The sun was shining particularly bright today as it shined upon Storybrooke. The Charming family were just sitting down to breakfast when the curious Henry asked, "Hey grandma, if there was a spell to make my mom young again and age up a year every hour, would you use it?" Snow looked at Henry and smiled, "Well I would've loved to see my daughter grow up but I don't think your mom would want to relive her childhood again, although that might actually be fun. What do you think David?" David walked over to his lovely wife and kissed her good morning. "Well, I think if we were to ever come across magic like that, the decision would be up to Emma."
"Mom?", Henry asked as he stared at his mother, waiting for a reply. "Well guys, uhm, it would be wonderful to grow up with my parents and have wonderful memories. But I'll settle for day dreaming and making memories with you guys now." Emma said, pondering about what it would be like to grow up again.
She softly smiled at the thought of replacing her bad memories with new ones. "C'mon kid, we have to get you to school." Emma said finishing her breakfast. "Oh Emma, on your way back can you stop and pick up some cinnamon? We ran out." Snow asked as she was washing dishes. "Sure mom, no problem. Ready Henry?" Emma said as she put on her jacket. Henry smiled as he grabbed his backpack, "Ready as I'll ever be." As soon as they left David looked up at Snow, "What if there was a way to relive her childhood Snow? Wouldn't you want to give it a try?"
Snow stopped what she was doing and looked into David's eyes and let a tear fall, "Of course I would. I would love to give anything to watch our daughter grow up and be there for her but we both know that isn't going to happen so let's just stop dreaming and come back to reality." "But Snow, maybe there is a way. I think I remember someone talking about Gold being able to turn back time." David said eagerly. "David!" Snow said, now becoming agitated. "All magic comes with a price David, and I won't lose anything else to magic. It just isn't worth it anymore. I just want to be there for our daughter now, she needs us now." Snow walked over to the window and stared out at the sky. David walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.
"I'm sorry if I upset you, I just thought..." "It's okay honey. I'm sorry if I snapped at you." Snow turned around and looked at David smiling. "Hey, guess what." David said. "What?" Snow asked smiling. "I love you more than all the words in all the books." "Oh really?" She said with a chuckle. "Mhm." David answered before kissing Snow. Emma walked in, "Oh gosh, again guys? Second time I go to the store and I come back to see my parents making out. When will the torture end?!" Her parents looked at her, then at each other and just laughed.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up guys. Emotionally scarring your only child is really funny." Emma said as she sat down at the table. Snow walked up behind her and gave her a hug. "Aww Emma, that's just a part of having parents. That's our job." She said as she kissed her daughter on the head. David laughed as he got ready for work. "So you guys, I was thinking about what Henry said and honestly I would love to go back, as long as I didn't lose memory of what I know now." Emma said. Snow just looked with this shocked look on her face and then looked at David.
"See Snow, I told you." David said. "Honey are you sure? All magic comes with a price and I'm not sure if we can pay that price anymore." Snow asked. "I mean, it couldn't hurt to ask Gold if he had a spell and what the side effects were. I didn't want to say anything in front of Henry because I didn't want to get his hopes up." Emma said as she looked into her mother's eyes. Snow could see that her daughter was serious and deep down, she wanted the spell to be real, she wanted it to happen so she could see her daughter's first steps, hear her first words, bandage her first cut and all the other things mothers get to do with their children.
"Okay, well I guess we can go ask Gold and see." Snow hesitated. Emma smiled, "Thanks you guys." David hugged the two women in his life. "Well I'm off to work, we'll head to Gold's together later on this afternoon. Okay?" "That's fine." they both answered. But what they didn't know was that Regina was spying on them and had heard their conversation. This was her chance, she began plotting a way to strike her revenge.
After Emma walked Henry to school, he waited for his mom to leave then he decided to make his way to Mr. Gold's shop. On the way he bumped into Regina. "Henry, shouldn't you be in school? Is Ms. Swan allowing you to miss school?" Regina asked in her stern tone. "Mom? Uh, no. I kinda snuck away." He said as he looked down. "Where are you going that it's so important that you skip school?" she said, picking up Henry's head so their eyes would meet. "Nowhere. Just trying to get some fresh air." Regina looked at Henry and raised her eyebrow, "Don't lie to me Henry. Where are you going? Why aren't you at school?"
"Well I was going to talk to Mr. Gold about something." She stood straight up, "Well you can do that after school. Come on, I'll walk you back and make sure you go to class." He grabbed her hand, "Fine" he said as they walked back to his school. When they got to his class Regina called Snow out of the room. "Henry! Where were you? Your mom dropped you off before I left this morning." Snow asked. "Well it seems Ms. Swan needs to make sure he actually goes to class next time. I caught him heading to Gold's shop." Regina said. "You wouldn't now anything about this now would you Ms. Blanchard?" Snow looked at Henry and then turned to Regina, "Yes I know exactly why he went. Even though we told him not to worry about it." She cut her eyes at Henry.
Regina hugged Henry, "Well please keep a closer eye on my son, he's all I have." "Don't worry Regina, we love Henry just as much as you do." Snow said as she grabbed Henry's hand. "Yeah." Regina said as she tucked her hands in her pocket and walked away. Snow kneeled down so she would be eye level with Henry, "Why did you skip school?" "I wanted to see if Mr. Gold had a spell for my mom." Snow hugged Henry, "Oh Henry, I know you thought that was a good idea but you could've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble. Don't go off by yourself again, understand?" Henry smiled, "I understand. Sorry for scaring you grandma." Snow laughed, "I wonder if I'll ever get used to being called grandma. And it's okay, come on, you have classwork to do."
Once everyone got home, David called a family meeting. "What's going on dad?" Emma asked as everyone came and sat at the table. "Well I wanted everyone's opinion one more time before we go see Gold. Snow, you first." Snow covered her mouth with one hand, looked at Emma and grabbed her hands, "Well sweetie, if this is something you really want to do, I'm all for it." Emma smiled, "It is, I think it'll be good for us." David looked at Henry, "Well Champ, seems like we have a vote."
Henry was so excited, "This is going to be amazing! Can we go now?" he asked as he ran to the door. "Whoa kid, let us grab our jackets first." They all made their way to Gold's shop. Emma walked in first to see Gold behind the counter reading the paper. "Ah Ms. Swan, how may I help you and your lovely family today?" "We were wondering if you had a spell that would make me young again and age every hour til I was 28 again?" Gold looked at the family inquisitively, "I think I may be able to help you but what's in it for me?" "What do you want?" David asked. "Hmm. What I want is for the Savior to go on one more quest for me."
"Absolutely not!" Snow demanded. "What kind of quest Gold?" Emma asked. "Emma!" Snow called. Emma looked back at her mom, "Don't worry." Gold smirked, "Well I need someone to hide my dagger in a new spot I've marked on this map." "And that's all I have to do?" Emma asked with her eyebrow raised. "That is all. I would do it but I'm afraid to leave Belle here alone and I don't want to drag her with me." Gold assured her. "Are there any side effects to the spell? Like will she lose her memory? Will it affect her in a negative way?" Snow asked. "I assure you if you use the spell, once your daughter is back to her correct age, she will know everything she knows now. She won't forget anything but she will have new memories along with the old ones."
"Okay, I'll go on your quest. Give me the map and dagger." Gold went in the back and came back with the map and dagger. "Now be very careful and place the dagger in this very spot. Also be careful in this part of the woods, there's something lurking out there." David got angry, "What do you mean there's something lurking out there?! You're sending our daughter into a potentially dangerous area?" "It's okay, I've survived this much, what else could possibly happen?" Emma said as she grabbed the dagger and map.