No copyright infringement intended.
Side Note: Zelena baby story never happened.
This is my first OUAT story so I hope you enjoy.
First Comes Love
Two years have passed in Storybrooke, Maine. Everyone has made tremendous growth in relationships and themselves.
The Charmings finally moved into a bigger place, the old sorcerer's mansion, a place better suited for the royal family.
The Charmings and Hook were gathered in the living room for movie night. Regina, Robin and Roland hadn't arrived yet.
"What are we watching?" Snow asked.
"The original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." Henry said.
"Seriously?" Snow questioned, unbelievably.
"You've been here thirty-four years and you have never watched it. Aren't you the least bit curious about the movie made about you?" Emma asked.
"Even though a good chunk of it is left out and rewritten." Henry added.
"Maybe I'm a little curious but I highly doubt Regina's going to want to watch it." Snow said.
"Might not be a good idea after we've finally settled the dust." David said.
"Okay, another time. "The Princess and the Frog" is the winner." Henry said.
The doorbell rung. Henry ran to get it. The newlyweds, Regina and Robin and Roland were at the door. Regina was barely pregnant but showing. Her hair had grown back to the length it was in the Enchanted Forest. She could finally say she was happy again.
They joined everyone in the living room and were pleasantly greeted.
"Looks like the whole gang's here!" Emma exclaimed then the doorbell rang again.
"Not quite." Henry said then went to answer the door again.
"Who is that?" David asked. Emma and Snow shrugged their shoulders, clueless.
Henry walked in with a pretty brown eyed blonde.
"You all remember Grace." Henry said.
"Hi!" Grace exclaimed, just as sweet as she looked.
"She's my girlfriend." Henry announced then held her hand as they went to sit down. "Ready to start the movie?"
The moms just looked at each other dumbfounded. Their little boy wasn't a little boy anymore.
"So are you two still on a mission to have us watch every "fairy tale" movie?" Robin asked.
"Yep and tonight we're watching "The Princess and the Frog."" Henry exclaimed.
-v-
A long time ago in New Orleans, Louisiana... Tiana worked her butt off serving in a restaurant trying to save every penny to open up her own. This man, they called him Naveen, he had been coming into the restaurant for a while now but she just couldn't stand him. He was an arrogant entitled brat who didn't understand the concept of hard work.
Tiana served Naveen his meal.
"Are they hiring?" Naveen inquired.
"You want a job?" Tiana questioned in her New Orleans accent.
"Don't act so surprised."
"Well I am and I don't know, you'd have to ask the manager." Tiana replied, so he did and was hired. Unfortunately for Tiana, that meant she had to spend a lot of time with the man. She had to show him the ropes. He was easy on the eyes but annoying to the mind.
After a couple weeks of working there, it was time to teach Naveen how to cut vegetables.
"Mince these mushrooms." She showed him how to cut one mushroom then gave him the rest to do on his own.
"Why are you so uptight?" Naveen asked.
"Why are you so... loose?" Tiana retorted.
"I know how to have fun. Granted, this is the first time I've ever worked hard but you need to learn how to relax."
"If I'm going to get my own restaurant, I have to work hard. Nothing is handed to me on a silver platter. Cut the onions next." She slid the onions over to him.
-v-
Storybrooke, Present Day
The movie was over.
"They really twisted the facts in that story." Regina said. Emma went to the kitchen and Regina followed. "Henry's dating Grace and you didn't tell me?"
"I didn't know he was dating Grace. He said he had a girlfriend. He didn't give me a name." Emma replied.
"I can't believe he's dating. He's my baby." Regina said.
"Not anymore."
"Did he have to date the daughter of one of my enemies?"
"No offense Regina but if he didn't his choices would be pretty limited... Besides, Grace is sweet. She's a good girl. He could be dating Gretel. She's a handful."
"Perhaps you have a point."
"How do you feel?"
"Good." Regina smiled rubbing her belly. "Are there wedding bells in your future?"
"I don't know. I guess we'll see." Emma replied before they went back into the living room.
"I'm going to walk Grace home. I'll be back in a little while." Henry announced and they took a stroll until they got to the door of the Mad Hatter's big house.
"My papa will be happy to know movie night went well." Grace said.
"Yeah. That's good. My family and you mean everything to me. I like that we can spend time together."
"My papa was concerned your mom wouldn't allow us to be together, that she'd keep us apart in a way only the Evil Queen can."
"She's not evil anymore and she wouldn't do that. That was done to her so she knows how it feels."
"Good to know."
"... I love you, Grace."
"I love you too, Henry. Perhaps, I always have. Even before the first curse broke. I tried to get closer to you but you seemed to not even give me the time of day."
