This is a collab between oceanfanfiction and me. If you haven't checked out oceanfanfiction's work yet, you should; it is amazing.

Disclaimer: The Ever Afters series is by Shelby Bach, and Holly is from Oceanfanfiction. Enjoy!

"OK, so we only need eggs and milk so I'll be back in less than ten minutes," I grabbed my car keys off of the granite counter top. "Chase, try not to lose my daughter,"
"Me, lose our," he put a lot of emphasis on our, "daughter. I'm starting to think you don't trust me," I rolled my eyes and began down he hall to the entrance into the garage.
"Holly, you're in charge." The garage opening drowned out Chase's protests. I got into my car (mine was green, Chase's was red), drove out of the garage and moved into the lane that went to the grocery store.
"Eggs and milk." And maybe some cake mix. I grinned. Chase would like that.
About three minutes later, I turned and parked near the front of the store. I walked inside the grocery store and took a basket off the rack, smiling.
I went over to the dairy section and picked out a gallon of milk before heading over to the eggs and taking a package, my hands already cold. Then I walked to the baking section. I decided that chocolate would be simple and easy, and I could probably mix in some Fey fudge. I picked out a box and walked to the cashier with the groceries.
About four minutes later, I went back to the car and switched into the lane that went back to our house.
"Holly, you have to hold the sword by the bottom part not the pointy end." I stepped into the house. Maybe Chase hadn't said sword but butter knife instead. Yes, butter knife, that would make complete and total sense.
"I'm home, and guess what, I bought cake mix!" Chase came running into the room a nervous look on his face. For some reason, I didn't here the usual pitter patter of feet following him. I handed him the grocery bag.
"Where's Holly?" I asked. She was probably in her room but its better to be safe than sorry.
Chase took the grocery bag and ran a hand through his hair. "She's fine. we were just playing games together."
I couldn't remember any games that used butter knives in them. My eyes narrowed. "Chase, remember what we said about lying." I tried to step into the room to see if Holly was there but Chase blocked my path, still smiling nervously.
"It got a bit messy out there. why don't you start on the cake and I'll clean it up." I bit my lip, trying to peer out beyond Chase's moving arms. I caught something shiny lying on the carpet. "Chase, what is that?"
"Tinfoil," he replied, a little to quickly.
"Tinfoil? That's too sharp, she could get cut! Plus, what were you doing with tinfoil?" I asked, my worried mom trait kicking in.
"Tinfoil, did I say tinfoil?," he laughed nervously. "I meant...," his eyes traveled around the room before falling upon a shelf that held art supplies. "I meant glitter,"
"Glitter," I said, exasperated. "She can't have that in her room. I could spill and glitter is absolutely impossible to vaccine out of carpet!" I shoved Chase's arm out of my way. On the ground lay a small sword.
In an instant, everything made sense.
"Chase, what were you thinking!" I picked up the sword and tested the edge. "Holly could have been seriously injured!"
Chase winced guiltily. "Aw come on Rory, she's fine. I even blunted it first."
"Where is she?" A knot was starting to tighten in my stomach. Chase held a similar expression. "I don't know, Rory. I told her to play hide and seek. I haven't found her yet."
We searched through the whole house. No sign of Holly anywhere. "Holly?" Chase finally called out. "Holly, I give up, come out." We listened for little thuds or high-pitched giggles. Nothing. Chase gave me a worried look.
"She has to be somewhere," he said, trying to reassure me. "Holly's still pretty small, there must be places that we haven't checked yet."
I ran my thumb along the smooth edge of the sword, which for some reason I was still holding. I decided that I should probably put it back so if we find Holly she wouldn't hurt herself. I still couldn't believe that Chase had tried to give a weapon to a three year old.
When we found Holly, I corrected myself. When.
"Chase, when we find our daughter," I emphasized when and our, "I want you to put a spell that will let us know where she is if we lose her."
"That might be hard, Rory. And it won't be specific if it actually works, but I can try." Chase was running a hand through his hair. "Have we looked in the closet?"
We probably did, but I opened the closet door anyways, searching along the wall for the light switch.
It took me second to find the switch. My eyes traveled around the room. No Holly. And I was suddenly worried again.
"She's not here." I said, I sucked in a shaky breath. In a few moments, my face was soaked in tears. I was crying so hard that we almost didn't hear the high pitched giggles that were coming from the corner. Chase perked up, going straight to where the giggles came from.
"Holly," He pushed back a jacket to reveal a carryall. Any and all hopes disappeared, until the giggling continued. Chases eyes seemed to widen, as though he had just realized something that I hadn't. He stuck his whole head in the carryall, something I had previously thought impossible.
"She's in there," Chase said as soon as he pulled his head out. "I can't see her but I can hear her," An then everything made sense. My daughter was in a carryall. "I need some light, like a flashlight," In a split second, I had Rapunzel's light. He stuck his head back in.
"Chase, its not your fault," I said. "That she got stuck in a carryall, I mean." I don't think chase heard me. He pulled his head out.
"I can't reach her unless I go all of the way in and I can do that because the openings to small," chase said. "But Lena can do it,"
Immediately I went to speed dial.
The phone rang a couple of times before going to Lena's recorded message. I groaned and hung up. "We'll just tell her when we get there."
Chase picked up the carryall gingerly. "I hope this doesn't give her any side effects." Noticing me go into panic mode, he added, "But I'm sure it won't."
We went down the hallway into the garage. I slid into the drivers seat while Chase sat shotgun, carefully placing the carryall into his lap while he buckled up.
I took a deep breath before hitting the gas pedal all the way to Lena's house.

