Hey,

Writing will go a bit slower with National novel writing month, so I don't know when I will start writing chapter 8. I just hope you I will be able to give you an 8th chapter. I hope this month, yet I don't know if I can promise it to you. If I have days like today, I can get some done. But my full attention goes to my novel right now. Yet there's always a part of my mind that's with Annabeth.

Thank you for all the reviews.

Enjoy,

TempeGeller

P.S. Join my new Once upon a time role-play. Choose a character of once upon a time and turn him in a doctor or staff member of the Storybrook hospital. Join us at the forum: Once upon a time in a hospital (role-play). Only Hook and Belle are taken. You can play up to 3 characters. I will be happy to welcome you there.

Chapter 7: Family is a matter of trust and work

Annabeth let her eyes leave the food in the dinner for just a moment. She pushed away the piece of bread and returned her attention to the glass of juice in front of her. Why wasn't she hungry? She was always hungry in the morning, yet now everything seemed different. She assumed finding her parents would be amazing and it was. Yet there was also a tension Annabeth couldn't have foreseen. Was it because she met her father? She thought she would just meet her mother, yet she had met a brother, a mother, a sister and so much more.
Did she want Rumpelstiltskin to teach her magic? Or did she share the fear that was translated on her mother's face? Annabeth had escaped Belle's attention for only a moment and she already missed part of her presence. Feeling loved and cherished was a feeling she would never let go. And as Neal stepped towards her table, Annabeth smiled.
"Sis.." Neal laughed "You know this is weird. I always wanted a sister, yet I hardly know you. Well, I know your name. That's about it."

"I can pretty much agree on that." Annabeth smiled. "I felt a tension between you and… dad."
"There is a tension between us alright." Neal nodded his head. "Yet, I don't think I should tell you. Things happened between me and dad, I think I should leave it there. He hasn't disappointed you."
"I take he has disappointed you." She touched his hand. "Do you hate him?"
"Sometimes I think I do…" He stared to his feet. "Then I remember he's my father, I can't hate him."
"I hated him…" She didn't look at him. "My dad, when I was only 8 years old I cursed the ground he walked on, I was angry. It's alright to be mad. It's only natural."
"What happened to your friend?"

"Ian has another fate than I have. We parted ways, he needs to find his place in the world. I found it." Annabeth smiled at him. "What about you, do you feel home?"
"Home is about…" Neal turned away. "I don't even know anymore."

Belle turned around as she stepped to the other side of the store. In a movement of pure nerves she pulled her hair in another ponytail. Rumpelstiltskin stared at her from the other side of the room. His hands were placed on his hips, not knowing what to say. Belle turned around once again, as she pulled her hair again. She put her hands to her face as she scratched her face. Once more again, she jumped up.
"Belle!" He reacted "You're driving me insane."

"Rumple, I don't know what to do." She returned to her sitting position. "Firstly I have no idea what to do about Regina. Secondly, I have been reading on the world our daughter has been raised in. I'm worried about that. Firstly I'm terribly worried about drug use and if she's drinking. Plus, I have been hearing about all of these terrible books that are poison to the mind. She could be already reading them. Rumple, there's nothing worse than a book poisoning my little girl. Rumple, I know nothing about her. I don't know what kind of music she likes, I don't know what kind of books she reads. I wouldn't know what to buy for her birthday. It's in a week, Rumple. Because of Regina, I know nothing about my little girl. Plus, does she have a boyfriend."
"Belle, she's 19." Rumpelstiltskin smiled. "We don't have to worry about that…"

Belle turned around as she turned to her book. She kept her eyes on it, as Rumpelstiltskin stepped to her. He put his hands on her shoulders softly touching them. She relaxed as his arms moved around her neck. He sat down next to her.
"We have the time to get to know her…" He reached for her hand. "You during a reading session and me during the magic lessons. I know exactly what I'm going to teach her."

