Robert rose from the sofa and approached his brother slowly. "My name is Colonel Robert MacNamara. Rumple, I know this is not going to be easy for you to hear...or to accept but I...I am your brother. Your twin brother."
"That's impossible!" Rumple's fingertips sparkled with magic. "You're someone glamored to look like me!"
"It's the truth!" Robert insisted. "Our mother's name was Daria, our father's name was Malcolm. Our father sold me to a slaver to pay off some of his gambling debts and told our mother that I was dead. She believed him because he showed her a grave she believed I was buried in. Our mother was so devastated that she couldn't even bear to mention me."
"Just...just like he gave Rhea away to Baba Yaga because she protected him when he deserted during the Ogre Wars ..." Rumple whispered.
"The man who bought me was a portal jumper. He brought me to this world but he was killed shortly after we arrived and I ended up in an orphange that put the Hudson Street one to shame. I ran away a few times but the last time I was finally adopted by Alex and Josie MacNamara. They took me in and raised me as their own. I'm not lying Rumple."
Their eyes met.
"If what you say is true, how did you find out who you were?"
"From me."
Rumple's eyes widened when glanced over at the loveseat to see Archie sitting there with Lilly while a lookalike of him stood beside them, this one with a mustache and beard. "And WHO are you? Archie's twin?" he demanded suspiciously.
"No. I am him...from another realm. My name is Archie Ozopov Hopper but I've been using my original name of Jiminy so that we don't confuse anyone. I met Robert eighteen years ago when he discovered a portal in the Andes that opened to my world's version of Oz. We called it the OZ...the Outer Zone. My wife Azkadellia was possessed by the wicked witch Bastinda and abducted Robert to try to use him as a weapon against the light mages in all the realms."
"Why would you be a weapon against mages?" Rumple inquired of his brother.
"I wasn't aware of it at the time I was taken but I have the ability to create a null magic field. Any time I came into contact with a mage, they couldn't use their powers against me and I could drain them of them. Demigods and gods are much harder to drain but I can still drain them. Now my null magic field only works against dark mages thanks to Loki." Robert glanced over at the god who sat on the sofa with Regina and Meredith.
"Loki of Asgard..."
"Now, now, no need for that," Loki said as his great-grandson was about to kneel before him.
"Why are you here?"
"He saved us from the wicked witch!" Regina spoke up.
"Actually you saved yourselves darlings. I just helped a bit. And you rescued Robert."
"I thought he was you Unca Rumple."
"I can see why you would dearie," Rumple said with a smile. "Thank you my lord."
"No thanks is needed. I would have done the same if it were you, Robert and Rhea."
"Why?"
"Because you are my great-grandchildren."
"Wh...What?!"
"Your mother, Daria, was the daughter of one of my twin sons, Narvi."
Loki then went on to explain Daria's abduction by the Queen of the Fae, her belief that she was the Gold Fairy and her choice to give her magic to raise a family with a man unworthy of her. Rumple shook his head.
"The faries have been having a go at me my whole life and now you tell me they wrecked my mother's life too!"
"I wasn't even aware Daria was my grandchild until she came to me in the astral plane. Once I learned the truth I vowed that I would find a way to reunite my great-grandchildren and now I have...through these very special little girls." Loki smiled at Regina and Meredith. "And Titania owes me a debt for what she's done to my family. She WILL pay it!"
"So does my father." Rumple muttered.
"His hide would be mounted on my wall if he weren't in Hel already."
"You believe me, Rumple?" Robert asked hopefully.
"Yes...I do."
Robert felt as if a mountain had been lifted off his shoulders. Before he could say anything more, his brother's arms went around him and held him fast. The retired Marine colonel that seldom cried found himself weeping tears of joy.
"Eighteen years...that's how long I've been trying to find you," he sobbed. "Eighteen years..."
"You've found me now...and we're never going to be lost again!" his twin vowed.
Loki fought back his own tears, hoping his beloved granddaughter was able to witness this joyful moment only it would not be complete until Rhea joined them but it would not be much longer. He could sense she was close by.
"Does Rhea know?"
"Not yet Rumple but she will...unless she's Seen it," Loki replied. "And if she had Seen it before, she would've told you."
