[Closed] Through all the things my eyes have seen

[justella]

Who: Ella, Henry, Emma, Regina, Drizella
Where: around
When: starting 6/5 and probably until the chess game
Rating: Safe for all ages, G for gross marrieds.
Summary: Ella comes back to Wonderland- has good news and bad news and finds her family.
The Story:

One minute she’s talking to Sabine in her truck the next she’s standing in an unfamiliar garden. Well, unfamiliar for just a moment before everything comes racing back. Wonderland, the curse, who she really is, Henry.

She takes a moment or two to take it in, reorient herself, before she heads off. She has a family to find and a husband to reunite with...again.

[ Prompts in the comments. If anyone wants a thing please let me know. ]

Comments

Closed to Henry

[justella]

For all the places I have been, I'm no place without you.

Henry is the only thing she can think about as she heads into the mansion and up eight flights of stairs (damnit Henry) to their room. She’s already making a mental list of where else to look if he’s not there, but she’s pushing open their door and there he is, on their bed. The relief she feels is probably evident on her face, there was the fear that he would be gone from there and they would be separated again.

“Henry.”

[henrydaniel]

Today's the day she's supposed to be back. He's decided not to move from their room until his wife walks through that door. The fact that she left right after an event, right after they find out something life-changing about their future, is suspect to him but there's nothing he can do about it. He's been worried she'll be cursed again somehow, that she'll come back as Jacinda and not Ella. Which means he's been too worried to eat, to sleep, or shave. As a result, he has dark circles under his eyes and a week's worth of facial scruff that can't really be called a beard yet, but it's there.

When she walks in the door, it means she knew where to go, and when she says his name like that, he knows in an instant, this is his wife, and she's not cursed. Striding up to her, he grabs her face in his hands and kisses her, fingers immediately moving to her hair before he pulls back and breathes out urgently. "Are you okay? Is Lucy okay?"

[justella]

She didn’t even know she was missing him and she still missed him so much. She meets him halfway all but throwing herself in his arms. The kiss is half desperation and half relief and it’s over too quickly but there are important things to talk about.

“Lucy is okay, she’s perfectly fine, like nothing happened.” Her voice is reassuring and she looks him in the eye so he knows she’s not placating him. Their daughter is fine and that’s all that matters. “Victoria is dead though.” Which give her some
Time to actually think about it and she’ll realize the connection.

She runs her hands over his jaw. “Are you okay?” Henry you look terrible.

[henrydaniel]

"Is the curse broken?" He processes the part about Lucy, and there's so much more he wants to ask but then she's asking about him and...he has to be honest.

"As it turns out, I don't sleep well without you. And by that, I mean not at all." He needs his wife beside him, needs to be able to wrap her up, and that bed is too big without her.

[justella]

She shakes her head. “No. Still not broken, which means you’re still alive. I’m not sure but I think you’re mother is awake.” Because why else would Roni try to talk them out of dating. “Victoria is dead though.”

She smiles a little at his words, it’s weirdly comforting. “Do you also not shave?” She raises her eyebrow at him playfully sweeping her thumb over the stubble on his jaw. She can’t say she hates it.

[henrydaniel]

He takes a deep breath and lets all of that sink in. Lucy's okay. Regina's probably awake which is good, it means she's on top of all of this. (It also probably means Rumplestiltskin is awake.) Victoria is dead, and he looks at Ella, about to ask how she feels about that part before she's stroking his cheek and that all gets shoved to the back of his mind.

"I don't do a lot when we're apart. Turns out feeling lost and alone isn't just a cursed thing. It's a 'missing you' thing."

[justella]

They can worry about all that later, she’s focused on him now. “Flatterer,” she says quietly leaning in and kissing him again. “I’m not sure I do so well when I’m missing you either.” Giving away custody of their daughter, giving into Victoria’s every whim. She really doesn’t like who she was as Jacinda.