"Rumple, are you sure it's smart." Belle turned to her. "I don't want you to become tempted by the darkness. She's our daughter, we don't need her ripping out hearts."
"Off course not Belle." He stood up. He walked to the wands as she pulled a silver one from it. He stared at it for almost a second as he put it in front of her. "Do you think this wand is perfect?"
"Rumple, she's going to like any wand you give her…" She stood up. It only took a few seconds for her to reach him. She pulled him in a tight hug. Mostly because she needed it. She needed him. Annabeth had told them she needed time to think. Belle let her go, yet Rumpelstiltskin seemed to have a difficulty seeing his daughter walk from the door. She hadn't returned since the confrontation. It almost seemed like she was ignoring them. Maybe there was a part of fear.
"I'm so scared, Belle." He spoke to her. "I don't want to disappoint her, not the way I disappointed Bae. Yet I feel like I've disappointed her already."

"There's nothing you've done to disappoint her." Belle spoke "She needs time. It's hard to meet your parents and just fall in their arms. I…"
"True…" He put the wand in his pocket. "Do you think I should find her?"
"I think you should give her time." Belle pulled his hand towards her. "Much of it."

"Lian." Annabeth yelled as she ran on the ship. She stared at the ship around her, she felt different looking at everything around her. Her mother was Belle, the woman that she idolized. Her father was a wizard or at least that was what she made herself believe. They called him Rumpelstiltskin, a beautiful name she thought. The only strange thing seemed that everyone knew his name. She believed that he kept his name a secret. How would anyone have a trouble to figure out his name? She screamed for Captain Hook once more again.

"Annie…" Hook stepped from the closed door. His face seemed different, it was covered in bruises. Almost like he had been attacked by someone. The punches he had gotten were rather rough and left their traces. She ran towards him and pushed her hands to his face. As her hands touched his, a burning sensation went through his body. Her hands were fire to his skin, yet they were freezing cold. She was so close that her smell was something his nose could no longer ignore. Her perfume smelled like a thousand roses, with only a soft trace of citron. At least that is what his nose made of her smell. Her hair was pulled together in a ponytail and something was different about her. Her eyes seemed like they had been crying and the idea that someone had made her cry made him sick to his stomach.
"What have they done to you?" She moved her hand over her cheek. "Who did it?"

"Got in a fight over some money I owned someone…" Hook pushed her hand away. "No big deal. What happened to you, it seemed like you've been crying?"
"tears of confusion, happiness, anger…" Annabeth paused "Despair."

"Despair." He put her hand in his. "Why would you feel despair towards anyone?"
Annabeth raised her eyebrow as she turned around. She let the feeling run wild as the tears came out right away. The first moment he saw her cry, pulling her in his arms wasn't difficult at all. It was something he wanted to do, the very moment she came on the ship. Yet the plan of Tamara and Greg played on his mind. The words of Annabeth about his soul. About getting back and coloring his heart. What did he need to do?
"What's going on?"

"Belle." Annabeth paused "She's my mom. And the man, Rumpelstiltskin, he's my dad."
"Mister Gold…" The anger came in him. The girl he was crazy about was the very way he could get to Rumpelstiltskin, he was sure that hurting her would break the old man's heart. Yet not one vane in his body could harm the sweet girl. At the same time a guilt appeared from him, he had tried to kill Belle twice. Once when she was trapped, another time he actually shot her. How would the woman who owned his heart react to this vicious movement? Did her first loyalty belong to her mother or would it be free to understand his movement. In the end, she was still alive. She was still Belle. He touched her hair. He had to keep her mind from it. Yet some part of his mind screamed to tell her about the plan. If he hurt Rumpelstiltskin in any way, he would hurt Annabeth. The last thing that he wanted to do was harm her.
"How do you feel about that?" He put his arm around her and stepped her to the ledge of the ship. "Happy, confused,.."
"All of the above." She placed her hands on the edge. "I've always dreamed to have parents, yet somehow I felt I would never find them. I never heard one song…"
"Songs around just that…" He looked to the water. "Words from drunken guys."
"No, not that…" Annabeth smiled "I just wished so much that my mom was someone like Idina Menzel, there was also a theory that I was the spawn of the wicked witch of the west and Fiyero and they needed to hide me. Yet I never thought that any of those theories would come close."

