Welcome to the next chapter. I did introduce Killian into this chapter, but do not expect to see him often. Unfortunately, I do not feel that I do the character justice. Since I am not happy with how I write him, I try to keep him to a minimum, Regina too for the same reason. Plus I want to keep this story focused on the Charming Family as much as I can. But I didn't know how to write this chapter without involving him. Thank you to all of my loyal readers and reviewers. Without you, this story would have died a long time ago. Enjoy! And always, please review...tell me what you think.
Chapter 15 – The Party
I had been given my marching orders. I was to have Henry, Neal, and myself dressed and at the town hall by 5:45 pm. Thank god for Henry. Without him, I don't know how I would have gotten myself and Neal ready in the one hour that I had between the time I got home from work and the time that I had to be at the hall. I suddenly had a new found respect for single mothers. Sure, I was a single mother, but my kid was already a teenager and I shared my responsibility with my step-grandmother who also happened to be the same woman who adopted Henry when I gave him up at birth.
Leaving work early, for me, was not an option. David had told Mary Margaret that a last minute council meeting had been called. At least one sheriff was to be there, so he volunteered to be the sheriff to go to the meeting. That meant that he left work a little early leaving me to finish out the rest of the day shift. He insisted that she attend the meeting with him and afterwards they could grab a quiet dinner, just the two of them; which meant that left me and Henry on babysitting duty.
"Henry…" I called to my son as I finished curling my hair in the bathroom. I knew that he was dressed and ready to go, I heard the video game in the living room while he waited for me and kept an eye on Neal.
"Yeah…Crap, I died." Judging by his response, when he turned his focus to me he lost a life on his game. "What's up, Mom?" I guess he had just decided to turn the game off at that point because he poked his head into the bathroom.
"Please tell me that Grandpa left the car seat…" I had been running around the apartment trying to get everything done including packing Neal's diaper bag that I had just remembered about the car seat. My mother hadn't gotten the bag ready because she wasn't expecting us to leave at all.
"Yeah, he said that he put it in your car already."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you. I'm almost done here, can you put Neal's coat on him and take him to the car."
"Yeah, sure." He backed away from the door only to poke his head back in. "By the way, you look really pretty." He ducked back out again before I could respond, but a big proud smile crossed my lips. How in the world did I get so lucky to have such a great kid? Fourteen years ago, I would have punched anyone who said that my life would have turned out like this (a great son, my parents, a little brother, and a pirate boyfriend) in the face. I believed that people like me did have endings like this. It was almost surreal.
"Um...Mom?" I heard Henry call me from the living room. The tone in his voice was very disconcerting. I didn't like it. Nor did I like the next sentence that came from my son's mouth. "Neal had an explosion."
My face fell. "You have got to be kidding me!" It was already 5:30 and granted the town meeting hall was not far from the loft, but still, I did not have time for the poop of the century. From the mirror, I saw Henry carrying Neal, at arm's length, into the bathroom.
I abandoned my curling iron and makeup to make my way to the bathtub to draw Neal a bath. "Holy hell, kid! What did Mom feed you today?" I said more to myself than him, as I peeled off my little brother's clothes. I heard Henry snicker which made me turn my attention to him, "Don't you even say anything about ice cream," I warned my son. He threw his arms up in a shrug; apparently I wasn't going to live down the ice cream incident. "Go find him another outfit," I ordered to Henry, "and make sure it is decent enough for this party."
I had bathed and redressed Mr. Smelly Butt in record time. It was a miracle that I didn't get anything on myself. Naturally he giggled throughout the entire ordeal. I quickly handed Neal off to Henry to take to the car. I yanked the plug of the curling iron from the wall, grabbed Neal's diaper bag, and headed out myself. I had managed to leave myself a whopping five minutes to get from the loft to the town meeting hall.
Killian was waiting for us just outside of the double doors of the hall. He was pacing nervously, "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, love," I shot him an un-amused look.
