And here is another chapter and the last of Season 5! Also this might be the longest chapter so far as i had a lot to write for it but i hope there is something in there to please anyone. Please note that any references are my own and some of the words are taken directly from the episode.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

Also this might seem strange but this story is Captain Swan that is the main paring, if you do not like Captain Swan for whatever reasons then you probably picked the wrong story. I know this might seem strange coming at Chapter 51 but...

Please Read and Review.

This is the last chapter of season five and the next chapter will be the start of Season six in which there is about ten chapters and then this story comes to a conclusion.


Paradise Lost

Chapter 51-How To Save A Life

The final chapter of Season Five-Killian makes a return, Giselle is emotionally exhausted and she and Axel make a decision, a new villain is introduced and things are set in motion for the final arc/season of this story.


"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness. And I would have stayed up with you or night. Had I known how to save a life" (How to Save a Life-Song-The Fray)

Storybrooke. The Day of Robin's Funeral. Axel's Perspective.

It was a terrible thing to even think but Axel was board stiff.

If his mother could have heard his thoughts right now she would have wacked him on the back of his head and told him to show some respect. However, his mother was not here, his father was not here and neither his little brother or his older brother were here. His family was gone hunted down like frightened rabbits by Arthur fucking Pendragon King of fucking Camelot and Axel had to grit his teeth and remind himself that the man was dead and had gotten his just rewards even if Axel had not had the pleasure of snapping his neck with his hands or ripping out his throat with his teeth or claws.

But he was at the funeral of a man who he had never known, a man who had never known him (other than the fact his kid was still calling him Wolverine—whatever that was) and he was utterly board stiff.

To be honest he wouldn't have even come to this thing if Elle hadn't made him. Well it was more like Axel wasn't sure if she was ready to go out in public after her father had died and then re-died. Or whatever it was that they were calling it. If you wanted Axel's opinion nothing good came from messing with the dead and that was why he was glad that Wendigo's did not go to the Underworld and instead went to their own private place of remembrance until Judgement Day.

But Giselle had asked him to come with her and considering it was one of the few things that she had said in the past week Axel supposed it was worth getting dressed for. She was wearing a rather nice black skirt that frilled around the edges and a black polo neck shirt and her hair was tucked into a messy bun at the back of her neck. She looked tired but she was no longer the drawn out ghost that she had been in those first few days when she had barely gotten out of his bed.

Axel had not known what to do then. Women were not something he was adapt at really. She had curled up in his bed shaking and shivering for the first day and then when she had heard about Robin she sat up and told him everything that had happened in the Underworld.

"It's ok" she told him finally standing up. "I can go now"

But in all honestly Axel had not wanted her to go and he had told her as much. This woman had saved his life on a whim and he had watched her from a distance and more to the irritating point he had found himself half in love with her. Giselle was beautiful, kind, witty, the right kind of bitchy when she had to be and above all loyal.

"If you want to stay you can" he said finally. "I can take the couch?"

And stay she had. They were in the confused stages in the relationship where they were friends who seemed to walk around in their underwear. Which again was something his mother would have disapproved off. Now the week of mourning with this funeral was over and the crisis seemed to have died down Axel kinda had to know what the plan was because furthermore there was only room in that flat above the library for one bed and his back couldn't take much more of the couch.

The funeral though was coming to a close and Axel reminded himself as Snow White came over that it was not wise to remind her that for all her concern she had not done a damn thing to stop the persecution of his people and instead he diplomatically focused his attentions on the little boy who looked lost staring at his father's coffin. Axel who had been eighteen when his father had died had clutched at the body for what had felt like hours with that lost disbelieving look on his face and he could sympathise. Roland Hook looked at him and he poked his tongue out rather pleased with the quick smile that he got back.

Snow White was speaking to Giselle and then she shot Axel another interested and slightly weary look as if she was afraid he would morph out into a wendigo right there and then and claw her face off. Honestly since Camelot he had finally gotten a hold on years of supressed instincts and he had thought he was doing rather well all things considered.