Aug 11I glanced over to the carryall at least five times during the drive over. Chase must have noticed because he said reassuringly, "Rory, Holly is fine. I saw her myself. She was laughing and playing a game on the m3." I was pretty sure that he hadn't been able to see her that well, but I was so worried that I would have believed anything.
When we got to Lena and Kyle's house, I parked and ran to the door.
I rang the doorbell at least 3 times.
"Hi Rory," Lena said. She was only wearing one of those really long t-shirts that said 'I love New York'. I didn't even question her outfit.
"Lena, Holly's stuck in a carryall," I said quickly. Chase was behind me, gingerly holding a carryall.
"Say that again. I almost thought you said, 'Holly's stuck in a carryall," She said, laughing slightly. "Speaking of that little angel, where is she?" We didn't answer. She looked between me and Chase, looking at the carryall in Chase's arms.
She sorta gasped when she realized.
"Let's go to the workshop," she said. She started towards the workshop, motioning for us to follow. "Its going to take me about half an hour to get her out."
Lena moved some tools so Chase and I could sit somewhere. She stood nearby, inspecting the bag.
"I never guessed kids could do that. I'll have to make some adjustments," She murmured, already going into problem-solving mode. I sighed with relief.
"See?" said Chase as we watched Lena walk away. "Holly's going to be alright." My relief wore off slightly with annoyance towards Chase.
"She wouldn't have been alright if she had hurt herself with that sword."
"Rory, I told you I was watching. And besides, she needs to learn."
"She's not even out of diapers yet!"
"I started learning when I was her age."
"Yeah, but you're different." It was a poor comeback, but Chase surprised me.
"If you really want, we can postpone it for a few years."
I nodded.
"So...8 years old?"
"I was thinking more like 13."
Chase gave an exaggerated gasp. "Rory, everybody knows that 13 is an unlucky number!" I laughed.
"No, but really, Rory, 13's too late."
"It wasn't too late for me."
"That's because you had me to help you." I rolled my eyes.
"You can help Holly, too."
We finally decided to settle the age she would learn at on a duel, with whoever winning choosing. Meanwhile, I made myself comfortable, leaning on Chase's shoulder. Only a few more minutes to wait.
"I may have had a problem getting holly out," Lena said nervously. "She's asleep and it turned out to be a bit of a problem." Yep, just my luck. Of course my daughter just happened to sleep just as soundly as her father.
"So, will you be able to get her out?" I asked. She probably would but I prepared myself for the worst. If worst came to worst, I would dive in there and get her out myself. Of course, I would have to make the opening a about ten times bigger, but still.
"Yeah, " I breathed a sigh of relief. Chase stood behind me, just as relieved. "But it'll take me thirty minutes at full concentration. That means you guys will have to wait somewhere else." Chase and I both nodded.
"Thanks Lena," I chase said. I nodded my head.
"Of course, plus, knowing the twins, they would have been stuck in a carryall pretty soon." she said. Lena then sped off to her workshop without another word. Yep, that was Lena. One minute she was talking to you, and the next she was throwing ground dragon scales into the air and had forgotten you were even there.
Chase and I quietly walked out of the workshop, not wanting to disturb her work.
Kyle wasn't around anywhere, so I went over and took an apple from their kitchen island of never-ending refills. Lena's house was my second home, though with Holly Chase and I hadn't been able to come over as often.
Thirty whole minutes. I was never going to make it.
"Catch." I turned around just in time to keep a sword handle from smacking my face. Chase had another one in his hand.
"I'm sure Kyle won't mind if we use these. There was a bunch of them in the umbrella rack."
I almost glared at him, almost. He wanted to have us duel at a time like this. Our daughter was stuck in a carryall napping. Yep, definitely Chase's daughter.
I entered the left half of the Zipes' backyard. It was absolutely beautiful with all of the plant ingredients in full bloom around us.
