𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑳𝒀 - Rumplestiltskin [2]

twenty nine

29|ariel

"I love how you don't trust me to entertain him on my own." Celeste chuckled as she walked with Emma and Henry to the port. "I'm fun."

"You're also in and out of happy and sad." Emma reminded her, both glancing at Henry to see if he was listening. "Wait here, okay?"

"I'm the fun one." She mumbled down to Henry as Emma went to speak to Hook. "I would teach you how to fight with a sword or how to sew a severed finger back on."

"Swords?" Henry asked, sounding intrigued by the idea.

"I'll teach you one day." She nodded to him, watching him play a game on his phone.

They made their way to Granny's, Hook teaching the boy how to gamble with chips as payment. Celeste sat back, chuckling every time Henry lost.

"You want to know the secret to winning?" Hook grinned as he stole a chip.

"Practise?"

"No, my boy. Loaded dice." He revealed causing Celeste to gasp as she realised he had been cheating.

"That's cheating." Henry pointed out to him.

"Only if you get caught." Hook smirked, downing the rest of his coffee.

"I think it's cheating either way."

"The point is, you win." Both adults looked up, noticing Charming in the door way gesturing to them. "Practise, huh?"

"Ah, Hook, this is a friend of ours, Ariel." Charming introduced the woman as she walked in the door with Snow. "She's looking for someone who didn't return to Storybrooke with the rest of us."

"He's from a maritime kingdom and he loved to sail." Ariel explained to him while accepting Celeste's happy embrace. "Perhaps you came across him on the high seas? His name's Prince Eric."

"Sorry, lass, I wish I could help, but I've never heard of him." Hook smiled at her after a pause.

"Come on, think hard, Hook." Charming said to him. "Are you sure you can't remember anything that can be useful?"

"My apologies, mate." The pirate stated, turning to the man. "But if I'd run across a prince during my adventures, I think I'd remember it."

"Excuse me, I'm going to check on Henry." Celeste smiled to them before wandering back to the boy. "So, you like books?"

"Yes." Henry looked up at her, jumping slightly as she slid into the seat across from her.

"I own the library, let's go find a cool book." She stole a chip and finished her coffee. "I also own the Pawnshop if you want anything cool for free. I think I own some swords."

"Really?"

"I'm like a grandmother." Celeste grinned. "I won't hesitate to spoil you rotten."

"A grandmother?" Henry questioned her choice of wording.

"I'm older than I look." She waved him off with a chuckle.

"Celeste." Snow smiled down at the woman as she and Charming wandered over. "We're going to take over."

"Oh, now here is someone you can really call grandmother." Celeste joked, standing up and sending the boy an apologetic smile. "Maybe another time."

"I'm holding you to that." Henry grinned at her, waving good bye as she followed the pair to the Pawnshop.

"So where have you been?" She wrapped her arm around Ariel. "I was worried I'd never see you again."

"I've spent all that time looking for Eric." Ariel informed her sadly. "He's been missing since we all returned."

"We were hoping we could find something of his here." Hook filled her in on the plan.

"Oh, of course, to see if he's in Storybrooke." Celeste realised, beginning to look around the store.

"Have you seen anything of his?"

"I've only really just started sorting through everything around here." She scrunched up her nose, thinking if she could remember anything that could be his. "Let's start looking, I'm sure there is something. Oh, and you. Stay away from my books." She glared at Hook, warning him after last time.

"That's Eric's! How did you know that was his?" Ariel asked as they followed Hook into the backroom.

"I wasn't sure." Hook answered her, looking over the cape. "I saw the sea creature clasp and remembered he was from a maritime kingdom."

"He is! He was! And now he's here." She got excited, grinning to Celeste. Ariel quickly hugged Hook gratefully and picked up the cape.

Celeste poured a locator potion on the cape, explaining to Ariel how it works. The cape lifted up and began to fly through the air.

"Thank you, Celeste." Ariel said gratefully to the woman as she ran after the cape, Hook following behind.