24 Gifts Of 2012 - Day Sixteen - Always Find You (Multifandom OUAT Fusion)
Continuation of Snow and No Happy Ending, A multifandom crossover based on ABC's Once Upon A Time, with Ryan as Prince Charming and Brooke as Snow White. For the most part if the 'fairytale' names (Charming, Snow) are used it's a fairytale land flashback, if the normal names (Ryan, Brooke) are used it's in Storybrooke, the land of 'no happy endings'.
Always Find You
Charming sat on the floor of the dungeon chamber, knowing that it was his own doing that brought him here, but still hoping against hope that he could find a way out of it. If he'd wanted a simple life, he would have married Marissa like his grandfather had arranged before the man's downfall, he would have united their two kingdoms to fight their mutual enemies. But he had always known Marissa would not be a good queen like his mother, she'd be one more like her mother, manipulative and greedy, eager to get hers no matter who suffered in the process. And when he met Snow, when she had flashed her smile at him, when she had helped him fight enemy knights, when she had returned the pendant in return for a kiss, he had known that she was the queen the people should someday have. Beautiful, smart, caring. He had felt like he needed her presence to breath, and like he was suffocating when he was with Marissa. So he made his choice and started a war between kingdoms that had landed him in The Evil Queen's dungeon.
~~~
Ryan had inspected the door to the basement room as soon as he regained consciousness, hoping to find a way to open it from the inside but finding nothing. The same went for the walls that had been plastered smooth, no signs of cracks or weak spots. And everyday since waking there, he'd searched for an escape, but the only way out was the door and it's hatch for food through.
Marissa had come by a few times, trying to make him see 'reason', that they could marry and rule their joint kingdom together someday, but Ryan ignored her, only saying that the only Queen by his side would be Snow, that she was his wife and she would be Queen, and Marissa's response had baffled him at first.
"Wouldn't you rather marry me and know she lives than refuse and she die?" Marissa had asked. "Your life may be protected, but hers is forfeit."
He hadn't understood why his life was protected when she said it, but as he considered it, he realized what she meant. His grandfather was somehow involved in the curse, and had made a deal with Julie to protect Ryan, as the only heir to the throne, but had left Brooke completely vulnerable. "Damn it," Ryan muttered.
~~~
"Why do we have to drive all the way out here to look at stars?" Brooke asked Lily.
"We just do," Lily replied, eyes scanning the side of the road until she saw what she'd been sure she would. "Isn't that Ryan's car?" she said, looking over at Brooke.
Brooke frowned and pulled to a stop behind the car. "Stay here," she said, a knot forming in her stomach. She slowly got out of her car and approached Ryan's, hesitating when she saw the driver's side door wide open. "Ryan?" she called. "Mr. Atwood?" The car was empty, it's engine quiet and still, and when she leaned in to look for any signs of him, she saw the car was in park. He must have stopped on purpose, and when she craned her neck she saw the key was not only in the ignition but turned as though it had been on. She quickly turned the keys to off, then slid into the seat and tried to crank the engine, only to have it struggle briefly but not turn over, the same sound her care made when she forgot to put gas in it, which made sense since Ryan had left town two days earlier. Brooke hurriedly pulled the keys out, then climbed back out of the car, suddenly certain something very bad had happened. "Ryan?" she called again. "Ryan!"
"Brooke?"
Brooke turned to see that Lily had gotten out of the car and was about to order her back into it when she saw that the girl was staring at the road. When Brooke followed her gaze she saw the brown stain that was illuminated by her headlights. "Lily, get back in the car, now," Brooke ordered, moving quickly to grab the girl, even as she looked around for any signs of a threat. Once Lily was in the car, Brooke ran around to the driver's side and got in, slamming and locking the doors.
"Brooke?" Lily asked. "Did..."
"I don't know," Brooke said.
"What if he's hurt?"
"I'll find him," Brooke promised. She looked over at Lily, suddenly far more sure of herself that she had been just moments before. "I promise you, no matter what, I will find him."
~~~
"I'll find him," Snow promised the Good Queen.
"This is your fault, girl," Rumpelstiltskin snapped, glaring at her. "You had to destroy what I worked so hard to forge..."
"He didn't love her," Snow replied.
"Love has nothing to do with it!"
