Chapter 12

A little while later, Molly was finishing getting ready for dinner and after a couple minutes of fiddling around with her hair, Molly decided she looked nice enough and she wandered out of the bathroom. As she did, she looked around the apartment to see Flynn in the kitchen talking on his phone, probably with his boss then she saw Regina on the other side of the apartment looking at the wall by her bed. Molly walked over to Regina and looked at the painting on the wall of a sunset that transitioned to a night sky as it reached the celling.

"You look pretty tonight," Regina commented, admiring Molly's purple dress having glanced over and noticed she was there.

"Thank you. It's great to get out of that uniform." Regina chuckled and then looked back at the painting.

"It's the Enchanted Forest," Molly said. "I always liked looking at the sky there so I wanted to have it here."

Soon after the curse broke and Molly found herself missing the Enchanted Forest so she decided to bring part of it to Storybrooke. She found it very comforting to be able to look over and see the sky like she had seen all those years in the tower, and the nights sleeping outside during her time with Flynn.

"I recognized the stars. You did a really nice job with this, Molly—with all your paintings. You're very talented." Regina could not help but feel parental pride when she looked at her daughter's artwork.

"You really think so?"

"I do."

"Thanks." Molly could tell from Regina's face she was proud of her, which made her feel a little shy considering she wasn't used to a parent saying they liked her artwork.

"And thanks for inviting Flynn to dinner," Molly added, glancing over at Flynn.

"You're very welcome. So, how do you and Flynn feel about lasagna?"

"That sounds good to me," Molly said then called over to Flynn. "Flynn, how do you feel about lasagna?"

Flynn, who was still on the phone, gave them a thumbs-up then went back to his conversation.

"Lasagna's good."

"Flynn seems like a really nice young man," Regina commented.

"He is."

"Molly, just so you know, he did tell me about his time as a thief back home."

"He did?" Regina nodded. "I'm sorry about that. I hope he didn't cause too much trouble in your kingdom."

"He didn't. I focused on someone else."

"Oh, right," Molly murmured, knowing Regina was talking about Snow.

"So where does Flynn work here in Storybrooke?"

"At the garage, he seems to like it. I think he misses his adventure days, though."

Having finished the phone call, Flynn walked over to where they were, and said, "Sorry about that. Shall we go?"

"Yes please, I'm getting hungry," Molly said.

After they arrived at Regina's house Molly and Flynn got out of his car then they walked over to join Regina who was waiting for them, having gotten there a minute before with her own car.

"Ready?" Regina asked. Molly replied with a smile, then Regina opened the door and they walked inside.

"Henry, we're here," Regina called.

"Be right down."

"You two can put your coats in the closet over there." Regina gestured to the hall closet. Flynn took Molly's coat for her and was putting it in the closet when Henry came down the stairs.

"Hi Molly," Henry greeted, reaching the bottom.

"Hi," Molly said and was a little surprised when Henry gave her a hug but returned it anyway. When Henry pulled away, she asked, "You remember Flynn, right?"

"Yeah, hi Flynn," Henry greeted.

"Nice to see you again, Henry," Henry smiled in reply then turned to Regina.

"Mom, when will dinner be ready? I'm starving."

"Soon, Henry," Regina said, putting her arm around him.

Over the next hour, Regina was busy in the kitchen making dinner while Flynn, Molly and Henry sat at the dining room table looking over Henry's book.

"So that's my dad as a kid," Henry said, showing them the picture. "His dad is Rumplestiltskin."

"Wait, the Dark One is your grandfather?" Flynn asked, surprised by this since it was the first time he was hearing it—Molly, too.

"Yes," Henry answered.

"Hold on, so your grandfather is Rumplestiltskin, Regina is your mom and your birthmother is Emma, who is Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter."

"Yup."

"I'm so confused," Flynn said, looking at Molly who laughed along with Henry.

"I could make you a family tree if that would help," Henry offered.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to need one." Regina then walked into the room as Henry and Molly laughed again.

"So how is everything going?" Regina asked, smiling at the sight of her children laughing together.

"Good."

"Good. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, okay," Regina said before going back to the kitchen.

A couple minutes later, Regina had joined them at the table and they were all enjoying the food.

"The lasagna's really good, Regina," Molly commented.

"I'm glad you like it," Regina said.

"So, Flynn, what was it like being a thief?" Henry asked.

"Well, there was a lot of running around; sword fighting, adventures," Flynn said, then remembered he was talking to an eleven-year-old in front of his mother, continued. "Of course, I don't recommend it."

Molly couldn't help but chuckle at her boyfriend's words remembering what he has said about stealing in the past.

"How's Maximus?" Henry asked.

"He's good. As a matter of fact, I took him out for a ride yesterday."

"They did some jumping. Molly's getting pretty good," Flynn continued.

"Really?" Regina asked.

"Yeah. Jumping's still pretty new to me, but, yeah, I'm enjoying it."

"Don't you like jumping, Mom?" Henry asked.

"Yes, I do, Henry."

"If you want, you could come out to the stable with me sometime and meet Maximus," Molly said. "Henry, too."

"Awesome."

Regina thought about this for a minute; the last time she was at the stable, she had said goodbye to Daniel. Regina wasn't sure if she could go there without feeling the loss of Daniel all over again. Of course back then; she didn't know that they had a daughter out there who was currently sitting next to her. Regina looked at Molly's expectant face and felt whatever reservation she had disappear.

"Yes, I would love to, Molly."

"Oh, I have a picture of Maximus if you'd like to see him," Molly said, taking her phone out of her purse and pulled up the picture before handing it to Regina.

"He's very handsome."

"Thanks," Molly said, taking her phone and then passed it to Henry so he could see the picture.

"He's a funny horse," Flynn said. "We've been through a lot with Max, haven't we?"

