Annelise groaned softly when she heard Eliza's voice in her room and felt one of her stuffed animals being thrown at her shoulder. "Go away Eliza i'll be ready in five minutes..." Annelise said as she pulled her comforter further over her head, then she felt Eliza starting to tug at the bottom of her blanket until it finally came off of her body feeling the cold air in her room coming over her body and her sister's footsteps running out of her room with her bed sheets. "I'm going to get her.." Annelise said to herself as she quickly got out of her bed, she looked at her phone seeing that her alarm had been turned off when she tried to press the snooze button. She got out of her bed and looked at herself in the mirror and started to fix up her hair tying it into a pony tail letting the white streak of hair was hanging on the right side of her face, she then quickly got changed into warm clothes.

Annelise grabbed her bed sheets that were strewn throughout the hallway and picked them up, she lazily threw them into her bedroom so she could fix it up later and made her way towards the kitchen. "Morning dad." Anne said giving her father a kiss on the cheek and stared at Eliza for a moment before answering her question. "I slept well until someone rudely woke me up." Anne said jokingly and took her mug starting to sip from it loving the warm taste of the, she leaned her back on the wall as she drank more of her hot chocolate. "I'll meet you outside don't worry sis." Anne said as she watched Eliza finishing her drink and making her way towards the front door.

"I'll see you later have fun with the meeting" Annelise said giving her father another kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Be careful both of you." Anne simply waved at him as she grabbed her blue beanie putting it over her head, and then her blue and green jacket and her own snowboard where Eliza was already walking forward and quietly grabbed some snow and packed it into a very tight ball and threw it as hard as she could at Eliza and smirked at her. "That's for throwing a stuffed animal at me, and pulling the covers off of me. And yes I do when it is my day off from work you should know that I wake up at the crack of dawn by now." Annelise said.

~Present Day~ Recreational Center~ Monterey, California
She bent down on the platform, bending her knees and pulling back as she has been taught. Her competitors line up next to her, each doing the same thing, but with less form than her. There’s a small beep and then she sets. She takes a deep breath in and looks down at the locket dangle from her neck. The gun goes off and she dives into the water. Her strokes going fast, she reaches the end of the pool before any of her competitors and twists to push off to go back.

The water splashes in her ears, drowning out almost all of the crowd’s cheering and she takes a deep breath to one side. She reaches the end again before her competitors and flips around to go for another lap. She has yet to get tired whatsoever. Her competitors are slowing down, but she isn’t. She never will. She has even tried before, but she hasn’t been able to get tired in the water.

She pushes off the end for her final push and makes it back, a good twenty seconds ahead of her rivals. She touches the end wall and pulls her head up, looking around. Her friends cheer her on from the sidelines and she smiles, lifting up her goggles. The others finally finish and she is able to hope out of the water and walk over to them. They don’t give her a hug because she’s wet.

“You did great, River!” her friends tell her, as they do every time. “I wasn’t even close!” She grins before looking down at her bag, which suddenly buzzes. She picks it up and grabs her phone. It’s a text from her father.

Meet me at the aquarium. You’re working tonight, remember? River sighs and tells her friends that she has to go. She pulls on a pair of loose black basketball shorts and hurries out the door. She passes by the basketball court, where she sees a young man working with some of the orphaned boys from the adoption home down the street…

---

~Present Day~ Rec Center~ Monterey, California
“Alright, good job, John!” he says with excitement as the new little boy begins to dribble perfectly. “Now keep it steady like that and—” The boy stumbles over his own two feet and falls to the ground. He begins to cry, sitting on the ground. He sighs and runs over to the poor lad. He helps him up and he kneels down in front of him.

“John, you were doing great!” he says.

“Peter, I’m never going to get it!” the little boy says, his lower lip trembling. Peter places a hand on the little boy’s shoulder, sighing. John was new to Peter’s little group and had a lot to learn before he could be with the big boys.

“Look, I was never good at basketball either. I would trip and fall and throw the ball where there was no one there. Darn, I even dribbled it too high, almost too where it would go over my head!” This gets a little giggle. “But you know what I would do if I ever trip and fell?” The boy shakes his head, wide eyed. “I would get up, laugh at myself, brush myself off, and try again.” He grabs the ball and hands it to the little boy. “Now do you want to sit and cry, or try again?”

“Try again!” the boy says with a great big smile on his face. He grabs the ball and dribbles it away from Peter. Peter smiles. He loves working at the rec with these little boys. On the inside, he wishes, though that he was still a young boy again, playing and having no responsibilities like these boys. He sighs and gets back to work.

---

~Present Day~ The Jolly Roger~ Neverland

He slams his good hand down on the table, nearly toppling the scrying bowl. Those pesky fairies were always getting in his way. He needed to get rid of them at some time but he couldn't figure out a way. There was one that was always in his hair, but he could never find her once she disrupted his plans.

He sighs as a crewman knocks on his door. "Captain we found another trove of pixie dust. Would you like us to bring it in?"

"No, I have a fresh batch here," he says. The crewman dips his head and Captain Hooke rolls his eyes. He turns back to the scrying bowl that is filled with the picture of Neverland. He grins. This is his kingdom and no one can take it from him ever.

---

She pets the top of her eel’s head as she looks into the bubbling pot. She waves her hand over it and a merman comes up, but it isn't Triton. She waves her hand again and this time the image disappears. She throws herself off of her throne and swims toward the edge of her cave.