Closed to Drizella

[justella]

You see, it's getting late, oh, please don't hesitate, Put a little love in your heart

[ She knows she needs to seek out her sister. There’s things they need to talk about, things to discuss. But Drizella has been hard to pin down since the curse broke. Ella has looked and honestly she has no idea where to find her step-sister. So this might be the only way to get her. ]

We should talk. I went back and...there are things you should know.

[ That should get her attention.]

[emojis]

[It does, though there is also the immediate reaction of THIS IS A TRAP. There will always be the immediate reaction of THIS IS A TRAP where Ella and Henry are concerned, but if Ella actually is reaching out and wants to talk to her, then maybe this is worth figuring out.]

Diner or bar?

[Both neutral areas where hopefully there will be other people. Also it might indicate the tone of what this conversation is about.]

[justella]

Bar.

[ They are both going to want a drink for this conversation. ]

5th floor. Ten minutes.

[emojis]

k.

[Not the most resounding response but it at least gives her an idea of what to expect. True to her word, ten minutes later she's walking into the fifth floor bar, looking for any sign of her sister.]

[justella]

[ Ella is at a table in the back nursing a drink when Drizella walks in, and she waves her over. She wasn’t sure when she first came back if she wanted to see her sister, but she also remembers the way Ivy hugged her after Victoria died. Years and years of hate and resentment and fear had made Drizella who she was when she cast the curse. The same years that almost made Ella blacken her heart on a quest for revenge. She can easily see how she could have become just as terrible- she would have if she hadn’t met Henry.

But Ella remembers the sister she loved. Henry might not be ready to talk to her, he might never be, but Ella missed the sister she had once, and maybe that sister was still there. ]

I come in peace. [ She says once Drizella joins her. ]

[emojis]

Good to know.

[She swallows as she slides into the booth across from her, letting her hands rest on top of the table so that she can see if she can figure out what Ella is trying to get at before she gets there, not wanting to be caught unawares.]

Me too.

[She isn't here to cause trouble or play games. Not that she had the power in this meeting to do that, but she wants to make it clear all the same.]

Closed to Emma

[justella]

Gotta have roots, before branches...

It’s been nice, getting to know Emma now that the curse is broken and she knows who she is. Henry had told her so many stories about his mother, at least Wonderland afforded them the time to get to know one another.

So when Emma had asked her a few days after she got back, if she needed any help with coffee shop remodeling Ella was quick to say yes, if only for the company. Still it was good to have another pair of hands helping to move tables around.

“So, what do you think? More or do we have enough seating? I don’t want it to be over crowded.”

[cursebreaking]

"Maybe just one more table? You're right, we don't want it to be too tight, but that space by the window looks a little empty. We could probably fit another one over there, with some adjustments."

Of course, Emma knows nothing about actually running a coffee shop, but she's visited plenty, so there's some degree of expertise involved— but that's not really why she's here. The chance to get to know Ella as herself, with no more secrets between them, is an opportunity she can't pass up. Whenever she goes home, there's no telling how long it will be until they meet— if they ever do— and it means a lot to her to get to spend a little time with the woman who's made her son so happy.

She smiles, casting Ella a quick glance over her shoulder as she slides the last chair at a particular table into place.

"Whatever else you do in here, it's going to be great. You've really made it your own, without taking away from what it was before. That's hard to do."

[justella]

Ella looks over towards the window. “Yeah, you’re right, it needs something, might as well be another table.”

She also knows nothing about running a coffee shop, but she's worked in enough food service places that she’s surprised by how much she does actually know about floor plans and seating and decor. And it’s nice to have a place of her own here, where she’s the boss for a change. She might be Ella again now but she has a lifetime worth of memories as Jacinda and it’s Jacinda who had been excited to do this, who had liked running a place instead of being treated like a servant. Ironic really considering she was Cinderella.

She smiles as she picks up another small table and moves it towards the area Emma was talking about. “Thanks, I didn’t want to change too much, I never knew the person who put this together but, well I didn’t want to take all of that away. Someone here still probably knows them.”