"Love has everything to do with it!" Snow said. "I love him, and I will find him. I will always find him! No Evil Queen and her insipid daughter can ever keep me from finding him and bringing him home to me."
"Father, there has to be a way," the Good Queen begged. "There has to be a way to find him, I know you have one!"
Rumpelstiltskin hesitated, seeing his daughter's heartache, and Snow's determination. "There is one way, but it has a cost. You know all magic does."
"Whatever the cost, I will pay it," Snow said.
"Even without knowing what the cost is?"
"Nothing is more important to me than him."
~~~
Caleb only pretended to be surprised when Brooke and Lily walked into the antique store. He had known this was coming, known that once Lily found her way to Storybrooke the spell would inevitably unravel. He also knew, as soon as Brooke looked at him that while she might have known to come to him, she didn't remember the past between them. Not yet anyway. "What can I do for you, Miss Davis?"
"You know what you can do, Rumplestiltskin!" Lily said.
"Is she still going on about that?" Caleb asked Brooke, ignoring the girl he had once, so very long ago, been looking forward to spoiling as his first grandchild.
"Ryan's been kidnapped," Brooke said.
"By The Evil Queen!" Lily said.
"Lily, enough," Brooke said. "His car was abandoned at the edge of town, and there was a pool of blood by it," she told Caleb.
"Blood?" Caleb asked, his anger rising. The one thing he had demanded from the Evil Queen when he told her what she had to do in order to bring about her revenge, was that his daughter and grandson would not be harmed. He had made it binding, his guarantee that they would be safe no matter what else happened, and if she had broken her end of the deal... "I think I know where she has him," he told Brooke, seeing that even without knowing who Ryan had been to her in another life, she was as determined now as she had been then.
"Lily, stay here," Brooke said.
"But..."
"She's right, it's not safe for you, not if... not if I'm right about what's happening," Caleb said. "But it's not safe here, either. We'll take you to my daughter."
"Your daughter?" Brooke asked.
"The Good Queen," Lily said, smiling. "My grandmother. Kirsten."
"We'll discuss your need to give up on fairytales after Ryan's safe," Brooke said.
"Let's go, we need to hurry," Caleb said, ushering Lily out. "She'll remember soon enough," he whispered to the girl, who actually smiled at him. He glanced back to Brooke in time to see her pick up a small knife, sliding it up her sleeve and Caleb smiled. Charming had been right to choose Snow to be his wife, to one day be the queen the kingdom needed.
~~~
Charming was trying again to find a weak spot in the bars of the cell when he heard quiet footsteps approaching and quickly got to his feet and moved back, wanting to be as far from the Princess as possible. But it wasn't her that stepped around the corner and faced him. "Snow." Her face lit up with a smile as she rushed to the bars, both of them reaching through to grasp each other's arms. "You found me," Charming said.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Snow replied, kissing him quickly before stepping away to rummage through a pouch on her belt.
"How..."
"Your grandfather," Snow said. "He used his magic to find you and to get me here safely."
"At what cost?" Charming asked.
"Nothing that matters as much as you do," Snow said, finally holding up a familiar smaller pouch tied with an orange ribbon. "Step back," she said.
Charming did as she said, turning away as she threw the pouch at the bars and light exploded in the dark dungeon. When it faded, he rushed to Snow, gathering her up in his arms for a proper kiss, then clutching her hand. "I think it's time to run," he said.
"I think so," Snow agreed with a laugh, producing another pouch, a bit larger and tied with red.
"What's that for?"
"We can't leave the way we came in, the guards will coming," Snow explained, stepping up to the broken bars and tossing the second pouch at the outer wall, which exploded in another flash, this time large enough to break the mortar and send it tumbling down into the ocean below. "Feel up for a swim?" she teased, shucking her cloak then offering him her hand.
Charming couldn't help smiling as he pulled off his outer layers, then took her hand, the two of them running towards the gaping hole as thunderous footsteps sounded behind them. With one last glance at each other, they jumped out of the dungeon and into the open air above the ocean.
~~~
Marissa was standing in the doorway of Ryan's basement cell, trying once more to convince him that the only way to return them all home was to accept that she, and only she, would be Queen of their joint kingdoms.