Her long black tentacles then grip the sea floor as she walks toward the moaning and groaning seaweed near the entrance to her cave. She slams her fist against a wall and yells, “Shut up!” The force of the hit trembles the cave and immediately, the souls shut up. She wanders through them, smiling at how many she has. Almost all of the merfolk that stayed behind in Atlantica are at her feet right now. All, except a few. She wanders through and yells, “Where is Aquata, daughter of Triton?!” The souls stay silent. She smiles again, but this is not a nice smile. It is filled with venom and spite. “You remember the punishment for staying silent, do you not?”

A small voice comes up. “Over here, Ursula.” She turns in the direction of the voice and she sees a small seaweed next to one with a ring around the top of it. She grins and swims over to the ring seaweed. The eyes turn away from her.

“Are you going to tell me where your father is now that I have captured your sisters?” she asks. “Remember the deal. You tell me where he is, and I’ll let you go free.”

The seaweed shakes and responds with a no and Ursula growls. “Then you will stay here as my prisoner forever!” She turns away from the souls and swims angrily back over to her pot. She waves her hand over it again and this time it comes to a small island, but no sign of the king still and she growls again. She waves her hand again. I will find you Triton. Even if it’s the last thing I do.

Earth - Manhattan

He felt warm. Much warmer than what the usual temperature within his studio apartment on a rainy morning in Manhattan was. Finding difficulty in opening one eye, Baeden squinted as the morning light streamed down onto his face, forcing his eye back shut immediately as a pressing headache formed it's way between his eyes. Peeling open his eye in a second attempt, Baeden let out a tired groan wanting at least a few more minutes to sleep in, but his work schedule wouldn't allow it.

Taking stock of his limbs, Baeden opened his second eye to find his cheek pressed intimately to the bare backside of a woman and an arm wrapped around her waist, hand resting on her abdomen. The events of the night before slowly filtered through his sleep-induced mind and Baeden couldn't help but to smirk at his good fortune.

Taking great care to untangle himself from the still sleeping woman, Baeden placed a gentle kiss on the backside of her shoulder before he managed to sit upright on the bed and fish around for his clothes, finding his wife-beater first and slipped it on. Standing up, he pulled his worn blue jeans back on, working on the belt as he made his way over to the front door of her apartment and wiggled his shoes on, not even stopping to bother with the laces.

Taking a minute to run his fingers through his hair, Baeden slipped out the front door quietly, so as not to wake the waitress he had met at the bar just last night. The last thing he needed was for her to get the wrong idea that last night had meant something. She didn't seem like the type that would, but then again, anything was possible when you were drunk.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Baeden began the walk to the main street where he could hail a cab and make it back to his apartment for a quick shower and change of clothes before heading to work. Taking a quick look at the clock on his old flip-phone, he found that if he hurried, he would have just enough time. It took fifteen minutes; even at the crack of dawn Manhattan was traffic-busy, pressing the matter that he might want to think about saving up for a motor bike to get around quicker even harder.

With a quick shower and a change of clothes that was better suited for the slight downpour of the morning, Baeden headed back out to the busy streets, stopping at a corn-dog stand on his way to get something into his stomach, grateful for the break in rain underneath the kiosk's umbrella.

"Heeey! Baeden! Lookin' a bit tired this morning. Rough weekend?"

Baeden smirked, reaching to his back pocket to pull out a couple one's from his wallet.

"Eventful." He replied, slapping the money onto the kiosk, putting his wallet away before grabbing the two corn dogs handed over to him.

"Ah, well, could be worse I suppose. You take care ya?"

Baeden gave a half-assed salute with one of the corn dogs, chuckling a bit to himself as he then bit off the end and headed on his way down the street. He was nearly finished with the first one when he felt a pair of eyes on him from behind. Stopping, Baeden turned to find a young boy, no older than eight, staring hungrily at the second corn dog in his opposite hand.

Baeden didn't have to guess where the boy came from, or what he wanted. It was clear in his ragged clothes and unwashed hair that he was living on the streets, and had been for a few months now. But it wasn't the clothes and the unwashed hair that let Baeden know this, it was the look in his eyes, the same look he himself held for a number of years before landing a job with the construction company he still worked for. It could have been days since the boy had found something to eat, and his heart went out to the kid.

Adjusting his weight a bit, and popping what was left of the first corn dog into his mouth, Baeden headed over to the boy, handing him the remainder of his breakfast.

Wide eyed and full of awe, the boy graciously took the corn dog from Baeden and turned to leave.

"Hey kid!" Baeden called out, reahing back to his wallet in his back pocket. The boy turned, fearful at first that it was all just a trick and Baeden would take the corn dog back as some cruel joke he had been subjected to over his experiences of begging for food. Instead, Baeden pulled out a ten-dollar bill and placed it into the boys hand. "Dinner on me yeah?"

Grinning madly, the boy bobbed his head up and down, the worn woolen cap on his head threatening to topple off his large brown curls. Baeden just smiled and patted him on the back, sending the boy on his way. That ten dollars was supposed to buy him food for the next two days, as his fridge made the usual teenage bachelor look well stocked, but the look on the kid's face was well worth the trade for a couple bowls of cereal.

