Hey everyone! I'm so sorry it took me awhile to get this chapter up. It's a little bit longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it! Enjoy! :)
Chapter 13
Hanna woke up and tried to remember what had happened the night before…or earlier this morning actually. She didn't know how she had gotten back into her bed. Oh geez, they must have carried me up here after I threw that fit, Hanna thought as she covered her face with her hands. She felt a little embarrassed about how she acted. She hadn't planned on throwing a complete tantrum like that; her emotions had just gotten the best of her and before she knew it she was being carried over to the couch kicking and screaming and then sobbing uncontrollably while her parents held her. She really didn't want to go downstairs and face them…well her mom. Her dad was probably at work already. She wasn't worried about getting into trouble really, she would actually prefer that to what she was about to encounter when she went downstairs. She knew her mom would want to talk about it, and that was something she wasn't sure she wanted to do. I could just stay in my bed all day, she thought before the smell of pancakes and bacon found her nose. The smell caused her stomach to growl, so Hanna decided to suck it up and just go downstairs. Maybe her mom would just pretend that nothing happened last night and she would get away without having to talk.
Hanna crept slowly down the stairs and regretted her decision to get out of bed when she got to the bottom and spotted her mother. She just took a deep breath and forced herself to walk towards the kitchen.
"Good morning," Snow told her daughter with a smile. "I was hoping the smell of breakfast would pull you out of bed."
"Yeah, I am pretty hungry," Hanna said shyly as she sat down.
"Well, here you go," Snow said as she placed a plate of food down in front of her.
"Good morning ladies," David said as he came into the kitchen.
"What are you still doing here?" Hanna asked. Her dad was usually at work by this time.
"I decided to sleep in a little."
"Oh," was all Hanna said as she looked down and continued eating her breakfast. She knew he probably wanted to sleep in because she had kept him up last night. She figured he probably wanted to be here to talk to her when she woke up too.
They had managed to get through breakfast without her parents bringing up last nights incident. There was just normal breakfast conversation. Hanna popped the last bite of pancake in her mouth and felt relieved that they weren't forcing her to talk…yet. "Breakfast was good, thanks," Hanna said as she started to get up and go to the couch to watch TV.
"Hold on a second," David told her.
"What?" Hanna said as she sat back down and looked at her parents, who were looking at each other. They were having one of their silent conversations…that wasn't a good sign. Oh great, here it comes. They're gonna make me talk.
"Hanna, we need to talk about what happened last night," Snow said.
"I know," Hanna said as she dropped her head.
"Honey, why couldn't you sleep last night?" Snow and David were pretty sure they already knew the answer to this, but they were hoping Hanna would tell them.
Hanna sat there for awhile before answering. This is what she didn't want to do. She didn't want to tell them. It made her feel like a baby that she had trouble sleeping in a room by herself. She thought she was too old to be acting that way, but she couldn't help it. She had never slept by herself, and she wasn't use to it. She didn't want to them to know, but she also knew that they wanted an answer and that she wasn't leaving this table until she gave them one. Hanna just took a deep breath and decided to just tell them. "I don't know…I just have trouble sleeping alone. I grew up sleeping in a room full of girls, and then I shared a room with Henry when I was here and I just…I couldn't fall asleep last night," Hanna was talking about a mile a minute now. "When I couldn't sleep at the orphanage I would just climb out my window and go for a walk. I thought if I just went outside for a little bit it might help me fall asleep. Obviously, I can't climb out the window here, so I had to go through the front door. That's why I got caught," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm sorry I freaked out on you. I was just really determined to go for a walk. I…I didn't know how to tell you. I'm not good at talking about things and how I'm feeling and I…"
"Hey, hey, slow down. It's okay," David said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Hanna, you're doing it right now," Snow told her daughter.
"Doing what?" Hanna said as looked up at her mom a little confused.
"You're talking about it," Snow said with a smile. "You're telling us how you were feeling last night."
"Oh, I guess I am," Hanna said, feeling a little embarrassed. She hadn't really realized what she was saying. Her thoughts had been spinning around in her head, and she was talking so fast.
"Does it make you feel better to talk about it?" David asked.
