3 Months, 3 Weeks

To say the journey was difficult would have been a terrible lie. But to say it was easy wouldn't have been the truth either. It wasn't the worst trip she'd ever take across the lands, that would have been the trip she'd made when she fled the Dark Castle after Rumpelstiltskin had kicked her out. But it certainly wasn't as lavish or protected as some of the trips she'd made growing up with her mother and father either.

However, the company was far better than any of those trips had ever been.

She enjoyed traveling with Neal, having him by her side day and night. His expertise were invaluable and his presence was a beacon, keeping her hopeful, making her smile. On rare occasions even making her laugh for a brief moment before the hole in her heart made her chest burn for his father. They worked well together, had complimentary skills. When they stopped so he could hunt, she picked the berries he'd taught her were safe to eat. When they decided they'd traveled enough he could build a shelter and fire out of anything and she had a knack for making the small space they shared comfortable no matter where they hunkered down. And they found themselves "hunkering down" in a variety of places.

After they left the village, the first few days were easy because it was a terrain that was familiar. They traveled through forest after forest, passed by trees, bushes, and over more dirt than she'd seen in all her life. And the further North they moved the more alive their surroundings became. Snow gave way to crystalized mud then finally softer earth, lush green trees, and weather so warm they both felt comfortable taking their cloaks off during the afternoon. They ate berries, edible leaves, and Neal hunted quail and turkey. They stayed under canopied trees, made a tent out of the blankets they'd brought, and got lucky enough to find a cavern the night before rain poured down over the ground and they both agreed that they couldn't move with the weather as it was. So they spent that day planning. Looking over and double checking their maps and plans. It was a good thing they'd stopped when they did for rain, the next couple of days required delicacy.

"According to this it's the outskirts of Aurora's Kingdom," Neal explained to her. "It's far from the castle, hers and my fathers. We'll get closer in a few days. I've never been to this part of her Kingdom but from the looks of this it has the potential to be problematic. It's not exactly a desert but I don't think we'll find much shelter, food, or even water. And deserts this time of year are going to be an issue all their own. Hot during the day really cold at night."

"So what do we do?" she questioned looking at their reserves. They had blankets to keep warm with, and they were used to traveling in cooler weather already. But as far as food went they had a couple stale loaves of bread left and she could ration the berries.

"I'm gonna set some snares, hope we catch something to take with us. It shouldn't be too hot during the day, nothing we can't handle but I think we should sleep then instead of travel. If we go at night then we'll be moving and won't have to worry too much about staying warm."

"I'll wait to see if the rain stops, maybe I can get us some more food before we go."

"Works for me," he agreed before leaving to hunt.

They'd been on the move for a week, but she felt like it was going better than they could have planned, even with the rain. She liked that they took it easy, that they could stop for a day and there was no loss. They rested in the time they had. He hunted. She filled canteens. They both cooked and laid down on opposite sides of the fire they'd made and just like every other night they found themselves exchanging stories. No. Tonight was more than stories. Usually they exchanged funny situations they'd gotten themselves into, something to keep morale up through their journey. She told him about falling off the ladder, he told her about teaching himself to drive a car…but tonight something had scratched at the back of her head.

He'd been to Aurora's castle before? He'd been in her Kingdom? How? She should have put it together sooner really, the way he asked her about Philip the way the pair of them had responded when they'd first laid eyes on him that day...she'd been dead then. Too dead to care or talk. She wasn't tonight. "When were you in Aurora's Kingdom?" He told her about what had happened before he went to Neverland, after he'd left Storybrooke. The moment that Rumpelstiltskin thought he was dead. It wasn't exactly the story that she expected it would be. She knew bits and pieces of it, because he'd told it Rumple, who had in turn told it to her, but by then it hadn't been nearly as detailed as she would have liked, as the story really was!

From Storybrooke, to the Enchanted Forest. From a Aurora's kingdom to his fathers castle at the guide of Mulan, a friend of his as well! She'd never known that! And it was on that same journey that he'd met Robin Hood, protecting Rumple's belongings. She liked that he'd done that. Though she suspected that his intentions probably had less to do with nobility than they did finding adequate shelter for his child and men. The from the Enchanted Forest to Neverland, using that dreaded shadow Rumple had warned her about months ago. It had been an adventure for him then, a long week! But that wasn't even half of it.

"It sounds like a trial," she commented when he finally finished.

"Yeah but you wanna know what's really messed up about it?" he asked suddenly perching himself on his elbow so he could look across the fire at her.

"What?"

"Tamara. She shot me and sent me through a portal and all that but before that...I was supposed to marry her...I thought I loved her and after all that...I don't miss her. Never did! Not even a little! And now I just…" she watched as he collapsed back down onto his little make shift bed, staring up at the roof of the cave shaking his head. Now what? He doubted he ever had loved the woman that shot him? Questioned why he didn't care more? Months ago she would have told him that he was in denial or just trying to cope with how much she'd hurt him. But now she knew Neal and she knew that if he suspected the feelings weren't there he was probably right…they had never truly existed to begin with.

"I think sometimes we convince ourselves that we feel something in order to survive," she insisted pushing herself up on her elbow so she could see him over the fire. "We settle for something less than we deserve because we have no other option," she suggested.

He turned his head to look her over, his eyes suspicious. "More experience?" he questioned. Yes but she hadn't been aware that she'd been speaking from experience, not until he questioned it. If she had she would have…probably still told him. The truth behind her experience didn't have to reveal the truth behind how she'd met his father. It didn't portray her hero as a terrible villain. If anything it would make him look good!

So she sighed and laid back down against her own thin blanket. "I was engaged once," she explained. "And I was never really happy about it or even comfortable with the idea, but I think I convinced myself that I had to be in order to cope with it, in order to accept it. I don't think I really let myself breathe until it was over."

