Chapter 51: Roll Call
"Do we really have to do this?" Jay moans as the group approaches the entrance to the hospital.
"Yes, because apparently, some kid named Chad is making more and more outlandish demands and Whale is losing his sanity," Regina explains. "And the rogue pirates aren't helping either. The one thing you do not want to do is piss off a man who spent a lot of his spare time grave robbing, sewing body parts together and trying to bring back the dead. "
At this mention, the son of Jafar immediately agrees with the Evil Queen.
"Who are Chad's parents?" Emma asks, with Killian's arm wrapped around her waist.
"Cinderella and Prince Charming," Evie answers, biting her lip rather hard. Doug keeps his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, giving her comfort and reassurance. The two royals had a history that Evie preferred to forget. She hated that she's fallen for the shallow spoiled brat and followed him around like a love-sick puppy dog. It felt like her lowest point in life... and this was saying something because she was from the Isle. She knows the only reason she'd fallen for him was that of his status as a prince and his charming looks, which unfortunately he lived up to like his father. She'd been used by him to do his homework and tried to be vain and arrogant to impress him; a person that she was no longer proud of once being. She can't help but feel ashamed of her actions; she had only been looking at the surface when she should have been going for depth. Doug's devotion and love for her showed her that beauty is far more than skin-deep.
"I forgot that there were two people with that title," David says, as he carries Neal on his shoulders.
"No there isn't," Snow says with a grin. "There will always be one prince charming, and he's mine." She pecks him on the cheek, causing Emma to roll her eyes in embarrassment.
"Who else is in this group?" the Saviour asks so they could get a list together for roll call. The entire group stops
"Audrey, the daughter of Prince Phillip and Aurora," Jane says.
"Tallia Bell, she's Tinkerbell's kid," Jay adds. "Ally, the daughter of Alice."
"As in Wonderland?" Crystal asks.
"Yep," the son of Jafar nods.
"Uhm, Whitney and Simon White," Mal adds.
"Oh… so we have twins?" Snow asks in surprise, expecting maybe one of the children from Auradon might be hers and David's, not two. While a couple of true love always desired to have more children after Emma and having been blessed with Neal; they'd never taken the time to think about expanding the family any further. However, this, in a way was ideal, they had more children to give parental love and affection to.
"Double trouble," Ben smiles. "And they also hate apples."
"Runs in the family," Emma agrees. Her stomach turns sharply. Having an alternate kid with Killian is one thing and a reckless and rebellious one who takes after his father is certainly not ideal for the nervous parents-to-be. But now having to adjust to meeting a new brother and sister too, is a lot for her to take in. She leans heavily on Killian for support, unsure of how to react.
"Paige and Patrick Pan," Carlos says, holding Jane's hand.
"Hey, I have an aunt and uncle, and I'm both older than them," Crystal grins sarcastically.
"Ruby and Anxelin, they are daughters of Rapunzel," Jane says. "Jordan, the daughter of Genie and Eden."
"Who?" Snow asks.
"She's the daughter of the Genie of the lamp," Jane explains.
"Oh, Sidney will be most delighted," Regina mutters under her breath, not exactly thrilled with letting a child near her former magic mirror, the being whom she manipulated into killing King Leopold for her, who kidnapped Kathryn/ Abigail for her as well, and who teamed up with the Snow Queen in order to earn his freedom again. The man had always been her snake in the grass and since she'd long left the side of evil, she still couldn't trust him knowing how blindly willing he was to do anything for anyone who gave him attention.
"Herkie is the son of Hercules and Megara," Jay continues. "Pin, son of Pinocchio, Aziz, son of Aladdin and Jasmine…"
"So there is a kid for Aladdin," Emma says, remembering when she assumed that Jay was said son of the royal couple.
Jay nods. "Lonnie and her brother Li Shang Jr. They're the kids of Mulan and Li Shang."
"Tia, the daughter of Tiana and Naveen," Dizzy pipes up.
"Who?" David asks, having never heard those names before.
"Robbie, the son of Robin Hood," Jane says. The mention of her soulmate's name causes Regina to swallow a large lump in her throat. She fights back the tears and takes a step up the hospital stairs to give herself some breathing space. The other people from Storybrooke all give glances at the former Evil Queen, to ensure that she'll be okay. Crystal goes up and wraps her arms around Regina to give her comfort. Like when the mayor of Storybrooke had been a comfort to her when she was at her lowest point, Crystal now knew she had to be the same for her friend.
"Melody is the daughter of Ariel and she has a cousin named Arabella," Evie lists.
"And my seven cousins," Doug finishes.
"Wow, so Grumpy did find someone to marry him," Emma says in surprise. "That is no easy feat."