"I don't know," Hanna said as she shrugged her shoulders. All of this stuff still made her feel uncomfortable and she honestly wasn't sure how she felt about it.
"That alright. It's a step in the right direction, and I want you to know that you can talk to us about anything, okay?" Snow told her. Hanna just nodded in response.
Snow and Charming looked at each other and decided that they had made enough progress this morning. She had finally told them, herself, why she had gotten so upset last night. It may have taken a whole melt down and a good nights sleep before she did, but she had eventually opened up to them. Maybe next time she would be able to do it before the tantrum started.
"How would you like to come to work with me today?" David asked. He knew she felt left out when Henry came to work with him and Emma the other day.
"Really?" Hanna said as she looked up at her father, eyes full of excitement. "Yeah I want to!"
"Okay," Charming said with laugh, "I'm going to grab a quick shower, you go upstairs and get dressed."
"Okay!" Hanna said as she ran up the stairs.
Hanna threw on the first thing she could find and rushed back downstairs.
"Are you gonna brush that hair wild woman?" Snow asked Hanna, whose hair was all over the place.
"Nah, its fine," Hanna hated brushing her hair. It was always so knotty, and it took forever.
"Come on, I'll do it for you," Snow said as she led Hanna into her and David's room.
Hanna rolled her eyes, but decided not to protest. She sat down on the bed while her mom got the brush. As her mom brushed her long curly locks, Hanna felt her eyes start to close as she enjoyed feeling. She had never had anyone brush her hair for her before. It was nice. Her mom seemed to be getting right through the knots without any problem. Hanna thought maybe she could get use to this.
Once Snow had gotten all the knots out, she decided to fix Hanna's hair as well. She seemed to be enjoying it anyways, and she wasn't objecting. Snow did some intricate braiding and pulled pieces of Hanna's hair back, leaving most of it down.
"All done," Snow said.
Hanna reached back to feel what her mom had done to her hair. "Here let me show you," Snow said with a laugh. She stood Hanna in front of her big mirror and held the hand mirror up behind her so she could see her hair.
"Wow, that's so pretty," Hanna said as she admired her mother's creation. "Thanks," Hanna said as she turned around and smiled up at her mom.
"Anytime," Snow said with a smile as she pulled Hanna in for a hug.
"Ready to go?" David said as he entered the room.
"Yeah, let's go!" Hanna said as she ran over to put on her shoes and coat. "Bye, mom!"
"Have fun you two. Be safe," Snow told them. "I mean it Charming," Snow said as she grabbed her husband by the coat and pulled him close. "Keep her safe." Snow was still worried about Cora being here, she didn't know what she might be up to.
"I will Snow," David said before leaning in and giving his wife a kiss goodbye.
Hanna looked up and rolled her eyes. Their kiss was turning into more than just a goodbye kiss. "Ugh, Dad come on," Hanna whined.
"Coming," David said, giving his wife one more quick kiss.
"I thought we were going to the station?" Hanna asked as David pulled in front of Granny's.
"First rule of going to work: always stop at Granny's for your morning coffee," David told her with a wink.
Hanna smiled. She liked that rule. She would obviously be getting a hot chocolate instead of coffee though. Any chance she could get a hot chocolate, she would take it.
Once their hot drinks were in hand, the two made their way over to the station. There wasn't a whole lot of action going on today. Everyone was still on the look out for Cora, but no one had seen any signs of her. David knew it was just going to be a slow day, so he got himself settled at his desk and got started on the paperwork that had began piling up. Before starting on his mountain of paperwork, he showed Hanna how to file. Henry had done the same when he came to station. That kept her busy most of the morning. Hanna looked up at the clock and noticed it was almost one. She was getting tired of filing and her stomach started to growl. She looked over at her father. He seemed to be really focused on the file he was working on. He hadn't said a word to her since he started working on it. Hanna put her files down and slowly made her way over to his desk. She pulled up a chair to his desk and sat across from him. She placed her elbows on the desk and rested her chin in her hands as she watched him work. David grinned a little when he noticed her sitting across from him, but kept his eyes on his work. He needed to finished it up real quick before they went to lunch.
