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~ A Long Way Down The Holiday Road ~

I found out long ago

It's a long way down the holiday road…

Lindsey Buckingham – Holiday Road

A week before everyone was to depart for Greece Rumple was able to get in touch with an airline company that had private planes for hire. It was the name of the company that caught his eye: Neverland Airways. Year after year they were encountering more ex-patriots of the Enchanted Forest, all of them adjusting rather well in this new world of theirs. Most of them lived in Storybrooke but others settled in cities nearby, namely Boston and Portland. Even some of the Storybrooke residents decided to leave the town and settle elsewhere. Regina and Rumple pulled their resources together and set up van organization those who wanted to relocate, providing funds and getting them in touch with real estate agents in those areas to purchase their new homes at reasonable prices. Word got around that it was not wise to try to fleece anyone who had Rumplestiltskin Gold representing them. He'd been forced to fly out to several areas to inspect the homes for himself and sued quite a few real estate agencies for false advertising.

He'd also finally given in to some of Belle's requests regarding the house, finding out quickly that some remodeling and add-ons needed to be done now that there were three more children in the house and eventually they would want their own rooms. He also had at least dozen living stuffed bears who were now demanding their own living quarters since they were animated all the time now. Work would begin on the expansions to the Victorian while they were in Europe.

Along with the home expansion and plans for their trip, he was also trying to adjust to having three babies waking him up in the middle of the night not one. Like their older sister, Victoria and Valora had screeches like banshees when they were in a snit, often drowning out their brother's small cries and only Rumple and Bae could calm their furies while Belle and Adriana had more success with Bobby. He was the quiet one of the three, much like his father had been when he was a child. The couple thanked their lucky stars for Mary Poppins, Granny and Bae and his friends who all pitched in to help the Golds and the Hoppers with their new arrivals. Ruby would also volunteer to babysit when she wasn't out with one of her boyfriends.

Because there were so many infants accompanying them on their trip, the Scorpions, Granny, Geppetto, August and Ruby had all been asked to accompany them to help out. August had no experience with children but he was learning quickly in the Gold and Hopper households. Belle had nearly taken the broom to his backside and Rumple had been tempted to give him the crabs when she asked August to change Bobby's soiled diaper while she worked on dinner and discovered he'd forgotten about it and started watching something on TV. Bobby ended up getting a nasty case of diaper rash that made him irritable for days.

"Booth! Ye cannae let a baby sit around in soiled drawers!' Rumple scolded when he arrived home that day. "When he needs changed he needs changed immediately not later! That's why his bottom is sore. Lad, if ye're gonna have wee ones of your own, ye have t'learn these things."

His experience at the Hopper house was just as insane. They'd asked August to spend the day at the house helping Marie take care of the kids while Archie was at the office. While she was upstairs taking a bath, August had to change Maureen and AJ but he was too engrossed in a movie he was watching to take them upstairs to the nursery and used the sofa instead, forgetting to put a liner on it and both of them soiled it with urine and faces.

"You got poop and pee all over the couch. I'm telling! MOOOOOOMMMYYY!" Jonny yelled and ran upstairs to fetch his mother.

To say that Marie was furious when she came downstairs was an understatement and Archie was even angrier when he walked in.

"What is going on in here?" he demanded when he saw August trying to scrub the filth off the couch with a brush and a bucket of soapy water while Marie stood over him with the broom in her hands and their son was laughing hysterically.

"August didn't put one of those papers down while he was changin' Maureen and AJ and AJ pooped on the couch and Maureen peed on it," their son announced with a smirk.

"Thanks a LOT, Jonny!" August grumbled.

Archie sighed. "Next time will you please take them upstairs?"

"I dunno how the hell you guys do it…have kids….this is hard work," the writer complained.

"Hah! Trying giving birth to one!" Marie retorted.

Regina made a joke when they were all at the Mills Mansion for dinner one night that they needed to open a nanny school for men.

"Why when they can get all the training they need in our houses?" Robin said with a laugh.

"Rumple, when are you going to talk to those people at Neverland Airways?" David asked.

"I have a meeting with them tomorrow."

"Do you think they're from our world?"

"It's possible Snow but I'm going to exercise caution just in case."

"That's gonna be a long flight….fourteen hours!" Jeff groaned.

"And a time adjustment…they're waaay ahead of us," Emma added.

