Chapter 43

Hi all! So, if you didn't notice, I did post chapter 42, but I did it when the website wasn't sending out alerts for chapter updates. So, be sure to go back and read that chapter before you read this one if you haven't already! Enjoy :)

"Hanna let's go," David told his daughter, who was taking her sweet time finishing her cereal.

"I'm almost done," Hanna said as she slowly put another bite into her mouth. She was being slow on purpose. She wanted to put off filing for as long as she could. "Henry isn't even ready yet anyway."

"Yes I am," Henry told Hanna as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"You got yourself dressed awfully fast," Hanna complained.

"That he did, and I'm glad I had you get dressed before breakfast. Now, come on. Eat that last bite and let's go." David told Hanna.

"Fine," Hanna groaned as she put the last bite into her mouth and stood up to take her bowl to the kitchen.

Snow came up beside Hanna. "I've got it babe. You go on."

"Thanks Mom. I'll see you later," Hanna said, giving her a hug.

"Be good today."

"I will," Hanna said with a grin. She looked up at her mom. "You really don't have to work today?"

"I do not. I'll be here all day."

"Good," Hanna said, giving her mom one last squeeze before running towards her dad, who was waiting by the door with Emma and Henry.

"This is seriously going to take all day," Hanna complained as she stood in front of the piles of paperwork that needed to be put away.

"I call Grandpa's pile," Henry said quickly as he ran over to Charming's desk.

"That's not fair!" Hanna whined. Her dad's pile was obviously way smaller than Emma's. There was still a lot, but he at least did his filing sometimes. Emma seemed to never do any.

"Oh it's totally fair. I called it first," Henry told Hanna with a grin.

"Dad come on…" Hanna whined again.

"Get it done Hanna," David told her. He wasn't going to get in the middle of it.

Hanna sighed and walked over to Emma's gigantic mound. "Seriously, Emma? Didn't I just file for you like two weeks ago? How did you get this many since then?"

Emma just shrugged her shoulders. "There were a bunch in the office you missed, and I brought them out here for you."

"Gee thanks," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes."

"Anytime sis," Emma said with a smile. She sat down to start in on more paperwork that needed to be done.

Hanna was just becoming more and more annoyed the longer she filed Emma's stupid paperwork. She couldn't understand how Emma let it pile up so much. It was ridiculous. Hanna really wanted to give Emma a piece of her mind, but she knew she would just get into more trouble with her dad. Part of her didn't care all that much, but the other part didn't want to have to come back here again tomorrow. Hanna reached out for the next file when her sister walked by and accidentally bumped the table, causing all the folders to fall on the floor. Luckily, all of the papers stayed inside.

"Emma!" Hanna yelled out in frustration.

"Oh, sorry Han. Here let me help," Emma offered.

"You know what would have helped? You filing these stupid things in the first place!" Hanna exclaimed as she bent down to pick them up for herself.

"Geez, calm down."

"No. Just stop helping me. I can do it myself," Hanna told her.

"Fine," Emma said as she tossed the folders she had picked up back onto the floor.

"Seriously?" Hanna said as she glared up at her sister.

"What? You said not to help," Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I didn't mean throw the ones you had back on the floor!"

"Well…" Emma started to argue back.

"Girls…" David warned as he looked up from his paperwork.

Hanna and Emma both looked up at their dad. He raised his eyebrows at them, letting them know they needed to stop.

"You are such a slob," Hanna whispered as she picked up the last of the folders that were on the floor.

"Oh I'm the slob?" Emma said, trying to keep her voice low so their dad couldn't hear. "You seriously never rinse your gross toothpaste spit out of the sink."

"Well at least I don't leave my dirty dishes around the house."

"You do to. I found a cup of milk in your room the other day that had chunks in it."

"That was…"

"I can still here you. Cut it out," David warned again.

"That was Henry's cup. I guess he gets it from you," Hanna said quietly, ignoring her dad. "For real though. How hard is it to put a dumb file away when you finish it?"

"Not hard at all. I just like saving them for you," Emma told her with a smirk.

"Or you're just too lazy."

"Maybe…but I was right. I told you that you'd get yourself into trouble again and have to file my paperwork."

"You know what…" Hanna said louder that she meant to.

"Alright, that's enough!" David said as he stood up and walked over towards his bickering daughters. "Emma, go in the office and finish your paperwork."

"Dad, seriously?" Emma said, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Emma go," David said as he pointed towards the office.

"Yeah, go Emma," Hanna said with a smirk.

"Hanna. I do not want to hear another word out of you, understood?" David said as he looked down at his youngest daughter.

Hanna nodded her head.

"Go on, Emma." David said.

"So you're putting me in timeout?" Emma said as she started picking up her paperwork.

