Hi everyone! Here's the next chapter. I hope you like it! Please don't forget to leave me some feedback! I love seeing what you have to say :) :)
Also, a guest asked if Hanna was 10 or 11. I would say, based on the storyline of the actual show, she is probably about 11 now.
Chapter 22
Hanna woke up to Snow and Charming telling her that it was time to get off of the ship. They were home. Hanna, feeling fully refreshed from her sleep, jumped out of bed and excitedly followed her parents. Hanna squinted at the bright sun that welcomed her when she came up from below. She walked off of the ship, onto the docks, and into a crowd of people waiting to greet them. She received hugs from just about everyone…Granny, the dwarves, Belle, and many other faces that came and went in a blur.
As soon as the greetings came to a close, they were all rushed to a welcome home party at Granny's. Hanna never thought she had been happier to walk into that little diner. She didn't hesitate to ask for a hot chocolate and grilled cheese either. She lost count of how many times she had wished for those two delicacies when she was wandering through the Neverland jungles. Emma must have been craving the same thing because when she sat down in the booth across from Hanna, she had the same exact meal in her hands.
"I wasn't sure I'd ever be eating this again," Emma said as she started into her sandwich.
"Me either," Hanna replied, taking a big gulp of her hot chocolate.
The two sisters savored every bite of their delicious food and were both very thankful to be back home where they belonged.
"Hey, wanna help me with something?" Emma asked Hanna once they had both cleared their plates.
"Yeah, what are we going to do?" Hanna asked excitedly. She loved it when her sister included her in her little escapades.
"We're going to get Henry's storybook for him," Emma said with a grin as she got up and walked to the back of the diner towards the bed and breakfast side of Granny's.
Hanna got up quickly and followed her sister up to Neal's room.
"Are we breaking in again?" Hanna asked Emma with a raise of her eyebrows.
"No, Neal gave me his key this time," Emma said as she pulled the key out of her pocket and held it up to show her sister. She asked to borrow it earlier when she had decided to get the book for Henry. He had given it to Neal to look at before all of the Neverland stuff happened. Emma thought Henry should have it back, but her food order had come up before she could go and get it. She was not about to let her grilled cheese and hot chocolate get cold, so she decided to eat it first.
Hanna followed Emma inside. They found the storybook and made their way back downstairs, both very excited to give it to Henry. Hanna spotted him sitting alone in one of the booths. She ran over and sat down beside him. Emma sat down across from them and placed the book on the table. Hanna looked over at Henry, waiting to see a smile spread across his face when he saw his book, but he just stared at it blankly. It was as if he didn't even know what it was.
"Well, don't be too excited," Emma said as she noticed the look on his face.
"Yeah Henry," Hanna said as she nudged him with her elbow.
"Neal had it in his room. We thought you'd want it," Emma told him.
"Right. Thanks," Henry said as he started to open the book.
"Are you okay?" Hanna asked him. She could tell by the look on his face that something was up, but she didn't know what.
"Yeah. Why?" Henry said as he continued to look through the pages.
Hanna made eye contact with her sister and could tell she thought something was going on with Henry too. He was definitely acting weird…maybe he was just tired after everything that happened.
Hanna watched as Emma got up from the booth and went over to talk to Neal. She decided to go find her parents, she thought maybe Henry just needed some time alone to look through his book.
She spotted them standing over near the bar and ran right over to her dad, wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"There's my girl," Charming said with a smile as he returned the hug.
"How are you feeling?" Hanna asked with concern as she looked up at him.
"I am going to be just fine. Don't worry about me. The water is working, and Gold is going to have a cure really soon," he reassured her.
"Okay," Hanna said as she leaned into her father, accidentally letting a yawn escape her mouth.
"I think it's about time we headed home," Snow said, not missing the yawn.
"No. Why?" Hanna said as she looked up at her mother.
"Because, my darling daughter, we all need a good night's sleep tonight."
"I'm not even that tired," Hanna grumbled under her breath.
Snow just smiled and rolled her eyes at her daughter's stubbornness. Part of her worried how Neverland was going to affect Hanna's ability to actually have a restful sleep tonight. She knew her little girl had gone through a lot while on that island. She hoped there wouldn't be any problems, but she and Charming would be there for her no matter what.