Robert shook his head. "The prison I was locked in would have prevented her from Seeing me."
"Aunt Rhea!" Alina exclaimed.
Rhea stood in the doorway, her arms held out for her brothers.
Rumple smirked. "And just how long have you been standing there, dearie?"
"Long enough to hear that the things I've been Seeing in the last few hours are true old dragon," she said softly. "A brother Rumple! We have a brother! Now I'm going to have two of you teasing me!"
"You can count on it!" Robert embraced her. "Just don't be calling me old dragon, okay?"
"Oh I'll think of something to call you!" she laughed.
The visions began the moment the Black Pearl vanished into the portal that would take it to Storybrooke. At first Rhea assumed the man she'd been seeing trapped in Oz had been her brother until her vision took her back to the Outer Zone.
Oz (The Outer Zone) Nonestica
Eighteen years earlier
I should've known there would be no escape, even in another world, Robert thought bitterly from inside the iron suit that was a worse prison than any other he'd been in before. This Ozian sorceress was creative with her torture, he had to give her that. The suit was designed to keep him alive but it was sealed with magic meaning only she could open it. She only released him long enough to have him "viewed" by Seers that were half animal and half human with the ability to see the truths one's mind concealed by looking into their hearts and it was through these sessions that he learned the truth of his family, painful as it was. Rumor had it that the Viewer population was becoming extinct because many of them died attempting to read another one of prisoners, a man named Wyatt Cain. Robert didn't want anyone or anything dying for him.
It was after midnight when he heard the door to his cell unlock and a tall, bearded ginger haired man entered the room wearing the gold armor and black leather of the Sorceress's army. The man placed his hand on the front of the iron suit and it opened. Robert sighed. Another mage...and with powers second to those of his mistress. This man had to be the Commander Jiminy Ozopov one of his guards complained about, the sorceress's second in command and lover yet none of them dared cross him in fear that he would kill them without even breaking a sweat. His counterpart in his own world was Jiminy Cricket, a former thief transformed into a cricket by the Blue Fairy to make amends for turning a child's parent into puppets. The cricket would later serve as an advisor to Snow White and this version of him lived a similar life until a travel storm brought him to the OZ the day the Dark Curse was cast. Life in the OZ had hardened the former cricket and being trained in magic made him more terrifying and the null magic field he had seemed to be failing him at the moment.
"What do you want?" Robert demanded angrily. "Going to have me viewed again?"
"I don't need to. All the answers I need are right there," Jiminy said, pointing to Robert's chest. "And I could take it out and look at them, if I'm inclined to."
"So do it!" he challenged. "I know all about you. The cricket who lost his conscience the moment he climbed into the sorceress's bed!"
"You know nothing about me!" Jiminy growled. He waved his hand and cast a silencing spell over the cell. "But I know everything about you Colonel Robert MacNamara. You don't belong here."
"That's obvious, dearie but your sorceress seems to like keeping me around. She's wasting her time. I don't have magic. I repel it. She should just let me go and find the version of my brother she wants."
"She already knows where he is."
Robert laughed. "So...you have no idea why she's keeping me here either. Afraid she's gonna replace you with me."
"That will never happen. You're not one of the Guardians of the Balance. I am, at least in this world. But, there is a chance you may be in your own and that is why I have to send you back."
"You're releasing me? This has to be a trick."
"It's no trick." Jiminy gestured and he tumbled out of the tin suit. "Sorry about that." He reached into his pocket and took out a gold coin. "Take my hand. We don't have much time."
He hesitated.
"Oh for Lurline's sake!" Jiminy grabbed his hand and teleported them into the forest. He pressed the coin into the other man's palm. "Over that hill is a village. Look for the blue smoke coming out the chimney and tell the woman inside Cricket sent you and to give you safe passage out of the OZ."
"You're playing both sides, aren't you?"
"I have to. It's the only chance I have of saving my wife."
"The princess Azkadellia is your wife, isn't she?"
Jiminy nodded sadly. "I can't free her from Bastinda alone. My magic isn't strong enough yet. Nor can I free our Rumplestiltskin from his curse. The Guardians have to be united for that to happen. And it will," he added determinedly.
