Missing Year

Truth Comes Out

Killian wakes up when Hope began crying during the night. "Little love, are you hungry?" He notices his bed to bigger, his swan used her light magic so they can fit sleeping in the bed together. He gets a bottle from the diaper bag and fed her at his desk. "This is where Dada looked at maps and tell the other pirates what to do and where we are traveling. he burps his daughter. She was wide awake after her feeding. He took her out on the deck. He wrapped Hope's blankie around his daughter. "Are you looking at the stars?" Hope gripped her Daddy's leather jacket. "I can give you a star navigating lesson."
"Mama."
"Mama is sleeping, little love. After all night and all day being sheriff. Mama needs her sleep. We are having Dad and Hope time." Hope babbles. "The stars are up in the dark sky. Stars are like dots you can connect them. The stars make a shape." He uses his hook to point out the coordinates of the star, to the little dipper, big dipper, and the North star in between the dippers. Hope screams. Killian smiles at his little pirate. "My little pirate princess likes star navigating just like her Dada." He kisses her on the belly making her laugh.
In the morning, Henry wakes up finding his Dad setting up Granny's in picnic-style on the deck, while Hope was doing tummy time on her playmat. Hope babbles. "Hi, Hopey." He holds his sister in his arms. "Are you having fun on the Jolly Roger?" Hope babbles. "You like tummy time on the Jolly Roger." He places Hope back down and lies in front of her to talk to her. Killian smiles seeing Henry talking to his sister.
"Mama."
"Let's go find Mommy." He carried Hope back into the captain's quarter and laid Hope onto her tummy. She reached out to her Mommy's face. Emma was smiling, her daughter was gripping her face and looking at her. "Good morning,Hope."
"Mama."
"Yes, I am awake."
"Are you well-rested?"
"Yes, I am, kid."
"Dad was up with Hope all night."
"Hope, did dada show you the ship at night?" Hope babbles. "He did?" She holds Hope on her hip.
After breakfast, Killian and Emma were walking in town. He was holding Hope on his hip and his hook arm wrapped around his swan holding her cinnamon hot cocoa as Henry was holding the book. Emma was talking to Killian, who was looking down at their daughter who was chewing on her Daddy's necklace. They both smile at their daughter. "Little sis, we are going to see mommy's friend August. Maybe he will help us with my book."
They went upstairs to the loft and entered seeing August lying down on the couch. "August."
"Hi, Emma." Hope babbles. "Hi, Hope."
Henry sits on the couch and opens his book. "I need to ask you something, August." He opens the page. "I was looking at this door. Does this mean anything to you?"
"That is the door of the author."
"The door is somewhere in the Enchanted Forest?"
August smiles. "The author is in the book."
"Awesome! Where is the key?"
"I do not know." Hope babbles.
Henry holds his sister on his lap, who was patting his book. "Yes, we have a mystery to solve, Hope." Regina enters the loft, Emma, her parents, and her husband went to him. "August, my other Mom is spying on the villains. She is on our side." Hope was moving her legs.
"They want to find the author's door."
"Mom, August knows the door." Regina goes to Henry. He opens the book. "This is the door."
"This is?"
"Yes, your son is right. This is the door."
"The door?"
"Yes. It is in the page." Hope babbles and grips the book. Regina tried to take the book away from Hope who was crying ad gripping on the book.
"Mom! Stop!"
"I am trying to see the page. Let go..." She yanks the book from Hope who began wailing.
Emma takes Hope from Henry. "Hope...Hope...shh...shh... Regina needs to see the page. That is all. She is not going to take the book from Henry." She rubs Hope's back. "The book is staying with your brother. I know Regina scared you." Hope cried more. "She did scare you, I know. You can stay with me, little duckling."
Henry goes to his sister. "Hope, the book is with Daddy." Hope reaches out for her brother and grips his hand and stops crying. Henry smiles. "You just want me with you, baby sis." Hope babbles. "I am right here."
"Killian, can you hold Hope?"
He holds Hope, who began crying. "Little sis, I am right here. Mommy is going to talk to my other Mommy."
Regina looks at the page. "How the hell is the author is in the book?"
"Do not ask me, you are the magic expert."
Henry looks at August, he looked bad and does not wake up. "Dad, something wrong is with August."
Killian checks his pulse, it was very slow. "Lad, get your Mom."
"Mom..."
Regina not listening to her son."What do we suppose to do to draw a key?"
"Whatever we do we got to figure out what do before Gold does."
"Mom!" They both turned around.
"What is it?"
"There is something is wrong with August."
Killian steps aside letting his wife and Regina get a closer look at August. Emma goes to her old friend and tries to wake him up. "August?" She looks at Killian and Regina. "We need to get him help."
"Swan, do we need to bring him to the Blue Fairy?"
