3
Under Arrest
Tuesday after school, Henry came home and helped Bae make the cranberry orange relish for Thanksgiving. Or rather, he watched while his father made it, grating the peel of an orange into the bowl, then adding the orange sections to the cranberries, some sugar and a small amount of cinnamon and pulse everything together in the food processor.
"You ought to add more cinnamon, Dad," Henry said.
Bae chuckled. "Henry, this is cranberry-orange relish, not cinnamon cranberry relish. A little's all you need, trust me." He scraped the relish into a container, tasted some, added a bit more sugar, then tasted it again and said, "Okay. Now we leave this in the fridge and give the flavors time to meld together. Then when we serve it with the turkey on Thanksgiving, it'll be perfect." He put the lid on the container and put it in the refrigerator.
"Dad, about the turkey . . ." Henry began.
"Aw, tiger, don't tell me you've bought into Regina's whole pity the poor turkey act," Bae groaned. "C'mon, Henry. You've eaten turkey for Thanksgiving before, now tell me, did you ever want to not eat it before Regina started with her turkey bit?"
"Um . . . I never thought about it before, Dad," Henry admitted. "But . . . it does seem kind of . . . mean. In a way."
Bae sighed. "Look, tiger. Everything has to die some time, and for some animals, they die so we can live. It's the way of life, here and in the Enchanted Forest. There's nothing wrong with killing something to eat it, kid. We do it all the time."
"But Dad . . . what if we didn't have to eat turkey?" Henry protested. "We could eat something else . . . like pizza."
Bae looked at him skeptically. "Pizza? On Thanksgiving? Uh, sorry, tiger. You can do that if you want to, but I'm eating turkey. I look forward to eating turkey all year on Thanksgiving and that's what I'm doing." Then he pulled a package of Oreos out of the cabinet along with a jar of peanut butter and asked, "Want some?"
"Sure," his son said, and began to make some Oreos with peanut butter, though he was thinking all the while about Operation Turkey and wondering if Alina had come up with a plan yet.
At 4:30 Alina PM'd him on his Nook HD, and Henry found out she thought it a good idea to plan to release the turkeys early on Wednesday morning, like before dawn, and they should all meet on Mifflin Street around 5:30 in the morning.
Swanfireboy: What about Regina?
RumbelleGirl: You'll have to get her there with you somehow. Get her to ask Snow and David to let her come over your house tonight.
Swanfireboy: Okay, and after that's done, I think I can get her over there by . . . umm . . . bringing her along in the Radio Flyer. I can tie it to my bike and pull her along with me.
RumbelleGirl: Or you could enchant that horse pendant Papa gave you and ride it over.
Swanfireboy: I'm not as good at enchanting things as you are. It's quicker to just ride my bike and pull Regina along in the wagon. It's a good thing the wagon and the bike are in the garage here and I can get them out through the side door. 'Cause somebody might hear if I had to open the doors up.
RumbelleGirl: Yeah, and you call Grace and tell her about where and when to meet up, and I'll call Eva, Nick, and Hans. Agent Gold out.
Swanfireboy: Okay. See ya soon! Operation Save the Turkey has begun! Agent Swan out.
Henry quickly erased his browsing history and then plugged in his Nook to charge it. Then he went into his room and used his walkie talkie to contact Grace and then called Regina on his cell and told her to ask her parents if she could go over Emma's house and spend the night. "Tell them you wanna make a Thanksgiving surprise with me," Henry told her.
"Okay, Henry," she said, and then he heard her yelling at Snow, "Mommy, I wanna go over Emma's tonight and make a Thanksgiving surprise gift with Henry. Can I? Can I? Please?"
Henry waited with bated breath for Snow's response. "Well, okay . . . if it's okay with Emma and Bae. Let me talk to Henry, Regina."
"Okay," Regina handed Snow the cordless phone.
"Hello, Henry? It's Gran."
"Hi. Did Regina tell you what we want to do?" Henry asked.
"Yes, and she can stay over as long as it's okay with your dad or mom."
"I'll let you ask Dad, since he's home," Henry said, then called Bae over to talk to Snow.