"Don't even start with me," I said as I handed him the diaper bag. "Here do something with this…" he leaned in to give me a quick kiss, but Neal, who until now had been content while nestled in my arms, had impeccable timing and swung his little arm upward effectively smacking Killian in the eye.
"Ah…" Killian quickly moved his good hand to rub his poked eye. "It seems that the older prince must have been having a little chat with the younger prince."
I couldn't stifle the laugh, "I'm sorry," I reached up to cup his cheek. "I guess the Charming men are a little protective of the Charming women."
He gave me a crooked smirk then put his arm around my shoulders to guide me into the room. Henry reached to open the door for my entrance, since my hands were full with my little brother. I looked around the room; it was even more breathtaking, now that it was filled with guests, than it was this afternoon. "A red carpet?" My eyes widened. I was taken back a bit when I noticed it run all the way to the front of the room.
"Yes," Killian offered me his arm, he begun to speak, "And I have been instructed to make sure that the two young princes and you are at the end of it."
"Ah, ok…" I shifted Neal to my right arm then linked my left arm with Killian's right. "My father has pulled you into his plan?"
"Not exactly, Love, he only asked me to make certain that you were in your proper place when he arrived with your mother."
As I walked down the aisle that was created by the red carpet, escorted by the three out of the four best looking men in Storybrooke, I looked around to all of the guests. The room was filled with people who had nothing but love and admiration for my parents and my family. It was all a bit overwhelming for me. Being part of a family was something that took me three years to fully accept. But now in this room, I realized that I was part of a community as well.
As we stood at the end of the Red Carpet, I looked to the walls; the water fall was just as beautiful. The light that filtered through the water bounced off of the dresses and suits of the guests, making the room glow. The one thing that stood out to me was that there was no gift table. I knew that my father had told me not to bring my gift, he want our gift giving to be in private after the party. But there wasn't a cake to be found. There weren't any happy birthday banners hanging. There were only waiters and caterers flitting about the room.
"That sneaky son of a…" I started to whisper to myself, but when I caught Henry turning to look at me I quickly changed my wording, "…father of mine." He hadn't set this up to be a birthday party; he set this up to be a royal ball that just happened to be on my mother's birthday.
My attention was soon drawn to the double doors when two of the dwarfs opened each door at the same time. David and Mary Margaret appeared in the entryway just as Archie began to announce their presence to all of the guests. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to announce Princess Snow White and Prince Charming."
The sight standing before me at the other end of room was awe-inspiring. My mother looked so beautiful standing next to my father, with her arm linked in his. It was almost hard to believe that those two people standing there were my parents. They had given life to me and my little brother whom I held in my arms so that he could see them enter as well. He began to wave his arms excitedly at the sight of our parents entering the room.
My mother moved her hand to cover her mouth when the sight of all of their friends hit her eyes; but it was when she locked her focus on me holding my brother at the end of the red carpet that tears started to flow. She practically pulled my father down the red carpeted aisle to reach us. First she pulled Henry into a tight hug with a quick kiss to his cheek. Next she took Neal from my arms; she put a loving kiss on each of his cheeks then held him close to her chest for just a minute before handing him off to my father. Finally, she cupped my cheeks with her hands pulling my head forward toward her lips to give me one of her tender motherly kisses on my forehead. She let go of my cheeks to pull me into a just as tight of a hug as she gave Henry. "I love you, baby," she whispered in my ear before pulling away. Ok, well, this was not the reaction that I was expecting from my mother. As a matter of fact, I expected to see her fuming with smoke bellowing from her ears at a rapid rate.
Her smile was infectious and full of love; love for my father for putting together such a special event and for just being him; love for her children for just being who we are; love for Henry for being her special grandson who ultimately brought us all together; love for Regina who was now not only her step-mother but her friend; and love for their friends who have always stuck by her and my father. As the waiter passed us, she pulled off a flute of champagne for all of us, including Henry, "just let him have this one" she said to me when I gave her a questioning look.