"It was sort of hard to get close to anyone, especially anyone my age because I would age and everyone else well... wouldn't."
"I can imagine how difficult that must have been for you."
"Well, everyone can move forward now."
"I better go in, don't want my papa to worry. I'll see you tomorrow." They kissed innocently before Grace entered the house.
Henry walked away smiling and thinking how wonderful it was to experience the love he's been reading about and witnessing for years.
-v-
A long time ago in New Orleans, Louisiana... A few months had passed and maybe Naveen wasn't as bad as he seemed at first. Maybe he was even quite... charming.
"What are you going to name your restaurant when you get it?" Naveen asked.
"Tiana's Place. People are going to come from all over just to eat my cooking. I can't wait. It's going to happen."
"I believe it." They smiled at each other and their eyes locked for a moment. "I should go." Naveen stood.
"Wait! Why do you keep doing that?" Tiana asked.
"What?"
"Every time we have a connection, you run away."
Naveen sighed. "Nothing. I just have to go."
"No. Tell me the truth. Am I too uptight?"
"No. You would never believe me if I told you. You'll probably think I'm crazy. I should go."
Tiana grabbed his hand before he could walk away. "Naveen, talk to me."
"Not here." He said so they went to the lake and sat on the dock.
"The truth that you won't believe is, I'm not from this world." Naveen started.
"I don't understand."
"I'm from a different world where there's magic and I've been cursed because of my father's vain behavior. If I fall in love, if I kiss you, I will turn into a frog and it's becoming harder not to love or kiss you every day. There's no magic in this world but I'm afraid it will work anyway since I was cursed before I got here."
"You're right it does sound crazy."
"But it isn't. Magic is as real as you and me."
"Doesn't every fairy tale state that true love's kiss breaks curses?"
"Fairy tales are real, they're just stories from other worlds and generally yes, true love's kiss will break a curse but this curse was created so that I couldn't have love, so that I would be alone."
"If this curse you speak of is real, surely, there must be a way to break it." Naveen shrugged his shoulders in response. "Kiss me."
"Have you been listening?" Naveen questioned.
"It may not even work."
"You just don't believe."
"... No I don't. But I do believe in love and I have gone from being extremely annoyed by you to totally in love with you and I know you feel the same."
"I do. I love you Tiana. You're amazing. You're my Evangeline." Naveen smiled. Tiana's eyes sparkled as she smiled back.
"So believe that our love, true love can prevail. You've reminded me of something my father told me. Never lose sight of what's important. That's love above all."
"You do realize that I can turn into a green, slimy, bug eating frog?"
"So you're not going to kiss me?"
Naveen sighed. "I want you to believe me." He kissed her.
"See you're fine." Tiana said then a moment later he turned into a frog in front of her eyes. She screamed and stood up. "Oh my God. He wasn't crazy."
"I told you." Naveen said. Tiana screamed again.
"You can still talk."
"Yes. Believe me now?" Tiana started backing up. "You're afraid. Of course you are. You don't have to be." Tiana ran away.
-v-
Storybrooke, Present Day...
That weekend, Henry took Grace out to dinner at Emerald's, a restaurant in Storybrooke. It's not the go to place like Granny's but it's where everyone goes for something a bit more upscale.
"Believe it or not, I have never eaten here before. Who is Emerald? You know, in our world, well the Enchanted Forest." Grace asked.
"Tiana." Henry replied.
"Should have seen that coming. So why isn't it called Tiana's Place?" Grace inquired.
"The curse of course." Henry responded simply.
"I don't understand why some people still go by their cursed names when they know who they are."
"I guess it gets confusing."
"They talked about gumbo a lot in the movie. Do they have it here because now I'm curious?"
"Yeah and it is all it's cracked up to be." Henry exclaimed.
-v-
New Orleans, A long time ago...
Tiana ran for less than a minute before she stopped. Her mind was fluttered with thoughts as she ran which made her realize she didn't need to run at all.
"This is crazy but it's true. This means magic is real... Naveen is a frog. He's cursed. But he's still Naveen, my Naveen. I love him. I shouldn't have ran like that. I have to help him. I have to save him." Tiana ran back to Naveen, the little frog looked defeated. "Naveen, I'm sorry."
"You came back!" He was happy and excited.
"Yes." She picked up Naveen and held him in her hand. She was hesitant. He was a frog, a slimy frog who eats flies. Ew!
"Holding me is killing you right now, isn't it? I'm a frog."
"The frog I love. Is there anything I can do to help you, turn you back into a man?"
"Possibly but we'd have to go back to my world."
"You mean literally not in this universe, don't you?"
"Yes I do."
"Oh boy. I have something that can take me back home. I need help from someone in my world."