Feeling a bit lighter in his step, Baeden turned back around and called for the cab that would then take him to work, whistling a merry tune to himself as he waited.

Present Day ~ San Francisco ~ Earth

Rapunzel sat on the fire escape just outside her room and looked down at the streets below. It was pretty early in the morning so the streets were yet to be busy. Even the trolley, when it passed now and again, was only half full. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and stood before climbing back into her room in the small apartment that she shared with the woman who found her, Agatha. Her room was pretty empty with only a bed, a desk, and mirror. However, Rapunzel couldn't complain this felt familiar even though none of it really was. Not to mention, Agatha had spent her money elsewhere on Rapunzel as she bought the girl clothes and paid the full rent for the two of them. Rapunzel was just glad that the woman had given her a job in her salon and allowed her to pay her back in someways. The money that she did make Rapunzel bought paint supplies and books and other little things that made her happy, like a miniature model of the Golden Gate Bridge.

She took a seat at her makeshift vanity and looked at the mirror just above her desk. She played with her long hair for moment before she began to braid it. Braiding her hair always took a while and she had learnt how to make quick work of it. When she tied of the ends she pin it all up into a bun and smiled as she grabbed her sketchbook and climbed out her window and down the fire escape. If it were just to Rapunzel she would keep her hair down and even longer than it was but she wasn't really sure how she had ever managed to grow it that long and be comfortable with it. The wind off the bay was enough to bug her now when she left it down and it all blew into her face.

Rapunzel walked down the street a ways before hoping on the trolley and made her way to the docks where she could see Alcatraz. Agatha didn't seem to excited by the place but Rapunzel had never seen anything like it... In fact, she had never seen anything like a lot of the things San Francisco had to offer. Cell phones, cars, computers, sour dough! Agatha laughed and always said it was like she really had been stuck in a tower or under a rock all these years.

When she reached the docks, Rapunzel took off her shoes and sat down. She let her toes rest in the cold ocean water as she opened her sketchbook in her lap. She began to sketch the prison and felt as though she had some kind of connection to it. Although, it didn't make much sense... After all, she wasn't a criminal and had certainly never ended up in a prison. However, the feeling of being trapped seemed to resonate with her in a way that she didn't understand....

The Enchanted Forest - The Dark Castle

He hated letters. By far they were the most annoying way to contact him and yet it seemed that’s how a good majority of the desperate souls looking to make a deal were able to get his attention. There were the braver few who called upon him by name; those were by far easier to filter though than the mundane task of sifting through mountains upon mountains of letters.

Absentmindedly tuning out the agonized noises coming from the dungeon below, Rumpelstiltskin began to thumb through the sealed envelopes, first looking for any seal that he recognized or that caught his interest. Finding none in the small pile he had separated earlier, he reached out and broke the seal of the first one he grabbed and began the tedious task of dissecting the written word of their intent, task, and of course most interesting to him, payment.

It wasn't until the eighth letter of then ten that he felt his curiosity even remotely stirred. A woman, a noble at that, felt it in her need to inform The Dark One that Prince Thomas would be holding a royal ball in search for a princess. Rumpelstiltskin snorted, he was very well aware of these particular functions, it always brought in a higher volume of letters from young women all wanting the same thing… a guarantee to their fate. This woman, however, didn't ask for beauty or status or anything of the sort, at least not for herself, but for her two daughters, that they would be granted a highly favorable chance to catch the Prince's attention, and his heart. It wasn't the contents within this letter that had the gears in his twisted little mind grinding, but the name signed at the bottom.

Lady Tremaine. A name he knew not by encounter, but by the Fairy Godmother bestowed upon the family through generation upon generation. For years now he had been trying to pinpoint the location of that pesky little flea, and now the opportunity seemed to have fallen right into his lap without him so much as lifting a finger. Of course he had no intent to help out Lady Tremaine and her two daughters. He would simply stop by, unnoticed, and cause something to happen that would illicit a visit from their family guardian and finally take back what was rightfully his, a particular wand that once in his possession, his power of foresight would be increased. A twisted giggle came from the dark sorcerer as he moved himself from his writing desk and tucked the letter safely away in his breast pocket underneath his dragon hide coat.

Rumpelstiltskin descended the spiral stone staircase of the tower and shortly found himself in the Dining Hall. With a quick flourish of his right hand, the candelabras lining the cold, stone walls lit to life and with a quick snap of his fingers, a fire began to crackle in the stone hearth to his left. He felt nothing for the cold of his castle, but the flickering lighting and quiet sputters from the fireplace always seemed to bring him some small amount of comfort, able to pull his mind from the present and leave it in a place where he had once been happy… so many years ago…

Pulling out the single leather chair that sat at the head of the polished wooden table, Rumpelstiltskin took a seat and rested his bony elbows onto the table's wooden surface. Steepling his hands together just under his chin, his dead eyes peered over the top of his fingertips at the lone spinning wheel towards the corner of the room.

It was there that just this morning during a rather aggravated spinning session, when his mind was no longer a victim of the hypnotic lull of the creak of the spinning wheel, he had forced himself up and to his study in the tower. There, he retrieved an old, battered, child’s cloak from a magically sealed box and laid it out on his work bench. Retrieving a small potion from his cabinet, he sprinkled a few drops of the shimmering blue liquid onto the cloak and watched with bated breath. The cloak did not move, the locator spell did not activate, and Baelfire was still lost. Aggravated after thirteen years of the same thing, day after day, Rumpelstiltskin had grabbed onto the first thing he could get his hand on and threw the spell book of common poisons halfway across the room before it thumped against the stone wall of the tower and slid down onto the floor.

