37

Secret Code Words and Handshakes

After the meeting Melanie returned home. Nova and Leroy were watching Sapphira, who was still getting over the flu herself. She fell ill the day after the Gold children and her symptoms were much worse than those the other children experienced.

She remembered some of the remedies her own parents used when she was will and used them to take care of her daughter. She expected some kind of opposition but Sapphira was simply too ill to put up any. She wanted to feel relieved and didn't. Like any mother, seeing her child ill was painful. She kept in constant contact with Dr Whale and Emma, seeking advice on modern remedies for Sapphira's illness as well as those from her childhood.

"How did the meeting go?" Nova asked her.

"Very well. Emma brought up some very good points and though I am new to this world's technology, she explained its dangers in a way I could comprehend and I want to make certain Sapphira's exposure to these video games and other items that promote violence is limited. How is Sapphira?"

"She just went back to sleep an hour ago. She did ask when you were coming home."

Melanie smiled. "I'll see her now. And that you for doing this. I appreciate it."

Nova smiled. "Anytime. You're doing a good job, Mal. I know she's not the easiest person to get along with but I'm starting to see some changes for the better."

"Yeah, let's hope she stays that way."

"Leroy!"

"What? You know as well as I do that girl's not gonna change her spots overnight."

"Yes, I know but don't harp on it."

Melanie bid them a good night and checked on her daughter. Sapphira awoke hearing the bedroom door close. Melanie pulled up a chair beside her daughter's bed and felt her forehead, thankful there was no fever. "How are you feeling, Sapphira?"

"M'still tired. What was that meeting you had to go to?"

"It had to do with video games...and television and movies...how they have things in them that are inappropriate for you."

"Yeah. I know."

"Then you should also know that I will be monitoring your viewing habits Sapphira." The little girl scowled. "Now don't be difficult about this."

"So who was watching that stuff that got the whole town fired up? Probably the Dark One."

Melanie sighed. "Sapphira..."

"Well? Am I right?"

"Yes, you are but he and Killian realized what they were seeing was inappropriate and won't be viewing it any longer. Nor will you. There is far too much violence in this world as it is and I won't have it be a part of your life with me."

"I hate being in bed," Sapphira pouted.

"I know dear but tomorrow you should be well enough to get up but you won't be going outside until I'm certain you're over the worst of this flu. Did the tea I gave you help with your throat?"

"Yeah...least now I don't sound like I sucked on a vacuum hose."

They both laughed. Melanie sat with her daughter for another two hours and returned to her own room to sleep after Sapphira was already asleep again.

Until they served out the days of their punishment, the only glimpses the Gold children had of their new clubhouse were from a distance, all of them eager to go inside and start making plans for their biggest adventure yet: finding Merlin and Neal's papa. The last thing that had to be done inside was putting the bunk beds together. Thankfully the children weren't around to hear the cursing going on while that was being done or they would have needed to buy a truckload of Ivory for Neal and David. Emma also wanted to use the swear jar system to save up some money, not that they needed it with Rumple's fortune at their fingertips, but the sheriff always wanted to keep some extra cash around for a rainy day.

The children were too excited to sleep knowing the next day they would finally by able to go into their clubhouse. Even the adults were excited. It was a project built with love and seeing the joy on the little tykes faces was all they needed to feel that all the hours of hard work they'd put into building it were worth it. And being woken up at the crack of dawn the day of the grand opening was even worth it.

Both of them remembered being too excited to sleep the night before an important event, especially Christmas. In the back of his mind Neal wanted to experience one Christmas with his father as a little boy again. He had no doubt his father's childhood memories of that holiday were no better than any other memories of his childhood thanks to the father from Hell.

"Lookit, guys...almost the whole town's here!" Regina pointed to the large crowd standing outside the fence

Rumple stared at them. "How come, Bae? Why do they wanna see our clubhouse?" He pressed closer to his son, uneasy and not liking being watched.

"Because a lot of them helped build it for you guys and they want to see how you like it."

Kilian on the other hand, loved the attention and was waving back, especially to the females making Regina and Belle roll their eyes.

"C'mon, Rumple! Let's go see it!"

Belle pulled Rumple by the hand across the lawn.