"Yes, it is her magic turn him from wood to man a few times."
Regina takes her iPhone out. "We need to get him an ambulance to take him to the faires. I will call." Regina makes the phone call.
Killian knows his swan was worried. He places a hand on his swan's shoulder. A few minutes an ambulance arrived in front of the loft. Two EMTs carried August out of the building. Killian hugs his swan. "August is going to be okay, Emma."
"I hope so." Killian drove his family in the yellow bug to where the fairies lived. Regina followed right behind them. August was brought in by EMT's stretcher. Emma rushes in to find the Blue Fairy. "Blue, August is not waking up."
"I was talking to him then he just closed his eyes. I just noticed he was not breathing."
Emma hugs her son. "He is going to be okay, Henry." Blue lead Emma, Henry, Killian carrying Hope, and Regina to where august was staying. Emma went to her old friend and kneeled down to him. "August. Wake up."
Hope began crying. Killian takes Hope out of the room to change her diaper in the nearest bathroom. He returns with Hope."Mama."
"Killian, give her to me." Killian puts Hope on her lap. She hugs her daughter. "Mommy is worried about August, sweetie." Hope grabbed her Mommy's hand.
"He is going to be okay, Mom."
The Blue Fairy enters the room, Killian gets Hope from Emma. She looks at August. "He has been through a lot?"
"What is happening? He was awake and he passed out."
"Well, he has been changed by magic many times. For him to survive this, he will have to be very strong." She places her hand on his forehead.
Regina thought of Rumplestilskin. She leans toward to Emma. "We have a bigger problem."
"Swan, Hope, and I will stay in here to keep an eye on August." He sits at August's side with Hope on his lap.
Henry followed his two Moms out in the hallway. "Gold and the other witches are expecting me. They sent me on a mission to get that page from the book. If I return empty-handed, whatever suspicions they have of me will be confirmed."
"Then give them this." Emma poofs an exact copy of the page with her light magic into her hand.
Henry was impressed. "Wow. You are getting good."
"I have been practicing."
Regina takes the paper from Emma. "Forgery. This is Gold, we are talking about. He will know this is a fake."
"And pull out and we will protect you."
"We still do not know what they are up to. It is a bigger risk not knowing." Her text tone rings. "That is them, wondering where I am."
"Mom, the forgery is good."
Regina looks at the two identical pages. "Not good enough. Maybe we need a different kind of copy." Regina takes a photo of the door on her iPhone.
"Because Gold and the other witches do not know the door is in the book. He just thinks it is a page telling where the door is. Only they care about what the door look like?"
"Hopefully, this photo will keep them on their wild goose chase around town. I got to get going." She hugs her son. "Bye, Henry."
The hug was long."Okay, Mom."
"Sorry, sorry. Just not sure when I will be back to see you again. But do not worry, I will be fine." Regina leaves.
Killian brings crying, Hope. "Hopey." She takes her daughter from her husband. "You are with Mommy."
"Swan, what should we do now?"
"Go back to my parent's loft and wait for news on what Regina finds. Also, it is Hope's naptime."
"Aye, swan." He drove his family home. Emma had Hope sleeping on her lap and sat next to Killian on the couch. Henry was upstairs thinking about the door. She sensed something was with her husband. "Killian?"
"You care for him, the wooden man child?"
She can sense he was jealous. "Yeah. Oh, Killian. You are my husband, who I love so much. Now, it is not the time to be jealous."
"Why would I be jealous? You are into men with leather jackets."
"He is just a friend."
"Yeah, of course."
"See, do you remember the video I showed you from the foster home.."
"With the friend Merigold?"
"No, her name was Lily. She was my first and only best friend. I pushed her away forever. And after that, I was not great at making friends. August was the rare exception. That is why this is so important to me. There is nothing going on. You are my husband, the father of our children, who I love so much." They kiss. Killian turns around seeing something at the window, something bad. "What?" They see purple clouds, dark magic coming and they fell asleep on top of each other with Hope.
Henry noticed his parents sleeping and sees magic coming, a sleeping curse. He takes his book and runs out of the loft. He bumps into his grandparents. "Henry, you are in danger."
"I know. I am going to the author's mansion to hide."
"We will meet you there." He runs the author's house to hide and search for clues.
Regina, Cruella, Gold and Maleficent entered the loft. Regina sees Hope sleeping with her parents and went looking for the page. Maleficent sees Emma. "The savior looks a lot less threatening in this state, doesn't she?"
Cruella sees the family. "I would be lying if I said I was not tempted wring her scrawny little neck, right now. Maybe I can wring that baby's neck?"
"Do not even think about it. Instead of hurting the baby, how about you help me look for the page, dog?" They searched the loft. The witches found nothing. Regina knew her son ran with the book once the sleeping curse was taking over the town.