The Dark One would have had quite the expansive collection of books if he had ever gotten around to organizing them. There wasn't even a separate room in which to keep them in, despite the large castle he resided in. It wasn't by any means because there was no room, he just had better things to do than to organize the books into a library; he was able to find what he wanted in his organized chaos, so there was no need.

Instead with every new book he obtained it only added to the piles of books in every room in the castle, unsorted and ungrouped merely collecting dust. Most of these books he had collected over the many passing years in deals as a petty price when they had nothing else he would want. He had no use for those books, but he never came out of a deal without anything to show for it. There were books, though a select few, that he had gone great lengths to have in his possession. Spell books, ancient tomes, anything that could help to increase his knowledge on who and what he was, magic, and how to gain more power. And then of course there was the most recent book he had wriggled out the grasp of a previous student of his to finish his collection on more... potent poisons that the common person wouldn't normally stumble across. Regina had a hard time parting with it, but her desire for blood lust over her step-daughter Snow White won out in the end and the deal was made.

Snarling as he watched the book fall to the floor, knowing that peace would be far from his mind now, the sorcerer magicked a letter into his hand with a quick flick of the wrist, and read it over. It did not matter how petty the request that lay in the letter was, he needed the distraction and so reading over the contents, he vanished in a puff of crimson smoke to call upon the desperate soul who had written to him.

Presently, The Dark One pulled himself from his activities that morning lest he lose his temper again and sat back in his leather chair, trying to enjoy the quiet of his castle. Now completely immersed in the silence he had become so accustomed to, Rumpelstiltskin quickly shoved an idea from his mind as soon as it came. He would never admit it to anyone, he hadn't even been able to admit it to himself, but the realization hit his gut harder than he thought possible as he finally began to accept the hard truth. He was lonely. He had always been lonely. Over the last thirteen years, he had only enjoyed the company of a few select people that weren’t limited to the comings and goings of the deals he made daily.

He had tried to fill that empty void left behind by his wife and child with apprentices, broadening their magical horizons and teaching them what thousands of centuries of memories of previous Dark One’s had mastered and for the most part, it worked out quite well. Then there was his last caretaker-turned-apprentice Zelena. Taking a minute to run his finger along the wooden table, inspecting the pad of his finger of the dust, he rubbed his finger and thumb together to dispel of the small mess, his lingering suspicion now confirmed. Had it truly been that long since The Wicked Witch had taken her leave?

Rumpelstiltskin folded his hands back into his lap as he relaxed back into his leather chair, letting his eyes flutter closed as he allowed his mind to drift back to the last person he had shared his castle with. She was a different sort of crazy, that much was clear, but she had been... necessary. Meeting her nearly a year ago, it was the first time he had doubted his foresight ability. It wasn't very often The Dark One was caught off guard for that very reason and yet, he never saw her coming.

He had taken Zelena up almost immediately as his apprentice, pleased with the raw power she already held within her and though she showed little control, she showed promise. He was sure that together, their powers could help him in finding his son, but he had to be sure, and that self-served test cost him the only woman who had enjoyed keeping his castle clean and cooking his meals.

Zelena wasn't the best company by any means, as she had found some strange fixation- no, obsession on him (more likely his power than him as a person), but the witch had been someone to talk to, someone to keep his mind from slipping into desolate madness despite her skin literally turning green with envy while he continued to tutor other apprentices. With her gone now, an emptiness had made itself known in his castle, something he hadn't ever noticed before in his time there. He wouldn't shudder away from the idea of having another caretaker... however this time, he would hold the magic lessons. The women he taught magic to tended to turn on him in one way or another.

A smile split his lips apart as he craned his neck to the side, rewarded by a few cracking sounds that immediately brought a release in pressure to his left shoulder. After his dealings with the Tremaine Godmother, he would look for another to fill Zelena’s place as his caretaker. God’s knew he missed the home-cooked meals and overall warmness having a second person in his castle brought (of course not counting his current prisoner locked up tight in his dungeon). So without even so much as a snap of his fingers, he was gone from The Dark Castle in an instant to pay the house of Tremaine a quiet visit.

“Make sure those tanks are nice and clean, River!” her father yells to her. River smiles as she jumps down into the tank with a scuba suit on. She swims to the front of the tank, scrubbing the inside of it with a sponge. She looks over her shoulder and sees her bright red hair floating up around her face. She moves it aside and sees a few of the fish swimming toward her. She smiles at them, hoping to not frighten them and draws some fish feed out of a pocket on her scuba suit. She scatters it in the water near her and soon a bunch of fish are swimming near her, eating up the feed.

She grins and continues to wipe down the tank. Once she’s done, she swims back up to the surface of the tank. She takes a big gulp of air and crawls out of the tank with the help of one of the workers at the aquarium. She looks at her father and her mother and smiles at them. They are whispering a few feet over and looking over at her. She walks over to them. “What’s going on?”

“We were thinking… that you’ve been doing such a good job in the aquarium lately that we should take a vacation!” her father says.

“Vacation?” she says.

