Chapter Three: What Is This Feeling?
AN: Hey, everybody! Hope you enjoy this update. It will be short because New York Serenade didn't involve the town much.
~Once~
Aria's Perspective:
"It looks like your about 8 months pregnant, Ms. Jones." Doctor Whale said as he rubbed the sonogram sensor over my bulging belly. I just nodded refusing to look at the screen. Regina was across from him, her hands glowing as she moved them over my body.
"And it seems to be a natural pregnancy; I'm not sensing any magic spells," Regina said.
"Alright, Aria I'm just going to wipe the jelly off your stomach, and then head over to get you your prescriptions. Nothing much, just some prenatal vitamins that will keep you and the baby healthy." Dr. Whale told me.
I nodded in acquiesces.
"Thank you, Dr. Whale," I told him. He gave me a small smile and began cleaning off my stomach. Once I was cleaned, I pulled my shirt down. Regina offered me her hand and helped me off the exam chair.
We waited for a few moments for Doctor Whal to come back with the scripts, which promptly handed over and told us to go to the pharmacy on the other side of the hospital to have them filled.
"I want to see you next Thursday for another examination." He said, before pulling an envelope out of his pocket, "Thought you might like these. They are the sonogram photos."
I nodded and took them from his hand like I was being given a bomb and placed them into the pocket of my dark blue peacoat. Regina wrapped her arms around me with a concerned look, before leading me from the room. We head down the long corridors to the pharmacy to get the vitamins, and then head to the parking lot where Regina's car was parked.
"Aria, are you okay?" Regina asked as she buckled up, "Hungry?"
"No, just tired," I replied in a monotone voice.
"I'll take you two back to the house." She said, "I am sure the Lost Boys will want to see the sonogram photos."
"Thank you, Regina."
Regina drove me back to the Lost House as I called it. It was the home me and the Lost Boys had started to fix up before whatever happened to us happened. None of us knew what happened since the curse or even how we got back. And more importantly, why did only some of us come back.
Quite a few people were missing- a dwarf, a handful of Merry Men, Papa, and...Peter. The prevailing theories were they either didn't make the trip with us or something happened to them on the way here. All I knew was that I was here and Peter wasn't. I couldn't even feel him it was like the connection was severed. It left me feeling empty…alone.
As Regina pulled onto our drive, Lost Boys came swarming out of the house and the nearby woods. They ran alongside the car, whooping and hollering in greeting. Regina rolled down her window.
"Move out of the way, are trying to cause an accident!" Regina yelled at them. The boys backed off but still surrounded the car. Regina huffed in frustration and gave up and parked in the middle of the drive.
"Thank you for a ride, Mom."
"Anytime dear. I'll be here next Thursday to take you to your appointment with Doctor Whale."
I grimaced. I really didn't want to think about my next appointment.
"Sure," I tell her before climbing out of the car. Nibs was there to help me walk to the house, I mostly waddled now and not very well. I waved to Regina over my shoulder and saw her speaking with Felix. Probably discussing appointments and my lack of… well everything. I sighed and let Nibs lead me to the couch inside. He helped me out of my coat and boots, and Luca quickly took his place to get me wrapped in a blanket. I smiled sadly and ruffled his hair. Within a few minutes, I was could feel myself getting drowsy.
~Once~
Felix's Perspective:
"Felix," the Evil Queen greeted shortly.
"Your highness," I returned sarcastically. There was a hint of a sneer in her expression as looked up at me. She opened her mouth to respond, but thought better of it and shoved a white paper bag at me.
"She needs to take those twice a day," she said nodding towards the bag.
"What is it?" I asked inspecting the bag.
"Pre-natal vitamins. The doctor recommended them, said they would help keep her and the baby healthy."
I nodded. If that was the case, I would make sure Little Fish took them.
"Anything else?"
"She has another appointment next Thursday. I will come around to pick her up." She explained, and looked like she was about to go when she remembered something, "Oh, the doctor gave her some pictures of the baby."
"The baby?" I said in confusion, "But it hasn't been born yet?"
The Evil Queen made a face.
"The device they used today can see the baby inside her stomach. It's not always clear, but you should be able to see the baby. She wouldn't look at the baby today at the appointment, maybe seeing the pictures would help her get out of this…this funk."
I doubted it. It was Peter that she was upset about. The baby just made it worse. However, I nodded.
"She put them in the pocket of her coat."
"Okay," I told her.
"Good, now back away from the car."
I rolled my eyes but took a few steps back. I motioned for the other boys to get out of her way. This gave her the room to back her way down the path leading to the house until she could turn on to the main road.
"Back to work, boys!" I ordered. Some grumbled but they all returned to our winter preparations. We had a lot to do to make the house and barn ready for the cold Little Fish swore was coming. And most of these boys have not experienced winter in a couple of hundred years.
I made my way into the house to check in on Aria. She was already asleep on the couch wrapped in a thick blanket. She had spent most of our time since we returned sleeping. When she was awake, she was quiet. Sometimes I would catch her watching the door like she was waiting for someone to come through.
I saw her coat on the other side of the couch and moved quietly across the room. I placed the bag the Queen gave me on the table in front of the coach, before going through the jacket pockets. I quickly found a small envelope. Opening it I found some papers with images on them- pictures as the Queen called them. I flipped through the images. They were a bit blurry, but I could eventually make something out. A baby.