"Sure, that's fine, Snow. You can bring her by anytime you want and I'll call Emma and tell her," Bae said, thinking this would be a very unusual evening.
Page~*~*~*~*~Break
Snow arrived with Regina around five o'clock, just before Emma came home. "She insisted on bringing her Pocahontas costume," Snow told Bae. "So don't be surprised if she wants to wear it tonight at some point. Or her turkey mask she made with David yesterday." Snow indicated the little bag with Regina's costume and the paper plate mask with colorful feathers on it she had colored after David had drawn a turkey's face on it and cut out the eyeholes.
Bae just nodded as the little girl ran shrieking into the elevator. "Henry! Lookit what I brought!"
"Hey, Regina," he called, and then sprinted after her, before she managed to close the elevator without him inside it. "See you tomorrow, Snow! I'll bring her back after my afternoon class. Have fun with David tonight." He darted inside with Regina's bag on his shoulder just as the little girl tried to push the button and close the doors. "Hold on there," he ordered. "Don't be trying to touch the elevator without me or Emma or Henry in here with you. Okay?" He quickly pushed the button to make the elevator go to the top floor of his dojo, where the apartment was.
Regina nodded. "Okay, Bae."
Once they were inside the apartment, Regina tore across the living room and hugged Henry. "Henry, lookit my cool mask! An' I brought my Pocahontas costume . . . 'cause she was an Indian princess and she saved John Smith and the turkeys too!"
Henry grinned and knelt down to see the bag with her mask and costume. "That's really neat, Regina. You can wear it and show my mom when she comes home."
"And your mom ought to be home in about an hour, so I'm going to start supper," Bae said. "Why don't you and Regina set the table, Henry?"
"Okay. What are we having?" Henry asked as he got out the dishes.
Bae thought a moment. "Uh . . . how about fettuccini Alfredo and chicken fingers? And some green beans with fried onions?"
"Yeah, that's good," Henry said. "Here, Regina. You put the napkins by everybody's place."
After they were done setting the table, Henry took Regina into his room and had her play with his mythical resin figures until Emma came home.
"When we gonna save the turkeys, Henry?" she asked.
"Shh! You gotta be quiet about that, okay?" he hissed. "It's a secret, so zip your lips."
Regina nodded, and made a zipping motion with her hand to her mouth.
"I'll tell you later when it's time to save the turkeys," he said, knowing he wouldn't say anything until it was time to leave for Fox's farm. "Now, what are we going to make for a Thanksgiving surprise?" he wondered, then he snapped his fingers. "Got it! We're gonna make dried bean and pumpkin seed necklaces."
"We are?" Regina said, sounding awed.
"Yeah. Like the . . . uh . . . Indians wore," Henry improvised, figuring the Indians might have worn something like that.
"When we makin' them?" Regina asked eagerly.
"Uh . . . after dinner," her nephew replied. "Let's go in the living room. I think I just heard my mom come home."
"Emma! Emma!" Regina yelled as soon as her big sister came through the door. She raced over to her sheriff sister and hugged her around the knees. "I's stayin' here tonight an' Henry and I are makin' Thanksgiving necklaces . . . oops, that was s'posed to be a surprise."
"Hey, chatterbox!" Emma smiled at her and hugged her. "Don't worry, I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Right, Bae?"
"What?" he called from the kitchen, where he was mixing the fettuccini with the Alfredo sauce.
"See, it's still a surprise, kid," Emma said. "Now let me put my jacket away and stuff."
Regina watched as Emma hung her red jacket in the closet along with the holster with her gun and shut the door. She put a set of new handcuffs on the small shelf on the wall above a little hassock beside the entertainment center. Then she went into the kitchen to say hello to her husband and give him a kiss. "Mmm! That smells great, hon," she murmured after she'd hugged him from behind.
"Hey, beautiful. You know, I spent all day slaving in this kitchen to make this," he joked, his brown eyes twinkling.
"Dad, you're such a liar," Henry snickered impudently. "He spent like an hour, Mom."
Emma picked up the plate of chicken fingers. "Who cares, kid? I'm starving."
