Chapter 26:

Next Stop...

A few weeks later…

The mermaid and her prince had a nicely turned out wedding ceremony, or at least that is what he could gather from Tawny's look of approval. The fair spring weather had at least held until it was over and everyone had moved indoors for the reception before the May showers began to pour.

The food was exceptional, catered by Tawny's neighbor lass, Tia-something or other, and while he was no judge of music, his lass seemed pleased as she frequently dragged him onto the dance floor for the slow numbers that the band played.

That part Killian enjoyed. Any opportunity he had to hold her close he seized, especially, since his lass wasn't keen on what she called 'excessive public displays of affection.' He was still learning what 'excessive' meant, but apparently, hand-holding, light kisses, and lap-sitting (which is what she was currently doing) were acceptable. The latter usually took a few stiff drinks to become an option, but he was not above using alcohol to lower a woman's inhibitions.

His lass's objections weren't because she was ashamed of him. She had been quick, if rather needlessly, to reassure. They had after all not tried to hide their relationship change, and his lass quite enjoyed staking her claim on him for all to see. It was just that his lass was rather reserved and disliked being the central focus of the town's scuttlebutt. It didn't help matters that Starkey, Conroy and his wife, and Wolf-girl had all been running open books on them. (Much to Red's chagrin, Conroy had managed to sweet talk her grandmother into placing a bet with him. And judging by the dirty looks he had gotten from her recently, she had lost.)

He and his lass were enjoying this period of respite, these past few weeks, and were planning on continuing to do so in the weeks to come. No criminals or villains to keep track of, no monsters to hunt. Their focus could just be completely on themselves. The only thing that marred it was the saying of goodbyes as they prepped for their next grand undertaking.

And so when they hadn't been slow-dancing on the floor or mingling with mutual friends, they had been holding court at their assigned table, with her perched on his lap (at his insistence and her lack of serious protest).

Currently, they were joined by Conroy, Giselle, Red, and Whale. Those with children had gone home, including Jefferson and Princess Ella, which was rather a good thing, because he and Conroy were regaling their audience with tales of their epic capers of grand larceny, both successes and spectacular failures - tales not fit for children's ears.

"The worst disguise you have ever worn." Ruby prompted gleefully.

"What do you mean by 'worst'?" Conroy inquired, just as he confessed, "Clergyman."

"In that case…clergy-woman," Conroy admitted ruefully, which set off a whole round of good-natured ribbing and demands for details.

The man took a large gulp of his champagne, and began, "I'll have you dirty-minds know it was Wash Wednesday – "

He was interrupted by a sudden loud rumbling. The ground trembled violently, nearly sending Tawny out of his grasp, and then the dance floor exploded like a geyser, showering bystanders with rock and dust.

And then in the midst of the screams, shouts, and cries of alarms, there was a wheezy, nasally voice that clashed with all others.

"Ms. McKinley?"

Killian's arm tightened around his lass, who had stiffened at the sound of her name.

When every eye not riveted on the new arrival turned to her, the owner of said voice, to his dismay, spotted her.

"Oh, there you are. Come, Ms. McKinley. Or you'll be late. Alice needs you."

From over his lass's shoulder, he could see the presumptuous owner of the nasally voice. Quite astonishingly, there, walking towards them, was a bipedal toddler-sized white rabbit, smartly dressed in a white suit, black bowler hat, red spectacles to match his albino-red eyes, and a pocket watch in his paw. And behind him in the floor was an iridescent swirling blue hole.

"Bloody hell," Tawny whispered incredulously at the sight. Killian's hold tightened even more, as he tensed to move her off his lap and behind him, away from the threat – a Wonderland creature.

But his fiery lass was having none of that. She grabbed his arm and pulled it away from her body, leveraging herself up, saying softly, "It's okay. He's a friend of a friend, I think."

How his lass knew someone connected to Wonderland, other than the former portal jumper, he did not know, but he was not reassured. From his experience, all be it a rather short experience and tainted by Cora, such a character reference was no guarantee that the Wonderlander would be friendly towards you.

As such, he took great satisfaction in observing the dapperly dressed Rabbit nervously eyeing his infamous appendage, while he handed her a roll of parchment.