"What do you know, Little Fish?" I said to myself, "Peter Pan's got a kid."
~Once~
Aria's Perspective:
Around dinner time we got a call from Regina, she asked for Felix and me to come over to the Charmings' loft. They wanted to have another meeting about what was going on with all the town leaders. Felix groused all the way there, especially once he got in the old truck that someone loaned us to get around. Cars still made him nervous.
I drove us down our long drive towards town going slower than I normally would for Felix's benefit. Unfortunately, he was too grumpy to notice.
"Once we have the time and I no longer look like a whale, I'll teach you how to drive," I told him. He looks at the car suspiciously before nodding, "It's not nearly as hard as it looks. I mean it could be worse it could be a flying carpet."
Felix gave me an unamused look. Some many odd years ago, Peter had acquired a flying carpet in one of his deals. When he returned to Neverland, he gave it to me as a gift. Being a mermaid and curious about everything I had to try it right then and there. I thought it wouldn't be any different from flying with Peter. Boy was I wrong, the carpet shot off before I could even get fully on. It dragged all over the island over, sideways, under, tumbling, freewheeling. Neptune, it was horrible and I was screaming for Peter the whole time. Eventually, he was able to catch up with me and the demon carpet. He got me loose and magically the carpet just stopped. Felix was rather enraged by not only my carelessness but Peter's for giving it to me without knowing how it worked. That was one of the few times that I ever saw them argue. Needless to say, I never got on the thing again. It disappeared actually, and its place was an enchanted rose that never wilted. I wished I managed to bring it from Neverland with me, but I was sort of dead at the time when the choice to leave the island was made.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Charmings, and I reluctantly paralleled parked. It was not something I had ever excelled at, and judging by the whiteness of Felix's knuckles he now knew it too. He shot me a dirty look when I finally parked.
"I didn't do it on purpose! I'm just not good at this type of parking." I defended myself. My brother rolled his eyes and got out of the car. He walked over to my side and opened the door. I nodded in thanks and unbuckled myself. He then offered me his hand to help me out. Once my feet were on the ground he let go to close the door. We walked up to the building and went inside.
"Great stairs," I said as I face the three flights to the apartment. Even though they were not that many, it was still stairs.
"Just keep swimming, Little Fish," my brother teased. This time I shot him a dirty look. However, He make up for it, by following close behind to ensure I didn't fall. Once we made it to the third floor, I knocked on the door of the apartment. Mary Margaret was the one who opened the door.
"Aria! Felix! Welcome." She said opening the door wider, "Here Aria, you can take my chair."
She ushered me inside and led me to the chair I'm assuming she had just vacated. There were others in the room-Robin Hood, one of the dwarves, and the Blue Fairy.
"It's easy to get out of and has great back support." She said happily, and to be honest, slightly pushy.
"Thank you," I said taking a seat.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"Tired mostly. I've slept most of the past three days. But Regina took me to see Dr. Wale today for an appointment."
"Good. Also, make sure you get some exercise like short walks. They are highly recommended by all the parenting journals. I have some if you would like to read them."
"Thank you, Snow. I'll let you know." I say placating her. She gave me a strained smile and took the seat next to me, leaving Felix to stand. And stand he did, right next to my chair like a watchdog.
"Thank you two for coming." The prince said in greeting.
"We want answers too," I said, "Especially if they help us find out what happened to Peter."
"Let's start with what we know." Regina's voice came from behind me. I turned to look at her. She gave me a small smile, which I returned.
"Well we're back and it's obvious ti—" Charming starts to say but is interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Are we expecting more people, Snow?" he asked. She shrugged. David walked over to the door to see who it was.
"Hi." A familiar voice said. David started stumbling back a bit, "Don't close the door. I-i—my name is…"
"Emma." David breathed. Emma?
"David?" she asked tentatively. I watched from my vantage point as the pair hugged.
"Emma!" Mary Margaret exclaimed when she saw her daughter. She got up and ran to her. The pair shared a hug.
"You remember." Snow said.
"You remember." She responded.
"Of course. What-What are you doing here? How?" David asked.
"Well…Hook found me. He brought me here. He said you were cursed." Emma exclaimed as David and Mary Margaret led her inside.
"Yeah, we're back or we never left, or…Well, we don't know, but we're trapped again."
"But you know who you are," Emma asked.
"Emma. This curse—we don't know who did it or why. All we know is our last year—it's been wiped away." David said.
"Wiped away?"
"All we remember is saying goodbye to you. It feels like yesterday." Mary Margaret told her.
"But if you can't remember, then how do you know that it's been a—"
"Because of me," I said announcing my presence. I stood up and revealed my pregnant frame. Emma's face morphed into one of even greater shock.
"As you can, a lot's happened since we've parted ways, Ms. Swan," Regina said.
"We just don't know what." I told her, "Everything is just gone."
"B-but who…what…who would do this?" Emma asked.
"We don't know, but I can't wait to meet them," Regina said menacingly.
~Once~
So sorry this one was short the next one will be longer I promise. I hope you enjoy it though! The mystery of where Peter is will continue.