"Me too!" Regina sang, and climbed up on her chair, which had a special booster seat on it so she could reach the table. "Mmm! Chicken nuggets an' pasta. Yummy!"
Emma carefully cut up the little girl's food, giving her some of everything, including the green beans. "Here you go, Regina." She set the plate down in front of the toddler.
"Emma, I don't like green beans," Regina stated.
"You eat them, I know Mom makes them," her sister said firmly. "Four bites, imp. Or else no dessert."
Regina pouted. Then she went and ate some of her chicken.
After about ten minutes, Emma looked over at Regina's plate and said, "Regina, eat your green beans."
"But Emma!" Regina whined.
"Hey, you listen to your sister," Bae told her, frowning.
"But I don't like veggies, Bae," the child protested.
"They help you grow up big and strong and . . . uh . . . pretty too," he added when he realized that such attributes might not appeal to a little girl like Regina. He pointed to Emma. "That's why your sister's so tall and beautiful. 'Cause she eats her veggies."
Regina looked at Emma, who promptly ate some green beans. Then she looked at Bae and Henry, who were also eating them. "What we havin' for dessert, Emma?"
"Uh . . . what are we having?" Emma asked Bae.
"Ice cream," Bae answered, since he knew they had some in the freezer. Then he added, "So if you want some turtle sundae, you'd better eat four bites of your green beans, Regina."
"And after that we can make our Thanksgiving surprises," Henry added encouragingly.
Regina stared mutinously at her plate, her arms crossed.
"Or you can skip dessert, skip making your surprise, and go to bed early," Emma threatened. "Your choice, kid."
Regina stared at her sister. Then, seeing the hard gleam in Emma's blue eyes, she turned and looked at Bae pleadingly.
The martial arts instructor shook his head. "Don't look at me like that. Eat four bites and you're done. Or else you can sit here until you do."
Regina huffed, realizing that she wasn't going to get her way. She reluctantly put a green bean in her mouth and swallowed it.
Emma whispered to Bae, "Huh. It worked. For a minute there, I didn't think it would."
Bae smirked behind his hand. "And I can't believe I just said that. That's what my mother used to tell me when I was her age. It's one of the few things I remember about her."
"Hey, whatever works," Emma said, noting that now Regina had eaten three more bites of her vegetables. "Good job! Now finish your chicken and pasta and you can have some ice cream after you make your surprise."
Regina clapped her hands and then ate the rest of her dinner.
Page~*~*~*~*~Break
Emma helped Regina string the dried pumpkin seeds and dried navy beans on some string for necklaces after dinner, along with Henry and Bae, who also added dried cranberries to his necklace.
Regina saw and cried, "I want that necklace, Bae!"
"You do, huh? What kind of deal will you make me for it?" he bargained.
"Uh . . . I'll give you these!" she said, then she hopped off her chair and ran into Henry's room, where her bag was, and got out three small Reeses shaped like turkeys and brought them back to him. "Here! You eat these, Bae, an' trade me the necklace."
His eyes lit up when he saw the candy. "Reeses turkeys!"
Emma chuckled. "Boy, she knows you real well!"
"Okay, chatterbox. You've got a deal," Bae told Regina, and promptly traded his dried cranberry, bean, and pumpkin seed necklace for her candy.
Regina draped the necklace about her neck and said happily, "Ooh! It's bee-you-tee-ful!" Then she scurried back into Henry's room again to put on her turkey mask.
Emerging with it on her face, she began to prance around the kitchen, holding her arms to her sides like wings and singing a little song Snow had taught her. "Mr. Turkey's tail is wide," she shook her rear end. "He waddles when he walks," and then she waddled about. "His neck is long," she stretched her neck out and waddled some more. "His chin is red," she bobbed her head up and down and pointed to her chin. "And this is how he talks—gobble gobble gobble!"
Bae started laughing. "God, that's too cute!" He promptly took a picture of her with his phone.
Emma clapped and said, "You're a trip, kid!"
Henry smiled and said, "Hey, Regina. Do you know this song?" He began to sing another popular Thanksgiving song to the tune of "Row Row Your Boat", that he had learned from the child waddling and gobbling before him, ironically. "The Pilgrims sailed away, far across the sea. They came to America, where they could be free. The Indians helped them plant some corn, then they shared a great big feast. Thanksgiving Day was born!"
