Title: A Family's Faith
Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and its characters belong to Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. Not Mine!
Warning: K+ (Fights with swords and guns- minor violence)
Author's Note: Chapter 11! This chapter is mostly catching up on what Snow is doing in Storybrooke, but we get a little of Charming and Emma as well! :) Hope you like it! Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Enjoy! (Oh also, Neal, although his is now really dead, is still in my story. I couldn't just write him out since I started it with him in it. Oh well :) )
Ready. Set. Go.
20 Hours Earlier in Storybrooke
Snow was feeling so much more relaxed since she had her conversation with Charming. She drove Henry to school earlier and then came home to clean and prepare for her family to come home. She knew tomorrow she may feel a little anxious knowing that her husband and daughter would most likely be fighting a dragon. But, today, she wasn't going to worry about that.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Snow went over and answered her phone. "Hello?"
"Hey Mary Margaret, good news, my dad and I found King George. He is locked up in jail." Neal said.
"Really? I'm on my way down there." Snow replied with the mixture of excitement and anger.
"Okay, we'll see you here soon." Neal replied.
"I'm just going to drop Leo off with Granny, then I'll see you there." Snow said as she started to gather stuff for Leo.
"Okay!" Neal replied.
"Bye and thanks again, Neal." Snow said.
"It was my pleasure. See you soon." Neal replied sincerely before he hung up.
Snow quickly finished packing Leo's stuff in his diaper bag. She put her coat on and grabbed what she needed before she went over to get Leo from his play pen. "You thought I was going to forget you, didn't you. Well I would never do that, sweetie." Snow said as she picked Leo up.
She walked over to the door with Leo. "Daddy and your sister are going to be coming home soon. They just have to fight a dragon first, but they will get here. I have faith." Snow continued to talk to Leo as they walked down the stairs to the car. Leo clapped his hands even though he didn't understand what was going on.
Snow dropped Leo off with Granny and Ruby at the diner, which happen to be after the lunch rush. She made her way to the jail quickly. She was ready to give King George a piece of her mind and maybe a piece of her fist too.
She walked into the station with determination. She was met by Neal, Grumpy, and Hook who had been helping out since Emma and David had been gone.
"Snow, he is in the interrogation room." Neal informed Snow.
"I'm going in." Snow said through gritted teeth.
"Are you sure you shouldn't let us talked to him?" Neal said slowly, not likely the idea of facing Prince Charming if something happened to his wife.
"Yeah, I agree with Neal, here. I'll go in." Hook said with a smirk.
"No, I'll go in." Neal argued with Hook.
Snow looked from Neal to Hook as they started to argue about who should go in. Even Grumpy put his two cents in that he should go in. Soon she couldn't take it anymore. "Enough." Snow yelled. "I'm going in to talk to him alone. You three can stay behind the window." Snow said with a voice full of authority.
All three of them stopped arguing and looked at Snow.
"Can you put it in writing that you decided to go in there alone? Just in case something happens to you. I'd rather not have the Prince mad at me." Hook replied with a cocky grin.
Snow rolled her eyes before she turned around and walked into the interrogation room. Men. They always thought that women couldn't take care of themselves. Well she had news for them, she could definitely hold her own and take care of herself.
Snow entered the room.
"Well, well. Look who came to visit. Snow White. Missing your family, are you?" King George sneered triumphantly.
"Actually, David and Emma are about to be on their way home." Snow replied, with a smirk.
King George was surprised by this. He really didn't think they would be able to find a way home. He would have to move to plan B. "Well, they aren't back yet." King George replied lamely.
"Where did you find the bean?" Snow demanded.
"Oh wouldn't you like to know?" King George said with a glare at Snow.
"Yes and you are going to tell me where you got it and if you have any more of them." Snow replied with authority as she leaned on the table towards King George.
"I only had the one and it's my business where I acquired it." King George said roughly before he grabbed Snow's arm pulling her towards her.
