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Chapter 5
The trio had just stepped outside of the hospital when Hanna stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes were filled with panic. The idea that she was going to be meeting her parents had fully sunk in. Of course she had "met" them before. Mary Margaret had been her teacher for the whole school year and she had talked to David Nolan a few times since she had helped wake him up from his coma, but this was different. Now, she was going to be meeting them for the first time as Snow White and Prince Charming—as her parents. She didn't know what it was like to have parents. She didn't know how to be someone's daughter. What if she did the wrong thing? What if she said the wrong thing? What if they didn't like her? She wasn't exactly the most perfect child—especially with her running the streets of Storybrooke as she pleased and her occasionally thievery. Then she thought back to her last encounter with her mother. She had thrown a complete tantrum and yelled at her telling her to leave. Would she be upset with Hanna for the way she acted? Would she tell David about the incident? Would he be disappointed in her too? All of these thoughts filled Hanna's head as her breathing became more rapid. She could hardly catch her breath. She was definitely panicking.
Emma and Henry noticed that Hanna was no longer walking with them. They turned around to see Hanna pacing back and forth, breathing heavy, and wringing her hands. Henry had seen Hanna do this before. He knew she was freaking out.
"Hanna…just calm down." Henry told her gently. "Everything's going to be okay."
"Kid, what's wrong with her?" Emma asked Henry.
"She's just about to go into full panic mode."
Emma watched her sister. She knew Hanna must be thinking all of the same thoughts that had been rushing through her own head just a few minutes ago. The thoughts about meeting their parents for the first time. They had both grown up without any stable parent in their life. They had that in common. They had a lot in common actually. Not only didn't they have any parental figure in their lives, but they both came from very similar situations. They were on their own and fended for themselves. They both had experience with breaking into places and stealing from time to time. Neither one of them knew what it was like to have parents. Meeting her parents scared the crap out of Emma, she could only imagine what Hanna must be feeling. Emma had 28 years to accept the fact that she didn't and probably never would have any parents. Even though they were technically twins, Hanna was only actually ten years old. She only had ten years of memories to look back on. She was still young enough to dream about what her parents would be like and what it would be like to finally meet them. Emma had the same dream growing up, but the harshness of the world slowly drove it away. Emma might have given up on it a long time ago, but she still remembered what it was like to be holding onto that dream. The fact that the dream of finding their parents was going to be coming true for both of them in probably just a few minutes was a very overwhelming thought. Emma herself wanted to break down and start panicking with Hanna, but she pulled herself together and went to talk to her sister.
Emma ran over to Hanna, "Hey, hey…Han calm down"
"No…No…I can't…I can't do this," Hanna managed to say in between breaths as she continued to pace back and forth.
"Yes you can."
Hanna just shook her head and continued to pace, not even bothering to look at Emma.
"Yes you can," Emma said again, gently grabbing Hanna by the shoulders in an attempt to make her stop and look at her. "You can do this. We can do this…together."
Hanna looked into her sister's eyes and her breathing began to even out. "What if they don't like me? I completely freaked out on Miss Blanchard earlier. What if she's mad at me about that? I just…I don't know."
"First of all," Emma started, "they are going to like you. Who wouldn't like you? You might be a pain the butt sometimes, but I still like you."
That made Hanna smile a little bit.
Emma continued, "And I'm not really sure what happened earlier, but I highly doubt Mary Margaret is going to be mad at you. She knows you were just upset about Henry. She understands."
Hanna nodded in agreement. Deep down she knew Emma was right. They were her parents. They were going to like her, even love her no matter what. That concept was just a hard thing for Hanna to accept. She wasn't sure if anyone had ever actually loved her before. That thought started to trigger the "freak out" mode in her brain, but she just took a deep breath and looked up at her sister. "Emma, I'm scared."
"Me too, Han, me too. It's going to be okay though"
"You promise?"
"Yeah I do," Emma answered with a smile.
"Okay, let's go," Hanna said as she reached out for her sisters hand. They would do this. They would do the thing that completely terrified them. They would go find their parents—together.
Henry just stood back and watched the whole interaction between his mom and his best friend. Emma was really good at calming Hanna down, a job that had always belonged to Henry. Hanna had major trust issues, and that's why Henry was the only one who could talk her down from her occasional panic attacks— until now that is. He was glad to see that Hanna was opening up to someone other than him. Especially since that someone was her sister and that he had played a role in reuniting the two of them. Hanna seemed to help Emma stay calm about meeting their parents too. Henry knew Emma probably wanted to freak out just as much as Hanna was, but she stayed strong for her sister. He watched the two of them walk hand in hand to find their parents as he followed along behind. Henry could not wait for this family reunion.