Regina clapped and then sang the song again with Henry. Then she spun around and pointed to Emma and Bae, removing her mask. "Now we's gonna have a sing-a-long!"
"Oh, no!" Bae held up his hands. "I don't sing."
"Not unless he has to pay a forfeit," Emma reminded him slyly, referring to the night of Belle and Rumple's Halloween party, when he'd had to sing the Oscar Meyer commercial.
"Yes! We's singing the itsy bitsy spider!" Regina declared. "The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout!" She made climbing motions with her hands, then she looked at Henry.
"Down came the rain and washed the spider out," the boy sang, and then made swishing motions with his hands. "C'mon, Mom! You know this song."
Emma, who could recall watching other girls sing that song when she lived at one of her foster homes, and wishing they'd invite her to sing, gamely joined in. "Up came the sun and dried up all the rain . . ." she made a circle with her hands, praying she remembered it right. Then she jerked her head at Bae. "Okay, Gold. Your turn. Or don't you know this song?"
"I know it," he said. "But I don't sing, Emma, you know that."
"You sing in the shower, Dad," Henry pointed out.
Bae flushed, and gave his son a sharp look. "Thanks a lot, tiger."
Regina ran and grabbed Bae around the knees, giving the martial arts instructor her biggest widest set of puppy dog eyes. "Please, Bae! Sing!"
"Aww, Regina!" he groaned, wavering in the face of that potent weapon.
"Pretty please!" she added a smile to the eyes.
That was the deathblow.
He shook his head. "Fine! You twisted my arm, you little imp. Uh, where were we?"
Regina sang the previous line. "Up came the sun an' dried up all the rain!"
Bae cleared his throat and then sang quickly, "Then the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
"Yay!" Regina clapped and looked like he'd given her a million dollars. "Now let's sing Bingo!"
Bae rolled his eyes. "God help me!" he muttered.
But he found he couldn't refuse Regina when she gave him those eyes, and so he joined his wife, son, and small sister-in-law in singing the popular tune, and soon Regina had all three of them clapping and singing along with her.
After Bingo was over, Bae declared it was time for ice cream, and they all had some, with Henry and Regina having small sugar cones and Emma had hers with chocolate sauce and Bae with whipped cream on top with a cherry.
Then Emma helped Regina into her Belle nightgown while Henry and Bae finished the necklaces and put them in Regina's bag along with her turkey mask.
"Let's see what's on TV, tiger," Bae said, grabbing the remote. "There ought to be some kind of Thanksgiving special on we can watch with Regina so she conks out."
He flipped through the channels, at last finding a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Cartoon Network. He settled down on their brown sofa, with Henry on one side, and Emma came out with Regina a few minutes later and sat down next to him with her sister on her lap.
Regina snuggled into Emma as they watched the Peanuts gang try and make Thanksgiving dinner, and Emma smiled down at her and stroked her dark hair, marveling at how different the toddler Regina was from the former Evil Queen. She actually enjoyed the feel of the child in her arms, it awoke in her a sudden longing and nostalgia for a baby of her own, and she found herself cuddling close with her sister and rocking her a little.
This was how it should be, she thought. And it's what I used to want when I was her age. For an instant she allowed herself to imagine holding her own little girl like this, and her eyes grew dreamy as she curled up against her husband and rested her chin on top of Regina's dark head.
She had almost nodded off watching Snoopy on top of his doghouse when her pager went off. "Damn!" she murmured, knowing no one ever paged her unless it was an emergency. She carefully transferred Regina to Bae's lap and went to see who had paged her.
Upon seeing the number, she dialed it on her cell. It was the bartender at the Rabbit Hole, calling to report an altercation that had gotten out of hand and would she come to break it up and put the inebriated parties in the slammer for the night. "Great! Just great!" she sighed. So much for her night of family time.
"What's up, wild swan?" Bae asked.
"I've got to take this call, Bae. Some idiots are causing trouble down at the Rabbit Hole," Emma told him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Where you goin' Emma?" called Regina.