“For a week, up at that Brie ski resort near Lake Tahoe. We were thinking that we would close the aquarium for a week and head up there. How does that sound?”

River smiles and jumps on her parents, giving both of them hugs. “That sounds amazing! Let’s do it!”

---

Peter shrugs off his jacket, setting it down on a chair. He runs a hand through his hair, yawning with exhaustion. He had stayed at the recreational center until ten o’clock, when it closed. He works with the boys for as long as they want and more of them kept coming, so he stayed later than he normally does. He kicks off his shoes and lays down in a chair. He looks around his lonely apartment and sighs. He hasn’t had a girlfriend since his high school days and he doesn’t talk to his parents much. He doesn’t exactly feel connected to them.

He sighs and puts his head in his hands. He just needs to be away from the city for a bit. He loved the kids, but he wanted to connect with his inner kid once more. He has always wanted to go back to those kid days, the ones that he can’t really remember all that well. He bites the insides of his cheeks and suddenly, there’s a knock on his door. He raises his eyebrow and sits up. Something slides underneath his door. He stands up and walks to the door, opening it. There’s no one there. He narrows his eyes and then shuts the door again. He notices a letter on the floor. He kneels down and picks it up. He sees that it is a flyer for a ski resort up in Lake Tahoe.
Maybe this is where I need to go, just to get away for a while he thinks. He then walks away to start packing.

---

Captain Hooke frowns, staring down at the bowl. There was still no luck in finding that tricksy pixie that kept illuding his grasp. He sighs and scratches his head with his hook. He frowned. Those pixies were always rebelling against him and he doesn't understand why. He has tried to make everything nice for them and for what? So they rebel against him. There has never been a better leader here.

He stares down at the scrying bowl again and murmurs the pixie name. Once again, it comes up as a red rose and nothing more. He frowns and sighs, leaning back in his chair. First thing in the morning, he would head ashore and search by himself for those darn pixies.

---

Ursula stares down at the bowl again, her tentacles waving around the base of it. She growls. Still no luck in finding Triton. She turns to the trident and crown sitting by her throne. What she wouldn’t give to have that little jerk back here. She needed to finish what she started by handing Triton over to that dark wizard, which was a mistake. She needed to take that jerk out of the picture so he wouldn't take her throne. Permanently.

She turns toward the trident. She has yet to wield it since the dark days, when the Dark Queen first came over the waters. It was too powerful for her then, but she has learned and has been training herself in the way of magic. She may be able to control it enough for her to find Triton, especially if the Dark One has a spell on him to shield him from her. She grabs the trident and a surge of power goes through her. She smiles maniacally. I will savor this. I love this. she thinks before waving the trident over the pot. She smiles and approaches.

Earth - Manhattan

Practically drenched in rain by the time he made it from the cab to the construction site, Baeden hurried inside the small, temporary building where his boss and his boss’s boss spent most of their work days eating sandwiches and barking orders. Taking a moment to peel off his jacket and hanging it up, Baeden quickly hurried over to the crappy coffee machine that stayed on throughout the day to ensure that their workers remained alert and full of energy to complete the work day. He was just adding a couple spoonful’s of tasteless, powdered creamer before he felt a strong arm on his shoulder, followed by his boss’ voice.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you looked hung over.”

Baeden tossed the plastic spoon into the trash can and turned to face his boss. August W. Booth, a man who acted years beyond his natural age with an academic degree in sucking up. He was hardly a year or two older than Baeden, a couple inches taller with a scraggly black beard hiding away his youthfulness, but carried himself in a way that made it easy for Baeden to relate to as an older brother or even a father no matter how hard he tried not to. It never helped August’s cause when the man went out of his way trying to spend time with Baeden, always wanting him to come out with him to the clubs on the weekends or catch a movie on premier night. Baeden knew what he was doing, of course. It wasn’t at all based around a friendship, that August insisted he wanted to strengthen between the two of them, but because he felt sorry for him. August just couldn’t wrap himself around the fact that Baeden liked being alone; flying solo.

“What’s the job today? Can’t do a whole lot of cement mixing when it’s raining cats and dogs.” Baeden replied, going out of his way to ignore August’s observation. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture on needing a wing man. He didn’t need one; he had done quite well last night on his own.

“That’s actually what I want to talk to you about.” August replied taking his hand off of Baedens’s shoulder and scooted Baeden to the side to allow him access to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup. “And before you say anything, I’ve already talked to Marco about all this and he’s already approved it.”

Baeden raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of the bitter beverage grateful at least the Styrofoam cup was doing something for him by warming his numb fingers. Marco was August’s boss, the big man on site. He was the grand overseer to almost everything that went on in Baeden’s division, and Baeden couldn’t have asked to work for a more honest, hard-working man in his life. He was much more of a ‘behind-the-scenes’ guy, and each time Baeden had the opportunity to talk with him directly he was always halfway through a sandwich, but with how well the business was flourishing, Baeden could only assume that someone was doing their job right. Most people would think that a father-son construction company would fail within its first few years, and even though, in Baeden's opinion, August could be a complete moron that knew nothing about the business, Marco made up for it ten times over.

“Oh? What’s the big boss gotta say now?” Baeden asked, turning back to the coffee station to add another spoon of sugar in hopes that it would make the drink more tolerable. It didn’t. August set down his own cup of coffee and reached into his leather jacket’s inside pocket and procured an envelope. Curious, Baeden kept the corner of his eye on it while adding another spoonful of sugar.