Snow reacted instantly and punched King George in the face, making him let go of her arm. She backed away from him and at the same time her "knights in shiny armor" came to her rescue. Neal, Hook, and Grumpy busted into the room. She looked over at them and rolled her eyes. "See I can take care of myself." Snow said as she shook her head with a small smile.
"That you can milady. That you can." Hook replied with a crooked grin.
"Lock him up. I'm done with him." Snow said as she turned to leave.
"You may get your family back, but I will take away your husband's happiness whether it is this week or next year or the year after that. I will succeed." King George said with gritted teeth as he glared at Snow.
"When are you going to learn that you will never win?" Snow said in a tired voice.
"Oh I'm confident that I will. I will take your precious Emma and this new kid of yours away from your husband. And while I'm at it, I'll take you and Henry too. I will get my revenge." King George spat at Snow.
Snow was furious so she took Hook's sword and put it up to King George's throat. "Don't you ever threaten my children or grandson again!" Snow said through gritted teeth.
King George chuckled evilly. "But don't you see, that is the only way to destroy your Charming's happiness: to take his family away." King George explained.
Snow hesitated with the sword, which was still against King George's throat.
"He's not worth it Snow." Neal said softly as he laid a hand on her shoulder.
Snow hesitated for a moment. "You're right. He's not worth it." Snow said as she back away from King George. "Lock him up." Snow said as she handed Hook his sword and walked out of the room.
"You heard her." Grumpy said roughly as he went over to King George and dragged him to his cell.
***STORYBROOKE***
Snow was furious at King George, but she knew that he wouldn't win. She would get her family back and they would all be safe. She went back to Granny's Diner and picked up Leo from Ruby and Granny. After King George had threatened her children, she didn't feel like being separated from him. She just wished that Emma was there too. For a moment, she convinced herself to go get Henry from school, but then calmed down realizing that King George was locked up.
She hung out at the diner with Ruby for a while waiting till it was time to pick up Henry from school. Ruby was able to get her mind off her worries, which was a great help to Snow.
"Oh look at the time, I have to go get Henry!" Snow said after she saw the time on her phone.
"Yeah you do! Here, hold on." Ruby said as she ran behind the counter.
A few minutes later, Ruby was back with a cup in her hand. "A hot chocolate with cinnamon for Henry." Ruby said with a proud grin.
"Oh that's so sweet, he will love it!" Snow said with a grin. She balanced Leo on her hip as she grabbed the diaper bag and then the hot chocolate. "See you later, Ruby!"
"Bye, Snow!" Ruby said with a grin.
Snow made her way to the school and picked up Henry.
"Hi Grams! Hey Leo!" Henry said with a huge grin. Ever since his grandma had told him that his mom and grandpa had a possible way home, he had been so excited.
"Hey Henry, did you have a good day?" Snow asked.
"It was awesome! I couldn't help, but think of my mom and gramps coming home tomorrow!" Henry replied.
Snow smiled, he was really excited, but if it didn't work then he would be heartbroken. Who was she kidding? She would be heartbroken too. "Just remember Henry, it isn't for sure. They may not make it back tomorrow or they may not find the ring." Snow said, but couldn't help, but hope for the best.
"I know, but I just know that it is going to work. It has to!" Henry replied with a grin.
"I believe it will too." Snow replied, knowing hope was a powerful thing.
"We should plan a party for them!" Henry said with excitement.
Snow and Henry went on to plan a party for Emma and David when they returned to Storybrooke. They were both excited and thrilled that their family would be whole again in just another day. After dinner, Snow, Henry, and Leo watched the movie Frozen. Leo fell asleep soon after it started and Snow put him to bed. Snow had her arm around Henry and Henry had his head leaning against her shoulder as they continued to watch it. This was the first time in a while that they were able to relax and just enjoy each other's company. Snow didn't realize that Henry had fallen asleep until the credits were rolling. She didn't bother to wake him just yet. She felt a little closer to her daughter, having Henry beside her. She cherished the moment while the credits rolled, thinking of what tomorrow would be like when her family would be together again.
