The next morning the kids were still refusing to speak to each other. They got ready for school in silence and would not speak to Emma, Mary, or each other. Emma partly wanted to cut off their punishment just to hear their voices again, but you knew how to stand firm and she wanted them for seriously. She just hoped that their anger would eventually burn itself out and they was finally apologize to each other.
"You know, this would be a lot easier if you two weren't so stubborn," Mary noted during their quiet, awkward breakfast.
Ava glared at her, then went back to eating her cereal. She was seated across from Mary at the small table in the kitchen, while Nicky sat next to Emma at the counter. They were so upset, they wouldn't even sit together for meals. Just how long could they keep this up, Emma wondered.
When they got to school, Nicky went straight to Henry's side and didn't look at his sister as they walked across the parking lot.
Everyone was confused by the abrupt coldness that the siblings showed toward each other, but none more so than Henry. In fact, Ava seemed to be angry at him too for reasons he did not understand. And neither of them wanted to talk about what had happened the night before.
As the day went on, Nicky began to feel a little bit silly for his outburst. It wasn't such a big deal that Ava do about the adoption before he did and Emma had originally planned to tell them both at the same time. Emma had tried to do something special when she announced that she was going to adopt them, and he had ruined it. He felt incredibly guilty for causing her the unnecessary stress/ Maybe now she would change her mind. Maybe she wouldn't even want to adopt Ava either. That said he wasn't eager to face what he had done, so he just avoided his sister all day.
Ava, for her part, had run out of anger during the night, but her feelings of indignation sparked again when Nicky ditched her to hang out with Henry all day. Sure maybe she shouldn't have said those hurtful things to have the night before, the Nicky was being even more ridiculous and she was! Despite these feelings, Ava still felt bad about blowing up at her brother like that, but she didn't want to apologize unless he apologized first.
Henry was incredibly frustrated by the behavior of his two friends and especially by the fact that they refused to tell him what was going on. He had tried to broach the subject to Nicky as they were walking into class, but Nicky shut it down and said he didn't want to talk about it. Later, at recess, Henry had tried to approach Ava but she clearly wasn't in the mood to talk either, no more that her brother. Conner west still dealing with the whole situation with his sister and his foster family, so he was too too really care about what was going on with the Zimmer twins. Henry's only ally and trying to uncover the truth was Paige.
He managed to recruit Paige in trying you get to the truth from the Ava, been seeing you that the girls were closer to each other than he was to either of them. Ava receptive to Paige's cajoling. After school if they were walking to the parking lot, Ava confided in Paige and ask for her advice.
"You so just tell him you're sorry," Paige answered.
"Why? He's the one who made this a problem!" Ava argued.
"But he might be willing to apologize if you apologize first," Paige noted. "Besides, you said to him was pretty out of line."
"I was scared," Ava admitted. "I thought Emma would think we were ungrateful and decid she didn't want us after all."
"Emma would never abandon you like that," Paige stated firmly. "She stayed in this town for Henry and he's not even her kid. I think you have handed out an olive branch, Nicky would meet you halfway."
Ava had not made up her mind when Paige's father had arrived to pick her up from school. She noticed a quick glance between Paige and Henry, who was several yards away with Nicky and Conner. Had he put Paige's up to this, Ava wondered.
Throw away the crowd of children y'all said as their parents came to pick them, with Henry leaving only a short after Paige. Conner's older sister picked up him instead of his foster parents for the first time since her arrest, and Ava noted how happy he was to see her. At least things were looking up for one of them.
After three years in the Navy, Killian eventually found himself promoted to Lieutenant. All his hard work and patience in overcoming his fear of the sea had finally paid off. Being in the Navy was grueling work, but he had finally made his life for himself with his own hands. He had made a few friends, more than a few enemies, and enough money to keep himself afloat. When his commanding officer gave him his new orders, Killian's heart leapt.
The Jewel of the Realm, under Captain L. Jones.
No, it couldn't be. What were the odds that he would end up in the same ship as his long-lost brother? More likely than not this Captain Jones would be some other man who happen to have a similar name as big brother Liam.
The night before he was scheduled to set sail on the Jewel, Killian decided to have one more round of rum with his old companions. The tavern was loud and jolly, the rum tasted thick and sweet on his tongue, the company of his friends warmed him more than the alcohol did. He made sure to only have one round though. Showing up drunk on his first day on a new ship would not be good form.
"It's a shame you're leaving us," Smee slurred, "We've had some good times together haven't we?"
Killian nodded, "Aye we have, but you've read the captain's orders."
When the morning came Killian arrived on the chew up bright and early, his head clear despite the drinking from the night before. However when he was escorted into the Captain's Quarters, Killian began to wonder if the alcohol had done something to his mind after all.
Liam stood before him, whole and healthy. Obviously he was older and taller than Killian remembered, and he had grown a close-cropped beard, but he was instantly recognizable. Killian severe with his mouth open in shock. It was really Liam after all these years. He never thought he would see another member of his family again and now he had just been reunited with his brother.
Suddenly all his horrible memories rushed back to him, his parents' argument, his mother tossing him into the sea. He thought he was going to past this, but Killian could feel the tears threatening to spill over his eyes at any moment. He was a little boy again.
Liam seems just as affected. In a coarse tone, he commanded the other officers to leave immediately. Only when they were alone, the brothers finally let themselves cry. They hugged each other tightly, afraid if they let go the other would disappear like mist. All the loneliness, all those wasted years.
