Hey, sorry that I haven't updated as quickly as I promised!! I'm taking a summer course that is a bit more intensive than I thought it would be, so my time is pretty limited. But I got a very sweet review from "Anonymous" saying that they liked my work, but wanted me to update soon because people lose interest in a story if it isn't updated frequently. i appreciated the reminder of my own feelings, and decided to write a quick update. I guess since I'm always writing in my head I forget that I'm not actually updating!! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Sisters Grimm series. I have not finished the newest book yet. I do own the ideas behind these oneshots though!!

Thanks always to libaka, who betas my fics even though she doesn't like being woken up at nine at night to do so. 3

And on to the chapter!

Chapter 22: Picture

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Sabrina sighed and laid her head on the wooden table. It was hot out, and Granny didn't have any air conditioning, so the house was boiling. Even Puck was too drained by the heat to be annoying. The girl lifted her head and looked around drowsily.

She could see Puck lying on the linoleum floor of the kitchen, face pressed close to the refrigerator in an attempt to cool off. Daphne was huddled by the sink, alternating between wetting a dish cloth with cold water and pressing it against her forehead. Red, still in her cloak, seemed to be the only person comfortable. She was happily coloring; her crayons, markers, and pencils spilling across the table. Sabrina picked up the baby pink pencil and twirled it gently, smiling as she remembered Red's depiction of Granny Relda and the resulting prank.

Red started whistling quietly, kicking her feet as she colored furiously. Puck slowly raised his head and glared daggers in her direction. "Hey Crazy, stop being so happy," he forced out, then dropped his head back to the floor, exhausted.

The little girl giggled and said, "No! I'm having fun!"

Daphne pulled the cloth off her face and blinking away the water, asked, "What are you doing?"

"Coloring. Want to join?" Daphne shook her head wearily and replaced the cloth.

Red smiled at Sabrina. "Want some paper?" Sabrina blinked, then looked at the pink pencil she was still grasping gently. She shrugged and accepted the offered paper.

The red-cloaked girl grinned and went back to drawing, pausing only to pat Elvis as he crawled by to sprawl on the linoleum next to Puck. Sabrina bit her lip. What to draw? She looked around, and grinned when she saw Puck and Elvis fighting for the space under the fridge. Perfect. She put back the pink and picked up the brown pencil for Elvis's fur.

Granny poked her head into the dining room. "Is everyone alright? It's been so quiet!" Granny spent much of her time in Mirror's room, trying to discover who the leader of the Scarlet Hand was.

The kids murmured back to her, easing her worry that they had died in the heat. She decided not to mention that she and Mirror were leaving the door to the Ice Queen's kingdom open as they worked. Having everything so quiet was a bit of a relief.

After Granny left, Sabrina grinned and showed Red her drawing. The little girl giggled at the picture of Puck and Elvis wrestling. Elvis looked like he was eating Puck's hand, and Puck seemed to be caught underneath the fridge. Red showed Sabrina her picture of the day before, when Puck still had enough energy to cause trouble. He had been struggling to get out of a bath again, and Red had caught his expression of horror perfectly. He was halfway out the door to the bathroom, and had a towel wrapped around his waist. Granny was in the bathroom, hand outstretched to stop him. Puck's eyes were focused down the hallway though, where small depictions of Red, Sabrina, and Daphne stood. Red held a water gun, filled with soapy water, Daphne held a scrub brush at the ready, and Sabrina held a camera. The boy's eyes bugged out as he realized the girls' plan: to wash him and get evidence.

The two girls laughed as they remembered him dashing back into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. The boy had been silent and unresisting the rest of the bath, and when he had come out, squeaky clean, he had stuck his tongue out at the girls still waiting, and turned back to his room to sulk. He had frozen when Sabrina said happily that if he was planning on getting dirty again, Granny had told them they could handle his baths from then on.

This morning, for the first time, Puck had come to the breakfast table perfectly clean and with his teeth brushed.

"What are you two laughing about?" Daphne asked from her position on the floor. Puck and Elvis were still quietly but firmly wrestling for space, and hadn't noticed the laughter. The girl pulled herself up when Sabrina held up Red's picture, and she grinned and joined them at the table.

Red handed her a piece of paper and Daphne grabbed a crayon. Sabrina helped herself to another sheet and sat back to continue drawing pictures.

After half an hour, Puck looked up from his sulk by the stove and noticed the three girls deep in conversation, pointing at papers and laughing. He pulled himself up and wandered over to the table, sparing a glare for the triumphant Elvis. He peered over the Marshmallow's head and saw drawings of different scenes in the past year.

Sabrina had a pile of clearly important moments, like when she had first learned that Granny wasn't crazy. The two girls in the picture stared in surprise at the giant holding the old car. Another picture was of something he didn't remember happening: it looked like Uncle Jake was a giant crystal, and Everafters were lying on the floor. Puck blinked when he saw an old man who looked a little like Charming reaching a hand out to the blonde haired girl standing near the Jake-crystal. Puck shrugged to himself and looked at Daphne's pictures.

