Neal Cassidy

Belonging||Neal & Emma

“You’d better not. There’s something bigger at stake here than just our feelings, Neal,” she said, hugging him tightly. “We are a family now. We’re three people, not just two individuals.”

“I know. You’re right.” He said, nodding. She was absolutely right. It wasn’t just the two of them anymore. It was him, her and their son. They were a family. Not exactly a conventional one, but they were a family. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

Emma laughed softly, resting her head back down on his chest. “There’s no one else for me, either.” She held onto his hand. “There never has been. Not really.” She sighed softly. “I tried. I tried to forget you. I tried to forget what you meant to me, to forget what we had, but no one ever could do that for me. I never tried to replace you with them, but no one ever measured up to you. No one ever could.”

Neal smiled. “I know. Same for me. No one was ever you. And I never wanted them to be. There is only one Emma Swan and I’m madly in love with her.” He murmured. “I’m glad we’re trying this again, because I’ve learned my lesson. Never letting you go.”

You seem nice || SB

Rapunzel was very confused, she believed the man, but the way he talked was strange. “Who are Regina and Emma? Do they live in this town too? I just came here recently, I haven’t met many people yet.”

“Regina is the mayor. She’s a former queen and she’s quite skilled in magic. Emma is...well, she’s the love of my life, and she’s also very skilled in magic. Between the two of them, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Plus, there’s my father, who is probably more powerful than both of them combined.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

Emma lifted her hand to run her fingers gently through his hair. “It was harder for me to believe in all of this than to be in love with you, Neal, if you can believe that.” She smiled gently at him. “I love all of you, Neal. Neal, Baelfire, all of you!”

He smiled softly at her. “I know you do. And it means so much to me that you can accept all of me. I’m not perfect, Emma. And I’m still battling a lot of demons. Maybe I always will be. But, knowing that...” He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it softly. “Knowing that I have someone who loves me, who supports me, that helps tremendously. There’s no one else for me, ever. You’ve had my heart from the moment you stole my stolen car.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

Emma turned her head down. Tamara. Her kissing Killian. Graham didn’t count, did he? She wouldn’t keep any of it from him, though. She didn’t need to. “We both did, Neal. At least we tried to…

“I need you to understand what I was thinking. Why I needed her.” He went silent for a bit. “Part of the reason I left you, Emma...it wasn’t just to get you home. And it wasn’t because I was scared you wouldn’t believe me. I was scared you would. And that you couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to love Baelfire. That you couldn’t accept him, accept me.” He said, softly. “I didn’t have enough faith in us. And with Tamara...I needed...I needed someone to need me. And I believed she did. And then when I finally told her, she accepted me. She still wanted to be with me. And I thought that fate was finally done spitting on me.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

Emma turned her head up to look at him. “The only time I’ve ever been happy is when I’ve been with you, Neal.” She wanted to be completely open with him. She had no problem with full disclosure.

He smiled. “Me too. I mean, I know we’ve had other people in our lives but...it was never...It wasn’t as simple as you might think.” He was talking about Tamara. “I know it hurt you to think I had moved on. And we need to talk about that.”

Needing Revenge || Open

Killian glared at Neal, shaking with angry. He could tell at the moment neither of them would be able to fix things at the moment, and if he stayed there much longer, he might do something he would regret later. “This is not over.” He said at the other man before stomping off down the street. His plans would have to wait for another day.  

“Stay the hell away from my family!” Neal called out after him. Killian Jones had yet to see his dark side, and didn’t want to.

Belonging||Neal & Emma

Emma laid down against him, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him. This was really what she wanted. She wanted to feel the security of his arms and know that it wasn’t going away this time. “This is all I want too.”

Neal kissed the top of her head as he held her close. “Tallahassee, baby.” He murmured, softly. “There were...so many nights when I’d be trying to sleep in my apartment, and I’d think about you and wonder if you’d found it, if you were happy.”

You seem nice || SB

Rapunzel furrowed her brow, confused by his question. “So…normal ‘guys’ don’t have pointy teeth?” She turned the other terms he used over in her head, trying to figure out what he meant by them. “What do you mean vampire and werewolf? Mother never told me of those creatures. Do you have a lot of them in this town?” She was terrified of the prospect of dangerous creatures, but she tried to look brave.