"Well…"
"I just always assumed my parents were madly in love." She smiled "They were both young, my mother would be a struggling artist and my dad would be a prince. And they would live happily ever after. That was until I discovered on thing."
"That is?"
"Happiness doesn't exist." She smiled as she played with her hair. "I mean princess Di and Charles get a divorce, Leonardo Dicaprio dies, John Smith leaves, Courteney Cox and David Arquette break up. The Joursey shore has 5 seasons, Booth and Brennan are still not together, Lily Evans dies, Snape dies, Dumbledore dies, Samantha Mulder is dead and I can keep going on and on. It's simple, real life knows no happy ending. Just misery."

"I guess I'm lucky that misery loves company." Annabeth said as she turned to him. She put her head on his shoulder, it was an easy thing to do. Why was she trying to find a friend in Hook? She needed someone to be close to her, someone to talk to. In the way she talked to Ian. Yet part of her felt pat for Hook, for the lost soul behind his eyes. And right now she felt something was bothering him. Something that had to do with her. Somehow like her family pissed him off. Or even that he lied about the way he had gotten the bruises.
"You don't know anyone it town…" she put her hand to his cheeks again. "You didn't love money in any bet right. Something else happened right…"

"If I tell you about what I've done…" Hook turned away from her. "How I ended up here, why I ended up here. You will hate me. What I am willing to do get even with.."
"It's hurting your soul." She pulled him in her arms. She put her head on his shoulders. "It's turning your heart cold, let the vengeance go. I'm sure he's…"
"They gave me a pretty good deal…" Hook stared at her. "Regina she hid something in the town. I have no idea what it is, if I bring Regina to them. I.."

"They'll give you what you want, you'll kill…"
"Rumpelstiltskin."
Her arms released him, as she took a step back. Her eyes were filled with a confusion. She didn't see Rumpelstiltskin for the same person he did. She saw him as her dad. Or at least the person that was going to teach her magic. Her eyes turned angry, almost like she almost directly chose his side. Hook reached for her hand, yet she declined it.
"You're still thinking about it?" Her hands twisted together in a fist. "You're think about murdering my father. After I said he was my father, to get even…"

"He ripped her heart out of her chest and crushed it." Hook yelled. "In front of me, because she ran away with him. He cut of my hand."
"He's my father." Annabeth took another step back. "What would you to hurt him? Kill my mom?"
His eyes turned to the wooden floor, almost like instantly admitted what he had done. Her eyes opened wider as she took another step back. She pulled her arms closer to her body.
"You wanted my mom dead?" She cried. "A woman who never hurt a single person? To make him feel pain, that's low. She's a person, not a way of revenge."
"Twice." He didn't dare to look at her. "One time in the enchanted forest, and the other time I shot her so she would fall over the town line. Plus, when I heard you were his child I thought about…"
"Murdering me, right?" She stepped away. "And what did they promise you? You would let them get their vengeance on Regina? Right?"
"She needs to get even…"
"Well, there's no such thing as getting even." She turned away. "There's such thing as causing pain. The only thing you create in yourself is more pain, getting even is a cowardly thing to do."
"You're calling me a coward?" He ran towards her catching her arm. "You are calling me a coward?"
"Yes." She yelled. "My mom? If I wasn't here, you would not even think about this. You would be on the Tamara and Greg Fan club. You don't understand that what they need could be dangerous. Very…"

"That's why I need you there…" She walked away as she heard his voice from behind her. She didn't want to listen, walking away was the most simple thing. She should just forget him, yet a part of her saw good things in him. The way he talked to her, made her think there was something between them. Friendship or maybe even more. Yet her heart and soul needed more time to grasp everything. She needed more time.
"I need to convince Regina to use the device…" He stared at his feet. "If we use it, everyone born in the enchanted forest would die."

"Including me." She turned around.
"You were going with me." Hook took her hand. "I was going to run to Neverland. I would find a way."

