From her perch on one of her bedroom's cushioned window seats, Five-year-old Norah Locksley studies her grumpy redheaded cousin with a keen circumspect rarely seen in one so young. Hopefully, she offers, "Do you want to go outside?"

Six-year-old Eliana, daughter of the Dark Lord and the Wicked Witch of the West, scowls as she flops down on Norah's antique sleigh bed with disinterest. "You always ask me that. I don't like outside. What's so great about outside?"

"Lots of things." Norah declares eagerly. "We can climb trees; we can look for animals – or bugs. We can even pick apples."

Norah isn't the least bit surprised when her cousin suddenly sits up and shrivels into an upright fetal position, protecting herself by drawing her knees up to her chest and tucking the toes of her shiny patent leather shoes beneath the hem of her skirt as though it's just been announced that there are actually bugs in the room with them. Norah doesn't wait for Eliana to object with a scowl or even a squeal of protest. Instead, she quickly offers, "We can watch Ember play with Big John. They might like that. He is her dad."

Eliana rolls her eyes and scratches her gangly nine-week-old puppy behind the ears. "I know that."

With the enormous feet and frame of her mastiff sire, but the thick coat and solemn expression of her English setter mother, the sweet-tempered pup is usually viewed with an air of mild surprise and curiosity. Now, wary of the peevish tone in the child's voice and the tantrum that she already knows often follows this tone, Ember lifts her fuzzy head off the bed and studies her young mistress with concern.

"See." Norah takes this for proof. "She wants to go play with her dad."

"She already did – and anyway, I don't want to go outside again. I don't see why John can't come inside with us."

"His name is Big John."

"His name is silly. I don't know what was wrong with Cerberus."

"He's Ro's dog now. We told you, remember? He followed Mama and Daddy around in the underworld. Mama did magic on him because he kept trying to eat everybody. She made him not so big anymore…"

Eliana sighs. "I know, I know. And your dad was afraid he was too little to stay there anymore. He was afraid that he might get hurt. So, they brought him home and now he's Roland's dog. I'm just saying he didn't have to change his name."

"Uh-huh! He's Roland's dog now, and Roland can name his dog anything he wants. Mama said so!"

"Geez! Don't yell! Just 'cause Aunt Regina says something doesn't mean it's the law, you know?"

"You wanna go downstairs and tell her that, Elia?"

The redhead's naturally pale skin blanches further still at the prospect and she shakes her head fervently. "No thank you."

"Okay then. His name is Big John - even if you think it is silly." Norah sticks her tongue out in a 'so there' fashion.

"Fine! Why can't Big John come inside with us?"

"Mama says he's too big for inside. He's an outside dog. Mama says one day Ember will be too big to come inside too."

Eliana looks absolutely stricken at the thought. "You mean one day she's going to make Ember go outside and stay in that… that… that DOGHOUSE?"

Norah squints. "It's not so bad. Big John likes his house. It's big enough for ten of me. 'least that's what Henry says. He laughed at Mama when she bought that gi-normous doghouse home and put it in the backyard. He calls it the royal garrison. It has room for Big John, his great big squishy dog bed, his water, and his dinner bowls. He even has half of his toys piled up in there with him, and there is still some room left over. I bet you, there's enough room for Ember to get in there with him. At least for now. When she gets as big as him… Well, maybe not then. But he likes her. I think he will share his fort with her."

"It is not that big… Is it?"

Norah shrugs even as she nods. "It's pretty big!"

Eliana wrinkles her nose as she thinks. "Mum did say it was awfully big for just one dog. Why do you think your mum bought one so big as that?

"Mama grouches a lot about Big John. Especially if he pees on her flowers or digs holes in the backyard… but I think she really loves him. She calls him a big oaf, but she usually rubs his ears when she says it. She tells us not to feed him people-food, but last night we had a roast for supper. and I saw her sneak a big piece and cut it up before she put it in with his dog food."

Eliana giggles conspiratorially. "She did?"

Norah nods. "Just don't ask her. She'll only tell you that he's a brainless lump who's a slave to basic instinct"

Eliana scowls. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Norah shrugs. "I don't know. Wanna go ask Papa. He will tell us."

Eliana shakes her head. "Maybe later. You want to go get a snack?"

"We already had a snack."

"Only yogurt. That's not a snack. That's just a tease. You got any candy?"

"You ate all my candy the last time you were here."

"I only ate four pieces."

