And now...
David is reading through one of Snow's old case files, his arm leaning on his desk when a paper bird crushes on his shoulder.
"Getting bored?" he smirks.
Snow is feigning innocence. She is squatting on top of her desk absentmindedly looking at some old pictures. "I'd look inside if I were you," she says trying to hide her mischievous smile. "Everyone knows that paper birds contain very important coded messages, vital information even..."
David opens up the paper airplane and then his eyebrows shoot up. "It's not at all coded, in fact it's rather explicit, why it even has a little drawing here, on the right..." he flips the paper sideways trying to understand the drawing. "Oh, I see," he is looking intrigued. "Um, in here? Right now?"
"Tonight," Snow smiles.
"I'm filing this," he smirks, refolding the paper bird and putting it in his pocket. "This is evidence. Or maybe it would look good hanging above our bed? My wife said she wants to...-"
"No!" Snow interrupts. She is looking suddenly worried. "You've got to throw it away...what if Emma finds it?"
"I am burning this!" he changes his mind instantly and the little paper bird finds get crumpled and finds it's way into the trash can. "Mrs Charming, we are supposed to be working, I would urge you to show some restraint..." he smirks playfully.
"I like it when you sound so official," Snow says fanning herself.
David laughs. He is about to reply when the door opens. They both turn to look at the woman who walked inside their office, who is wearing large sunglasses, covering half her face.
Her designer shoes probably cost more than three month's rent for their office, Snow thinks, and then all other thoughts slip her mind because she recognizes her. She is non other than princess Ella, proud mother of triplets, married to Thomas, heir to the western kingdom.
Snow and Ella were friends once, but that was a long time ago. And even though Snow abdicated, Ella is still a princess.
"Snow?" Ella smiles brightly taking off her sunglasses, then turning to David. "And the chimera killer," she says teasingly. "You are supposed to be dead, you know..."
"Who?" David doesn't know how to reply. There is no right way to respond to this. Clearly Ella remembers things that he doesn't. "Your highness will forgive me, but I really don't remember much...-"
"Ugh, don't be so formal..." Ella cuts him off. "Please call me Ella. Snow and I go way back. Surely you remember me Snow White..."
"Of course I do" Snow smiles back at Ella. "But it feels like a whole other lifetime ago..."
Ella nods looking down. "A whole other lifetime ago," she says wistfully and for a moment she looks incredibly sad, then she goes back to her bright smile. "I should be congratulating you for your appointment as council woman..."
"Thank you!" Snow shrugs. She doesn't feel like this appointment is something worth celebrating. The truth is that she tried really hard to get out of it.
"Is it true?" Ella asks, her eyes sparkling, "is it true that you used to be lovers a long time ago, then your memories were erased and you found each other ten years later? Because if it is, it's the most tragically romantic thing I've heard in such a long time..."
"It's mostly true," Snow glances at David.
"So, when you left my castle... did you run away together?" Ella is looking at Snow expectantly.
"Your castle?" Snow is confused.
"Why yes, you were spending the summer in our castle, Thomas' castle to be exact... and we were getting ready for my wedding, you had your gown all picked out and everything. One day you were helping me pick out flowers for the wedding and the next day you'd disappeared. Left me a note, asking me to cover for you, to pretend that you were sick for a while and that you were going home, which I did... but you never did go home. Me covering for you did buy you time though, threw people off your trail and that's all I know... Prince James died, you disappeared and I never heard from you again...until the abdication, but that was such a complicated mess, I didn't know how to handle that..."
Snow looks away. Ella's support would have meant the world to her during that time. But Ella remained silent, and Snow had to face her council and her kingdom alone.
"What can we do for you Ella?" Snow asks because she is not sure she is quite ready to rehash the past.
"Oh, yeah," and now Ella is looking down. "I thought that maybe you can help me..." she says looking nervously outside the window. "I mean, if anyone can understand me, it should be you... But before I tell you what I want, I need to say that if you agree to take my case, you need to be very careful. This information can't come out, if it does, it's going to be in the evening news and in all the gossip magazines and ... it just can't happen... I can't handle that..."
"Of course," Snow replies.
Ella hesitates, and Snow stays silent, waiting.
"You see, before my triplets... I think that there was another child..."
"Another child?" Snow asks.
Ella nods. "A child that nobody remembers," she says and now her eyes are welling up. "And I thought you, since you know how easy it is for memories and people to get lost and forgotten, maybe you can help me..."
Snow takes a deep breath. "Of course we can help," she says decisively. "Tell me everything you remember..."