Neal was quiet for a minute, too quiet. So much that she didn't want to dare turn her head to look at how he'd received that news. "No offense," he muttered finally, "but I have a hard time picturing you doing anything that you don't want to do, especially if it doesn't make you happy."

She smirked. Sometimes he didn't just remind her of his father…sometimes he sounded like him too. "It was a long time ago, before I met your father," she explained staring at the rocky ceiling. "I was a different person before I met him, he…he made me stronger, too." A lump rose in her throat as her hand automatically reached for the golden band she'd once worn on her right hand in tribute to his memory, to keep him close in Storybrooke when he was away in Neverland. It was gone now, but sometimes she still felt like she wore it, like the ghost of it was sitting on her finger, taunting her.

"So…you and my father…did you two ever think about…you know the whole marriage thing?" Neal asked next to her so quietly that if the cavern they were in didn't echo with his words she'd have wondered if he said it. Marriage. Had they thought about it?

"Once," she admitted turning her head to see his son. If she kept looking at the ceiling she'd inevitably start to cry and she didn't want to do that, not anymore, not now that they had finally started this journey. She only wanted happy memories. "Just after you got back from Neverland," she informed him, purposefully leaving out the details. "Nothing official it was just an idea, a thought…" a beautiful thought and great idea.

"You think it'll happen someday, after all this is over?"

Did she think it would happen one day? Marriage. Not just engagement, not just the second name she'd requested that night, but marriage! Husband and Wife. The thought filled her with an excitement she hadn't had since they'd talked about it that night they were alone. True love…was there anywhere else it could go?

"Probably. I imagine it will. I hope so. I can't think of anything I'd rather do with him back in my life."

Neal nodded almost absent-mindedly, as if he was thinking the idea over, trying to figure out more connections in their family before he sighed and settled back against the blanket that made up his own makeshift bed and shut his eyes, finally deciding to sleep. "I could get used to an idea like that," he muttered.

She felt her jaw drop. He could get used to an idea like that? An idea like marriage? Like his father being remarried? Remarried to her? The man that once told her not to mother him could get used to the idea of having her in his life like that permanently?! The fluttering she felt in her belly disappeared, it turned back into that warm one she felt herself feeling more and more often the last few months.

She understood it this time. Maybe she'd always understood what the feeling was. Maybe she just didn't want to admit it to herself because it made him uncomfortable and she didn't want to risk making him feel that. But now she knew, she didn't feel like she could deny it anymore. She was many things. Things she wanted to be and things she didn't want to be. Princess and librarian. Daughter and true love. Caretaker, rescuer, friend, little sister, and so much more. But she'd never let herself think of herself like this before, the way Neal had just suggested.

Mother.

She felt motherly, maternal for him. Despite the fact that he was hundreds of years older than she was. She'd meant it, that day in the diner when she'd promised that she wouldn't mother him! She had understood his desire not to be mothered and respected it, she'd wanted them to be friends, two people that could claim they shared a single commonality, Rumpelstiltskin. But everything was different now. She knew she had been mothering him on occasion, that it was a fleeting instinct she couldn't help at times, born of her desire to help and be kind. But it wasn't just that anymore. They'd grown so much more than she ever thought they would have!

She was his little sister sometimes. He was her best friend other times. But every now and then, when that feeling rose in her belly, she felt like she was his mother and he was her son. And she liked it. She liked feeling that simple and complex emotion; that tie to another human being, even if Neal wasn't blood. And it was an idea that he could get used to? Did that mean he wanted to get used to it? That despite the fact he'd said he didn't want to be mothered, despite the fact that he didn't know how to be mothered, he enjoyed having this layer in their relationship as well?

The feeling grew in her belly, nearly bringing her to tears as she gazed over at him in the dying firelight. Caretaker. Lover. Librarian. Wife. Step-mother. She'd changed so much from the moment she first met him, become so many things she never thought she'd want to become, so many things she'd never even considered. But she felt more like herself with those aliases than she ever had. It was…overwhelming. It was-

"Don't get too excited," Neal muttered after a moment, his eyes still closed in the aftermath. "I'm gonna need lots of bribery before I give my permission. I'm thinking more than a T-shirt from possible honeymoon destinations. Veto power on the names of any sibblings. Dinner at least twice a week. Lots and lots of baked goods. Brownies, cake, cookies…and don't be stingy on the chocolate chips otherwise it's not worth it."

She smiled at the humorous comment. If she had to guess using some quick witty line to dispel nervous energy after a serious conversation was another habit he'd picked up from his father. He did like the idea of her. He liked the idea of her and his father…and Neal being all part of one family. He just wasn't necessarily ready to admit that he did just yet. She understood that after what his family had put him through. Rumpelstiltskin wasn't the only one that needed to heal from the past…Neal did too. And she was more than happy to help with that in any way she possibly could.

"So long as you promise never to spoil your dinner and always go to bed on time," she teased right back.

Eyes still closed, Neal broke into a wide beaming smile, a grin that was just short of a chuckle as he understood the hypothetical language they were speaking. "Deal," he whispered happily.

Gah! This scene! It's just...it just does things to me. I think it really does bring their relationship full circle incorporating elements of their sibling relationship, their friendship, and their parental relationship into focus in really great ways. It shows how close they have gotten in such a short period of time and I think it's really awesome. I hope that ya'll like it too!

Thank you for taking the time to write reviews Meredith Pechta, Agent66, Raizen Yusuke, Deweymay, Kathryn Claire O'Connor, and Skitzoeinhoven. I'm always so touched by your kindness and thrilled that you take a little part of your day to remind me that things are going well and you like the story. It makes all the long hours that go into making this story and then maintaining it worth it! Peace and Happy Reading!