[cursebreaking]

Having to reconcile two sets of memories is certainly the fairytale experience, and one that Emma herself has had to come to terms with over the last six months. It's hard, sometimes, to be true to yourself when you can't decide what's real, but Emma is glad that Ella isn't allowing Jacinda to be forgotten. Those years were important in their own right.

Emma props a hand against her hip, giving a nod of approval as the table gets put into place.

"I didn't know her, either, but the way I hear it, she was a Wonderland veteran. I'm sure plenty of the old-timers will be glad to see that it's still the same underneath. You going to add anything new and exciting to the menu?"

[justella]

"I've been thinking about it." She's moving chairs as she talks. "Not everyone loves coffee or caffeine for that matter. I've been trying out some new ideas. One in particular that I make for Lucy sometimes. Hot chocolate blended up with some ice and ice cream and marshmallow fluff."

She smiles as she steps back from the table. "It was a favorite of hers. And one of the only things I was good at making. Drinks are easy but I am not the best chef."

[cursebreaking]

"That's a new twist on a family favorite," Emma remarks, her smile hitching up higher on one side. "She's definitely one of us. You should do it— give the menu a personal touch. Although, I have to ask— was Henry scandalized that she liked it iced and with marshmallow fluff instead of cinnamon?"

She does find herself liking the idea of Henry and Lucy making their own traditions, to be honest.

~a day or two after her return?

[madehervows]

[It wasn't hard to miss Ella's return, what with how depressed Henry had been while she was gone and how he'd shut himself in their room to wait on her apparent return date. Regina respectfully gives them space -- if only because Henry might disown her if she intrudes, especially with Lucy's fate hanging over their heads.

But a few days pass, that she spent putting together her Murder Plan and having been given the basics by Henry, and she decides to seek Ella out. After all, she should really get to know her................ daughter-in-law. First comes baking a few apple turnovers for her. From what Regina's been told, Ella knows what she's like in the Enchanted Forest and whatever Roni is like, she's never met Regina Mills, mayor of Storybrooke and right now? That's who she is.

So with a covered plate, she knocks on Ella's door.]

[justella]

[ She hadn't necessarily been avoiding her mother-in-law, in fact she loves her quite a lot, but thats the problem. Regina doesn't know who she is, everything thats happened between them Regina hasn't lives yet. Its hard, for the woman she looks up to not to know who she is. But she knows she needs to get to know her again, if for nothing else than for Henry's sake, and she would do anything for Henry.

She isn't expecting Regina to seek her out, but there she is standing in her doorway when she opens the door. ]

Regina. [ She smiles when she says he name, moving backwards so the other woman can come into the room. ] Come in, Henry isn't here

[madehervows]

[Regina enters with a smile -- genuine, because despite how she might feel about Henry being grown up and married, none of this is Ella's fault and she doesn't deserve anything but respect.]

That's alright. I was hoping we could talk.

[Turning back to Ella, she uncovers the plate to reveal the turnovers.]

I doubt there was much time for baking in the... new? Enchanted Forest.

[justella]

[ Ella quickly clears a space for her on their couch, she hadn’t been expecting company so she hadn’t exactly straightened up.

The plate of turnovers makes her smile though. Lucy always loved those. ]

Not too much, but you used to make them for Lucy on special occasions, she always loved them. Still would if we weren’t cursed and she remembered them.

[madehervows]

[If it were anybody else besides family, Regina might be looking around the place with a judgemental eye. Instead she takes a seat and focuses on Ella.]

I can't wait to meet her. Even if it's not until I go home and live through everything myself. [There's one thing, though.] I'm sorry for lying to you when you first arrived. [She sighs.] Henry asked us to.

[justella]

[ Talking about Lucy always made her smile, even if she missed her fiercely. Though Regina's next works made her shakes her head. ]

Oh, don't worry about that, I understand why you did it. If you guys hadn't I probably would have thought you were all crazy and we'd still be cursed. Though I will admit, know that I know, I can't tell you how strange it is to think of you as a bartender.