16

Miss Liberty and Mermaids

Much to their relief, Bae and Emma woke the next morning with only mild hangovers, mostly because Bae made sure they drank water before falling asleep . . . once they had gotten the door to their room open. Emma vowed she was going to die when she recalled a few things she had said to David and Rumple the night before, and thought about hiding in her room for the rest of the time. That morning on the agenda was breakfast and then a ferry ride to Liberty Island to see the statue. All of them were pretty excited to do this, since none of them, even Bae, who'd been to Manhattan before, had ever gone to visit the statue.

Bae went into the second bathroom, as by unspoken default, the guys had one and the girls the other, and began to wash up, gently scrubbing the sleep from his eyes and starting to shave. As he was lathering his face, Henry came in, looking bright-eyed and bushytailed, and tried to comb his hair while watching his father shave.

After a few moments, Henry put the brush aside and said, "Dad, how do you manage not to . . . uh . . . cut yourself?"

"There's a few tricks I can show you, tiger, when you're old enough," Bae answered, carefully rinsing his shaver and then continuing.

"When did you start shaving?"

"Uh . . . well, I tried to around fourteen, but I didn't have too much, so it was really just for show," Bae admitted.

"Did Grandpa teach you?"

"Back then, yeah, he showed me a little, but there really wasn't a need to. Not till I came here, and I was adopted by the Cassidys. Then I needed to learn, and my adopted father, Neal, taught me," Bae answered, carefully scraping.

"Is it hard?"

"Only if you're in a hurry and not paying attention or being careful," Bae said. "And using one of these razors, with the safety blades, is a lot easier than trying to shave with a straight blade, like we used in Fairy Tale Land. Those could give you a nasty cut if you didn't know how to use them. A kid I knew almost killed himself that way."

"That's horrible!" Henry said.

"Yes, that's why I never let him touch my razor," Rumple said, coming into the bathroom with his shaving kit.

Bae finished shaving and rinsed his razor and put it away, then said, "C'mon, Henry. Let's make some coffee."

"But I wanna watch Grandpa shave," his son protested.

"Kid, your grandfather likes his privacy—"

"It's okay. Let him stay," Gold said. "You used to watch me too at his age."

"I did?" Bae said. "I don't remember that."

"I do," Rumple said simply. He began to run the water in the sink, and as he did so, he calmly explained to his grandson what he was doing.

Smiling, Bae went to put on some coffee and see if Emma had gotten up yet.

Meanwhile, in the Charming room, David was awakened by a small body sitting on him and calling, "Wake up, Daddy! It's morning time!"

David opened his eyes to find Regina sitting on him, smiling sweetly. "Hey, princess. It's morning already?"

"Yup. An' today Mommy says we're gonna visit Miss Liberty," Regina told him.

"Really? And here I thought today was our day to sleep in, Snow," Charming yawned and sat up.

"No, tomorrow we'll do that," Snow said, putting on her white running shoes. "Regina, let Daddy get up and come over here and let me dress you." As she pulled Regina's red, white, and blue dress out of the suitcase, Snow smiled at her daughter.

"Yay! My flag dress!" Regina sang, and she scrambled off David and ran over to Snow, pulling off her nightgown as she did so.

David winked at Snow before rising and heading into the bathroom. He found Henry leaning on the counter, watching avidly as Gold shaved. "What's this? Shaving lessons?"

"No. I don't have anything yet," Henry said, a trifle disappointed. "I just like to watch, that's all."

"I remember wishing I had a father to watch when I was that age," Charming remarked.

"Who taught you, Gramps?"

"A neighbor who had five boys down the road," he replied. "I'm going to jump in the shower, okay?"

Rumple waved a hand in acknowledgement, patting his face dry with a towel. "You see? That wasn't hard at all, was it?"

"No. But I don't know how much I'll remember of it."

"Don't worry. Bae will show you if you forget," Rumple said, playfully mussing his grandson's hair as he left the bathroom and headed back to his room to get his shoes on.

