Summer Interludes

Chapter 7

Summer Festival- Six years later

Henry play tackled his younger son Nat, then tickled him.

"Dad… stop" Nat giggled breathlessly.

Henry gave him a few more tickles then relented. Nat gave him a hug then ran off to play with the other kids at the lake. Violet was talking to their friends Jacinda and Sabine as they watched their teenage kids showing off; jumping off a rope swing by the deep part of the lake.

Nat was almost six years old and would start first grade in the fall. Zita and Dylan had just graduated high school. Henry sighed, he'd be forty by this time next year. He shouldn't complain though, mom and Robin were sixty-six, and his other mom, Emma, would be fifty-eight in October. Robin was the only one who looked any older though, and even he looked pretty much the same, just his hair was all grey now and he had a few more wrinkles around his eyes. Mom told him, the more magic a person had the slower they tended to age.

At the far shore of the lake Henry saw a glimmer of light. Then there was a magic so strong even he could feel it. He stood up, noting with relief no one was near where that magic energy appeared. There was a bright flash of light and suddenly a brown haired women with a pale skin tone was standing there. With her was a child who looked around three or four with the same hair color. She looked vaguely familiar to Henry.

"Henry is that you?" The woman asked.

"Yeah."

"It's me, Bae. I'm back. This is my son Thadeus, he's three and a half."

Henry could tell it was Bae. He smiled. "Welcome back to Storybrooke."

Bae grinned. "So you've taken over that duty from your mom?"

Henry laughed. "I guess."

"How is everyone?"

"A lot of ground to cover with that. Glad you're back. Grace will be overjoyed to see you."

"I can't wait to see her. So how many years have I been gone?"

"You don't remember?" Henry looked concerned.

"It's not that I don't remember, it's… well, mom, dad and I spent quite a few years in this realm where I aged really slowly, but mom, because she had no magic, aged normally. Dad, of course didn't age at all."

"What happened?"

"A lot of things. I'd rather wait and tell everyone at once." Bae said solemnly.

"Okay. Shouldn't take long for most people you knew to get here. You came back on the Summer Festival."

"Summer Festival?" The boy asked.

"You remember that fair I took you to last week ,Thaddeus?"

Thaddeus nodded.

"Its like that."

"Oh!" he smiled for the first time since they'd arrived.

"Yeah but we have lights that you don't have to use fire or magic to turn on, you just flip a switch and they come on and stay on till you flip the switch again. And lots of other cool stuff. " Henry said enthusiastically.

Thaddeus looked at Henry confused "Switch?"

Bae laughed. "He's never seen any kind of electric switch."

"What's a switch, mama?"

"You'll find out soon. But right now I see Henry's mom, Regina, coming our way. She looks exactly the same as I remember."

Regina had felt the sudden burst of magic around the lake and had quickly poofed herself there. She relaxed slightly when she saw Henry speaking and laughing to someone she didn't recognize. She warily approached.

"Mom, this is Bae, she's come back."

Bae pointed to her son, "This is Thaddeus, my son."

Regina looked more closely at the woman and nodded. "I can see Belle in your face." She smiled. "How is your mother?"

Bae looked sad.

"She's passed away then?"

"Yeah."

"You can tell us what happened later. I'm sure you want to see Grace." Regina smiled gently.

"Yes." Bae nodded and smiled back.

"You remember Laurent?"

"Yeah."

"Grace and Laurent married a few years ago. They have a little girl now. Her name is Danielle; she's two."

"So a year younger than my son. What about Hope, did she ever find someone?"

"Yes! Her name is Yara. They have a daughter Mehri who's the same age as Thaddeus."

"Is she like Xian?"

"Yes, Rebecka was able to help them have a baby. She helped Roland, Eimi and Douglas too. That one was a bit trickier, but they have a daughter Hana, she'll turn two right before Christmas."

"Wow."

"You probably won't be surprised Neal and Roberta married."

Bae giggled. "No. I remember how he made cow's eyes at her all the time. Any kids?"

"Yes. They have a son, Paxton. He's four. Matthew and Gian adopted a baby boy seven years ago, his name's Kavin. Do you remember Roberta's younger brother?"