Chase ran out from behind me, getting into a battle stance. I followed quickly and our duel quickly began.
He aimed a strike at my shoulder that I could dodge easily, he then aimed one at my feet, which I had to use my sword to deflect.
'Rory I'm really sorry about Holly," he said. I think this was the first time he had apologized for this whole mess. Or maybe I had been to upset and worried to really listen to anything anyone said.
I struck out with a snap kick. I would have struck him if he hadn't used his wings to leap clear. He aimed a couple more low strikes, all harder for me to dodge.
"Why did she even have a sword anyway?" I asked him. I wasn't even sure if I had asked him this before.
"Because she wanted to be more like her mom," that was when I collapsed. I didn't faint, my knee's just kinda gave out. From shock, most likely. My daughter wanted to be like me. Like me. I didn't really see what was so good about me. Really, she should want to be more like Chase. He was the one that was usually idolized when it came to sword fighting. Not me.
He was immediately at my side. Chase sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I bet he didn't even no why I was like this. Yet still, he was at my side, comforting me. I was so lucky.
"Why me? Why would she want to be like me?" I asked feebly. I didn't even know why I was so upset.
"Because you're awesome." Chase said. "Even your three year old daughter knows it," That got a smile out of me.
"Chase, I think I'm pregnate."
Chase drew back quickly, filled with shock. "What?"
I laughed. "Holly's going to be a big sister." Chase settled back down. "Cool. Now you'll have two kids who think you're awesome."
"We'll have two kids." I corrected. Chase grinned at me.
I heard the screen door open on the far right. A very familiar pitter-patter of feet followed.
"Holly!" I hugged her tightly. Chase shared with me a relieved smile.
Lena walked up to us, raising an eyebrow at the swords on the ground. She decided not to question it.
"She wanted to see you as soon as she woke up," she said.
"What? Not me?" Chase said jokingly. At that point Holly had wriggled out of my arms and climbed over my leg to Chase's.
"Never mind," Chase said, beaming so hard that his dimples showed through.
Holly rubbed her eyes sleepily, snuggling up close to her father. Chase arm was still around me and we must have looked like one normal family, minus the swords.
"Mommy," Holly said, suddenly very awake.
"Yeah honey?"
"Daddy said not to tell you that we played with the swords," Holly said. Chase stifled a laugh, but Lena didn't even try. Holly looked at her a bit weirdly for a second before returning her focus to me.
"You did," I said trying to act surprised. I glanced over at Chase, grinning. Just like me, she couldn't keep a secret. I couldn't help but grin.
"Yep! It was fun! I'm gonna be just as good as you someday!" She exclaimed happily. I was starting to have second thoughts about not letting her use a sword again until she was 13. Maybe eight was even too old. If I had my way, she would practice again today.
My daughter is going to be the best sword fighter in the history of EAS.

"I think they're almost done!" Chase peered into the oven. He took an oven mitt from the counter and pulled out the tray of gooey chocolate brownies, made with the cake mix I had bought this morning. It seemed so long ago.
Chase set the tray on the counter while I got some glasses of milk. We waited for a few minutes.
"It's been long enough!" Chase announced. He set up three plates. I took a spatula and set the brownies in the center of each one.
"Holly! Come over here!" Holly giggled, running into the kitchen.
"Our little girl is going to have her first taste of Fey Fudge," Chase said proudly.
He handed her a plate. "Careful, it's hot."
Holly poked it cautiously before taking off a small chunk and plopping it into her mouth. Her eyes widened. "This is the yummiest thing you've made yet, Daddy!"
"Well, Mommy helped with a lot of it too, you know." Holly grinned, small dimples showing.
"Thanks, Mommy! You're the best in the whole wide world."
I smiled through my chocolate stained teeth. Holly was a great daughter. I hoped she would be a great sister, too.

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