Chapter 16:
As soon as they arrived at the station, Emma told Graham everything Maleficent had told her about her parents and of course he offered to let her and Henry stay at his place while she figured things out.
"Thank you, I was kind of hoping you would offer. I just need some space from them right now." Emma replied with a smile.
"Of course, but you know that you'll have to speak with your parents eventually, right?" he asked her.
"I know, but I'm not ready right now."
"What do you say we go and get Henry from school together? We'll stop for ice-cream on the way back. It'll change your mind a bit and you'll be able to tell him why you're not going back at your parents." Graham suggested.
"Thank you, I'd like that a lot." Emma smiled, loving that she could count on him.
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While Emma was dealing with her problems with her parents, Bella was introducing Maleficent to the town with August by her side. She had explained to the sorceress everything she knew about her own parents, which wasn't much and pointed out to her the main people she needed to know in town.
"I wish I could say that you're my daughter but it doesn't fit the timeline. I hope you'll find them though, you deserve it and any parent would be proud to call you their daughter." Maleficent replied kindly.
"Thank you, I'm sure I will. At least my father, whoever the Truest Believer is will find him for me so I'll know him eventually."
"What about your mother?"
"I'm not sure. I mean, I want to know who she is and I think I at least want to meet her but I'm afraid she'll end up hurting me like she tried to do when I was just a baby." Bella confessed.
"Don't worry Bella, you're not alone anymore, you'll be fine." August comforted her and Maleficent smiled.
"But you'll give her a chance, won't you?" Maleficent asked her.
"I think I will. I strongly believe that everybody deserves a second chance in life, I don't see why she'd be any different. Having someone willing to love you and to give you a chance can do a lot to change someone." Bella smiled.
"This is why I love you." August added before he kissed her softly, not realizing that he had said those 3 very important words for the first time.
"Anyway, I spoke to Granny and she'll let you use one of her rooms until you can make your own arrangements." Bella told her.
"Isn't she afraid?"
"No, Granny believes in giving people second chances too. And she's strong." Bella shook her head with a smile.
"Well, I'm grateful. I won't let you down. As long as nobody comes after me, I'll do my best to take this chance at a do over. When I finally have my daughter back, I want to be able to show her that she has a life waiting for her here, with me." Maleficent smiled.
"I trust you."
"And her instinct is never wrong." August added.
"But how will I pay for the room? I don't have money right now."
"I'm sure you can work something out with Granny. You have magic, maybe you can use it to help her or something, she's open to suggestions." Bella smiled.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now if you want, we can take you to see Archie, this way you'll know where to find him if you ever need to talk to someone and I'm not here." Bella offered.
"Sure, I'd like that." Maleficent nodded.
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Once they had their ice creams, Emma, Graham and Henry went to the park where Emma did her best to explain the situation to her son. Being who he is, of course Henry understood his mother's reaction but he also understood why his grandparents would have done something like this.
"Don't worry Henry, I just need some time. I know I'll have to talk with them and let them explain themselves later, I'm just not ready to do it now." Emma told him.
"Okay, well, I'm glad we get to spend some time together, just the three of us." Henry replied with a smile while he enjoyed the ice cream that Graham had gotten.
"Me too, kid. Me too." Emma smiled.
"So, Graham, letting us move in is kind of a big move, isn't it?" Henry asked, surprising both adults and making Emma blush.
"Yes, I know it is." Graham smiled.
"And you don't think it's too soon?"
"Actually, I was already thinking of asking your mother if she wanted to move in." he revealed, knowing where Henry was leading.
"Do you love each other? Like really love each other?" Henry asked them.
"I know I do." Graham smiled, looking at Emma who replied:
"I do too."
"Good, I'm glad we're a family then." Henry nodded, accepting it without any problems.
"So, what should we make for dinner?" Emma asked her two men.
"I vote for tacos." Henry declared.
"Good idea." Graham agreed.
