AN: Warning: Mention of Pregnancy Loss.
With the new information that Ingrid the woman that owned the ice-cream parlor on main street was actually a sorceresses with powers similar to that to Elsa. The Smith family prepared for the evening ahead to find out more about the woman that called herself The Snow Queen.
While Amelia and Tom searched the codex pages that hadn't been translated in her part of Regina's vault with the former Queen and Henry to try and find a way to help Marian. John was headed to the loft to join the Charming couple and Elsa to go over the city records of every resident that came with the curses to find anything on the woman that owned the parlor and where she really came from.
As the former assassin waited for her husband and son to emerge from their respective bedrooms she was stood at their small dining table with her gauntlets oiling the complex mechanics that made the sharp blade spring from it's place. And they say women take longer to get ready.
Flicking her wrist out the blade flew out of its place with its distinctive hiss as John finally came out their room to see the sharp blade come out.
"Wow" John's voice came from her bedroom doorway in a casual dark blue button up shirt, the long sleeves had been rolled back to show off his strong forearms paired with a pair of dark jeans "Haven't seen those in a while" he says leaning his shoulder against the doorway eyeing the blades coming from her wrists, only for them to quickly disappear as fast.
"I don't really like using them too often now" she tells him taking them off her forearms. Lately she had become more comfortable without them constantly on her arms, it felt less like losing a limb whenever she was without them. Also she didn't feel like she needed them as much now that she had settled as a more friendly face, no more looking over her shoulder for the next resident to try their luck against the Black Widow. It was a step in the right direction after all.
"Why not?" he asks her folding his arms across his chest. He knew how much they had meant to her. They reminded her of her father when the anniversary of his 'death' was coming up, often finding her sat with them during a moment alone in their cabin. And more importantly she felt safe in them.
"I don't know. I just doesn't feel right anymore. It's hard explain".
"Then don't" he says pushing himself off the doorway to approach her "As long as your happy not to have them on, then I am. I'm more worried about you being alone with the Snow Queen out there".
"I'm more worried about you being in the same room with Snow and David for a prolonged amount of time" she said earning a chuckle from the man.
"They're good people, and they need help going through the records with Elsa to figure out who this Snow Queen is. They're your family, I should get to know them more" he says stepping ever so closer to her to the point his face was hovering over her's.
He had to quickly change his tune about the former Princess as he saw more of her, he could see why people would help her, besides his wife cared for the younger woman, it was time he got to know the people in Amelia's life more, that meant spending time with them.
"There's only a slight blood relation to them through Henry" she tried to argue making the taller man smile down at her "They're not that close".
"Still, it'll give me something to do" he reasoned with her. It was true he couldn't hide in her apartment for the rest of time. He needed to broaden his horizons so to speak.
"Or bore you into a coma" she retorted "True love's kiss doesn't work on coma patients" she drawled before he closed the distance between them and planted a sweet kiss that caught the red head by surprise before quickly ending it as soon as it started.
"I'll risk it for you" John told her breaking the kiss before taking her by her hips and deepening the kiss like he used too. The kind that made her weak at the knee's, reaching up she cupped the back of his neck to reciprocate as she stretched up on her toes. She felt his thumbs pull at the hem of her jeans before they had sprung back separating form one another as they heard Tom. This was going somewhere they both eventually wanted to end up only for the reminder they they had more important things to think about.
"Ew gross!" they heard their teenager groaned out in disgust seeing his parent's PDA, somehow this is worse than catching her and Regina in the corridor at Granny's. The redhead felt her cheeks burn burying her face into the Captains chest tried to hide her face in embarrassment, mentally chastising herself forgetting where they were.
"How about you head down to the car before it gets too much later" John quickly defused the situation.
"With pleasure" the fourteen-year-old grumbles at them heading to the front door.
"We really need to arrange that sleepover" Amelia said into his chest as she heard her front door being shut.
"He'll understand one day when he struggles to keep his hands off his gorgeous wife" the red head playfully slaps his chest as she pushed herself out of his hold.
"We need to go" she tells him grabbing her car keys from the kitchen table.
