Neal Cassidy, Killian Jones, Robin Locksley, David Nolan and August Booth had been friends for years. They'd been through too many football seasons, girlfriends and detentions to count. It was right after college graduation when the five guys went on a vacation to the Bahamas. They never planned on growing up, ever.
Emma Swan, Thalia "Tink" Bell, Regina Mills, Mary Margaret Blanchert and Ruby Wolfe had been best friends since their first day of school. Much like the boys they took a trip to the Bahamas. None of them knew what they wanted from life.
Neal and Robin had taken to poolside as they watched girls flaunt around. Hell knew where Killian was. David and August had both gone to the beach.
Of course Emma and Regina would hit the pool. They always did on vacation, especially when Mary and Ruby went to the beach. No one kept track of Tink. Emma glanced to her right and noticed two guys drinking so she went and joined them at the bar.
"This seat taken, cowboy?" She said addressing the taller of the two with short brown hair.
He turned and looked at her. "Who you calling cowboy, blondie?"
"You look one of those guys out of Texas. Rough rider and all." She smirked.
"Well there ain't nothing here for you, blondie."
"I just asked if I could sit here, asshat. I'm not looking to get laid."
"Good. I wouldn't do you anyway. I don't do blondes."
"I don't do asshats either. What's your point?" She sat down and went to order a drink but was stopped by the guy.
"Two shots. Drinks on me, blondie." He smirked.
"I thought you didn't do blondes?"
"Doesn't mean I can't be nice."
"Swan, Emma Swan." She held out her hand.
"Neal Cassidy." He shook her hand and they both started started drinking.
After a while, Regina and Robin were drunk as well as Emma and Neal. Mary, David, August and Ruby had all met at the beach and came back to have to police their drinking friends. They had taken back to David, August and Neal's shared room with the girls. Neal and Robin had started a game of truth or dare which got out of hand.
It was David's turn as he somehow got roped into things. He looked at Neal. "Truth or dare?" His friend drunkenly answered truth. "Would you get married if you found the right girl?"
"I'm never getting married!" Neal said as he and Robin fist bumped, followed by him and regina and lastly Emma.
David and Mary simply rolled their eyes at their friends drunk state only to find August and Ruby missing.
"Great. Ruby and Thalia are missing." Mary said and sighed.
"Tink's with that guy she met at the bar. They went to my room. Ugh." Regina said and groaned.
"That asshat took her boy toy back to our room.. Great, we're not gonna be able to sleep in an actual bed tonight." Emma said.
Neal and Robin simply laughed, not knowing Tink's "boy toy" was Killian who came back the following morning without his phone or wallet.
And so the rest of the trip was nice for all of them. The ten all hung out for the rest of the time. Killian and Tink were never seen at night while Mary and David really hit it off. Robin and Regina really liked each other, which everyone but the two saw. August and Ruby were practically a match made in heaven according to Mary.
As for Emma and Neal, it was strange. They were good friends and hung out as the others did. He would occasionally call her blondie and he would get called asshat for that.
They're trips came to an end and the boys went back to Brooklyn while the girls went back to Staten Island. Mary and David dated a lot and got married within a year. August and Ruby followed. Killian and Tink took some time to admit their feelings but it worked. Regina and Robin took about three years.
All four guys had ragged on Neal and he was finally ready. Today was the day, he told himself. He got the courage to step foot in one store he swore he would never go into, a jewellery store. Not just any jewellery store, Kay.
He remembered what Regina had said Emma would like and found as the salesmen called it "a beautiful ring."
'Well it damn well be a beautiful ring for the price you're charging. If I didn't love her this much, I wouldn't spend all this money on her. Crooks.' He had thought as the man was talking.
And so Neal left Kay and proposed to Emma. They got married about a year later in June and went on their honeymoon to the Bahamas.
On the plane, of course there had to be a screaming baby. Neal put his hand on her thigh and she took his hand, intertwining their fingers.
"We are never having kids." He said and she nodded in agreement.
All that changed ten months later as Emma let out a cry in pain and collapsed against the hospital bed, crushing his hand in hers. He brushed her hair back out of her face and put a tender kiss on her forehead.
"You're doing good, just breathe. Just squeeze my hand and breathe, baby." She nodded as he spoke and pushed when another contraction came.
That's when they heard a small cry and their little girl was born. They handed her to Emma and she couldn't hold back the tears. To her right, Neal was crying too.
Emma held their little girl a few moments longer until they took her back to get cleaned up. In that time, the two proud parents came up with a name, Blanche Marie Cassidy.
The nurse brought her back and handed her to neal. He held his daughter close and kissed her forehead.
They took Blanche home to their uptown New York apartment that used to be a bachelor pad. They sat at the table with Blanche in her high chair.
Emma smiled at her husband as she fed their daughter her baby food. "I love this place."
"We are never moving to the suburbs." He said and smiled back at her.
That was until David and Mary reminded Emma that Blanche would need a place to run around when she got older and city wasn't the safest place for her.
Neal put the last box in the back of the u-haul and sighed, looking back at the place he'd called home for a long time. Damn Emma for convincing him to move to of all places, the suburbs. Her argument was their daughter was almost a year old and she would need a place to run around and have friends over. He caved, like always.
To be fair, Emma had said they could live in the same neighbourhood as Robin and Killian. That made the man happy.
They moved into the two story home at the corner of oak and birch. It had white shutters and a black roof. The house itself was yellow, much like their Volkswagen bug.
Four years later, Neal was watering the grass while Blanche and Emma playing out in the front yard. A mini van drove by and Neal stared at it.
"We are never getting one of those."
He slapped some suds on his new mini van a couple months later. He hated the thing but Emma insisted and he could never say no. His friends had laughed at him, even David the most woman like man he knew.
Emma came outside and handed him a bottle of water.
"It looks good, baby." She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes and threw the whole bucket of suds and water on the car.
"It's actually kinda sexy.." She said and bit her lip, smirking ever so slightly
"I'm not doing this again, em. No matter how sexy it is."
"It'll grow on you." She went back inside as he finished the car.
About seven weeks later, he was scrubbing at some crayon on the wall by the stairs. Emma came by him with a laundry basket.
"We are never having another kid." He said.
"I'm pregnant." She walked into their room, leaving a dumbfounded Neal.
He simply continued to scrub at the wall until he heard his wife gagging in the bathroom.
'Great, morning sickness already. She's gonna kill me soon enough.' He thought as he got up and went to the bathroom. He held her hair back and rubbed circles on her back lovingly.
About eight and a half month later, they got to enjoy the lovely pain of labour. Emma in pain because, well, she was pushing a kid through her birth canal and out her vagina. Neal because his hand was being crushed into a thousand pieces and it broke his heart to see Emma in pain.
Soon enough, Emma held their youngest daughter in her arms. They'd named her Paige Grace Cassidy. Unlike Blanche, she looked like her father.
Three years past and the family of four sat on the couch watching a movie. Or more of Neal watching his girls sleep. He had Paige curled up on his left side, Emma on his right with her head on his shoulder and Blanche across Emma's lap. He turned his head and kissed Emma's temple, smiling slightly.
"I'm never letting go."