She was surprised as her hand crashed to his face. Anger had come in to her. He was going to let the whole town die, her father and her mother. He would take her, why she didn't know.
"I love you, Annabeth." Hook pulled her hand closer. "Being with you is enough for me."
"So you were going to sacrifice a town of people…" She hit him again. "My parents. For what because you think you love me. Why?"

"I want you to stop it." Hook spoke "I told you, because I want to change. If you are there, you could save Regina. You could make it so they never get this device. Now you know what their plan is. You can tell anyone. You can stop it…"
"I don't understand…" She stepped away. "If you didn't love me, would you still save me?"

"No."
"I would be dead." She spoke "I would be the exact same person, yet you wouldn't give a damn. Do you understand that people are not just numbers, they love and care. You can't just risk a whole community to set sail with the love of your life. I will never choose that kind of love. I hope you wouldn't either."
"I'm a pirate." He turned away. "That's who I am…"

Annabeth moved the idea of Hook of her mind. Maybe she was really wrong about him, maybe his heart was really rotten. If he hadn't been in love with her, he would have let her die. She didn't know what that idea did to her. Did she have strong feelings for Hook? Yes. Did she necessary call it love? No. She didn't need love, she was a strong female. She needed to focus on herself now, learning magic. And all of the books that were moving around this room. She stared at them, when she was growing up alone she fell in love with books. They told her the subtle message that she wasn't alone. Unlike Mathilda she didn't get powers until now. She would have a had a different life, if she had this powers earlier. Slowly she pointed to a book and made it move towards her. She didn't care for what genre, she just wanted to read something unrelated to her situation. So maybe fantasy wasn't a smart genre, neither were books were fairytales were involved. Was she actually some kind of princess? How would the people of this town look at her, if they knew who her father was.

As she pulled the book in her lap, she let the words move of her mind. The cover was light as her fingers moved over it. It felt bumpy, and it almost seemed like no one had touched these books in a while. Or they were used in some kind off attack plan, since it seemed like some had crashed to the floor. Annabeth opened the page.

'IT is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'

Annabeth smiled as she moved her eyes of the other words. Pride and prejudice had always been one of her favorites. If they had a mister Darcy in this town, she wouldn't mind driving in to the sunset with him. She smiled as she heard a door open up. Belle stepped inside, she hang back staring at the title of the book. Her mind screamed to call her mom, yet she didn't know what to say.
"Pride and prejudice…" Belle smiled "It seems that you get that from me. I love Jane Austen."

"Is that a true story too?" Annabeth smiled "And if it is, does Mister Darcy walk around in town?"
"I think these are fictional." Belle sat down next to her, moving her hands through her hair. She smiled for just a moment. "You know, I'm driving your father insane by watching Pride and Prejudice. He doesn't understand my undying love for Jane Austen. I'm glad you got that from me."
"Have you ever read Jane Eyre?" Belle stood up grabbing the book. "It's amazing."
"Yeah, I have read it twice." Annabeth smiled "What about Les Miserables?"
"I haven't been able to finish that." Belle smiled "In Cosette's part right now."

"I finished it." A smile appeared on Annabeth's face. "I read it more than once. I also finished other books by Victor Hugo."
"He's very detailed." Belle smiled "He's absolutely wonderful."

Annabeth sat down and focused her eyes back on the book. Belle did the same thing and pulled a book from her bag. Both of them sat together, quiet not saying anything. Most people would not call it banding, but Annabeth felt her mother closer than ever. Her eyes reading the same words she had, made her close to her own person. She had liked those words and it seemed that the love of words was returned to her mother. A small laugh came from her mouth. As Annabeth moved another page. Could she laugh with her mom next to her? Off course she could. She loved the book. And as she moved a page, she thought about Hook once more again. Was he like Mister Darcy? Was he beneath all the prejudice a good guy? Or was he like Jean Valjean a man changed? Why had he ever turned out like this? And would he really help her? Did she need to talk to him. She slowly put the book down.
"What's it darling?" Belle stared at her as she put down the pages. "I know that look. I have that look, you're thinking if someone's a good guy. Who is it?"
"I…"' Annabeth stared to her feet. She couldn't say she had been hanging out with Hook, she was hurt by him. He tried to kill her twice. There was no way that she could talk to her mother about Hook.

