"I've purchased a ship." Hook announced as he, Bae and Graham walked down the hall.
"You've purchased a ship…" Baelfire looked from Hook to Graham, "And what are you planning to do—"
"Hold on." Hook said as he looked up after the three men turned the corner. They watched the new Shadow Queen clap three times and look almost fearful as she waited. "Is she all right?"
Baelfire shrugged and stepped forward, "Your Majesty, what are you doing?"
Emma looked at the three of them, concern all over her face, "Have you seen Grace?"
Hook knit his brows, "She's in the garden with the other Shadow Queen and your parents… They're playing chase."
Emma crossed her arms, suspicion now crossed her features, "That little…" She passed the three men and kept walking, "Thank you." She waved her arm behind her as she stalked off.
"What do you suppose that's about?" Baelfire asked.
"I've heard that she's having a hard time with everything that's changing. Jefferson told me that she asked if she could play with Grace." Graham spoke as he turned and started walking once more, the other two falling in step with him.
"Do you think that's why the Queen was acting that way?" Hook asked.
"Which queen are you referring? Either way my answer is yes, but… Just so I know what I'm answering." Graham eyed his friend.
Hook laughed, "Regina. She seemed awfully smug as she walked outside with Grace."
The other two nodded and chuckled at the original Shadow Queen's antics.
Graham changed the subject, "So, brother… You've bought a ship?"
"Yes, I was hoping to speak with the queens and go for a trip. Either of you interested?"
Bae and Graham looked to each other, then back to the pirate. Graham looked to the ground, "Not this time."
"Not this time?" Bae asked surprised before he place his hand on Graham's shoulder, "Has something happened between you two?"
Graham stared at the hand on his arm then up to the hand's owner. And, after watching the hand quickly retract and rise in surrender, he spoke, "I've other interests than my best friend."
"He's found love." Hook laughed at the blush that never failed to creep across Graham's face when he said the word, "He wants to spend time with her. That's good, brother." He clapped Graham's shoulder with his hand, "That's what you should want to do." He looked to Bae, "What about you?"
Bae looked at the man before him, "What about me? Do I want to go on a trip with the man that broke up my parent's marriage, if anything, provoked my father into becoming the Dark One and caused him to rip my mother's heart out and proceed to live as only the Dark One can?"
Hook looked down, "Well… Yeah." He shrugged as he looked back to the other man, "We're the same age now. Been through a lot to be where we are now…"
Bae glanced over to Graham before staring Hook down, "Okay." He stuck his hand out and Hook took it to shake.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"No…" Hook shook his head, "I was thinking we sail along the western coast." Hook said as he opened his map of another land and pointed it out to Bae.
Bae nodded, "If we've time, I've heard amazing things about—"
"What are you boys doing?" Regina asked as she looked at the both of them in her study; she'd had a feeling that someone was in there, and she assumed the person there needed her attention. How wrong she had been…
"We're uh…" Bae looked to Hook then to his sister.
"We're wanting to plan a trip."
"A trip? Just the two of you?" Regina raised a brow, "Why?"
Hook shrugged, "We've nothing waiting for us here…"
Bae pointed to Hook, "And he bought a ship."
Hook nodded, "I did. I bought a ship."
"You bought a ship?" Regina asked.
"I bought a ship." Hook nodded once more.
Regina looked between her two advisors, "Well, I'd prefer you wait until after the wedding…"
"You're already married, Regina…?" Bae looked at her with confusion.
Regina gave her brother an unimpressed look, "Not my wedding, Baelfire…"
"Maleficent and Aurora." Hook whispered.
"Oh yes." Bae nodded, "How could I possibly forget that…" he looked off to the side.
Regina knew that Maleficent had never been his favorite friend of hers, but Bae was just going to have to get over it. She was, after all, family now, "Now, Bae, I need not remind you that she's our great-aunt…"
"No, Regina, you need not remind me of that." He shook his head.
She smirked as she crossed her arms, "So you two will wait until after the wedding so we can throw you a send-off dinner?"
Hook smiled brightly, "Of course, your majesty. I love a good dinner in my honor."
