Chapter 80: Suppression

Jane lays down on Carlos's lap and closes her eyes. She lets the sun shine onto her face and breathes deeply.

"You know… despite being so far from home, this place sure is peaceful."

Carlos swallows and looks down at his girlfriend, a content smile plastered there. Her angelic face has every detail etched to perfection; from her small dimples to each one of her eyelashes. While he was never one to look at physical beauty, watching Evie and Doug, along with the years of his mother's insistence that she was the most beautiful woman on the island, he had been taught a long time ago that the outer appearance did not matter. Personality and compatibility were worth everything. He had always wanted someone who was sensitive and caring, who could give him all that he desired and here she was… He could not have asked for a more perfect girl to date. She was beautiful on the inside and out; shy like him, sweet and enthusiastic. He knew that he loved her, he just wouldn't admit it to himself…

One of the reasons that he'd never proclaimed his love for her, especially right now, is because of what he was hiding. Would Jane understand his actions for wanting to free his mother from the Underworld? If he said something, would she try to convince him not to? If he thought about it, he did steal their only way home, which now weighed in his pocket like an anchor. A burden he must bear… What if this mother was just using him? His real one acted the same way. Why is he even bothering with all this?

He gazes at Jane for a long few moments.

"You okay?" she asks, what seems like the millionth time in the past few days. Her blue eyes open to gaze into his dark brown ones. She knew something was bothering him… she could sense it and she'd been dating him long enough to know this.

"Yeah, I'm fine… why do you ask?"

"Because if you stare at me any harder, you're going to drill a hole in my head."

"I'm… just on edge," he says, repeating his lie from before. "Everything that's happened, it's taking a toll."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she says. "Tallia is driving all the fairies at the convent crazy. While I don't like all their rules either, we're technically house guests and we need to follow them."

"You sure she's not from the island," he jokes.

"She might be adopted from Captain Hook for all we know," Jane smirks. She's happy to see a smile on her boyfriend's face, even if it's fleeting. "I kind of wish that I was staying at Regina's house."

"It is a nice mansion and all of her son's game systems are still thereafter he left for…" he pauses. "I can't remember his name or where he went."

"Henry," a voice says, startling the couple.

Doug comes out of the library with a stack of books under his chin, which didn't surprise either of them. He brings them over and sets them down on the ground. He then sits in the shade by the door and removes the top book.

"What?"

"Henry, Regina's kid's name was Henry, and he went through a portal to another world to find his own adventure."

"How do you know this?" Carlos asks.

"And why would anyone want to willingly go through a portal," the fairy teenager asks.

"Well, technically he's Evie's adopted brother, so…"

"So you want to know about your future brother-in-law," Jane teases, sitting up from her boyfriend's lap.

Doug turns bright red and opens the book to start reading again.

"You can't avoid the idea forever Dougie," the daughter of the Fairy Godmother continues, not letting the subject be dropped just yet.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he mutters.

"You both know that you're true love… so what's the holdup?"

"I'd ask the same about you and Carlos," Doug says.

It's then Carlos's turn to flush a shade of red, which spreads all the way to his ears. He also goes back to his book to avoid the topic.

"I'm… more than willing to wait," Jane says nervously. She doesn't want to scare Carlos or put any pressure on him. While she would love to one day get married and maybe have a family, they were way too young. She looks at him and worries that now the idea was planted in his head, it would make everything worse considering his current stress level.

"So am I," Doug says. "Plus I think I might have to ask permission from Regina to marry Evie."

"What's all this about marriage?" Ben asks, also coming outside, he's carrying his little brother Gideon.

It was starting to become like a party of kids in front of the Storybrooke library.

"Is everyone just deciding to come out?" Carlos asks.

"It's getting pretty stuffy in there, plus the babies are not the happiest at the moment. Which is why I volunteered to bring Gideon outside for some fresh air.

"You're so lucky to have a brother in this world," Jane says. She stands up and offers to take the baby from Ben, which he does. The tiny tot seems to recognize Jane from before because he smiles before grabbing at her hair. While the fairy babysitter winces, she doesn't complain too much. She just gently moves his little hand from her locks and allows him to cling to her necklace instead.

"He is a handful," the king of Auradon adds.

"Like you?" a voice calls out.

The group turns to see the VKs, along with Snow, David, Emma, Killian and Rumple coming up the street back towards the library.

Mal gives a smirk at the joke she made. She then pauses, unsure about whether to hug Ben or not because technically they weren't officially back together yet. The two stare at each other for a long moment before he opens his arms and she accepts them.

Meanwhile, there is no hesitation between Evie and Doug. The moment son of the dwarf saw Evie's blue hair, he was on his feet, the books are immediately forgotten. He embraces her tightly and she rubs his back, pleased to be reunited.

"How was it?" Carlos asks.

"Went as well as you would expect it would," Jay answers.

"So is she going to help?" Jane asks.

Mal snorts but doesn't say anything.