"You both are in timeout right now," David told her. "Now both of you get back to work."

The girls did as they were told. Emma went and sat in the office and Hanna went back to filing. Hanna looked up at Henry who was trying really hard not to laugh at what just happened. Hanna just rolled her eyes at him and continued working.

"I'll be back," David told Hanna and Henry as he hung up the phone. "There's some sort of disturbance down at the docks. You two stay here with Emma and keep working."

"Okay," they both answered. They watched him poke his head into the office to tell Emma before leaving.

"Finally," Hanna said as she dropped the file onto the desk and plopped herself down onto the couch. "I need a break."

"Me too," Henry said as he joined her.

"Oh please, you're almost done with my dad's files."

"I know…I'll help you with my mom's whenever I'm done," Henry promised her.

"Thanks. You know that mother of yours is really getting on my nerves," Hanna said, shifting her eyes towards the office where Emma was.

"She is a kind of a slob," Henry admitted. "But so are you!"

"I am not!" Hanna said. She picked up a crumbled piece of paper out of the recycling bin and threw it at him.

"Hey!"

Hanna just smirked, picked up another one, and threw it at him again.

"Oh it's so on," Henry said as he went to get his own paper from the bin.

"Wait," Hanna said just as Henry was getting ready to throw his crumpled ball at her. "Let's make a bunch and throw them at Emma."

"Okay!" Henry exclaimed. He liked that idea.

Hanna and Henry quickly crumpled up a bunch of the papers from the recycling bin and quietly made their way towards the office.

"Emma!" Hanna yelled as she quickly opened the door and threw a paper ball, hitting Emma right on top of the head.

"What the hell?" Emma said as she looked up at the giggling children standing in the doorway.

Henry launched one and hit his mom right in between the eyes.

"Bullseye!" Henry shouted.

"Seriously?" Emma complained.

The kids just laughed and sent the rest of their paper balls flying towards her.

"Okay, that's it," Emma said as she made her own paper ball from the notepad on her desk and threw it at the kids.

Hanna and Henry quickly scrambled from the room before Emma had a chance to throw anymore. They had to go make more ammo. Within a few minutes, the whole police station turned into a war zone. There were paper balls flying everywhere. Hanna and Henry used one of the desks for a shield and stood up to attack when they knew Emma was out of her office.

"You guys are totally ganging up on me," Emma said as she got pelted with the paper. It really wasn't a fair fight.

"You deserve it," Henry called out with a grin.

"Yeah, this is for not putting all your files away when you should have," Hanna added. She really wasn't even mad at her sister anymore. They were having way too much fun!

Emma retreated back into her office. Her plan wasn't working. Every time she went out there they pummeled her with paper balls. She could only get a few good shots in before she got taken over by those two. She needed a new strategy. Then she got an idea. Emma went over to the paper shredder and pulled out the drawer that was filled to the brim with the shredded pieces. This time, instead of getting a few good throws in before they realized she was there, she walked very quietly over to Hanna and Henry's hideout. Luckily, they didn't hear her and Emma dumped the full contents of the drawer onto their heads.

"Hey!" they both said with a laugh as they looked up at Emma.

"What is going on in here!" David yelled as he came into the room. He came in to find Emma dumping shredded paper onto Hanna and Henry and paper balls everywhere.

Hanna and Henry quickly stood up and brushed the paper pieces off of themselves.

"Dad, you're back," Emma said. She looked around the room, noticing the mess they had made.

"I'm going to ask again…what is going on here?"

"Well, we uh…" Emma started to say. Now she felt kind of stupid for getting sucked into Hanna and Henry's game. She was competitive though…she wasn't about to let them get the best of her.

"We were having a paper war?" Henry winced, shrugging his shoulders.

"A paper war?" David asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Did you bring us hot chocolate, Daddy?" Hanna asked as she flashed her charming smile at him. She was trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I did. I thought you earned yourselves a little treat for working so hard," David said as he looked to the cup holder he held in his hands, which had four hot chocolates. "I'm not so sure you deserve them now, though. This place is a mess!"

"We're sorry!" Henry told him.

"Can we still have our hot chocolates?" Hanna asked.

"No, clean this up," David told her sternly.

"Here guys, I'll do it," Emma said as she went to raise her hands.

"Oh no Emma…you are not using magic to clean this up. You three made this mess without it, you can clean it up without it," David said.

Emma sighed and put her hands down. She looked over at the kids, and they all started cleaning up the mess. Once they were finished, David let them have their hot chocolates. He let Emma use her magic to heat the drinks back up for them. They had gotten cold. The mess took a lot longer to clean up than David thought it would. It wasn't easy picking up all of those little shredded pieces of paper. Once they had their treats, they all finished their work and headed home for lunch.