Regina chuckled as she turned for the door, "I know you do. As does Bae." She gave one last glance their direction before leaving.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Greeting Stefan and Leah was an odd experience for Emma. Maleficent was particularly loving and made sure to emphasize her status as her great-aunt. It was only later, as she sat next to her grandmother during the vows that she got the whole story about Maleficent using her as a threat.
"So that's why they were so standoffish?" Emma whispered as she watched her great-grandfather walk her great-aunt, who only just made the decision that afternoon to let him do so, down the isle.
"Mhmm." Eva had her arm around the back of Emma's chair; she played with a strand of blonde curl. "She's tired of fighting." She said after a moment of pause to let her granddaughter know she was changing the subject.
"Yeah?" Emma turned to her grandmother.
Eva nodded, "We'd only just started getting to know one another… She and I would have been thick as thieves when we were young. Look after her after I re-ascend."
Emma looked down at her twiddling thumbs, "When is that going to happen?"
"I'd imagine very soon. That's why I've said my goodbyes to everyone but a very stubborn Shadow Queen." Eva gave her granddaughter a sad look.
"Watch it. Regina is sitting right next to us. She can probably hear you." Emma tried to joke.
Eva gave her a shining smile, but neither of them laughed as they caught the other's eyes.
Emma leaned against the undead woman, her head on Eva's shoulder. "I still don't want you to go."
"I won't physically be here, but I'm not leaving you. I'll be watching after you."
"Except when me and Regina have alone time. Ignore me then." Emma received a slap to the leg from the woman that apparently had been listening to them the whole time.
Eva laughed causing a few looks to come their way. After waving an apology, she turned back to her granddaughter, "Of course. I don't want to see any part of your and Regina's alone time."
"Thank you." Emma whispered as she watched Maleficent and Aurora exchange rings.
"For what?"
Emma sat up. She took her grandmother's hand just before the two women at the alter kissed, "For everything. Saving me. Helping me. Guiding me. Loving me." Emma bit her lip as tears formed in her eyes, "I love you." She squeezed the hand in hers to find that she was squeezing her own. She looked to her side as everyone stood and clapped for the brides that were making their way up the isle to find that there was no one next to her. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall silently.
Regina reached down and touched her wife's shoulder. The watery eyes that looked up to her was almost more than she could bear. She leaned down and hugged her, poofing them to their room.
"I'm fine." Emma said as she pulled from her wife, wiping her eyes.
"You're not."
"I just need a minute, then we can go to the reception." The blonde moved to the bathroom.
Regina slowly followed her. She walked behind her wife, hugging her as she watched the blonde wipe her eyes with tissue. "You don't have to go to the reception. Everyone will understand."
"No, I should go." Emma looked at the brunette, asking her not to argue.
Regina simply nodded, "Okay. Let's go dance and eat and do our best to have fun."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma was on the cusp of having fun the whole night. But it was her sad distraction that allowed her to notice that the Genie was acting odd. He was standing off to the corner, looking, staring their direction the whole time. He'd started walking over to them on more than one occasion, but every time he stopped.
Emma touched her wife's arm, pulling her from watching Maleficent dance her umpteenth dance with Lord Van Dyke—a sight Emma had to admit was adorable. They were making headway.
"Regina."
"Yes, my love?"
"Genie's been doing this all night, watch." She gestured with her eyes.
Regina watched him out of the corner of her eyes, trying to be subtle. She watched him begin to walk to them, retreat, turn around and stare at them both. "Oh…"
Emma knit her brows, "What?"
"He wants to ask—no, he wants to tell me that it's time for him to leave."
Emma knit her brows, "But… What?"
"Take us to the study, please? The three of us?"
Emma waved her hand, producing her axe and tapped it twice.
The Genie looked around as he realized he was taken somewhere else.
Regina pursed her lips to keep from smiling when the Genie saw her, "Do you have something you need to tell me? Now that things are settling and I'm married to a Pure One?"
Genie looked down and smiled, "I do."
"Go on." Regina smiled a soft smile now.
Emma had knit brows as she watched their exchange.
"It's time for me to leave, my queen." He said softly as he knelt before her and reached out for her hand, which she gave willingly, "You don't need me anymore. I'm of no use to you."