"Well… That's all I had. Maybe Daddy will sneak me some jellybeans on his way home from the Lucky Feather."

"We can go over to my house and get some."

"We can't go to your house without a grownup."

"We can if we use magic."

"Eli-annnnnna!" Norah hisses quietly and rushes to close her bedroom door.

"What?"

"We cannot do that!"

"Sure, we can. It's easy."

"The last time we did that, Mama wouldn't let me go outside for five whole days!"

"Big deal! Who wants to go outside anyway? It's hot… and there are bugs."

"I like sunshine… And bugs."

"I wish my parents would come home. Daddy's always in the underworld. Mum's always either taking care of my stupid little brother or she's gone to Olympus so she can take a break from taking care of him. She takes him up there so the rest of the family can fuss over him. They all think he's… 'just the sweetest thing ever.' The kindergartner mimics her Aunt Aphrodite in a syrupy tone of voice and then pretends to gag.

"Well, you're stuck here for tonight."

"Yeah… With no candy."

Trying to soothe her cousin's obviously ruffled feathers, Norah raises an eyebrow and wrinkles her nose in thought. "Maybe we can think of a way to make your parents come home."

"I vote for magic."

"Elia, you always vote for magic."

Eliana shrugs. "Well Norah, how else am I supposed to make the God of the Underworld and the Wicked Witch do what I want them to do?"

"You could try asking them."

Eliana shakes her head. "That use to work. Not anymore. Not since their precious little hot head was born. He steals my toys and my snacks, and they don't even care – they didn't even yell at him when he set my princess canopy on fire."

"They did fix it. It looks just like it did before. And anyway, he is kind of cute when he yells 'fire' and then falls over laughing when his head lights up."

Eliana groans. "Not you too! How come everybody thinks he's so cute when he catches things on fire? It's not funny. You should try having him for a brother!"

"Hey, I already have two."

"Big deal! Neither one of them has set your bedroom on fire by shooting flames from the top of their heads!"

"No, my brothers don't catch fire, but they're still a pain sometimes. Henry loves his new motorcycle. If he's not riding it, he's washing it. If he's not washing it, he's polishing it. Even his girlfriend got mad at him last week because he would rather ride his motorcycle than go to the movies with her. He was so busy messing with his new bike, he forgot he was supposed to take me to get registered for school. Mama got really mad at him. Then nobody in the house was happy. And last weekend, Roland tried to use my doll, Isabella, for target practice. He almost shot her with an arrow! Mama won't use magic to fix stuff like that. She just tells Roland, 'You broke it, you're responsible for fixing it."

Eliana's blue eyes go wide. "I would turn him into a lizard if he did that to Becca!"

Norah shrugs and shakes her head. "It wouldn't do any good. I turned Roland into a teddy bear once. Daddy begged me to change him back. I was mad because he wanted to go play with his friends instead of me, but it was no fun making Daddy sad. I didn't mean to do that."

Eliana smiles. "Maybe we can make Theo disappear."

"You're not listening. Besides, you already used magic to drop him off at the fire station with that note that said he was for adoption. Your parents just went and got him back. Maybe, instead of trying to make him go away, you need to make your parents stay here."

"How? I already tried to use that broken wand that Mum has. It exploded and made a tiny little green tornado shatter all the windows in the front parlor."

Norah's mouth falls open. "Was she mad at you?"

"Yeah, but Daddy just laughed and said, "That's my girl."

"Maybe you shouldn't try to use any more wands for a little while."

"Maybe we can get an idea from Henry's storybook. Is he home?"

"Not right now."

Eliana sucks on the inside of her cheek with disappointment. "Then, his bedroom door is probably locked, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. I can still get in. We just have to wait until Mama goes back to her office and Papa Henry falls asleep in his reading chair."

After Regina pokes her head in the bedroom door to tell the girls that she's going back to the office for a bit and that they should play quietly and stay out of trouble, Norah sits on the window seat and watches as her mother's black Mercedes leaves the driveway and rolls out of sight before she heads for the door. There, she stops and places a hand on her cousin's shoulder to prevent the redhead from stepping out into the hallway. "Stay here, Eliana."

"I wanna come too."

"I'll be back in just a minute. You can wait here. I don't need your help to do this part."

"But I want to go with you."

Norah shakes her head stubbornly. "No! You're not very good at being quiet. You don't know how to sneak. You will get us caught."