"Okay... I will do what I have to do to help you. I just need to say goodbye to my mom first. Who knows how long I'll be?"
Tiana went home to say goodbye to her loving mother, Eudora.
"Mama, I have to go away and I'm really not sure how long I'll be." Tiana informed.
"It's not like you to up and go away so suddenly." Eudora was concerned.
"Mama, you know how you've always wanted me to find love? Well I've found it, just like all those stories you used to tell me as a little girl."
"Oh Tiana! That's wonderful."
"It's Naveen. I love him with all my heart but he's sort of... I don't know, cursed right now and I just have to help him or else the fact that we're in love won't matter."
"This isn't anything dangerous, is it?"
"No! You know I would never do anything dangerous." She didn't really know if it was dangerous or not. "I love you mama." Tiana hugged her mother and kissed her on her cheek.
Tiana packed a light bag of essentials and headed back to Naveen's place with him so they could go find the magical object that would take them back to his world so they could find the person who could break this curse. They had to look in his bedroom.
"What am I looking for?" Tiana asked.
"It's in the back of the top right drawer." Naveen informed.
"All I see is a seashell."
"That's it."
"A seashell?" Tiana pulled it out.
"Not just any seashell, a magical seashell."
"O... Kay."
"Too bad the first time you're in my room, I'm a frog."
"How about that. Let's go." She picks him up.
"We need to go back to the lake." Naveen said.
At the lake, Naveen advised Tiana to blow into the shell. Moments later, a beautiful young mermaid appeared. Tiana was taken aback. She gasped, a bit frightened.
"Don't be afraid, love. This is my friend Ariel."
"Naveen? Is that you?" Ariel asked.
"Yes. I've been cursed."
"I can see that. How could anyone be so cruel?" Ariel wondered.
"I need to get back to the Enchanted Forest to reverse this and you're my only hope of getting there since mermaids can transcend worlds. Could you help us get there?"
"Sure." Ariel replied.
"But wait a minute, I can't swim. I don't want to drown." Tiana said.
"You won't drown dear." Ariel said.
"But my hair!" Tiana exclaimed.
"You'll be fine. I got you." Ariel assured.
"It's the only way." Naveen added.
"Promise I won't die?" Tiana said.
"You won't die!" They exclaimed.
Tiana held onto Naveen and Ariel as she took them under the lake and to a land far, far away as the books say. Before they knew it, they were in the Enchanted Forest. They came out of the water.
"I'm alive!" Tiana exclaimed.
"Good luck, you two. Hope you find your happy ending. I'm still searching for mine." Ariel dove back into the water.
"It's beautiful here." Tiana said.
The moon was up and the sun was down and in that moment Naveen was human again and Tiana became a frog.
"Look, you're human again! I guess you just needed to come back here but wait. Why are you so tall all of a sudden?" A fly flew by and Tiana instinctively ate it on site. "Did I just eat a fly?"
Tiana looked into the water at her reflection then screamed.
"I'm a- I'm a- a-a-a-a frog! This world is ugly. Look what it did to me."
"It's not the world. I think it's the curse. It must be that when the day turns to night, I become human and you become a frog, so we can never truly be together in any form."
"Break. This. Curse."
"Working on it." Naveen picked up Tiana.
"I don't understand why your father being vain and selfish would curse you. You're not to fault for his vanity." Tiana said.
Naveen wished upon the blue star until the Blue Fairy appeared.
"A fairy?" Tiana was amazed.
"Hello Naveen, Tiana."
"Blue fairy, I've been cursed. Because of it my love and I turn to frogs but not even at the same time. How do we break it? A true love's kiss has enacted this, so I doubt that's the answer." Naveen inquired.
"True love is always the answer, dear. It's just that the true love between the two of you isn't the answer, it's the true love of your father." Blue explained.
"I don't understand." Naveen replied.
"This is a result of a curse put on your father, therefore, he's the only one who can break it. He can never have a family or pass on his legacy until he learns what is most important. You finding love and having a family and in human form would allow him to..."
"Have a family and pass on his legacy." Naveen finished.
"And what legacy would that be? A legacy of vanity and selfishness? Some say it'd be better for the kingdom to fall."
"But I am not my father."
"Yes, I know. It is not fair but it is the truth. The curse can be broken but I cannot break it for you. Your father must learn to put love before his selfish desires, only then will the curse be broken." The Blue Fairy flew away.
"Well that was a waste." Naveen said.
"It wasn't. Now you know what to do." Tiana said.
"My father has always been this way, how do you suppose this would change?"
"Well, you changed."
"Excuse me?"
"When I first met you, you were pretty vain and selfish yourself but you changed and I'm sure your father could too."
Naveen and Tiana went to his father's castle. It was loaded with material things but was a lonely place to be.