Regina let the sudden tears roll down her cheeks, "I'd hardly say that, but it is far past time for you to leave, Genie." Regina pulled herself forward and hugged him tight, "Do you think you can stay until tomorrow to see Hook and Bae off as well?"
"Of course, your majesty." Genie nodded, still holding onto her as she held onto him.
"We're having a busy couple weeks, emptying out the castle…" Regina finally let go and turned to her wife. "Emma's had a hard time."
Genie nodded, "I know."
Emma looked up to him with a glare, "Yet, I'm not the one crying now. I was an hour ago. Now, I'm just trying to figure out why you voluntarily stayed so long…" Emma knew of the Genie's child and lover; Regina couldn't keep her mouth shut one night and Emma got all the good gossip.
The Genie sighed as he realized that the new Shadow Queen knew of his lover and child, "I stayed until I was no longer needed. That was my promise. I needed to keep that one. Calliope made sure of it."
"Why?"
The Genie looked around the room, "That I can't disclose." He looked to Regina, "I shall stay through dinner tomorrow night."
Regina nodded, "You'll come back and visit? We'll get to meet that family of yours?"
"Of course, your majesty."
~0~0~0~0~0~
It was Aurora and Maleficent's second evening of marriage. No one expected them to come from their quarters. Like Emma and Regina, they opted to not go on a honeymoon and merely relish the fact that they got married and could spend time together in their home and be married.
But, they did in fact come from their quarters. They came to the farewell dinner just as everyone was getting tipsy and rowdy.
"Maleficent!" Hook called from his place on top of the table, "Tell me, where is the best place you've traveled?" He walked over to the women and took a knee as he grinned a dirty grin as he leered at Aurora and looked at her chest, "Or do you prefer the ample mountains you've claimed home to rather than traveling?"
Maleficent was suddenly not in the mood to join the fun anymore. She reached down and grabbed Hook's junk, making sure that it brought pain to every last drunken nerve in his body, "I prefer you not look at my wife like that."
"Okay." He rasped out as the woman still had a warning grasp on his buried treasure. "My apologies."
"That's all you needed to say." Maleficent let the man go.
Hook immediately fell onto the table, making everyone laugh.
"Really Hook? Of all women in the room, you go after the two most recently married?" Jefferson asked with a tipsy maniacal chuckle to follow.
"Well, I couldn't very well go for the Shadow Queens, could I?"
"No." Emma shook her head vigorously, "Hard no. You definitely could not have done that."
Hook laughed as he stood got off the table, "I will miss you all while I'm on my trip." He looked at everyone before his eyes landed on Bae, "I won't miss you because you're coming with me!"
"Yes, I am!" The two men clinked their mugs and loud yell broke out amongst the crowd.
Genie approached the two of them, "I will miss you." He told them both, "I'm saying this now because you won't see me when you return."
"What?" Both Bae and Hook asked.
"What?" Graham was second to ask.
"What?" Pinocchio was third.
Jefferson waited a moment before he decided he needed to say it as well, "What?"
Genie turned to them all, "I made a pact with the original Shadow Queen, I would only stay as long as I am needed. I am no longer needed; there's no reason for me to stay."
Jefferson stared at the man, "Is there reason for you to go?" He asked almost as if he knew.
"There is." Genie nodded.
"Is it whatever you fly on your carpet for?" Hook leaned against the table.
"It is." Genie nodded.
"Is it a girl?" Bae asked with a wide grin.
"Two." Genie smiled back.
"TWO!" Pinocchio looked at him amazed. "Here I thought you were never going to find love, but you've found two of them!"
The Genie considered this statement. He knew he could have just said 'yes' and moved on, but he also knew that he should clarify for the drunk room, "Yes, I do have two loves. One is my lover, whom I will marry eventually; the other our daughter, the most beautiful little girl you've ever seen," he turned to Jefferson before he could speak, "She and Grace will give great competition to each other. Though Amelia is five years older."
All of them looked at him gob-smacked.
Hook finally asked what everyone was thinking, "You have an eight-year-old daughter and a lover of longer?"
"She's a Muse." Aurora said softly as she and Maleficent got closer to the center of the conversation, unsure if she was allowed to divulge that information.