When he entered the room he shared with Belle, he found her sitting on the bed braiding Alina's long silky hair. For a moment he didn't announce himself, just paused there on the threshold to watch the tranquil scene of mother and daughter, his slender hands in his pockets.

His daughter was saying something about the Statue of Liberty as Belle deftly wove a crown of braids about her head, her brown eyes sparkling with curiosity.

My two beautiful girls, Rumple thought happily as he watched the domestic scene. Soon we'll be four. His eyes lit on his wife's stomach, still flat and unremarkable, but soon enough it would grow and advertise the new life within.

Belle secured the last bit of Alina's hair with a hair tie and said, "There, sweetie! You're set."

Alina hopped off the bed and ran over to the mirror to see what she looked like.

"You look wonderful," Gold assured her as he came into the room.

Alina looked up at him and said, "Do you like my hair, Papa? Mama made it in a crown of braids for me."

"You're a knockout, dearie," he chuckled, and hugged her.

"I'm going to get dressed," Alina said, taking her clothes into the bathroom.

Rumple looked at Belle. "You feeling okay?"

"Yes. I drank some ginger tea this morning and that helps my stomach," his wife said. She was dressed in a blue dress and white athletic shoes, a simple choice, but one that suited her to perfection. She picked up the brush she'd been using on Alina and began to brush her hair.

"Here, dearie. Allow me," Gold gently took the brush and began to lovingly brush Belle's dark tresses. His slender hands stroked through her thick hair as he brought the brush along it, making her hair crackle as he did so.

"God, I love your hair," he whispered, caressing it gently, his fingers finding each small tangle and tenderly unraveling it. The scent of milk and honey shampoo wafted into his nostrils and he inhaled the aroma and felt himself transported back to his castle. Belle's hair had smelled the same then. It was unchanged, he mused. Like her love for him, an unwavering light that shone for him throughout everything.

He brushed until her dark hair shone like watered silk, glossy and vibrant. Sometimes brushing her hair was erotic to him, but today he forced himself to recall that they'd be going to Liberty Island and to forgo everything till after this trip was over. "You want me to braid it, Belle?"

"Please, Rumple," she nodded.

He carefully took sections and twined and wrapped them lovingly, making one long French braid down her back, then securing it with a pretty silver rose barrette. "There! How's that?"

"Brilliant, Rumple," she assured him, then turned her head and their mouths met in a single fiery kiss.

She would have liked the moment to last forever, but then she heard Snow tapping on the door and calling, "Belle! Rumple! You ready to go down to breakfast?"

"In a minute, dearie," Rumple called back. "Later we'll finish this," he said to her, caressing her cheek. Then he went to put on his shoes and fix his hair, which had gotten a little mussed from Belle's fingers when she'd kissed him.

They found the rest of the family gathered in the den, Emma drinking a mug of black coffee and looking rather wan, everyone was dressed in some combination of red, white, and blue to honor the statue and what she stood for. Gold had on blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a small flag on it. His cufflinks were in his pants pocket.

"Everybody ready?" Charming asked.

"Yes!" Regina cried, practically jumping up and down. She looked adorable in her red, white, and blue ruffled dress with her lacy socks and red sparkly shoes, like Dorothy's. "We're going on a boat! Hooray!"

"A boat?" Bae looked like he was about to throw up. "Oh, no. I can't . . ."

"Bae, it won't be like last time," Rumple said quickly.

"Papa, I get deathly ill no matter what kind of boat I'm on," his son protested.

"Not this time," Rumple assured him, and he went and clicked his cufflinks. Then he moved over and put his hands on both sides of Bae's head and called upon his healing magic. "There, son! I've fixed the imbalance in your ears that was causing you to get nauseous. You'll be fine now."

"I will?" Bae repeated. "That's it?"

"Yes."

"Awesome!" he said, and grinned. "Thanks, Papa."

"Hmm . . . maybe that cruise to Bermuda or Disney World isn't out of the question now," Emma mused.

