Wednesdays and Saturdays are the upload days. Thanks for reading and the reviews. Hope you continue to enjoy.
Welcome to Storybrooke
Three days were spent on the road to Storybrooke and two nights in hotels and they finally arrived at the sign, "Welcome to Storybrooke." They all shared the emotions of nervousness, anxiousness and excitement. They were going to see people they love and haven't seen in so long or have never seen and they didn't know what to expect. It was nerve reckoning.
There was a long road of just woods before they finally got into the main part of town. They stopped on the main road, one car behind the other at 8:15 am and the clock tower which hadn't moved in eighteen years finally moved forward.
They drove over to the Main Street where all the businesses were, observing how the residents began their mornings.
"Charming!" Snow saw him walking down the street and he wasn't alone.
"That's daddy?" Emma said, she almost instantly cried but she kept her emotions intact. "Who's the chick?" Emma asked, wondering who he was holding hands with.
"Abigail." Snow replied.
"That's King Midas' daughter, right?" Emma asked.
"Yeah." Snow replied as Neal pulled over. Snow got out of the car. Pinocchio parked behind them.
"Charming?" Snow called but clearly he didn't know that was his name, she figured he wouldn't but she hoped. He so happened to turn around and his eyes met Snow's. He was dazed and had the strangest feeling that he knew her. His heart, soul felt a strange pull to her. It was like he found something he didn't know he was looking for. Abigail was confused as to why her husband was looking at this stranger this way. She never remembered him looking at her like that.
"Do I know you from somewhere? You feel awfully familiar." David asked.
"Perhaps in another life." Snow replied. It felt good to know that at least his soul recognized her on some level. There wasn't a love stronger than theirs. "I'm Snow."
"James." He introduced himself and went to shake her hand but Abigail blocked it to shake Snow's hand and introduce herself.
"Hello, I'm Katheryn, James' wife. I don't remember seeing you around here before."
"My family and I are new in town." Snow replied.
"Are you leaving soon?"
"No actually. I'm not going anywhere." Snow responded.
"Splendid. Welcome to Storybrooke." Not really. "James, let's go." She and James walked away but James kept looking back at Snow which pissed Abigail off. She made him focus ahead of them.
"Never liked her... Good one Regina, good one." Putting David and Abigail together, smart. It won't work but good try.
Pinocchio who was parked behind Neal, saw his father on a latter. His heart almost stopped. He didn't know what to do. Should he talk to him or not? He had to hear his voice so he went over to him even though he wouldn't recognize him.
"Excuse me sir, do you need help with that?" Pinocchio asked.
"No, I've got it. Thanks for asking." He came off the latter. "I'm Marco." They shook hands.
"I'm Pinocchio." No need to go by Wayne anymore, he doesn't have to fit in. "I just moved to town and I'm a craftsman. I had my own business too. Can I assist you at the shop?"
"... Sure. If you have your own business, why do you want to work with me?"
"I'm sure it'll remind me of working with my father and I haven't been able to do that since I was a little boy."
"I've always wanted a son. It never quite worked out that way."
Pinocchio was trying hard to stay cool because all he wanted to do was hug his father. It was killing him inside.
"Thanks for the opportunity." Pinocchio went back to his car.
Down the street, Regina came out of Mr. Gold's shop, frustrated that he still hadn't procured a baby for her. That aside, she felt like something was different, something was off. Suddenly, she didn't feel that she was stuck in limbo, she was weary of the feeling.
"What the hell is going on?" Regina thought. Then she saw it, saw her, Snow White standing down the street and Snow saw her too. Regina speedily walked toward Snow. "Snow White. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Dearest step-mother, how nice to see you too... Come on, you knew I would show up eventually. I saw David and Abigail, good one. You know good will win in the end, right? Just wait on it. You might want to switch teams."
"Why are you so confident?"
"Because I know it to be true. I will see you around." Snow got back in the car.
"Was that the famous Evil Queen?" Emma asked.
"Yes it is."
"She looks heated." Neal pointed out.