"Maybe.." John drawled out making her look back at him "We could continue that kiss later, when we get home later?" he suggested coyly to his wife.
A wide smile grew on her face at the prospect of continuing that kiss she knew where it was going "Sure" she answered with a sly smirk "Only if you survive a few hours with the Charming's first" she quipped "Then we'll see".
"Challenge accepted" John said almost lunging at his wife to steal another kiss from her before heading to the door.
After being dropped off by his wife outside the Charming's apartment building the former Captain climbed the stairs quickly hoping he wasn't late, gently knocked on the door wary of the infant on the other sided until David opened the door to him.
"Am I late?" The sea Captain asked the Prince holding out his hand to the man.
David chuckled mirroring the Captain's actions, grasping their hands in a firm shake "No, no you're just on time, come on in" David reassured the man showing him in, he turned to his right to see Mary Margaret and Elsa already sat around a table with baby Neal in cot with multiple books on the table.
Elsa's eye lit up seeing the man approach the table, the Ice Queen standing from her seat to greet the man with a friendly hug before he took his jacket off and settled down on a seat next to the Queen.
"Found anything yet?" he asked the couple and Elsa straight off.
"Not yet, but we've got about three more census records to go though from both curses" the former Prince informs him.
"Organised curses. Who knew that was a thing" he quipped to the others with tight lipped smirk as David handed the man a book. The sooner he got through these records the faster he could get home to continue that kiss with his wife. A kiss that nearly repeated itself as he said goodbye to his wife for the next few hours in the car only to once again to get interrupted by their son vocal protests in the backseat.
Becoming distracted by her old friend the Ice Queen looked over to him seeing his slightly flustered as he opened his book as he continued his small talk with the couple.
"Els?" John called out to the Ice Queen making her come out of her thoughts "Everything okay there?".
"Sorry" she laughed at herself "Are you okay, you look a little flustered you're not feeling sick are you?" she quickly asked the man.
"Uh, it nothing" he admitted slightly embarrassed "Just uh something with Amy".
"Things working out with Lia, huh?" Mary Margaret inquired with a relieved smile on her face.
"I think so" he replied with a smile as he flipped through one of the books before a picture caught his eye.
It was Amelia. But at the same time it wasn't. She was stood in front of a wall with horizontal lines going across them with numbers going up either side of her that seemed to measure out her height. She was looking straight at him with a smirk on her face. Her hair was slight ruffled out of place as dried blood covered the top of her lip with the bottom lip split open like she had been in a fight.
The page told him her name was Amelia Smith and not Montague stating she owned a bar called the Hidden One's, with multiple arrest's to her name.
"Is that Amy?" John turned the book towards the couple who nodded at him.
"That's from the first curse" David tells the man "Why do you ask?".
"It's just, knowing how close she was to The Queen. I didn't think she'd be cursed" seeing the profile of Amelia Smith the owner of the Hidden One's "Why was she cursed if Regina loved her".
"That's because she helped me" David tells the man "When Emma was born she and Regina's army attacked the castle with the curse following them, I was taking Emma to the enchanted wardrobe to send her to this land when Black Widow intercepted me. We fought and I was beaten until she had a change of heart and saved us, Regina must've found out and cursed her with the rest of us".
"Huh" John said to himself as he thought over the new piece of information. There was still a lot he still didn't know about his wife. He supposed he wouldn't, he didn't recognize the woman in the picture as the woman he loved. This was someone complete different that stared back at him.
"What was she like?" he asked the pair "Cursed?".
"Quiet mainly" Mary Margaret spoke up for the couple in front of him "Kept to herself mainly, but she was very short tempered, always getting arrested. But she really helped me what I was being framed for murder" she tell the man opposite her as she feels her husbands reassuring hand on her shoulder "She kept me company most evenings in the cell next to mine, I almost thought she was just getting in trouble just be with me. It was the only time she ever called me Mary Margaret" the fond memory made the former Princess smile to herself.
A fond smile grew on his lips thinking of how she tried to protect her friends despite not being herself "That sounds like her".
