cassidyneal | Open Post

Entry tags:

open post

Open Post

OPTION A

[It's about to storm, as far as Neal can tell, and he glances up at the sky, grip a little tighter around his to-go coffee cup. What sounds good now is going back home, getting back in bed, and sleeping to the sound of the storm. But instead, he's going to try and make it to the bar, his bar, Den of Thieves and maybe he'll just stay there the rest of the day and slide right into a work shift.

The weather has other plans.

With one loud clap of thunder, he's suddenly standing in the middle of a downpour, and he darts to the nearest doorway; he has no idea if it's a shop or restaurant, but it's dry, and he stands there, water still dripping from his hair down to his eyes as a hand runs down his face. He's not going to work soaking wet, and while a little water never hurt anyone, this is coming down so hard it's almost blinding. Storms like that seem to never last around here though, so he'll wait it out and turns to see where exactly he's ducked into. When he makes eye contact he smiles, almost sheepishly.]

I promise, I won't track water all over the floor.

OPTION B - STORYBROOKE (in which he didn't die, okay?)

[He still hasn't really been here long enough to think or feel like he fits in. Neal goes through the motions, gets up in the mornings, goes to Granny's, talks to Henry before school and then searches for an apartment. He can't live at the bed and breakfast forever. And most days after Henry's at school, it's right back at Granny's. Sometimes he goes to the library to bug Belle, or to his father's shop. He even goes to the station sometimes, but today he's eating his sixth pancake with his eighth cup of coffee while he reads the paper. And he doesn't even bother to look up and see who sits down next to him; it's usually a dwarf or fairy anyway.]

Someone should tell Regina we need more housing in this place. Unless she's renting out rooms in the mansion, I got nothin' here.

OPTION C - MANHATTAN

[Neal's managed to get himself a job at an ad agency. Nothing big, he's not writing about broadway plays or anything, but it's a nice local gig. Nice enough that he has to wear a suit and tie even on Fridays. Nice enough that he feels like he's finally making something of himself and doesn't have to try and make a living stealing anymore. He'll be out of his crappy apartment and into a better one within six months, he figures, as long as everything keeps going the way it is.

When he heads home from work, it's always with earbuds in and listening to music, this evening it's Citizen Cope as he rides the subway, a little zoned out as he loosens his tie. He's not paying much attention to what's going on around him, and when he heads off at his stop, he doesn't take his time. He wants home, and a pizza he can have delivered, and a cold beer. That's what he's been working toward, right? An honest living with honest ends to the work days. He's in his own head, lost in the music, and doesn't notice, at all, someone trying to get his attention. But he does stop when he nearly drops his tie, pausing to catch it before it hits the pavement and re-adjusting it so that it falls across his arm. It's enough time for someone to cross over to him and try to tap him on the shoulder.]

OPTION D - WILD CARD! CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE.

Picture prompt

Lyric prompt

AU twist on canon prompt

Bakerstreet prompt

Anything you can think of!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow these are really sad. Sorry?

Edited 2016-06-17 01:08 (UTC)

As far as Neal's concerned, his life with Emma is gonna really start in Tallahassee. She picked the place, and maybe he doesn't know much about it, but Florida's supposed to be nice; beaches and sunshine all the time, so they're doing this. They have the watches now, the money is a done deal, and they can leave that life behind them. He'll get a real job - doing what, he doesn't know. But he's determined to take care of her, to give her something stable, something she never has to worry is a step away from falling apart.

Once they hit the open road he takes the first driving shift, holding onto her hand when he can, occasionally glancing over at her and grinning because they're really doing this, they're taking and getting for themselves what no one else was ever able to do for them. He can't think of anything else he'd rather be doing, and there's definitely no one else he'd rather be doing this with.

She had hardly believed it when Neal suggested finding a place to settle down. She'd truthfully never expected to spend the rest of her life stealing to get by, but she'd also never really thought about what other options she had, or how to make them happen. Even at this moment right now, she finds it hard to believe that they're really going to make it all the way to Tallahassee without something coming along and ruining the whole thing for them. Or for Neal to wake up one day and decide she's not worth his time, like has happened to often in the past that it's what she expects from everyone now.