Offended, Eliana objects a little too loudly for Norah's liking. "Uh huh! I can too, be… quiet!" Her last word is muffled as Norah clamps her hand over her cousin's mouth.

Norah rolls her eyes and growls in frustration. "You're not being quiet right now! Wait for me right here. Play with Ember and count to 20."

"Aw! Why do I have to count?"

"If I'm not back before you get to 20, you can come out."

"But Norah I want…"

Norah clenches her fists and stomps her foot. "Just stay!" She hisses.

"I am not a dog!"

Norah shoves her cousin back into the bedroom and closes the door with, "Do you wanna get your parents to come back home, or not?"

Norah walks slowly up the hallway. When she reaches the grand spiral staircase, she jumps over the squeaky first step the way Roland always does and walks halfway down to the second-floor landing. Holding on to the banister for support, she goes up on tiptoe, and peers over the railing down into the great room below.

Papa is reading in his favorite chair, and listening to music on his record player, but he's not asleep yet. He almost always falls asleep when he reads books.

She retraces her steps on nearly silent feet, and returns to her bedroom, making sure to close the door completely before she speaks. With her back to the door, and her hand still on the doorknob, she shakes her head. "Not yet. We still have to wait."

Eliana scowls impatiently. "I can just make him go to sleep."

Norah shakes her head vehemently. "Don't you dare! The last time you tried to make Theo go to sleep, he had to go to the hospital."

"But I know what I did wrong last time. I used too much magic."

Norah shakes her head again. "No way Eliana! If Papa goes to the hospital, then, you can just go home, 'cause we're not gonna be friends anymore!"

"Okay, okay." Eliana pats the air dramatically. "Just calm down." She wrinkles her nose. "You are kind of bossy, you know?"

Norah scowls and shrugs. "My grandpa, my house, my room, my brother's book! If you don't like it, then go get the book yourself."

Eliana crosses her arms over her chest and huffs, "Fine! I was only trying to help."

The look on Norah's face shifts slightly. "Do you think you can call for the book? Or maybe take us to it? You call for stuff better than me."

Eliana wrinkles her nose again. "Don't think so. It's easier to do with people. It's easier to know where people are. Their heads make lots of noise. Stuff, things like books, they don't make any noise unless they have spells or curses on them, and even then, I still have to know exactly where they are, before I can move them or go to them."

Norah smiles. "The book is inside Henry's room, and it does have magic in it. The ink he writes with is magic."

Eliana nods. "I know that, but I have to know exactly where in his room. Do you know where the book is? Maybe it's under the bed, or on the desk."

Norah shakes her head. "Henry puts it lots of different places."

"Then we better wait." Eliana admits reluctantly.

They play Old Maid, Memory, and Go Fish – twice before Norah goes out on another reconnaissance mission. Stepping back into the room, she giggles. "Papa is snoring. I can hear him all the way up here in the hallway."

Eliana squints. "Does he keep you awake all night?"

Norah shakes her head. He sleeps with his bedroom door closed. It's only because he's downstairs in the great room, and I can see right down to his chair. The room is so big that it makes extra noise. Daddy says it's because the room is round, and the ceiling is so high. Henry calls our living room the echo chamber." She beckons to Eliana. "Come on, bring Ember, and be quiet."

Norah follows the hallway around to the back of the house with Eliana and her puppy close behind. Once inside her parents' bedroom, she goes straight to the balcony doors and opens them wide. Outside, Eliana watches in confusion as her cousin sits down on the floor of the balcony and removes her shoes and socks. "Why are you doing that?"

Norah wiggles her toes. "Can't hang on with your toes if you can't bend your toes."

Eliana squints as she holds tight to Ember's collar. "Hang on to what?"

Leaving her socks and shoes in a pile, Norah stands up and trots across the balcony to the edge, where she climbs up, sits on top of the railing, and swings her feet around to dangle over the outer edge before she points. "To that."

Eliana squints in disbelief. "You're going to hold onto the flowers?"

Norah shakes her head adamantly. "Not the flowers, silly! The wooden thing the flowers are growing on. I forget what Daddy calls it. It starts with a 'T', and it works like a ladder. You can step on it. I can hold on with my toes and my fingers."

Eliana shakes her head and scowls. "Norah! You are crazy in the head! I am not going off this balcony!"

"That's okay. You're not invited anyway!"

"Hey! Why not?"

"Because you're not good at climbing. I don't want you to fall."