"Eye of newt? Dragon scale? Adder's fork? Lizard's maw?" Tom listed off reading the labels off small glass vials that sat in Regina's vault as the woman read through anything and everything that might help Marian's frozen condition. With their differences aside the former couple felt like they were in the same stride they had grown accustomed to when they worked together towards a common goal.
"Careful" Amelia warned her son from her place perched on a chest with a codex scroll in her lap and her irises shining gold "Unless you want to spend the rest of your teenage years as a toad, stop touching" she warns him.
"Really?" Tom asked his mother unconvinced at the woman's warning.
Amelia looked up as her eyes flickered back to their normal color shrugging to her son "I honestly don't know. Ask Regina" she answered him looking towards the former Queen.
Following his mother he turned back around to see the former Queen with a silent smirk on her face before she answered .
"Listen to your mother" she simply tells the teen. At this Tom quickly drops the vials back into their storage shelf putting as much distance as he could to them as Henry chuckled at his friends expense.
The teen opted to re-join his mother on the other side on the room quickly picking up another codex from the small stack they had made of the ones they hadn't gone through yet and a few the redhead picked up the library that outlines a few cures of the magical curses her predecessor's had come into contact with. From Sleeping curses to a forgetting ones, none mentioned a freezing curse. It was hard to believe in the three centuries the Brotherhood had been operating they had never encountered someone like the Snow Queen or Elsa.
"So, which one of these is gonna unfreeze Marian?" Henry spoke up stood opposite his mother.
Shutting the book she's reading shut in frustration "None of them" Regina answers him "I don't think I have anything powerful enough to counteract the snow queen's magic".
"Is it because Robin Hood still loves Lia?" Henry suddenly asks the red head and his mother to look at him in disbelief of how he could've known about her and Robin.
"Who told you that?" Regina quickly jumps in to ask her son.
"No one" Henry answered his mother and cousin "But I know how this stuff works. I know that true love's kiss worked on John, but it didn't work on Marian because Robin still loves you" he said looking at the redhead. The room suddenly came to a beat of silence as the redhead and her son tried to comprehend what he had said.
Tom wanted her to say something, but nothing came as she simply gawped at the twelve year old.
"Henry…I -" the perplexed redhead trailed off shaking her head she drops the codex on the floor before leaving the vault. Moments later the Tom stood from his place to storm out of the room rounding the corner heading towards his mothers half of the vault.
"Tom" Regina tried to call him back but it only fell on deaf ears as the teen disappeared from view.
"What did I say?" Henry said in slight panic seeing the pair abruptly leave.
Taking her son's hand in comfort "Henry, I'm afraid this may be something you're just too young to understand. This is all extremely complicated. She's just upset"
Leaving the boys in the vault she followed the former assassin up the stairs to find her sat on her father's headstone that happened to be situated near to her mausoleum with her head in her hands.
"Does everyone know?" she asks the Queen sensing her presence removing her hand from her face to see the tears that had left the woman's eye's trying her best to wipe away the evidence of her embarrassment "Was there an article in the Mirror I didn't see or I'm I just completely blind to it".
Taking a seat next to the former assassin on the head stone the former Queen tried to do her best to comfort the woman that had been left mortified at her son's sudden announcement. This was sensitive subject for all those involved.
"Well he didn't exactly keep those feelings to himself before we defeated my sister. Someone must've overheard" she theorized, nothing was worse than town gossip especially in Storybrooke "Henry's worried he hurt you" making Amelia picked her head up to look at the mausoleum.
"He didn't. Just hearing out loud is mortifying knowing the town is gossiping about this behind my back".
"Well, it's not hard to see how close out two are, there were even a few times I thought there was more than just friendship there. And I wasn't wrong" she adds making the assassin cringe to herself.
"Does John know?" Regina broached the subject gently.
"No. Everything's just getting better, if I tell him he'd kill him" she tells her.
"You weren't to know he was alive" Regina tried to tell the redhead in beside her.
"But I didn't make sure" Amelia exasperated "I was –".
"With me" Regina supplied meeting Amelia's green eyes look up in her seeing the sadness she never wanted so see behind the brown eyes she loved so much "I know".