"What did she want" he said turning to Elle and tucking his fingers into his coat. Giselle shifted her umbrella slightly. "Wanted to know if I wanted to come to the diner and get something to eat. I think she's worried that the Evil Queen is coming back to play more than she's worried about Regina so…I cannot be bothered walking back into the toxic environment that is going to be right now"

"You wanna say goodbye to Emma?" he asked pointing at the blonde.

Giselle snorted and then stalked off. Axel knew what this was. This was the anger side of grief which was good because he could deal with an angry woman rather than a grieving depressed one. He ducked back under the umbrella.

"Do you wanna move in with me full time?" he asked.

He could just hear his father's eyeroll from beyond the grave at that embarrassed blurting.

Giselle turned to look at him.

"As what your roommate?"

"No as my girlfriend"

Oh for the love off…he thought to himself. He had to get a grip.

Giselle looked as if he had just told her he had a desire to become a naked can-can dancer at night.

"Look…I don't know how this is done here Giselle but I like you and I know you like me. Actually I'm pretty sure I'm half in love with you and while you were—down there—" he said trying to think of a word that best described the Underworld. "I had chance to think and work on my reflexes a little. I've wasted so much of my life in a cage and I don't want to waste anymore. I'm sick of losing people that I love and—I don't want to lose you. You've said your father is having a baby with the woman you hate, you've said Emma Swan is not an option in that house because of the memories of your Dad and no offence but Regina Mills aint gonna be a barrel of laughs to live with right now especially not with her sister and a crying baby. And…look I'm not saying we have to sleep with each other off the bat but, we've had it good for the last couple of weeks, we can share a bed take it slow and if you wanna move out you can but, I wanna be the type of man that you come to when your in trouble or when you need help cause I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you and I'd like to be your boyfriend or partner or whatever the hell it is that they call it in this realm"

Elle stared at him as if he had lost it entirely and then she said something in a rather strange voice.

"You know when I was a kid, fifteen in the Enchanted Forest and all alone I was engaged. He died of plague before the curse hit but I was prepared to marry him because he was there and it was easy. And I said to myself that if I ever got the chance to be in a relationship again then I wouldn't let it be easy. I would fight for it. He's moved on now but—Axel I don't want something because I want a bed for the night I want something that's real, I think I can find it with you but…I don't want you thinking you can just use me for sex and then throw me away because I've already had one man whose thought that of me and I don't want it to happen again. if there's one thing I've learnt from this whole Camelot debacle it's that I deserve better. But I want to be with you, and life is too god-damn short in this town as you can see only too well. So let's be together"

Axel paused for a second mulling over her words and then he held out his hand and Giselle took it and they walked down the path to the diner as what he thought (unless he was really tragically reading this wrong) they were which was boyfriend and girlfriend.


Granny's Diner. The Storybrooke. Giselle's Perspective.

She was sat at the table thinking over a coffee when Axel sat down next to her.

"So we are girlfriend and boyfriend right?" he asked finally. "Because I haven't done this in…well ever and I just want to make sure"

There was something about his nervousness that was endearing and Giselle thought back on the conversation they had had, they were boyfriend and girlfriend she knew, they were just skipping the whole holding hands and mooning over each other and going straight to the pretending that they could live together. it was simpler with Axel, he too understood what losing your family and not being sure of your place in this world was. He too new how to save a life-her life.

And her him.

"Yeah we are" she said finally. Axel beamed looking like a kid at Christmas and Giselle found herself smiling back at his enthusiasm. She knew that being in a relationship with her was not easy but she didn't want to ruin the moment.

The door opened then and Emma strode in. Giselle watched as she talked to Regina about something and then she turned to Giselle. There was something unbalanced in the way she walked. Emma had been gaunt and pale only an hour ago and now she looked like life had just been returned to her. Giselle felt that familiar sense of foreboding creep up her spine.

Instinct had told her long ago that that strange glint in Emma's eye was never a good thing.