"I have to go take care of some stupid people," she replied, grabbing her jacket and holster from the closet.
"You gonna under arrest them?" Regina asked.
"Yeah, probably. Now you behave for Bae and Henry, okay?"
"Uh huh. Bye, Emma!" Regina waved at her as she left.
As they watched the rest of the Thanksgiving special, Bae pointed out gently that Charlie Brown was eating turkey like everyone else did on Thanksgiving, hoping to get Regina to abandon her turkey crusade.
But as soon as he mentioned eating turkey, Regina squirmed free of his lap and shouted, "No, Bae! Eating turkey's bad! And we's not having it!"
"Hey, Little Miss Big Mouth," Bae scolded. "Don't shout at me like that. Just because you don't like eating turkey doesn't mean we all have to not eat it."
Regina shook her head. "I's not killing turkeys!" Then she ran inside Henry's room, crying.
"Aww hell!" Bae sighed. "Henry, maybe you better go talk to her. I doubt if she wants to see me right now." He rubbed his eyes. "I'm going to get changed while you do that."
Henry hopped off the couch to soothe the upset toddler while Bae went to get into his pajamas.
Peering out of his bedroom, Bae heard Henry still talking to Regina and decided to lie down and read a bit of a new book he'd bought. He'd only read a few pages when his eyes started to close and before he knew it, he was asleep, the book falling across his face.
Meanwhile, Henry had decided to read a bedtime story to Regina, and found one of her Disney books in her bag that Snow had packed. He read her the story of Rapunzel, the two of them curled up on the couch together.
By the time they had reached the end, Henry was nodding off.
Not so Regina. She was still wide awake, and not minded to sit still on the couch and wait for Emma to come home. A commercial came on advertising an oven bag to cook the perfect Thanksgiving turkey and Regina sprang off the couch and glared at the TV in disgust.
She trotted into the kitchen, but finding nothing to do in there, went back into the living room. Henry had fallen asleep by then, and she was bored, so she looked around for something to do.
The walnut coffee table only held some of Bae's martial arts magazines and an empty coffee cup of Emma's. A blue fuzzy wool blanket was thrown over the arm of the sofa, and Regina picked it up and pulled it over Henry, like her daddy did to her when she was sleeping. Little did she know the blanket was the same one Rumple had made for Bae when he was small, and had given to Henry months ago in his shop.
Finding nothing of interest there or on the walnut endtables, Regina walked over to the entertainment center and looked at it. There was plenty of interesting stuff on it, like books and a statue of a jade horse and other curious collectibles, but she couldn't reach any of them.
She moved over to the left and saw the small shelf where Emma had placed her new handcuffs. They were still there, as Emma had left in a hurry and not bothered to put them in her pocket.
Regina grinned and climbed up on the little footstool and took the handcuffs down. The key dangled from one, and she carried them into the hallway, at first thinking to play police officer with Sofia in Henry's room.
Then she heard the sound of soft snoring from Emma's bedroom, and pushed open the door.
Bae was still lying on the bed, snoozing with the book over his face.
Regina cocked her head at him. She recalled suddenly what he had said about eating turkey. Then she got a very naughty idea, and smirking, approached the sleeping martial arts instructor.
Page~*~*~*~Break
Bae woke up upon hearing a little voice yelling shrilly, "You is under arrested, Bae! Hands behind you back!"
Baelfire jerked awake like a shot. "Regina! What in hell?" He went to sit up, the book falling off his face and onto the floor with a thump. Huh? I must have fallen asleep for a little bit. God, I can't believe I did that, he thought in chagrin. He started to sit up, thankful that Regina wasn't causing any mischief, and found that his right hand was . . . wearing a handcuff.
"Regina!" he snapped, horrified. "What did you do?"
She had handcuffed him to the bed. He tugged futilely at his wrist, which was chained to his bedpost.
"I under arrested you!" she declared gleefully.
Bae turned and scowled at her. "Okay, now that's enough. Give me the keys and take these off."