Across town, Snow White and Prince Charming were together. They were reunited at last. After 28 long years, the true loves had found each other just like they always do.
"You found me," Snow said as she looked into the eyes of her prince.
"Did you ever doubt I would?" he asked with a grin on his face.
After a quick embrace, Snow looked up at Charming and smiled. "I have something to tell you. A little surprise actually." She realized she needed to fill Charming in on what had happened after he had taken Emma to the wardrobe the night of the curse.
Snow had just watched as Charming took Emma away. She knew that she would not get to see her baby for 28 long years. She may never get to hold her in her arms again. She would never get to watch her grown up. She would never get to do any of the things with her that she and Charming had planned. All of these thoughts raced through her head as she cried out for her baby that was taken away too soon. In between her cries, she heard Doc trying to calm her down. She wasn't even listening to him until she heard him say, "Your majesty, there's another baby have to push." This got her attention. She couldn't have heard him right. She wasn't going to have another baby. She wasn't pregnant with twins. Was she? She shook her head in confusion and heard Doc say "It's coming." Before Snow knew it, there she was. Her second daughter. She was pregnant with twins. How could she not know that? That didn't matter now though. All that mattered was the beautiful little girl that was being placed into her arms. Snow gazed into her daughter's beautiful blue eyes and couldn't help but smile. "You are our little surprise aren't you?" she said to the bundle in her arms. "Your Daddy and I weren't expecting you, but I am so happy that you are here." After seeing Emma, Snow didn't know her heart could contain so much love—the love she had for Charming and for Emma had filled her heart so much. When she looked into the eyes of this little one she learned her heart could hold more love than she could imagine. She had two perfect daughters and a perfect husband. "Mommy's loves you so much my beautiful girl, my Hanna." Snow could have sworn she saw the baby smile at the mention of her name. "Do you like that name? Well, good. Hanna it is then," Snow said as she kissed Hanna on her forehead. "I hope your Daddy likes that name." The thought of Charming brought Snow back to reality. Her heart plummeted. The curse was still coming. Did Charming make it to the wardrobe? Was Emma going to be safe? Snow had to know the fate of her husband and her first born daughter. She listened for any noise that might be coming from outside of the door. She heard nothing. No sounds of fighting or any commotion. Snow desperately wanted to check on Charming and make sure Emma had made it through the wardrobe. Snow knew Hanna would not be able to go through the wardrobe, for it only had enough magic for one. Emma was the saviour, she was their only chance of breaking the curse and setting them free from what was to come. Rumpelstiltskin had told them Emma was the one who would break the curse on her 28th birthday. Had he known about the other baby? Did he care? He probably knew only one would be the saviour and break the curse. Snow had to make sure Emma made it through the wardrobe safely. She was their only chance of escaping this. What if Charming was hurt and Emma hadn't gotten away? Snow was torn, she didn't want to leave Hanna, but it wasn't safe to bring her along. And she had to go. The fate of their whole kingdom depended on the saviour returning to break the curse. Snow slowly began to get up out of her bed. She was in a lot of pain, and it was very difficult. She walked across the room with Hanna still in her arms and placed the newborn in the bassinet. "Mommy will be right back, I just have to go find your daddy and your sister." The baby smiled up at her. Snow gave Hanna one last kiss and left the room. She stumbled into the nursery and found Charming on the floor. She fell to the ground next to him. "No, no, no," she continued to repeat, "please, please come back to me." She kissed him, hoping that would wake him, but it didn't work. She heard someone coming and looked up to see the Evil Queen and her black knights. She heard one of the knights say that the baby got away. Snow was relieved to hear this, she knew that the curse would break and she would be reunited with her family again. "You're going to lose," she told the Queen, "I know that now. Good will always win." All of a sudden the ceiling began to crack and wind started to blow. The curse was happening and it was happening now. Snow knew Emma had made it through the wardrobe and hoped that she was safe. She held on tight to Charming as the wind began to pick up. She worried about what would happen to Hanna. There was no way she would be able to make it back to her now. Where would she end up? Would she be okay? Snow should have trusted that Charming would have gotten Emma through the wardrobe and stayed with Hanna. Why did she leave her? What would happen to her baby?—her other daughter.
