Author’s Note: This story takes place during Season 3 Episode 1 ‘The Heart of the Truest Believer’ This is how I wish David had reacted after Emma jumped off the ship.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, and I’m not making any money from this story.
Warning: One non-consensual swat.
Jump Ship
Emma opened her eyes, and saw the blurry outline of two faces directly in front of her. She blinked a couple of times, and her parents came into focus, along with the memories of what had just happened.
Snow and Regina had started exchanging blows, which quickly resulted in Hook and David exchanging blows as well. Emma had realized that their fighting was causing the horrible magical storm they were trying to sail through. She’d tried yelling at them all to explain what was happening, but when she realized no one was listening, she’d run to the side of the ship, and jumped into the water to divert their attention. Apparently it had worked, because the clouds were parting.
“I told you,” Emma muttered. Her voice was weak from the salt water that had recently been in her lungs.
“Thank God,” Snow said, and pulled Emma into a soggy hug. David wrapped his arms around both of them.
Emma’s head was throbbing, and her nose and throat were burning, but she’d learned how to deal with physical discomfort years ago. Physical affection on the other hand, quickly made her uncomfortable.
“I’m fine guys. Really.”
David let go and stood up, but Snow clutched Emma for a few seconds longer, and whispered, “You could have died.”
Emma patted Snow’s back to help move the hug along and said, “But I didn’t.”
“Only because David went in after you,” Snow said.
Emma caught David’s eye for a second, but found his expression unreadable.
Snow reluctantly let Emma out of the embrace, and helped her to stand. David leaned down to help as well, and soon Emma was standing on her own two feet, albeit somewhat unsteadily.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Snow asked.
“Yes,” Emma said somewhat impatiently, “and we have more important things to focus on right now, like saving Henry.” Emma looked to David for support in this line of reasoning, but instead of a nod, he frowned with disapproval. Before Emma could say another word, David had wrapped one hand around her upper arm, and smacked her rear end hard with the other.
“Hey!” Emma yelled in shock, and put both her hands back to protect her behind.
David let her go, and pointed his finger at her nose. “Your wellbeing is important to us, which means you do not jump off a ship in the middle of a storm!”
She realized with astonishment that her father had just spanked her. Her eyes darted back and forth between Snow and David for a millisecond while she tried to decide how to respond to this unexpected development. When she got no answer from their matching concerned frowns, her eyes darted to Hook, only to find that the bastard was trying to hide a smirk. She glanced at Regina who appeared to be completely bored by the family drama.
Emma focused back on David, dropped her hands to her sides, and tried to defend her actions. “You were all fighting, and that was causing the storm, so I had to do something to make you guys stop.” Her voice sounded whiny to her own ears.
“I agree, you had to do something,” David said, “but you didn’t have to throw yourself into the ocean. If you’d stepped in between me and Hook, both of us would have stopped, because we wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
In hindsight, Emma could see the logic in that, but in the middle of the storm, she’d just done the first thing that had come to her mind.
“That didn’t occur to me,” she said honestly.
“Well it had better occur to you if there’s a next time.” The warning in his tone was unmistakable.
“Okay.” Emma frowned as soon as that word slipped out of her mouth. What the hell was wrong with her? She wasn’t the type to give in or back down to anyone, but apparently she buckled in the face of an irritated father.
Snow patted David’s shoulder, and said softly to her daughter, “Come on, let’s go get you dried off.”
“Is that blood in your hair, Emma?” Hook asked.
Emma put a hand up to touch her head, and felt a small lump. She pulled her hand away and sure enough, her fingers had blood on them.
“You said you were fine,” Snow scolded, and moved to look at the back of Emma’s head along with David.
“I didn’t realize… I must have hit my head underwater.” She wiped her fingers on her jeans and said, “How bad is it?”
“It’s not that bad.” Snow said. Both she and David had seen enough battle wounds in their time, to know which ones needed treatment, and which ones didn’t. “As long as you don’t show any signs of having a concussion over the next few hours, you should be fine. It will be bruised and tender for a few days, but the cut is small. You won’t need stitches.” Snow turned to Hook and said, “Do you have any kind of first aid kit onboard?”
Hook nodded and gestured towards his cabin. “Right this way.”
Within minutes, Snow had stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound, and put some ointment on in to help it heal. She got a packet of aspirin out and turned to Hook. “Water?”
He got the jug off his desk, and handed it to her.
Emma took the pills without complaint, hoping they would work quickly.
Snow handed the first aid kit back to Hook and said, “Okay Emma, let’s go see if there’s something dry you can change into.”
Hook said, “I have something.” He went to his wardrobe, and pulled out one of his old nightshirts. “If you hang your wet clothes on a rope outside, they’ll be dry within the hour.” He handed his nightshirt to Emma and said, “I’ll leave you ladies to it.”
Emma looked at the nightshirt skeptically, but Snow had already started to pull off Emma’s boots. Soon she was standing in the middle of the room wearing nothing but the nightshirt that went down to her calves.
“I look ridiculous,” Emma muttered.
“It’s only for an hour.” Snow said. “Why don’t you lie down and rest while we wait for these to dry. Your system needs time to recover from the shock.”
Emma found she didn’t have the strength to argue. Instead she nodded, and sat back down on the edge of Hook’s bed.
Snow gathered up the wet clothes, and said, “I’ll go hang these up. I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.”
Once she was alone, Emma did lie down, but before she had the chance to rest, Hook came back in. Emma sat up immediately, and Hook smirked. “Don’t get up on my account love, I enjoy seeing you in my bed.”
She scowled. “Don’t you have a ship to sail?”
He held up his flask and said, “I need a refill.”
“You just wanted the opportunity to see me in this ridiculous outfit so you could laugh at me again.”
“Again?” he asked, while getting a large bottle out of his desk.
“Never mind,” Emma muttered while blushing.
Hook took note of the embarrassment, and said seriously, “You think I was laughing at you because your father gave you a smack?”
She buried her face in her hands, and mumbled, “Do you have to say it like that? I’m twenty eight years old.”
Hook set the bottle down, and went to stand in front of Emma. “You’ve got it all wrong love.”
She peeked at him through her fingers.
“I wasn’t laughing at you for getting a smack at your age. If I’d jumped ship during a storm, my brother would have done worse to me, no matter my age. The thing I found amusing was your surprise.”
She put her hands down and said, “Why wouldn’t I be surprised?”
“Why wouldn’t you expect retribution for putting yourself in harms way?”
She considered that, and shrugged. “I guess because it hasn’t happened before.”
Feeling sorry for her, Hook tucked a strand of her damp hair behind her ear, and said, “I’d think you’d best get used to it.” He gave her a wink, and went to fill his flask. When it was full, Hook said, “Get some rest, Emma. You’ll need it to face Neverland.”
Emma watched him leave, before lying back down to rest and think about her family.
The End
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