Genie looked to Aurora, "She is." He nodded before giving her a look, "You might know things now, you might have read me; some of it needs to stay private. A certain thing needs to stay out of the minds and thoughts of knowledge of certain people." He glanced around the room and looked at Emma.
Aurora immediately understood and nodded, "Of course."
Maleficent actually had enough respect for the Genie to not make her wife tell her whatever she knew. She did not want to mess with whatever Muse he was going home to; she was not going to incur the wrath of that Muse's father for pissing her off.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Genie walked up the familiar stoop. He knocked on the door and saw the excited toddle of his daughter answer the door, "Daddy!" Amelia leapt into his arms.
"Hello, little girl." Genie smiled as he hugged her and brought her into the house.
Calliope was standing in the middle of the living room, having stood at hearing the door. She had a smirk on her face, "Do you have something to tell your daughter?"
Genie smiled his lover's way and nodded. He brought Amelia around the couch and sat with her. Calliope sat next to him, bringing her ankles up beneath her, and leaned against his side. Genie leaned in for a greeting kiss, which the Muse happily gave him. Then he looked to his daughter once more.
"What, Daddy?" She looked down, "Are you gonna go away for a long time again?"
"No." Genie waited to see his daughter's eyes, "No, Amelia. I am no longer needed at the castle. Regina's married Emma, and Emma is a Pure One. She's able to take care of Regina and the kingdom."
Amelia had been told many times that her father would move in when he wasn't needed at the castle. But even though she'd been told countless times, it took a minute for her to realize that this meant he was going to be with her now all the time, "You're… you're gonna move in with me and Mommy now?"
"He's already put his belongings in our room." Calliope mused as she watched the excitement in her daughter's eyes.
Amelia fell against her father as tears came to her eyes. She'd never been so happy in her whole life.
Genie hugged her back tight. He looked to his lover, who moved closer to him. She kissed his cheek before kissing his mouth, "Welcome home." She said softly.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Maybe the new Shadow Queen hasn't been exaggerating. Everyone does appear to be leaving." Jefferson said as he and Pinocchio walked the main hall that led to their different quarters.
"Yes, who expected that of Genie…?" Pinocchio looked to the side in thought.
Jefferson eyes him, "Where have you been wandering off to lately?"
Pinocchio smiled, "I've been working things out with a girl."
"The girl from before?"
"The very same."
"Are you going there tonight?"
Pinocchio pulled out a vial of traveling dust, "As soon as we're done talking."
"Don't let me stop you. You deserve happiness, the same as everyone else, old friend."
"As do you." Pinocchio looked at Jefferson's door, "Delaney is a gorgeous creature. She's good with your child, beautiful…"
"Are you suggesting that Delaney and I…?"
"I'm suggesting that Delaney and you…" Pinocchio laughed at Jefferson's confused reaction. He clapped his shoulder, "I know that Grace's mother was your one true love… But maybe you've yet to meet, or actually look at your soul mate… Maybe you get a second chance at love. I do." With that, Pinocchio sprinkled some of the traveling dust on his head and disappeared.
Jefferson knit his brows as he turned and walked in to his quarters. Just as he shut and locked the door, he turned to find Delaney shutting Grace's door quietly.
She smiled softly, apologetically, "I know it's far past her bedtime, but she had questions as soon as we received word that Genie left."
Jefferson opened his mouth, but Delaney put her hands up, asking him to let her continue, "She wanted to know if she'd ever see him again because she liked him."
Delaney laughed as she remembered how Grace said the words, "I told her that Genie was like you. I told her that the Genie would be exactly like you if she and I lived outside the castle. Then of course, that launched into another conversation of me having to explain to her that I wasn't her mother but her caretaker and that's the only reason I would be living out of the castle with her…"
The woman bit her lip before continuing, "I know that should have been a question for you to answer considering you're an advisor, but you weren't here and she was in one of her 'I need answers now!' moods…"
Jefferson chuckled and looked down as he walked over to the fireplace and started a fire, "It's fine, Delaney. I was simply going to say thank you." He sat down on the end of the couch and gestured for her to sit with him as well.
"Oh…" She sat down on the other end of the three-person couch, "You're welcome." She swallowed and crossed her arms and legs as she watched the fire.