"I will never take you as my wife," Ryan said firmly. "I wouldn't before, what make you think I would now? You and your evil mother have taken everything from us, you have broken my family apart, you have locked me in a dungeon twice, and you think I could ever want you? I never wanted you! The only woman I will over call me wife, ever call my Queen, is Snow... is Brooke."
"I'll put a knife through her heart before that happens!" Marissa yelled.
"I don't think so."
Marissa spun, surprised to see Caleb and Brooke standing behind her. "How... you betrayed us!" she yelled at Caleb.
"I helped my my grandson, just like I did before," Caleb said.
"We'll discuss what you consider help, later," Ryan said.
"We'll discuss why he's calling you his grandson later," Brooke interjected.
"You don't remember?" Marissa said, laughing. "See how much she loves you, Charming? She doesn't even remember!"
"I can remember for us both," Ryan said, moving quickly to grab Marissa's arm and shove her deeper into the cell even as he moved out the door and slammed it shut. He saw the deadbolt and slid it closed, hearing Marissa's protests through it but not caring as he turned to face Brooke. "You found me," he said.
"With a little help," Brooke said, trying to resist the almost overwhelming urge to run to him, wrap her arms around him, kiss him. "What was she talking about? Remember what?"
Ryan moved forward, placing his hands on either side of her face. "Do you trust me?"
"More than I should," Brooke admitted.
Ryan kissed her, willing her to remember all of their kisses, from the first in the heat of the moment after escaping from Lucas' mercenaries together, to their last just before he had taken Lily from her arms in his desperate run to save their daughter from the Evil Queen's curse. He could see it all, every moment he had known her, every moment she had made him love her with a glance or a smile, a kind gesture or a bubbling laugh. When he finally pulled back, he looked at her, waiting.
"Charming."
Ryan smiled. "You found me," he repeated.
"I will always find you," Brooke replied surging forward to kiss him again.
"We should leave, before Julie and Lucas come back," Caleb said.
"We'll talk about what you did later," Ryan said. "I know about your deal," he added, to make it clear.
"Deal?" Brooke asked, looking between them. "What deal?"
"Right now, all that matters is getting to our daughter," Ryan said.
"Lily..." Brooke whispered. "I didn't believe her, I kept telling her to stop believing in fairytales."
"You can apologize when we get to her," Ryan promised.
"She's at Kirsten's house," Caleb said. "Kirsten may not remember any of us, but you know she would never let Lily come to harm."
"Let's go," Ryan said.
~~~
"Lily, I think I'd remember if Caleb Nichols was my father and Ryan Atwood was my son," Kirsten said.
"But you were cursed not to remember," Lily began yet again, but stopped and turned as the door opened, revealing Caleb, Ryan, and Brooke, the latter of which were clutching each other's hands. "Do you remember?" she asked.
"Yes," Ryan said, fighting the urge to cry as he saw her for the first time as his daughter. "We both do. Everything."
"You were right, an I am so sorry I didn't..." Brooke began.
"You were cursed not to," Lily said, jumping up and running to them, Kirsten getting to her feet as well. As the three embraced, it was like a wave rushed out from them, and Kirsten stumbled, falling back into her seat and closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, Kirsten looked at the reunited family. "Charming?" she said, getting up.
"Mother," Ryan replied, separating from Brooke and Lily to embrace her. He held her tight for a moment, then turned to Caleb. "And as for your deal with the Evil Queen..." he began.
"It was the only way I could guarantee that my family was safe," Caleb replied.
"What did you do, father?" Kirsten asked.
"She swore that there were only two possible endings to all of this," Caleb said. "The first was that Charming agreed to marry Marissa, uniting our kingdoms forever. The other was that if he refused, she would make sure none of us had our happy endings until he agreed."
"You knew what she was planning?" Brooke asked, the knife sliding from her sleeve as easily as it had disappeared up it.
"Not the details," Caleb insisted. "But, when I distracted her so you could sneak into the dungeon and rescue Charming, I made her a deal. I told her I knew how stubborn Charming could be, and that he wouldn't agree. And I told her that I would not interfere with her plan to take our happy endings as long as she signed a binding agreement that no harm would ever come to my flesh and blood, or Charming and his flesh and blood, from her doings. She couldn't harm Kirsten or Charming, or even Lily, or she would break that contract and she would owe me the penalty."