"I wish you luck. You're gonna need it...Cricket. Maybe I'll see you again when all this is over."
"We can only hope." Jiminy smiled and vanished in a puff of green smoke.
Bobby arrived at his destination an hour later, a small cottage at the bottom of the hill. He rapped several times before a woman with silvery blond hair opened the door, an angry teenage boy at her side holding a gun.
"I mean you no harm…."
"I know you don't, Robert McNamara," the woman said softly. "Come inside, quickly. Jeb, lock the door!"
"Who is he, Mother?"
"A lost soul," Adora Kantrine Cain murmured.
"I was told to tell you that Cricket sent me and to give you this for safe passage out of the OZ." He placed the coin in the woman's palm. "But...how do you know my name?"
"Come outside with me and we'll talk."
Robert shook his head. This place and these people were stranger by the minute. He followed her outside hoping she would make sense of the strangeness he'd encountered from the moment he arrived in this world.
"Okay, we're outside now how do you know my name? I wasn't even in this realm long before I was captured by the Sorceress."
"Because I am more than just a Resistance leader. My true name is Ozmalita Diosa."
He'd heard that name mentioned a few times during his confinement. Ozmalita Diosa was the servant angel to their goddess Lurline, punished to live as a mortal for marrying the Guardian Wyatt Cain and having his child though he was meant to marry to the deceased Princess Dorothia, Azkadellia's younger sister. She was now the leader of the Resistance movement against the Sorceress's reign.
"That clears up a few things. But how can you get me out of here without your powers?"
"This coin Jiminy gave you will summon a storm that can take you back to your own world." She tossed it into the ground, a large funnel cloud forming in front of them. "Once you're inside think of the place you want to be and you will go there. Quickly...before it fades!" she ordered over the howling winds.
He had no way of knowing that his portal was about to be hijacked and he would exchange one prison for another.
Jimmy seized the opportunity and snapped a picture with his camera of the siblings embracing each other and would have copies of it made to put in frames for each of them as his Christmas gift.
Rhea drew away first and went to hug Loki. "You are our family too . . . Grandpa."
Loki hugged her back. "Well, darling, I finally have all my missing great-grandchildren together again. And I am so very happy." His smile lit up the room.
Jimmy took another picture to add to his growing collection.
Rhea blinked. "Holy Starseekers! You could stop traffic with that smile! Or make a woman pass out."
Lilly giggled. "And young princesses have a crush that lasts for years."
"He should change his name to Studmuffin!" Emma joked.
Loki groaned. "Don't give my fangirls any ideas! They chase me enough already."
"Now we know where you get your looks from honey," Belle said to her husband.
"Guilty, I'm afraid," Loki laughed. "All my descendants seem to have inherited some of that."
Emma patted Bae's shoulder. "Even you, you lug!"
"So...do you have a girlfriend Robert?" Rhea asked him.
"No, I haven't," he confessed.
"Being locked up for eighteen years with the repulsive green witch would've made me want to avoid women for a while," Jiminy said.
Part of him did want to start a family of his own once he finally got settled.
"You have time to find the one who is your heart's desire," Loki told him.
"But first Zorinda must be dealt with," Jiminy reminded them.
"Who is Zorinda?" Rumple asked him.
"You know her as Cora Miller but her real name is Zorinda Strogoff. She is from my world and the original Dark One vessel until she was killed and sent to the Ozian Hell Realm. She transferred her soul into Cora's body years ago so that she could be reborn."
"And when she willed herself back into existence, she wasn't aware she resurrected me as well. I am her twin," Lilly added.
"You are her twin? From another realm?" Rumple sputtered.
She gestured and a book appeared in her hand. Henry leaned over and could see the words ONCE UPON A TIME: VOLUME IV: NONESTICA written on it.
"And your counterpart's mother," she added proudly.
"Really? Then that means that Archie is . . . Oh my God!" He starts giggling.
"I'm still coming to grips with that one. I'm his stepfather. His father was Peter Pan...or Malcolm McDermott," Archie spoke up.
"May he rot in Ephesis for eternity," they heard a voice snarl.