"No, that's not your fault" she tells the woman next to her who seemed to happy with taking the brunt of the hurt between them presently. "It was up to me to find them both in the beginning. I was just too scared to find out what happened".
She was being pulled apart and there was nothing the former Queen could do to help. The only thing she could do is to ease her guilt ridden mind was to try and help her friends wife. Brown eyes bore into green ones as the former Queen felt the familiar pull that had always been between them ever since they had met, the pull that told her she needed to comfort the woman in front of her.
She needed to change the subject before both of them did something stupid like kiss. Luckily the former assassin was the one to pull her eyes away from her making herself stand up from where they were sat to put some much needed distance between them.
"Should it be a problem for the two of you now? You said it yourself, the affair ended as quickly as it started. Whatever feelings you did have for him are long gone, aren't they?" she poised the question to her.
"Not exactly" she softy admitted to the woman sat on the headstone "No" she quickly corrects herself "I don't know, there's nothing to tell I-" she caught herself "I don't even know what to call it".
"Amelia" the former Queen called out to the rambling redhead. Gods she hated it when Regina called her by her full name, there was always something that felt off with it, but she was setting the boundaries between them. Which meant no more nicknames "Its obviously bothering you. Tell me".
"Before I got my memories back. Robin told me that he still cared for me, that's he's always cared for me, that he wasn't going to stand by and let go down the same path I once did after the Godspeed sank. He thought if I was falling for you again that I would become-".
"Evil" Regina supplied for the redhead.
"Dark" she corrected her "Become the Black Widow that sent him away all those years ago for breaking my heart. And after that he..kissed me and I didn't exactly stop it. It was only because of my memories returning that I walked away to find you and Tom".
The tense air once again thickened as Regina's head fell down to look at the grass instead of the woman in front of her.
"I hate this" Amelia tells the woman, speaking volumes in three words. She hated the whole situation they had found themselves in because of Emma's decision to bring John and Marian back from the past. While she got to move forward with her relationship with Hook, everyone else was stuck dealing with the consequences.
"I'll uh make sure Henry's okay. Then I should get Tom home anyway, its getting late" Amelia tells her making herself to walk back to the mausoleum without a reply from the woman on the headstone.
"You should tell John" Regina suddenly tells her making her stop and look back at the woman who stood in front of the headstone "That's what I would do anyway. Tell him everything you've told me and it'll be up to him to accept it or not. He needs to know before a dwarf says something to him anyway".
"Okay" was all Amelia said as she headed back into the vault to fix things with Henry before heading home. She hated this too.
In between census records his eye wondered to Mary Margaret holding baby Neal in her arms coaxing the infant to sleep by pacing the apartment. It reminded him of how Amelia would do that with Tom during sleepless nights on the Godspeed. If he was still fussing into the night, she would order him to sleep in the crew quarter's to get some sort of sleep that night, only for the couple to end up in their own bed with Tom in between them getting as much sleep as they could with the toddler.
Out the corner of his eye he saw the former captain watching his wife putting their son to sleep recognizing the look whenever he looked at Emma when the curse was first broken "You okay there?" David's voice brought the man out of his thoughts making him clear his throat awkwardly, making himself refocus on the books in front of him.
"Yeah uh sorry, I didn't mean to stare".
"It's okay" the Prince reassured the man "You wanna talk about it?" he offered the Captain.
"Not really" he answered gruffly. As much as he wanted to get to know the couple, he didn't want to open himself up to people he barely knew.
"It's tough seeing your child grow up without you" David tells him "But if you talk to Lia about it, I bet she feels the same way. We just saw our daughter go out on a first date tonight. There's a lot to catch up on, but you've got time now".
Elsa listened to the conversation between the men as she forgot about the book she was looking at.
"The last time I saw him he was three years old and now he's a decade older in second's. I was looking forward to teaching him how to sail, not him teaching me how to turn the TV on..or telling me what it is" he explained as Mary Margaret re-joined the group after settling her son into his crib for the night having heard the conversation between the men "I always imagined having at least one more with her, but I don't think there's any chance of the happening any tome soon"
The couple listened to the man as the man started to open up about his hope and dreams with the woman he loved, knowing how it felt to lose so much time with their own daughter.