"Well, what if you fall?"

Norah shakes her head. "I never do."

"What if that ladder thing breaks?"

"It's not a ladder. It just works like one - and it won't break."

"How do you know."

"Cuz, Daddy built it. When Daddy builds stuff, it doesn't break."

"Why do you have to climb up anyway. We're on the top floor. Except for the attic. Can't you get there without climbing on that thing?"

"I'm not going up to the attic. I'm going sideways to Henry's bedroom window. It's always open."

"I'm not going out there." Eliana repeats and shakes her head.

"You don't have to. Just wait until I get across. Then, be quiet and go to Henry's bedroom door. I can open the door from inside."

"What if you fall? The grass is a long way down, Norah!"

"I told you. I never do."

"What if you do this time?"

"Then use magic to catch me."

"Are you serious?" Eliana covers her face with her hands and shakes her head again.

"Do you want the book, or not?"

Eliana lowers her hands. "Yes!"

"Then, stop being such a girl."

Eliana scowls. "I am a girl. I don't think I'm allowed to stop being one."

Norah rolls her eyes and reaches for the trellis.

Eliana covers her eyes with her hands.

When she is certain that she has a good hold, Norah kicks off the balcony railing and is halfway across before Eliana wrinkles her nose and dares to peek through the gaps between her own fingers to watch her cousin's progress. She gets really nervous for a few seconds when she can no longer see Norah, but just about the time she loses visual contact due to the slight curvature of the old apple barn's round structure, Norah's outstretched fingers clamp securely down on the window ledge outside Henry's bedroom. Norah hoists herself up and over the windowsill into the room. Eliana does not see her again until she's had time to scramble over the top of her brother's writing desk, lose her balance, tumble to the floor, and then get up, crawl back onto the desk, and poke her right arm back through the window as far as she can, wave, and whisper loudly, "I'm here, come on over. I'll open the door for you."

Eliana sits on her knees for a little extra height in the chair that accompanies her cousin Henry's writing desk. She reads in stops and starts, turning the pages slowly and sounding out the larger words - the ones that are more difficult for her to pronounce. She relies heavily on the full-page illustrations for a substantial part of her understanding.

Norah closes, and pushes her eldest brother's laptop to a safe corner of the desk where it's not likely to be disturbed. She perches comfortably on top of the desk and reads along with Eliana.

When the redhead comes to a particular story line in the book, she stops and stares in absolute wonder. "Look Norah!" She declares as if she's just received an unexpected gift. "It's my dad!" Eliana points to an expertly rendered image of two gods who both wear thunderous expressions. One of whom, wields a lightning bolt shaped crystal and the other who has magnificent cobalt blue flames leaping from the crown of his head.

Norah shrugs as she hops off the desk momentarily and opens the bottom desk drawer. "Of course, it's your dad. Everybody who lives in Storybrooke is in this book. Even you and me. Even Theo."

Eliana rolls her eyes and begins to read the corresponding story.

Norah rummages around in the drawer until she comes up with a metal tin that is secured with a combination padlock. Shielding the rotating dial from Eliana's view with one hand, she spins it until the lock disengages. Once the tin is opened, she extracts two pieces of chocolate Riesen candy from a nearly full sack, and then closes the box; snapping the lock back into place before she returns the tin to the back of the bottom drawer just as she found it. She nudges the drawer shut with her foot before hopping back up onto the desk. She offers one piece of candy to her cousin before unwrapping the other and popping it into her mouth. Talking around the chewy treat, she says, "Don't get that on the pages."

Eliana shakes her head and squints at the words on the page as she quickly does away with the wrapper. "What's these words?" she asks, pointing as she bites into her own piece of candy.

Norah sounds out the first word slowly; three letters at a time "for- kid? No, that's not right. For-ceed…Forced. Forced, I think." She shrugs.

Eliana nods agreeably. "Okay, what about the other one?"

Norah tries again, with less success. "ee-x-ill-ey." She wrinkles her nose. Don't know. That one is weir.."

Her head jerks upward at the sound of her grandfather clearing his throat, and she finds him leaning casually against the door frame.

Knowing that they are caught, she tries a smile. "Hi Papa."

The old king laughs. "Hi Norah… What's going on in here?"

"We're just reading,"

Henry nods. "Well, that's always a good thing to do. Only trouble is, I'm sure this door was locked. Your brother likes his privacy."

Norah shrugs. "I know how to get in. We won't mess up anything."