"Nuh uh. You has the right to remain silent—"
"Never mind my right to remain silent!" he snapped. "You give me those keys right now, Regina Nolan, and let me out of here!" He couldn't believe this was happening! Handcuffed to his own bed by a three-year-old!
"No! You is under arrested, Baelfire!" Regina cried, shaking a finger at him.
"Oh, yeah? What for?"
"For bein' a turkey murder!"
"A what? A turkey murderer? You've got to be kidding!" He tugged harder, but it was no use. He was caught fast. "Where's the keys, Regina?"
She patted her pocket. "They's in here. And you ain't getting' them."
"Now you listen to me, you little—" he began angrily. He had to get free before Emma came home and saw.
"Bae? What's going on in here?" Emma came into the room, and stopped dead when she saw her little sister standing before her bed . . . and her husband handcuffed to it.
"Nothing!" Bae said swiftly. "We're . . . uh . . . playing a game!"
"Gee, hon. I thought we weren't going to play that game with kids around," Emma teased wickedly.
Bae flushed. "Emma! Just get her to give you the keys."
Emma turned to Regina, unable to resist chuckling at her husband's obvious embarrassment. "Okay, imp. Where's the keys?"
"But Emma! Bae's under arrested! I gots to lock him up, so's the turkeys are safe," Regina argued.
Bae rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the turkeys are in real danger, Emma."
"Kid, give me the keys. Playtime's over and it's time for bed," Emma said.
"Aww! Emma!" Regina groaned. "I'm not sleepy!"
"How about I make you a deal, kid? I let you stay up for ten more minutes if you give me the keys so I can let Bae out?"
"Umm . . . sure!" Regina agreed, then she reached into her pants pocket for the keys she had put there. She felt around slowly. "Uh oh!"
"What do you mean, uh oh?" Bae called, wriggling his hand.
"Uh oh, they ain't there," Regina replied.
"Regina, what do you mean they're not there?" Emma asked, frowning.
"They's gone, Emma!" her sister announced. Then she tugged her pocket inside out. "See?"
Emma knelt to see . . . and then she smacked a hand to her head. "Oh no!"
"What?" Bae demanded.
"The keys . . . fell out of her pocket . . . because it has a hole in it," his wife moaned.
"You mean . . . they're lost?" he gasped.
"Uh . . well . . . I guess so," Emma said lamely.
"Jesus H. Christ, Emma!" Bae growled. "Then find them! They've got to be somewhere in the apartment."
"Come on, Regina. Where were you with my handcuffs?" Emma asked, trying to retrace the toddler's steps and hopefully find the keys that way. She took the little mischief-maker's hand and led her from the room after searching the floor before the bed.
Bae glared at the open door and then lay back on the bed with a muttered swear word. This was unbelievable! Handcuffed to his bed like some kind of criminal or something . . . and now the keys were lost and he was stuck like this until they were found.
Five minutes passed and he could hear Emma asking Regina where she'd been again. He tapped a foot against his mattress impatiently. "Hey, Emma! You find them yet?"
"Sorry! They're . . . umm . . . missing in action," she called back.
"Great!" he nearly slammed his other hand down on the mattress in frustration. "Look, if you can't find them in another five minutes, just . . . bring me the lockpicks in my jacket pocket, okay? I can jimmy them open in a minute or two."
There was silence after that request. Bae felt his stomach do a flipflop. "Emma? Did you hear what I said?"
"Yeah, I heard," Emma answered, coming to stand in the doorway. Her lips twitched at the sight. On impulse, she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.
"Hey! Quit taking pictures and find those keys!" Bae lectured. "This is so embarrassing."
"I think you look adorable. In a kinky sort of way," she teased.
"Okay, wild swan. Now please bring me my picks so I can spring myself?"
"Uh . . . that's going to be a problem, Bae."
"What problem? They're in my jacket."
"You don't understand. Those are my new handcuffs. The latest model."
"So? I can still pick 'em."
"No you can't. They're maglocked, Bae. And only the mag key can open them," she told him.
"You're not serious!" he yelped, and half-twisted himself about to look at the silver manacle on his right wrist.
Sure enough, the bracelet around his wrist looked like an unbroken circle, without any kind of opening for a key except a square hole in the knob below it, where the chain was attached.