Ella shakes her head. "That's just it," she replies. "I don't know that I remember anything. But sometimes I wake up at night because the baby is crying and I have to feed it... and of course the baby is not there. And Thomas says its stress because of the triplets. But it's not the triplets Snow, you have to believe me... Raising the triplets is an absolute joy, I am not stressed about it. It's a different child... a different cry and I have no information, I remember absolutely nothing about it...
"Boy or a girl?" Snow asks.
"I have no idea! I told you I don't remember anything..."
"Right, but you see, what I find is that with missing memories, the information is still there, inside your head, and it only shows up when you are not trying to remember..." Snow's voice is soft, reassuring. "It's all there until someone can just reach and and grab a little snippet of them..." she continues, and Ella is listening carefully. Then Snow abruptly turns to face her. "Was it a boy or a girl, Ella?"
"A girl," Ella replies instantly without thinking. And then she gasps. She has no idea where that answer came from. And then the realization of what just happened hits her. A girl! A baby girl! And Ella covers her mouth with her hand and is now stiffing her sobs. "A girl!" she cries out. " A little girl...Snow, I lost my little girl..."
"I know," Snow whispers and she sits next to Ella placing her hand on Ella's shoulder.
"I mean, I have a charmed life, three beautiful children and a husband who adores me and maybe it's all in my head and I should leave well enough alone...but where is she? Where is my baby Snow White?"
"I don't know," Snow replies feeling her own eyes well up. " I don't, but in my experience, people that are connected will always find their way to each other. If it was true for me I know it will be true for you... so I'm going to need to ask you some questions."
David hands Ella a cup of steaming hot tea and a handkerchief and she is wiping her eyes looking incredibly grateful.
"We are going to need to talk to Thomas too of course..." Snow adds.
"Of course," Ella nods. "He is out of town at the moment. He will be gone for a couple of weeks, he is in an envoy to Triton's underwater kingdom... And if you need to still talk to him once he is back I'll let him know..."
"We could just talk to him over the magic mirror, he doesn't need to be present..." David suggests.
Ella shakes her head. "Oh, I wouldn't want to bother him while he is working... besides magic mirror's don't get good coverage underwater... and this is just too sensitive to talk over the magic mirror..."
Snow frowns. That's a bit unusual, you'd think Ella would be wanting them to talk to Thomas as soon as possible. "Um, forgive me but I do need to ask. Ella, this is Thomas' child we are looking for, isn't it?"
Ella blinks a couple of times, a stunned look on her face. "Why, of course, who else?"
"What do you think?" Snow asks once Ella has walked out of their office.
"I think that it would be nice to meet at least one Enchanted Forest prince of princess that wasn't messed up by being royalty..." David replies shaking his head. "Why? What's your take on this?"
"I'm thinking that this case hits a little too close to home," she replies.
"Does that mean you don't want to take it?"
"Oh, we'll take it," she shrugs. "I'm in if you are in."
"Okay," David grins. "I'm in. The first official case of White and Nolan. As long as I'm the one filing things..." he says pointing to Snow's desk that's already a mess.
"Right," Snow smiles back. "Any idea how to look for a missing child without anyone finding out what we are doing?"
"Why, council woman Snow," he replies, "I'd say we visit a few orphanages, let the reporters make a fuss about it, and then ask them if we can take a very discreet look at the list of their foundlings..."
Snow gapes at him. "You are good," she says, not bothering to disguise the admiration in her voice. "You want to use my new position to get access to information?"
"Of course," he smiles brightly. "You don't want to be in the council anyway, you might as well get something out of it..."
"That's a bit...-" Snow hesitates. "I don't know... Blurring the lines?"
"Investigator White, I don't know what to say," David gives her a mocking frown, leaning back on his chair. "If you are unwilling to bend the rules, how am I supposed to work with you..."
And Snow gasps, recognizing her words. That's exactly what she told Jiminy on the very first day when he insisted on partnering her up with Lieutenant Nolan.
"He is white Knight! White knights don't break rules, they don't even bend the rules, how am I supposed to work with him..."
"You heard that, did you?"
"I heard lots of things."
"You didn't hold it against me..." Snow is looking quite surprised.
"Oh, I was pretty annoyed with you, especially when you used my own magic bean to transport me to your house without as much as a warning..."
Snow makes a face. "I forgot about that..."
"But then I met Emma," David shrugs. "It was very hard to stay angry with you after that..."
"Aw!" Snow is smiling now. "My Emma..." and then she glances at her notes on Ella's case. "Can't imagine what it's like to be missing a child... Alright, so I suppose we ask my bossy fairy godmothers to dress me up because we are going to be royal benefactors, visiting orphanages..."