"We slept most of our first day in Greece and our first day back home to get our bodies to readjust to the time difference," Archie said. "But once you get there…that county has some of the most beautiful landmarks you've ever seen," Archie told them.

"And we're renewing our vows in one of them," Marie murmured.

"I knew the moment I saw the video you took of the Fontana Di Trevini that it was where I wanted to renew ours," Belle said softly.

Regina breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods you found a solution to our issue with the children, Rumple. If we didn't put those charms on them, they would be causing magical chaos all over the globe."

Jeff chuckled. "Yeah, especially our resident weather witch."

"I knew Maureen was going to have some kind of talent but Jesus, Rumple did it have to be that one?" Archie groaned. "And why did it develop so soon when Jonny's didn't until he was three?"

"Sometimes that happens. If you remember, Adriana began displaying her abilities shortly after she was born. And also keep in mind your children have a strong earth connection because you were once a cricket. So this time your daughter can manipulate the weather based on her emotions and your son can commune with the land itself. Now, my three…..they're going to be keepin' my on my toes as much as their sister does but they haven't started showing theirs yet. They will soon enough."

"Still it was funny as hell seeing a hailstorm on Hopper's house and nowhere else," Robin laughed. Archie glared at him.

They all started laughing remembering that day.

Maureen Hopper had inherited the Bordreaux temper in spades and it was evident from the moment her parents brought her home from the hospital. She was the most difficult to get to go to sleep and kept her parents up most of the night trying to quiet her down. She was also colicky, far worse than Jonny and Gisella had been. Like the Golds' son, AJ was the calmer one of the two and most of the time all it took was half an hour in the rocking chair to get him to go sleep. Everyone was at a loss as to what caused the 'Hailstorm Incident'.

Maureen awoke at two AM that morning screaming, bringing both of her exhausted parents into the nursery. They tried everything in their arsenal to calm her down, walking her, singing to her, even bringing in Majors Archie and Marie but nothing was working. She was still screaming at nine AM and both of them were ready to pass out. Gisella even tried to calm her so that her parents could get some rest but that didn't work either. She finally went to sleep around noon. By that time Granny arrived to help out for the day while Mary was over at the Gold house. She sent Archie and Marie to bed to get some much needed rest and they were awakened two hours later hearing something pounding on the roof.

"Daddy, it's rainin' iceballs!" Jonny exclaimed when he ran into the room. "Somebody musta made Elsa mad."

Any incidents having to do with ice or snow in any other season but winter made the former Queen of Arendale the prime suspect. She too was now living in Storybrooke under the name Elsa Frost and was now the new darling of the figure skating world.

Marie and Archie jumped out of bed and ran outside and indeed there was hail falling only their house was the only one under bombardment.

"Holy hell Hopper! What'd you do to piss off Rumple or Elsa?" David asked him.

"Not a damn thing!" he cried, his umbrella barely protecting them from the shower of ice. He pulled out his phone and punched in Rumple's number. "Look I don't know what the hell you think I did but TURN OFF THIS DAMN HAILSTORM!" he shouted.

"What?"

"Turn up your hearing aid! I'm having a hailstorm on my goddamm house and I don't remember doing anything to you or Elsa to deserve it so TURN IT OFF!"

Rumple teleported to the Dutch Colonial.

"Th….That's not my magic," he murmured. "But…let's see who you belong to, shall we?"

He grabbed one of the ice pellets in his hand and cast a tracer spell on it. Rumple, Archie and Marie followed it as it floated to their front door and upstairs to the nursery where Maureen lay in her crib screaming.

"Amazing!" the sorcerer exclaimed. "There hasn't been a weather mage in our world for centuries!"

Archie picked the baby up and the storm suddenly stopped. "Maureen did this?"

"You certainly did, didn't you, little cricket?" Rumple murmured, ticking her chin. She grinned at them.

Everyone discovered what AJ Hopper's talent was one day while his father was taking him for a walk in the stroller. Archie stopped to talk to Barbara Tillman while she was outside in her garden, disappointed because the heat wave was killing her tomato and pepper plants and while they were discussing fertilizers, AJ woke up and started crying. Archie picked him up while he was sitting in the grass examining a tomato plant. Little AJ reached out and barely touched one of the leaves and the plant suddenly healed itself as did the rest of the plants in Barbara's garden.

"He's got quite the green thumb eh, Doctor Hopper," she said softly.

"It looks that way," he murmured.

