stolenwatches: (thoughtful)
Neal Cassidy ([personal profile] stolenwatches) wrote2013-12-30 01:54 am

broken | [personal profile] bargaining

[ Thinking back, the past couple weeks had just been one big blur of action, but Neal just feels elated now. Finding out he had a son but that Emma gave him up for adoption had been a bittersweet moment, but getting to meet him and bond with him over the past couple weeks has been a treasure.

Seeing Emma get to meet her parents for the first time, as well as introduce them to him and Henry, is something that, as cliched as it sounds, gives him a warm feeling inside.

It's later, when the celebrations are winding down in the diner, that he excuses himself under Emma's knowing look to head for his father's shop. The past few years have been nothing but good for him, and he finds that the pit in his heart was gone, and in its place, a quiet acceptance and with the curse broken, a readiness to start anew.

Neal enters the pawn shop, and lets the door close noisily behind him with a chime of the bell. ]

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2013-12-31 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Rumple could feel it the moment the curse was broken. So... Emma had finally arrived. Had Bae come along with her? The last few years had been full of torturous waiting as he pretended that nothing was wrong while agonizing about whether or not he'd made the right decision by letting his son leave the first time he'd come to Storybrooke.

Surely everyone was celebrating... except Regina, of course. Rumple chose to remain in his shop, half expecting a lynching for the both of them once people got over the initial elation of the savior's arrival. If they come, what can he do? There's no magic here. Sometimes he'd hoped he might find Belle here someday, despite Regina's assertion that she was dead. But if she was alive, she hadn't been brought here by the curse.

So when Rumple hears the chime of the bell, he remains where he is, sitting on the armchair in his office. Whoever it is, he can't find it in himself to stand and find out. Let them come to him.]

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2013-12-31 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
[A knock? Well, if someone is after his blood, he doubts they'd be polite enough to knock.

Rumple turns the chair toward the door, raising his gaze to the face of his son. Surprise registers briefly in his expression before fading back into neutrality. A large part of him fears Bae is here to tell him he's done with him completely, though there's still some hope that isn't the case.

Not wanting to push his luck, he remains silent, waiting for his son to speak up first.]

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2013-12-31 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Rumple sits forward in his chair when Bae closes the door behind him. He takes that as a welcome sign; that he wasn't planning on spitting out a few words and then running off.

a nod in response to Bae's comment.]
I know.

[His eyes scan his son's face for any signs of hostility. Seeing none, he slowly rises to his feet, grabbing for his cane and walking over to him.]

And you've come to see me before the angry mobs arrive.

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2013-12-31 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
[What can he say? A coward without magic. That's what he was before, and that's what he is now. All the magic did was make it easier for him to hide it, though not everyone was fooled.]

I'm not hiding. There was simply no reason for me to leave.

[But now that Bae is here, he thinks he might have the courage to face whatever lies ahead. Unable to keep up the neutral facade any longer, he drops his cane and wraps his arms around his son in a tight hug.]

But now I see I was wrong. I'm so sorry, Bae. [And now comes the raw emotion, built up over the years.] Please give me another chance to make things right. No magic this time.

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-02 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
[While it would have been nice if Bae had returned the hug, Rumple will have to be satisfied that he didn't push him away. In fact, his words seem to suggest he will, in fact, give him that second chance.

He grimaces at the suggestion he go and apologize to the others. While he chooses not to admit he doesn't regret what he did because it led to finding Bae, he really isn't in a hurry to say "sorry" to the others. And he expects his son knows well enough a simple apology isn't going to do much good.]


What would you have me do, then?

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-02 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
[Helping... somehow, he doubts anybody will want his help. People have (rightfully) come to distrust his motives, regardless of what he does. But maybe if they see positive results, that perception will slowly start to change. He'll do it to please Bae.]

Very well.

[Grabbing his cane again, Rumple starts toward the door.]

If there are still those in need of guidance, I will do what I can to assist.