"Obviously. Mind telling me how you managed it?"

Norah comes up short.

Trying to help, Eliana says, "The window was open."

Norah kicks her.

"Ow!" She rubs her right shin. "What was that for?"

Squinting curiously, Henry joins them at the desk, and stops near the only open window in the room. Leaning over to reach around his granddaughter's shoulder, he pulls the drapes open a little wider. Peering out at the ground far below he asks for a clarification. "You don't mean this window?"

Now afraid to say anything, Eliana becomes stone-faced and goes utterly mute.

Henry eyes his granddaughter sternly.

Norah gives in and nods slowly.

Momentarily stunned beyond the capacity for rational thought, Henry shouts, "Norah Locksley! Have you lost your mind?"

Norah stares in wide-eyed shock, instantly on the verge of tears.

Henry stammers wordlessly.

Norah waits, frozen in place.

Almost contrite at the sight of his young granddaughter's silent panic, Henry closes the window with a little too much force and locks it with the snap of his wrist. He shakes his head and points toward the bedroom door as he leaves the room without another word.

The two girls are silent for several seconds, simply staring at each other in shock and dismay before Eliana finally finds the courage to whisper, "What should we do now, Norah?"

Norah shakes her head and shrugs at a loss for words as two fat teardrops slip free of her eyelashes and slide down her face to land softly, soaking into the pages of Henry's storybook.

Out in the hallway, leaning with one hand against the wall for support, Henry places his other trembling hand against his chest and breathes deeply several times, in and out. He breathes slow forced breaths and counts to ten. When that's not quite long enough, he does it over again three more times before he feels his elevated heart rate slowly began to return to normal. Squaring his shoulders, he inhales one last time before stepping quietly back into the room. He settles himself on the edge of his eldest grandson's bed and pats the spot beside him.

Moving slowly, hoping not to startle him again, Norah approaches and climbs up onto the bed warily.

Henry picks her up and settles her across his lap. For a long moment, he simply hugs her until she murmurs in confusion against his shirt front, "Papa?"

He kisses the top of her head. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. I shouldn't have done that. You surprised me, that's all. I thought nobody would ever scare me as badly as your mama used to."

"Mama used to scare you?"

Henry chuckles wryly. "Boy, did she ever!"

"When she was bad?"

Henry shrugs and runs his fingers through the girl's hair. "We've all got bad in us Norah, but we've all got some good in us, too. The trick is to use more of the good than the bad."

"I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't want to do that."

Henry studies her with a raised eyebrow. "But you're not sorry you climbed through the window."

Norah looks at the window and then wrinkles her nose and slowly shakes her head.

Henry chuckles and tightens his hold on the girl. "That's what I figured." He shakes his head and smiles incredulously. "But you are your mother's child!"

Norah studies his face and squints." Papa, I can't tell. Is that good, or is it bad?"

"It's a bit of both… Usually more good than bad."

"Am I still in trouble?"

"A bit, yes. Suppose you tell me how you even managed to get in here?"

Norah whispers. "I hopped off Mama and Daddy's balcony and walked on that thing where the flowers grow."

Henry closes his eyes and mutters under his breath.

"Uh, Papa? You're hugging too tight. You're squishing me!

The old man loosens his hold and tilts her chin up, gently forcing her to look him in the eye. "Okay, new rule. From now on, unless your brother is in this room, that window stays locked. You are never, ever to enter this room, or any other room of this house that is not on the ground floor, courtesy of a window. Got it?"

"Aww Papa! I never fall."

"There's always a first time for everything. All it takes is one missed step, one loose nail in that trellis. Norah, this house has three stories. Do you even know that you were 70 feet off the ground? You could have been seriously hurt. You could have been killed!"

"Mama wouldn't let me die."

"First, your mama isn't here. Second, while I have great respect for the powers she can wield, the power over life and death is not one of them, my girl."

Norah squints. "Is too! She got you back, Papa!"

Henry groans, chuckling softly as he shakes his head yet again. "It's wonderful that you trust her that deeply. However, she didn't accomplish getting me back all by herself. She had a lot of help from one of the very few individuals who does have power over life and death… And how do you even know about that, young lady?"

Norah sighs. "Papa, my ears work good. I can hear people when they talk; and people like to talk about Mama. They do it a lot. I know she went to the underworld. I heard all about it."

Henry coughs uncomfortably. "I sincerely doubt you heard everything there was to hear. Yes, your mother brought me back from the underworld, but that is something she cannot do on her own. That required the favor of, and a considerable amount of help from Zeus… As well as a very special friend of mine."

Norah nods. "I know. Miss Maggie. You miss her."

Henry nods. "Yes, I do. Norah, I miss her more than words can say - and I don't want you going to join her. Not for a very, very, long time. You're supposed to squeeze every drop from life that you can get, Norah. You are not allowed to die until you're really, really, really old! I mean older than me."

Norah giggles. "Papa!"

"I mean it! So, that means, no more hopping over balconies, or scaling walls without a safety net!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Promise me you two girls will never climb through that window again!"

"Eliana didn't. She's not good at climbing. Just me."

"Never again!"

"Okay Papa. I promise. I won't climb through Henry's bedroom window anymore."

Henry raises an eyebrow. "Ground floor windows only! This house is entirely too tall!"

"Don't people scale castle walls all the way up from the ground?"

"Stupid people! And I know you're not stupid! So, no more! Got it?"

Norah relents, "I got it."

"Good! Now, it's not like you two have never seen that book before. What story was so important that you had to risk your life just to come in here and read it?"

Norah smiles. Finally, completely at ease again, she beckons to Eliana. "Bring the book. Papa, what is this word?"

Henry ushers the girls out of his namesake's bedroom. The last one out, he closes the door and then escorts them down to the Locksley's elegant living room.

Upon learning of her father's forced exile to the underworld courtesy of Henry's storybook, six-year-old Eliana scowls repugnantly and her normally pale skin goes bright pink as she demands to know, "Why didn't somebody tell me that's why Daddy has to spend so much time in the underworld? They could've just told me!"

Norah shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask your parents."

Grasping for any small amount of hope, Eliana wrinkles her nose. "Maybe the book is wrong."

Norah's eyes go wide. "Henry can't write it wrong. He has to write it the way it really happened."

"Who says?"

"Henry… And Mama too."

Eliana spins on her heel and glares at Norah's grandfather. "Are you sure you read that right? Does that book really say that my dad is jealous of Uncle Zeus? Because, Mr. Henry, that's just dumb!"

Having more than a passing acquaintance with the incendiary stare of a Mills female, the old king chuckles from the comfort of his armchair. "I'm quite certain I read it correctly. You're welcome to ask for a second opinion if you like, but such a request will come with questions; and the answer to those questions will likely land your cousin Norah in hot water over her recent trespass into her brother's bedroom – something I suspect she might have been less inclined to do if it hadn't been for your influence, Eliana. How are you going to feel if the two of you are not allowed to see each other for a significant portion of time?"

Norah raises a hopeful eyebrow. "Does that mean you aren't going to tell Mama and Daddy?"

Henry eyes his young granddaughter with grave speculation. "Not this time - as long as I don't catch you crawling through another upper story window of this house. Do anything like that again, and I will have no choice Norah."

Aware that she's just skated through a minefield narrowly avoiding doom, Norah gulps and whispers with relief, "Thanks Papa."

"Never mind thanks. Just you remember; that window is locked, and it will stay that way from now on whenever that room is unoccupied. Furthermore, if your brother wanted people dropping by for visits in his absence, he wouldn't bother locking the door, sweetheart. It's not very kind if you to invade Henry's privacy like that."

"Okay." Norah nods dutifully. "But, Papa, you said that Uncle Hades' exile was lifted…" Norah wrinkles her nose in uncertainty. "when Aunt Zelena was sick. What does that mean?"

"It means that he's not exiled there anymore. He can come and go as he likes. Although, before Eliana was born, his status beyond the underworld was probationary. That means he was released on the condition that he behave appropriately; and his release allowed him to be with Zelena when she needed him."

Norah giggles. "Kind of like when you're grounded, but you get to go on the school field trip anyway, as long as you're good, because it will make you smarter."

Eliana scowls. "My dad was not grounded!"

Still giggling, Norah reaches out and pokes her cousin on the arm. "Kinda sounds that way to me."

"Norah, you take that back!"

Norah sticks out her tongue and takes off running for the grand staircase.

As the redhead chases after his granddaughter, Henry closes the storybook, shakes his head in delight, and calls out with a word of caution. "No running on the stairs!" When small feet slow to a marginally safer pace, he deposits the coveted book on the end table that holds his current reading material and makes his way to the kitchen to begin dinner preparations as he mutters under his breath, "Oh, to have a fraction of their energy…"

Ten minutes later, after dashing through every hallway and out-of-the-way space of the upper floors of her house, Norah flops down on her bed and Eliana pounces. "Got you!"

Norah scoots away from her. "I'm just tired of running."

"I still got you."

Norah shrugs, letting the matter drop.

Eliana distracts herself with Norah's hand-me-down doll, Isabella, and searches the shelves containing all of her cousin's favorite toys without any real hope of finding another. "Norah, how come you only have one doll?"

Norah shrugs, feeling that it should be obvious. "Don't need more than one."

Encountering a foreign concept, Eliana scowls. "Yes, you do! How are you supposed to have a tea party?"

"Elia, dolls do not drink tea."

"Norahhhh! You're supposed to preee-tend."

Wholly unconcerned, Norah shrugs again. "Why? You don't even like tea."

"I know that! Mum gives us bug juice instead – the red kind; it's the best."

"I'd rather have cocoa and banana bread outside than stay inside and play with dolls."

"You're weird for a girl."

"I know."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause, Eliana, you tell me all the time."

"Do not. Not all the time."

"You tell me a lot."

"You must not listen. You haven't gotten any more dolls."

"I listen. I just don't care if you think I'm weird."

"Norah…"

"Yeah?"

"If my dad isn't exiled anymore, then how come he stays in the underworld so much?"

"I think, maybe, it's his job."

"His job?"

Norah sits up in the center of her bed and crosses her legs Indian style. "Yeah." She nods. "Everybody has stuff they have to do."

"Maybe your mom and your dad. They're mortals. They need money for stuff. They gotta work."

"Yeah but we're just kids. We don't need money. Our parents pay for everything. Still, in our house, different people are in charge of different things. Henry has to mow the grass when he comes home from school in Boston. Roland has to take out the trash and sweep the porches. I have to make my own bed, and everybody has to wash their own plate and cup and silverware before we put it in the dishwasher at night."

Eliana's mouth falls open. "You mean you actually wash the dishes? Why?"

"I only wash my own, and Daddy even got me some pretty plastic ones. So, if I drop them on accident, they don't break."

"But why?" Eliana repeats; completely flummoxed by the concept.

Norah shrugs. "It's just my job. Daddy says everybody has to help out. Everybody has to do their part. It's one of his rules."

"Yeah, okay, but can't you just use magic?"

Norah shakes her head adamantly. "Daddy says no." She giggles and whispers conspiratorially. "Mama hates that rule."

Eliana nods. "I don't blame her. Who wants to touch dirty old dishes if you don't have to? Your dad does know she has magic, right?"

"Don't be stupid. Of course, he knows."

"Maybe he forgot. Maybe he bumped his head, or something?"

Norah squints doubtfully. "I don't think he can bump his head hard enough to forget that Mama throws fireballs, Eliana. That kind of thing is pretty easy to remember."

"Then why is she washing dishes… Specially if she doesn't like it."

Norah giggles. "I asked her that once. She said, she doesn't like washing the dishes, but she does like Daddy."

Eliana squints. "Weird, I don't get it."

"I know, right?" Norah giggles again. "She still says Daddy has to wash all the pots and pans. Especially if something gets a little bit burned and sticks to the bottom. She won't wash those. Especially not if they're too big for the dishwasher. Daddy says he's the palace slave."

Eliana makes an appropriately sour face. "Big people are so weird!"

Norah nods. "So, maybe, even though you don't need money, maybe gods have jobs too. Your Uncle Zeus is in charge on Olympus like my mom is in charge here in Storybrooke. Your dad doesn't have to stay in the underworld anymore… At least not all the time. But, he's still in charge. So, he has to go down there sometimes, like when Aunt Zelena goes to Oz, and Daddy goes to Elyria. Everybody has stuff they have to do. And big people have more stuff to do than kids. Maybe the underworld is just your dad's stuff."

"Well then, he needs to move his stuff here, so he can be here more."

"Uh, how?"

"Well, I think I saw that Olympus crystal-thing in Daddy's hiding place once. It was broken, but if I can fix it, and if Zeus used it to make Daddy go to the underworld, then maybe I can use it to move the underworld closer to us."

"Uh, Eliana I don't think you can move the whole entire underworld to Storybrooke."

"I can try."

Norah groans and covers her face. "I do not think Mama is going to like this."