She looks down at their hands as her stomach rumbles again. Have they really been on the road for that long already? Breakfast was hours ago, and they hadn't really had lunch. "Can we stop soon? I could use a rest break." A bathroom, for sure. That coffee may have been a bad idea.

Neal looks over at her and nods. "Yeah, of course. There should be a place in two miles, one of those gas stations that has a restaurant attached. So you know right away the food's gonna be great."

He grins, teasing a little as he switches lanes to get off at the exit. Sure enough, the gas station itself is huge, with a place advertising the world's best pie attached to it.

"World's best pie? Have they tried all the pie in the world?" She'll believe that claim when she tastes it.

She grabs a twenty from the stash of bills and sticks it in her pocket. "I'm going to get a few things and I'll meet you at the table." She can replenish their stock of stacks and drinks and take care of a few other things at the same time. "Just order me something. You know what I like."

"It's like in New York, everyone says they got the best coffee in town." When she moves to go, he leans over and kisses her temple, then gets out of the car before heading inside, sliding into a booth. He orders both of them burgers, fries, shakes. And maybe if there's room they'll have some of that infamous pie later.

She doesn't know if he's actually spent time in New York, but that doesn't really matter. To her it's just always been this mysterious place. While he's ordering their food, she heads to the gas station half of the establishment. She grabs some snacks, a few bottles of water, and then, because she's suspicious, a pregnancy test. She knows she'll have to wait a few minutes to know the results of that, so before she goes into the stall, she shoots him a text so he won't wonder what's taking her so long: This is the slowest moving line ever.

When she's done, she grabs her bag of items and heads into the restaurant to find him, sliding into the booth across from him. "Sorry that had to take so long."

Checking his phone, Neal smiles a little, having no reason to think anything else of it, just munching on fries until she comes back. "No, it's okay. Find everything you needed?" he asks, eyes moving over her face.

"Yeah." She just watches him for a moment before picking up her own food. She has something to tell him, but she doesn't know when is the best time to tell him. Should she do it here and now, in this public place, or wait until they're back in the car, or until they stop for the night? And what if it turn out to be a false positive and there's really nothing to tell him? That happens sometimes. Maybe she should wait until she's sure.

But no. If she doesn't tell him now, he'll know something's up. "Neal. I have to tell you something."

Putting down his burger, Neal watches her as he chews and swallows, then wipes at his mouth, forehead etched with concern. "Everything okay?" he asks, worried, afraid something's wrong. He knows she's been tired lately; maybe she's sick. But if he stopped to think, he'd realize she couldn't have diagnosed herself, not like that, and they haven't been to a doctor.

"Emma, what is it?"

What she's about to say will change their lives forever. More than anything that either of them has had happen to them before. Even more than his declaration that they should find a place to settle down.

She's start it now, and she won't be able to eat until she gets it over with. "I'm pregnant. At least, the test I just took says I am."

For a solid minute, what she said doesn't even register, and Neal just stares at her, like he's still waiting on her to say something else. But then the words sink in, and he's blinking quickly, a look of pure shock on his face.

"I'm...did you...are you...you said..."

He's trying to say the words back to her, but his brain is just stuck.

"Yeah." She wraps her hands around her water glass but doesn't take a sip. She can't judge by his reaction how he feels about the news, other than shocked. Which is her reaction too. She's not sure how she'll feel about this once it sinks in, but she does know that she's never seen herself as a mother.

"Sometimes those things are wrong." She's grasping as straws now. She took that test for a reason, after all, and this explains everything.

Edited 2016-06-22 02:50 (UTC)

Neal lets out a low, soft breath as everything sinks in and he wets his lips and shifts, looking at her.

"You're right. Those things can be wrong. So. Okay, we'll...go to a clinic and do a test there, okay? We'll find out for sure. And then...then we'll figure it out." Reaching out, he takes her hands gently.

