Neal Cassidy (
stolenwatches) wrote2013-12-30 01:54 am
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
broken |
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. ]
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. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
He frowns slightly when no one comes out to meet him. If his father wasn't here, where else could he possibly be? It wasn't exactly like there was an abundance of places to go in Storybrooke.
Neal goes to where he remembers his father's office being, the room where he'd found out the truth, and knocks on the door briefly before opening it. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
Neal closes the office door behind him, before folding his arms. ]
The curse is broken. But you knew that.
no subject
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.
no subject
Wait, is that why you were hiding in here? [ because that really was the best way to put it... hiding in his shop. ] You thought they'd want revenge on you?
no subject
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.
no subject
Neal's reaction this time to the sudden hug isn't nearly as violent as last time, but though he doesn't move, neither does he reciprocate the hug. Once upon a time, he would have been overjoyed that his father was renouncing magic, but some things were just too little too late.
When he steps back, Neal nods in acknowledgment of his father's words. ]
I'm not the only one you need to be apologizing to. You can't stay in here forever.
no subject
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?
no subject
There were a lot of families broken up by the curse. [ And family has always been a sore point for both of them. ] You said you knew everything in this town. So use that knowledge.
no subject
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.
no subject
[ He puts out an arm to stop his father.
There's a lot of work to be done in the upcoming days, but just for tonight, people are still waking up and remembering their lives before Storybrooke. They need some time to adjust, before getting a rude awakening about who was behind the curse, aside from Regina.
Instead, Neal looks at his father. ]
You said you wanted a second chance with me. But do you even know who I am?
[ After three hundred years, there was a reason he didn't go by 'Baelfire' anymore. He's not that same kid, who made a deal with his father, and expected it to be honoured. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
[ Accompanied by a sardonic smile. It's the truth, harsh as it may be.
If his father wants a second chance, if nothing else, he needs to understand this. Neal is not the boy he abandoned, and if his father was expecting that, to start again where they left off, well, that wasn't gonna happen. He's a man now, with a family, a son, of his own.
A son that... his father doesn't know about. And he isn't entirely sure he wants to tell him yet. ]
no subject
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.
no subject
Neal's tried very hard over the past god knows how long not to think about his father, but initially he did wonder. What his father did with the magic he'd chosen over him. If he was happier without him. Obviously, now, he could clearly see that wasn't the case but still. ]
You know, I'm curious about that too. What exactly did you do, after you abandoned me? I mean, aside from creating a dark curse.
no subject
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.
no subject
[ It sounds cold and manipulative, just like his father, so Neal feels he can hazard a pretty good guess about what conditions. ]
Maybe I don't want to talk about myself.
[ To be honest, he's not sure what he wants still.
He came because he didn't have a strong desire to run in the opposite direction. But now that he's here, Neal realizes that he also hasn't regained the strong love that he had for his father when he was young. There's just... a lot of mixed feelings.
He sighs and rubs the back of his head. ]
What do you want to hear? A lot of crap's happened.
no subject
[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?
no subject
What, you're gonna tell me that wasn't part of your master plan?
[ He doesn't really believe that his father could've somehow paved the way for this, but he also doesn't want to talk about Emma right now. So he deflects. ]
no subject
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?
no subject
[ That's about as much a concession his father will get, because he didn't come here to talk about Emma, let alone Henry. He came because he said he would, and to try and put his past behind him before starting a new family. ]
Is that all you wanted to know? About my love life? Nothing about where I was, after going through that portal?
no subject
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?
no subject
How about the part where I ended up in Neverland? I met a pirate there, you know, and he told me some stories about you that I couldn't believe were true.
[ Neal is deliberately leaving it open-ended, and waits to see how his father responds to that. It's been so long, he's honestly put it behind him. But it's as good a way as any to find out exactly how much his father has changed from what he remembers. ]
no subject
[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?
no subject
There was a lot of history for him, back on that island. If his father really wanted to know what happened to him after he fell into the portal, this was something that was going to come up sooner or later. Might as well be on Neal's terms. ]
Why don't you tell me?
no subject
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.]
no subject
Yeah. He told me how you ripped her heart right out of her chest.
[ He'd been horrified, to put it mildly, to hear the description from Hook all that time ago. ]
no subject
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.]
no subject
[ His words are stilted, though, as painfully truthful as they are. Him forgiving his father of a whole mess of things is something Neal doesn't even know if he's capable of. If his father came into this... reunion, with the expectation of forgiveness, he likely would've walked straight back out of the shop.
Neal lapses back into silence, thinking back to all those years ago. Meeting Hook... ]
I, uh, jumped ship after learning that. [ After learning why his mother left him, that the pirate he'd started to become fond of was only after his father's blood. ]