***STORYBROOKE***
"Oh come on, Grams! I want to be here when they get back, they could come at anytime!" Henry pleaded with his Grandma.
"Henry, you need to go to school and they probably won't be here until later anyway. They have to travel to where then dragon was which will take a couple of hours and then slay the dragon which will take a little bit of time as well." Snow argued.
"Please, Grams." Henry pleaded.
"I promise if they get back while you are still at school, we will come get you out." Snow replied with a soft smile.
"Okay." Henry said as he grabbed his backpack. "You know you don't have to drive me. King George is locked up." Henry said with a cocky smile at his grandma's overprotectiveness.
"I know, but it would make me feel better to take you." Snow said. She knew he would be safe, but after talking to King George the other day, she was still a little worried about Henry's and Leo's safety.
Henry just shook his head as they headed out the door.
***ENCHANTED FOREST***
"So...when exactly are we going to get there?" Emma asked as she rode beside her dad. She was really starting to get the hang of riding horses.
"We should get there about one." Charming replied, sensing Emma's eagerness to get home, which he felt himself. He couldn't wait to have his family together and safe.
"Seriously? Why does everything have to be so far away?" Emma complained.
"Because there are no cars to get us there faster." Charming said with a grin.
"Well you guys should hop to it." Emma said annoyed at the Enchanted Forest's lack of any type of advanced transportation.
Charming chuckled softly. "When did you think we would get there?" Charming asked curiously.
"In an hour or two?" Emma said with a slight grimace.
Charming laughed. "Oh Emma. We just started a half hour ago." Charming said through his laughter.
"I don't think this is funny." Emma replied with a glare towards her father, but his deep laughter was starting to get contagious so her glare wasn't as strong as she would have liked. Although she was glad to be going home, she would always cherish the past few days that she got to spend with her Dad. She got to see him in his element and got to see him as the Prince that he was. It had been an adventure she got to experience with her Dad and she wouldn't have traded it for the world. She looked over at her Dad who was giving her his signature 'charming' smile and she couldn't help, but smile back.
"Come on princess, let's see how fast your horse can go. Race you to the that tree ahead." Charming said with a mischievous grin.
"Okay." Emma said, as she got ready. "But you know, I always win no matter what kind of game."
"We'll see about that. I've had a lot of practice." Charming said with a smile. "Ready. Set." Emma starts off. "Go." Just like her mother... Charming thought as he raced after his daughter with a huge grin on his face.
Emma laughed as she got to the tree a second before her father. "Told you I always win!" Emma replied with huge grin on her face.
"You cheated!" Charming said with a chuckle.
"Me? Cheat? I would never do that." Emma said as she put the most innocent smile on as she could.
Charming chuckled at his daughter's response and then made a comment, "like mother, like daughter."
Emma turned to smile at her Dad. "What, does mom always beat you too?" Emma said with a cheeky grin.
"She always cheats, just like her daughter." Charming replied with a grin.
Emma laughed. She didn't realize what she had missed with riding horses. It was like you were free with the wind rushing past you. It was an amazing experience and racing with her Dad had been so much fun. She briefly wondered what it would have been like to race her father and mother. Emma turned to her Dad with an enthusiastic grin, "can we do it again?"
Charming could tell that Emma was having a fun time riding the horses and couldn't say no to that eager face of hers. "Sure. To the bottom of that hill." Charming replied with a smile. He enjoyed riding horses just as much as his daughter, but he enjoyed being able to put that smile on her face even more.
"Ready to lose again?" Emma said with an eager smile.
"I let you win last time, this time I'm pulling out all the stops." Charming said with mock-serious voice.
"Wait, I thought you said I cheated? You're changing your story." Emma replied with a look that clearly said 'seriously.'
"Are we going to talk or race?" Charming said as he got his horse ready for the race. "And no cheating, young lady." Charming said with a fake stern voice on 'young lady.'