"Oh good you're home," Snow said frantically as she stuffed a few papers into her bag and went to put on her coat.

"Mom, where are you going?" Hanna asked, already knowing the answer. She was in work clothes. She obviously had to go into work despite what she said earlier.

"There's an emergency at work. I shouldn't be too long," Snow said in a hurry. She looked up at her husband. "I made lunch. There's chicken and broccoli on the stove and some fruit in the fridge. Neal just ate and is asleep. He's been a little fussy today. If you need anything…"

David gently put his hands on her arms to calm her down. "Snow, we'll be fine," he assured her with a smile. He knew she didn't want to go, and she always worried when she got called away so suddenly. "We'll see you when you get back." He handed Snow her bag and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Snow gave him a small smile in return. She really didn't want to leave. She was looking forward to spending the day with her family, but duty calls. This was her job now, and she had to go.

"Bye sweetie," Snow said as she walked towards Hanna, wanting to give her a hug goodbye.

"Bye," Hanna said as she took off her shoes, not bothering to look up at her mom. She didn't want her mom to see the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. She stood up and went to the kitchen without saying another word. Hanna didn't know why she was getting so emotional. Her mom was just going to work, it was no big deal. Her mom was working a lot more than she used to, but Hanna still thought it was no reason to be upset. She willed the tears in her eyes to dry up before they started to fall. Once she was composed, she started making herself a plate of food. By the time she was done with that, her mom was gone.

"Wait, where are you guys going?" Hanna asked when she saw Emma and Henry about to head out again. "Aren't you going to eat lunch?"

"I'm meeting up with Killian," Emma told her.

"I'm having lunch with Regina and she's taking me shopping after," Henry added.

"Oh, okay," Hanna answered as she picked at the food on her plate with her fork.

Emma and Henry left and David sat at the table to join his daughter for lunch.

"I guess it's just the three of us," David told her with a smile.

Hanna just stared at her plate. "Guess so."

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Once Neal wakes up, we could go for a walk?" David suggested.

"No it's too cold out," Hanna said as she continued to look down.

It may have been a little chilly, but it wasn't that cold. "How about a movie then? We can watch whatever you want."

"That's okay," Hanna said as she shook her head.

"How about a board game?"

"No. Dad, you don't have to think of ways to entertain me. It's fine," Hanna told him.

"I know. I just wanted to do something fun with you." David smiled as he put his arm around her.

"We can watch a movie, I guess," Hanna said as she looked up and smiled at him. She felt guilty now. It's not that she didn't want to hang out with her dad, it's just that her mom was suppose to be here too, and she wasn't.

David thought for a moment. He knew Hanna's smile was fake, and she was upset that her mom had to go into work. Neither he nor Snow failed to pick up on Hanna's change in demeanor when she realized Snow had to leave. He just wanted to cheer Hanna up a bit. There had to be something here they could do. Then he got an idea.

"You know…you have been promising to teach me how to play Henry's game box."

"You mean the Wii?" Hanna asked with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Yeah, will you teach me?"

"Sure!" Hanna told him with a smile, her face lighting up. She was actually getting better at the games. She still always lost when she and Henry played, except when they played bowling, but she knew she could beat her dad. Plus, she thought it would be fun to teach him.

"Great!" David said, glad that he got a real smile from his little girl.

"Okay, you take this one," Hanna said as she handed her dad the remote. "I'll be Player 1."

"Why do you get to be Player 1?" David asked her.

"Because you don't even know how to play," Hanna laughed.

"Fair enough," David said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Want to play the racing game first?" Hanna asked.

"Sure! Do we race horses?"

"No, Dad," Hanna said with a roll of her eyes.

Hanna showed her dad how to use the controller. She showed him how to hold it sideways and which buttons to press. She showed him how to move his hands back and forth to steer his car too. Now they were ready, all they needed to do was choose their characters and the racetrack.

"Oh I want to be this ghost guy with the crown," David said excitedly as he selected his character.

"Okay," Hanna said with a laugh as she shook her head. "I'll be Yoshi."

"Let's do that rainbow one!"

"No, Dad. You'll seriously just fall off the edge the whole time," Hanna told him. She still couldn't get through that track without falling off.

"Are you doubting my skills?" David asked her with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Yes. Yes I am," Hanna said matter-of-factly.

"Fine. You pick then," he told her.

"We'll start you off with an easy one," Hanna said as she selected Moo Moo Meadows. He might run into a cow or two, but there wasn't anywhere for him to fall off into the abyss.

"Let's do this," David said. He was ready.

Hanna tried not to laugh at how seriously he was taking this game. She just sat back and waited for the race to start, but he was on the edge of the couch with his eyes open wide as if he were afraid to blink.