"I can't believe you're alive," Liam sobbed. "Mother and father told me you are were dead, you were gone forever."
Killian pulled himself together enough to ask, "What did they tell you?"
"That you had been running on the ship stuck and fell over the railing by accident," Liam replied.
Killian's joy and affection turned white hot rage. "A lie!" he raged, "She threw me overboard, our mother tried to kill me!"
Liam's face morphed into an expression of horror, "This has to be some kind of mistake. Killian, you cannot honestly believe that our mother is capable of doing something so evil."
"I don't believe, I know," Killian argued, "I know what she did and what she is. She may have hidden it from you and your father hid it from you, I know the truth. She wanted me dead because I was not her husband's son. I was a burden and an inconvenience and an embarrassment. Your father wanted me gone and our mother was willing to get rid of me."
Liam looked completely dumbfounded. After taking a few moments to process what Killian had just told him, he spoke again, "Father is still your father even if you do not share his blood, Killian."
"Try to convince him of that before you try to convince me," Killian replied bitterly. "He didn't want to be my father, not after learning of our mother's infidelity. He is the one who decided that family meant blood, not me."
Liam stared at his no-longer-dead baby brother silently for a moment, is mine still racing with the weight of what Killian had just told him. His mind refused to accept it, it was so far from the image of his parents that he had carried with him all his life. He just could not believe that they were capable of something like that.
But, the pain and hurt blazing in Killian eyes told him that it was all true, that the man and woman he thought he knew lied to him for all these years about what had happened to his little brother. That his mother had cheated on her husband, that his father had rejected his brother... his half-brother.
"This ship is about to set sail," Liam said softly, "We will have discuss this another time."
ames had been feeling irritable and uncomfortable ever since Red had told him he would soon be meeting his long-lost twin brother, but his anxiety steadily increased after her half of the rebel army at the cross the river and began marching in earnest. Zela was his only comfort. For the most part, people left him alone, with the exception of Red. Places mild hostility toward her in the beginning, she still made a commendable effort trying to befriend had stopped being cold toward her, but that didn't mean he wanted to be her friend. Sometimes he would remember that she was technically his sister-in-law that always threw him off step.
At night James and Zela shared their own text, sleeping next to each other and innocently and chastely. James was you know where of his own feelings towards Zela, but he had no idea how she felt about him. It wasn't a good time. Bed both lost so much and we're going through a very unpleasant ordeal that was by no means over. James was too consumed with worries about how his brother would react to him to worry about whether Zela might have feelings for him. To his eternal relief, loving in the cap seem to have picked up on the fact that he was gradually falling in love with his friend, so James didn't have to endure any awkward questions or teasing remarks.
After the army had marched for almost three weeks straight, a scout finally managed to locate the other half of the army that was by David and his wife Snow White. James had been keeping a mental record of the army's numbers and provisions since he had realized what they were planning to do, but he didn't know what he would do with that information. If he could somehow pass it along to his father, his father could probably use that to his advantage in this war.
How would he go about doing it? Should he even do it? He could hardly imagine his father doing anything particularly cruel, but he had been gone for so long. But could his father have changed and the time between? God, he didn't even know what these people what fighting over!
James felt a prickling sense of an easy as he gazed upon the faces of the soldiers, most completely at ease, almost board. Some kept their weapons at their sides, but most were just sitting around chatting with their friends. It was almost as if there was no war going on.
Yeah James could not forget. These men were fighting against his father. When the time came they would have no mercy against the truth that it's one of themselves to his kingdom's cause.
With several guards serving as escorts, Red led them straight to the tent where David and Snow White had been staying. A messenger has been sent ahead of them weeks ago, so their arrival was not unexpected, but James could still see the shock on their faces when they looked at him.
David did look remarkably like him, though he was visibly several years older. They had the same nose, the same cheekbones, the same full lips, the same dark brown skin. It was uncanny.
This could also instantly tell that the woman standing beside whom was Red's sister. They were not near identical, but looked similar enough for anyone to tell they were related with just a passing glance.
They both look incredibly... normal. Tired, stressed, and human. James had imagined them as horrid, shapeless of things, evil creatures summoned from some unknown hell to ruin his life; but that's not what they were. Just a man and his wife, his brother and sister-in-law.
Snow spoke first, "James, it's a pleasure to meet you."
James did not know what to say. It would be polite to say "It's a pleasure to meet you too" but it wasn't. It was a nightmare. This whole thing was a nightmare. He stood there silent and awkward. He needed to say something anything but nothing seemed to right; the words just wouldn't come to him.
David spoke up, "I understand that this is a very overwhelming experience for you. It was for me too. Take as much time as you need to get used to this."
"I'll never get used to it!" James snapped. Everyone stiffened at his outburst, even Zela. "You're at war with my father. I'm your prisoner."
"You're not a prisoner, you're my brother." David said emphatically.
"I don't care if we came from the same womb, you are not my brother." James said coldly. He meant it. Why should he think of David as his brother when they were only just meeting for the first time, when David was set to destroy everything remaining that he loved and held dear? He was under no illusions that David of Snow White with spare his father if they won this war, and where would that leave him?
"Then I guess you are my prisoner," David replied soft, with a note of genuine regret in his voice.