"Giselle" Emma said as Regina stood up and came over looking somewhat controlled but like a single match would set her and her magic on fire.

"I need you and Regina to come with me, we have to talk privately"

"Now?" Giselle asked sagging a little bit more in her seat. She had just buried her father's best friend a week after he had died and she was sick of drama. The thing about being with Axel was that he was so uncomplicated and had no drama at least not on the surface. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be dragged into the mess that was this town anymore.

And that presented a whole other problem for her.

"It's personal" Emma said. Regina rolled her eyes and then turned to sit down at her table again looking like all she wanted to do was go home and crawl under the covers.

Whatever Giselle was going to say was cut off because at that moment there was an almighty roar of noise and the town shook again much like it had when they had gone from Storybrooke to Camelot and started this whole mess that had now seen two of their party dead. The whole town shook and she stood up sliding closer to Axel almost involuntarily who placed his palm wide on her waist.

Before she could even ask what that was (and she had sneaking suspicion who was behind it) the door to the diner opened with a bang, several people gasped and then a voice called out panic in every syllable and Giselle started almost jumping out of her skin when she saw who it was.

Because she knew that voice.

Her Dad. Killian Jones was stood in the doorway breathing heavily. He had died and then come back to life it seemed. Giselle would have a week ago done anything to here again. He looked from Emma to her and then back again even as Regina rolled here eyes and muttered something that Giselle couldn't hear but she was guessing wasn't very nice.

And then suddenly Giselle was angry. She was so angry she couldn't speak. This was the second time a father of hers had died and come back to life and both times they had ripped her heart out only to have her shoved back into the latest drama that she would inevitably become involved in.

She looked at Emma who was beaming and she felt furious with her for breaking the curse again. Sometimes the longing for the simplicity of Scarlett Gold whose worst nightmare was that the book she ordered online had not arrived in time or the coffee pot was out. She was exhausted with the drama. She did not want it anymore. She wanted the simple life that she could have had on the ship, in Storybrooke, with Axel. Now of course it was another story.

Her Dad moved to her his eyes wide and Giselle moved out of the way quietly so he wouldn't touch her. Axel came with her as they were holding hands and then they were outside into the street and then she turned and he caught her so that they were hugging together and she was clinging to him.

"Fuck" she said finally.

"Well" Axel said finally sounding more amused than anything else. "I'll say this you and this town are a lot alike—never a dull moment with either of you"

The door opened behind them and her Dad came out. Giselle knew without even looking at him that he had taken in the fact that she was half clinging to a man that he barely knew and she straightened meeting his eyes and forcing herself to try and remain calm. She was a mixture of grief and anger looking at him. She had watched him knowingly walk to his death and then he had come back and that was twice now that had happened with both of her fathers. Could it really be that her relationship with both of them had disintegrated that badly?

"Giselle…darling can we talk and—who is this?" he asked pointing at Axel.

"I don't have time to do this" she said into Axel's coat.

"How the hell are you alive?" she shouted at him. "Actually you know what I don't want to know, you walked to your death and then came back and you expect things to go back to normal—I mean…ugh!" and then she was gone walking down the high street anger in her veins.

"You know" Axel said later when she was banging around his apartment and he was sat on the couch reading a book. "My father used to say that if my mother was a horse he would jump no other because the one thing she never lacked was the incredible amount of courage and skill and tenacity" he looked up at her and shrugged as if to say that was how his parents worked.

"Your kinda like that. But as my father used to say as a woman my mother was incredibly difficult to live with. Somehow I think it's gonna be the same for you"

"And what did your mother do when she heard him compare her to a horse?" Giselle asked dryly.

Axel laughed. "She never saw it that way. She just kissed him"

Giselle snorted in spite of herself. "Nice try" she said turning back to the small kitchen unit and beginning to pace again.


Storybrooke. The Next Day. Giselle's Perspective.