Emma rolled her eyes, but a smile came to her lips as she turned to get ready to race her dad.
"Ready. Set. Go." Charming yelled, but his daughter had once again started at 'set' just like he predicted she would do. He sighed with a smile as he raced after her, catching up with her, but letting her get there first. He couldn't help it, he loved to see her smile.
***STORYBROOKE***
"What do you mean he is gone?" Snow almost yelled through the phone.
"I mean he isn't here. I walked into the station to see if Grumpy needed anything and Grumpy was knocked out on the floor." Neal replied through the phone.
"I'm coming down there." Snow said quickly as she gather Leo and his diaper bag to head to Granny's and then the station. It was one so she was hoping Granny and Ruby would not be too busy to take care of him.
She reached Granny's within a half hour and explained why she had to leave Leo with them. They were more than willing to help Snow and wished her luck in tracking down King George.
"Ruby, just don't let him out of your sight. I don't trust King George one bit." Snow said with worry shining in her eyes.
"I won't Snow. He will be safe with us. Good luck and stay safe." Ruby said with a concerned expression as she watched her friend leave.
Snow hurried over to the station to talk to Grumpy. She walked in and saw that Hook was also there with Neal and Grumpy. "What happened?" Snow asked as she walked over to the three men.
"I came in after helping a lady jump-start her car and heard a noise coming from over by Emma's desk. The next thing I knew some man was hitting me over the head with a crow bar." Grumpy explained with an annoyed look on his face.
Snow looked over to Hook with an annoyed glare, "now who else do I know that has been hit over the head with a crow bar? Oh yeah, my husband." Snow said with a meaningful look towards Hook.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that, but it wasn't me!" Hook replied with a guilty expression.
"I know, Hook. Grumpy, did you recognize him?" Snow asked sincerely.
"If I did, I would have told you that so and so did it." Grumpy said.
"How long ago did he escape?" Snow asked ignoring Grumpy's normal grumpy attitude.
"About an hour ago." Grumpy replied as he held his head.
"Ok. Neal, can you and your father start looking for him?" Snow asked Neal.
"Yeah, he won't want to, but I'll get him to do it." Neal said confidently and then he hurried out of the station.
"Hook, take Grumpy to the hospital to get his head checked and then you two can go out to look for him too. Just make sure you contact Neal to see where they have looked already." Snow ordered.
"Sure, but what are you going to do?" Hook replied with obvious concern on his face, which was surprising to himself and Snow.
"I am going to go get Ruby and see if she can track King George. If we get a led, I'll call you guys to come help." Snow replied.
"Are you sure you should be out and about since King George threatened to kidnap you and your family?" Hook said in a cocky tone to hide his concern.
"That is exactly why I have to be looking for him, to protect my family from him." Snow replied with stubbornness and determination.
Hook nodded and the three of them left the station in search for King George.
In Snow's haste, she had forgotten her bow and arrows so instead of heading for the diner, she went back to the loft to pick them up.
***ENCHANTED FOREST***
"Are we there yet?" Emma asked. She was a little tired of riding in a saddle for the last five hours. She thought they had to be just about there.
Charming looked down to hide a grin that came to his face, but then looked back at Emma who had slowed down. "Not yet."
"What? I thought you said we would be there by one." Emma complained.
"I said about one." Charming said with a soft smile, his daughter wasn't use to the amount of time it took to get to places in the Enchanted Forest. She was just a bit impatient.
"Isn't it about one? How long till we get there?" Emma asked with a disgruntled expression.
"It's at least another hour away." Charming said with a grimace, knowing Emma's response and thinking he probably should have told her they would be there by three instead of one.
"What? Seriously?" Emma exclaimed and then sighed. "We're never going to get there, are we?" Emma complained.
Charming rolled his eyes at Emma's theatrics and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "We'll get there, Emma."
"Not soon enough." Emma said sarcastically, but mostly to herself.
Charming slowed his horse down to a stop and waited for Emma to catch up to him before they both continued on side by side.