Jefferson let his head fall back against the couch, he tilted it and looked at Delaney. She wasn't looking back at him. He stared at her profile; there was no denying Pinocchio when he said that she was beautiful. And Grace loved her. Apparently she loved her so much, she asked her why Delaney wasn't her mother.
"You're staring, Jefferson." Delaney finally said and turned to look at him.
"I have a tendency to do that when the subject is worth staring at."
Delaney blushed. She didn't let the compliment deter from actual grown-up banter, "So, I'm merely a subject?"
"No." Jefferson's tone was serious. He turned and sat forward, resting his arms on his knees, "Pinocchio thinks we'd make a good couple."
"Well, I've wondered if you two were ever going to take the plunge." Delaney joked.
Jefferson turned and looked at her; he nodded, admitting he deserved that deflection of the actual subject. He took a breath, "Pinocchio thinks that you and I would be a good couple." He spoke softly.
Delaney stared at him. She hadn't expected this, but she wasn't going to not take an opportunity when it arose, "What do you think?"
"I think that you're completely lovely. I think you're beautiful; you're obviously good with Grace. And, I think that when I'm around you, I feel a little more sane, a little more grounded." He looked away from her.
Delaney stared on. She scooted over to him and placed a hand on his knee and the other dared to touch his the back of his neck, stroking the hair at the nape of his neck, "Jefferson?"
"I think there's something between us. I've ignored for so long because I didn't… I didn't think that it could happen." He looked at her, "But things are changing, everyone in the castle seems happy, happier…" He looked down once more in thought, "They're going for things they want now. Genie has a family… Pinocchio is working things out with a girl. Hook and Bae are leaving on a trip tomorrow… I don't know what Graham is doing, but he left the castle after making sure Hook got to his quarters…" He let his eyes fall on her face again, "All the change is making me think that I might be able to have something I didn't think I'd ever be allowed again…"
"Ever since I was hired, I've been falling for you. You were a mess and you were completely mad, but there were still pieces that made sense. I saw you underneath all the crazy. And now you've become this upstanding, good, sensible, stable man. You're an advisor to the Shadow Queens. You're the man I knew I'd seen before…" Delaney trailed off, "I'm just saying that I think there's something between us too."
Jefferson stared into her eyes. He leaned forward, and waited, letting her finish closing the distance if she wanted.
She did. She pressed her lips against his and after a moment, they pulled back. Only enough to look and see if the other was satisfied with the kiss. Then, they fell into each other.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Pinocchio was standing outside a now familiar wall of a castle. He looked around and picked up a few rocks, chucking them at the second story window. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel!" He said once the window opened.
A rope flew out the window and he was quick to climb. As soon as he reached the sill, lips met his, "Hello, Rapunzel." He smiled a flirty smile.
"You're a little drunk, aren't you?" She said as she wiped her mouth, having tasted the alcohol on his lips.
"I'm sober enough to be let in and to talk with you." He gave her a pleading look.
She crossed her arms, but stepped further into her room, "If my parent's find you here…"
"Must we have this conversation every night?" He asked after he scrambled in and walked over to the shorthaired brunette, hugging her and kissing her cheek.
Rapunzel eyed him, "Why've you been drinking?"
"We were sending Hook and Baelfire off…" Pinocchio sat in a nearby chair and rubbed his face, "And apparently Genie."
"Genie? What happened to him?"
"He's his own family. He's got a lover and a child. She's a Muse; I can only imagine how powerful that little girl is." He shook his head, "Genie claimed he was no longer needed. That's the only reason he was staying in the first place. I don't blame him. But, I'm not sure he's not needed…"
"Sounds like things are changing in your lands…"
"They are."
"Are you sober enough to talk about it?"
Pinocchio looked into her eyes making sure of what she was asking before her turned away, "Rapunzel…" He almost whined, telling her he didn't want to talk about it.
"I get it. Your family is there, mine is here. You can't leave them, and I don't know that I can either. I just got them a few years ago…"
"I'm not asking you to leave your parents."
"You're not volunteering to leave the Shadow Castle either…" She looked down and back up, "I've been thinking about it. Thinking pretty hard."
Pinocchio looked at her in question.
