David wasn't really sure how comfortable the girls were on the couch, but they were asleep, so he decided against moving them. Snow had agreed not to ask too many questions until the girls were in bed, and since they ended up sleeping on the couch, it took longer than she had hoped to get to pry.
"You held your freak out well," David mused as Snow kissed both girl's forehead and was not surprised at all when she shot him a look from hell. Still, she sat on the arm of the couch, petting Emma's hair, then moved over to Rose to gently remove her hearing aid and lay them on the tablet by her head.
"When you call and tell me that you found our daughter in a house in the woods, tied to a chair and a bruise the size of a softball on her face. Then you tell me not to freak out, you better be very glad that Rose was already asleep or I'd-I'd-" Snow fell flat with a sigh as she went into her husband's arms. "Please tell me Graham is going to find this guy."
"Graham said he picked up on some tracks outside the house. Emma said the man's name was Jefferson, but she also mentioned something about a mad hatter from Wonderland. Ever heard of it?" David asked as Snow went over to their bed and pulled off her shoes.
"Never. The name Jefferson vaguely rings a bell, but I can't think of why," she told him as she pulled her pajama's from her drawer and tossed her husband his as well. "Did she tell you anything else?"
David hesitated and Snow definitely caught it. "Charming..." she warned as she rested both hands on her hips.
He took a deep breath and prepared himself for his wife's reaction. "Jefferson was wanting the savior's magic for some sort of magic hat," he told her barely casting her a glance as he pulled back the covers to the bed and crawled in. Still Snow stood there, completely stunned.
So there was someone that was awake and wanted her daughters. People knew they were the saviors and someone wouldn't like that. There was a lot of bad in their world and in being dragged over into this world wasn't something Snow wanted to think about, especially when they wanted her children.
Suddenly she wanted to hide them away from the rest of the world. In the enchanted forests they had guards and a castle with marked lands that they would probably never leave without someone being with them. Storming off would be to the other side of the castle, not town, and if someone so much as threatened the girls, they would answer directly to herself or David.
"They're not going to school," Snow said with a look of realization, like this was the obvious solution.
"Snow," David sighed, pushing himself up on his elbows. "They are going to school, Graham and I will be around the entire time and you're only in the next building."
"Tomorrow. They're not going to school tomorrow," Snow clarified with a firm nod. "We're taking a mental health day. One that involves hot chocolate and s'mores and grilled cheeses."
David gave his wife a humored look as she crawled into bed next to him. "Yes, dear," he mused as she rested her head on his shoulder and her hand over his chest. "Am I invited to your mental health day?"
His hand founds hers and played with her fingers as she sighed. "Why are you so calm? Emma was kidnapped! She was held hostage! They wanted Rose too!"
"Because I really don't think he'd risk it again."
Snow turned her head up and looked at David. "And?"
"And in a way I feel like I should thank the man. Emma really... she really opened up."
They both looked past the curtain to see both girls laying on the couch with the throw around them. they were the most beautiful creatures in the eyes of their parents, and they would do their very best to protect them and they would always love them. It was just nice to know they girls were finally seeing it too.
Snow snuggled against her husband's shoulders as she drummed her fingers on his chest. "And no, you can't join our mental health day."
Charming gave a light laughed and only hugged her closer as they both drifted to sleep.
Rose, as usual, woke before her sister. Emma was laying with her head on the other end of the couch and her feet tucked into the cushions instead of into Rose's back. She reached behind her and grabbed her hearing aids before she purposely gave her sister small kick to wake her up.
"What?" Emma groaned, pulling her knees tighter toward her chest and pulling the blanket against her face.
"Shh!" Rose looked over to her parents behind the curtain still in bed as she fiddled to get both hearing aids in. "Get up!"
"What time is it?" Emma grumbled warily, at least she was whispering though as she rubbed her eyes. Before Rose could check the time, Emma saw the clock on the wall. "Five thirty? God, Rose! Why'd you wake me up before the freaking chickens?"