"…I don't think I wanna know what this kid's gonna be able to do," Emma mumbled. "I can barely keep up with Maggie!"

"Still, look at what our lives are now compared to then…cursed and sometimes at each other's throats," Jeff reminded them all.

They nodded in agreement.

Early the next morning Rumple drove to Boston to speak with the owners of Neverland Airways. The moment he stepped out of the car he felt a strong magical presence in area and was comforted by it. When he walked into the building a young woman was sitting behind a desk typing on a laptop. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hello Rumplestiltskin," she greeted warmly and held out her hand. "I'm Wendy Darling, Mr. Pan's assistant. He's expecting you."

"Perfect."

Peter Pan was a slender blond haired man in his early thirties. He rose from his desk and shook hands with the sorcerer. "Welcome to Neverland Airways, Rumplestiltskin. You may speak freely here."

It was a code phrase he and Regina devised to determine if people they encountered were from their land or not, passed on by word of mouth and through social media.

"When did you leave Neverland?"

"Three years ago. I left it in the hands of a young boy who will treat everyone well. Though I loved being there, I'd heard so much about life in this world and I thought I could be useful to those who live here. It was odd. One moment I was still a ten year old but the moment I crossed through the doorway I aged twenty years. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I'd heard about how some of you decided to continue your cursed professions and I thought an airline pilot would suit me. Fortunately I was able to find two other people to help me and the Darlings run it."

"Who else is running it with you?"

"Tinkerbell and Sparrowhawk."

"Ah, wise choices. I know them both well. Tinkerbell may be amused to learn that the Rhuel Gorm is now a dancer in a strip club."

Peter laughed. "Oh, she will be! She's wanted to tear the wings off that jellyfish ever since Blue cast her out. Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"

"It is indeed."

"I also heard that congratulations are in order again. You've got quite a brood now, Rumple."

"Yes, but my eldest graduates next year. I am not ready for that."

"Wendy and I have been trying for two years but the gods have not been kind," the pilot confessed sadly.

"Perhaps a visit to Ninia is in order?" Rumple suggested.

"We've been thinking about it, having heard of the blessings she bestowed on you and your brother-in-law."

"Also, remember, dearie, your children will be conceived in true love and will inherit the gifts but they may be different from yours. And my wife and I understand how you feel better than anyone. For a time we believed Belle would not be able to have children."

"We've gone to doctors here and they can't find anything wrong with either one of us."

"Have you seen doctors from our land?"

He shook his head.

Rumple took Dr. Jo's card out of his wallet and handed it to Peter. "Give her a call. She's been wonderful with our families and I'm sure she'll be able to give you the solution you need but there is also the option of seeing Ninia."

"Thank you. Now, what can we do for you?"

"There's a group of us going to Greece and Italy for the summer. We were going to fly on a commercial airline but it will be risky because of our children being mages. We've given them something to wear that will limit their abilities but I would feel more comfortable using a private service, especially one from our world."

"Understandable. And the flight to Greece on a commercial airline is fourteen hours. Our planes can make the trip in far less time from the enchantments we placed on them and we have wards on them that protect our passengers against the issues that occur on flights these days…terrorist attacks, bad weather, illness outbreaks and equipment failures."

"My niece is a weather mage. Those wards will come in handy then."

Peter's eyes widened. "There hasn't been one of those in centuries!"

"All of the children have numerous abilities. My wee one, Adriana, animated a whole army of stuffed bears and those Minions from Despicable Me that she insisted we take along. Plus Archie's son has the dogs, two snakes and two crickets…we're taking our dog and Regina's brood has a frog and a poodle."

Peter burst out laughing. "Oh so that's who let all those animals loose in the Portland Mall before Christmas!"

Rumple sighed. "Yes, unfortunately. What a mess that was! Regina's girl wanted to burn it down and Snow's boy wrecked Bon Ton."

"How the hell is your hair not white yet?"

"It's getting there."

They talked a bit more about the fees Peter would charge them for the flights to the two countries and the return flight home and then he took the sorcerer out to the hangar to look at the planes so that he could decide which one he wanted to take. Tinkerbell and Sparrowhawk were making repairs to one of them when Peter asked them to stop and talk.

"You don't need to worry about a thing Rumple. Me and Tink will give you a smooth flight," Sparrowhawk vowed.

"Peter's told me of some of the wards you've placed on the planes. I'm pleased to see you're keeping up with your magic and so would Oigon."