Tom was a strong, confident, happy young boy, and he was still growing. But both his parents would do anything to get those they had spent apart back. They knew Amelia did, by the way she blamed her own father in Neverland for everything that had happened to her for simply not telling her who he was to her.
"Have you talked about of having another baby with Amelia?" the former Princess asked the man "I mean if the two of you are getting along again, having another one could only strengthen what you already have with her".
"No" he answered the woman after a long pause "After last time...I don't think she'll be willing to even try again" he was ready to end the conversation at that. What happened was none of their business but the look in their eye told the Captain that this was only the start of the question he wasn't sure he was ready to answer still.
"What happened to you and Tom was horrible" the prince spoke up "But that shouldn't stop you from moving on".
John shook his head at the couple "No it's not that, we…uh…lost one" the couple's faces and Elsa's seemed to drop as they figured out what he meant. He knew he shouldn't have mentioned it when he saw the Princesses eye started to glisten in her eyes as her husband did his best to comfort her. Being separated by their daughter through a curse was bad enough but, losing a child like that was unthinkable.
It still stung the strong man to this day. It put such a strain on their own relationship he thought they would never be able to heal from the loss.
"But you have a chance now" Elsa tells the man with an encouraging smile just as the door was gently knocked.
Mary Margaret was the one to answer the door as she opened to door to be met by the redhead herself on the other side.
"Hey" the redhead greeted the Princess "I just saw Hook and Emma-" Amelia said to the former Princess before the shorter woman closed the distance between them and engulfed the red head in a hug wrapping her arms around her torso.
The former assassin instantly stiffened at the woman's actions as John, David and Elsa followed to see Amelia wide eyes and panicking at the woman's actions "W-why are you hugging me?" she asks the younger woman "I don't deserve this. I just want my husband and I'll go quietly I swear".
Letting out a watery chuckle the younger woman took herself off the redhead before retreating back into the loft with her husband as the she relaxed again.
"You don't like hugs?" Elsa questioned the woman remember how much she hated Anna hugging her, doing the same wherever her younger sister attempted to hug the former assassin.
"I don't like hugs from her" she answered the woman before looking to her husband "Hurry up before she wants another one please" John nodded and grabbed his jacket and headed out quickly saying his goodbyes to the couple and Elsa before heading down the stairs with his wife.
"You want to tell me what the hell happened?" Amelia asked him as they reached the car.
"No idea" he denied all knowledge climbing into the passenger seat, he waited for Amelia to climb into the driver's side before the redhead visibly shook in her seat "So about that kiss?" he reminded his wife as she glanced into the rear view mirror to see that Tom had his white earphones in his ears lost a codex page they had brought back them.
"Ugh" she grimaced to herself "How about we talk about that tomorrow after I've skinned the three layers of my skin first after that hug, it was kind of a mood killer".
"Fair enough" John laughed to himself as Amelia pulled away from the curb to head back home.
With a mug of coffee in her hand the following morning Amelia had seen Tom off to meet Henry for breakfast glad that last night hadn't put a strain on their friendship, but it also meant she could take Regina's advise and broach the subject of her and Robin's fleeting relationship to John.
She listened to the local radio station as she waited for her husband to exit the shower and join her, so she could break the news to him before anyone else in town.
"But don't sweat it, not that you can. Wherever you are, chill out with us... as we head into another five in a row, brought to you by granny's diner. Granny's diner... it's better than you remember. All right, we've got a request here from Mr. Rip Van Winkle, who is looking for something classic to wake up to-".
The red head switched the radio off when she saw John enter the living room.
"Good shower?" she asked the man as he came out of the bathroom fully dressed with his hair still a little damp from the shower.
"Better than a barrel and sponge any day" he joked pouring himself a cup of brown liquid "Where's Tom?" he asked her not seeing his son in the usual spot on the breakfast bar eating.
"With Henry. He invited him to have breakfast at Granny's".
"That's good, they're pretty close" he said taking a seat opposite her and opening the Daily Mirror in front of him. She had already read it though, just in case.
