouldn’t mind that and it would be a mice change from the dancing, eating and chatting routine that only went on and on in an endless loop. “Perhaps later on… would you tell me about what it was back in your time? I certainly wouldn’t say no it.” Maybe he’d even get to know her a bit better that way as well.

A small chuckle left him and he shook his head in light amusement. “Everything’s fine, no need to apologize. We can go eat after the dance is over.” And it didn’t last for much longer. The slow part of the waltz was replaced by a slightly faster part before the music slowed down and stopped. Andrew then bowed to Isabella, taking her hand to gently place a kiss on it. “Thank you for this dance.” He straightened up, offering her his arm. “How about food now?”

“If you wish it I can tell you what it was like, but mainly it was simply a bit more old fashioned and dancing the way were are dancing right now would have been a bit of a scandal at court.” She chuckled a bit at imagining her father’s face if he could see them like this right now. She was glad that he couldn’t even though the only reason for that was that he had died several centuries ago. Before she could finish that thought the music ended and she nodded lightly in reply to his assurance that she had no reason to apologize.

She took his offered arm a moment later and followed him to the buffet, the smell of food getting stronger and stronger the closer they came to it. She’d been hungry before but now it was getting almost unbearable and with a small smile she grabbed one of the places and began to add a bit of salad and bread to it. People were still dancing all around them as she added a bit of chicken to the mix, then glanced around in order to find the best place to sit down.