Giselle woke up in Axel's bed with Axel on the other side of her and the sunlight streaming into the apartment. She sat up and winced as the light hit her eyes and more importantly her phone. She could only imagine the contents after last night. It was hard to believe that this time yesterday she had been getting ready for Robin's funeral.

Axel blinked looking at her as she moved to find her clothes. Only what she had managed to grab from Regina's were here. The rest of them were either at her father's house or scattered somewhere in the apartment. She managed to find a clean pair of grey jeans and a black blouse with white piping and she pulled on her black boots that came to just over her knee and pulled on her old purple cardigan that had pockets for her phone and music and a little cash should she need it.

"Roland's going back to the Enchanted Forest today" she said pulling her hair upwards into a scraggy kind of bun. "I said I'd see him off"

"Ok" Axel said sitting up the sun dappling his rather defined chest and the three tattoos on it that Giselle could see. "I am going to see if that animal shelter job is going to work out and…can we talk later? I really wanna talk to you. Had a lifetime of silence"

Giselle grinned at him. "Yeah" she said remembering what it must have been like for him. "Yeah we can talk"

Roland was there when she arrived. The boy still looked sad but Giselle took his hug with one of her own. Nothing would make Roland smile again soon but he was young and he had people-Robin's people surrounding him and she had no doubt that soon Roland would smile again. Most of the Camelot people were taking the portal back with them and Giselle felt no regrets in seeing that part of her life go. She had heard Hades had killed Arthur—and she did not miss him nor the feelings he had inspired in her one bit.

Zelena was chatting to Granny, the Charming's were being the Charming's and she turned around to do—well who knew and saw her Dad standing there.

"I know your angry with me, god knows I've seen your mother in a mood like that too often" he said by way of a greeting. "But I wanted to talk to you. I realise that I am the second person in your life to die and leave you all alone and I wanted to talk to you. I…come on Giselle let's just talk, rage at me scream at me I don't care but please don't shut me out"

He looked so pitiful that Giselle didn't have the heart (as battered and damaged as hers was) to be mad at him anymore. She only nodded instead and then scrubbed a hand over her face trying to think of what to say.

"I am glad that you are alive" She said finally. "I am Dad it's just…I cannot keep doing this saying goodbye and then you come back and we act like everything is normal and then some other kind of drama happens. I cannot keep doing it" she shook her head and her Dad slid a hand down her back so he was pulling her close to him in a sort of sideways hug.

"I know darling. I don't want to keep doing it. Your father—has created a problem so to speak. He's tethered the town magic to the Olympian crystal and then Henry's gone and stole it to destroy magic—"

"Oh are you kidding me?" Giselle cried jerking backwards. "Did we not have this discussion when Emma tried to do this when Elsa was in town? You cannot destroy magic, what the hell is that hormone soaked kid think—"

But whatever Giselle was going to say next was cut off because the bloody wand in Zelena's hand had begun to glow. For a second they all stared at it even as Giselle noticed that her Dad was etching in front of her inch by inch. Whatever the hell was going on however came to an abrupt end when the portal opened despite Zelena's attempts to control it and it sucked her, her Dad, Snow White, David and Zelena through it.

When she woke up she was staring at the sky of a realm that was without a shadow of a doubt not her own. It was too clean and too quiet for them to be even in the woods populated as they were with Lost Boys and Merry Men who had chosen to stay behind or Arthur's people who wanted a modern life. The fact that magic did not work was nothing short of a confirmed disaster.

And to cap of a perfect day there was a twitchy little man cutting up flowers who got them all elocuted.

The last thing that Giselle thought before the purple current hit all five of them was that she really needed to prioritise the goals in her life because she might be getting too old for all of these scars and bruises.


The Warden's Cage. The Land of Untold Stories. Killian's Perspective.