"So why'd you help save my dad?" Lily asked.
"Because you said there was a pool of blood by his car, that meant he was hurt, by her or one of her minions," Caleb said. "She broke our deal."
"You could have stopped her from doing all of this instead!" Ryan said.
"I doubt I could have stopped it, only delayed it," Caleb said. "This way, you knew the threat was coming, you knew to save Lily by sending her to this world before the curse was enacted. And she knew to come here and save us all by making the two of you remember. It was always True Love that would break the curse."
"But... Brooke kissed Ryan lots of times and they didn't remember," Lily said. "She kissed him in the hospital, when he was still asleep..."
"And he woke up a few hours later," Brooke said.
"And then again when I said you had to, because he woke up," Lily said.
"It wasn't exactly a kiss out of love, Lily," Ryan said. "I thought I should kiss her before the poor little delusion girl completely lost her mind," he added with a smile.
"What made you remember then?" Brooke asked.
"I drove to the edge of town, and there were two cars blocking the way," Ryan began. "It was Julie and Lucas, and... I reached for my hip like I thought there'd be a weapon there..."
"Your sword," Brooke said.
"Yes. And I keep thinking I should attack them before they attacked me, but... that seemed so ridiculous. Then Julie started talking about how it was suppose to be she and Marissa's turn for a happy ending. That I was ruining it all, just like I had before, when i rejected Marissa for Snow... and... and I saw it. I could see myself pretending to love Marissa because I was suppose to, and I could see myself chasing you down in the woods to get back the pendant. Forcing myself to kiss Marissa but.. feeling like I needed to kiss snow as much as I needed to breathe. And the more she talked, the more I remembered... fighting her men with Lily snug in my arms, and putting her in the wardrobe. Right up to seeing the guards open the wardrobe only to find it completely empty, and knowing my precious girl was safe. It was all there."
"You... you called me that before you got in your car," Lily said. "You kissed the top of my head and called me 'Precious', like it was my name."
"He called you that while I was pregnant," Brooke said. "You were, and are, our most precious treasure. No gold or jewels could ever mean more to us than you."
"You helped me break it," Ryan said to his daughter. "You kept insisting, and it cracked the wall that came all apart when I needed it to. And when Brooke and I kissed in the basement, after she freed me from that room, it broke for her. And it was all three of us, together and knowing, that broke it for everyone."
The End
Always Find You
Charming sat on the floor of the dungeon chamber, knowing that it was his own doing that brought him here, but still hoping against hope that he could find a way out of it. If he'd wanted a simple life, he would have married Marissa like his grandfather had arranged before the man's downfall, he would have united their two kingdoms to fight their mutual enemies. But he had always known Marissa would not be a good queen like his mother, she'd be one more like her mother, manipulative and greedy, eager to get hers no matter who suffered in the process. And when he met Snow, when she had flashed her smile at him, when she had helped him fight enemy knights, when she had returned the pendant in return for a kiss, he had known that she was the queen the people should someday have. Beautiful, smart, caring. He had felt like he needed her presence to breath, and like he was suffocating when he was with Marissa. So he made his choice and started a war between kingdoms that had landed him in The Evil Queen's dungeon.
~~~
Ryan had inspected the door to the basement room as soon as he regained consciousness, hoping to find a way to open it from the inside but finding nothing. The same went for the walls that had been plastered smooth, no signs of cracks or weak spots. And everyday since waking there, he'd searched for an escape, but the only way out was the door and it's hatch for food through.
Marissa had come by a few times, trying to make him see 'reason', that they could marry and rule their joint kingdom together someday, but Ryan ignored her, only saying that the only Queen by his side would be Snow, that she was his wife and she would be Queen, and Marissa's response had baffled him at first.
"Wouldn't you rather marry me and know she lives than refuse and she die?" Marissa had asked. "Your life may be protected, but hers is forfeit."
He hadn't understood why his life was protected when she said it, but as he considered it, he realized what she meant. His grandfather was somehow involved in the curse, and had made a deal with Julie to protect Ryan, as the only heir to the throne, but had left Brooke completely vulnerable. "Damn it," Ryan muttered.
~~~
"Why do we have to drive all the way out here to look at stars?" Brooke asked Lily.