Snow finished telling Charming all about Emma's twin sister and his eyes were wide with shock. He couldn't believe Snow had been pregnant with twins all along. He couldn't believe he was the father of not one, but two little girls. Okay, maybe one wasn't so little, but they will both always be his little girls no matter how old they were.
"Twins?" he asked Snow with a smile on his face.
"Mhmm," she answered him with a smile of her own.
"I like it by the way," Charming told his wife, "the name Hanna."
"I was hoping you would," Snow said as she leaned in for another kiss. "Now, let's find our daughters," she said as she leaned back again.
"So it's true?" Emma said from behind the reunited couple.
Snow and Charming turned around and saw Emma. They were overcome with joy at seeing their daughter for the first time in 28 years. They couldn't believe this was actually her standing right in front of them. She was beautiful. They never wanted to take their eyes off of her.
"You found us," Snow said as she moved forward to embrace her daughter, tears falling from her eyes. She had only held her baby once for a few second before she was taken away. Now, she has the chance to hold her again and she was going to cherish this moment. Charming stepped forward and embraced Emma as well. He too had gotten the chance to hold her only once. The moments in which he got to hold her were spent fighting off the black knights trying to make his way to the wardrobe, cradling her fragile head the whole way. He'll never forget that dreadful moment when he had to put her in the wardrobe and shut the door. But now he was holding his baby girl again, cradling her head just like he did all those years ago.
Hanna stood behind Emma, too shy to approach her parents. She just watched as her parents held on tight to her sister. Emma seemed to be okay with it, although Hanna wasn't able to see Emma's face to really see how she felt about all of this hugging. Hanna wondered if it made Emma as uncomfortable as it did her. Not that Hanna didn't want a hug from her parents, but she just wasn't use to that kind of stuff and didn't know how she would be able to handle it. She didn't think she could handle it. She knew she couldn't handle it. She could feel herself start to panic. Her breathing was starting to become rapid again. What am I thinking? I can't do this. I am not ready for this. It's too soon. They're not going to like me, I know it. Maybe I can get out of here before they notice. All of these thoughts ran through Hanna's mind as she slowly started to back away from the scene in front of her. Henry noticed the panic begin to form in his friend's eyes. He knew exactly what she was thinking and what she was planning on doing. He was not going to let her just run away. She was going to do this. She was going to face her parents. She may be scared now, but she'll get over that feeling soon enough.
"Hanna, no," Henry whispered to her as he held onto her hand to prevent her from running. "You're going to be fine."
Hanna looked over at Henry and listened to what he had said. She instantly began to calm down. Henry always managed to calm her down and she wasn't sure how he did it, but he did. She nodded her head at him, letting him know she wasn't going anywhere. He released her hand just as Snow and Charming looked up in search of their other daughter.
They let go of Emma, and Hanna slowly walked up so she was beside her sister. Emma looked down and gave Hanna an encouraging smile. She wanted Hanna to know that it was okay and that she could do this. More importantly Emma wanted Hanna to know she was right here beside her.
"Hanna," was all Snow could say before she pulled her little girl into a hug. She couldn't believe in the last few seconds she had been able to hold both of her daughters again. She had gotten to hold Hanna a little bit longer than she held Emma, but it still wasn't long enough. As she held onto her baby, she could only think of the last time she saw that beautiful face smiling up at her before she left to check on Charming and Emma. She had told the little one that she would be right back, but she never did make it back. Snow never wanted to have leave either of her girls like that ever again.
Snow released Hanna, wanting to give Charming a chance to see the daughter he only just found out about moments ago. "I never even knew about you," Charming said as he picked the girl up hugging her tightly, cradling her head just as he did Emma's. Even though he just learned about Hanna, he felt just as much love for her as he did for Emma. He held onto her tight never wanting to let her go.
"She was our little surprise," Snow said with a laugh as she looked up at Hanna.
Hanna lifted her head and gave her mom a smile in return. She looked back at her dad still smiling. Maybe Emma was right. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.
"Grandpa?" Henry said from behind. Snow started to laugh and Hanna looked down at Henry and laughed too. He looked up at her with a grin on his face.
"Yeah kid. I guess so," Charming said as he brought Henry into a hug with his other arm.
"She did it. She saved you," Henry said as he lifted his head.
"She saved us all," said Snow as she gave Emma a warm smile.