He was annoyed. Actually annoyed was not the right word for it. Royally pissed off was about as accurate as he could get right about now. Killian had already been to hell and back, had to deal with his daughter's other father on some mad-cap scheme that would likely get them all killed (or demand their attention for the next few months at the very least), had to deal with his daughter's immediate rejection when she had seen him (which had hurt), had to apparently deal with some wendigo called 'Axel', (who Killian did not like one bit) and too cap matters off had being sucked through a portal, electrocuted and was now at the mercy of a man who his daughter's father had apparently pissed off.

What a fan-fucking-tastic day this was turning out to be.

Zelena had entrusted the wand (reluctantly) over to the man who was insistent he come with them back home and now she had taken to pacing up and down the length of the cell. David was sharpening the bit of wood he had managed to find and Snow White was trying to talk to his daughter who was sat on the ground her hands in her lap and looking board.

"Are you sure you don't know who the Warden is? Your father never mentioned him too you? You never saw him?"

"For the eighth time no" Giselle said rolling her eyes. "He was the Dark One for nearly a thousand years before I crashed into his life, I'm sure he had a lot of run-ins that didn't involve me"

He tried not to roll his eyes. He did. Really.

Snow White apparently giving up on his daughter moved to her husband and Killian took that opportunity to sit down next to her wincing at the feeling in his knees. He was not as spry as he used to be in Neverland he realised with an amused self-deprecating smile.

"So Axel…is he your…" he wanted to say boyfriend because he supposed that was what he and Emma were but in Camelot he and Emma had also been lovers and before that somewhat and the thought of using that word with his daughter in mind made him want to stick his hook in Axel's stomach.

Giselle shot him an amused look.

"We are boyfriend and girlfriend yeah" was all she said and then as an afterthought she added. "He asked me to move in with him."

Killian's first thought was no bloody way that was happening but then he remembered that Giselle was almost an adult now and that either way there was very little he could do to stop her.

"Do you think that's wise" he tried hoping he sounded tactful. "What about school?"

Giselle looked at him with a raised eyebrow and then laughed shortly without humour.

"I don't think I'm the type to get an education and go to college" she said finally. Killian knew that college was where the smart people went to-Emma had told him that and he frowned.

"But your smart" he said. "Your so smart Gizzy why don't you want to go to college and conquer the world? Be normal, isn't that what you want?"

Giselle bit her lip and looked down but whatever she wanted to say was cut off by the banging of the door. Killian tightened his arm around her as they stood up to see the Doctor coming towards them. He had the key, Killian had his daughter and soon they would be able to reunite with their family. For him that meant Emma, Giselle and Henry. For Giselle he had a horrible feeling that he knew who that would include.


The Land of Untold Stories/New York. Giselle' Perspective.

The problem Giselle knew was that she was not surprised by the identity of the warden/the doctor. Jekyll and Hyde. Giselle did not feel guilty however by admitting even to herself that Hyde was much better looking. It was a shame she mused that he was a lunatic villain-bit of sunlight on that white skin and he would have made quite the catch.

Hyde was Jekyll though and like Arthur in Camelot there was something about him that was putting Giselle's teeth on edge. Right now, David was helping him to his feet after a stirring battle with the split personality and a rather strong good vs evil speech that was bound to win him over to the Charming's. She meanwhile had grabbed her Dad's hand when she had seen him, and he had interlocked their fingers giving her a feeling of security and safety even though she knew it was because she was not strong enough to run the whole way. She might have been improving her physical fitness more now than she ever had when she was Scarlett Gold but she was still not used to being outdoors that much and running for her life. Also she knew that this was another type of proof that he was alive, that he was here. The death of her Dad and his return was a wound that she wasn't sure either one of them could get over.

They were in a land known as the Untold Stories. Giselle could understand why it was called that. It seems that this land was filled with people who had escaped both the first curse and the others that had followed and become stuck along the way. It was a land filled with culture and with strange sights and smells and people who were living their lives stuck in a rut. It was like Storybrooke only more…magical.

She forced herself to walk down the street following her Dad her boots clacking on the cobbles and she was pulled back into the conversation as Doctor Jekyll's voice pulled her squarely into reality.