"Is it that boy…" Belle paused. "Ian is his name? What happened to him?"
"He went after his fate." Annabeth spoke. "It's not about him, he's a good guy."
"Well, if you think there's something good in him." Belle paused. "There must be. Look at me, I'm convinced there was something good in your father, I was right."
"It's Killian Jones." Annabeth paused "I think you call him Hook."
"You've been hanging out with Hook?" Belle reached for her cheeks. "Has he hurt you?"
"No, he hasn't hurt me." Annabeth paused. "He says he loves me."
"Love with him is a passable feeling." Belle spoke "I meant it when I told him, his heart is rotten. Yet I could be wrong. You recognized good in him, there must be a reason why you think that's the truth."
"He tells me Tamara and Greg are up to something dangerous…" Annabeth paused "Something that might get us all killed. He wants me to stop them. He will tell me all I need to know…"
"By yourself?" Belle pulled her in her arms as she shook her head. "No, you don't have to do this by yourself. We'll get Snow involved, Charming, Emma. Anyone who can help. This involved all of us. If someone stops them, all of us do."

"Okay." Annabeth paused as she put her head to Belle's shoulder. "I've always wanted to do this with my mom. I've dreamed about meeting you for all of this years."
"I've dreamt it." Belle touched her hair. "Even if I didn't remember, you were the only thing that was in my dreams. I'm sure you were on your dad's mind too."
"Mom." Annabeth paused "Why did she take me away? Regina…"
"She's…" Belle paused "I can't describe her in one word, darling. I haven't made up my mind about her."

As Rumpelstiltskin stepped to Annabeth, he noticed that she had simple movements Belle had too. She had the same uncanny way to pull her hair after her ear. She had the same small movements of her head. She even wore the same cute dresses. She was a young version of Belle. He didn't know where he came in. As she turned around, her hair moved just like Belle's did. As she moved her hands, he noticed a small movement he had too. When Annabeth saw him, she stepped towards him, summoning an apple.
"I learned it all by myself." Annabeth spoke "I was hungry and I thought of an apple and if appeared. It was amazing. I love making things appear."

"You have that natural talent from me." He smiled "So, what do you think about learning some magic? What would you like to learn?"
"Maybe flying." She jumped up. "It seems amazing to feel the air move around my feet. Hell, I would be happy with simple levitating. Could you do that?"
"There's nothing I can't teach you." He paused. "Munckin."
"Okay." Annabeth stepped in front of me. "Your student is ready."
"Well, you are by far the best student I have ever had." He laughed. "And I haven't even thought you anything. Will you listen?"
"I will." Annabeth smiled. "Dad."
Just hearing Annabeth say the words dad made him happy. A smile appeared on his face as he turned to her. Her hair curled around her face. Her hands ware pulled in small fists. It seemed like she searched for the best way to keep her body.
"I prefer papa." He laughed at her.
"Okay." Annabeth smiled "Papa."

"That's right, Munckin."

"I knew there was something fishy about her." Emma turned to Belle. "So, Hook said he would tell Annabeth about the time and the place they will look for this device. Right?"
"Yes." Belle paused "Emma, I don't want my daughter to get hurt. I just got her back. Promise me, that you will have our back. Promise me that you will protect my daughter."
"We promise, Belle." Snow stepped towards her. "We'll protect her with our life."

What did you think about this chapter? Do you think Rumple will teach Annabeth dark magic? Does Hook truly love Annabeth? Would you like to see more Henry/Annabeth scenes or Neal/Annabeth? Who would you like Annabeth to meet? What kind of Belle/Annabeth scene would you like to see?

Take the time to leave a review. It makes me so happy and I during Nanowrimo, it's always fun to get a fun boost. A review is than just what the doctor ordered. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the love. This story has received so much love. I can't even believe it.