"Are you done?" Hanna asked as she watched him finally close the file he was working on. She was having a hard time sitting there quietly, it felt like he was taking forever to finish. It had actually only been a few minutes though.
"All done. Shall we go get some lunch?" David said as he stood up and grabbed his coat.
"Yes, I'm starving," Hanna said as she ran to get her coat as well.
Hanna and David sat and talked as they waited for their food to arrive. Hanna ordered her usual grilled cheese and hot chocolate, while David got a burger and fries. Ruby finally brought their food, and Hanna enjoyed every last bite. She didn't realize how hungry working at the police station made you.
"How would you like to go to the stables instead of going back to the station?" David asked Hanna.
"Really? Don't you have more work to do?" she asked. She remembered that the pile of paperwork on his desk that needed to be completed was still pretty big.
"I can do it another day," David said with a shrug of his shoulders. It was too nice out and he did not feel like doing paperwork all afternoon.
"Okay! Do you think I'll finally get to ride today?"
"You just might," David said with a grin. That made Hanna smile. She has been so excited to finally ride her horse. She hoped today would be the day.
"Can I get another hot chocolate to go?" she asked, looking up at her father.
David looked down at her and thought for a moment. "I guess so, but don't tell your mother that I let you have three hot chocolates today."
"I won't" Hanna giggled as she ran over to Ruby to place her to go order.
"Why do I have to clean out Henry's horse's stall?" Hanna complained.
"Because he's away, the stall needs cleaned, and it's the nice thing to do," David told her.
"Okay," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes, "but he totally owes me."
David just laughed as he helped her clean the stall.
David watched Hanna interact with her horse and knew she was ready to ride. The horse trusted Hanna, he could tell. He slipped away, while Hanna was brushing her horse, to call Snow and have her come down to the stables. He knew she would not want to miss out on their daughter's first ride on a horse.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Hanna asked as she ran over, giving Snow a hug.
"Well, I couldn't miss my daughter's very first ride on her horse now could I?"
"Wait, what?" Hanna said as she looked up at her parents with excitement. "I get to ride my horse today?"
"Mhmm, I think she's ready for you," David told her.
David and Snow helped Hanna get her horse all saddled up and ready to ride. They led the horse out to the small field next to the stables. Hanna had been so excited, but once they had made it to the open field and she saw her horse standing their waiting for her, she wasn't sure she, herself, was ready. Her nerves began to take over. She had grown up visiting these horses. She always liked to pet and feed them. She had always dreamed of riding one someday. Now that the time had come, she didn't know if she wanted to anymore. Hanna eyed the horse up and down. It was pretty big, and she had no idea what she was doing. What if she fell off? What if the horse got spooked and took off running? Hanna thought maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Okay, let's get you up there," Charming said as he reached out to help Hanna get onto her horse.
"Wait," Hanna said as she started to back away, "I don't know about this. It…it looks like it might rain. We should probably just go back inside."
Snow and Charming looked up at the sky, then at each other. There were some clouds in the sky, but they weren't rain clouds. Hanna knew that. They both knew something else was troubling her.
"Hanna, what's the matter?" Snow asked as she knelt down in front of her daughter.
Hanna looked down, not wanting to answer. She didn't want them to know she was afraid to do the thing she had been begging to do since she got her horse.
"Hey, look at me," Snow said as she gently lifted her chin. "I promise you, once you get up on that horse you are going to love it. You're never going to want to get off. Trust me."
"Okay," Hanna said with a smile. She walked over and let her dad help her onto the horse.
"How about I lead you around for awhile until you're used to it?" David asked her. Hanna nodded in response.
After only a few minutes, Hanna felt completely comfortable and told her dad she was ready to do it herself. He gave her a few instructions on how to work the reins and how to make the horse slow down if she was going too fast. Hanna started off just walking her horse around, but it wasn't too long before she decided to give the horse a little nudge and had her practically galloping through the field. She loved it and couldn't believe she had almost been to afraid to try. Her mom was right, she never wanted to stop. Snow and Charming enjoyed this moment they had with their daughter. They loved to watch the smile on her face as she rode through the field. They were thrilled to have the chance to experience this "first" with her. They had missed out on so many, but were glad to have this one. Snow secretly hoped Emma had never ridden a horse before either, so they could have the same experience with her. It would probably take a lot more convincing to get Emma on a horse though if she didn't want to. Snow and Charming had to pretty much force Hanna off the horse once it started getting close to dinner time. They helped her remove the saddle and brush down her horse again before heading home.