Snow isn't exactly looking forward to another session with her unofficial makeover team, but now that she is a councilwoman she better get used to it. Besides Ruby and Nova are going to be so excited.
"Exactly."
And then the next moment Tink has materialized and is sitting on top of Snow's desk. "Hello! Are we doing anything fun?"
Snow jumps, but David seems used to Tink's sudden appearances.
"Define fun!" he shrugs.
"Anything challenging and impossible that requires fairy assistance?"
"Looking for a missing royal child," Snow replies. "And we have to do covert investigating because the royal family doesn't want the scandal in the morning news..."
"Oooh! Convert royal snooping! I like it." Tink is rubbing her hands together. "Who is the secretive royal?"
"Princess Ella," Snow explains.
"Who is that? Is that the one who's turned her castle into a library?"
"No, that would be princess Belle. Princess Ella is the blond one with the triplets..."
"Oh," Tink looks uncertain. She can't keep the Enchanted forest royals straight. "What can I do?"
Snow fills her in with the particulars of Ella's case.
"So the child might have existed, but there is no actual proof?"
"Exactly," David nods.
"She has to have existed," Snow protests. "Ella seemed pretty shaken..."
"Ooh! I know, I know! Can I check for severed bonds?" Tink beams at them.
"How does that work?" Snow is looking intrigued.
"Same as fairy DNA testing. We can make the princess' essence to connect to those of her children. And then we can see if any of the bonds are severed. Then you'll know for sure there is a missing child..."
"Perfect!" Snow exclaims.
"This is better done at night, the essence glows brighter in the dark..."
"I'll see if Ruby can watch Emma tonight," Snow reaches for her magic mirror. " Five minutes later Snow is looking concerned. "Ruby is busy tonight..."
"I'll stay with Emma," David offers. "I can't imagine that the princess wants a large audience gawking at her for the fairy testing anyway. It will be better if it's just you..."
Ella's castle is the very definition of a fairytale palace. There are stained glass windows in every hall, fragrant rose bushes climbing up on trellises, decorative garlands and murals, colorful mosaics and singing water fountains. Everywhere they look is a feast for the eyes. Nothing like Regina's imposing gloomy castle. Snow is looking around intrigued, Emma would love living in this castle.
"Love what you've done with the place," she tells Ella.
"I did change everything," Ella replies. "Do you remember how stuffy it was?"
Snow is drawing a blank. She remembers meeting Ella and becoming friends instantly, but then her memories fade. She does not remember staying in Thomas' castle with Ella, she does not remember running away or asking Ella to cover for her.
"You really don't remember, do you!" Ella is looking amazed.
Through several corridors and three grand halls Ella leads them to a staircase up to her children's bedroom, where the triplets are asleep all snuggled up together. Though there are three beautiful canopy beds in the room, the triplets are all laying together in one of the beds. They are looking like plump little angels, two boys and one girl, sweet blond curls framing their faces, cheeks rosy from sleep, long eyelashes, looking so peaceful.
"How old are they now?"
"Almost four. They are my little rascals," Ella smiles. "Nanny puts them to sleep in their own beds and as soon as she is convinced that they are asleep and walks away, they sneak into Robbie's bed and lay down together..."
"Aw, that's too cute," Snow fawns over them. "Ella, they look just like you.."
"Celia has Thomas' dimples," Ella's voice is pulsing with tenderness pride.
"Alright," Tink coughs a couple of times. This might be a little too much domestic bliss for her liking. "Let's do this..."
"Will it hurt?" Ella asks placing her hand on Tink's arm.
"They won't feel a thing," Snow sounds very reassuring.
"You've done this? Your child didn't feel a thing?" Ella is not convinced yet.
"Emma slept through it," Snow replies, thinking of that incredible life altering day, when she told David about her torture induced memories, and when they asked Tink to do a fairy DNA test on Emma.
Tink hesitates. "Are you ready?"
Ella draws a sharp breath and nods.
Tink sprinkles a little bit of fairy dust towards Ella's heart then she whispers "find your children..."
Ella's essence looks like a silver moonbeam, it rises instantly from her heart and connects to her three sleeping children. The three lines are strong and bright, glowing, illuminating her children's faces.
Just three lines, one line connecting to each child. Perhaps Ella is mistaken about the missing child, Snow thinks and then she sees it, a faded, darker thread, like fraying fabric almost invisible because the other threads are so bright and strong.
"There it is," Tink whispers.
The thinner line reaches towards the open window, swaying in the breeze.
"I see it" Ella exclaims, her eyes opening wide, her voice cracking as she rushes towards the window. "I see it! Can we follow it?"
