Chitown girl

Colin O’Donoghue as Lt. Gordo Cooper in ‘The Right Stuff’ (2020)

Which brought me to thinking about the way that season 6 paced all the Captain Swan developments. I (like most people I know) am not big fan of the weird Hook lying about killing David’s dad, and the engagement being called off story line, but it doesn’t bother me as much as the weird stalling tactics the show uses. Or at least, it bothers me more as a symptom of those weird stalling tactics. 

Hook and Emma should have gotten engaged at the end of season 5. They had already decided to move in together– no matter what season 6 says; Killian picked out a house in order to ask her, she said “yes I want that. I want that so much I’m gonna defy the laws of nature and magic to save your life to get it”, she went and got the house for them during the curse, the decision was made. They’d confirmed that they were true love through a magical test of how willing they were to sacrifice for each other. They’d decided to share a heart (even if it didn’t end up happening, they were absolutely going to) which is in practice the same as committing to spending a lifetime together. They were clearly at the point where they were absolutely committed to each other and getting engaged would have been the perfect climax to a season that was essentially about their relationship. 

They should have gotten engaged at the end of season 5. They should have gotten married at the midpoint of season 6. 

But instead the show got cold feet. Instead, season 5 ends with the nice but very anticlimactic ‘saying I love you when we’re not about to die’. They rehash the decision to move in together when it had clearly already been decided in season 5. They wait a while to have the proposal. They throw in a contrived plot line to temporarily break them up. And it’s just so unclear why. 

Because they wanted the wedding at the end of the season? That doesn’t really matter that much and at the very least they could have just been engaged all of season 6 (a year engagement isn’t super long, and the seasons aren’t necessarily real time). Because they wanted the wedding to coincide with the musical episode and couldn’t do it any earlier? Again, could have been a long engagement. And regardless, wasn’t worth it since the musical isn’t even focused on Hook and Emma. Because they were afraid that happy couples kill shows? That’s a weird take for this particular show considering one of their main couples started the show married. And because Emma and Hook had been a stable couple for two years at that point. And because they easily could have had Emma and Hook happily married, and focused the “still developing romance” on Robin and Regina, had they not thrown Robin away like a used napkin. 

And all of the issues and fears that are dealt with on the part of both Hook and Emma, that they use all the delays for, could just have easily taken place within the context of their engagement/marriage if the show had still chosen to do them. 

Colin O'Donoghue with Keb Mo in Vancouver

Hey, hey, hey my friends! I know it may look like I’m somehow giving away followers, which would be weird, but I’m not. Instead, I’m giving away fics to my absolutely amazing followers! 💚

You guys are legitimately awesome, and while I know I’m not the best at interacting with everyone, I do hope that this is a nice little way for me to show my appreciation for you all! I’m legitimately always blown away by the love you all have shown me and the words that I put out, and this is the only way I can think to thank you all!

So here’s how this is going to work:

I will pick three winners off of a randomized list of entrants and do the following: expand upon a prompt story, one-shot, or multi-chapter in a universe that I’ve already created.

Or write Historical + Grief + Star-crossed lovers or Accidentally Married + Forgotten First Meeting from the two-prompt game I played a few weeks back! 

That means you can ask for an expansion or to see a chapter from another POV or something similar on Not Your (soul)Mate, Betting on the Bullseye, Rising From the Ashes, Indirect Deposit, Mistress of the Sea, Pitching A Tent, Every Monday Morning, Mystery Musical Man, What Would We Do Without Internet? or ANY other story that can be found on my Tumblr or AO3 page. That includes prompt stories under the If You Ask Nicely Collection, so there’s a lot to choose from! 

Here’s how to enter:

You must be following me. 

You must like AND reblog this post. 

That’s it! That’s all you have to do for your name to get on the list! 📝 

Entry is open until November 25th, and once the winners are drawn, I’ll message you so we can begin talking about your story! 

As a disclaimer, I will say that there are some things I’m not comfortable writing and reserve the right to say no to them if it comes up or if I believe it’s ooc with the story. I am also 36 weeks pregnant so depending on when my baby makes her arrival, these stories may take a little longer than usual to write. As always, I ask for patience and understanding that real life comes first, especially now.

I’m sorry if that was a bit confusing in the instructions!

You guys are awesome for showing this much interest!