"She's merely… pondering over it," Rumple smirks. He then reaches forward to take his son from the fairy daughter. Gideon is pleased to be in father's arms again, although he had difficulty releasing Jane's necklace. The Dark One and the daughter of the Fairy Godmother become uncomfortably close as the baby is slow to let go of the treasure in his grasp. Finally, Jane removes the jewelry to be free and away from this man she knew was bad. She wasn't sure how, but she could sense the dark magic in the man's veins. It made her shudder and she steps away from Crystal's father.

It wasn't pleasant for the demonic shopkeeper either, considering his personal hatred for fairies, thinking of them as annoying gnats worth nothing but a good swat. At least he'd taken care of this girl's alleged mother figure long ago, causing her to explode into flames, and in front of Cinderella no less. No one missed this particular fairy, and no one seemed to care what he did with the wand after her abrupt passing. He hated that they granted wishes and seemed to give magic away willingly; the goodie goodies painted the picture that their fairy dust and magic did not come with a price when this aged demon knew better than all that it did.

Despite his hatred for the species and their dust, he was intrigued by the girl's potential for power. Their brief closeness allowed him to sense her magical potential… perhaps this is where Crystal inherited her unusual ability to sense such things. He was able to identify this girl's magic, although it seemed to be extremely suppressed. Perhaps she needed a little assistance to unleash it.

"Aye, the crocodile was surprisingly helpful in that," Killian says.

Rumpelstiltskin ignores the comment, especially since he has his son in his arms. His children truly had a way of pacifying his darkness and anger… although with Crystal that could be debatable sometimes.

"You seem surprised Captain," Rumple smirks.

"Usually you don't help people out of the goodness of your heart," David mentions. "Your track record for doing good deeds is pretty small."

The imp merely chuckles to himself with the knowledge that he intended to keep it that way and then enters the library to see his wife.

"Where's Harry and Crystal?" Ben asks.

"Harry did his best to try and convince his captain to do the right thing, but we're guessing that didn't go well. Then Crystal went to try and help too." Emma answers.

"And where are they now?"

"No idea," Mal shrugs. "Nor do I really care…" she pauses. "About Harry… and Crystal's a big girl, she can handle herself."

"Do you really think she'll help us?" Jane asks.

"Don't hold your breath," Mal mutters.

"He gave her an ultimatum and while I disapprove of it, it might be what you kids need to get home," Snow says.

She and David then go inside to see their own son and now their twin kids.

"Anyone else hungry?" Jay asks.

Evie rolls her eyes. "We just ate an hour ago."

"I don't care, I'm in the mood for some burgers and fries."

"How about helping me out first?"

Regina exits the library, frazzled and upset. August and Grumpy follow her. She goes up to Emma and the pirate.

"I need the sheriff and deputy to deal with these complaints. I'm the mayor of this town, not its law enforcement."

"Can't find the cops so you go straight to the top eh Leroy?" Emma asks.

"You know me so well sister," the grouchy man grumbles.

"Please take care of this, I've had enough of it and I have a town to run,"

The former Evil Queen then turns and heads towards the town hall, to get relief from everything. Paperwork now seemed like a relief from all the books and gripes from citizens.

"Mine's not really a complaint, but just a disturbance at my Papa's shop," August says, explaining it to Emma and Killian.

"We'll look into it," the blonde sighs, even with everyone's happy endings in place, the chaos never seemed to stop. "Any of you kids want to tag along?"

The teens look at one another and shake their heads.

"Okay then," Emma says. "We'll see you later."

The group of four begins to walk away.

"Hey Ben," Jay asks.

"Yeah?"

"Can you show me where that magic well was?"

"Why?"

"Because it must do something if it gave Evie magic. Plus, it gives us something to do, there's literally nothing in this town that is remotely interesting."

"Agreed," Carlos chimes in.

"I guess we can go," Ben says, looking over at Mal. "Do you remember where it was?"

"We'll find it," the daughter of Maleficent shrugs.

"Mind if we tag along?" Doug asks, holding Evie's hand.

"Why not."

"Can I come too?" Jane asks. Her interest in this magic well was worth looking into. Her mother never mentioned the magical potential of wishing wells, only wands, lamps, spellbooks and mirrors. It was kind of a let down how there were these amazing magical items and her mother, the headmistress of the school wanted to avoid or get rid of it. Magic was nothing compared to knowledge and books… at least that's what the woman always said…

Why couldn't she explore the magic in this town? At least a little bit, make the most of her time here.

"Sure," Ben says.

The group begins walking but Carlos lingers in the back.

"I'll catch up later, I have to get Dude and give him something to eat."

No one questions it any further and with their backs turned, they don't notice the son of Cruella De Vil sneak off towards Mr. Gold's pawn shop.

A/N: Hello everyone, I am so sorry that it's been forever since I updated. I have a teaching job now, which takes up a lot of my time so my updates are going to be slow for the next little while. But here is a new chapter, I hope you enjoy it.