"We'll see," Bae said. "Let me just get through this ferry ride or whatever you call it."

"I wonder if we'll see any mermaids?" Regina said suddenly.

"Uh . . . I don't think so, Regina," Henry said. "This is New York, not Storybrooke. I don't think mermaids live over here."

"Aww! But I wanna play with Ariel," she sighed.

"You can play with your doll when we get back, in the bathtub," David said. "Right now, let's go to breakfast."

"I want smiley face pancakes, Daddy," Regina said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door of the suite.

"Oh, boy," David said. "Looks like another fun filled day, if she's this energetic now. Rumple, isn't there something you could give her to . . . uh . . . calm her down?"

"Like what? She's a child, David. And they're like wind-up toys, they go from morning till afternoon and then they collapse," Rumple stated. "Mine were both like that. You just have to wait till they wind down."

"C'mon, Daddy!" Regina tugged David's hand, and he followed her to the door.

"I don't think I was as bad as she is," Alina muttered to Henry.

"You were bad enough," Rumple snorted. "The amount of times I had to look for you behind all the furniture, miss, gave me gray hairs."

"Where? I don't see any."

"Never mind, Miss Sassy," her father half-scolded, and gave her a playful swat on the back of the head.

"You sure you can handle this kid, Papa?" Bae teased.

Rumple raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying, Baelfire? And if you tell me I'm old, I'll make you sorry, boy."

"Never mind," his son said, smirking. "You didn't raise any stupid kids."

"That's what I thought," his father said smugly.

Page~*~*~*~*~Break

The ferry ride to Liberty Island lasted about twenty minutes. That whole time Regina spent looking into the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of a mermaid. David made sure she was never unescorted during the ride, fearing she might decide to take an unauthorized swim into the Hudson in search of one.

Since they had already purchased tickets online, the Golds didn't join the long line wending its ways towards the statue, whose imposing structure dominated the whole island. Snow stared up at the statue, the symbol of freedom and light for millions, and whispered to David, "This is what we wanted our kingdom to stand for. Hope, light, and freedom."

His hand clasped hers. "I know. It's . . . awe-inspiring, isn't it?"

His wife nodded.

Regina stared up at the great statue with her gilded torch and said, "Mommy, she has a crown on her head like a princess."

"You're right, sweetie. The crown she has represents light and freedom and the rays are the seven continents of the world," Snow said.

David stared at her. "How do you know all this?"

"I'm a teacher, David. I have to know these things about our country and history," Snow said. She pointed to the base of the statue. "And there by her feet are the broken shackles of oppression and tyranny."

One of the park Rangers was saying that visitors to the island could take a guided tour or an audio tour and those who had tickets could climb up for the pedestal view or the crown view.

"Do we have them?" asked Alina hopefully.

"Yes. We got all the tickets," Emma said. "Only thing is, the view from the crown can only be accessed by going up a confined spiral staircase of 154 stairs. Can you do it, Belle? Or do you want to wait here?"

Belle considered. "I think I should be okay, Emma. It's not like I'm trapped in a box, like on the elevator. As long as I'm moving and Rumple's there with me, I'll be fine."

"I'll be right next to you, dearie," Rumple said. He gazed at Miss Liberty, the statue standing tall and proud facing the harbor, welcoming the lonely and lost, the seekers of adventure and freedom and a chance to start over to her shores. And now she would even welcome his family, visitors from a world beyond time and space. We were strangers in a strange land, and yet . . . that is no longer so. Now we belong . . . we have made a home here, just like the millions of other immigrants who came here long ago. We came unwilling, like slaves to these shores, but now we are free . . . and you are a representative of that freedom, Lady.

"Grandpa," Henry said, coming up beside him. "Did you know that the statue was built by both Americans and French people? It was like a cooperative effort to show friendship between two countries."