"Yeah we have," Molly nodded.

"On your adventures, right? That's how you got him?"

"That's right, Henry," Flynn said.

"So how did you two meet if you, don't mind me asking?" Regina asked curiously. Molly glanced over at Flynn who gave her smile, remembering that day.

Enchanted Forest—Twenty-Nine Years Prior

Rapunzel walked down the path to town, feeling happy she had made the choice to leave the tower. She was really enjoying the newfound feeling of freedom and for a minute, it made part of her not want to go back; though she knew she would have to. When Rapunzel had finally set foot in town, she walked around the marketplace, and looked at the various items they had for sale.

Rapunzel's eye then caught sight of a snow globe of a castle on a hillside. She picked it up, turned it over and back again making the snow fall. Rapunzel smiled as she admired the snow falling on the castle.

"Excuse me, Miss, are going to buy that?" the man running the cart asked, startling her.

"No thank you, maybe another time," Rapunzel said, putting the snow globe back on the cart knowing she didn't have the money to pay for it.

She then looked around some more before going over to the town square to read for a bit. She pulled her hair over her shoulder as she sat down on a rock and looked around at everyone wandering around. It was truly wonderful to be out and around people, Rapunzel thought to herself before opening her book.

After about an hour had past, Rapunzel looked up from her book and decided to look around the marketplace once more before going home. When she was walking back through the archway leading to the marketplace, she heard yelling and saw a man running, who then proceeded to run into her. Luckily, he managed catch her before she fell onto him.

"Hi," he said, holding her steady.

"Hi," Rapunzel said, then heard the yelling again, and saw two of the Queen's guards running to them.

"Come on," the man said, grabbing her hand, and started running—pulling Rapunzel along as he went.

Rapunzel was too shocked by the situation to say anything as they ran through town and out into the woods with the guards still chasing them.

"Wait!" Rapunzel yelled, finally speaking.

"Hold on." He then pulled her under a large rock that jutted out of the hill. "Shhh. Stay quiet."

Rapunzel did as she was told and stayed quiet. The next thing she heard was someone at the top of the hill.

"I don't see them anymore. Come on, let's go." One of the guards said. They heard the sound of footsteps crackling the leaves as the guards left. The man took a breath and then gave Rapunzel a charming smile.

"Phew, that was close." He then helped her up, and they left the hiding place. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Rapunzel said, brushing the dirt off her dress.

"I'm Flynn, by the way. Flynn Rider."

"Rapunzel."

"Nice to meet you, Rapunzel. Once again, very sorry about that," Flynn apologized.

"Why were they chasing you, anyway?"

"Oh, that. Well, it might have something to do with me taking this," Flynn said pulling an apple out of his satchel.

"You were stealing," Rapunzel said, sounding more alarmed by this then she meant to.

"Yeah, well, I have to feed myself somehow. I try to think of it as borrowing, stealing is a strong word," Flynn said with a cheeky smile that made Rapunzel smile.

"So why did you grab me then?" Rapunzel asked.

"I couldn't leave you with the Queen's guards now could I? They may be a little on the dumb side but they are pretty ruthless."

"I suppose not. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Flynn said. "So, Rapunzel, I don't think I've seen you around town before."

"Oh, well, I don't get out much. My mother is a little overprotective," Rapunzel replied.

"Then what were you doing in town today if your mother is so overprotective?"

"Well, my mother's out of town so I…" Rapunzel trailed off, feeling a little sheepish suddenly.

"A little rebellion never hurt anyone," Flynn shrugged. "So if you don't get out much, you haven't seen a lot of the kingdom then, have you?"

"No. I can't say that I have."

"Well, would you like to come with me to see Firefly Hill? I hear it's a very beautiful place when the hills light up at night. It can be a thank you for running into you and dragging you into this mess."

"How far is it?" Rapunzel asked, intrigued by his offer.

"Not far. We can make it by dusk and have you home later tonight."

"Sure, that sounds really nice."

"Great. Come on, it's this way," Flynn said.

Rapunzel took a breath for a minute, wondering if it was a good idea to go with him since he was a stranger but he seemed nice enough and sorry for what happened. Also, how many chances would she have to go see the lights at Firefly Hill?

"Rapunzel?"

"Hmm."

"Are you coming?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah," Rapunzel said before catching up to Flynn and walking next to him.

Storybrooke —Present Day

"Dinner was really good, Regina. Thank you," Flynn said as they were heading to the door.

"It was my pleasure."

"Are you ready to go, Molly?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay. See you later, Henry," Flynn said.

"Bye Flynn," Henry said from the foyer.

Flynn then walked out to the car as Regina and Molly stepped out on the front porch.

"Thank again for dinner, and desert, too."

"You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Molly smiled, looked up at the night sky and Regina glanced in the direction her daughter was looking.

"The stars are beautiful here, too," Molly commented.

"Yes, they are."

"I should probably go. Don't want to keep Flynn waiting too long."

"Of course, thank you for coming over. It was nice to spend more time together."

"It was nice," Molly agreed. "I enjoyed getting to talk with Henry."

"I think he enjoyed it, too."

"Goodnight, Regina," Molly said and then gave Regina a hug. "I'll see you soon. Tell Henry I said goodnight."

"I will. Goodnight, Molly." Molly then broke the hug and gave Regina one last smile before walking to Flynn's car.

Henry walked out to join his mother on the porch as they drove away.

"Come on, Henry. You should get ready for bed," Regina said and guided him back into the house.

50 reviews! Thank you guys so much, really I can't thank you enough. My apologies for the delay in getting the last couple chapters up, I had finals then holiday preparations. I should be able to post chapters more often over the next couple weeks of my winter break, that's my goal at least. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll post the next one as soon as I can.

Thanks for reading.