Bae thought for a moment "Cedric? Right?"

"Yes. You remember my cousin Valeria's daughter, Leira?"

"Yeah, she was really cute, liked to turn cartwheels to music."

Regina laughed, "She did! I'd forgotten. Well, Leira and Cedric are married. They have a little girl, Estrella. Estrella just had her first birthday this past spring."

"I saw Zita and Dylan. I can't believe how grown up they are. I barely recognized them and Xian too."

"Yes. The twins just had their eighteenth birthday."

"Seventeen! Wow. So it's been…twelve years since I left."

"Yes." Regina looked somber. "Bae, I can tell its been longer than that for you. Your mother has passed away…you look around my age when I came to Storybrooke…"

"You don't look any older."

Regina smiled. "Thank you. I do, but yes, its subtle. The blessings of being a strong magic user. I'm sixty-six but I look about forty."

They had reached the street with the festival booths and rides were set up. Thaddeus pulled on Bae's hand , "Mama, look!" He pointed toward a merry-go-round, excitement on his face.

"That's a merry-go-round. You remember what Henry told you about switches turning lights on?"

Thaddeus nodded.

"Well, a switch makes that go around."

"Oh." Awe showed on his face. "Are switches like magic?"

"It seems like it sometimes. But energy travels through wires. That's how it works."

"Okay."

"He understands energy?" Henry asked.

"Kind of. He knows magic is partly energy. We're here to stay so he'll learn, along with the other kids. But right now, he just wants to ride the merry-go-round."

"I can, mama?"

"Of course, we have to get in line though."

"I know that mama!" Thaddeus said exasperated as he pulled her along toward the ride.

Bae and Henry laughed. Regina, walking behind them, smiled, equally amused by the little boy's impatience. Regina spotted her youngest daughter ahead of them in line. Laurent was holding Danielle and Grace was standing behind them making funny faces at her daughter to make her laugh. Once they stepped on the ride's platform, Regina hurried over to Grace.

"Grace, come here for a minute." Regina smiled faintly at her daughter.

"Mom?"

"I'll stay with Danielle." Laurent said as he held onto his daughter on top of the wooden horse. This was her first ride on the merry-go- round."

Regina saw Bae had got her son on a horse. She stood next to him but let him sit without her holding onto him.

Bae told Thaddeus to hold tight onto the fake reigns just like with a real horse. She glanced over at Henry who was sitting on the bench seat just ahead, with his camera filming. Bae couldn't wait to see Thaddeus' reaction when the horse moved upward.

Regina motioned Grace to sit in the bench seats a couple of horse rows back from Bae and her son.

The ride started and Thaddeus squealed with surprise and joy when the horse moved. He bounced excitedly. "Mama, look!"

Bae touched her hand on his shoulder and grinned down at him. Thaddeus stopped bouncing and began to look all around the ride.

Regina knew they could approach now. "Grace, someone wanted to see you."

They walked up to Bae. Regina tapped her on the shoulder.

Bae turned around and smiled when she saw Regina. "He loves it."

"I saw."

Then Bae noticed the young woman beside Regina. Her eyes widened. "Grace!"

Grace looked confused for a moment then cried out "Bae!" The two women hugged each other tightly.

Henry grinned back at his mother. He'd caught the reunion of the two best friends on video as well.

Bae spent the rest of the day being reunited with family and friends. Then everyone drove over to Henry and Violet's house for a family gathering where Bae told her story.

"Mom and I found father pretty quickly. He found us actually. He was overjoyed to see us. He did apologize to mom and me for abducting and taking me to New York. Mom told him about the prophesy. It wasn't easy to get out of the Black Fairy's realm…"

Bae paused. There were things she'd rather forget about that time. She decided to skip on. "Father found this realm where time ran strange. I don't know how many years we spent there. I aged really slowly and father, of course didn't age at all. But mother had no magic, she aged normally, I guess. She grew old and died. Father struggled with himself for several more years. Then one day he said he was ready to go be with mother. He showed me what I needed to do with the Guardian spell. Father is free and there will never be another Dark One."

"What did you do then?"