Hanna looked up to see Emma walking towards them. She figured her sister was probably ready to go home too. "Where's Henry?" Hanna asked as she stood on her tiptoes to look behind Emma, but she didn't see him.
"Uh…he wanted to stay at Regina's tonight," Emma told her in a way that made Hanna think that Emma thought his decision to stay with Regina was just as odd as his reaction to getting his book back.
"That's weird," Hanna said as she thought about why Henry might be acting different than normal.
"It's okay," Snow said to reassure both of her daughters. "He probably just wants to spend his first night back in his old room."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Emma said as she turned to leave.
Hanna tried everything she could think of to convince her parents that she wasn't tired and to stay up just a little longer. She was really trying to put off going to bed. She knew if she went to sleep that she would have nightmares of Pan and that awful place. Nothing worked though, and she was now upstairs getting herself ready for bed. The first thing she did when she got into her room was run straight to her pillow and pull out her blanket. She held it close and breathed in deeply, smiling when it smelled just like it always had. She missed this old thing. Hanna slowly got her pajamas on and brushed her teeth. Then she made her way back downstairs to say goodnight to her parents, clutching her blanket in her hands.
"Hi," Hanna said quietly as she crawled onto the bottom of her parents' bed. They were both in sitting up in their bed as if they were waiting for her to arrive.
"Want us to come tuck you in?" Snow asked with a warm smile.
"No…that's okay," Hanna said as she looked down and fiddled with her blanket.
Snow and Charming both looked at their daughter and then at each other. They knew she was stalling. She didn't want to go to bed, but they knew how to handle the situation.
"Why don't you lay down with us for a little while," David suggested.
"No…I should probably just go upstairs," Hanna said as she continued to just sit on the bed.
"Come on," Snow said as she pulled down the covers and patted the spot between her and Charming. "Just until you get sleepy, then you can go upstairs if you want to."
"Okay, but just for a little bit," Hanna said as she climbed under the covers and laid down in between her parents.
Snow and Charming smiled at each other, knowing full well that their daughter was exhausted and would be out like a light in a matter of minutes.
Their thoughts were proven correct when they looked down, not even a minute later, to find her fast asleep. They both settled themselves into the bed, each giving Hanna a kiss on the cheek, knowing that they would not be taking her back to her bed tonight.
The next day, while having lunch at Granny's, Hanna thought of something that she had wanted to ask her parents back in Neverland.
"Can I ask you guys something?" Hanna said as she played with the couple of fries that were left on her plate.
"Sure sweetie," Snow told her.
"What's on your mind, kiddo?" David asked as he looked over at his daughter, who was sitting next to him in the booth.
"What would you have done if we didn't save Mr. Gold from that box? If he couldn't make a cure for you?" Hanna asked as she thought back to when her mom had said that without Gold "we're" stuck here. Hanna knew her dad would be stuck on that island and that her mom would surely stay with him, but would they have let her stay too or would they have sent her back with everyone else? Hanna had to know what they would have done.
"Well, I would of had to stay on the island," David told her.
"I know that. I mean with me. Would you have let me stay with you?" Hanna asked looking up at both of her parents.
"Hanna, that doesn't matter now. I'm going to be fine," David assured her.
"No. It does matter. I want to know," Hanna insisted.
Snow and Charming just looked at each other, trying to decide the best way to handle this.
"Hanna, we couldn't let you stay on that island," Snow told her.
"Why not?"
"Because Neverland is no place for a little girl to live," David explained to her.
"But don't you want to be with me?" Hanna asked.
"Of course we do," Snow said as she reached out to hold onto Hanna's hands.
"We love you and will always want to be with you, Hanna, but we're your parents and we have to do what's best for you," David told her.
"We have to give you your best chance and you would not have had your best chance living on that island," Snow said as a tear fell from her eye. She did not want Hanna thinking they didn't want to be with her.
Hanna looked at her dad and then at her mom. She could see the hurt and despair on their faces at even the thought of having to stay on that island and be away from her. She knew they wouldn't have wanted to send her away from them, but that they would of had to. She could see it in their eyes that they truly loved her and would always do what was best for her, even if it wasn't easy.