"She'll get over it." Snow thought about that. "Actually, that's not something she's good at or we wouldn't be here. She'll be alright."
"What a fun grandmother she would have been." Emma said sarcastically before they all went to check into Granny's Inn. Then they went to eat at Granny's diner. Snow saw Granny and Red and wanted to hug them so badly. She also wondered why Red was dressed like a hooker but she had to remember that she didn't remember who she was. Neal stayed at the Inn with the baby. Emma felt like he just wasn't ready to face his father so he didn't want to risk running into him. That's fine. He has to get mentally prepared for that meeting and he didn't want to be caught off guard. She understood.
Grumpy walked in and sat at the counter.
"Aww! Grumpy! I miss the dwarves." Snow said. "They were so protective of me. I guarantee you, they would have been the most protective uncles ever. You would have had so many protective people in your life, I don't think you would have known what to do."
Snow was feeling really nostalgic seeing her family's faces.
"Where do you think my mom is?" Astrea asked.
"Honestly, I think my step-mother probably has her locked up somewhere. When the curse is broken, I promise we'll find her."
"How do we actually break the curse? Or I, I guess." Emma asked.
"True love's kiss is the answer about 90% of the time. I'm guessing it can't be any true love's kiss so who the kiss is supposed be with, I have no clue. It will be revealed in time, hopefully not too much time. I don't know how long I can watch Abigail walk around with my husband."
Rumpelstiltskin entered the diner.
"Your future father-in-law has just entered." Snow informed. He walked over to the newcomers and greeted them.
"New in town, dearies?"
"Yes." Snow replied.
"I'm Mr. Gold." He introduced. They all introduced themselves then...
"And I'm Emma."
"What a pretty name." Rumple said, followed by a sly smile and silence then he walked away.
"He doesn't seem so bad." Emma stated.
"He knows who we are." Snow stated. They all looked confused. "When he heard Emma's name, his entire demeanor changed. In one second, he went from Mr. Gold to Rumpelstitskin without the animation, weird skin and crocodile eyes."
"That sounds creepy. Why would my name trigger his memories?" Emma asked.
"Think about it, it's actually his curse. You're the savior. He asked for your name when I was pregnant." Snow and Pinocchio looked at each other.
"He made you the savior." Snow and Pinocchio said in unison as they put two and two together.
"That makes so much sense now. I don't know what he did but he did it." Snow said.
It was kind of interesting, seeing how everyone's lives have been all these years but how unfortunate to go so long not having what you love or knowing who you are.
That night, Pinocchio and Andi walked hand and hand on the beach.
"How did it feel to see your dad again?" Andi asked.
"Overwhelming. Good." Pinocchio replied then stopped walking. "I've been imagining asking you this question since I was a boy and now that I'm going to ask you, it just seems like it can't be perfect enough."
"Whatever it is will be perfect just because it's from you." Andi smiled, anticipating the question.
"Andalasia Philip, will you marry me?"
"Absolutely, Nocci." They kissed passionately and he put a beautiful diamond ring on her finger.
-v-
Snow and Astrea shared a room with two beds. Emma, Neal and Bae had their own room.
Emma just got Bae to sleep.
"Doesn't it feel good to finally share a room?" Emma laughed. "I'm so sorry I lied to you last year. That was so wrong. Do you forgive me?"
"Emma, I forgive you. You don't have to keep asking me." Neal replied.
"I'm sorry. I really feel bad about it even though the age difference isn't a big deal in our world but I know this past year probably hasn't been the simplest." Emma rambled. He kissed her to make her stop.
"I'm done." She walked Bae over to the crib and at 8:15pm she kissed him on the forehead. A wave went through the air, the whole town felt it.
"Did you just feel that?" Emma asked.
"I think you just broke the curse. It was Bae, he was the key." Neal realized.
"Talk about things being meant to be. We were meant to be together, he was meant to be born so that we could do this." Emma said.
"It's because of the whole heart of the truest believer thing. I told you, there's no telling what he's capable of." Neal said.
They went in the hallway with the baby and met Snow and Astrea out there.
"The curse is broken. The key was Bae." Emma informed.