"Yes. If we take the tour, you can learn more about her," Rumple said. He stared up at the colossus, the serene face watching over the harbor, and thought, you are both impressive and beautiful, Lady. Hope springs eternal in your eyes and you inspire those who see you to recall what is best and good in all of them. You stand like a beacon, guiding the lost home again, even those like me, who were once forever damned to shadows and night. It matters not, for we are all equal here, and all worthy of a second chance. In a way, you remind me of my wife.

Belle's hand clasped his, and he turned to her and smiled. "Admiring the view, dearie?"

"Yes. She's magnificent, isn't she?" Belle said.

"That she is. Have you read the poem on her base?"

"No. Not yet."

"I'm sure we can get a copy in the museum gift shop," Gold said softly.

"I'd like that, Rumple. It's strange, but . . . she makes me feel so peaceful. Like curling up in a fuzzy blanket in front of the fire with you beside me. Isn't that silly?" Belle laughed.

"No. Because she makes me feel the same way. Like I've come home," Rumple murmured.

"Perhaps because we have, in a way," his wife said.

They remained staring up at Lady Liberty for several more moments, until Bae called them to listen to the audio tour.

They all listened while the automated tour guide told them interesting facts about the statue and her construction and what she meant to the American people and the world. Once it was over, thirty minutes later, they all filed over to the line to get into the pedestal observatory, where they could see spectacular views of New York Harbor, New Jersey, Ellis Island, and New York.

Once inside the pedestal, they all caught their breath at the beautiful vista of the harbor and the skyline of Manhattan, with the sun glinting off the water and clouds scudding across the sky.

"Look! I can see Ellis Island, where we were a few days ago," Henry pointed out.

"It's beautiful up here," Emma agreed. "Like a postcard or something."

"So peaceful," agreed Bae, gazing out across the water at the city lights.

David and Snow stood with Regina at one end of the observation deck, and Regina suddenly pointed out into the harbor.

"Mommy, look! A mermaid!"

Snow smiled indulgently. "Regina, honey, that's not a mermaid. It's just a rock."

"No, Mommy! It's a mermaid! I saw her tail," the little girl insisted.

"Sweetie, mermaids don't . . . they aren't real here," Snow explained.

"Are too! I saw one!" Regina argued.

"David, maybe you can explain to her—" Snow began.

Suddenly, Regina pulled free of her and ran over to Rumple and Belle. "Unca Rumple, do you see the mermaid there?" She pointed out into the harbor.

"Where, dearie?" Rumple asked, squinting. He could almost make out . . . something.

"There! See? See?"

"I see . . . something," he muttered. "Belle, do you see it?"

Belle looked and said, "I don't know. I can kind of make . . . something out, Rumple, but it's too far away to tell."

"That's 'cause she's going away," Regina said sadly.

Rumple patted her back. "Maybe she'll come back, dearie."

"Yeah, maybe," Regina said hopefully. Then she skipped over to where Henry and Alina were standing. "Henry, Alina, will you come look for the mermaid with me?"

"What mermaid, Regina?" asked Alina.

"The one I saw out there in the water."

"You saw a mermaid in the water?" Henry asked. "For real?"

"Uh huh. I did!" Regina insisted.

Henry looked at Alina. "Do you think . . .?"

The little sorceress shrugged. "It's possible. With us, almost anything is. And now that the magic's awake . . ."

"Yeah, but here?"

"Why not here?"

"You're right." He looked at Regina and said, "When we're done going up to the crown, we'll walk around the island and see, okay?"

"Yes! Yes! When we going upstairs?"

"Uh . . . go ask Gran," Henry said.

Regina scurried up to Snow again, and pulled on her jacket. "Mommy, when we goin' upstairs. To the crown?"

"Soon, baby. As soon as the last group comes down," she told the child.

Regina danced impatiently from foot to foot, prompting David to ask softly, "Hey, do you have to go potty?"

"No! I just wanna go upstairs," Regina said, rolling her eyes. Hadn't she just asked that? Sometimes her daddy was so clueless!

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Regina began to climb the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty. At first she was willing and able to go up them on her own, holding Mommy's hand, then Daddy's, then Unca Rumple's, then Bae's, Emma's, Alina's and Henry's too. But by the time they'd climbed up over twenty steps, Regina's little legs were tired and achy.

