────── ★★★ ──────
────── ★★★ ──────
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐋
────── ★★★ ──────
A loud pounding on the door met Everly's ears before her eyes slowly opened to be greeted by a beam of light peeking through the curtain. She stayed under the warmth of covers for a moment longer while silently wishing that whoever was at the door would leave. Just as she thought her prayers were answered, the banging greeted her once again. A long sigh passed over her lips as the blonde woman threw her blankets off before putting on a jacket over her pajamas. Everly walked through the small hall within her apartment in silence before finally arriving at the front door and opening it to reveal one of the last people she was expecting to see.
"Jullian. Uh, hey. Hi," Everly greeted her partner while trying to hold back a yawn, "what brings you here at six-thirty in the morning on my day off?"
"I have some questions that can't wait and Mr. Mills didn't help solve them whatsoever," the blue-eyed man responded before holding out a cup to the woman in front of him, "would you like some coffee?"
"Thank you, but I don't drink coffee," the blonde said while stepping aside to allow the Wish Realm version of the man who raised her into her apartment.
Once Hook walked past her and into the living room, Everly carefully closed the door in an attempt to not wake up Cassie and Roland, who somehow slept through all the pounding on the door. She rubbed her hands over her face to wake herself up a bit more as she walked toward the raven-haired man before they both sat down on the couch. As soon as she settled on the sofa, Everly's eyes wandered down to the object in her partner's hand. Her attention stayed glued to the book before she furrowed her eyebrows and looked back up at the man. "Did you wanna start a book club or something?"
"No, it's not that. I read this book, and there's something in there that I can't get out of my head. I heard you talking about it with a couple of kids at the diner once so I thought you might be able to help me out," the man told the younger woman before flipping the book open to the bookmarked page and turning it to show the picture to her, "do you know who this woman is?"
Everly just stared at the illustration of Emma that took up a whole page in Henry's book for a long, silent moment before clearing her throat and opening her mouth to speak. "She's just a storybook character."
"I understand that. Um...I feel like, I've met her before," he responded, causing the blonde woman to tense as she watched Hook with a blank expression on her face in an attempt to hide all the emotion that was building up inside of her while she continued to listen to him speak, "do you know if he based her on someone? Somebody real?"
The blue-eyed woman hesitated for a moment while scanning over the illustration of her sister one last time. "I'm sorry, I wouldn't know. I think that's more of a question for the author."
When Everly finally looked away from the image in front of her and up to meet the man's eyes, she found him looking back at her with a hint of disbelief in his eyes. While the two just stared at one another, the blonde woman mentally cursed herself for her inability to properly lie. A long silent moment passed before Hook cleared his throat while closing the book and getting to his feet. After muttering a thank you to the younger woman, the Wish Realm native turned his back to her and left the apartment. Once the door was closed and she knew she was alone for the time being, Everly let her clueless facade fall as she brought her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.
The blonde woman just sat there with nothing but silence to keep her company while her mind kept replaying different memories of her family she left behind in Storybrooke. A single tear rolled down her cheek before one of her hands instinctively went to grab her necklace, only to be greeted by an empty space. It wasn't long after that when she remembered her most prized possessions were victims of the curse as well.
────── ★★★ ──────
Later that day, Everly walked into the performing arts center with Roland at her side to watch the ballet recital that Cassie helped put together. Luckily, her daughter was able to get them two tickets before they were being sold for $550. As soon as the pair entered the large room, the eldest of the Thorne children smiled in their direction before waving for the brunette boy at Everly's side to go join her. The blonde woman stood there for a moment as she watched the two talk and laugh with each other before a small genuine smile formed on her face without her even realizing it.
When the son of Robin first began renting the spare room that was once being used as a home office, he and Cassie constantly had awkward encounters and the latter would attempt to avoid Roland at all costs. However, as of late, they've grown closer and started to act like they did when they actually remembered who the other person was. It was like a breath of fresh air for Everly after living in a world where she barely had any socialization with her loved ones.
Just as she was about to take her seat, Everly's attention was drawn to a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye. She instinctively turned around to see what it was, only to find Lucy running toward her mother before pulling the latter in for a hug. The blonde woman wove her way through the crowd in the direction of Lucy, Ella, Tiana, and Henry before stopping right next to the curly-haired woman just in time to hear her question. "Are you in love with her?"
"Am...what...am I in...uh...hardy. I...I just met her," Henry stumbled over his words while Tiana and Everly watched him with amused expressions on his face before the brunette man stood up straighter in an attempt to fake his confidence, "so, I'm just a guy who screwed up, and I'm trying to fix it."