"Okay. I understand," Hanna told them.
"Do you really?" Snow asked as she squeezed her daughters hands. She had to be sure that Hanna knew how much they loved her.
"Yeah, I really do," she said giving her mom a smile.
"Good," Snow said with relief as she smiled back at her.
"I'm just glad that you're going to be okay, and we don't have to worry about it," Hanna said as she gave her dad a hug.
"And after he drinks this, he'll be feeling even better," Mr. Gold said as he came up to the table, setting down some sort of potion.
"Is that…" Snow started to ask as she looked down at the bottle.
"Yeah. An elixir. It will cure your dreamshade poisoning once and for all," Gold assured them.
"You really found a cure? Already?" David asked.
"I am a man of my word."
"And I owe you…nothing?"
"On the house…but we are family now so I'm sure should I ever need a favor…you'd be more than receptive."
"Thank you," David told Gold.
"What are you waiting for?" Snow said once Mr. Gold had left. She could hardly wait for him to drink it and be completely cured.
"Drink it!" Hanna said practically jumping out of her seat.
David smiled at his girls and picked up the vile to drink it.
"Well…" Hanna said in anticipation.
"How do you feel?" Snow asked her husband impatiently.
Hanna watched as her dad started breathing heavily and grabbed the spot where the arrow had hit him. She started to worry for just a second. Then she saw a smile spread across his face and watched him lean forward, kissing her mom passionately on the lips. Hanna smiled, knowing that it had worked, that her dad was going to be okay. However, she became a little disgusted when her parents wouldn't stop kissing and were practically making out right in front of her.
"Ew, guys…stop it," Hanna said as she covered her eyes.
Snow and Charming pulled away from each other and just laughed at Hanna's reaction.
Snow looked up, noticing something a few booths away from them. "Emma didn't listen to us," she said with a sigh.
"About what?" Hanna asked as she turned around to see Neal sitting in a booth all by himself.
"I've got this," David said as he got up to go find Emma and have a talk with her.
"What's going on?" Hanna asked as she turned back to her mom.
"Neal asked Emma to meet for coffee," Snow explained.
"Like a date?" Hanna asked with a raise of her eyebrows.
"Yes, we encouraged her to go, but…"
"She stood him up," Hanna said as she turned around to look at him again. "Poor guy."
Hanna was walking home with her mom when she spotted Henry walking down the sidewalk towards them.
"Hey, Henry!" Hanna said with a smile as she ran up to him.
"Oh hi," Henry replied, he seemed to be distracted by something.
"Henry are you alone? Where's Regina?" Snow asked looking around for her.
"She's just in the store. I came outside to get some fresh air. She should be out in a minute," Henry told her. Hanna saw the look in his eyes. He was lying, but she just wasn't sure why.
"Are you coming home tonight? There's a new movie I want to watch and…" Hanna started to ask.
"No. I'm staying at my moms again. I gotta go," he said quickly as he made his way into the store he claimed Regina was in. Hanna, feeling very confused, just watched as he walked away. She was pretty sure Regina wasn't actually in there.
"Mom, there's something wrong with him. He's acting really weird," Hanna said very seriously as she looked up at her mother.
"Hanna, he's just been through a lot. Just because he wants to be with Regina doesn't mean something is wrong," Snow assured her.
Hanna just shrugged her shoulders and continued to walk the rest of the way home. There was definitely something off about Henry, and she was going to figure it out.
It was just about dinnertime when David and Emma came into the loft. They had gone to the station for awhile to catch up on some work that hadn't gotten done because of their little trip to Neverland.
"Is Henry really not coming home tonight?" Hanna asked Emma as they all sat at the table eating their meal.
"No, Han. He's not," Emma said with a sigh.
"Do you think he's been acting a little off since we got back?" Hanna asked her.
"Yeah, I don't know what it is but…" Emma started to say as she put her fork down and turned towards her sister.
"Girls, please don't worry about him. Let's just eat our dinner," Snow said with smile, not wanting their food to get cold while they discussed their theories about Henry.
"Henry is fine," David assured them both.
Hanna and Emma looked at each other then turned to finish their food. They would just have to save this conversation for later.