Everyone was just finishing up dinner when Snow's phone rang. "Oh, it's Emma," Snow said as she went to answer it. "Hey Em, how's everything going?" There was a long pause as Emma started tell Snow something. Hanna couldn't hear what Emma was saying, but she really wanted to talk to her.
"Can I talk to her?" Hanna asked as she went and stood next to her mom.
Snow just shook her head and went to finish the phone call in the privacy of her bedroom. Hanna noted the look of confusion on her mom's face as she listened to what Emma was telling her. Hanna wanted to know what was going on, so she went to follow her mom into the bedroom. David stopped her before she got too close. He knew Emma must be telling Snow something important, something she didn't want prying ears to hear.
"Dad, I just wanna talk to Emma," Hanna whined.
"I know, but just give them a minute."
"Fine," Hanna said with a sigh.
When Snow finally emerged from the bedroom, she definitely looked like she had just heard some interesting news.
"Snow, what's going on?" David asked. He could tell by the look on her face that something was up.
Snow looked at her husband and daughter and tried to figure out the best way to explain to them what Emma had just told her. She would have preferred to tell Charming in private, but she knew Hanna would find out eventually. Snow took a deep breath and began to tell them about the conversation she just had with Emma. She told them that Rumplestiltskin's son was Henry's father and that Emma had just found out herself who Henry's father really was. Hanna and David looked at Snow with shock, they were trying to wrap their heads around what she had just told them.
"So, Rumplestiltskin is Henry's grandfather?" David asked.
"Apparently," Snow said with nod of her head.
"But I'm his grandfather."
"You can have more than one," Snow told him.
"So, his step grandmother is Regina, the Evil Queen."
"Actually, his step great-grandmother and she's also his adoptive mother."
"It's a good thing we don't have Thanksgiving in our land, cuz that dinner would suck,"
Hanna tried to hold back a grin as she listened to her parents try and figure out the complicated relationships of their family. Hanna found it all very amusing. It reminded her of when she and Henry were trying to figure out who everyone in this town was while they were still cursed. She thought their family dynamics were definitely a little weird, but she liked it.
"I think Thanksgiving would be fun," Hanna said with a giggle.
Snow and Charming just smiled at Hanna and thought maybe this new family connection wouldn't be a bad thing after all. They thought it might just mellow everyone out a little bit.
"Can we have hot chocolate while we watch the movie?" Hanna asked her mom.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," Snow told her with a smile as she went to the kitchen to make it.
While Snow's back was turned, Charming gave Hanna a look, reminding her not to tell her mom how much hot chocolate he had already let her have today. Hanna gave him a look back, letting him know that she would keep their secret.
David and Hanna had the movie ready to go and were sitting on the couch waiting for Snow. She brought the hot chocolates over and handed one to her husband. She held out a mug for Hanna, but quickly pulled it back as Hanna reached for it. "Just how many of these have you already had today?" Snow asked, eyeing her daughter suspiciously. She knew the combination of her daughter's sweet tooth and her husband's inability to tell her no, probably resulted in numerous hot chocolates throughout the day.
Hanna looked up at her mom, ready to tell a little lie. She didn't want to get her dad into trouble. She wasn't worried though, she knew she was good at telling lies. "This would just be my second one," Hanna said innocently. She knew her mom wouldn't buy that her dad hadn't at least gotten her one hot chocolate today.
"Yeah nice try. You either tell me how much you really had or I'm taking this one back to the kitchen," Snow said as she pretended to take Hanna's mug back to the kitchen. She was going to let Hanna have her hot chocolate, but she wanted to get the real answer out of her daughter. She wanted to know how much her dad had let her have today.
Hanna sat their stunned. Her mom knew she was lying. Nobody ever knew when she was lying. "Okay fine," Hanna said quickly before her mom took away her drink. "I had three today," Hanna said quietly as she looked down.