“You know you work hard, I know you work hard, and Pop’s knows you work hard. So think of this as an early Christmas on us.”

Defeated in curiosity, Baeden abandoned his cup of coffee and snatched the envelope from August, pulling out two fliers from within, both exactly the same with tickets stapled onto them.

“Lake Taho?” Baeden asked looking over the flier before looking back to August. “You’re making me take a vacation?”

“Well don’t sound too thrilled. Pops and I worked hard getting those tickets for you-“

“You won them gambling.” Baeden interrupted, gesturing towards the receipt that had been tucked away inside one of the fliers. August just smiled and put an arm around Baeden’s shoulder, opening up one of the fliers to a particular page and began pointing out a few things.

“They’ve got snowboarding, skiing, five-star hotel rooms with room service and a Jacuzzi... C’mon, it will be fun! Paid time off to go snowboarding? I’d say your boss deserves a raise.” August split his lips into a wild grin, but Baeden didn’t seem amused.

“There’s two tickets…” He observed, and August clapped him on the back before starting to walk away.

“Well I’m not going to let you have all the fun. Head on home Bae, get yourself packed up. I’ll stop by your place in two hours and we’ll head to the airport.”

Stuffing the tickets back into the envelope, Baeden let out a defeated sigh. Truly, he’d rather spend the next few days playing with two-by-fours and nails but with the weather going on the way it was, it seemed to be a fruitless argument. Shaking his head slightly, he went back to the entrance and grabbed his coat, stuffing the envelope into his pocket before braving the pouring rain as he called for another cab to go back home.

Annelise laughed softly even though she knew that the cold never bothered her sister it still felt good to throw a snowball at her. "Yeah I know the cold doesn't bother you like spent twenty-four seven out in the slopes." She said as she walked along Elisa's side hearing the snow making crunching noises as the two walked side by side and looked up at the sky for a moment feeling the sun touching her face relaxed her. Annelise perked up when Elsa asked if she wanted to either go out to lunch or go to the lodge and eat something and looked at her older sister. "As long as your paying for lunch I can drive us down to town does that work?" Annelise asked as they made it to the lift that would take them up the mountain and got in the seat next to Elsa setting her board in the small holder that would hold her board or skies.

"I say we spend as much time together as possible before the tourists come in, and we are busting our asses off down at the lodges." Annelise said and smiled at the thought of their father buying them the fancy chocolates that they would always get from their hard work helping running the business. "You think we should do something nice for dad since he is busy a lot?" Annelise asked looking at her sister as the lift started to move them up the mountain.

Present Day~Las Vegas, Nevada~Earth

It was a regular night for Dustin.It started with him trying to stay out of trouble. He walked into the Strip and walked around the area trying to not steal from anyone. He had been out of the police's attention for a few weeks now. He had been staying out of trouble, not getting anyone's attention. He had done as he had promised and kept his nose to the ground. However now he had broken that promise and was running through the Strip with his target giving chase.

He knew this area like the back of his hand and could run it blindfolded if he had to. He had been hunting this guy for awhile now since Dustin had reason to believe that the guy had mob ties. The mark had not seen Dustin's face since it was hidden with a cloth mask. He figured that this chase would keep the guy busy for awhile. As he ran he quickly tried to turn into an alley but was grabbed and pulled in a different direction. He started to struggle before he noticed the LVPD badge on the guy's belt.

"Gotta say kid you have issues going after a mob goon." A gruff voice told him as Dustin was put down. He was getting glared at by an angry looking older man. "Oh hello Leary." Dustin said smiling at the man. "How are you,boss?" He said looking over as his target ran by. "Don't give me that crap, kid. You gotta stop doing this." The old man said sighing. "I am taking you home." He said before Dustin could explain.

Twenty minutes later Dustin was getting yelled at by his parents over this. "That's it! This is the fourth time this month the LVPD has taken you home when they should have taken you to jail. You're lucky Leary likes the information you give him or you would be in prison." His father lectured him before suddenly he smiled. "Alright that's it! You are going to your aunt and uncle's place in Lake Tahoe! Two weeks away from the city and your work with Leary! I am not having my son get murdered by the mob!" His father yelled crossing his arms. Dustin glared at his father and stormed off to his room to pack. He knew arguing was pointless.

So that was why currently he was on a flight from McCarran International to Reno-Tahoe International. He was furious but he knew that he had to do this. He could not ski or snowboard so this could be interesting.

Rapunzel packed up her things off the dock and looked at her picture as she stood. It was nice, the dark lines of the prison were bordered by thinner lines of shading. The entire picture was grey-scale and filled with shading. When she was done looking at it, she stuffed her book back into her bag and stood before she headed back to the hair salon. When she got there Agatha was holding and envelope. She handed it, grinning, to Rapunzel. The girl took it knowing well what it was. Once Rapunzel had gotten settled she had gotten straight to work and hadn't stopped since she got here a year ago. Agatha thought it was about time that the girl took a break and told her that she was going to send her on a vacation to Lake Tahoe. Agatha wasn't going to come though as she used excuses like Rapunzel needed time alone or to find friends her own age but really it was because she could leave work and Rapunzel knew that. She admired that.