"It's a severed bond," Tink replies. "We can't follow it..."
"Please!" Ella whispers, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please!" her hands reaches as if to tug on the bond, reach for her missing child. But the bond is not a tangible thing, so her fingers just run through the light.
"We did this test to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is a missing child," Snow explains. "And now we know... we have a plan on how to find this child, Ella, but it's going to take time, it's mot going to happen tonight..."
Ella wipes her eyes and is looking hopeful again. "Alright," she whispers. "Alright... thank you for doing this..."
"You are welcome," Snow replies and then somehow Ella and Snow are hugging each other.
Tink is shifting her weight uncomfortably. This is too much for her, she wants to just disappear, but Snow is family. She can't just teleport away and leave Snow behind. Not without having to explain to David why she left his wife at Ella's castle. So she stands perfectly still and waits for the emotional moment to pass.
Tink glances at the three children sleeping tightly and the looks at the stars through open window. The children look so innocent. And the window is open. So dangerous, Tink thinks. Practically an invitation to Neverland shadows to come and entice a child to fly away. How devastated would Ella be if she lost another child?
Ella is Snow's friend. Snow is family. So when no one is looking Tink designs and throws a protection spell around the triplets room. A spell that would keep any sort of Neverland intruders away. Then she lets out a sigh of contentment. Crisis averted.
Everything is perfectly quiet in Snow's cottage. Snow tiptoes into Emma's room to find David asleep, leaning on Emma's headboard, the book he was reading to Emma still clutched to his chest. Emma is snoring lightly and Wilby is quite content laying at her feet.
"Goodnight, sweet girl," Snow whispers, kissing her, then she shakes David gently.
"Snow," he smiles, but he doesn't make a move to get up. He closes his eyes and he is sound asleep again. Funny, Snow thinks, David is the one to jump up whenever she gets a nightmare, or when Emma walks into their bedroom in the morning. Snow assumed he was a light sleeper. But maybe he is finally exhausted, after taking care of her night after night, waking her up every time she has a terrible dream. She should let him sleep here, but his legs are hanging off Emma's bed, he doesn't exactly look that comfortable.
Snow shakes him again and this time he sits up.
"I'm awake," he mumbles. "You are back...How did it go?"
"It worked," Sow whispers, tugging on his arm "I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, now come to bed..."
"Alright," he murmurs then he practically sleepwalks into their bedroom and sits at the edge of their bed rubbing his eyes. "Hold on... I'm awake, give me a minute..." he says.
"A minute for what?" Snow frowns.
It takes him three tries but he does manage to take his t-shirt off.
"There was a paper bird, and a little drawing, about tonight..." he yawns. "No code... just vital information... I didn't forget," he is almost makings sense. "Can't fall asleep yet, my wife has plans..."
Snow stifles her smile and leans in to kiss him, running her fingers through his hair. "Your wife, huh? You look exhausted," she whispers, cradling his head on her body. "Go back to sleep, Charming. I'll send you another paper bird tomorrow, I promise..."
He mumbles something indiscernible, as he lays back on his pillow.
Snow covers him up with a quilt, then she lights a candle on her nightstand before she climbs on their bed. She doesn't lay down right away. She sits up on the bed and thinks of Ella laying in bed in the castle alone, not knowing where her daughter is.
Snow's eyes well up. She is so grateful, that after ten, hard, foggy confusing years, tonight she knows exactly where here people are. Emma is sleeping in her bedroom. David is laying next to her.
He is breathing evenly but he must sense her looking at him because he opens his eyes, and this time he looks entirely awake. "Something wrong?" he asks, then he notes the candle on her nightstand. "Did you get another nightmare?"
"Nothing is wrong, everything is as it should be..." Snow blows the candle out and then she smiles, because he reaches for her and pulls her in his arms.
Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing! I appreciate it!
Jennifer Baratta chapter 23 Outstanding chapter
Thank you!
Alexa chapter 23 Wow! That was great! They were a perfect team of investigators from the start! Hope they eventually find a way to get all their missing memories back.
Thanks Alexa!
Bwayrox chapter 23 I always like a good re-telling of Snow Falls :)
:) Snow Falls was so good...
Bella1296 chapter 23 Lovely chapter!
Thanks Bella!
DragonRanger200 chapter 23 This chapter was perfect! Just the right amount of action and cuteness. I wish Emma was in it to give it an overload of cute but even I am so smart I know she's not born. I love your twist on Snow and David's meeting it was incredible!
Thank you! I really enjoyed this one. Writing sassy Snowing banter is one of my favorite things