"I dismantled all the magic father had put into place. I wasn't sure who I was anymore, so I made a portal to the Enchanted Forest. I wanted to see where my parents had come from. Maybe that would help me find myself."

Henry, Grace and several of the other younger adults nodded. The Enchanted Forest was this mysterious place their parents had come from that still echoed in their lives.

Emma was the oldest there who somewhat shared their feelings; but the awfulness of the Camelot time had ended most of that. Despite the bad things she'd lived through, this world was home. Not the Enchanted Forest. She shared that with all the other older adults here. Storybrooke was home. She could tell Bae felt the same way.

"I wandered the Enchanted Forest for a few years; became an adventurer." She smiled faintly; those were her happiest years. "I met a charming scoundrel, Rishley." Bae smiled in remembrance as family members chuckled at the description. Rishley was handsome, and could charm squirrels to eat from his hands. But he wasn't dependable.

"We adventured together for a while, then went our separate ways. A couple of months after we parted ways I discovered I was pregnant. Despite the situation, it made me happy. I found a village where I could be a jack of all trades. I rented a place for us to stay until Thaddeus was old enough to travel. He started asking about family a few weeks ago. I had to tell him it was just him and me. I realized the Enchanted Forest had never felt like home, just a stopping point. But there was a place that was home, where I had family. Storybrooke. I took Thaddeus to a fair, then we packed up. And now we're home."

"Welcome home. We all missed you." Grace said. There was a chorus of affirmatives around the room.

"I missed you too. For a long time I thought I'd never see any of you again. Even after father showed me how to get to the Enchanted Forest, even after Thaddeus was born. I could have come back once I was in the Enchanted Forest, but I felt too lost from who I had been. Plus I didn't know how many years had passed in Storybrooke. But when my son started asking about family, I wanted to come home."

Bae's extended family helped her settle back into town. Gold's pawn shop had remained empty. Henry and some other family members had made sure it didn't fall apart, doing basic maintenance. In the back of everyone's minds was a hope that Belle and Bae would someday return; despite the prophesy saying Belle definitely wouldn't. Belle, indeed had not. But Bae had.

"So what about the sign?" Henry asked.

"Keep it up. It won't be a pawn shop, but then it wasn't really one when father ran it either. More a storehouse of magic things. It can be that again. I seem to have a light magic power that negates dark magic. It wasn't just the Dark One's dagger; I've been able to break other dark magic objects too. "

"That's great! I know mom has some things in her vault that are cursed with dark magic that she has locked away. Maybe you could break their power."

Bae nodded. But I don't want to live like father did, surrounded by dark magic objects. Father taught me how to spin and weave, and not just on his old spinning wheel. If someone can find an old standing loom that I can get a loan on, I'll pay them back once I sell enough rugs. Oh and I'll need same raw wool, silk and other materials"

"You know the family will give you both the loom stuff and the money as a gift. You're family."

"Well, I'll just have to pay them back with free rugs." Bae grinned.

Grace and Laurent were walking in the woods with their daughter Danielle a couple of weeks later.

"Bae said there were some things that she can't talk about that she lived through. Mom offered to listen if she ever needed to."

"Your mom survived a lot of awful things."

"Including things she did when she was broken and mad. I heard about them from other people. Mom still can't talk about some of it to us kids. She's done the penance for it, but its not anything she can fully get past. She just learned to deal with it and not let it overshadow who she always should have been."

"Hopefully Bae will talk to your mom someday."

Grace stopped suddenly. "Do you hear that?"

"Baby crying" Danielle piped in

"It does sound like a baby crying, Danille."

Laurent picked up Danielle so they could walk faster toward the sound.

When they reached a clearing they saw a very large toddler in a muddy dress, sitting on the ground crying.

"That child is huge. She looks Danielle's age, but she's got to be almost four feet tall."

"Giant. How did she get here? I thought Anton was the last of the giants."

"Right now that doesn't matter. What matters is someone needs to get her some place where they can make sure she's okay. She's just a toddler."

"Right. Maybe a light sleep spell so we can get her to Rebecka's office so we can get her cleaned up and I can run some medical tests, makes sure she's not sick."

"Then what?"