"How about we play a game?" David suggested once the dinner dishes were cleaned up. He wanted to have some fun with his girls and keep them from worrying about Henry, at least for a little while.
Hanna and Emma just looked at each other and groaned. They were not in the mood to play a game.
"Do we have to?" Hanna whined.
"Yes. It'll be fun!" Snow told her daughters with an encouraging smile, knowing exactly what her husband was doing.
Emma and Hanna rolled their eyes and went to sit at the table. They waited to see which game their charming father would choose.
"Oh, please. Not that game," Emma complained as she let her head fall to the table.
"Dad, that game takes forever," Hanna said, using her whiney voice again.
"Oh come on girls, Monopoly is fun!" he said with a smile.
"Okay fine, but I get to be the race car," Emma said as she quickly swiped her game piece before anyone else could grab it.
"Can I be the banker?" Hanna asked after she claimed the Scottie dog as her playing piece.
"Yes, but no doing any banking on the side like last time," David said as he eyed her up. They had played once before and Hanna was sneaking hundreds to her sister and Henry throughout the whole game. Snow and Charming hadn't even realized until the end.
"I won't. I swear," Hanna said, really meaning it. She was playing to win and she wouldn't be giving anybody any advantages this time.
Snow and Charming chose their pieces, Hanna gave everyone their money, and the game began.
The game started off pretty calmly, everyone just buying a property here and there. When more and more properties were being purchased and rent had to be paid, that's when the real fun started.
"Hanna wait. You owe me rent for landing on my Virginia Avenue," Snow said as she looked at the game board.
Everyone else had already taken their turn and Hanna was about to roll the dice to go again. "Mom, you're too late. You have to ask for it when I first land on it," Hanna said with a smirk. She knew the whole time that her mom owned that property and that she was suppose to pay her rent. It wasn't her fault if her mom forgot though.
"Alright fine," Snow said with a sigh. She would be sure to pay better attention next time.
"Cough up the 50 bucks," David said with a grin as he reached a hand out towards his daughter. He had been lucky enough to be the first one to land on the Boardwalk and of course he bought it right up. Unfortunately for Emma, she just landed on it.
"Here," Emma said as she reluctantly handed it over. She was hoping he wouldn't ask for it, but she should have known he would. He was just as competitive as she was.
Hanna was making her way around the board. If she rolled a 9, she would land on Pacific Avenue. She already had North Carolina and Pennsylvania, so if she landed on it then she would have all of the green properties.
"Are you kidding me?" Hanna said when she rolled a five and a three. It was so close, but worst of all it landed her on the "Go to Jail" square. "This is the third time I've been to jail," she grumbled as she moved her Scottie dog onto the jail cell.
"Well your mother was a bandit," Charming told her with a wink.
"Oh, she doesn't get it all from me," Snow said as she raised her eyebrows at her husband.
"Whatever, I'm just paying the $50 on my next turn and getting the heck out of there," Hanna said as she crossed her arms.
Eventually, Hanna made it around and landed on North Carolina Avenue, like she needed to. Now she had all of the green and red properties. She had also snagged the electric company awhile back. She was feeling pretty comfortable with the income she would be receiving once people started landing on her properties.
The game was deep enough now that there were houses on just about every property, and there were even a few hotels on the game board. Tensions were getting high though and the game was about to come to an end. Everybody could feel it. Whoever actually finishes a whole game of Monopoly anyway?
"$180 for my Virginia Avenue Miss Hanna," Snow said with a smile. She wasn't going to miss it this time.
"Why so much?" Hanna said grumpily. She did not want to cough up that much money.
"I have two houses on it," Snow said as she pointed to the game board.
"Fine," Hanna said as she handed over the cash.
"Seriously?" Emma said when she landed on the Boardwalk again.
"$600 Emma," David said with a grin. This was the fourth time Emma had landed on his Boardwalk, and now he had three houses on it.
"Can't we just call it quits? We've been at this for 2 hours." Emma said with a groan.
"So, you're quitting?" David teased.
"No!" Emma said quickly. "But look at the kid, she's practically falling asleep and you look like you could use some rest too."
"I am not," Hanna protested. She was pretty tired, but she wasn't going to admit it. Emma wasn't going to get away with using her as an excuse to stop playing.