"I would not be the wizard I am today were it not for him," Sparrowhawk said wistfully.

Rumple glanced at the other mage's upper arm and noticed a tattoo of the late wizard on his skin with his name underneath it.

"I am told in this land some mark their skin in honor of someone they loved dearly and this is how I chose to honor my master. Would he be pleased, Rumple?"

"I believe so."

"The only tattoo I would get is an image of Blue with a bullseye over it," Tink growled.

Rumple giggled. "She's fallen very far from grace, dearie. She now works in a strip club in Storybrooke."

The former fairy threw back her head and laughed hysterically. "Oh, that is the best damn news I've heard in a week!"

"Well, let's give you the grand tour of our babies here and you can pick which one you want to use," Sparrowhawk said. The company had twelve jets, all of them with interiors that would put the ones owned by the rich and famous to shame. They truly were homes in the air including full bathrooms and kitchens.

"Since you have three expectant mothers on board and babies, we're going to do some modifications to provide them with the maximum comfort," Tink was saying. "All of the seats convert into beds that can fit two so the couples will not have to sleep apart," she went on and demonstrated how to operate them.

"How long will the flight be?"

"We can shave seven hours off the flight time at the maximum," Sparrowhawk answered. "We've tested it at higher speeds and ran into complications during other flights."

"Seven hours is still good," Rumple said.

The rest of the week the families were busy getting ready for the trip. Adriana was still upset that the Happy Army bears and Minions were forbidden to be animated around anyone except the family and had to stay toy size during the trip but she knew what the risks were if outsiders saw them and she and the other kids warned the army not to disobey orders while they were away.

Regina, Snow and Emma had one more checkup with Dr. Jo to make sure their pregnancies were progressing normally and she would call to check up on them during the trip. Regina was worried what would happen if she gave birth in a regular hospital as was Snow but Jo assured them there wouldn't be any magical incidents as long as they wore their bracelets.

Emma appointed Arthur Pendragon acting sheriff in her place and Uther was acting mayor in Regina's absence. The two women had every confidence the Pendragon men could keep town in order while they were gone.

The night before they were supposed to leave, all of the parents had a difficult time trying to get the children to go to sleep because they were all excited about going on a trip. Everyone stayed over at Rumple's house for the night, the older children sleeping outside in tents with the Happy Army and Minions as well as Ruby, August and Scorpions standing guard along with powerful wards cast by Rumple, Emma and Regina. All of their belongings had been picked up by John and Michael Darling the day before and loaded onto the jet and limousines would pick them up at the Victorian at 9AM.

At seven AM Rumple strode out into the yard. "Everybody uuuuuupppp!" he called out.

Groans could be heard inside the tents.

"Awww come on, Papa…gimme five more minutes!" Bae protested.

"Papa m'tired," Adriana whined.

Archie crawled into his childrens' tent. "Rise and shine it's another beautiful day!" he sang.

Gisella threw her pillow over her head as her mother did when she didn't want to get up early.

Jonny sat up, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement. "M'ready Daddy!"

"Roland, Ellie, Jason…come on…let's get going!" Robin ordered his children.

"Okay," they grumbled and crawled out of the tent.

"Henry, Gracie, Maggie…the portal's closin'…get a move on!" Jeff yanked the covers off his children to wake them. They jumped up and ran out of their tent.

Bobby, Ewan, Kat and Andi came out of the remaining two tents and when they noticed that their friend still wasn't awake they decided to invoke an old gang custom that their deceased leader would be proud of.

"This one's for you, Dickie!" they declared and joined hands. "Hope you have a good laugh over it up there! Okay gang, let's sting him good!"

The five gang members gathered around the tent. "Okay, Shadow….do it!"

Nicknamed Shadow for a very good reason, Kat crept into the tent and yanked the covers off and threw them outside trying not to laugh when she saw the Scooby Doo pajama pants her friend was wearing. She snapped a picture of them on her phone before she yanked them off and ran outside, tossing them at Andi. Ewan crawled in and grabbed the backpack with the clothes Bae planned to wear that day.

"Do it Wraith!" Bobby cheered.

She tied them onto the flagpole and raised them in the air.

Bae, feeling a draft in the tent, sat up and to his horror he found that he was only wearing his happy face boxers saying Don't Worry Be Happy that Andi had given him for a birthday gift.