Henry ran to the author's house, hiding with the book underneath a table. He looks at his iPhone nothing from his parents or grandparents. He sees a light in the door page, which shows him where the key was in the drawer next to the table he was hiding in. He crawled out of his hiding spot and went to the drawer and finds the key. "No way!" He hears someone coming and hides the key in his pocket. "Grandma, Grandpa, you won't believe I just..." He sees his Mom, Regina. "Mom."
"What Henry?"
"Mom, what are you doing here?"
"I am sorry, I did not want to come to this."
His face stops seeing Cruella and Maleficent who enter the room. "Looks like we came here just in time."
"I told you I can handle this."
Cruella, "We are not sure you have it in you to be a true disciplinarian." She faces Henry. "I say you should not be alarmed darling but I would be lying..."
"Hey, he is my son. If you lay a hand on him, you won't be able to do as long as he cooperates." She faces her son. "Henry, give me the page."
"Mom,no."
"Henry Daniel Mills, you will do as I say." She gave her son a look.
"It is Henry Daniel Swan Jones, Mom. Okay." He gives her the fake door page that his other Mom gave him.
Regina hands over the page to Maleficent. "Here as promised. Now, let's set this author free." Regina, Cruella, and Maleficent leave the author's house. Henry smiles. He hears the door open, it was his grandparents. "You are safe."
"Yes, I am gramps. I gave my other Mom the copy that my other Mom made."
"Good you ustill ahve it. It is too much power for you to hold."
"We are going to hold it."
"Gramps? Why?"
"You are too young, for this power, Henry." He gives them the paper and leaves the house mad but they do not know he has the key. Charming and Snow White go to the fireplace. "David, we should be doing this? We keep lying to Emma and now Henry!"
He was about to drop the paper in. "I cannot do this. I will be guilty for the rest of my life. We have to tell Emma, the truth."
"You are right. Time for us to come clean." They went home.
Emma and Killian wake up from their long nap. "Killian?"
"Emma, that was a sleeping spell."
"Hope is still sleeping."
"Aye, that is because the magic is too strong on her."
"She needs to wake up. Hope...Hope...Time to wake up from your nap, sweetie." She looks around. "Where is Henry? He was already in a sleeping curse."
"Aye, the lad was the target he must have ran with the book."
"We got to find him." Henry arrives. Emma sighs in relief and hugs her son. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Mom. I found the key to the author's book at the mansion."
"You did?"
"Yes. Until gramps took the page from me." Hope wakes up from her nap.
Snow White and Charming return to their loft. "Emma, we need to talk to you."
"Why did you take the page from me gramps?"
"Henry, we need to talk to your Mom now."
"Henry, can you take Hope upstairs?"
He holds his sister. "Hi, baby sis. We are going upstairs. Gramps took the page from me." Hope babbles. "Yes, H time." He took his sister upstairs and changed her diaper while listening in on the conversation downstairs. Hope turns around spreading poop all over the bed. "Little pirate." He cleans Hope off and did not clean the blanket.
Back downstairs,"Are you going to tell us why a sleeping curse happened?"
"Yes, we will tell you at the table." Emma knew her parents were serious, maybe they were going to tell her why they have been lying to her. He sits down next to his swan holding her hand knowing something his inlaws going to say is going be hard for her to hear.
"We need to tell you why we have been acting different since Maleficent, Cruella, and Ursula been in town. We were told a dragon was hatched by a peddler. We knew witches in the Enchanted Forest. We went with them to the tree of knowledge. We found out your heart was dark. Maleficent told me she was with a child, a dragon. We went to a man for help. We borrowed Maleficent's egg. He was able to switch the egg with its light magic for your darkness. We found out after he enacted the curse, the egg was a baby inside of it, a child...the baby was gone in a portal with Cruella and Ursula. Maleficient child was in that egg...which is why we have been lying to you since these villains has been in town."
Emma was mad. "This whole time I was right, you are lying. I wanted to believe you."
Charming hates hurting his daughter. "We were just trying to protect you."
Emma was mad, which Killian saw. "Emma, are you alright?"
She let go of her husband's hand. "I am not okay. I got to go." She takes the page with her.
Snow White stops her at the door."Please stop. I am your mother."
"After all you have done to me lately, I do not care." She leaves the loft and heads to the docks.
Henry comes down with his sister. "Dad, I heard everything."
"Henry, we got to find your Mom. She has the page and she is in danger more than ever."
"Hook..."
"How dare you for lying to your own daughter!!"
"We wanted to protect her. We did not want her to be in the darkness her whole life."
"But you did not tell her about it. She was in darkness in the foster system if you ever let her tell her story to you. She told all of it to me." He takes Hope from Henry. "Hope, Henry, let's go find your Mom." They leave the loft. Killian drove his children to the docks.