A sign hung beside the front door reading: PROPERTY OF THE NEVENGERS. KEEP OUT UNLESS YOU KNOW THE SECRET CODE WORD AND TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.

Killian read slowly, but when he came to the last word he asked, "Rumple, what's pro-se-cut-ed mean?"

"Wow, that was a really long word but you read it good!" Rumple said proudly.

Killian smiled. "That's cuz you're a good teacher! Now what's it mean?"

"It's when Emma arrests you and takes you to jail. Then you gotta go to court n stuff."

"So's if anybody comes in the clubhouse that's not s'post to, they can be arrested?" Killian clarified.

"Yep!"

"Yup An' we can sue their butts off too!" Belle said. "Right, Rumple?"

"Uh-huh...and if I was our lawyer, I'd take em to the cleaners for sure."

"Good!" Regina said, and she gave him a high-five. "We gotta invent a secret code word. An'a secret handshake."

"And it's gotta be somethin' hard to guess too," Belle added.

"How 'bout...meatball?" Killian was grinning.

Rumple rolled his eyes."He's on that zombie stuff again!"

"Belle, you're good with words." Regina said. "So you n'Rumple come up with a password. An' make it like you say one word and we gotta say another to answer you. Like in the spy movies."

"Ooooh...okay. We can do that."

"An' we can work on the handshake," said Killian. "Now let's go inside."

Rumple paused before doing so, saying, "I like the color on it."

"Yeah...better 'n the one on the house," Regina muttered.

Rumple frowned. "You hush up about our house! It's a classic color. Least it's not pee yellow."

"Ewww, who'd want a pee yellow house!"

"I saw one once . . .on TV. And it was UGLY," the pawnbroker declared.

"Yeah I bet."

They opened the door and went inside.

"Oooh...they put my Disney evil girls on the wall 'side my bed!" Regina was grinning from ear to ear.

"An' my Cap'n Jack Sparrow ones!" Killian cheered.

"Oh, Rumple look...Beauty and the Beast...and the rose..." Belle said dreamily.

"Cool! And look-there's Merlin casting a spell!" Rumple pointed.

"Cool, mate!"

They even had bedspreads and pillowcases to match the decor on their walls that had been created by Emma.

Then Belle saw a large white board on one side of the door. "Look! The Nevenger's motto!" she cried. Under it was written Nevengers Rules: and then there was a blank space. A dry erase marker was hanging beside it.

Regina jumped on her bed. "Yes! This bed's perfect for bouncing!"

"I could nap here all the time," Killian crawled onto his and pretended to sleep.

Rumple examined his bedspread. "These were sewn really well." Then he pretended to curl up on it. He saw there was a small hook on a bedpost and he hung his cane on it.

Belle hugged her rose pillow to her. "Pretty!"

There were three windows one on each side and they were made of durable special glass that wouldn't shatter-even if a baseball happened to hit one.

To open them, you simply pushed the bottom panel up and a screen protected the house from insects.

The floor was a lovely golden oak sanded to a silky smooth finish and then coated so the wood didn't warp or get termites.

A small mini fridge was in the corner, and on top of it were paper plates and cups and napkins. And also a container of antibacterial wipes so Rumple could clean.

Rumple spotted them and took some and went and wiped down the new table.

"Oh, here we go again!" Killian groaned. "Mate, what are you doin'?"

"Cleaning," Rumple answered.

"It's a new table!"

"Yeah s'not dirty!"Regina shook her head.

"There's dust on it," Rumple said. "But now it's good."

"Mate, if you ever get you own house when you're big, I bet you could eat off the floor!"

"Even I won't do that!" Regina declared. "Don't care how clean it is!"

"Oh, cool your jets! It's a 'spression!" Killian rolled his eyes.

Then he ran to the fridge. "Let's see what's in here!"

Belle, who was reorganizing the books on the small shelf beside her bed got up to see what the others were doing.

Killian opened the fridge. Inside were flavored waters and juice boxes and iced tea. There were also cheese sticks, carrot sticks, and some dip.

Belle took out one of the iced teas. Her throat still felt a little dry.

Regina grabbed a box of apple juice she knew had been put in there just for her.

Rumple took some iced tea also.