"The car is out front," She hugged Rapunzel, "I'll see you soon, kid."

Rapunzel nodded, "Thanks, Aggie."

She quickly ran upstairs and grabbed her bag out of her closet before she pulled it over her should and headed out the door. She waved to Agatha through the window as they drove off. She made sure she had packed her art supplies because, well, she didn't have the heart to tell Agatha that she didn't know how to snow board or ski... Her talents were very much of the indoor variety. However, she knew that the ski lodge she was going to had some beautiful pictures taken that she wouldn't mind trying to get down on paper.

The Enchanted Forest - Tremaine Manor

He was beginning to lose his patience. For hours now he had been keeping to the shadows, learning everything he could about the Tremaine family to further determine what angle was needed to get that flea of a fairy to show up. He learned a lot, despite the content being rather dull; but it was necessary. Lady Tremaine, two children on her own and the three of them couldn't have been more rotten to the core. There was a marriage, then a funeral, then a child left behind for Lady Tremaine to care for... the details were all there, he just found that he really could have cared less. But there was just one minor thing keeping him there. Cinderella. The step-child that the three spoiled rotten women took upon themselves to convert into a maid for their convenience. Watching the girl go about her daily duties in cleaning the rather large estate, he realized that she would be the key to bringing the fairy godmother to him. There was a ball that evening, the very one Lady Tremaine was bold enough to remind him of, and Cinderella had been told that she could go if she got all her chores done. Now... this certainly wouldn't do. The hatred for the step-child was there, he just had to bring it out.

It was for that very reason that Drizella, one of the step-sisters, found half of a dead mouse in her morning tea. It was also why the cat's supper had been replaced with melted soap and why Cinderella's gown had 'mysteriously' taken on personal belongings of the two step-sisters and step-mother. All day Cinderella was left confused as to why all these things were happening, she had nothing to do with any of it and she was sure that it was just her step-mother playing a vicious prank on her to keep her from being able to attend the ball like she had promised she could. But the dress had been the last straw.

Rumpelstiltskin watched with a twisted grin on his face as the women ripped the gown into shreds, leaving Cinderella nothing to wear in time for the ball and leaving her home to cry out her sorrows for reasons she didn't quite understand. Finally, after hours and hours of waiting and watching Cinderella sweep the same spot on the terrace over and over again, she came.

She flew in from around the corner, no larger than the rats that he occasionally found running through his castle. Rat wasn't that far of a stretch either as he looked upon the fairy. Enamored in a gold dress, a tinkling sound each time she flapped her shimmering wings... it made him all entirely sick.

"Do not despair my dear. you will attend that ball." The fairy tinkled, getting Cinderella's attention almost immediately.

"Who are you?" Cinderella asked, wide-eyed and unbelieving of the anomaly she was seeing flying right in front of her nose. A sparkling shimmer ran over the small fairies body as she suddenly went through a transformation, putting herself at life size and doing away with her wings so that she may converse with Cinderella on a more proper level.

"I'm your fairy god mother, and I'm here to change your life, Cinderella." She said with a soft smile.

"But... my step-mother told me that I couldn't go. She forbade me to leave." Cinderella explained. The last thing she wanted was for her step-mother and step-sisters to have any more reason to hate her and bring her life down. Even if she wasn't responsible for all those horrid things that happened today.

"Your step-mother doesn't have this." The fairy god mother said procuring a magic wand and showing it off to Cinderella.

Bingo

A twisted smile came across Rumpelstiltskin's ruined teeth and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared from the tree branch he had been sitting on and reappeared with his feet planted firmly on the ground on the very terrace that Cinderella and her fairy god mother were conversing, though had somehow gone unnoticed by the two women thus far.

"This wand has the power to take you to your ball, to your prince, and to your-"

He had heard enough, he really wasn't sure just how much more of the rat's blabbering of 'happy endings' and 'true love' he could take so he stopped her right there. Feeling the magic within the fairy's body, he manipulated her own magic with his until a sudden pressure started building up and within a matter of seconds, she exploded into a light rain of sparks and fairy dust, leaving nothing behind that would even remotely alert someone that a person was once standing there aside from the wand she had been previously holding that clattered down to the ground, unharmed.

Crying in surprise, Cinderella jerked herself a few steps backwards, grateful she had the wooden broom handle in her grasp to keep her upright from the shock. It was then that Rumpelstiltskin stepped forward into the light, bending down to pick up the magic wand, feeling the girl's impenetrable gaze on him as he did so.

"What? What did you do?" She tried to sound demanding, but fear was taking over her bravado.

"Now, now..." He consoled, holding up the wand to the light for her to see. "I got what I wanted. There's no need to be frightened." He kept his smile and eased himself back into standing up.

"No need? You just killed my fairy god mother! She was trying to help me!"

"Was she? Do you know what this is?" He asked, sing-songing the question and waving the wand back and forth in front of her.

"Pure magic?"

"Pure evil. Trust me. I've done you a favor. All magic comes with a price. Go on back to your life, and thank your lucky stars you still get something to go back to."

Cinderella shook her head no, a stubbornness coming over her face that he hadn't been expecting.

"My life... is wretched."

"Then change it. You can't handle this." He snapped, highly annoyed the girl wouldn't just let go. He turned his back to her and started walking away, already thinking of the exact spot in his dining hall where he would be putting the wand on display.