"Are you kidding me?" Hanna almost shouted, but then she remembered her brother was napping. Not only did her dad beat her, but he came in first place! She couldn't believe it.

"Not doubting my skills now are you?" David asked her with a smirk.

"You just got lucky," Hanna said as she looked up at him. The grin on his face was really annoying.

"I don't know my dear, I have pretty quick reflexes. How many cows did you hit again?" he asked. He hadn't hit a single one.

"Three," Hanna mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"I say we go for that rainbow one next," he suggested using that charming smile of his.

"Fine," Hanna agreed. That was the hardest one. There was no way he was going to stay on the track the whole time. He would fall off for sure.

Hanna wasn't wrong. He did fall off Rainbow Road, but only once. He still ended up coming in first place too. Hanna was bummed she couldn't believe he was this good. She had to admit she was having a lot of fun though. She couldn't help but laugh at how competitive he was. He made them do every single race track before Hanna finally talked him into playing a different game.

"Okay, you're not going to beat me at this one," Hanna said as she switched games.

"We will see my darling daughter," David told her with a wink.

Hanna put in Wii Sports and selected bowling…the only game she was really good at. Henry still hasn't beaten her yet. Her dad may have been good at racing, but Hanna beat him in all four bowling matches.

"I told you that you weren't going to beat me at this," Hanna said with a smirk.

"I think I have the hang of it now. Just one…" David started to say before Neal's small cries interrupted him.

"Sorry Dad, game over. The baby needs you," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders. She was thankful that her brother had chosen the perfect time to wake from his nap. Her dad got pretty close to beating her in that last game, and Hanna wanted to end with a win.

Hanna sat on the couch reading her book while her dad tended to Neal. She was about to finished the fifth chapter when she heard the door open. She quickly looked up and saw her mom walk through the door. Part of Hanna felt excited that her mom was home, but the other part was still mad that she left in the first place. Hanna quickly looked back down and continued reading her book, pretending she didn't hear her mom come home.

"Hey there," Snow said as she sat down beside Hanna.

"Hi," Hanna answered, not bothering to look up from her book.

"Did you have a good afternoon?"

Hanna shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah."

"What did you and your dad do?"

"Nothing."

One word answers. Apparently, that was all Snow would be getting out of her daughter. Snow knew Hanna was upset with her, and it broke her heart.

"Hanna, talk to me," Snow said as she gently took the book from Hanna's hands and set it on the table.

"Hey, I was reading that." Hanna reached out for the book, but her mom just moved it farther away.

"Hanna I know you're upset…" Snow started.

"Mom I'm fine. I'm going upstairs," Hanna stood and was about to leave when her mom grabbed ahold of her arm.

"Hanna, please sit down."

Hanna stood for a moment and stared her mom down. She could just pull her arm away and go upstairs, what would her mom do about it anyway? Then Hanna saw the look on her mom's face change as if she knew what Hanna was thinking. Hanna watched her mom raise her eyebrows, making Hanna realize her "request" for Hanna to sit down, was really more of a demand.

"Fine," Hanna sighed. She sat down on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest.

"I'm sorry I had to go into work today. I know I told you I would be home, but…"

"Being the mayor is a busy job. I get it."

"You're right it is, but I'll never be too busy for you. You know that right?" Snow

said as she tucked some of Hanna's hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I know," Hanna said as she looked down.

"Hanna what is it?"

"I just miss you," Hanna said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Snow said as she wrapped her arms around Hanna and pulled her close. "Things are just a little crazy right now with getting the town back in order after the curse and everything with the Snow Queen. Things will calm down soon though, I promise."

Hanna just nodded her head. She wasn't really that mad anymore. She understood that her mom had a lot on her plate. Hanna decided that she was going to try to be more understanding and not get so upset with her.

Snow sat and continued to hold her little girl. She would sit here as long as Hanna wanted. Snow now understood the reason behind Hanna's attitude the morning before. Snow knew she hadn't been around as much as she used to be since she became mayor, but she didn't think it had upset Hanna this much. Snow knew it was her place to run this town. She was the one who cast the curse, after all. She was suppose to be mayor, but this job was harder than she thought it would be. Running a town was a lot more complicated than running her kingdom back in the Enchanted Forest. She was always being called for this meeting or that. And the paperwork…there was so much of it. The piles seemed to just never end. Snow hoped she would get the hang of it eventually and be able to find a balance between work and home.

Hanna sat up and gave her mom a smile. "You know, you should just give the job back to Regina," Hanna joked.

"Wouldn't that be nice," Snow said with a laugh. She stood up and reached out her hand to Hanna. "Come on, let's go see what we can find for dinner."

Hanna took her mom's hand, and they went into the kitchen. By the time they had dinner made, Emma and Henry finally returned, and they all enjoyed a family dinner together.