"Everyone sees there worst self differently, some as a mirror images others…a literal monster, however the mind conjures it" he said looking around fearfully as if he expected the now separated Hyde to drop down from the sky.

"Well next time try and aggressive bunny rabbit" her Dad snapped. Giselle wondered if he knew he was making a Monty Python reference but then again she supposed he probably didn't know what Monty Python was and she had to bit down on her lip as she instinctually started smiling.

"Alright" David said patting her Dad on the back and then reaching so he could gesture her forwards as well. "Let's get out of here this way"

And then they were down another cobbled street that led to another cobbled street and another and then Hyde. Giselle stuffed both of her hands into her cardigan pocket and tried not to pretend that she was hopelessly undefended. She was seventeen now and she made a mental note to look up how old you had to be in Maine to get a gun licence. Or even if you did need a licence in Storybrooke considering Emma was the Sheriff.

She was interrupted from her musings and wonderings if she could land any good hits with her fists (probably not considering the magic Hyde possessed) when something hit her on the side of the head. She flinched away looking as more things began falling onto the cobbles. The only good thing was that it was clear Hyde did not have a clue what was going on either.

"Pennies" David said picking one up.

"The hell?" Giselle asked looking confused, since when did pennies have any magic property and since when did they fall from the sky? That was strange even in the realms that did possess magic.

"Not pennies David" Snow White said as a part of the stone turned to water swirling around like the lake that had the siren in that had dried up when she was a teenager and her home had torn between a war between two women who both called themselves Queen. She was smiling as if she was pleasantly surprised and Giselle half turned to see Hyde staring at her. She remembered what he had said about hating the Dark One and she could not resist smirking at him as if to tell him even sub-consciously that he had, had his enemies daughter in his dungeon and had never known about it.

"Well I don't care whose making them" Zelena replied pushing past them and running at the portal. "Let's get out of here"

Her Dad grabbed her by the elbow and then the five of them were running the short distance to the portal closely followed by Hyde. Zelena jumped in followed by Snow and David and then her Dad and her. There was that feeling of falling and then her feet hit solid ground and she looked around to see Emma, Henry and Regina in what looked like the middle of Times Square near a fountain.

She looked around as Emma hugged her parents and then her Dad and then she saw it. Her father stood to the side eyes clasped on her. For a split second they stared at each other and her father smiled his eyes filled with a love that Giselle had not seen in a while and knew in the same way she had known back in the Enchanted Forest was true. She smiled back at him knowing herself enough to know that she was showing the same emotion and then someone shifted in front of her and her father was gone.

She hugged Emma feeling genuinely happy to see the older woman, and Regina who rubbed her back for a second and then Henry who may have started this whole mess but who was looking somewhat repentant when he caught her eye.

"Come on" Emma said linking her hands with her Dad's. "Let's go back to Neal's apartment and get some food. We can travel back tomorrow. For once I'm beat"

And with that the group of them headed back to her brother's apartment, and when her Dad slipped his arm around her waist Giselle leaned into him and relished the feeling of being part of a family.


Neal's Apartment. New York. Killian's Perspective.

Four pizza's between the lot of them, some hot chocolate, some whiskey and a hell of a lot of story sharing later things were finally quietening down. Regina, Emma and Snow White had gone to 'cure' Regina of her 'evil side'. Killian did not know if such a thing was possible but he knew if anyone could do this it was Regina. The woman had strength that would make anyone lesser than her tremble. David and Henry had fallen asleep and Zelena looked as if she was heading that way. Thankfully most of Roland's stuff, including a bed was there and while some of them would be on the floor, some of them would also be in a bed.

Giselle was in her brother's room and Killian took his cocoa and knocked on the door. Giselle opened the door and then moved back to sit on the bed. She was holding something in her hand and Killian saw it was a beaded bracelet that he knew was Bae's because it looked like she had pulled if from a dusty box that she had found under the bed.