"Must be Grand Central Station here," Bae muttered.
"Okay Rumfather, cut the crap and show yourself!" Jiminy laughed.
"I would if I could dearie but I'm still laid up from these damn gallstones as you know!" Rum Strogoff snapped.
"Are you astral projecting again, Strogoff?" Loki demanded. "You know that's exhausting in your condition."
"Yes I know and Belle is sitting here with a book ready to throw at me but I wanted to see everyone there."
Loki sighed. "You as stubborn as any of my grandsons. I could have sent you pictures."
"I get it from my mother."
"Can you appear if I anchor you darling?" Lilly inquired softly.
"I don't know Mama. You gave most of your magic to me before you died."
"I can lend you some of mine. But be warned, my magic will feel like the best thing you ever felt in your life, but once I remove the link it's going to knock you on your back for a few hours." Loki informed him.
"That will make Belle happy. I would ask my great-grandfather or whatever the hell Hades is but I'm pissed at him at the moment because he should've made sure Zorinda was locked up!"
"All right, you can throw fireballs at Hades later," Loki chuckled. "Ready?"
"I'm ready."
Loki's eyes glow molten silver for a brief instant as he transfers some of his divine magic into Rumple Strogoff-Gold. A puff of magenta smoke appeared in the living room revealing him dressed in a long grey dragonscale coat, leather pants, a grey satin shirt and boots. Jiminy laughed.
"How did I know you were showing up looking like that? Let me guess. You did it so Belle can ogle you from the mirror she's scrying from!"
"Of course!" Rum Strogoff giggled. "It's been her favorite outfit since she first saw it Neverland."
Belle looks at him speculatively. "Rumple, you need to put yours on."
Rhea starts laughing. "Oh Great Stars and Stones! Do all the men in this family wear leather?"
"I think it's a family tradition. See?" Loki transforms his ordinary jeans and shirt into a set of blue leather pants and midnight blue armor with a golden cloak.
"Robert doesn't have any," Meredith pointed out.
"Hmm. You want a pair?" Rumple asked his twin.
"Yes! You do!' Emma answered for him and dressed her husband in his own set.
"Roll in the tongue Mom!" Henry cracked up.
Loki wriggled his fingers and gave his great-grandson a matching set of leathers. "There! Now we all match!"
"Suddenly the temperature in here just went over a hundred degrees, sugar!" Alice gasped, fanning herself.
Rum Strogoff walked over to where his mother was sitting and threw his arms around her. "Mama...I've waited so long for this...to see you!"
"I know darling," she wept. "Thank you Loki! Thank you so much for letting him come to me!"
"You're welcome, Lilly. You know me. I'm a sucker for family reunions." The god of mischief grinned.
If only we could see our mother, Rhea thought mournfully.
Loki cleared his throat. "Is that request, darling? Because I can grant it if you ask me directly."
"Loki, may we see our mother?"
"It is my pleasure, Rhea Gold." He lowers his head and Calls Daria's spirt from the Astral. "Daria Laufeyson, I summon thee."
Rhea joined hands with her brothers, her eyes filled with tears.
"Together again...as I've dreamed you would be after all these years..."
"You can hug them, Daria." Loki smiled. "That much I can grant to you."
"It's more than I could've hoped for."
The small woman with golden hair in the beautiful green dress approached her children and opened her arms. "All my children . . .reunited at last."
She was still as beautiful as Rumple and Rhea remembered her to be but she was still a stranger to the second son she'd given life to. Yet he went to her as willingly as his siblings did, longing to feel her warm embrace.
Daria hugged them close murmuring softly, "I love you, my dearies." She projects her love to each of them.
"But...but I never knew you," Robert confessed sadly. "HE took me away from you."
"Aye, my worthless husband stole ye from my arms. But ye are MY bairn, dearie," Daria told him, her voice taking on the cadence of the mortal villagers she lived among for so long. "And a mother always loves her own child, no matter how long they are apart."
"Yes she does," Lilly agreed, holding her own son close. "I gave my life to save my son and every day I longed to be given a chance to be reunited with him."