"Tacos it is, then, let's go and get what we'll need from the store." Emma smiled, loving the fact that Henry accepted this so easily.
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"So, now that Maleficent is settled in and spending the evening helping Granny out, what shall we do?" Bella asked August.
"I thought we could go and eat with my father." He suggested.
"Are you sure he'd want me there?" Bella asked him, nervous.
"Of course he does, he's the one who asked me to bring you along, I just forgot to tell you with everything that's been going on today." August reassured her.
"Okay then, is there anything we need to bring?"
"Maybe dessert."
"Let's go and buy a pie then." Bella smiled.
"So… I just realized that I might have said something earlier that was meant to be said under much different and more special circumstances…" August started to say.
"You mean that thing you said that started with an I and ended with a you with a love in the middle?"
"That very thing." He nodded with an amused smile at her way of turning it.
"Well, I was very happy to hear it and, just for the record, I love you too August." She replied, looking him in the eyes before he kissed her softly.
On the way to Marco's place, Bella and August ran into Belle and Gold who were on their way to Granny's for dinner. Gold informed them that magic was indeed back and that it was very different than it was back in the Enchanted Forest, it would take the Fairies and Regina some time to figure out how to make it work.
"Why are you so nervous suddenly?" Bella asked August once Gold and Belle were away.
"Blue. I'm a bit afraid of what she'll do once she figures out how magic works. What if she changes me back into wood because I didn't behave as well as I should have?"
"Then we'll find another solution. She should have never asked you to act so perfectly, nobody is perfect and making mistakes is human. Making up for them is what makes us good people and you've made up for what you've done." Bella tried to reassure him.
"I haven't told you guys everything."
"And we don't need to know everything."
"What I'm hiding… Gold needs to know, and Emma would be very angry at me if I told her… But I promised I would never say anything…"
"Then you need to keep your promise, I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end. The truth will come out and once she finds out that you didn't say anything because you made a promise, then she'll forgive you."
"Without what I've done, her life would have gone very differently… Much better than it was for the past 10 years." August added.
"Would she have made her way here and broken the curse?"
"No, she wouldn't have come close to this town." He shook his head.
"Then maybe you were always meant to do this. Don't worry about this, Blue won't kill you because as twisted as she might be she's still a force of good and we'll deal with whatever else she does. To me, the worst thing she could do would be to turn you back into a child." Bella smiled.
"You always find a way to make everything better, I love you." He smiled, stopping their walk to kiss her.
"I love you too. Now come on, let's go and see what your father has prepared for us." She told him with a bright, cheering, smile.
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Blue was frustrated and doing her best to hide it from everyone. Everyone in town was perfectly fine not knowing who Bella was and who her parents were but she knew better. The author of the book was her father, yet Blue knew that the current author was imprisoned somewhere and couldn't possibly have fathered anyone, nor would he have the power to cross realms. That had to mean that the Sorcerer, his apprentice or someone else of equal power and of their choosing was Bella's father and no matter who that was, it was bad news for her, she knew it.
To top it all, Bella had helped Pinocchio turn back into a man when he hadn't been completely truthful, brave and unselfish. Who did she think she was, breaking a spell that wasn't hers to break in the first place?
Pinocchio had to be punished for not behaving the way he should have, she knew it but how could she do it now? She'd look like the villain if she did anything, so she had to wait for the right moment and act. She couldn't raise Bella's suspicion because if the young woman was as powerful as her potential fathers were, then she'd be in great trouble. The sorcerer had never liked her much, always had it in for her and she had no doubt that anyone working with him would feel the same way about her.
The best thing she could do was to keep on acting like the benevolent fairy that everyone thought she was and hope to fool them all for a very long time.
"Blue? Nova was back home late again. I followed her like you asked and she hasn't talked or crossed Leroy, I mean Grumpy, but she's been sitting at the docks on her own for a while, just watching the ocean." One of her faithful fairies announced.