Emma went to the docks and began crying, from her parents who have been lying to her all along, which she was right, she could have darkness in her whole life. She was looking at the page. Killian finds his swan at the docks.
"Dad, Hope is going to be with me." Hope babbles. "Baby sis, we found Mommy."
"Mama."
"Daddy is going to talk to her first, little love." He gets a phone call. "Hi, Blue."
"August is awake. Snow and Charming are with him."
"I will tell that news to Emma. Thank you, Blue." He ends the phone conversation. "August is awake."
"Yes! He can tell me more about the author."
"Aye, I will tell your Mom the good news." Killian walks to his wife. "Hey."
"I just need some time to think..."
"August is awake." She looks up at him. "Your parents are with him."
"Is he?" She stands up from the bench she was sitting on.
"He is going to be fine. Your friend is going to be fine." He smiles. Emma was relieved that August is okay and hugs her husband. "Everything is going to be okay, Emma. We will get through this together."
"Did my parents sent you?"
"Once you left I knew I need to find my wife." Emma sighs she has Killian who cares for her and never lie to her. They walk back to their children.
"Mama."
"Hopey." She scooped her daughter into her arms. "We are going to see August." Killian drove his family back to the fairy's house. Emma rushes in carrying Hope to August. "August..."She sees her parents.
"Emma, is everything okay?"
"August it is so good to see you."
"I am okay." Hope babbles. "Hi, Hope." Henry gives him the page.
"August, what do you know about the author?"
"He wasn't the only author. There is more than one author, there have been many of them throughout time. It is a job, not a person. The one trapped in here was just the last tasked to do with the great responsibility."
"Which is?"
"To record, to witness, the greatest stories of all time and record the for prosperity. The job has gone back eons, from the man who watched shadows danced across in cave walls and developed an entire philosophy to playwrights who tell tales of poetry to a man named Walt. Many had this sacred job, great women, who took on this responsibility with the gravity that it deserved. Until this last one, who started to manipulate rather than record. He did something, I do not know exactly that but something had pushed him over the edge. That is why the sorcerer's and his apprentice put him in the book. They are the ones who chose him, they choose to put him in the book from learning from their mistake."
"He still has the ability to alter the book, the story?"
August smiles. "You sure have come a long way from the woman who would not believe."
"Yes, I have changed." Emma hugs her daughter. "I want the author out of the book before Gold does." Hope fusses. Henry takes his sister from their Mom.
Snow White, "Emma, are you sure about this?"
She laid the page on the bed. Henry gave his Mom the key. "You can do this Mom."
"Thank you, Henry. You found the key in the first place." She uses the key to open the page door,t the magic glowed around them. Killian shields his children. The author appears ont the floor. Everyone stars at him. "Oh, it was cramped in there. I could not reach this." He takes a flask out of his pocket.
Snow White and Charming recognized him right away. "Where did you get that?"
"This? A nice young couple I met on the road, gave it to me. Do you want some? It is nutmeggy."
"You." Emma looks at her Mom. "You...you...are..are the author?"
"The peddler?"
Emma was surprised her parents know him. She faces the man. "We have a lot of questions to ask you."
"I bet you do." He pulls down the curtain knocking down, Emma, her parents, Henry, Killian, and Hope, who was wailing.
"Henry, are you okay?"
"Yes, Mom. Are you?"
"Yes, I have a bad feeling the author won't help us. But we got to find him before Gold does." They stood up.
Killian was cradling his daughter. "Emma, I got Hope. You and Henry go chase that bloody man." Emma, Henry ran to chase after him. Charming fixes the curtains. Killian was comforting his daughter. "Little love, everything is alright. Mommy will chase the bad guy. I know you are scared but you are safe with Dada."
"Mama."
"Mommy and Henry are chasing the author who is a very bad man."
"Hook, we will tell Emma you are staying with Hope."
"I will meet up with you on the search." His inlaws leave to find the man who tricked them.
August looks at Killian. "Killian, the author is bad. If Gold finds him, we are all in trouble."
"Aye, I do not trust that crocodile."
"I can help you with getting the author back into the book."
"What is that?"
"The author's assistant is still alive." He gets his satchel out and shows Killian the drawing. "This is the sorcerer's assistant."
Killian recognized the man in the drawing. "Bloody hell, I know him."
"You do?"
"I know where he is. The crocodile made me suck the sorcerer's assistant from the bloody hat before I did to the fairies when the Snow Queen curse was casted."
"You better find him and get him to help you stop the author before Gold does. That author is not going to help anyone, even Emma."
"Seeing how bad he is, I will. I want him back into that book. Gold wants to make my swan dark. I am not going to let that happen," Killian leaves the room with Hope knowing where he needs to go next. He is going to help his wife stop the author by getting the one how can stop him. "Mama."
"We are going to help, Mommy, Hope."
To Be Continued.