"Alright, if you pay me what you owe me then we can stop the game. We'll just count up our money and whoever has the most wins," David told her.
"Deal," Emma said as she quickly handed him the money and began counting her own.
Everyone could tell by looking at the piles of money that it was going to be between Emma and David. Pretty much all of David's money came from the Boardwalk and Park Place he had purchased early in the game, which he had houses on as well. He also had the orange properties he had been collecting from. Emma had all of the railroads, but only one other set of properties. For the amount of times she had to pay her dad, there was no way she was going to beat him.
"There is no way," David said when Emma's stack of cash added up to be more than his.
"Having all of those railroads came in handy," Emma said with a shrug of her shoulders.
David eyed her up suspiciously. There was something fishy going on here.
"Were you swiping money from the bank?" Snow asked as she raised her eyebrows at her daughter.
"No, I won fair and square," Emma insisted.
Everyone at the table just looked at her, not believing a word she just said. As they continued to stare her down, her cheeks became redder and redder.
"Emma you were stealing money," Hanna said, pointing a finger at her sister.
"Uh…fine," Emma said with as she rolled her eyes and got up from the table. "But it was so not fair that I landed on that stupid Boardwalk so many times."
"Emma, I'm shocked," Snow said jokingly to her daughter.
"So, who won the game?" David said as he smiled that charming smile at his daughter.
"You did," Emma mumbled under her breath.
"Thank you. That's all I needed to hear," David said, pleased with his victory. Everyone cleaned up the game and headed to bed.
Hanna had said goodnight to her parents and was up in her room about to climb into bed. She thought she should at least try sleeping up here. Just before she crawled into bed, she remembered that she had wanted to talk to Emma about Henry. She tiptoed out of her room and towards her sister's. She quietly opened the door and walked in.
"Emma. Are you still awake?" Hanna whispered, hoping that she was.
"Yeah Han, what's up?" Emma said sleepily as she rolled over and propped her head up with her hand.
"It's Henry. Something's going on with him," she said as she sat down on the bed.
"I know," Emma said as she scooted over a bit, giving her sister some room.
"What do you think is wrong with him?"
"I don't know," Emma said as she rolled over onto her back and looked up at the ceiling, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She was really thinking about what could be wrong with her son. She knew he had been through a lot in Neverland, so there would naturally be some changes in his behavior, but this was different. She just couldn't put her finger on it.
"We have to figure it out," Hanna said as she laid down beside her sister.
"We will. I'll talk to him tomorrow," Emma assured her.
"Okay," Hanna said, knowing full well her sister would get to the bottom of this and wouldn't stop until she did.
"I cannot believe you were stealing money right out from under me," Hanna said as she elbowed her sister.
"You have to learn to keep a better eye on your bank," Emma said with a smirk.
Hanna just rolled her eyes at her. She would definitely watch out for her sister's cheating in the future. As she fell asleep, Hanna wondered if Emma had cheated any other times they had played games. She had won a majority of them. How many of those wins were actually won fairly?
Emma looked over at Hanna when she hadn't said anything for a few minutes and found her sleeping soundly. Emma just smiled and covered her with the blankets on her bed. She didn't mind having a bed buddy for the night, especially after everything Hanna had been through. Having a sleepover with her little sister would be nice, it probably would have been something they did all of the time had they grown up together. Emma snuggled in next to Hanna and drifted off to sleep.
Charming woke up in the morning and realized that his youngest daughter had not ventured into their room at all during the night. He wanted to go check on her to make sure everything was alright.
"Where are you going?" Snow asked as she sat up in bed.
"Just going to check on our girls," he told her.
"I'll come with you," Snow said as she got up from the bed and joined her husband. She too wanted to check on them, especially Hanna.
They opened the door to her room to find her bed empty. They looked at each other with worry in their eyes. They quietly went to look into Emma's room before actually panicking. Their worries were settled when they found both of their little girls sleeping peacefully in Emma's bed. Hanna had her head resting on Emma's shoulder and Emma had her arm draped over her little sister. It was the most adorable sight they had ever seen. Luckily Snow had her phone with her, she pulled it out and quickly snapped a picture. Snow and Charming stood there for a few more minutes and watched their girls sleep before heading downstairs to start their day.