My father began to speak as he held his flute high in the air, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and family. I would like to thank all of you for coming this evening and making this ball a truly special event for my family. As I laid awake in bed one evening, trying to come up with my next bad idea…" he turned to me a gave me his patented 'wink to his daughter', "I thought about all of the time that we have spent here in Storybrooke, before and after the curse was broken. And I thought that we have never really had a ball reminiscent to those that we frequently had in the Enchanted Forest. My thoughts quickly turned to how I could throw a ball here in Storybrooke. Those thoughts led to think of my beautiful wife and how she so enjoyed these occasions in the Enchanted forest. As I planned the details of this evening, I took into consideration what my wife loved so much about these events. And that was spending time with friends and family. So I turned to my wife, Snow, and say this evening is for you! To share such a special occasion with our beloved children, Emma and Neal, our ever so loveable grandson, Henry, and all of our friends. I love you, Snow" he lifted her hand to place a kiss on the back of it. "And I love our beautiful children and grandson." He nodded his head to the orchestra in the corner. As they started to play he passed Neal to me and in one fluid motion procured my mother's hand, "May I have this dance?"
The crowd gave way to my parents. I watched as they looked lovingly into each other's eyes as they waltzed across the floor. I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever be in love like they were. I smiled to myself. Killian and I were just beginning a serious relationship, so it was possible.
The evening continued with fine food and dance. I watched as people enjoyed the company of others. I made sure that I danced with Killian and Henry, but the highlight of my waltzing was the dance that I had with my father.
"May I have this dance with my beautiful daughter?" I looked up to see my father holding out his hand. It was my second dance of the evening. My first was with my son. I placed my hand in his and he pulled me from my chair and led me to the dance floor.
"You know, I am not that good of a dancer," I started.
"Nonsense, but if you want, you can stand on my feet." He spun me around making me feel like a little girl again. "Thank you."
"For what?" I asked.
"For being you, for being my daughter, and for keeping me grounded with all of this. Had you not threatened to throw me under the bus, I may have gone overboard."
"Have you even made one mention of her birthday to her today?" I asked, although I was fairly certain that I knew the answer.
"Not a one…" he laughed. "But I have saved that for tonight when we get home."
"Ah, yes, the gifts." I almost forgot about those, "Well, I will be honest, I really thought that this was going to be disastrous. But I'm glad that it wasn't. She seems really happy."
"Well, you are part of that happiness, you know."
"Yeah, I know." We danced until the song ended and he kissed my forehead. The rest of the evening was spent dancing and eating. I shared more dances with Henry and Killian. I even spun my brother around on the dance floor a couple of times. I made sure that I made my way around greeting all of the guests and thanking them for coming. Although it wasn't my party, I felt the obligation to speak with each of the guests. Maybe I was starting to fit into this royal life, after all. Many of the friends that I spoke particularly complimented the water fall walls. The décor was not my idea, but it was spectacular. When I saw Zeke standing in the corner speaking to one of the dwarfs, I made my way to him to pass along the compliments.
"Hello, Gentlemen," I greeted but quickly turned my attention to Zeke with a smile. "Your professional work has been greatly admired this evening."
"Thank you, Princess," He smiled a grateful smile before he continued. "From what I understand, it takes a lot to make an impression on the Super Swan."
My smile quickly faded. I moved my glance from him to Doc, the dwarf that had been speaking with, then back to him. I slowly backed away from, finally remembering why he had seemed so familiar to me. There was only one person who ever called me Super Swan, but he never hid his nickname for me from his father. Of all the people that he could have been, it had to be him. His appearance hand changed so much in the last 15 years. It was no wonder that I didn't recognize him.
I looked over to my parents who were having the time of their lives dancing and having fun. I scanned the room for Henry, he was playing with Neal. Killian was involved a conversation with Regina, about what? I could only guess. I couldn't ruin this evening for them. It was too important to my parents.
I stiffened my back, as I turned back to Mr. Cooper, aka Zeke, "What do you want?"
"Nothing," he shrugged off my concern as he walked away, "Yet." He threw over his shoulder.