Hers were of funny moments in the past year. Puck's prank on the girls their first day of school. He smiled when he saw the gunk dripping off of the two girls; Daphne had used a mixture of lemon yellow crayon and grey crayon to make it.

Red was drawing pictures of their everyday lives: the family sitting at the table, watching TV, there was a picture of when the two little girls got Sabrina and him to play house in there as well.

Red glanced up as Puck stepped closer and grinned. "Want to join?"

Puck shrugged. "I don't know how to draw."

Sabrina shrugged back at him. "Doesn't matter. As long as you know what it is, you can tell us the story behind the picture."

Daphne held up a new picture. "Here's one! This is when Sabrina and I were running away from Hamstead before we knew he was good guy. Remember Sabrina? This is how we met Puck!"

The kids peered at her picture. There was a grey chain link fence between a few trees and the road. There was a poorly drawn car, and beside it stood a portly policeman who could only be Hamstead. Near the fence, there were two girls and a dog. The blonde girl seemed to be pulling a piece of the fence up so that the smaller one could get through. The dog was facing Hamstead and its ears were up and its teeth bared.

Sabrina smiled. "This is great Daphne."

Red asked Daphne quietly to tell the story as Puck glanced at the picture. He hadn't known what he was getting himself into when he told his pixies to lift the fence and help Sabrina through. He had thought they were running away again, and wanted to play with them a bit before Granny found them. He grinned wryly when he thought about what had ended up happening. Instead of him pushing the girls into the murky pool, Sabrina had pushed him in and then had the gall to say she'd never heard of him. Puck had ended up helping the girls instead of thwarting them, and then all of a sudden he was doing good things right and left. The boy scowled slightly at that thought, then blinked when he saw one picture underneath the others in Sabrina's pile. He nudged it gently out as Sabrina joined in explaining the adventure to Red, and looked at it.

There was a wonderland all around the edges of the picture, and in the center was a trampoline. Three figures were lying on it, and the one in the middle was clearly asleep. Daphne. Puck smiled as he remembered what this was of. The links holding the outside two figures together were the handcuffs he put on himself and Sabrina. If only he'd known that she could get out of them anyway if she really wanted to. How in the world did she ever learn to pick locks?

He flushed a little as he remembered what he'd said to Sabrina. It was one of the only times he was ever really nice to her. He glanced at the girl as she happily argued with Daphne about who was at Charming's Ball the night she became Mother Bear and Daphne became the Tin Man. Puck slid the picture gently back underneath the papers as he realized he didn't really regret saying those words to her. And she didn't seem to regret them being said.

He then sat down next to Sabrina and joined in the argument about how the battle with Jack the Giantkiller really went down.

Granny came down an hour later to find the four children actively coloring and telling stories: Puck's seemingly exaggerated tales of his deeds, Red's updated fairytales and stories of their everyday lives, Daphne's tales of the hilarious moments, and Sabrina's quiet fables about growing up and learning about other people and yourself. She shrugged and went back upstairs. The children could get her when they were hungry.

By midnight, Granny grew worried and went back downstairs. She found a plate in the fridge labeled "Granny's portion of Sabrina's famous normal spaghetti and sauce," and the dishes neatly washed and put away. As she waited for her food to heat, she knelt to pick up a crayon on the floor. She put it gently on the counter, and wondered where all the papers the children had been drawing on had gone. She hoped they hadn't thrown them out.

After checking the trash carefully, Granny ate her meal (it was very good, perhaps Sabrina should cook more often) and then went upstairs to sleep. She yawned and opened the door to her room. She froze at the sight that met her eyes.

Taped all over her walls and piled neatly on her chair were the pictures the children had drawn for so many hours. She walked over to the first wall and realized that they were in chronological order, with labels, so that they could both tell a story and identify who had drawn the picture. The woman began to slowly read the titles and look at the pictures, alternating between laughing and sighing sadly. Every important event was there, and many unimportant but powerful ones were as well. Granny finished the wall, and began to sift through the papers on her chair. She could tell that not all the pictures drawn were given to her, but supposed the children wanted to keep a few for themselves. She followed the tale of Canis' journey from man to wolf to man again, and then Hamstead's story of true love. Charming and Snow's stories were there as well, and the pile ended with a blank page.

Granny blinked, then looked to her bedside table, where a small pile of crayons and pencils lay. She smiled and slowly began her own picture.

When she finished, she went back downstairs and placed it on the dining room table. The woman slowly prepared for bed, and fell asleep easily for the first time in weeks.

On the table, a picture of an old woman, a man with a crooked nose, a young blonde girl, a young blonde boy, a dark haired girl, another dark haired girl draped in a red cloak, and a dog rested patiently, waiting for the morning when the four children would tiptoe down the stairs and see it. They would laugh and hold it up. The dark haired cloaked girl would say happily that it was her favorite, and the other dark haired girl would agree. The boy would scoff and say his were better, but a smile on his face would betray his true thoughts. The blonde girl would say nothing, but would gently place it back on the table and go into the kitchen to go make breakfast for four humans, two Everafters, and a dog.

Her family.

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I hope you enjoyed this!! Please R&R, and I'm sorry I'm not updating very frequently,

Tam