"Wait please wait!" Cinderella called, running to catch up with him. "I can handle it! Please, I will do anything to get out of here, anything!"

This stopped Rumpelstiltskin in his tracks, the prospect of making a deal just too tempting to pass up.

"Anything?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow; the gears in his head already grinding into what he would be asking for in return.

"Do you know how to use that wand, Mr...?"

"R-R-R-Rumpelstiltskin!" He introduced himself and gave Cinderella a deep, theatrical bow, only to raise his head to look at her and add, "And yes, of course I do." He said sounding slightly insulted at the question.

"Then help me!" She pleaded as he came out of his bow slowly and put his hands together, letting his fingers play with the tip of the wand.

"Well if I do... and you can indeed... shoulder the uh, consequences... then you'll owe me a favor..." He said taking a few steps towards her before starting to circle her like a vulture waiting for it's prey to drop dead.

"Name it, what do you want?" Cinderella asked, turning on her heel to try to keep her eyes on him. He stopped his circle and bent his neck forward, keeping his eyes on her as he invaded that small area of personal space before speaking,

"Something... precious!"

"I have nothing..."

He pulled back and started walking again.

"Oh but you will! With this wish will come riches moooore than you know!"

"I care nothing for riches. I'll give you anything you want just get me out of here!" Cinderella pleaded, earning what she assumed was a genuine smile on Rumpelstiltskin's face the first time upon their meeting.

"Now we're talking." He said, wiggling his eyebrows and keeping his smile.

"How does it work?" Cinderella asked, looking from his strange face to the wand he held in his hand.

"Fear not! My needs... are small... and all you have to do, is sign on the dotted line!" With a lazy flourish of his hand, a contract suddenly appeared in his hand, a couple feet long and nearly touching the ground at his feet with a quill perched between his fingers that held onto the contract. Cinderella took a small step backwards at such the casual use of magic, but she was more driven by the prospect of finally having a happy life that she didn't move any more than that. "Do we have a deal?" Rumpelstiltskin then asked, his voice child-like in the fact that he was only too eager to get this finished.

"Yes! Yes thank you!" Cinderella stepped forward and grabbed the quill from his hand. Rumpelstiltskin stood up straight and brought the contract around so that it was laying behind him on his back, acting as a hard surface for her to sign her name at the bottom which she did quickly, not bothering to read any of the contract he had drummed up. When she finished, he gave the contract a quick look over, mumbling a quiet "Hmmm" as he confirmed that everything was legit.

With the hand that held fast to the wand, he flicked his wrist and immediately Cinderella was encased in a thick fog of crimson smoke. When the smoke cleared, gone were her rags and in it's place a beautiful blue dress worthy of nothing less than royalty took it's place. Her hair was done up and her makeup pristine and everything about her was just as perfect as it could be. She couldn't help but to flash Rumpelstiltskin a brilliant white smile in her happiness, and Rumpelstiltskin just giggled in reply, clearly pleased in his handy work. It was then that Cinderella looked down at her feet and spotted two glass slippers, just waiting to be put on.

"Glass?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Every story needs a mem-or-able de-tail! Let's see how they fit shall we?" He pointed out and watched as she slipped her small feet into the glass shoes. "Now you have a good time, but be sure to watch the clock!"

Cinderella gave him one last smile before hurrying off to make her own happily ever after.

After she had gone, he had transported himself from The Tremaine household and back to his castle. He was just settling the magic wand down in a metal holder kept up on a pedestal in at the side of the room. Finally, his collection was complete, there was hardly anything he couldn't do now... of course portal jumping was out of the question, but he'd find a way.

"Rumpelstiltskin!"

The Dark Sorcerer closed his eyes, hearing his name being called leagues away. For those few who knew that they could simply summon him by name, it always seemed to be at the most inopportune of times. Still, it was less annoying than letters.

"RUMPELSTILTSKIN!"

Rumpelstiltskin let out a deep breath of annoyance. This was a call he couldn't put off. Abandoning the magic wand he had every intention of stripping it's magic of, he summoned a cloud of crimson smoke to cover him entirely and he was gone from his castle. Whatever it is Rothbart needed had very well better be worth his time, or he would be adding a new snail to his gardens later that evening.

Anna looked towards Elsa and blushed deeply talking about her crush on the bartender at The Bent Elbow and gave her sister a playful nudge on her shoulder. "Shut up, I don't have a crush on him! If I remember right one of your students our age tried hitting on you last year." She said crossing her arms over her chest, her eyes would look down below the lift seeing a few snowboarders going down the side of the mountain and smiled she couldn't wait to go down once more. Anna could hear Elsa's phone going off and looked over at her phone curious about the text her sister got and sighed throwing her head back after hearing some of the guests having arrived earlier then they should have been, though it was not expected this time of year people are on vacation or getting ready for their trips. "Well we have a full staff by now, so i'm sure Damion and Carla can handle an hour or two running things. I'm not ready to deal with loud and annoying customers and serving them their food and drinks just yet."

Anna leaned forward looking out over the mountains seeing the same amazing view her sister was and smiled. "I bet you cant wait to carve your name down on those slopes, if things settle down want to make a few runs during the night Ice Princess?" Anna asked as she dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone, she searched through her songs while grabbing out her ear buds to listen to some music when they go down the mountain.