"Are you okay?" She's his only concern right now, her frame of mind, how she is.

"Clinics cost money." She knows they have some money now, but that's supposed to tide them over until they get settled. If they spend more of it than necessary, they'll never make it to the 'get settled' part. But what he says makes sense. It's better to know for sure.

"I don't know know anything about babies. Or being a parent, or any of that."

"There's Planned Parenthood, okay? That's a thing, right?" He's almost positive it is, even though he hasn't really paid attention.

"Emma, I don't know anything about it either. We know how we both grew up, okay?" Well, she thinks she knows how he grew up, but that's not a conversation for right now. "I mean, just...first reaction here but...we can give a kid something me and you never had. I'll get a job, a real job, and maybe we don't live in a fancy house, but there'll be a lot of love. Right? We can do that. Together."

"Okay." She has to admit, it does sound really appealing, and it is the only thing she has wanted since she was a child. Stability. A place to belong. But at the same time, it sounds too good to be true. Every time she has allowed herself to think that this is maybe it for real this time, something has happened and she's lost it again.

She sniffles as her eyes start to fill with tears. This isn't anything she would have cried about before, but she has noticed a change in her emotions lately. "I don't know if I know how to do any of that."

"But you wouldn't do it alone. I'd be here, right here with you. I don't know any m ore about it than you do, Emma." He think though, that he needs to make one thing clear.

"It's your choice, okay?" he says quietly. "Whatever you want to do, I'll support you. Anything, Emma. And you don't....have to decide anything today. You can give yourself time to think. The choice you make, it'll be fine."

He knows what he wants, but it's also Emma that has to go through anything, and he respects that.

"Okay." As scary as this idea is, as unprepared as she is, as much as she never saw herself as a mother, she doesn't think she could make that choice. She knows what it's like to feel unwanted, and she's determined not to do that to any children, no matter whose children they are.

"We need to be sure first."

"We will be. But right now, all you can do is eat, and we'll stop for today, just take it easy and hit the road in the morning. When we get to Tallahassee, we'll find a clinic." He's trying to plan this all out in his head, to give her a plan, to give her something solid to hold onto for now.

"Okay. That sounds good." If they can find a cheap room or something, staying in and resting for awhile sounds like exactly the kind of thing she wants to do right now. "You shouldn't have to do all the driving though." She knows that's what he'll insist on.

"You let me deal with what I shouldn't have to do, okay?" He grins at her, just teasing when he adds: "It was my stolen car first. I call dibs." He picks up her hand though, just running his thumb over her knuckles before looking at her.

"You know I love you, right?"

"I mean it though. It's a lot of driving." Even if lately all she has wanted to do is sleep.

"I know." Even though she sometimes wonders why that is, how it is that anyone can love her. No one before now ever has, after all. Why should it be any different with him? No one keeps up with the life they're living when they're seventeen.

"I love you too."

"We'll see where we're at tomorrow and go from there," he compromises, mostly because she's stubborn, he loves her for that, and he'll let her drive after she's slept for a while. Once they're done eating, they head for a cheap motel, his mind working about a million miles a minute as he just tries to think about what they're going to do, how they're going to make this work. All while keeping in mind that this is Emma's choice, and he'll support whatever she wants to do.

She is tired, she has to admit that, and glad to get off the road for the day. She never would have expected travel to be this tiring, especially with spending the whole day in the car.

When they get into the room, she declares that she's going to take a bath, and disappears into the bathroom with a copy of Oliver Twist that she'd picked up for fifty cents from a used-book bin outside a coffee shop. She finds that she's not concentrating all that well though, not right now. Despite the doubts she had expressed to Neal, she is almost completely certain that she is, in fact, pregnant. She can see the differences in herself, now that she knows they should be there. And despite how scary she finds this, how unsure she is of herself, she knows without a doubt that Neal will be an excellent father, and she can't take that away from him. With everything he's willing to do for her, wants to do for her, she can give him this. Even if it means learning instincts she's never had.