"Oh, Bae. I'm sorry. I should have made sure she couldn't get them," Emma said.
"Emma, you have to find those keys. I can't stay here like this all night, I don't care what wicked fantasy I remind you of!" Bae said exasperatedly.
"Okay, okay. Let me keep looking. Maybe I ought to wake up Henry, let him look too," she said quietly.
"Fine, just get me out of here!"
So Emma shook awake Henry and together with Regina they searched the apartment for the mag keys.
After five more minutes, Emma returned.
"Any luck?" Bae asked.
"Nope. Bae . . . what if we never find the keys? God knows if they've rolled somewhere or something . . . like beneath the entertainment system. I think we might have to . . . err . . . call someone for help. Like your papa."
"No!" Bae yelped in horror. "You can't do that to me, Emma! You leave my papa out of this. I don't need him coming over here and . . . and seeing me like this."
"But . . . he can just magic them open . . ."
"No! You can't call him. I'll never hear the end of it. And no telling Snow or my mama either. You women will joke about this forever!"
"Then who am I gonna call? Ghostbusters?" Emma snapped. "A locksmith?"
"Why don't you try and magic them open, Emma?"
"What do you think I am, Houdini?" Emma groaned.
"I don't care if you call yourself Morgan le Faye, just . . . get me out of them."
"Okay, relax. Uh . . . let me see," Emma came and took his wrist in her hand, examining the cuff and then concentrating. But it was no good. The cuff remained closed. She tried again, but the cuff remained stubbornly closed. "Dammit!" She frowned at her husband. "How'd she get those on you anyway?"
"Err . . . well . . . I kind of . . . fell asleep reading this book while Henry went to talk to her," Bae admitted. "She got upset because I told her I wanted to eat turkey on Thanksgiving, so . . . she arrested me."
"You fell asleep watching her?" Emma gasped. "Good God, Baelfire! Maybe you should be locked up."
"Emma! Give me a break! It wasn't like I planned it. It just happened. Please, look again. They have to be here somewhere."
"Bae, I've looked all over . . ."
"Try again," he urged.
She turned and walked out, leaving Bae alone.
He shifted about, trying to ease the pressure on his arm. As the minutes ticked by with no results, Bae began to despair. The silvery cuff seemed to mock him, and he almost heard his papa's voice saying, "You can't turn your back on Regina for an instant, dearie. She's like the ocean, she can get into something in nothing flat."
He winced imagining how Rumple would be hysterical over this . . . and so would David.
Suddenly he heard Henry call, "Hey, Dad! I found them!"
"Thank you God!" Bae nearly fell off the bed in relief.
Henry came into the room, grinning from ear to ear. "Wow, Dad! You look like a hostage or something," he carried the keys in one hand.
"Never mind that, tiger. Can you take them off?"
"Uh huh," Henry said, coming over with the mag key.
As he tried to unlock the cuffs, Bae asked, "Where'd you find them?"
"Uh . . . I summoned them," Henry replied.
Bae snorted. "I should have known."
Henry fiddled with the mag lock a bit longer before the silvery cuff suddenly sprang open.
"Ah, free at last! Thanks, Henry."
"Anytime, Dad."
Baelfire sat up. "Where's Regina?"
"Uh . . . with Mom, I think. Mom was . . . err . . scolding her pretty good . . ."
Bae raised an eyebrow. "She needs more than that for touching stuff that doesn't belong to her." He rose and walked out of the bedroom, calling, "Regina, come here. I think we need to have a little talk about you touching Emma's things and using them."
Henry winced slightly as he heard Regina sniffling, Bae scolding, and then Regina bawling because he made her stand in the corner. Then he giggled when he recalled what his father had looked like handcuffed to the bed. Alina would be rolling on the floor when she heard about it.
When the young magician went down the hall and looked into the living room, he saw Bae sitting on the couch, holding a rather contrite little girl on his lap and saying quietly, " . . . you won't do that again, will you?"
Regina shook her head. "No. I sorry, Bae."
"Okay, forgiven," he said, and then he said, "Let's go find your sister and she can help tuck you in. Emma? Where'd you go?"