Killian took a grape flavored water and a cheese stick. They all sat down at the kid sized table with their snacks.

Outside, the adults were filling up their phones' memory taking pictures.

"Now we gots to have rules on there," Rumple pointed to the white board. "I'll write 'em." He went and picked up the marker.

"Rule number 1: No fighting," Belle said.

"Rule number 2: No potty mouth or you get the Ivory," Rumple recited.

"Rule number 3: What happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse," Regina said.

"Rule number 4: Share and share alike," Killian said.

"Rule number 5: Only good magic allowed," Rumple added.

"Rule number 6: You mess it up you clean it up," Belle said knowing that would probably have to be one of the rules anyway.

Rumple nodded. "Right, dearie. Cause I'm nobody's maid." Then he said, "Rule number 7: Respect each other."

"How about this one?" Killian said. "Rule number 8: Nobody's allowed in less you know the secret code word."

"Rule number 9: Guests welcome-so long as they follow the rules," Regina said.

"Rule number 10: No evil people allowed," Rumple said.

"Yeah like the Blue Buttmuncher til Melanie straightens her out!" Regina said.

They all nodded.

"Rule number 11: If you finish somethin', like a drink or snack, replace it." Killian told them.

"Or tell Bae or Emma so's they can buy more," Rumple said.

"Rule number 12: Go on awesome quests an' help people," Belle stated.

"We're runnin outta room!"

"Okay, dearie. Rule number 13: Any and all rules can be changed or revised." Rumple lowered the marker. "Done."

"Okay, now we gotta do the password. You two think of anything yet."

"Umm . . .Rumple, you think of anything?" Belle asked him.

"How's about somethin' in another language?" Rumple said.

"Like what?" asked Regina.

"Like in Italian, you could say chi sei? It means who are you?" Rumple said. "Then you could answer amici that means friends."

"Or you could do it the other way round," he explained. "Like the person knocks and says "Amici" and the person inside says "Capice", means I understand."

"How you know all that, Rumple?" asked Regina.

"Yeah, mate. How you know?"

"Bae was watchin' some movie with this guy and girl an' he was teachin' her Italian," answered the little imp.

"I like how it sounds," Belle said softly.

"Me too," Rumple said. "Bella-that's your name. Means beautiful. Faccia bella-a beautiful face." He smirked. "The guy in the movie said that to the girl."

Killian blew a raspberry.

"I want a guy to say that me," said Regina.

"Well don't hold your breath waiting 'cause I'll never say it to ya!"

"Didn't ask ya to, Hookie...now if ROBIN HOOD... or some other guy did..."

"Yeah well Robin Hood's too old an you're jailbait to him."

Overhearing that conversation through the window outside, Emma nearly dropped her phone.

"J...J...Jailbait?" she almost choked. "Where in the hell does that pirate learn...never mind...I'm too terrified of the answer to ask..."

"Yeah, I don't think we wanna know," Neal said.

"Oh God...I can just see the fathers lining up with shotguns..."

"Relax. If we can get Papa's curse broken, then you can brew that potion and they can all go back to adults again," Neal said. "IF that's possible."

"And if it's not...you'll be the one holding the shotgun on every man who comes to date Regina."

"Yeah well, I won't be the only one. Henry will probably have one too . . .and Rumple will threaten to change any boy who looks at her wrong into a snail or something. And Killian will threaten to take them for a long walk off a short pier."

Emma laughed. "She'll be the most protected girl in Storybrooke along with Belle."

"You can say that again," Neal looked amused. "Thank God I wasn't born a girl. Papa would've locked me a tower."

"Dad would've locked me in one too or probably beheaded a few guys."

"We'd have had a slug festival or something. Or a stone garden of statues. First Suitor, Second Suitor . . ."

"You're killing me here!"

"But I bet if I were a girl I'd have gotten away with a lot more trouble," Neal smirked. "In case you haven't noticed . . .he's marshmallow fluff with little girls."

"Yeah but if you tried his patience one too many times you'd still end up with a sore butt."

"Probably. Because that's how I'd be with mine," Neal acknowledged.

"Hey Emma, where's Henry!" Regina shouted.

