Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Ten: The Queen is Dead

"Oh, no..." Grace grumbled out as she swatted at the pan. "No, that's not right." God, this morning has been a complete disaster. Grace had been the first one up, for once, and decided that instead of her parents always making her breakfast, she would make them breakfast. She thought it would be a nice change and they'd all enjoy it. Boy, had she never been so wrong. If only she'd known operating a stove would be so hard.

The burnt mess lay in the pan, the girl sighing as she placed it back down, not even bothering with removing it. Grace wiped the sweat from her forehead as she sighed in exhaustion, clearly depressed that her plan had failed. What made matters worse, however, were the footsteps that had slowly begun to approach from behind her.

"What are you doing?" Grace's father's voice rang out, it sounding oddly accusing.

She turned her head back quickly, facing the man. He had a hard time hiding the smile that found its way onto his lips as he stood at the opposite side of the room, simply staring at Grace. "Uh, nothing. I mean, not nothing. I was just..." She tried to come up with the most logical excuse, "testing the kitchen."

"More like breaking it." He joked, earning a glare from herself. As she went to take the apron off, a light suddenly flashed behind Grace, causing both of their eyes to widen. "YOU DIDN'T TURN THE STOVE OFF?!" David snapped, quickly bolting around the counter.

"YOU DISTRACTED ME!" She said in defense as she turned back around, getting as far away from the fire as possible. David grabbed the apron she had thrown onto the counter, quickly using it to swat at the flaming mess. This ultimately caused the apron to catch on fire, causing him to quickly throw that down as well. Finally, he just grabbed a broom from the nearest closet and began to beat the stove. Grace was beginning to think that this stove had somehow wronged him in the past, what with the amount of passion he put into every swing, but she didn't say anything. After all, she was too distracted by the growing fire in their apartment. At this rate, they would have to move out.

Nearly ten minutes later and it was out. They both sighed in relief, it being so early and they're already worn out. David simply threw the charred broom by the trash can and, almost immediately after, he turned the stove off. Grace ran a hand through her hair, lightly pulling at it as a way to get her frustrations out. As the room fell silent, she suddenly turned towards her tired father, him seeming to have just gotten up himself.

"What woke you up?" She asked, causing him to turn back towards her. He had his head resting in his hand as he rubbed his forehead in agitation. "Was it the banging or my screaming?"

"Actually, it was the smell." He said honestly, causing Grace to give him a short 'oh'. "What were you trying to make?" He asked, his brow scrunched in confusion and, what looked to be, concern.

Her eyes widened at that, and so she quickly turned back down towards the recipe she had tried her hand at. "Uh, something called... 'french toast'."

"That's not how you make french toast." He said shortly, causing an exasperated look to come over Grace.

"Clearly."

Suddenly, the pounding of footsteps had caused the both of them to turn, quickly catching sight of one flustered looking Snow, "ARE YOU OKAY?!" She shouted, and before Grace could even get a word out, Snow trampled her into a hug. The girl groaned as she cut off her air supply, but at the sound of Grace choking, she quickly let go, "I heard screaming!"

At that, David sighed, "Grace thought it'd be a great idea to make breakfast!"

Said girl shot daggers at him for that comment, "Don't mock me."