"Yeah. Looks like a start anyway," Tiana responded as she took one of the trays in front of her before walking away to serve the guests, leaving Everly alone with her nephew who didn't remember who she was.
The two of them just stood there in somewhat comfortable silence while Henry watched his wife and daughter continue to share their moment. While the brunette man did this, Everly looked back at the crowd in search of Cassie and Roland, only to find Fletcher standing near Felix across the room, the latter giving what looked like a pep talk to Dawn. Once again, the blonde woman found herself staring at people who only knew her by her Hyperion Heights counterpart, and once again, she found herself longing for a solution to get her life back to normal.
"It's Jo, right?" Henry questioned, making the woman turn her attention back to him before she sent him a small nod as both of them watched the girl run back through the curtain, "I'm not sure if you'd know, but has Lucy tried to convince anyone else that they were in love with someone they've never met before?"
"She tried to convince me once that I was married to the town's grocery store owner and had two more kids than I actually do," Everly told him with a small smile on her face before letting out a silent sigh.
"It's crazy that she believes that stuff, right?"
"It's not crazy, Henry. She just sees the world differently than we do."
────── ★★★ ──────
When they didn't hear back from Killian and Regina after they went to help Henry with his Lady Tremaine problem, everyone began to grow worried. As Emma paced in the middle of her living room, Everly sat on the couch next to Katherine with Felix, Sam, and Austin standing behind them while Roland kept the three toddlers in the room busy. The Purest Heart's eyes followed her sister as she walked back and forth in front of her before she let out a sigh and got to her feet.
Once she was standing, she quickly cut off Emma's path before placing her hands on the Savior's shoulders, forcing the latter to stop her pacing before she looked up to meet Everly's matching blue eyes. Everyone else watched the sister duo have a silent conversation between themselves before the older of the two finally opened her mouth to speak.
"You know, if you're that worried about them, we could just go there and see if they're okay," Everly said, causing Emma to quirk an eyebrow in her direction before the latter's eyes landed on the three toddlers and Roland.
"What about Cassie, Marci, and Will? We can't just take them along with us," the Savior retaliated while gesturing in the direction of the toddlers.
"Seriously? We brought Roland back here despite the threat of the Black Fairy. Not my brightest moment. But that doesn't change the fact that bringing them along just to check on Killian, Regina, and Henry will be fine."
Before Emma could protest, Everly walked away from her and grabbed the beans that were on the table while Felix, Sam, and Katherine took Cassie, Marci, and Will into their arms. As soon as everything was set, the blonde woman dragged the Savior outside of her oceanside home before throwing the bean across the yard. Not a second after the crystal object hit the ground passed when a portal appeared before everyone walked through the sparkly golden circle.
"Tell me Mom's okay," was the first thing they heard as soon as they made it through to the other side of the portal before they all turned toward the source of the sound to see Henry and Killian having a conversation.
"Well...she...is...uh, okay."
"Last I checked, I'm fine," Emma said, drawing the men's attention to her while Everly and Sam exchanged a confused look when Killian finished his unconfident response.
While the Savior and her son had their reunion moment, the Purest Heart found herself looking over to Killian, only to find him looking back at her as if he'd just seen a ghost. The two just stared at each other for a long moment before Everly attempted to shake off the strange feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach and turned her attention back to her sister and nephew.
"I had to make sure you were both okay. We all did," Emma said as she gestured to the large group standing behind her before her full attention landed back on her son, "and I just...I wanted to tell you myself."
"Tell me what?"
"I'm pregnant."
Laughter filled the air as Henry pulled his mother back in for another hug while everyone else watched with smiles on their face, completely unaware of the utterly shocked and confused look on Killian's face. When the brunette boy looked over Emma's shoulder, his eyes landed on the large group standing behind them before they fell on the small children in their arms.
"Looks like I missed a lot when I was gone," Henry stated as he and Emma ended their reunion before the former made his way over to the group. He quickly pulled his aunt in for a hug then turned his attention back to the young girl in Everly's arms. "And who's this?"
"This is Cassidy."
"Cassidy?"
"Yeah. We named her after Baelfire," the blonde woman told her nephew with a small smile on her face before gesturing toward the other two toddlers that were brought along into this mess, "and those two bundles of joy are Marcia and William. Sam and Katherine's kids."
While Henry continued to have his reunion with Emma and the rest of their group as well as introduce himself to the three young toddlers, Everly glanced over at Killian one last time. A wave of concern washed over her when she found him staring back at her with a blank expression on his face. That time, the Purest Heart didn't ignore the bad feeling she was getting. Something was definitely wrong.
────── ★★★ ──────
────── ★★★ ──────