"Carry me, please, Bae," she said, stretching out her arms to him.

"C'mere, little minx," her big cousin said, and then he picked her up and held her while he went up the stairs.

Then, when the little girl squirmed, he put her down, and she ran up to where David was climbing, and asked him to carry her next.

Twenty-five stairs later, even Charming was growing fatigued, and Regina wriggled and he set her down.

She waited for Unca Rumple to catch up with Auntie Belle and then she held out her arms to him.

"Okay, dearie. I guess it's my turn, huh?" her sorcerer uncle said.

"Yup." She grinned at him and practically jumped into his arms.

"Whoa! You want me to fall?" he half-scolded, but he wasn't really angry with her exuberance.

They started up the stairs again, and Regina chattered happily to Rumple about how Lady Liberty was like a princess because she wore a crown. The pawnbroker smiled at the eager little snippet, keeping one arm around her and his other around Belle.

He found the climb a little taxing, but nothing like it would have been with his old injury. He cast concerned glances at his wife as they climbed the stairs, but she seemed to be holding her own, and not tensing up or worrying her lower lip the way she did when she was nervous. He'd learned months before to tell the signs that might herald one of her attacks, and she showed none of them now. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Belle looked over at him. "Rumple, are you okay? Is your leg?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Belle. My leg's fine. But my arm's a bit tired from carrying this little imp here," he teased, tweaking his niece's nose.

"Are you sure, Rumple?"

"Quite, dearie."

Over a hundred steps passed beneath their feet as they climbed higher and higher in a spiral dance. Rather like the spiral of magic, Rumple thought. It was odd, but he could almost . . . almost sense magic here . . . like an invisible presence it seemed to permeate the stones.

Don't be ridiculous, Rumple! He scolded himself. Magicians didn't build this statue, men did. Ordinary men. And yet . . . he couldn't shake the odd feeling that magic had been used here . . . once. A long time ago.

He thought of the book The Universal Spiral, written by one of the magicians of this world, that detailed the way magic worked in this land and the price that was always required of a practitioner. He'd read that book from cover to cover and memorized it too. And one thing he recalled quite clearly, was that the Power chose irrespective of station or position. So even an ordinary man could have magic.

He placed a hand upon the wall and for a brief flicker of an instant, he felt magic's tingle race through him.

"Oh!" he gasped.

"Rumple! What's wrong?" Belle asked, alarmed.

"Nothing. I was just . . . a little startled," he said. He laid his hand along the wall again . . . but now he felt nothing. Had it just been an echo?

Magic is the unending spiral. And now it has returned, he thought, recalling the words of Flynn White Wing, the book's author. And with its return, who could say what had awakened?

He kept one hand on the wall as they walked up the last set of steps to the crown. He wondered if any of the others had felt it. It didn't appear to be so. Was it just him? He knew he was particularly sensitive to magic, because of the two curses he'd had upon him and the fact that he'd lived so long with magic, so being who and what he was, he could feel magic more keenly.

Upon reaching the crown observatory, Rumple set Regina on her feet. "Stay by me," he ordered, holding her hand.

"Kay," she said, seemingly awed by the magnificent view.

Rumple didn't blame her one bit. He had seen wonders in his own world, but this magnificent panorama took his breath away. There was a railing before the edge of the crown, preventing anyone from going too close to the edge.

He heard Belle gasp in awe as she looked out over the harbor. He moved next to her, one hand clasping Regina's and the other touching the railing, and then he felt it again.

The echo of magic . . . a magic worked long ago.

He shut his eyes, trying to sense it, but it eluded him, like a will-o-wisp darting just out of reach. Sighing, he relaxed. He hadn't dreamed it or imagined it. It had been there.

Magic had been worked into these stones . . . all unknowing. And it carried with it a few small perceptions of the one who had done so.

Gold felt it. For the briefest flicker of an instant.