"We just do," Lily replied, eyes scanning the side of the road until she saw what she'd been sure she would. "Isn't that Ryan's car?" she said, looking over at Brooke.
Brooke frowned and pulled to a stop behind the car. "Stay here," she said, a knot forming in her stomach. She slowly got out of her car and approached Ryan's, hesitating when she saw the driver's side door wide open. "Ryan?" she called. "Mr. Atwood?" The car was empty, it's engine quiet and still, and when she leaned in to look for any signs of him, she saw the car was in park. He must have stopped on purpose, and when she craned her neck she saw the key was not only in the ignition but turned as though it had been on. She quickly turned the keys to off, then slid into the seat and tried to crank the engine, only to have it struggle briefly but not turn over, the same sound her care made when she forgot to put gas in it, which made sense since Ryan had left town two days earlier. Brooke hurriedly pulled the keys out, then climbed back out of the car, suddenly certain something very bad had happened. "Ryan?" she called again. "Ryan!"
"Brooke?"
Brooke turned to see that Lily had gotten out of the car and was about to order her back into it when she saw that the girl was staring at the road. When Brooke followed her gaze she saw the brown stain that was illuminated by her headlights. "Lily, get back in the car, now," Brooke ordered, moving quickly to grab the girl, even as she looked around for any signs of a threat. Once Lily was in the car, Brooke ran around to the driver's side and got in, slamming and locking the doors.
"Brooke?" Lily asked. "Did..."
"I don't know," Brooke said.
"What if he's hurt?"
"I'll find him," Brooke promised. She looked over at Lily, suddenly far more sure of herself that she had been just moments before. "I promise you, no matter what, I will find him."
~~~
"I'll find him," Snow promised the Good Queen.
"This is your fault, girl," Rumpelstiltskin snapped, glaring at her. "You had to destroy what I worked so hard to forge..."
"He didn't love her," Snow replied.
"Love has nothing to do with it!"
"Love has everything to do with it!" Snow said. "I love him, and I will find him. I will always find him! No Evil Queen and her insipid daughter can ever keep me from finding him and bringing him home to me."
"Father, there has to be a way," the Good Queen begged. "There has to be a way to find him, I know you have one!"
Rumpelstiltskin hesitated, seeing his daughter's heartache, and Snow's determination. "There is one way, but it has a cost. You know all magic does."
"Whatever the cost, I will pay it," Snow said.
"Even without knowing what the cost is?"
"Nothing is more important to me than him."
~~~
Caleb only pretended to be surprised when Brooke and Lily walked into the antique store. He had known this was coming, known that once Lily found her way to Storybrooke the spell would inevitably unravel. He also knew, as soon as Brooke looked at him that while she might have known to come to him, she didn't remember the past between them. Not yet anyway. "What can I do for you, Miss Davis?"
"You know what you can do, Rumplestiltskin!" Lily said.
"Is she still going on about that?" Caleb asked Brooke, ignoring the girl he had once, so very long ago, been looking forward to spoiling as his first grandchild.
"Ryan's been kidnapped," Brooke said.
"By The Evil Queen!" Lily said.
"Lily, enough," Brooke said. "His car was abandoned at the edge of town, and there was a pool of blood by it," she told Caleb.
"Blood?" Caleb asked, his anger rising. The one thing he had demanded from the Evil Queen when he told her what she had to do in order to bring about her revenge, was that his daughter and grandson would not be harmed. He had made it binding, his guarantee that they would be safe no matter what else happened, and if she had broken her end of the deal... "I think I know where she has him," he told Brooke, seeing that even without knowing who Ryan had been to her in another life, she was as determined now as she had been then.
"Lily, stay here," Brooke said.
"But..."
"She's right, it's not safe for you, not if... not if I'm right about what's happening," Caleb said. "But it's not safe here, either. We'll take you to my daughter."
"Your daughter?" Brooke asked.
"The Good Queen," Lily said, smiling. "My grandmother. Kirsten."
"We'll discuss your need to give up on fairytales after Ryan's safe," Brooke said.
"Let's go, we need to hurry," Caleb said, ushering Lily out. "She'll remember soon enough," he whispered to the girl, who actually smiled at him. He glanced back to Brooke in time to see her pick up a small knife, sliding it up her sleeve and Caleb smiled. Charming had been right to choose Snow to be his wife, to one day be the queen the kingdom needed.