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-02 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
[Help them, don't help them... he wants to please Bae, but he isn't sure how. He does agree that now probably wouldn't be a good time, but was willing to do it if that was what it took to make his son happy.

That question, instead, eats up his attention. Rumple does hesitate for a moment, but then answers with complete conviction.]


My son.

[He doesn't care if they've been separated for centuries. This man is his flesh and blood. The one person Rumple truly cared about with all of his heart since he'd learned Milah was pregnant at the war camp. He wants to learn about what Bae has been through and how he's grown. But no matter what, he is his son.]

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-04 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
[That statement is painful to hear, but doesn't shake Rumple's conviction in his words.]

You will always be my son.

[No matter what's changed, that very fact cannot be denied. Bae may have spent all these years hating him, but Rumple spent those years full of regret. Their points of view are certainly opposing, and he can't easily change his own.]

But I do hope I will have the opportunity to learn what sort of man you have become.

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-06 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[He would rather keep the topic of conversation on Bae, rather than himself, for obvious reasons. The things he's done... are not things to be proud of. But Bae did live with him for awhile as the Dark One, so he has some idea of what he could expect.]

I tried to find another way to go after you. Creating the conditions for the curse to be cast was my main focus throughout the years.

[Everything had to go perfectly... but that wasn't so easy. Seeing the future was sometimes very hazy. He had to work with what he could see.]

To be honest, I would rather hear about you than talk about myself.

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-09 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
I can explain later, assuming the others don't beat me to it.

[It is cold and manipulative, but he's always told him it was for this greater purpose. It never occurred to him that his son wouldn't want him to do whatever he could to reunite with him.]

I wish you would. [He's very eager to know what Bae's been up to, if not mildly ill thinking about all the difficulties he must've encountered, and through it all believing his father had abandoned him for good.]

Why don't you start from the most recent? For example, how did you come to meet Emma?

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-10 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[He wants to sigh, but doubts that'll make Bae any more pleased with him than he already is. So instead he merely shakes his head.]

I had no idea that would happen.

[Even if he'd wanted it to, for some odd reason, he can't have affected what would happen in this world with him back in the Enchanted Forest.]

You two are together, I take it?

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-12 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[And now he's doing his best not to look exasperated. Rumple knows he has no right... he deserves to feel whatever ire Bae holds toward him. The sooner that all gets out, the sooner they can work on repairing. At least, that's his dearest hope.]

Of course not. I want to hear everything.

[Though he privately admits that the older the information, the more painful it'll be to hear. He absolutely hates thinking of Bae alone as a child, and can only imagine how his son must have felt through all of that.]

Where would you like to begin?

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-15 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
A pirate in Neverland.

[His mind immediately focuses on one possible explanation for that. Hook. What other pirate would think to tell his son bad stories about him? He should've killed him... really should've.

The issue of Neverland is more troubling to him, however. He thinks of his father, and how he'd tried to turn Bae against him. Hook and his father. Two people he'd have very much hoped Bae would never encounter.]


What did he say?

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-16 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[When he'd spoken to Hook and Milah on that ship, the things she'd said... the hatred she'd directed toward him in contrast to the love she'd show Hook had been too much for him. He had been blind to the extent of Milah's disdain for him while they were married. Learning about it after so soon after he'd failed Bae had been too much for him.]

He told you about what I did to your mother.

[His tone is tired, resigned. It had been so long ago, and yet Rumple knew he could never be forgiven for certain monstrous acts he had committed. Hiding anything here would be pointless, since there would always be at least one person who knew of something or other he'd done.]

[personal profile] ex_bargaining849 2014-01-22 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[In a way, he's relieved. It saves him the unpleasantness of having to describe the process himself. On the other hand, he can only imagine this knowledge will make it that much more difficult for Bae to give him another chance.]

I did.

[There's no denying it.]

I have done many... many things that I regret. I don't expect to be forgiven for them.

[His only hope is that the passage of time will allow Bae to let it go, if not forgive.]