The look that was exchanged between sisters was a mutual aggravation, until Rose threw the blanket that was covering them onto the floor and smiled triumphantly. Emma sighed and before her sister could say a word, she pushed herself to her feet. "Alright, alright. I'll get dressed, but whatever the hell we're doing better involve food."
"Don't worry! It does," Rose assured her sister with a little too much enthusiasm, climbing the steps behind her.
Snow rolled rubbed her eyes as she rolled over. Her alarm clock said just after six o'clock which told her she had at least fifteen minutes before Charming decided to get up and the girls may sleep until noon since she wasn't making them go to school. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up in bed rubbed the kink out of her neck.
Glancing over to the couch, she noticed the blanket was on the floor and the girls weren't there sleeping anymore. She rubbed her eyes and sleepily moved toward the steps, assuming the girls had just moved up to bed in the late hours of the night. The couch couldn't have possibly been comfortable for two teenagers, even if they were small.
She dragged her feet up the steps leaning on the rail more than she normally would. She was more of a morning person than her husband and her oldest daughter, but six in the morning was still six in the morning.
As she reached the top of the steps and froze. Both beds were made, just as they had been the night before. Never slept in. Even the girls' baby blankets that normally slept with were untouched, telling her they didn't come up in the middle of the night.
"Emma? Rose?" Snow called cautiously at first. She moved toward the bathroom first and tried control her knocking to where it was calm and not banging. When there was no answer she threw the door open to find it empty.
"Emma? Rose?" Snow called again, this time louder. She ran down the steps to find her husband stirring from his sleep. There was really no other rooms to search as she ran over to her husband and shook his shoulders.
"David! David, the girls are gone!" Snow cried.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes. "What?"
"The girls! They're-"
She turned around just as the front door opened to see the girls walking in with their jackets pulled tight around them and grocery bags in their hands. Snow took a deep breath and let herself relax down on the bed, unnoticed by the girls.
Emma walked toward the counter, her tennis shoes squeaking slightly against the hardwood floor. Rose kicked the door shut behind them, making a little too much noise making both girls flinch.
"Shh!" Emma hissed with a hellish look.
"Sorry!" Rose whispered back.
Emma sighed as she tried to gently lay the groceries on the table as quietly as possible. "This is a terrible idea," she sighed. "I can't cook. I can barely make toast. If you wanted to make breakfast, we should have stuck to cereal."
Rose pursed her lips in thought as her eyebrows came together. "I took a life skills class... we made breakfast in it once."
Oh, her certainty was so comforting."Definitely should have just bought breakfast from Granny," Emma complained taking the pancake mix out of the bag. "Or alerted Graham to stand by with a fire extinguisher."
Snow smiled as Rose walked over to read over her sister's shoulder. Her face contorted as she grabbed the box to get a closer look at instructions. "Mrs. Raines always said that anyone could make pancakes..." She scrunched her face as she tried to get a better look.
Emma snorted. "Actually I think her words were, 'Ain't nobody can't make flapjacks. Alls you gots to do is read!'" she said matching the old woman's temperament with superb skill. "And even she could do that."
Rose tossed back her head as she laughed. "She wasn't that bad. As long as you stayed out of trouble."
"Oh yeah. I lost count on how many times she pulled me over her knee and beat my ass."
"Or how many times she walked by while we were plotting and casually slapped us in the back of the head. 'Damn ya, devils. Twins. Twice da trouble, twice da mess. Ain't even ten and makin' me run like 'dare teenagers.' "
The girl laughed as they searched the kitchen for the correct ingredients. Snow was baffled how warmly they talked about a woman that didn't seem warm at all. Still, Snow knew that they probably gave everyone a run for their money when they were younger. They are a little devilish sometimes, and a little too quick on their feet at times.
But chefs they were not.
Still, she debated on whether or not to just crawl over to her side of the bed and let the girls try.
