Fic: The Lesser of Two Evils - Chapter Seven
Title: The Lesser of Two Evils
Rating: PG-13
Pairings/Characters: Mr Gold/Emma Swan, Henry (and later on August and Regina)
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for everything surely XD
Summary: My new Golden Swan continuing drama. Emma and Gold's complicated relationship takes a turn for the worse when potions and magical artifacts become involved. Written from ideas presented by the lovely missbreese
X-Posted to FF.net here
Chapter One :: Chapter Two :: Chapter Three :: Chapter Four :: Chapter Five :: Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
After a quiet evening of self-loathing and re-evaluating my entire belief system, the inviting smell of Mary Margaret's Saturday morning breakfast makes me feel a little more balanced. I find her at the kitchen window, looking out at the birds, as bacon sizzles away happily in a pan. I creep to steal a piece of crispy heaven, but she spots me before I get too near.
"Hands, Emma" she says without turning.
"Sorry," I reply. "Shall I sit at the table like a good little girl?"
Mary Margaret laughs, turning to tend to the various niceties cooking on the stovetop. "That would be a nice change."
I sit down at the table and pour myself some coffee, and the thought of Gold's lips suddenly rushes back into my head. I suppress it quickly with a gulp of coffee, only to scorch my mouth in the effort. Under the table I run a hand over my pocket, checking that the key to the safe with the dagger in it's still there. After an exhausting night of trying to forget, he seems to be all I can remember.
"You're still troubled."
I look up as Mary Margaret puts a heap of delicious breakfast in front of me. Her face is even, and her tone gives nothing away.
"Me?" I ask. "Troubled when? I'm fine."
She sits down with me.
"Oh sure. Like you were last night, you mean?"
I shudder to think what impression I must've given her, storming to my room like a bratty kid, throwing stuff against the wall in frustration, crashing down on my bed when all else failed.
"I had a stressful day," I eventually reply, starting to eat in the hope of ending the conversation.
"So I heard," she adds, but my mouth is now too full to ask from whom. Or to stop her from telling me. Mary Margaret can see it, how I'm trying to chew faster so I can lead her off topic, so instead she just carries on quickly in that mousy little way of hers.
"I saw Mr Gold leaving the office when I was walking home from work. And then you came home in that godawful mood and locked yourself up in there."
At this she nods in the direction of the spare room, and I decide another mouthful of French toast isn't going to hurt, seeing as whatever speculations she has about Gold and I could never compare to what actually occurred.
"So I went over to see him last night."
I catch myself seconds from choking on the bread.
"Y-?"
I try to talk through the food with no success, so Mary Margaret just continues like it's no big deal.
"I wanted to know if something big had happened with Regina, thought maybe that's why he was there with you. I was going to see if I could help you out, since you seemed so distressed."
I finally manage to clear my airways enough to speak.
"Did you tell him I was distressed?" I ask, fearing the inevitable answer.
"I mentioned it," she replies. "And then Mr Gold said the most curious thing."
"I'll bet he did," I say instinctively.
Mary Margaret lets go of a strange little corner of the mouth smile.
"He said he rather thought that... he might be the cause of it." There is a short pause. "But not in a nasty way, like he usually talks. He seemed... kinda sad."
The honesty in her face is pretty scary, and it often makes me want to tell her everything about how I feel. Very scary, considering I was the little girl who wouldn't even confide in her teddy bear in case it went telling.
"Sad?" is all I can say at first.
Mary Margaret nods.
I return to my breakfast, and she begins to eat hers, clearly fearing that she's stepped over a line. Which she has. Definitely. But I can't help forgiving her, because 'sad' is an interesting development, and I'm grateful to know about it. Perhaps his flirty toying with me wasn't just a mind game after all.
After some minutes of quietly eating, my thoughts swirl up to the surface, and I know I'm going to have to let some of them out for my own good.
"He is."
Mary looks at me. "Is what?" She asks.
"The cause of it."
Another silence falls. Mary Margaret sets her cutlery down deliberately.
"Do you... want to tell me why?"
I close my eyes, knowing it's the only way I'm going to let anything go. Maybe if I just say it quickly, as though the room is empty, and then it'll be done. Mary Margaret will talk sense into me, and I'll start to move on.
"He kissed me." I try to ignore the little gasp she lets out. "Or... maybe I kissed him. It was confusing... Mutually confusing, I guess."
When I open my eyes, a mild shock has covered my roomie's features. But she does her best to stay rational, in that calm little way of hers.
"Okay," she begins. "That explains a lot about Mr Gold's behaviour when I was talking to him."
I can only imagine what she could mean.
"Maybe he thought you might already know," I suggest.
She nods. "Yeah, I'd buy that. He was shy, you know. Well, I mean, not shy... He was-"
"Embarrassed."
"Yeah."
I let out a breath that sounds like a sad little laugh. I know how he feels, and I can just see him squirming on the spot when Mary Margaret appeared at his door. In a far corner of my mind the thought makes me a little happier.
"I guess there's only one question really," Mary Margaret suddenly says.
I find her eyes. "Is there?" I ask, certain that if she knew the full particulars of my afternoon with Gold, she would have several more questions in mind.
"Do you want to kiss him again?"
"Ah, that question," I reply. The thought of it has plagued me almost as much as the dagger, the two things being so equally impossible, and yet so immensely real. "Well, I don't want to say yes."
Mary Margaret raises her eyebrows so far back that they find her hairline and blend in.
"But you're not saying no, either," she adds, a little taken aback.
I can feel my own eyes widening at what I've just admitted.
"Crap," I say.
And, quite out of nowhere, the doorbell rings. We both look to the door for a moment, astonished.
"Speak of the devil..." Mary Margaret says slowly.
I get up, heading for the door, and a strange excitement comes over me. If it is Gold, then what does it mean? Why is he here? If I let him in, can I be sure of what will happen? If I don't, will I regret it as much as stopping that kiss last night?
I find my hand is quivering as I reach the doorknob, so I take it with a forced kind of steadiness, and swing it open, looking straight into the handsome face-
Of August W. Booth.
Chapter Eight
Sorry for the lack of updates, but after next week University is finally over, and more updating will happen!