"Father." Naveen said.
"Naveen, it's been a long time. I thought you went away." Emperor Carlton said.
"I did. I'm back."
"Why are you carrying a frog?"
"It's my girlfriend."
Carlton laughed hysterically. "You've lost it, son."
"I'm cursed because of you. You're vain, selfish, a horrible Emperor and just a horrible person." Naveen yelled.
"Tell me something I don't know."
That wasn't the response Naveen expected. "Do you love me, father?"
Carlton hesitated before he answered. "Sure."
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this Tiana. This is our fate."
"I refuse to believe that and I refuse to be a frog every night for the rest of our lives. We will find a way."
-v-
Present, Storybrooke... Henry and Grace were still at dinner.
"Did Tiana and Naveen ever find their happy ending?" Grace asked.
"I don't know. There really aren't any happy endings in the book because it's real life and something is always happening. This restaurant is all I know about her in Storybrooke."
After dinner, Henry and Grace saw Tiana outside the restaurant and they just had to know.
"Hi. Emerald... Or Tiana?" Henry didn't know what to call her.
"Tiana's fine. Henry right?"
"Yes. This is Grace. This may be a bit strange but I was wondering, did you ever find your happy ending?"
"Every night since Naveen and I found each other again I became a frog. When the curse broke it started again but one day about three years ago it just stopped. The curse was broken. I have my restaurant. The only thing I hate is that first I was stuck in the Enchanted Forest and now I'm stuck here. I know mother died a long time ago and I just hope she didn't die alone."
"I'm sorry. You know you can leave, you just can't come back."
"Yeah but there's really no point anymore. I would like to know why the curse ended, because I'm afraid it may start again."
"An act of true love usually does it."
"That wasn't it."
"You could ask my mom. Maybe she could tell you and you can be at peace about it."
The next day, Henry told Regina about the curse suddenly breaking. She knew she could help explain why. She knew something they didn't know. Tiana met them at Regina's house the next day with Naveen.
"Can you really help us?" Tiana asked.
"Yeah. I know why the curse broke. Here's a piece of the puzzle I'm sure you don't know." Regina started. "My mother cast the curse on Carlton."
Everyone was caught off guard by that.
"Why?" Naveen asked.
"I've only learned this part recently and you should probably brace yourself. Your father is also Zelena's birth father. He lied about being a prince and left my mother alone and pregnant." Regina informed.
"What?" They all exclaimed.
"I thought he was actually a gardener. How'd he end up an Emperor?" Henry asked.
"A genie, more specifically Sydney." Regina replied.
"Great. Now I'm not even a real prince and I've gained the sister from hell." Naveen said.
"Tell me about it." Regina responded.
"What does this have to do with the curse breaking?" Tiana asked.
"The curse broke because the person who enacted it died." Regina explained.
"So it's really over? It won't suddenly happen again one day?" Naveen asked.
"Nope, you're in the clear." Regina replied.
"Good to know. Does Zelena know about my father?"
"I doubt it, she would have probably tried to ruin your life too."
"Can we keep it that way?"
"Sure. Doesn't matter to me. Can't promise you that she'll never find out on her own."
Tiana and Naveen left and they seemingly have their happy ending.
"Why are we still here?" Tiana asked as they walked. Naveen didn't really understand the question. "There's nothing in Storybrooke for us and unlike everyone else, we've lived in this world before. Granted, it was a very long time ago and much is different but what's keeping us here? Let's start over. I don't care where I am as long as I'm with you. I'd rather not wait for the next villain to show up because they always do."
"Well princess, let's get the hell out of here." Naveen smiled. They kissed.
"And princess is a relative term." Tiana joked.
"They just ripped my crown away from me. Oh well. Being a prince really didn't make my life any easier and all the Emperor wants is new clothes."
"Come on, let's hit the road Jack and before the wicked witch finds out you're her brother."
"One thing first." Naveen got down on one knee and revealed an emerald colored princess cut diamond ring. "Will you marry me, Tiana?"
"Yes! Nothing else I want more." He put the ring on her finger then spun her around and kissed her.
-v-
Henry was still sitting with Regina.
"I'm glad we were able to help them." Henry said then the doorbell rang. He went to answer and there was Grace, his own princess. They're faces lit up at the sight of each other. "What are you doing here?"
"I figured you'd still be here. You know, sometimes you only have to kiss one frog to find your prince."
"I'm glad it didn't take long for my princess to find me."
"What's that saying your family has? I will always find you." They smiled. Their eyes sparkled with love. They kissed. Regina walked in on it a moment later.
"Oh, I am so not ready for this." Regina said, shaking her head as she walked back out of the room.
To Be Continued...