"What do you think they are doing?" Emma asked after a couple of moments of comfortable silence.
"Well if I know your mother, she is probably planning some kind of homecoming party for us." Charming said with a chuckle.
"Henry probably tried to convince her to let him stay home, but she probably said no. Unless he pulled his puppy dog eyes, I haven't seen anyone that could say no to them." Emma added.
"That's true. Speaking of those eyes, it seems like he inherited them from you." Charming said with a meaningful look.
"Why would you say that?" Emma asked while trying to hide the grin that was coming to her face. She knew exactly what he was thinking of.
"Because you use that look on me." Charming said with a shake of his head, but a soft smile coming to his face.
"Yeah, but it doesn't always work." Emma said with a sigh.
"It would have if your health wasn't involved." Charming said with a chuckle at Emma's response. "And it wasn't easy either, you were being unfair using that look with calling me Daddy."
"But you wanted me to drink the disgusting tea again. I had to pull out the big guns and it still didn't work. I may need to take some tips from Henry." Emma said.
"Oh no you don't. You already know enough." Charming said quickly. He knew that this was only trouble for him.
Emma just gave him a mischievous grin, which Charming knew to mean trouble.
A couple of minutes later, Emma turned to look at her father. "Can we race again?" Emma asked.
"I think the horses are tired, Emma." Charming said, really thinking the horses probably had enough racing for the day.
"Please." Emma said turning her best puppy dog eyes on her Dad.
"Emma." Charming said slowly after seeing her puppy dog look. He really couldn't resist that face especially when she wasn't sick or endangered. He closed his eyes, knowing that it really probably wasn't the best thing to do for the horses, but he couldn't say no.
"Please, just once more." Emma said again still giving her puppy dog eyes.
Charming couldn't do it. "Ok, but a short one. The horses are really tired." Charming said with a smile.
"Yes!" Emma exclaimed. "Where to?"
"See the third tree up ahead?" Charming asked.
Emma nodded with a smile.
"Just be careful. This is a little rougher area than before." Charming said as he survey the land quickly with eyes.
"Ok." Emma said.
"And remember, we go on 'go', not 'set.'" Charming said with a smirk.
"Duh. Everyone knows that." Emma said with a small giggle.
Charming sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" Charming shook his head. "Ready...Go." Charming yelled as he started off.
Emma wasn't expecting that, but she was already ready to go at 'set' so she was neck and neck with her father's horse. She wasn't going to lose if she could help it so far she was undefeated. When they were about half way there, Emma saw a log in the way.
"Emma! Go around it!" Charming yelled because he was worried that Emma would try to go over it.
Emma knew she should listen to him, but she wasn't thinking about safety. She was thinking about winning the race and if she went around it she would lose. So she went right for it, she could do it. She could have the horse jump over it.
She thought she had it, but something happened and she found herself flying through the air. She briefly heard her dad yelling her name, but then she hit the ground and felt her breath being taken away right before everything went black.
Charming had seen her going for the log and fear seized his heart as he watched as the horse stumbled and threw Emma off of the horse. She landed in a heap on the ground and he galloped his horse over to her. He jumped off before his horse even stopped and ran at full speed to Emma.
***STORYBROOKE***
Snow arrived at the loft and went straight to where she had been keeping her bow and arrows. She was going to get King George behind bars again. She wouldn't have her family come back to chaos. She would deal with this and she would deal with King George. She had a family to protect.
"I was wondering when you would get back. I'm just disappointed that your little boy isn't with you." King George said from behind Snow.
Snow froze knowing that King George most likely had a weapon on her. She was just so thankful that Henry and Leo weren't there. "You aren't getting my son or grandson." Snow said as she slowly turned around to face King George who was holding a gun on her.
"Maybe not at the moment, but I will and I'll get your daughter as well, if she makes it back here." King George sneered. "Now, we have places to be. Let's get going shall we." King George said as he jabbed the gun into Snow's back and pushed her towards the door.
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