"All the lost ones have come home," Loki declared, dabbing his eyes with one of his handkerchiefs. "And you've turned me into a damn waterfall!"
"Us too," Belle sniffled.
"The queen's not gonna steal Christmas now!" Regina declared.
"No, she isn't darling!" Loki affirmed. "Because I'm going to kick her backside to Hel."
"Actually that will be your great-grandchildrens' job...with a little help from us," Rum Strogoff said. "After all, Rumple has earned his place at the West Gate now that he's taken care of his pirate problem."
"You are going to need me," Loki argued. "She has gotten stronger since her rebirth."
"True, she has and I woudn't count on Hades to be of any help."
"No, he wouldn't be since we made him give back Baelfire and Robin in Storybrooke Two," Jiminy pointed out.
"He tends to sulk when his pride is hurt.," Loki remarked. "Unfortunately, we don't have time to indulge him."
"The Book of the Ancients Robert. Do you still have it?" Jiminy asked.
"Yes," Robert said, and took the book from his jacket pocket.
Rum Strogoff took and turned to a page with a drawing of a tear shaped pendant. "That is what we need to help you defeat Zorinda. It's called Aramon's talisman."
"Where do you find it?" Rumple wanted to know. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Nor would you," Lilly said. "It was created in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible by our ancestor Ivan Strogoff who later became the Ozian god Aramon when he married my ancestor Lurline."
"What does it do?" Henry asked.
"It can render any magical being, even a god powerless for a short amount of time but if you press it against their hearts it takes them away permanently."
"Only those of the Strogoff bloodline can use it," Rum Strogoff added. "But what you're seeing here is Aramon's writings on how to replicate it."
Rhea peers at the book. "This is in an ancient Russian dialect."
"This was the other reason why Zorinda and Zelena were after the book, Robert," Jiminy said. "That talisman is the most powerful magical item in ALL the worlds and every dark mage would sell their souls to get their hands on the instructions to replicate it!"
"That's correct Rhea...a dialect that only the members of my family can translate." Lilly indicated herself and her son. "Unfortunately that list includes Zorinda. She used the talisman to strip me of my powers and killed me."
Rhea frowned. "Is there anything to counter this? I mean what if we recreate it and it falls into the wrong hands?"
Rum Strogoff turned to another page showing a square shaped pendant. "The counter is the Strogoff Emerald. It can restore your powers the same way the talisman removes them. To activate them you speak the true name of the mage you are using them on."
Rum Strogoff walked over to the mirror on the wall and reached through it, a small wooden box in his hand.
"Thank you Henry," he said.
He held out the box for the others to see. Inside were two pendants based on the illustrations in the book, a tear shaped ruby and a square emerald pendant.
Rumple eyed them. "How long do we have to make these, dearie?"
"There are enough of us here powerful enough to reproduce them in forty-eight hours. It took Aramon two years by himself."
"Twenty-four if I add my magic to yours," Loki corrected.
"Still too long...Rumple, we can cut it down to even less if all four Nonestican guardians help," Lilly suggested.
"I'm on borrowed magic Mama and It will drain me hard but I'll try. Az, DG and Henry, would they need to be here?"
"No. They can channel their energy through someone. I can channel Henry's magic since he is my great-grandson. Jiminy can channel Az's magic and possibly DG's."
"A circle of nine. The number of Power," Loki said approvingly.
"I may not be able to channel both Az and DG's magic but I have someone who might be able to help me. Pallux!" Jiminy called out.
The mobat demon tattoo on his arm began to glow. Emma shrieked and dove behind the sofa when he flew off his master's arm and into the center of the living room.
"Turn back into Pongo please before you scare the daylights out of the babies!"
"Well you didn't say what form I was supposed to take," the Dalmatian huffed. "Next time specify!"
"Scared of a flying monkey? Really Emma!" Bae teased.
"So they scared me the first time I saw the Wizard of Oz. Sue me!"
Henry held up his phone smirking, Jimmy was laughing behind the lens of his camera.
"You didn't..." Emma groaned.
"Oh yes we did," Henry taunted. "Blame it on being Loki's great-great-great grandson!"
"Mischief runs in the family!" the god chuckled.
"Delete it! Delete it!"