"Love finds a way," Snow says, happy to hear that all her dwarf friends managed to find love and happiness to have their own children in an alternate universe.
"Can't imagine having seven brothers," Crystal adds. "It's why I've never watched that movie."
"And what about the crew that came with Uma?" Killian asks.
"Well, you've met Harry. There's Gil, son of Gaston, Gonzo, Jonas, Bonny, and Desiree."
"Didn't expect Gaston to have kids," Crystal says, glad that her step-mother was not present to hear this.
"Gil actually got off easy, the muscle-headed villain had twins as well and their names are Gaston Jr. and Gaston the Third," Evie says.
"Not very creative, is he?" Zelena asks, laughing to herself.
"Never expect much from that jerk," Crystal adds. "All muscle and no brain cells. His ego must be gigantic to merely just call his sons after himself."
"I think only Chad could give him a run for his money when it comes to the ego," Mal adds.
"And how bad are these crew members," Regina asks. "Will we need magic to restrain them like Uma?"
"Uhm…" Mal says, hesitating. All of Uma's crew members were pretty wild and unruly, one of them was even considered crazy. She looks at Ben and the two lock eyes. He knew better than anyone how cruel the crew could be. "That would be a yes. I think it's better if we leave the little ones out here."
"Okay then, I think we've tortured Whale enough by delaying our entrance, let's go in," Snow says. She hands Neal over to Zelena, so the witch could watch the younger ones. Sometimes it surprised even Snow White that she was actually willingly handing her son off to the Wicked Witch of the West, who had tried to snatch the baby for her time-travel spell after he had taken his first breath. So much had changed in their lives. The princess then grabs her husband's hand and squeezes tightly, nervous about meeting their alternate children.
Regina pushes open the door and the hospital seems to be in utter chaos. Nurses are rushing around, likely trying to keep everyone in line. There are loud noises of shouting coming from behind a door, which had a piece of heavy-looking medical equipment in front of it. One guess as to who was behind it. Many of the Auradon kids are sitting in the waiting room while Nurse Ratchet tries to keep them in line. Tallia is chewing bubble gum with her feet up on one of the chairs, Ally is curiously looking through several magazines that lay on a table, both sets of twins are arguing with another nurse about something, a couple of the other kids are trying to get snacks out of the vending machines and of course, Chad is causing the biggest bit of chaos of all.
He stands there arguing with the bleach-haired doctor, likely demanding things left right and centre. Once Whale sees the group has arrived, he takes this chance to escape by rushing over to them.
Regina can't help but feel slight amusement at the doctor's agitated state.
"Where the hell have you been?!" he demands. "I've been stuck trying to keep these monsters for the past hour! I've had swords at my throat, some girl stuck gum on my stethoscope, and another insisted on me giving her the location of the nearest salon. Apparently, it's illegal to give them sedatives by force. Now, will you please get them the hell out of my ER! I have a tonsillectomy and two bypasses to do!"
Dr. Frankenstein doesn't say much more before hurrying down the hall and Regina can swear she can see the doctor pull out a flask and take a huge swig of booze. She still cannot resist laughing at his frazzled state.
Finally, Chad steps out of his own delusions to notice that there are finally some familiar faces in the room. Audrey does too, she gets up and embraces Ben tightly. Mal swallows a lump of anger in her throat as the hug lasts much longer then she would have liked… but wait, why is she jealous? They broke up more than a day ago. She had yet to truly take the time to sort out her emotions towards what happened at Auradon, things are just so complicated and distracting at the moment.
"Ben, I'm so glad you're okay," she says. The daughter of Prince Phillipe and Aurora looks rather frightened and confused, clearly reacting as any person would, waking up in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange land.
The other AKs come over to see if Ben is okay as well, that is until Chad cuts his way through the group and begins complaining again.
"Thank goodness there's someone with half a brain here," Chad says. "Jane, Ben, Doug, you have no idea how terrible the food is here. Audrey and I can barely swallow it and they won't even let us get their own. We were only allowed to have water, nothing sweet to drink at all. Not even a smoothie or cappuccino. I need some form of caffeine in order to wake up properly. Where are we anyway? What did that flashy green thing do to us? Why does that doctor have such a terrible dye job?"
"What did Cinderella do wrong?" Regina mutters, rolling her eyes in sheer annoyance of this boy. She's tempted to remove his voice, so everyone can have some peace and quiet. It worked for her sister. She grinds her teeth irritation, not knowing she was about to become a whole lot angrier with him in time.
A/N: Never fails to make me smile when Whale is under pressure and stressed. Plus people still notice his dyed hair