"We could try to find Anton, but I think Davu is a better bet. Some of his ancestors were giants. Based on her size some one either did a spell on her, or she's not fully giant. She's tiny for a giant."

Grace waved her hand and the giant toddler's eyes drifted shut. Grace hurried over before the girl toppled over.

"Do you think you can carry her back to the car alone?" Laurent asked.

"Yeah. Firefighter's hold."

"Okay." Laurent carried their daughter Danielle back to the car quickly and got her settled into the car seat.

"Be right back, Danny girl, going to help mommy with the giant baby."

Danielle whimpered when Laurent closed the door. He hated leaving their daughter for even a second alone, but that giant toddler had to be getting heavy. He could trade off for the last few feet.

Grace looked annoyed when he found her. "You should have stayed with Danielle. I'm almost there."

"Let me switch off carrying the kid."

Grace sighed. "Okay." As soon as the girl was settled over Laurent's shoulder Grace ran back to the car. As she suspected Danielle was crying her lungs out. Grace kissed and caressed her daughter, soothing her distress. "Its okay, mommy's here, you're safe."

Grace had Danielle calmed down by the time Laurent got to the car with the giant toddler . They put the sleeping girl in the back seat and put her in a seatbelt.

"She's a little small to be sitting there without a booster seat, but nothing we can do about that now."

"Right, once she's at the clinic we can call around and see who can help."

Once they got there Grace immediately began running the medical tests, while Rebecka and Grace's intern gave the toddler a bath . Laurent , armed with the giant toddler's measurements and likely approximate clothes sizes, went clothes shopping. He brought Danielle along with him. Nova called Davu and left a message with Anton's friends.

Grace ran a DNA test as well. She showed the results to Rebecka. "She's definitely related to Anton. Not closely, but there's about a twenty percent match. There's a twelve percent match to Davu's paternal DNA, so she's related to both giant families in Storybrooke."

"That explains why she's alive. Someone related to Anton must have left their land and traveled to where Davu's ancestor's lived. Davu's giant ancestors weren't as tall as Anton's family; but see those markers? She's part human too."

"Her height make s sense now. She's probably going to top out around seven feet."

"Yes, or maybe slightly shorter. She's past two and a half. Her DNA says about 32 months."

"That's great. Shouldn't be much a problem going to school, maybe in high school they might have to find her a special desk or something, and special order her uniform, but no terrible ordeals."

"Hopefully not much bullying."

"I hope so too."

Davu came in about an hour later. He spoke to the toddler and got her to smile.

"Her name is something like Aisha, I think. She doesn't have many words yet so I can't get much of a story out of her. I don't think she was abandoned. Someone must have used a spell to send her here."

"Like Aunt Emma?" Grace's face flushed. Her and Hope's mistaken idea childhood about how Henry's mom was related to them was a bit of an embarrassment now. And she'd just blurted the word right out. She and Hope still called her Aunt Emma but outside of the family she usually just called her Emma.

"Maybe. Aisha can't tell us enough to be sure."

"Well, she's here now, so let's find out as much as we can and find her a home." Rebecka said. "Nova got a call back from Anton. He's on his way. Maybe he'll know more."

Anton took a look at Aisha and smiled. "She looks kind of like one of my cousins. They said he looked like great aunt Julia. Great Aunt Julia was on the tiny side for our family, just like me. She got tired of being mocked and ran off when she was young. I guess she found someone."

"Since she's closest to your family, would you like to raise her? " Grace asked. She knew her mother would expedite the paperwork once a family was found for Aisha.

Anton shook his head. "Happy she's here, but I'm just not daddy material. I'd like to be her uncle though."

Grace sighed. Davu had turned them down too, probably because Anton had the stronger genetic link and he had no family. Davu and Lita had a three year old son, Bezou. She didn't know who else in Storybrooke might raise her, other than mom and dad. They'd talked about adopting recently. Mom and Dad just loved being parents. They adored their grandchildren but had kind of an empty nest thing. A giant child, even if she was part human and on the small side for a giant, would be an awful lot of work though. And they are in their sixties… Well, if no one else came forward, she knew they would.

Two weeks later, Aisha went home with Robin and Regina.