"Oh heck no. Lemme see Henry!" Bae took the phone and played back the video, howling with laughter.
Daria was also laughing. "I need to visit more often!"
"Yes you do Mama," Rumple said gently.
"I'd like that very much. I've missed all of you so much and I want to get to know my grandchildren...and great grandchildren!"
"We're a pretty crazy bunch," Alina said with a laugh.
Daria smiled wistfully, recalling the games Rhea and Rumple used to play as children. "I can handle it dearie."
One of her most precious moments was being able to hold the littlest members of her grandson's family. Dylan and little Daria took to her right away and she could sense the strong fae magic within them, fae magic that Titania would be desperate to get her greedy little hands on if she managed to escape Loki's wrath.
"Thank you for being a good wife to my son, Belle."
"No thanks is necessary. I've always wanted to be a better wife to him than Milah ever was."
She glanced over to where her husband stood with his brother and sister. It was wonderful to see the three of them together and though others may not have been able to tell her husband and his twin apart, she knew she would have no trouble at all. She smiled, a plan forming in her mind.
"Matchmaking, dearie?" her mother-in-law teased.
"You read my mind!" Belle accused, laughing.
"It can't be helped. Now then, what lady do ye have in mind for my lad?"
"No one at the moment but there are a few bachelorettes in town that still make google eyes at my husband. Well they can admire Robert instead and if they can't be ladies with him I'll take the book to them like I did to a certain evil queen!"
"Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match," Alice and Loki sang in tandem.
Jeff stared. "You two are Looney Tunes."
"What-you never saw Fiddler on the Roof?" Loki giggled.
"Culture escapes him, sugar," Alice snickered.
"Crazy," Jeff rolled his eyes.
"Stop it, Carstairs," Alice cried. "Before you tick him off and he turns you into a pumpkin."
"Oh, don't worry. I have a thick skin," Loki reassured her. "I've been called every name there is in the book . . . and some that aren't even in there."
"I'm gonna call you Studmuffin!" Emma joked.
Henry rolled his eyes and shook his head. "My mom is such a fangirl. At least your mom is behaving," he said to Alina.
"Only cause Papa's right here," Alina giggled.
"You call me that, Emma, and I'll have to sing the Muffin Man song," Loki smirked. "Right, angel face?" He tickled Ilyssa and the baby squealed with joy, her tiny wings emerging. Loki picked her up, her wings fluttering, and tossed her gently into the air. She hovered before gliding back down to his waiting hands.
"Oh wow! I didn't know she could do that!" Bae exclaimed.
"Now we do...oh boy...she's gonna be flyin off everywhere!" Emma moaned.
"Mama, I think you, Archie, Merri and Regina should go back to Juno with me," they heard Rum Strogoff say to Lilly.
"Why?"
"We have stronger wards there. Zorinda's going to try to come after you again now that you have your memories back and she's not finished with Regina yet. She will try to reverse her deaging. And Snow, you and David should come as well."
"I can stay here and keep an eye on them Rum," Jiminty spoke up.
"I may need you to check the other Storybrookes. Alemedia is not a fool. She's created more Dark One daggers and I have no doubt she's hidden them there. They all have to be neutralized and if Zorinda gets hold of one of them she becomes the Dark One again."
"We have to tell the others where the other Storybrookes are. We might need their help monitoring them. And they need to be told about the Home Office."
"I haven't forgotten that. Has Archie seen them in Storybrooke Two?"
"No. Not since Pan was killed there. Doesn't mean they won't try to go back."
"All right you two. What is going on?" Lilly demanded. "Are we under another threat besides my sister?"
Rum sighed deeply. "Yes, Mama."
"Out with it. Now!"
"Everyone is having such a wonderful time."
"Rumplestiltskin Strogoff-Gold, if you know there is other danger, you will speak up or by the goddess I will summon a seeing globe and find out myself! Now what is this Home Office you're talking about?"
"They're based in England, Mama and they're...they're killing people from all the realms. Mages are their primary targets. We thought it was just some cult Pan made up until I got a call from one of the other Jiminys from what's called 'The Wish Realm'. He worked at the NSA here and was using his job as cover to track them."