Killian wished she had remained seated, because then he could see what was on that bit of paper. As it was, all he knew was that it was bad. His lass had hissed upon seeing its contents.

That distressed sound had gotten him to his feet, and he had moved so that he could properly see her.

Once he did so, he could immediately perceive from the panicked and nauseated expression she had when looking at the parchment, from the questioning glare she shot the Rabbit, and the regretful look she shot him that she was torn between desires. From all this, he could guess that his conflicted lass wanted to throw the parchment away, far away from her. She wanted to pick up the Rabbit and shake him – shake him for answers, shake him for bringing whatever that roll represented back into her life, because obviously their plans for their future were going to be put on hold so that she could now deal with the buried past, whatever that past was.

But Tawny, of course, did none of that. Instead, she took a deep calming breath and put the intruder in his place, coolly declaring, "You shouldn't have shown me this. I would have come just for Alice, but now you will have to wait, whether we will be late or not."

Tawny then turned to him, ignoring the inquisitive crowd of wedding guests – the bride and groom, the Charmings, their fan club, and various other royals – and asked, "Well, Jones dear, how does an adventurous detour by the way of Wonderland sound?"

He took a moment to examine her expression. He could see that she didn't want to do this, that she knew he wasn't desirous of returning there either, but that she needed to do this. Her friend was in trouble for one, and the other… well, he would soon find out, so he declared matter-of-factly, "Where you go, I go, love."

She gave him a grateful nod, and then fixed her focus on Swan, "You'll make sure that the Roger returns with you if we don't get back in time?"

"Of course," the woman answered, looking as if she wanted to ask a whole laundry list of questions.

Killian was overwhelmed by this. Not Swan's ready acceptance. Both she and he knew that Henry would not have it any other way. But by Tawny's even thinking of asking in the first place, especially while so caught up in her own personal issues.

Before he could say thank you to either woman, the Blue Fairy materialized in front of them in her most festive nun outfit.

"You called?" she primly inquired. Tawny must have made a wish upon a blue star.

"I'm calling in my favor, Mother Superior," Tawny replied.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I can't go traipsing through that psychedelic nightmare realm in a party dress, so I, Killian, and Lancelot will need to be outfitted appropriately. Killian and I have packs stored on the Roger, if that helps."

'Wait…what?! Lancelot? The Leviathan? Why would he – why would she want – ?'

"And why would I be accompanying you?" the knight's voice rumbled as he walked over from two tables back.

"Yes, what he said, darling," he interjected dryly.

"I don't – don't think that's – we're late…" was the nervous protest of the Rabbit, not that anyone cared.

Ignoring him and the Rabbit, she handed the knight the parchment, which he accepted cautiously.

The oath-breaker stared at it for several moments. The only thing that indicated he understood its significance was the quickening of his breath and the violent shaking of his hands; quite the dramatic reaction for a man who was usually known for his stoic demeanor.

But as soon as his breathing returned to normal and he glanced up at Tawny, Killian could detect disbelief, fear, and hope in his gaze.

His lass nodded in confirmation to whatever the oath-breaker was silently questioning, which prompted the knight to say to the fairy, "If you please, M'lady Blue."

Out came the wand and with a swish and a flick, Tawny's cocktail dress and heels were replaced with trousers, tunic, corset, and lace-up boots; the Leviathan was dressed in full knight kit; and he was in his favorite pirate garb. With another, their packs appeared at their feet.

Killian stuffed his questions for later, allowing his lass to take whatever remaining time the anxiously waiting Rabbit would spare for her to make a quick round of farewells. He said his own goodbyes, but he took far less time than the social butterfly his woman was.

When she was ready, he slipped his hand into hers and they made their way to the rabbit hole, the knight trailing behind them and the Rabbit muttering irritably the whole way. His nasally grumblings could even be heard after he jumped into the hole.

When they reached the edge, she paused and asked him breathlessly, "Shall we, partner?"

He squeezed her hand and promised reassuringly, "I've got you, lass."

"I know."

And with that the two of them, hand-in-hand and trailed by their very tall, dark third wheel, disappeared from Storybrooke and into the land of impossibility.

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To be continued in Gold Head, Silver Blades, Stolen Hearts