~~~
Charming was trying again to find a weak spot in the bars of the cell when he heard quiet footsteps approaching and quickly got to his feet and moved back, wanting to be as far from the Princess as possible. But it wasn't her that stepped around the corner and faced him. "Snow." Her face lit up with a smile as she rushed to the bars, both of them reaching through to grasp each other's arms. "You found me," Charming said.
"Was there ever any doubt?" Snow replied, kissing him quickly before stepping away to rummage through a pouch on her belt.
"How..."
"Your grandfather," Snow said. "He used his magic to find you and to get me here safely."
"At what cost?" Charming asked.
"Nothing that matters as much as you do," Snow said, finally holding up a familiar smaller pouch tied with an orange ribbon. "Step back," she said.
Charming did as she said, turning away as she threw the pouch at the bars and light exploded in the dark dungeon. When it faded, he rushed to Snow, gathering her up in his arms for a proper kiss, then clutching her hand. "I think it's time to run," he said.
"I think so," Snow agreed with a laugh, producing another pouch, a bit larger and tied with red.
"What's that for?"
"We can't leave the way we came in, the guards will coming," Snow explained, stepping up to the broken bars and tossing the second pouch at the outer wall, which exploded in another flash, this time large enough to break the mortar and send it tumbling down into the ocean below. "Feel up for a swim?" she teased, shucking her cloak then offering him her hand.
Charming couldn't help smiling as he pulled off his outer layers, then took her hand, the two of them running towards the gaping hole as thunderous footsteps sounded behind them. With one last glance at each other, they jumped out of the dungeon and into the open air above the ocean.
~~~
Marissa was standing in the doorway of Ryan's basement cell, trying once more to convince him that the only way to return them all home was to accept that she, and only she, would be Queen of their joint kingdoms.
"I will never take you as my wife," Ryan said firmly. "I wouldn't before, what make you think I would now? You and your evil mother have taken everything from us, you have broken my family apart, you have locked me in a dungeon twice, and you think I could ever want you? I never wanted you! The only woman I will over call me wife, ever call my Queen, is Snow... is Brooke."
"I'll put a knife through her heart before that happens!" Marissa yelled.
"I don't think so."
Marissa spun, surprised to see Caleb and Brooke standing behind her. "How... you betrayed us!" she yelled at Caleb.
"I helped my my grandson, just like I did before," Caleb said.
"We'll discuss what you consider help, later," Ryan said.
"We'll discuss why he's calling you his grandson later," Brooke interjected.
"You don't remember?" Marissa said, laughing. "See how much she loves you, Charming? She doesn't even remember!"
"I can remember for us both," Ryan said, moving quickly to grab Marissa's arm and shove her deeper into the cell even as he moved out the door and slammed it shut. He saw the deadbolt and slid it closed, hearing Marissa's protests through it but not caring as he turned to face Brooke. "You found me," he said.
"With a little help," Brooke said, trying to resist the almost overwhelming urge to run to him, wrap her arms around him, kiss him. "What was she talking about? Remember what?"
Ryan moved forward, placing his hands on either side of her face. "Do you trust me?"
"More than I should," Brooke admitted.
Ryan kissed her, willing her to remember all of their kisses, from the first in the heat of the moment after escaping from Lucas' mercenaries together, to their last just before he had taken Lily from her arms in his desperate run to save their daughter from the Evil Queen's curse. He could see it all, every moment he had known her, every moment she had made him love her with a glance or a smile, a kind gesture or a bubbling laugh. When he finally pulled back, he looked at her, waiting.
"Charming."
Ryan smiled. "You found me," he repeated.
"I will always find you," Brooke replied surging forward to kiss him again.
"We should leave, before Julie and Lucas come back," Caleb said.
"We'll talk about what you did later," Ryan said. "I know about your deal," he added, to make it clear.
"Deal?" Brooke asked, looking between them. "What deal?"
"Right now, all that matters is getting to our daughter," Ryan said.
"Lily..." Brooke whispered. "I didn't believe her, I kept telling her to stop believing in fairytales."
"You can apologize when we get to her," Ryan promised.
"She's at Kirsten's house," Caleb said. "Kirsten may not remember any of us, but you know she would never let Lily come to harm."