"Awww shiiiitttt….they didn't!" he cried and reached for the backpack only to find it gone along with the covers. As soon as he stepped outside he could hear most of his friends laughing.

"Umm…Bae, why you wearin' smilie undies?' Roland asked.

"And Scooby Doo jammies?" Jason teased.

"I think his undies are cute," Adriana huffed.

"Yeah, but guys don't wear that," Neal said.

"Oookay gang…new tradition! We're gonna start giving everybody ugly underwear and pajamas for their birthday!" Jeff declared.

The other members of the Mad Crew wore identical smirks.

"Oh great," Belle moaned.

Several people drove by, beeped their horns, pointed at the flagpole and started laughing. "Looks like someone's been watchin' Meatballs!" one of them called out.

"Hey don't be knockin' the school of classic comedy," Becky threw back, and winked at Ewan. They were already planning on pulling the bed on the lake prank on someone the next time they were at the cabins.

"Wonder if they have a Spencers in Greece," Emma mused.

"I think I already got an idea for Belle," Regina said and whispered in her friend's ear. "I want to give Belle a set saying Someday My Prince Will Come-When I'm Old and Gray and Lost All My Marbles…with a picture of Cinderella scrubbing the floor."

Emma started laughing. "Hey if we can't find em….you think you can make 'em?"

"Yes."

"She's gonna flip her lid."

"Okay where's my clothes guys?" Bae demanded of his friends.

"Yeah cover those up before we all die laughing!" David teased.

"Remember when Dickie did that to Mikey?" Andi asked Bae.

"Yeah. I bet he's up there laughin his ass over it."

"Ummm Daddy, you got no room to laugh cause you got those undies with flamingos on em." Neal spoke up.

All heads turned in his direction.

"F….Flamingos!?" Archie exclaimed and doubled over laughing.

"They were the only pair in my size and I bought them while we were visiting Universal, okay!"

"Liar, liar pants on fire," Snow sang. "You bought them because you liked them but I said they made you look ridiculous."

"And….Rumple…..you have that Harry Potter pair…" Belle reminded her husband with a grin.

"Robin, honey….cupids bows and hearts….." Regina added. Her husband groaned.

"Oh my GOD! I wouldn't be caught DEAD in those!" Jeff exclaimed.

"You should talk, Hatter. You want me to get out that picture of you in the red hot chili pepper ones?" Emma threatened.

"NO!"

"I think MY husband has the best ones," Marie cooed.

"Who's he got on 'em? Jiminy Cricket?"

"Ha, ha, you're funny Hatter. No. John Wayne." Archie answered.

"And signed on the butt!" piped up Johnny.

"Thank you very much for that little tidbit John Wayne Hopper," his father muttered.

Rumple started giggling. "Dearie, there is nothing sacred with a toddler in the house."

"So I've noticed."

"It's a conspiracy, I tell ya. Women don't have ugly underwear!" Jeff protested.

"Ohhh you haven't seen the horrors I have, Hatter...like the thongs that go so far up that you need a crane to dig them out." Marie blanched. "And the ones that have a certain part cut out...might as well not even bother."

"Marie, must we get into that!" Archie cried.

"You ain't seen nothin' till you've grabbed the Nazi dominatrix drawers outta Miss Blue's closet!" Andi snorted.

"Are you serious?" Emma asked.

"Yeah I almost lost my supper when I saw those," Bae agreed. "And how about Miss Harridan's? They were so ugly I was almost struck blind!"

"Did she have granny panties?" Roland inquired.

"Worse! She had ones Granny wouldn't have been caught dead in!" Andi whooped.

"I should hope not!" Granny protested.

Rumple frowned at his son. "An' d'ye mind tellin' me just HOW ye know this, Baelfire?"

"I think we know how. They put them all over the school, Rumple," Archie reminded them.

"Well they both deserved it, especially that Blue bitch for writing filthy things about our husbands!" Belle hissed.

Rumple shuddered. "Please, don't remind me dearie! I think I'm scarred for life reading that-that trash! It was worse than 50 Shades!"

"I almost threw up my insides after reading three pages," Archie grimaced at the memory.

"You made it that far? I got to page two before I wanted to vomit up my sausage egg and cheese sandwich," his brother-in-law said sympathetically.

"Oh no...I started getting sick after the first three sentences...but my name wasn't mentioned until the third page."