"In here," Emma said, coming out of Henry's room. "I was just putting some sheets down on his Futon for her."
Bae carried Regina into the bedroom, and Henry relaxed a little, thinking it was lucky his dad didn't have much of a temper, or else the little imp could have been in serious trouble.
He waited until his parents had come out of his room before he came up to Emma and handed her the cuffs and the key. "Here, Mom."
"Thanks, Henry. I'd better put these somewhere little hands can't find them. Like in my car," Emma said ruefully, and then she took the cuffs and stuffed them in her jacket, thinking she had a really interesting picture to put on a Christmas card and give to certain people this holiday season. Oh, well. There was never a dull moment with Regina around, that was for sure!
Page~*~*~*~*~Break
In another part of Storybrooke, someone else was having difficulty sleeping as well.
Rumple was working late in his study doing some last minute accounting when he saw Belle go past the study door.
"Something the matter, dearie?" he called, since he thought she was sound asleep by now. At least she had been when he'd left the room two hours ago. "Do you need anything, Belle? Are you sick?"
Worried, he came out into the hall to see what was bothering her. He knew that this late in the pregnancy, women often had difficulty sleeping, so maybe she wanted some tea or something.
"Belle?"
He saw her walking down the hall, her chestnut hair trailing down her back like a sleek curtain, accenting the white nightgown with pink rosebuds she wore. Her feet were bare and . . . his eyes widened in disbelief . . . she was gliding about four inches off the carpet!
He rubbed his eyes. Surely he was imagining things. Belle couldn't be gliding through the air.
"Belle? Where are you going, dearie?" he called softly.
When she didn't reply he ran over to her and took her by the arm. "Belle, sweetheart, why don't you answer me?" And why don't you quit walking on air?
But when he looked into her face, he saw that her eyes were open but unseeing.
She was sleepwalking.
"Come on, dearie. Let's get you back to bed," he murmured, and gently steered her around and towards the bedroom again, thinking that this was one strange symptom of pregnancy. He gazed down at her feet . . . and hissed in shock, for not only was she still gliding, but her feet were sparkling with . . . fairy dust.
"Belle? What's happening to you?" he cried in alarm.
Just then she settled to the ground . . . and the dust vanished.
"Maybe I'm hallucinating," he groaned, and continued to lead his wife back to bed.
He managed to get her into bed again, gently tucking her in. Then he bent to kiss her goodnight, and she blinked and started babbling, "I have to find the dwarves . . . we need to mine more dust . . . and I need to plant some more nightblooming jasmine . . ."
"Dearie, it's the middle of the night," Rumple said softly. "You're dreaming. Now go back to sleep, Belle. Shh!"
"Rumple? I need some honey and nectar to drink," she muttered.
"Yes, I'll get you some tomorrow," he soothed. "Now just relax." He stroked her hair and held her hand until she quit muttering about needing to grant some child's wish or whatever it was and drifted back to sleep again.
Then he patted her hand and whispered, "There's something very odd going on here, dearie. I don't know what it is, but maybe we need to talk to Dr. Jo about it," he said, naming Belle's OBGYN, a kind and knowledgeable woman physician. "And maybe we need to discuss a few things too." He gently rubbed her belly and said softly, "Now you two go to sleep, so your mama can rest."
He hated to think it, but he had a funny feeling there was something Belle wasn't telling him. And whatever it was had to do with these strange symptoms she'd been having lately.
Tucking the covers about her, Rumple left Belle slumbering and went to turn off his computer. He was tired and going to get some sleep. Tomorrow he would talk with Belle and hopefully she could shed some light on these odd happenings, because the only thing he could think of was that she was possessed by fairies.
Rumple's Recipe Corner:
Bae's Cranberry-Orange Relish
1 navel orange
1 (12-oz) bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Finely grate 2 teaspoons zest from orange. Cut away and discard peel and pith from orange, then cut sections free from membranes.
Pulse cranberries with zest, orange sections, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely chopped. Chill, covered, at least 2 hours to allow flavors to develop.
Relish can be chilled up to 3 days.