“I...I’m not sure who you’ve been talking to, but humans don’t usually have sharp teeth.” He said. “And werewolves and vampires aren’t something you gotta worry about. I mean, yeah, sometimes we have magical creatures attack here but Regina and Emma take care of that. You’re safe here, I promise.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

“You make me happier than I could ever express. I love you!” She smiled brightly, taking him by the hand and pulling him over to the bed. They didn’t have to jump right into the bed, but she really did want to be cloer to him.

“I love you too.” Neal followed her and climbed onto his bed, pulling her next to him, as he got settled. “I just wanna hold you.” He murmured, softly. It had been so long and he missed having her in his arms.

Another Heart to Heart||Neal & Gold

He tightened his hold on his son ever so slightly. It wouldn’t hurt him but it was slightly needy, even if he was trying to curtail most of that. “I don’t,” he whispered, letting Bae take for that what he would. But he didn’t mean that he didn’t love the darkness. He meant he didn’t love himself. And he didn’t see how Bae could love him, darkness and all, when he couldn’t love himself except with the worth the power of the darkness gave him. He’d been sure Bae hated that. Apparently he was wrong. He didn’t know. He didn’t know what to think about many things really. But he did know his son was here and he could hold him and that made everything just a bit better.

Needing Revenge || Open

“That is the thing Bealfire. You were a child and didn’t know anything and not your mother. Remember she left you both, not just your father. I know her better then any one did. Milah would want me to get revenge for what that monster did. So I had to make a few hard choice but it was all needed to be done in the long run.” He spit out, glaring at Neal. This was not how he wanted the night to go and it was just making him madder.

“Even if it meant hurting me? Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m giving Milah too much credit. Maybe she was just as heartless as you are. Ironic twist. My papa ripping her heart out when she really didn’t have one.” He said, with a bitter smirk. “You two deserved each other.”

Belonging||Neal & Emma

“If you don’t mind me staying with you, I can spend the nights here with you. Until we get it done, Henry can stay with my parents. We’ll spend as much time during the days together as we can. We’ll make it work.”

“Mind? Now, why would I mind the chance to hold you in my arms every night?” He asked, smiling. “To fall asleep with you, wake up with you. I’d never say no to that.” Pressing a soft kiss to her lips, Neal then pulled back. “You make me happier than I can ever express.”

Another Heart to Heart||Neal & Gold

Those were words he had trouble believing, always had. Especially since he was sure he could mess it all up. Sure they loved him now, but he wasn’t convinced with the second part of his son’s statement. He smiled anyway. “I love you too son. All of you.” He wondered then if Bae would be okay with a hug. He’d just claimed that he’d always love him, so that meant it was probably okay. So he shifted closer, opening his arms for a hug and hoping his boy would reciprocate. 

Neal felt his father’s arms around him and returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around his papa. “I love you too, Papa. Even the darkness.” He said, softly. He may not like some of the things he’d done, but he loved him and he always would.

Neal felt a bit awkward around Emma’s parents, even moreso now that he was dating her again. After all, he’d broken her heart and while Emma might have forgiven him, he wasn’t sure if Snow and David had. He looked up when she spoke and nodded. “Uh, yeah sure. What’s up? Everything okay?”

Neal was a bit thrown at the blonde’s question. He quirked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” He asked, wondering if he’d heard her correctly. “I...no?” He shrugged. “I mean, I’m not like a vampire or a werewolf or something. Just a normal guy.”

Needing Revenge || Open

Killian just rolled his eyes at the other man. He was pretty sick of hearing this lecture and couldnt figure out why everyone wanted to give him one. “I’ve spent hundreds years of my life trying to kill your father. It was be pretty sad to give up at this point Neal. “ He said glancing over at the younger man. Killian wasn’t going to stop till he know that Gold was truly dead and in the grave.

Neal was silent for a long time, but when he finally spoke, his tone was gravely serious. “You should be glad my mother isn’t here. Because I didn’t know Milah that well, but I know she’d be ashamed of you right now.” He said, softly. “Because your quest for revenge caused her son to spend two centuries trapped in a version of hell. Do you think that’s what she would’ve wanted? You to avenge her death so badly that you ruined my life? My childhood?”