"Storybrooke Two's Archie had a twin named Silas. Silas was a Dark One working for them, killing fairy tale creatures and mages across the country," Jiminy added. "My brother David almost caught him in San Francisco but he got away. Silas is dead now but there are still a lot of members in that organization."
"Do you think my sister might be working with them?"
"It's possible."
"Birds of a feather," Rumple muttered.
"You heard all that?" Rum Strogoff asked him.
"I'm not deaf yet, dearie," Rumple quipped.
"You can thank the bastard that spawned me for it. The Home Office started when he tried to abduct the Darling boys and took their sister instead. It made them want to destroy all magic but they changed their minds after they helped us defeat Pan. I cannot say the same for their followers. They left the order and formed their own branch that destroys all magical creatures and the safe havens we create."
"That's another reason why we're here. We're trying to warn everyone about them so they can be ready," Jiminy said.
"Then we should start work on the talisman and the emerald soon," Lilly suggested.
"Is it always like this where you're from? Not a moment's peace?" Emma inquired of Jiminy and Rum.
"Not always dearie. We had seven years of peace and quiet but that was because we didn't know what was going on in the other Storybrookes."
"The Balance is shifting...the darkness has grown more powerful in those seven years because the other realms were not closely monitored," Loki added.
"Not to mention the pirate menace in our seas," Rhea snarled.
"We're all gonna need a LONG vacation after this!" Bae joked.
"Cool! I wanna go to New York again!" Regina squealed.
Rumple groaned. One adventure in New York with her had been enough!
"Something wrong Rumple. You're looking a bit pale," Robert observed. "Why does the idea of going to New York again make you look like you want to crawl in a hole?"
"Oh brother dearie if you only knew!"
"And beware on Thanksgiving. You eat turkey expect the Queen here to be outside your house staging a protest," Jeff added.
"W...What? But you're supposed to eat turkey on Thanksgiving!" Robert gaped at the child.
"Nuh-uh! You better eat pizza Unca Bobby or m'gonna find out where you live an protest till you do!"
"If I wanna eat turkey, I'm gonna eat turkey," Robert said defiantly. "Just try and stop me."
Regina jumped off the sofa and ran over to him, her chin puffed out. "You're on, Unca Bobby!"
"Uh-oh, Regina's layin the smackdown!" Henry laughed.
"My poor uncle has NO idea what he's getting himself into!" Alina giggled.
"This I have to see!" Loki snickered.
"Well take a seat an bring some popcorn 'cause I'm gonna do it!"
"We don't eat turkey at our house. Grampa doesn't want to," Meredith spoke up.
"Yeah 'cause he was on MY side!"
Jiminy Ozopov doubled over laughing. "This...this reminds me of us that night we got arrested...right, Rumfather?"
"Dearie, I was not the one who decided to stage a sit-in in the lobby of the police station. That was Belle's idea and you and Az encouraged it."
"What's a sit in?" Regina wanted to know.
"Never you mind Regina Nolan!"
"But Daddy I wanna know."
"No you don't."
"I'll find out," the former queen said determinedly.
"Might as well tell her Dad. She's gonna keep at it til you do anyway," Emma advised.
"Later."
"But Daddy..."
"Later, Regina," Snow said firmly.
"Okay Mommy."
"I suppose we'd best get started making the talismans," Rumple said.
"I'll go get dinner ready. I have a feeling you mages are gonna be working up quite the appetite," Alice put on her apron. Belle and Alina followed her into the kitchen and donned their own aprons. As they were getting everything ready Lilly poked her head in.
"Ah, make my son a light meal please. He just had gallstones removed and is on a strict diet."
"Mama!" they heard her son protest, followed by laughter.
"Laugh it up Gold and we'll be seeing how funny it is when YE are havin gallstones removed, dearie!"
Belle and Alice opened the kitchen door to see the two Rumples facing each other.
"I eat healthier than you obviously, dearie!"
"It's like having a triplet isn't it dearie?" Robert asked, chuckling.
"Rumples, Rumples, Rumples, oh my!" Belle laughed, putting her own spin on Dorothy's famous quote from The Wizard of Oz.