"They are" she answered placing the half-drunk cup of coffee down on the table "Listen we need to talk, I need to tell you something before anyone else does" hearing the seriousness in his wife's voice he looked up and saw she was nervous as well, putting down his coffee and the newspaper.
"What is it?" he asked her.
"It's about Robin" she started knowing whatever she said was not going to end well. But he deserved to know. Even if she didn't.
Regina still in her vault continued to read up on way's to help cure Marian. With no luck, she put down yet another book when her phone chimed an incoming text. She knew Amelia was going to tell John about her short relationship with the thief. Looking at the message it looked like it hadn't.
'I told him. He stormed out' – Melia
"Damn" she whispered to herself not knowing how she should reply as she heard two pairs of footstep enter her vault.
"Mom. How's it going?" Henry greeted his adopted mother as he and Tom rounded the corner to where she was sat with yet another book in her lap.
"No progress yet" she answered disappoint before looking at Amelia's son "Good Morning Tom" she greeted the boy with a half-smile.
"Hey" Tom said with a wave and smile towards the woman.
"Look, I know I might not understand everything that's going on with you and Amelia, but there is one thing I understand better than anyone else... Operation Mongoose" Henry announced.
"The storybook?" Regina questioned her son as she looked towards Tom's presence.
"Oh don't worry Tom's up to date. We can trust him" the teen offering her a smile to the woman from where he stood next to her son.
"We're gonna find the author, make him change it. I think I figured out who has all the answers we're looking for" Henry tell his mother.
"Who?".
"My grandpa" he answers.
"David?" Tom asked his friend in confusion.
"My other grandpa, Mr. Gold" he corrected himself. Tom nodded to himself in understanding "Everyone knows Rumplestiltskin doesn't get a happy ending but look at him now. He just married Belle. He must have figured out how to change his story, which means he might know who wrote the book".
"And I'm the last person he'd ever share that with" Regina said out load.
"That's why we're gonna find out for you" Tom spoke up.
"How?".
"By going undercover" Henry answered his mother.
"Mom and Grandpa Romeo taught me all about blending in plain sight, he won't see us coming" Tom tells the woman with an air of confidence that remind her of his mother.
Stood across the counter from their respective Great Uncle and Grandfather in his shop, the two boys asked the Dark One about said job that would take them undercover and try and find out what the older man knew about the Author.
"A job?" The older man asked the young boys in front of him.
"You know, after school and weekends" Tom spoke up for them.
"Now that my father's gone" Henry continued "I realized that you're the closest thing I've got to him" Tom say the corner of his lip quirk up at the piece of sentiment from his grandson "but I-if you don't want me around...".
"No, well... All right" he agreed to his grandson before turning back to his nephew, not quite convinced that his great nephews reasons behind his sudden interest in a job "What about you? Does my niece know about this little after school activity?".
"She won't mind, I didn't have a family growing up but I wanna make up for the time I missed out on by getting to know my family more and you are family after all".
The older man paused as he took in what the teen said about his niece, it did sound like her "Okay" the man tell him before addressing the pair "A few days a week. But, uh... stay out of the back room, and don't touch anything without asking. You can be my apprentice's" he tells the boy's getting nods of understanding from both.
"What does an apprentice do?" Henry asks his Grandpa.
"Many, many things. First, you can start by sweeping the floor" he say's handing Henry a broom " and dusting the merchandise" he hand's a rag to Tom. The boy goes to take it from the man but to find he still has a hold on it "I trust you mother taught you about a light touch" he nodded at the man with the latter letting go of the cloth "Good, get to work" leaving the boys the older man headed into the back of the shop to continue his work.
As Henry began to sweep Tom started with the trinkets that sat on the glass cabinets making sure to be extra careful with the objects as he cleans them.
Operation Mongoose was a go.
AN: Shorter chapter. (I did tell you I was spoiling you) Hope you enjoyed!
So... I really debated about keeping the mention in this chapter but I felt that it does become important as we get further into the story and to Amelia and John's relationship towards the end before he 'died' so I kept it.
Also this chapter gave you an insight to what Amelia was up to while cursed. LOL
I'm really enjoying all your reviews and comments.
Thanks for reading as always. Hello to all the new followers.
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