"Let's go," Ryan said.
~~~
"Lily, I think I'd remember if Caleb Nichols was my father and Ryan Atwood was my son," Kirsten said.
"But you were cursed not to remember," Lily began yet again, but stopped and turned as the door opened, revealing Caleb, Ryan, and Brooke, the latter of which were clutching each other's hands. "Do you remember?" she asked.
"Yes," Ryan said, fighting the urge to cry as he saw her for the first time as his daughter. "We both do. Everything."
"You were right, an I am so sorry I didn't..." Brooke began.
"You were cursed not to," Lily said, jumping up and running to them, Kirsten getting to her feet as well. As the three embraced, it was like a wave rushed out from them, and Kirsten stumbled, falling back into her seat and closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, Kirsten looked at the reunited family. "Charming?" she said, getting up.
"Mother," Ryan replied, separating from Brooke and Lily to embrace her. He held her tight for a moment, then turned to Caleb. "And as for your deal with the Evil Queen..." he began.
"It was the only way I could guarantee that my family was safe," Caleb replied.
"What did you do, father?" Kirsten asked.
"She swore that there were only two possible endings to all of this," Caleb said. "The first was that Charming agreed to marry Marissa, uniting our kingdoms forever. The other was that if he refused, she would make sure none of us had our happy endings until he agreed."
"You knew what she was planning?" Brooke asked, the knife sliding from her sleeve as easily as it had disappeared up it.
"Not the details," Caleb insisted. "But, when I distracted her so you could sneak into the dungeon and rescue Charming, I made her a deal. I told her I knew how stubborn Charming could be, and that he wouldn't agree. And I told her that I would not interfere with her plan to take our happy endings as long as she signed a binding agreement that no harm would ever come to my flesh and blood, or Charming and his flesh and blood, from her doings. She couldn't harm Kirsten or Charming, or even Lily, or she would break that contract and she would owe me the penalty."
"So why'd you help save my dad?" Lily asked.
"Because you said there was a pool of blood by his car, that meant he was hurt, by her or one of her minions," Caleb said. "She broke our deal."
"You could have stopped her from doing all of this instead!" Ryan said.
"I doubt I could have stopped it, only delayed it," Caleb said. "This way, you knew the threat was coming, you knew to save Lily by sending her to this world before the curse was enacted. And she knew to come here and save us all by making the two of you remember. It was always True Love that would break the curse."
"But... Brooke kissed Ryan lots of times and they didn't remember," Lily said. "She kissed him in the hospital, when he was still asleep..."
"And he woke up a few hours later," Brooke said.
"And then again when I said you had to, because he woke up," Lily said.
"It wasn't exactly a kiss out of love, Lily," Ryan said. "I thought I should kiss her before the poor little delusion girl completely lost her mind," he added with a smile.
"What made you remember then?" Brooke asked.
"I drove to the edge of town, and there were two cars blocking the way," Ryan began. "It was Julie and Lucas, and... I reached for my hip like I thought there'd be a weapon there..."
"Your sword," Brooke said.
"Yes. And I keep thinking I should attack them before they attacked me, but... that seemed so ridiculous. Then Julie started talking about how it was suppose to be she and Marissa's turn for a happy ending. That I was ruining it all, just like I had before, when i rejected Marissa for Snow... and... and I saw it. I could see myself pretending to love Marissa because I was suppose to, and I could see myself chasing you down in the woods to get back the pendant. Forcing myself to kiss Marissa but.. feeling like I needed to kiss snow as much as I needed to breathe. And the more she talked, the more I remembered... fighting her men with Lily snug in my arms, and putting her in the wardrobe. Right up to seeing the guards open the wardrobe only to find it completely empty, and knowing my precious girl was safe. It was all there."
"You... you called me that before you got in your car," Lily said. "You kissed the top of my head and called me 'Precious', like it was my name."
"He called you that while I was pregnant," Brooke said. "You were, and are, our most precious treasure. No gold or jewels could ever mean more to us than you."
"You helped me break it," Ryan said to his daughter. "You kept insisting, and it cracked the wall that came all apart when I needed it to. And when Brooke and I kissed in the basement, after she freed me from that room, it broke for her. And it was all three of us, together and knowing, that broke it for everyone."
The End