The warm glow of hope.

The true message of the statue.

From one lost traveler to another.

Rumple rested his hand upon the railing and smiled. Lady, thank you.

His reverie was broken suddenly by Regina yelling, "Unca Rumple! Lookit! I see her! The mermaid!"

Snow groaned upon hearing that. "Oh, Regina!" Then she smiled. She was a little girl, after all. Who cared if she imagined mermaids in the harbor?

Then she frowned. Rumple had picked up the little girl, and was asking her something.

"There!" Regina pointed again. "See?"

Rumple followed the child's tiny hand, putting his other hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun. Then he looked hard, ignoring as best he could the skyline of Manhattan.

"Unca Rumple! You see her?" Regina asked again.

Slowly, the sorcerer nodded. "Yes. I see it, Regina."

"See what?" asked Belle.

"A mermaid's tail," he replied.

"Where?" his wife cried squinting. "I can't see anything."

"Don't tell me you're seeing things too, Rumple!" Snow cried. "Charming, do you see anything?"

"Uh . . . no . . ."

"Because there's nothing there to see," Snow said exasperatedly.

"I'm not crazy, dearie. Alina, come here. Look out over the water and tell me what you see."

"Alina, there's a—" Regina began, only to be hushed by her uncle.

Alina looked hard across the water. Then she murmured, "Papa, do you see what I see?"

"What do you see?"

"I see . . . a mermaid swimming. Right there," she lifted a finger and pointed.

"What the hell is this? Some kind of hallucination?" Snow muttered to David. "What did they all have to eat for breakfast?"

"Henry! Come and see this!" Alina called.

Henry came up and peered out across the harbor. "Oh my God! Regina was right. There really is a mermaid in the harbor!"

Snow squinted again, peering as hard as she could. Nothing. "Okay. Did any of you have anything to eat with mushrooms?"

"Mushrooms?" Henry wrinkled his nose. "No way! With cinnamon waffles? Yuck!"

"What's going on, Mom?" Emma asked, coming over to them.

"Emma, they're having a bad trip or something," Snow began. "They all think they see a mermaid in the harbor. Regina started it."

"Maybe they're playing along with her?" Emma speculated.

"Mom! Look over here!" Henry called to her.

Emma came to stand by her son. "Henry, there's no such thing as mermaids, you know . . . oh . . . is that . . .?"

"Yeah! See her aqua and gold tail?" Henry cried.

"See how it sparkles?" Alina cried excitedly.

"A mermaid! A mermaid!" Regina sang, clapping her hands. She looked over at Snow. "Toldja so!"

"Don't gloat, little imp," Rumple said.

"I don't understand," Snow said. "Why can you see it and I can't?"

"Simple, dearie. That's a magical creature out there. Probably veiled to mortal sight. But not to those with magic," Rumple said.

"Regina doesn't have magic," Charming objected.

"Not now. But she's still sensitive to it. Plus, she's a child, and children believe. Magic is based upon belief," Rumple told them. "There's a mermaid over there. Trust me. I didn't inhale any mushroom spores, Snow White!"

"What are you saying?" Belle cried, staring at Snow. "That my husband's some . . . some . . . hippie or whatever they called them . . . those people who. . . uh . . . smoked weeds and LDS and wore rainbow shirts and drove vans with flowers in them?"

"Umm . . ."

Emma started laughing, unable to help herself.

"Emma!" Belle snapped. "What's so funny? She thinks my Rumple smokes CPC dust or whatever they called it."

"What's CPC?" asked Henry.

"It's some kind of drug," Alina answered. "I think it makes you see things."

"Like mermaids?" Henry queried.

"Okay! I'm sorry," Snow said. "But I was confused!"

Belle frowned. "So . . . what have you been smoking?"

Emma lost it then, laughing hysterically. Bae was also, almost doubled over.

Charming stared at his daughter and son-in-law and muttered, "The question is—what have they been smoking?"

Regina waved at the mermaid as it swam away. "Bye, Ariel!"