"You may want to help them," Charming whispered noticing the girls seemed completely lost in the kitchen as they held up two different sized mixing bowls and he was fairly certain they didn't know what a whisk even looked like.
Snow gave him a challenging smile. "Maybe you should help them. You loved making me breakfast at home. And they-" she glanced toward her daughters, "-have always loved your pancakes, from the very beginning."
He didn't argue, just grabbed his wife by her sides and flipped her over him to her side of the bed, eliciting a laugh from her. Without second thought he crashed his lips onto hers and felt her easily comply.
Both girls cleared their throats in unison, glaring at their parents. David glanced over his shoulder and nearly started laughing at the look they were receiving from two very annoyed fourteen year olds.
Pushing the blankets up and standing, dressed in his plaid pajama pants and white t-shirt he walked toward the kitchen. "Alright, girls, let me show you how the king does it."
They easily moved out of the way as their father, barefoot and all, claimed the small kitchen area. They would never admit it, but they had never saw a man in the kitchen before. Well, in a real house kitchen. Yet, their father acted like it was completely normal for a man, a prince actually, to be well acquainted with the kitchen.
He pushed the box of pancake mix aside, grabbed a bowl and the flour from the container by the stove. "Now my mother used to make the most amazing pancakes," he began.
"Wait a second, they had pancakes in the Enchanted Forest?" Emma questioned not quite buying it.
David looked at her in mock horror. "Of course! We had unicorns, you don't think we had pancakes?"
Rose laughed as Emma just seemed a little taken back. Snow came over from the bedroom and placed her hands on the girls' shoulders. "Why don't you two go up and change back into some comfy clothes and the three of us will call it a mental health day?"
Both girls looked at her with cautious excitement. "You mean, like skip school?" Emma asked, just to clarify.
Snow smiled. "Just this once. Besides, your bruise looks awful."
Emma gingerly touched the spot on her head that still gave her a headache. "So we can just... stay home? No strings attached? No bargaining?"
Snow thought on that. "How about we just make the deal that you leave anything dealing with the oven or stove to your father or myself, until you've both had a few lessons with at least the fire extinguisher."
The girls grinned. "Sounds good," Rose said with a firm nod before hopping off the bar stool and running up the steps. "I call the penguin pants!"
Emma was off her stool in a second, fighting to beat her sister upstairs. "Uh uh! No! Those are mine! I stole them from Jenny Pinkston!"
They were gone in a flash, but their absence was followed by a loud crash that both their parents were choosing to ignore for the moment. Charming just grinned as he continued adding more ingredients into the bowl, topping it all off with a couple dashes of cinnamon and sugar, just the way he used to make it at home.
Snow sighed a little and rested her elbows on the counter. "I panicked this morning."
Charming just smiled. "I know."
"I woke up and they weren't here and with what happened last night... God, I felt like my world was completely ending and I was the worst parent on the face of the planet." As usual, she didn't care that she was rambling just a little. "A man just sees Emma, recognizes her as the savior, snatches her up and tells her to use magic that we don't know she has and then decides that one savior isn't good enough, he needs two. So I wake up and both girls were gone and-"
"You panicked," David finished for her.
"I panicked..." Pressing her face into her hands, she let out a exhausted groan. "Please, just find the man that did it, David."
He reached across the table and caught his wife's hand as she looked back up at him. "Snow, Mary Margaret and David have just as many allies here as you and I did back home. Granny and Ruby will look after the girls anytime they're around, we have Graham and the teachers at school, we even kind of have Gold. They are rarely without eyes on them, and now that something happened, it will be even more rare."
She exhaled and shook her head. "I wish Ruby was Red... She's sniff his sorry ass out and-"
"Haha! I win!" Rose cheered racing back down the steps in a t-shirt and fuzzy pants with penguins printed all over them.
"But I bet you have a bruise bigger than mine on your knee from diving for them," Emma said just as triumphantly as she galloped down the steps in also in a t-shirt but regular grey sweats.