"I'll move there. I'll go to the Shadow Lands with you, if we can come back once a week for a day trip or to spend the night and leave in the morning kind of thing… The Shadow Lands, your family gives you the adventures you need, and that's good because you would go crazy here. So, I'll go with you as long as we come back and see my parents once a week."
Pinocchio stood. He smiled as he walked over, "You're forgetting something very important…"
"What's that?"
"I've yet to ask you to marry me…"
"You're going to now because you love me and you know it would make me happy." She smirked as she watched the emotions play in Pinocchio's eyes.
He simply nodded and got down on one knee.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Graham made his way into 'The Ugly Duckling.' There, he saw a particularly drunk man running his hand up and down Ruby's leg. Just as he was going to pull the bloke outside, Ruby grabbed the hand, twisted, walked him across the entire bar and threw him outside herself.
She looked to the new patron in apology before realizing who it was. She smiled at him and let her fingers travel subtly across his stomach as she passed him by once more.
He swallowed hard. When they played their version of the quiet game, he tended to come home with scratches on his back. He walked to the bar and sat down. She gave him a beer and he nursed it the rest of the night; he was more caught up with her teasing him every chance she got as she flirted with customers, making him jealous, or as she simply bent over tables, always angling her ass in his direction.
As she ushered the last of the barflies out and locked the door, Graham downed what was left of his drink. She turned around, leaning against the door and stared at him.
He wiped the foam from his scruff and stared back at her, want in his eyes. She smirked and walked to the jukebox. She put in a coin and pushed a couple buttons.
Music filled the air as Ruby made her way over to Graham, then the lyrics, "Oh, my love, my darling, I've hungered for your touch, a long, lonely time. And time goes by so slowly, and time can do so much. Are you still mine?"
Ruby loved to be as cheesy as possible when she chose songs especially when she decided on the Righteous Brothers, but she always made the cheese factor fade into the background as soon as she looked at him.
She took his face and pressed their lips together. It was no time before the kiss became heated and she was lifted onto the bar's counter. But, as Graham tore the small waitress' half apron from her front, he realized it was too high a surface. He pulled her off the counter and moved them to a wall as they ripped each other's shirts off and he set to exploring his love's body.
Soon, though, he pushed them from the wall and turned to a table. He lay her down and kissed her sternum to her navel before he stood up and looked down at her. His hands ran over her thighs as he stared at her, silently telling her the three words he couldn't voice in that moment.
She smiled at him before lifting her hips, "Show me." She said by way of answering his unsaid admittance of love for her.
He nodded and leaned back down, kissing her with everything he had as he removed her shorts.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Maleficent was between her wife's naked legs. She was taking her time, slowly kissing her way down Briar Rose's form.
Just as Maleficent couldn't stand it and pushed back up the auburn haired woman's form, pressing their bodies together completely, Aurora spoke, "Everything is going to change now." She whispered when Maleficent's ear was close.
Maleficent immediately stopped and pulled from the other woman, "Damn it." She moved from the bed and grabbed her robe.
"Where are you going?" Aurora asked.
"Away from you and your naked form, my love." Maleficent said as she walked into the living room.
Aurora and her naked form followed her wife, not bothering to get a robe, "Why?"
Maleficent gave her a look like she should already know why, "I'm not ready to be a parent. I'm just barely hanging on to the fact that I finally have you. I'm too messed up for a kid…"
"Me too." Aurora nodded.
Maleficent knit her brows, "So… that's not what 'everything is going to change now' meant?"
Aurora smiled and shook her head, "No. We're not going to have a baby. Don't fret."
"Is someone?"
"Lots of people will." Aurora moved back to their bedroom, "But you? You could have sex… right now, with me, if you're done freaking out."
Maleficent playfully glared as she followed her wife, "You are going to be the death of me. Don't say things like that while we're in bed like we were ever again. Please."
Aurora laughed, "I'll think about it." She untied her wife's robe, "I just meant that everyone is getting a happy ending… or a new beginning…" She pulled the robe from the blonde's shoulders, "Like us. We're getting a new beginning." She leaned in and kissed her wife. "Begin anew with me." She kissed her again then crawled on the bed, "Right now."
Maleficent pursed her lips as she looked over her wife's naked form, "Gladly."
AN: Emma's boys are the next chapter. Thoughts and feels? Please read and review!