She looked up and smiled at him as he sat down. "I think he'd understand if I took this" she said finally. Killian smiled. "I know he would" he replied getting comfortable. "He loved you very much"

"I was wondering" Giselle said finally. "If your serious about sticking around, you said long ago that if I wanted we could find our own place, I know Henry and you were looking but I don't know if Emma wants me around or what the plan is or…I know I told Axel before you came back that I didn't want hand holding or flowers or romance, but…I think I do"

She peeped up at him and all Killian could see was that baby who had looked at him with those wide eyes who had know grown into a strong girl, into a stronger woman who had been through so much with so little reward and was now on the cusp of her first love. Who was ready for her first love.

Giselle he thought there and then deserved the world. And he Killian Jones was going to damn well make sure his daughter got it.

"I think darling that Axel will understand" he said guessing her immediate concern. "I've seen the way he looks at you" he had indeed he thought in his head. "And I know that I want to be a family with you. If Emma wants some space then we will give it to her and find our own place, but if she wants me to move in I think she understands that much like Henry comes with her, I come with you"

Giselle smiled and Killian hugged to his side and relished every second spent with his daughter.

Had it really only been forty eight hours since he had been in hell?


Storybrooke. Giselle' s Perspective.

"I should get used to you skipping off to the next adventure" Axel said as Giselle stepped out of the car. He was leaning against the animal shelter and she grinned at him. He had gotten the job she knew by the smile on his face and even though her Dad moved past her with an eyeroll she only had eyes for Axel.

"I suppose I may have been a bit hasty in my disgust of them" she said as he slipped an arm over her shoulders.

Axel grinned at her as they walked down the street. "Look" Giselle said reaching into her pocket. "I even bought you a snow globe of New York"

Axel took it and then she remembered that he had no idea what a snow globe was.

"You shake it" she said gently showing him.

"Wow" Axel said eyes fixated on the snow as if it was real. "Are there people trapped in here?"

Giselle laughed. "No" she said finally. "It's not magic". She ignored Axel's mutter that it sure looked like it.

"Axel" she said turning to him so they were face to face on the side walk. "I don't want to move in with you. I know I said I didn't want hand holding or wooing or romance but…but I do. I wanna be normal, I wanna go back to school—I didn't think I did but I do and I want to talk for hours endlessly on the phone until Dad moans about the bill and I want to be with you, I just want to experience what ordinary seventeen year olds do"

Axel grinned and laughed suddenly. Giselle had no idea what was so funny to him.

"Elle" he said finally beaming. "What do you think I was going on about this morning when I said we needed to talk after work. I felt the same way"

Giselle gazed at him for a second and then she laughed too. Axel linked his fingers and then paused. "Does that mean, as your new boyfriend I can kiss you? Cause I've been wanting to do that since I saw you in those fancy ball gowns"

Giselle reached out and touched him on the face the stubble contrasting with her fingers.

"Yes you can kiss me" she said. When Axel did it was as gentle as it could be and Giselle had no problem increasing the kiss until she was breathless from it. One thing was for sure, she thought as they pulled apart, it was certainly very different from the kiss that she had shared with Arthur.

They carried on walking down the sidewalk and she leaned her head on his shoulder as they carried on. There was always going to be more drama in this town, there was always going to be another fight or another war and she was going to be caught in the middle of the fray because she was the Dark One's Daughter and the Pirate's Daughter and the past few months had taught her the hard lesson on how to be both. But she was also a person, a human being and a woman who was capable of being loved, who had a great capacity for love like her brother had said and she found that as she and Axel walked on down the street chatting that even if the peace didn't last long she would be happy and she would be there when her family needed her.

Whatever happened, that she knew was what mattered.

Family.


And let me know what you think with any luck the first chapter of the last arc of this story will be up sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-The first of Season Six. Giselle and Axel adjust to their new normal. Killian helps out Belle. Giselle goes back to School, there is a new villain, Emma is hiding something and Giselle must reconcile herself to becoming a big sister, even if her relationship with her father and his estranged wife is more...strained than ever.