They both looked between their parents, feeling like they interrupted something. David quickly saved the day as he flipped the pancakes. "So, who's going to make the hot chocolate?"
Rose jumped at the chance. "I know how to at least do that!"
"That means Emma can get the plates out for the pancakes," Snow said with a smile, grabbing the syrup out of the cabinet to warm up.
By the time everything was ready, the girls were starting to get antsy and David could have sworn at least one of their stomachs was grumbling. He also made up plenty of scrambled eggs and also the bacon he was surprised Snow had in the fridge. It was definitely a breakfast for a royal family.
David had never noticed until that moment that the girls never touched their food until they saw someone else do it first. Both girls sat at the table, with full plates in front of them, but politely declined eating until David took his first bite. It wasn't until then that they decided to dig in.
"Oh my God!" Emma moaned taking her first bite of pancake. "These have to be better than Granny's."
"It that cinnamon?" Rose asked just as blown away as her sister.
Charming smiled at Snow. Ever since the beginning they loved their daddy's pancakes. "Eat up. You're mother has been known to eat a whole batch."
Snow playfully hit his arm. "Only when I was pregnant!"
But the girls were already too focused on their food to notice anything else. Sometimes they really did eat like they thought their food was going to be taken away at any moment. As small as they were, it didn't seem to really matter. They had gained a couple healthy pounds since they came to Storybrooke, but it was pretty well known that Granny didn't let anyone starve, and the girls looked a little too close to that at first.
It was a relief that things were finally starting to come together, but they also realized there was still a curse to be broken and their home to return to. Snow and Charming were leaders, and they had to remember their people.
Gold was also thinking that the girls were taking their sweet time breaking the curse. They were too wrapped up in their little family. He needed the curse broken. They needed to get a move on, he needed to find his son.
He had a plan though. He had been watching Regina and Rose. He could see it in the evil queen's eyes what she truly desire now, and it wasn't just to keep the curse from unraveling. Rose. It would just be more desirable to take Snow's daughter away from her. Emma would eventually follow her sister as well. Especially with the help of a little magic.
At least, that's what he would lead her too believe.
Gold stood and walked over to the window of his shop to see a face he hadn't seen in Storybrooke before. It was a young face, a man just into his adulthood, kicking out the stand for his motorcycle. He was inspecting a piece of paper in his hand as he looked up at the building where the royal family lived.
The old man shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Unexpected visitors were not something he fancied, especially around such a sensitive project. But for the moment there was nothing he could do as the man entered the building.
"Seriously," Emma said taking a bite of her third pancake. "These are the best pancakes ever. Granny should take a lesson."
David flinched at the thought of someone telling Granny they could out cook her. "How about we just keep the pancakes a secret from Granny?"
Emma was too busy eating to argue as she shoved another bite in her mouth. Rose had finished a couple minutes ago and had taken it upon herself to clear the table and start dishes. Her mother was already finished with the dishes David had used to cook with and gladly helped her daughter with the rest.
Just as David was deciding to get up and get dressed for the day, there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," Rose said easily, drying her hands and walking toward the door. She was surprised when her mother reached out and pulled her back.
"Why don't you let your father get it?" Snow said keeping at tight hold on her daughter as her heart thudded in her chest irrationally. Kidnappers probably don't knock, Snow...
David just nodded and moved toward the door. When he opened it he saw the man on the motorcycle he had seen several other times around town. He knew the man was currently staying at Granny's but was wondering what the hell he was doing here.
"Hi, can I help you?" David said somewhat awkwardly as he rested his arm against the door frame.
The young man smiled. "Hello, my name's August. Is there any chance I could speak with Emma and Rose?"
Hope you guys liked this chapter! I had always planned on Snow and Charming talking about Jefferson, there was absolutely no way they were just brushing that aside. Anyway. I'd love to hear your thoughts and any ideas you may have.