Emma jumped. "Uh . . . I'll go wake him up," she said, for he was still asleep.

"Yeah cause we got bizness to discuss...Nevenger biznes!"

"And when Don Regina speaks, you listen!" Neal said.

"That's right." She answered."And don'cha forget it."

She pulled the window shut.

"Oh brother!" groaned Rumple.

"Well," Neal shook his head, laughing. He and some friends in the Enchanted Forest had themselves a little hideaway of their own and had secret meetings that drove his father crazy. Especially when he skived off to meet them leaving his chores half-finished. Looks like I'm getting my payback now...again.

He could already see himself chasing his small father everywhere trying to find out what he and his cohorts were up to. And at least he had two good legs to do it with!

Emma brought a still half-asleep Henry out to the clubhouse.

"You're being summoned by the queen," she quipped.

"Oh boy!" he yawned. "I didn't even eat breakfast." He opened the door and came in. "Hey, guys!"

Regina ran and hugged him. "Lookit! Isn't our clubhouse neat?"

Henry grinned. "Yeah. I helped with some of it. See?" he showed her one thumb, which was bruised from hitting it with a hammer.

She kissed his thumb and used her magic to heal him.

"One of our rules...only good magic here."

"Yeah an' you gotta read 'em all." Rumple informed him

"Okay, I will," Henry promised. He sat down at the table.

"Kay guys...first order of bizness...password an' handshake."

"You and Killian and Henry come up with the handshake," Belle reminded them."An nothin really goofy neither!"

Rumple looked at her. "So . . .how about what I said before?"

"Yeah...we can do that," Regina said.

"We can change it every month, just in case," the small lawyer said.

"Now that'd get confusing!"

"If we have to," he amended.

Henry was trying to come up with something cool for the handshake, but all he could think of were some hand signs used by rappers and stuff . . . NOT what he knew his parents would approve of, and they'd recognize the gestures.

"I don't know, guys. I'm stumped."

"What if we do a high-five thing?" suggested Killian.

"Nah. Too easy." Regina said.

"Everybody does that," Belle added.

Now all eyes were on Rumple.

"C'mon Rumple you always have good ideas," belle pleaded.

While he was thinking a strange image popped in his head. He could see an odd looking man who had gold-grey skin and dressed in leather making a hand gesture while he talked to someone.

Instinctively he repeated the gesture.

"What was that? That was neat?" Killian asked.

"I dunno...I just saw somebody in my head doin it."

But Henry knew exactly what it was. It was all part of his quirks as the Dark One."That's really good, Rumple. Let's see you do it again."

Rumple repeated the gesture, his little hand flourishing like a certain golden-skinned imp.

"Now you try," he invited his friends.

Belle went first, repeating the gesture perfectly.

"Very good!" Rumple clapped. "It's almost like you've seen it before."

"Ummm...now that you mention it...it feels like I have."

"Me too," Regina said. When it was her turn, she did it perfectly on her first try.

Rumple scratched his head. Maybe they had known the golden man too?

It took Killian a bit longer to master it, but eventually he got it, as did Henry.

"Okay now we gots the handshake an a password...now we gotta talk 'bout how we find Neal's papa," Belle said. "And Merlin so Rumple can get rid of that curse."

"Yeah, well, if we find Merlin he can help me. I hope," the little imp said worriedly.

"Hey you think we oughta take notes like in a real meeting?" Regna asked.

"Yeah, so's we're organized," Belle agreed.

"You wanna do it. You write nicer."

"Henry can too...an his is probably nicer n'mine."

"Sure I can," he took a piece of paper and a pen from where they rested on a little shelf.

"Kay...now we gotta go back to the 'Chanted Forest to find Merlin and Neal's papa..." Rumple began.

Henry bit his lip. If only they knew! "Uh . . . do any of you know WHERE my dad lost his . . .err . . .papa?"

Three of them shook their heads.

"Don't you?" Regina asked him. "He prolly tole ya."

"Uh . . . he really doesn't like to talk about that time. It makes him sad," Henry said, because he wasn't sure how much he ought to tell them.

"I know! We can 'chant something to find him!" Rumple exclaimed.