She drains the water from the tub and wraps herself in a towel, then returns to the room where Neal is. "Hey." She straddles his lap, one leg on either side. "We should of course still go to a clinic, but I'm sure that this is happening. I'm pregnant, and it's scary, but we'll do the best we can for this baby."

Resting his hands on her hips over the towel, Neal looks up at her and smiles just a little. "Yeah? That's what you want?" he asks gently, wanting this to be what feels right to her. Because you know, I'll always do right by you, and that means supporting you no matter what."

That's what he wants her to know, above anything else. He has her back, always.

"Yeah." She twines her fingers with his. "It's what you want, and you've been doing so much for me. I want to do something for you, and this is what I can do for you."

"Yeah, and it's not just about me. Emma, this isn't like offering to drive for a few days. This is...the rest of our lives. And I mean, you're right, I do want this. I think you'd be a great mom. But you're gonna be doing all the work for a while. Are you really sure this is what you want?"

He asks just to be sure, needing to confirm it for her sake more than his.

"Neal. I promise. This is what I want. I never thought I did, and it's super scary, but I want this because of you." She takes one of his hands and rests it on her stomach. "I want to give you this."

It's the best thing anyone's ever given him, and he gently tugs her down. "C'mere." He kisses her softly, reaching up with his other hand to cradle her cheek in his hand, stroking her skin with his thumb.

"We're gonna be great parents. We'll learn all of this together, I promise. I'll read every book, Emma."

"You're going to be a good parent." She's not so sure about herself at the moment, but she knows that much about him. "I couldn't do this without you around." She straightens back up, but stays on his lap. "I should get ready for bed. I can't really wear this for sleeping."

"Wet towel? Nah. Don't wanna sleep in that. Nothing on the other hand..." He gives her a sly grin, beginning to tug at the towel gently.

She leans back down to kiss him with a smile as she tugs the towel off and tosses it aside. "If we're going to drive tomorrow, we do have to get some sleep tonight." But they don't have to go to sleep right this minute, either.

"We will," he promises against her lips, hands traveling up and down her bare sides as they kiss. Neal tugs her to lay on the bed with him, holding her protectively against him as they kiss, fingers gliding through her hair now. Every time he kisses her, he tries to infuse everything he feels about her into it, needing her to know how he feels, what he feels for her. He never wants there to be a question of how in love with her he is.

"I am not going to be the only one sleeping in nothing tonight," she adds as she reaches under his shirt to pull it off. She knows exactly how he feels about her, but she's not the best at explaining how she feels about him. So she'll find a way to show him, a way beyond having his baby.

He's the first person who ever made her feel safe, wanted, accepted.

"I love you," she whispers to him.

Sent from my LG Mobile

Smiling softly, Neal raises his arms to help her with the shirt, then kisses tenderly across her neck and across her collarbone. "I love you, Em. I'm always gonna love you. Always," he promises, fingers raking through her hair before pressing his forehead to hers and simply holding onto her.

"Always is a long time." Even as he says it, she believes him, believes that he means it, but she also knows that every time she's thought she finally found a 'forever' that forever had ended up not actually lasting forever. No one gives Emma Swan an 'always'.

"I know. That's why I like it," he says, hand running up her back in a soothing up and down pattern. He's going to ask her to marry him, he knows it, but he wants to get a real job first, save money, and buy her a legit ring. Something no one can ever take away from her.

That actually gets a smile and a chuckle from her. Only Neal would say that. Only Neal has said that.

"I like always too." It's nice to finally have an idea of the concept.

"You're still wearing too many clothes."

"Yeah? You gonna do anything about it?" he asks with a full on grin that's full of faux innocence.

"Maybe. How badly do you want to be part of things that happen when we have no clothes on?" She's not going to do all of the work, but she'll do some of it, as her fingers tug at the waistband of his pants.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Open Post

ADVENTURESSSSSS

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject