It had been one hour since they had left Storybrooke and the family of four was stopped at a gas station. While David had gotten out to fill up the Escalade, Regina stayed in the car with their children.
"Mooom!" Henry whined from the backseat. "Kaelyn stole my iPod"
Regina turned around to observe the scene. Kaelyn was holding the device away from Henry, stretching her arm so it was closer to the window on her side of the car. Even if he leaned towards her seat, his fingertips were still inches away.
"Kaelyn," she scolded gently. "That's not yours, give it back to your brother."
"My turn!" The three-year-old insisted.
"But sweetie that's Henry's."
"My turn!"
"Mom!"
Kaelyn giggled triumphantly as Henry became more and more frustrated.
"Henry maybe just let her hold it for a bit, she'll get bored in a few minutes and you can have it back."
"But mom she'll break it! Look! She's gonna wreck the headphones."
"Alright. Kaelyn that's enough. Give that back to your brother now."
"But Mommyyyy!"
"No buts," Regina said firmly. "That's belongs to Henry so he gets first say over who gets to use it."
Henry stopped reaching for the iPod and sat back in his seat, holding out his hand instead.
The three-year-old still held it away from the both of them. "Nooo!"
"Kaelyn would you like it if Henry took one of your toys without asking?" Regina reasoned.
She merely shrugged in response to her mother's question.
"You wouldn't like it would you?" Regina asked.
The little girl paused, thinking this over, eventually she shook her head.
"See? Do you understand now why Henry is so upset?"
Kaleyn nodded, passing the iPod back to her older brother.
"Thank you Kaelyn." Regina smiled. "Now what do we say?"
"Sorry Henry." Kaelyn said in a small voice.
"It's okay." Henry said, inspecting the iPod. He was content when he saw that no damage had come to it.
David opened the driver's side door and reached for his wallet. "Is that arguing I'm hearing?" He said jokingly, already seeing that whatever he'd missed was over.
"Kaelyn stole my iPod." Henry said a little tensely, putting the ear buds back in.
"Aww Kaelyn don't be mean to your brother."
Kaelyn crossed her arms, pouting.
David and Regina shared a smile, knowing their daughter would be fine in a minute.
"I'm almost done." David said. "Just have to pay and then we're back on the road."
"David?" Henry asked.
"What's up buddy?"
"Can I get a chocolate bar? For the ride."
Kaelyn gasped, "me too?!"
David looked at Regina for confirmation.
"Maybe one," she said. "You two can share it okay?"
"Kay," the three-year-old smiled.
"I guess." Henry said glumly, he had hoped for his own.
"Hey, we don't have to get any candy." David pointed out lightly.
"Thanks David." Henry corrected himself.
David grinned at him and Henry couldn't help but smile back.
"What kind do you want?" David asked.
Henry just gave him a look.
"Alright I know, I don't need to ask. I'll be right back."
"Wait honey," Regina stopped him. "Get one for me too."
"Sure thing." He winked at her.
Regina settled back into her seat as David shut the door again and headed into the store.
"Mommy?"
"Yes darling?"
"Music?" Kaelyn asked hopefully.
"You want to listen to one of your CDs?"
The three-year-old nodded.
"Nooo!" Henry complained.
"Henry you do have your headphones, you don't have to listen." Regina said.
"Yeah but it doesn't block out the sound enough and her music's soo annoying."
"Is not!" Kaelyn responded.
"Is too!"
"We can keep the volume low." Their mother promised. "Or maybe she can wear the headphones."
"Tinka-bell?" Kaelyn said.
"What about her darling?" Regina said as she searched through the CDs.
"Can I watch?"
"So you don't want to listen to your music anymore?"
"Tinka-bell!" Kaelyn insisted.
Regina smiled to herself as she stopped inspecting the CD cases.
"Henry do you have the binder for the DVDs?"
"Yeah hold on." Henry rifled through his bag and pulled the multi-disc album out of his bag and held it out for his mother.
"Thank you Henry."
She unzipped the album and flipped delicately through the pages, searching for the movie Kaelyn wanted.
David hopped back into the car at that point.
"All set?" Regina asked.
"Yep, we're good to go."
He handed both of the chocolate bars to Regina before starting the engine.
She took a napkin out of the glove compartment and opened one of the chocolate bars, splitting it in half and wrapping half of it in the napkin. She then passed this piece back to Kaelyn.
"There you go sweetie. And please try to keep the chocolate in the napkin. I don't want you getting crumbs all over the seat because Daddy just cleaned the car."
"Thank you mommy," Kaelyn took the candy in both of her hands and placed it delicately on her lap.
"That's my girl," Regina replied tenderly as she folded the candy wrapper back over the rest of the chocolate and placed it in the cup holder. She passed the second chocolate bar back to Henry.
He smiled as he looked down at the full Apollo bar. "Thanks mom."
"You're welcome sweetheart."
"Mommy why does Henry get more than me?" Kaelyn asked.
"Because he's much older than you and can handle more sugar. I don't want you getting a tummy ache in the car since we still have a few hours before we reach the airport. You don't want to get sick do you?"
"Noo," Kaelyn shook her head, smiling down at her little piece of candy.
"That's my girl." Regina eyed the remaining piece of chocolate. "David that's all yours if you want it."
"You don't want any?" He asked.
"No no, I'm fine."
"You sure?"
"Of course, go for it."
David squeezed her hand before looking into the backseat.
"Everyone buckled up?" He asked.
Kaelyn nodded emphatically.
"Umhhmm." Henry responded through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Good 'cause we gotta get to the airport. Wouldn't wanna miss our flight would we?"
Kaelyn shook her head.
Regina was carrying out a second search of the DVD case as David pulled out of the gas station and back onto the road. He noticed her eye the clock warily.
"Don't worry, we'll make it with lots of time to spare." He assured her.
"I certainly hope so." She said.
"Regina I mean it, we won't miss our flight. We have six hours until the plane leaves and we're only three hours from the airport. We'll be fine."
He glanced over at her as she was busying herself with searching through the case again.
"If we fall behind schedule I'll start speeding." He teased.
"And when we get pulled over by the state police?" She grinned, not looking up from the binder.
"I'll tell them it's a matter of life or death. If we don't get that little princess in the backseat to Disney World then she'll start taking hostages."
Regina breathed out a laugh.
"What's hosthage?" Kaelyn asked curiously, chocolate on her face.
"David's just kidding." Henry answered.
Regina sighed, placing her hands on the closed DVD case. "Kaelyn it looks like we don't have Tinker Bell."
"But I wanna watch it!"
"I know you do sweetheart but it's not here. We must have left it at home."
"Aww..."
"We have one of the other Tinker Bell movies, The Pirate Fairy. It's the one that takes place in Neverland. Would you like to watch that one?"
Kaelyn shook her head.
"Is there another movie you'd like to watch instead?"
"Tangled." Henry mouthed as his sister thought about it.
"Wapunzel." Kaelyn answered.
"Rapunzel?" Regina asked for confirmation.
"Yeah!" Kaelyn said happily.
Regina searched through the book again and this time was more successful. She removed Tangled from its' holder and slipped it into the DVD player in the dashboard.
Meanwhile David unwrapped the remaining piece of chocolate and took a bite. When they reached a red light he glanced at his wife as he felt her watching him. Her eyes softened as their gazes met. He held out the bar to her, silently asking her to take a bite.
"David no." She laughed.
He held it closer.
The chocolate smelled heavenly.
"Come on, not even a taste?" David prompted. He knew how much his wife loved chocolate.
"Fine." She smiled. Her eyes flashed at him seductively as she took a bite.
Suddenly, he leaned in and captured her lips with his, creating a soft blush on her cheeks. Even with the chocolate in her mouth she still managed to kiss him back with elegance.
"Guuuys." Henry complained from the backseat, slumping in his seat and scrunching his eyes shut as they deepened the kiss. David's hand brushed through her hair as the couple reached out for each other as best they could with the seatbelts holding them back.
Kaelyn giggled happily as she watched their parents.
"Green light!" Henry said from the backseat, willing them to stop.
David looked back at the road as Regina resumed chewing her piece of chocolate, fingers pressed to her mouth in slight embarrassment.
"Want the last bite?" David asked Regina, holding up the last of the candy.
"No thank you." She laughed.
"You sure?"
"Mhmm."
"Alright, you had your chance." He popped the rest of the chocolate into his mouth. She rolled her eyes in amusement.
Henry just shook his head, mortified. But then he looked over at his little sister and burst out laughing. She'd had the tiniest bit of chocolate and yet she'd still managed to get it all over her face.
"What?" Kaelyn asked, genuinely confused.
Henry continued to laugh at her and that only made her upset.
"What?" She asked again, brow furrowed.
Regina looked back to see what the commotion was and grinned as she saw the state of her daughter's face.
"Oh Kaelyn, you've got chocolate all over you. Now how did you manage that?" She took the box of travel wipes from under her seat and passed one to Henry. He took it from her and wiped the three-year-old's face and hands clean.
"There you go, good as new." He said, throwing the wipe and the napkin and wrappers from their chocolate bars into a little plastic bag.
Kaelyn smiled at him, feeling her clean face with her fingertips.
"Should we give her the headphones?" Regina asked her husband.
"Maybe for Henry's sake." David answered.
"Henry would you–?" Regina asked into the back seat.
"Already on it mom."
She smiled at him. "Of course you are."
Henry adjusted the wireless headphones to the smallest size and slipped them onto his sister's head. Her hands touched the plastic headset that looked far too big for her.
"Make sure they aren't too loud for her Henry." David asked.
"It's okay they're pretty low."
"Thank you."
Kaelyn pulled Bunny back into her arms and hugged her happily as she started to watch the movie on the screen built in to the back of David's seat.
Henry slipped his ear buds back in and closed his eyes, keeping the screen in front of him turned off.
Regina put her sunglasses on and relaxed into her seat, enjoying the scenery as they drove through the countryside. David had a small, content smile on his face that was brought on by the beautiful weather, by the trip ahead, and most importantly, by the family seated in the car around him.
A/N: I hope you liked the new chapter! I'll try to update again soon. Please review! I'd love to hear what you think of the story so far!