"That nasty blue bug made Papa an' Uncle Archie sick?" Adriana growled. "I oughta whack her with the Super Duper Flyswatter!" A very large plastic flyswatter with the words Bug Terminator appeared with a pop.

"Ha ha...good one Driana," Ellie giggled. "I coulda roasted her like a weenie."

"Barbecued beetle!" hooted Jason.

Regina shook her head.

Bae cracked up. "I could just see Rumplette chasing Blue around the classroom with that! I'd bust a gut laughing."

"Yeah and she'd git her good," Neal said and put his arm around her.

"Yeah, 'cause no nasty bug's gonna make my papa sick! I'll beat her butt!"

"She's a Bordreaux woman for certain," declared Maurice.

"I'm surrounded by them," Rumple snickered. "I have an army of little Amazons."

"I have Mother Nature in my house, how do you think I feel?" demanded his brother-in-law.

"Like Father Time?" joked Jeff.

"Hurricane Maureen," Gisella laughed.

"Better watch Uncle Jeff or she's gonna make it rain on you," Jonny warned.

Seconds later a cloud appeared over Jeff's head.

Maureen Hopper's lips curved into a sly smirk from her bassinet.

Jeff backpedaled hastily. "Hey, can't ya take a joke? Emma, where's the umbrella?"

"You mean this one?" she asked and tossed it to Archie.

"Man, am I glad none of my sisters can do that," Bae muttered. "And just wait till she's older and gets-oww!" he yelped as Andi poked him in the ribs.

"You were saying, Baelfire?" she queried with a sharp glare.

The cloud moved in Bae's direction.

"Nothing, honey," he drawled.

"Maureen, enough," her mother commanded firmly.

"So Rumple, do you know what your kids' powers are yet?" David quizzed.

"Besides the power t'drive me crazy?" the sorcerer quipped.

"Yeah. Archie's kids have theirs already..."

"Well, they've begun to show a few distinct auras. Valora here is my mind mage-she's a telepath and telekinetic, as near as I can determine. I can always feel her in my head. And she can always sense me or Belle or her sister and brother. I think as she grows older that circle will expand to include Adriana and Bae."

"And of course remember the scare we had when we saw Bobby start to grow white hair!" Belle cried.

"What?" Snow exclaimed.

"Aye and next thing we knew we had a white and gold kitten in the crib," Rumple related. "He's a wee beastie. A shifter and he can speak to felines."

"Cool!" Jonny was excited. "An I can talk to him cause he's part animal, right?"

"He's a mage who can become cat," Rumple corrected. "'Tis a wee bit different, lad, but yes, when he's a kitten ye can speak with him."

"Good!"

"What does Victoria do?" Regina inquired.

"She's a kinesthetic," Rumple replied. "You know what that is, right? It's another of the rare gifts."

"And a dangerous one if not controlled."

"Aye, and I'll be working on it with her," Rumple agreed.

"So what is it?" Emma asked.

"She's an energy absorber, dearie. Meaning she can absorb energy from any magical or non-magical thing-and transmute it into heat and light and . . .make explosions if she needs to."

"In other words she's a human bomber," joked Henry.

"The kinesthetics were war mages back in our homeland," Regina recalled. "And they were some of the most feared mages anywhere. They could absorb any spell thrown at them . . .and then kill you with it."

"Wow...Daddy do you think our new brother or sister will be like that?" Grace asked her father.

"Doubtful."

"Each child manifests True Love magic differently," Rumple explained. "You can't predict what will be given until the baby is born and starts showing an aura."

"Yeah but we're still all cool, right Papa?" Adriana asked.

"Yes, mo astor. All of my wee ones are special."

"Our kids oughta be a riot...sticky fingers," Andi teased.

Bae groaned. "Great, hon! We're gonna be the only parents whose preschooler gets arrested for picking pockets!"

"Mine will be a master chef," declared Kat.

"We'd better eat and get dressed before our rides get here," Belle reminded them.

"Yeah. Guys-my clothes!" Bae ordered.

Ewan tossed the backpack at him.

"Thanks, bro." He caught the backpack and went inside the house to change.

Rumple and Archie made a buffet style breakfast for the group and set up on the front lawn while the mother's helped the kids dress. They had everything cleaned up and everyone was finally ready ten minutes before the vehicles arrived to take them to Neverland Airways. At the airport, Tink and Sparrowhawk were doing their final equipment checks while Peter held a meeting with the flight attendants, all of them former Lost Boys.