"What was that?" Snow asked, pretending she couldn't hear what Hanna had said.
"I had three hot chocolates already today," Hanna said a little louder as she looked up at her mom.
"That sounds more like it," Snow said as she handed Hanna her hot chocolate. "I can't believe you let her have three hot chocolates, David." That actually wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be, but she felt like messing with her husband a little bit.
Hanna looked up at her father. "Sorry dad," she said as she winced.
"Yeah yeah, your mom threatens to take away one hot chocolate and you give in. So much for keeping secrets with you," David said with a grin as he put his arm around her.
Hanna smiled up at her dad and shrugged her shoulders, "What can I say, I like my hot chocolate." Snow and Charming just laughed and sat back to enjoy the movie with their daughter.
Hanna had only made it about half way through the movie before she started falling asleep. David and Snow looked down at their daughter to see her head bobbing as she was trying to stay awake. They both looked at each other and decided to stop the movie for tonight and put their daughter to bed. Hanna opened her eyes when she heard the movie turn off.
"Come on kiddo, let's get you to bed," Charming said.
"You can barely keep your eyes open, sweetie," Snow told her.
Hanna opened her mouth to protest. She didn't remember falling asleep, and it didn't seem like it was very late. She wanted to stay up and finish the movie. Then, she slowly started to realize that her parents probably just wanted her to go to bed, so that they could have some alone time. They hadn't had a lot since the curse broke and they were reunited. They had spent most of their time dealing with the problems in this town or in another realm. Hanna thought if they wanted to spend time alone all they needed to do was ask. They didn't need to pretend that she was too tired and needed to go to bed. Hanna didn't feel tired and hadn't been falling asleep during the movie. She was starting to get upset that her parents didn't want her around and stood up to leave.
"We'll take you up…" Snow started to say.
"No," Hanna said as she shook her head, "I just want to go myself."
Snow and Charming watched as Hanna left the room and headed up the stairs. They knew she would probably have trouble sleeping just like she had the night before, so they planned on sitting up there with her until she fell asleep. They could tell by the look on her face that something was bothering her. They knew she had had a long day and was probably just tired. They didn't want to push her into talking about it and knew a good nights sleep was probably all she needed. They agreed to give her some time to fall asleep before going up and checking on her. They didn't want her laying up there for hours trying to sleep like she did last night. They hoped if something was upsetting her, she would talk about it then.
Hanna laid down in her bed and grabbed her baby blanket from it's hiding spot under her pillow. She happened to glance at the clock that was on her nightstand. According to the clock, it was almost 10:30. It was definitely way later than Hanna thought it had been. Then, she thought back to the movie they had been watching and realized that there were a few parts she didn't remember actually seeing. Maybe I really was falling asleep down there, Hanna thought to herself. Maybe they weren't just trying to get rid of me. Hanna wasn't sure. She was still getting use to having her parents around and caring for her. She never had anyone really tell her when she needed to go to bed. She always just did that on her own. She did have a pretty long day, and the more she laid in her bed, the more tired she felt. Hanna didn't know what to think. Part of her still thought they just wanted some time to themselves. The other part thought maybe she was just being ridiculous and all her parents wanted was for her to get some sleep because she needed it. Hanna sighed as she threw her blanket over her head. She was really having trouble adjusting to this whole family thing. She felt like she kept messing everything up and couldn't do anything right. She thought back to what her parents had told her this morning about talking to them when she was upset about something, instead of just holding it all in. Maybe I should go downstairs and ask them. No, maybe not, they might want to be alone, or they'll think I'm being ridiculous. She didn't know what to do. She wasn't good at talking about stuff like that. Hanna's thoughts continued to race through her head, and she tried to decide the reason behind her parents encouraging her to go to bed and whether or not to go downstairs and talk to them about it. After awhile, she decided to just go downstairs and see if they were awake. She would decide what to do from there.