She went and bundled Bae up and they all went outside where everyone seemed to be navigating.
First, Snow saw Red and Granny. They shared a big hug. Then they saw the dwarves, big hug.
"Oh my God, this is your baby?" Red asked in disbelief.
"And grand baby." Snow added.
"Wow. Just think of me as your auntie Red. I didn't even get to spoil you like I planned. You're so pretty." Red and Granny hugged Emma who was still holding Bae.
"Do your uncles get a hug?" Happy asked. Emma smiled. All seven of them gave her a group hug.
Geppetto and Jiminey found each other and hugged.
"I saw Pinocchio today!" Geppetto exclaimed wondering where his son was now that he remembered him. Pinocchio and Andi finally walked in on the town's reunion. "Pinocchio!"
"Father!" Pinocchio exclaimed and ran into his father's arms. They wouldn't let each other go.
"Look at you." Geppetto couldn't believe his eyes.
"This is my fiancé Andi."
"Nice to meet you, sir."
Geppetto hugged her, he was overwhelmed. Next Geppetto headed over to Snow.
"Snow White." Geppetto called and she turned to him. "I am so sorry that I lied to you. I just wanted to save my son. I can't repay you enough for taking care of my boy."
"All is forgiven. He's my son too now." Snow replied.
"Thank you." Geppetto said.
"Snow!" Called the one voice Snow was longing to hear. Snow turned around.
"Charming!" Snow exclaimed.
They ran to each other, hugged and kissed. Finally, the moment they'd been waiting for.
Emma walked over.
"Daddy?" Emma called.
"Emma?" David couldn't hold it together. This was his baby girl? She was so beautiful. She looked like him. The Charmings shared a group hug for the very first time. David cradled his baby girl's head as he hugged her. "Who is this?" David referred to the baby.
"Our grandson." Snow replied.
"Wow. We have a lot to catch up on." David was excited and kind of sad at the same time because he missed so much but he was mostly grateful that they were together now.
Meanwhile, Rumpelstiltskin acted on his plan to bring magic to the world with no magic since the curse was broken. Oh that Rumple, always has a well thought out plan.
"Rumple?" A familiar voice called. It had to be too good to be true.
He turned around to find the only woman that held a key to his heart.
"Belle?" They hugged. "Where have you been?"
"Regina had me locked up." That didn't make him happy. "What were you doing?"
"Oh let's just say, magic is coming."
A purple fog went through the town. No one knew what the hell was going on.
"This is all The Evil Queen's fault!" Someone yelled once the fog passed and everyone regained their composure.
Now that they've gotten their reunions out of the way everyone was becoming outraged.
"Let's kill her!" Someone yelled.
"We have to stop them." Snow said.
Her family's dark thought was, "Do we?" But it kind of went against everything they believed so of course they had to save her. She's family, right? Technically, whatever.
"Can you take Bae for me?" Emma asked Andi. Andi took him and she and Astrea went back into the inn while everyone else headed to Regina's house.
Regina walked out of her house to a mob on her lawn. She figured, magic was back so she could throw them all off her property but nope, not that simple. Powers didn't even work.
The Charming's arrived on the scene and stepped in front of Regina.
"No one is to touch Regina. She can't hurt us anymore." Snow stated.
"That's what you said the last time." Someone said.
Snow wasn't surprised that some trust may be gone. "We cannot turn to darkness to solve our problems. Are those the people we want to become?"
"Darkness has been winning and it will continue to win." Someone said.
"It will if we continue to think that way. The curse has been broken and that's a start."
They were reluctant to continue to believe Snow's hope speeches but they'd try one more time. The mob backed down and began to separate.
"I don't need you to protect me." Regina started.
"Seems as though the mob that was ready to kill you says otherwise. You're welcome."
"I don't know what you're trying to do but why don't you just keep your distance from me before I kill you once and for all." Regina stepped closer.
"Do it. I dare you." Snow stated.
It would seem she's gotten even bolder but the family got nervous. This had gone too far and they didn't want Snow to start something she couldn't finish but she had a plan…
To be continued…