"Are we really gonna fly in that big bird, Papa?" Adriana asked, her eyes wide with wonder as she stared at the large jet.

"We certainly are, mo astor."

"I can't wait to get there so we can see Sandro, Kyria and Sophie," Gisella told her father.

"Neither can I, Princess," Archie agreed, smiling as he recalled the wonderful time his family had in Greece during his honeymoon five years earlier.

"And I cannot wait until our second wedding night because we have a lot of lost time to catch up on," Marie whispered in his ear and winked at her sister.

"I just can't wait to see the place," Emma said.

"Welcome aboard!" one of the flight attendants greeted the group.

"Whoa! They got a TV!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Good. I wanna watch Maleficent," Ellie declared.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "You ALWAYS wanna watch that an you never let anybody else watch something else first. I don't wanna watch it all the time!"

"Well I do so why don'cha just shut your trap."

"You wanna fight?" The little girl faced her rival, her fist raised in defiance. "I'll knock your teeth down your throat!"

"Oh yeah? I'll fry your hair!"

"Eleanor May!" Regina yelled.

"Margaret Eva Hatter, you stop this right now!" Emma pulled her daughter back while Regina grabbed Ellie. The two little girls tried to break free from their mothers' grasps.

"Maggie's gonna kick Ellie's butt," Neal bragged. Roland and Jason glared at him.

"Not if she's toast!" Jason taunted.

"Neal Leopold Nolan, do you want to spend some time in the corner?" David demanded of his son.

"Same goes for you two. Don't egg it on!" Robin warned his.

Five infants started screaming in protest after being woken from their naps, earning angry glares from their parents at the Nolans, Hoods and Hatters.

"There will be no more fighting on this plane or you will not just be spending time in the corner, there'll be no TV watching or playing your games, either. Am I understood?" Regina asked her children.

"Ellie and Maggie act just like Mom and Regina did before the curse was broken," Grace whispered to Henry. He nodded in agreement,

"Yeah and that's what worries me. I hope they grow out of it or they're gonna make the town a warzone when they get older."

Emma scolded her daughter while Snow scolded her son and all of the parents made the children apologize to each other and shake hands before they put them in a five minute time out.

After they got the twins and triplets back to sleep Rumple and Belle started reading the new books they'd purchased while Adriana played Cafeland on her father's tablet. Bae and his friends challenged Robin, Maurice, August and Jeff to a game of poker with candy bars as the wager at Emma's request. He hadn't gambled with money in months much to her relief. She was catching up on episodes of CSI on her tablet while her mother and Granny were working on new baby blankets for everyone. David, Geppetto and Ruby were watching The Kingsman on the second big screen TV while the children were watching Shrek 2 on the other one with Regina. Gisella and Archie worked on one of her jigsaw puzzles while Marie helped her son play Monster Buster on her tablet. The smaller children fell asleep three hours into the flight, the adults an hour later.

Athens, Greece

"Are they here yet Daddy?" Kyria Palakas asked her father impatiently.

Alessandro glanced down at his phone. "Not yet honey. Archie said he'd send me a text when they arrive."

"I still can't believe we're actually going to see them….fairy tale characters that are real," Sophia said. "I'm still getting used to the fact that Archie is Jiminy Cricket and we've known that for years."

"Remember Sophie, we can't talk about it in public because they'd be surrounded by idiots who would make them look like freaks in a show. "

"No and this is a strange land for all of them except the Hoppers and we want to make a good impression. And it's so sweet that we're actually going to see what Archie and Marie's mythology wedding was like."

"It'll be more special because they're having the second ceremony here."

"D'ya think Adriana's gonna bring the bears like the one she sent me?"

"I think so but they're not going to be animated all the time. Her father insisted on it."

Kyria's face fell.

Alessando's phone beeped with a text. "Sophie! They've just landed at the airport!"

"C'mon, Daddy! We gotta go out there and meet them!" Kyria grabbed her father's arm and nearly dragged him out of his office. Several of the bellhops started laughing.

"All right everyone….we've got a large group of guests checking in and I want everything to run smoothly, understand?" Alessandro ordered.

"Yes, sir."

The family raced out to their car, ready to give the Enchanted Forest group a welcome party they would never forget.

Authors' Notes: Sparrowhawk is a character from another well-known fantasy series. Which one is it? The Palakas family first appears in Chapter 12 of True Love Conquers All, the Unexpected Saga Book III.