"Very well, thank you. Keep on following her for the next few days, we can't have her forgetting her destiny and her mission just so she can be with a dwarf. We need to make sure she remembers who she is and what she's supposed to do." Blue replied before the other fairy nodded and left the office.
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"Thank you Marco, it was delicious." Bella told August' father as they were getting ready to leave and go back to Granny's.
"Anything for the woman who makes my son so happy." Marco smiled.
"Very happy." August agreed with a large smile, making Bella blush.
"You two go on and be careful going back to Granny's. It's pretty dark out and we don't know who or what is out there."
"It's Storybrook. What's worse than the Dark one and the Evil Queen?" Bella asked.
"We never know, child, we never know. Now that magic is back, other things might be back as well." Marco replied before his son and Bella kissed him goodnight.
"Your father was happy to have us tonight, I think he'd like you to move back in with him." Bella told August on their way back.
"I know, he's offered but… I mean, I want to move back in with him but I like being just a door away from you." August replied.
"Well, I love having you just a door away as well but I want you to be happy, if moving back in with your father does it… Then you should do it."
"I'll think about it later, right now I like having you right here." He replied with a smile as he pulled Bella closer to him and kissed her.
"Hey guys! Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Want to join me for a drink at the White Rabbit?" Ruby asked them as she was about to walk past them.
"Sorry Ruby, not tonight." Bella shook her head.
"Don't be, more drinks for me." Ruby winked at them before she left.
Bella and August kissed one more time before they started walking again and finally arrived in the corridor that separated their rooms.
"Would you like to come in? I'm not ready to leave you yet." Bella asked him, taking a chance.
"I most certainly would." He replied before he went back to kissing her.
Bella managed to open her door and, before she knew it, they were both naked in her bed, enjoying each other, their love and their happiness.
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The next morning, Emma had calmed down enough to agree to having breakfast with her parents and give them the opportunity to explain their actions and apologize. Graham and Henry joined her and, together, they were determined to help her do the right thing. They wanted their family to be strong and united.
"Emma, I know you're angry and I know that we didn't do the right thing but we thought it was the best way to ensure that you'd be good. We were wrong, and we'll do our best to make up for it not only to you but to Maleficent and her daughter as well." Snow told Emma as soon as they were all inside the loft.
"It won't be that easy." Emma shook her head.
"I know, we know, but we'll work for it. Please don't lock us out." David argued.
"I'm trying not to. I want to be mad at you so badly but I'm trying very hard not to be angry… I know that I'm lucky to have you here, I look at Bella and know that she'd give anything to be in my situation so I'm trying to be the better person, but it's not easy." Emma confessed.
"I know that you need time but please don't move out. Stay with us." Snow pleaded.
"About that… Graham and I have been talking about moving in together… I'd love to stay with you but I also want to live with him." Emma explained.
"And it would be a bit small a place for four adults and a child." David nodded.
"Maybe we can try to find a bigger house, one big enough so that all of us could be together and have our intimacy." Snow suggested.
"Why don't we eat breakfast first? I'm starving." Henry declared.
"After all the Tacos you ate last night?" Graham asked him.
"What? I'm growing up, I need energy!" Henry argued with a smile.
"Sure you do." Emma shook her head, amused.
.The Sorcerer's thoughts.
As I drank my tea, I couldn't help the great pride that rose in my chest. My daughter was a good person, on her way to become a great hero.
I can see Blue plotting in her office and I can only hope that Bella would be prepared and capable of standing up to her. It was well time that she and Emma learned that they had magic and how to use it so, in order to do that, I prepared the potion I use to contact my Apprentice. It would take him time to get it and contact me back but once he did, I'd be able to send him the book and he'd find a way to get it to my beloved daughter without her finding out who he is.
I had to have faith.
This chapter is a bit if a filler. What do you think Blue will do?
Review please?
Lorelei Candice Black