"Uh . . . maybe we'd better wait," Henry said. "You know . . . like till we're there." Oh man, he thought. He does that and the spell will point to HIM! Then what?

"Kay...we'll wait..."

Henry breathed a sigh of relief. "Maybe Merlin knows how to find him."

"But how do we find Merlin?" asked Belle.

"What do the stories say, Henry?" asked Regina. "In the fairy tale book?"

"We could read some tonight," the older boy suggested. "For now, why don't you play in the clubhouse?"

"What you gonna do then?"

"Uh . . . I can play some ball with you for awhile . . . and then I can look up the legends of Merlin. Maybe I can find something there."

"Okay."

"But first I need to eat breakfast," he said. "I'm gonna grab some cereal. I think we have Lucky Charms."

"They're magically delicious!" sang Rumple.

"Should eat your Wheaties cause we're gonna kick your butt at ball," Killian challenged.

Henry snorted. "Yeah right, Mr. Jones!"

They played three games of kickball that lasted until the afternoon when Emma called them all inside for lunch.

This time she made them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

"Mmm! I love grilled cheese!" Rumple said, taking a large bite of his.

"It's good then?" Emma asked hopefully.

He nodded. "It's delicious!" He waved his spoon at the soup. "An' so's this!"

"Did you make it yourself, Mom?" asked Henry.

"Yes."

"You cook better than the cook on my papa's ship," Hook said. "Lots better! He'd a burnt this." He indicated his sandwich, which he was holding in his prosthetic hand.

"Ummm...well...I did...have few failures..."

She looked in the trash at the three sandwiches she'd burned the first time until she adjusted the heat properly.

"Hey, we all do," Neal said. "Uh . . . one time I tried to cook breakfast for my papa and me when I was ten . . .I burnt the oatmeal to the bottom of the pot because I forgot to turn the heat down on the stove . . .and it took me forever to scrub it clean. We ended up eating toast that day."

"Ewww. Burnt oatmeal is gross," Rumple scowled.

Neal laughed. "Yeah. And it smells gross too." He recalled the same expression on his father's face then as now.

"Our cook burnt it too and he ruined a bunch of pans when he did it. Then papa tole him he needed to walk the plank."

"Your cook sounded like a real dummy," Belle said.

"He was," Killian nodded.

"How come your papa kept him?" asked Regina. "My mama would've gotten rid of him long time ago."

"No one else could cook on the ship...they tried..even my mama...made the whole ship sick." Killian recalled. "An' we were out at sea so long we didn't get a chance to get a new one til we were in port a long time."

"Your mama went with your papa on his 'ventures?" asked Belle curiously.

"All the time...an' she was as good a pirate too when she wanted to be. All she had ta do was show 'em the goods and they gave her what she wanted."

Emma nearly dropped the glass she was holding.

Neal spit out his soup.

"Ummm..what goods?" Regina asked.

"Boobies!" Killian bragged before his parents could stop him.

Henry almost choked on his sandwich.

Rumple gaped at him. "Ya mean . . . she showed herself to . . . umm . . .men . . .like those naked girls in my papa's magazines?"

"Uh huh."

Rumple whistled. "My papa said women were only good for two things and one of 'em I can't say."

"Yeah well he's wrong!" Belle said angrily.

"Never said he wasn't," Rumple agreed.

"Okay, that's enough kids," Emma said sternly

"Yeah, we don't discuss . . .a lady's . .err . . . private parts . . .it's rude. Or a man's either," Neal said once he had gotten over his coughing fit.

"Sorry," Killian lowered his head

"Just remember that next time," Neal reprimanded softly.

"I will." Sometimes he hated knowing so much but it was difficult not to being raised by pirates. Like Rumple's papa, they had not cared about sparing his sensibilities even at a young age. Now that they were away from all the negative influences in their lives, things could be different.

After lunch, they were sleepy, and asked if they could take a nap in the clubhouse.

"Go on...that's why we put the beds in. We'll wake you up later, okay?"

Smiling, the Nevengers raced outside, ready to put their house to good use.

A/N: In case you didn't know, I've written a small one shot for this verse called A Little Culinary Mishap, you might want to check it out! I've also written a new story featuring Rumbelle and family called Return From Neverland for those of you who like AU S3 fics.