Hanna quietly tiptoed down the stairs, clutching onto her blanket the whole way down. She didn't even realize she had brought it with her. She managed to make it to the bottom without making a creek. She stood on the bottom stair and held onto the railing. She peeked her head around and saw that their light was still on. They were awake. She was kind of hoping they would already be sleeping. She figured she was going to have to learn how to open up to her parents at some point and might as well try now. She slowly made her way over to the curtain that separated their bedroom from the rest of the apartment. She pulled it back and peeked her head into the room.
Snow was the first to notice Hanna standing by the curtain. She could tell by the look on her daughter's face that something was indeed bothering her. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" Snow asked in a concerned voice.
"Hanna, what is it?" Charming asked with the same amount of concern as his wife.
Hanna walked a little further into the room. She didn't know what to say. She looked up at her parents and noticed the look in their eyes. They were worried about her. She crawled onto the bed in between her mom and dad. She sat on her knees and opened her mouth to talk, but she couldn't. She covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. She didn't know how to tell them what was wrong. She wasn't good at this. She should have just stayed upstairs.
Snow immediately grabbed her daughter and held her in her arms. Charming reached over and began rubbing circles on her back.
"Did you guys…tell me to…go…to bed just…so you could get rid…of…me?" Hanna asked them in between her sobs.
Snow and Charming looked at each other in shock. They thought maybe something was bothering her, but not this. "Is that what you think?" David asked her.
Hanna just nodded her head.
"Hanna, that's not true," Snow said as she squeezed her daughter tighter in her arms.
"We love you. We will always want to be with you," David told her as he kissed the top of her head.
As Hanna listened to what her parents were saying, her crying subsided and her breathing started to even out. She slowly sat up and looked down at her hands. "I thought you just wanted me to go to bed, so you could be alone." Hanna said quietly.
"Hanna, we only suggested that you go to bed because you were falling asleep on the couch," Snow said as she wiped a tear from her little girl's eye.
"We knew you had a long day and needed rest," David told her as he held onto her hand.
"I guess I knew that. I just…I don't know…I keep messing everything up. I'm sorry," Hanna sighed.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," David reassured her.
"We're sorry you felt that way," Snow told her.
"I guess I'm still just getting use to all of this," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"We know sweetie," Snow said as she brushed the hair out of Hanna's face. "Do you feel better now?"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna go back to bed," Hanna said as she turned around and began crawling off of the bed.
Snow and Charming exchanged a quick glance and decided quickly that their daughter wasn't going anywhere.
"Oh no you don't," David said as he grabbed his daughter around the waist and pulled her back and laid her in between him and Snow.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Hanna asked with a laugh.
"You, my darling daughter, are sleeping with us tonight," he told her.
"Are you serious?"
"Oh he's very serious. We want you here with us all night long," Snow said with a smile.
"Yeah, you're not going anywhere," David said with a grin. "You or your blankie"
Hanna looked down in shock to see her baby blanket laying right there with her. "Ugh, I didn't even mean to bring this thing down here," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"That okay, we think it's cute," Snow said as she and Charming laughed.
Hanna tried to hide the grin that was forming on her face. "Alright well if you guys are forcing me to sleep down here you're gonna have to let me under the covers cuz I'm cold."
Once Hanna was settled under the covers, she looked up at her parents. "Are you guys sure you want me here?" she asked, still a little unsure.
"Hanna, you listen to me, we want you with us forever and ever," Snow told her daughter as she looked her directly into her eyes. She wanted Hanna to know she was serious.
"You got that kiddo?" David said with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Yeah I got it," Hanna said with a smile. She really believed with her whole heart that they wanted her here with them and that they always would.
"Good," Snow and David said at the same time as they turned off the lights and laid down next to Hanna. They both turned onto their sides to face their daughter and planted a kiss on her cheeks.
"Ugh, you guys," Hanna said as she wiped both of her cheeks with her hands.
"You know you can't wipe off mom kisses," Snow whispered.
"Yeah, same with dad kisses. It's just the way it is."
"If you say so," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes.
"Sweet dreams princess," David said.
"Goodnight baby girl" Snow told her sleepy daughter.
"Goodnight," Hanna said with a yawn as she rubbed her eyes. She clutched tightly onto her blanket and snuggled close to her parents. She felt like she was in the safest place in the world.
