On a
day like this, cleaning Mr. Gold’s mansion was extremely frustrating. Kaelin
worked feverishly, her mind completely absent from the task. She should be out
there, helping Geppetto search for Pinocchio, or babysitting little Alexandra,
or assisting Nova in attending to the injured. Not that she thought she could
do something as practical as attending to the injured, but anything was better
than this. Out of all the people who needed help today, she was helping
Rumpelstiltskin. That thought came with a certain measure of guilt, but Kaelin
tried to remind herself that she was really doing this for Jiminy.
The
thought of Jiminy warmed her from head to toe. It was hard to believe that it
was only yesterday she had remembered who he was. Going over all her memories
of Archie and placing them in the context of who they really were was
delightful. No wonder he had seemed so familiar and safe the first day she met
him. No wonder the cricket from her dreams was named “Archie”—and it had
surprised him so when he heard his own name! That memory was particularly
funny, and Kaelin giggled quietly to herself as she washed the windows. She
tried to imagine it from “Archie’s” point of view. So the curse had chosen the
name she had given him so long ago!
How was that so?
A
step sounded on the wood floor behind her, and Kaelin hurriedly silenced her
laughing. Oops. She hadn’t expected Rumpelstiltskin to be here at this time of
day, but then, things were changing. Cautiously, she glanced over her shoulder,
then stopped in surprise. That wasn’t Rumpelstiltskin. Still holding her
window-cleaner-soaked paper towel, Kaelin turned to look at her.
The
young woman who had just come in had long, wavy, dark brown hair and a wide but
beautiful face. Her clear, blue eyes drew Kaelin’s gaze. They held both a deep
kindness and a deep sadness.
The
young woman frowned slightly and smiled a bit at the same time. “I-I’m sorry…”
she began as though her thoughts were somewhere else. Her voice had a slight
accent to it which only made it seem all the more gentle.
Kaelin liked the woman
instantly, but felt deeply curious about her. Who was she, and why was she here
in Mr. Gold’s mansion? What was that sadness in her eyes? “What’s your name?”
she asked.
“Belle,”
the young woman replied.
“I’m
Kaelin.”
Belle
seemed flustered. “I’m sorry,” she repeated quickly, “I’ve just come to fetch
something for…Mr. Gold…”
“Do you work for Mr. Gold
too?” Kaelin presumed.
“No,
I don’t…Though I used to.” Belle kind of smiled to herself, looking to one
side. Then she met Kaelin’s eyes. “But are you saying that you work for him?”
Kaelin
slightly raised her hand with the wet paper towel in it, which was somewhat
blue from the window-cleaning fluid and smelled of mild chemicals. She
shrugged. “Well, I don’t get paid for it. It was my end of a deal to clean his
mansion every week for a year.”
Belle
laughed. “Are you serious?” she said, “It was the same with me once, but that
was a long time ago. Back in the Enchanted Forest. I knew Rumpelstiltskin as…as
the Dark One.”
“I
met him briefly like that…” Kaelin said, shuddering, “I’m…sorry you had to work
for him.”
“Oh,
no, don’t be,” Belle said suddenly, emphatically. Then she seemed flustered
again and lowered her eyes.
“Wait,
so—” Kaelin stared at her and frowned slightly, surprised at this reaction. “So
if you’re not working for him anymore, why are you fetching something for him
now?” was the only thing she could think to ask.
Belle seemed to search
for words on the floor, unsure at first, but suppressing a smile. Then,
courageously, she met Kaelin’s eyes. “It’s because I love him,” she replied, “I’m
staying with him now.” She spoke almost as though she was challenging Kaelin to
judge her—as though she was certain in herself that it was right for her to
love him.
“Oh…”
Kaelin gazed at her, not sure what to make of this. She remembered Jiminy
saying that Rumpelstiltskin had come to talk to him, that he had been very
human. Had it been about Belle? In any case, it seemed the Dark One was not
beyond sympathy. Afraid of him though she was, Kaelin felt she might be able to
accept that. Most of Kaelin’s life had been about seeking forgiveness for
Jiminy. If Rumpelstiltskin needed that too, was she in any position to argue?
Another
question suddenly answered itself in Kaelin’s mind. “Oh! So you must be Mr.
Gold’s ‘guest’,” she observed.
“I
suppose?”
Kaelin
bit her lip, suddenly feeling inordinately ashamed of herself. It didn’t make sense
to feel this ashamed over such a small thing, but she had been beating herself
up over it since Mr. Gold had criticized her. There was only one way to make it
right. Gathering up her courage, she clasped her hands together, looked Belle
in the eye, and said, “I am so sorry. I was supposed to clean the toilet
yesterday, but I ran out and left it half-finished when the curse was broken.
Rumpelstiltskin told me you had to finish the job. You’re not the maid—I am.
You shouldn’t have had to do that. I’m sorry.”
Belle
laughed. “Did you think I’d be upset about it?”
“Rumpelstiltskin
is.”
“Well,
it’s very kind of him to be upset for my sake, I’m sure, but I didn’t even
realize he’d noticed. I didn’t have to do it—no one told me to—I just did. I
didn’t think anything of it. For a time, I was his maid too, remember? Doing a
little cleaning for him didn’t bother me at all.”
Kaelin
smiled, warmth and admiration flooding her heart. Belle was so kind. “Oh, well,
that’s all right, then,” she said, “Thank you.”
“It’s
nothing,” Belle replied, “Now, I should get back to what I was doing.”
“I
should too,” Kaelin decided. For the moment, then, they parted ways.
Around
noon, there came a knock at the door, and Kaelin hurried downstairs to answer
it. To her surprise, it was Jiminy. She smiled, but then saw he looked anxious.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Well,”
Jiminy sighed, “First things first. I asked Regina if she wanted to talk today.
She scorned me.”
“I’m
sorry,” Kaelin said.
“I
understand it will take time,” Jiminy added hurriedly.
“But
that’s not what’s really bothering you,” Kaelin observed, “Have you not been
able to find Pinocchio yet?”
“We
haven’t. But there are worse things now.” He took a deep breath and met her
eyes. “One of the seven dwarves crossed the border out of Storybrooke. He lost
all his memories of the Enchanted Forest and reverted completely back to his
Storybrooke identity. No one knows how to restore his true memories—or if they
can be restored. In other words…if we want to remember who we are…we’re trapped
here.”
Kaelin
bit her lip. “But it’s okay, isn’t it…to stay here?” she said, “As long as I’m
with you, it’ll be okay.”
Jiminy
smiled slightly and shook his head. “Maybe, but…I-I don’t know if Regina still
has power. If she does, it…might not be safe here. And if Rumpelstiltskin’s out
there summoning wraiths…” He looked down at the ground. “I really don’t know,
Kaelin.”
Kaelin
watched his face and was simply glad he was here. Whether they were safe or not
seemed a very abstract concept at the moment.
“Anyway,”
Jiminy raised his head again, “I came to get you. Everyone’s gathering at the
court room to hear David speak. I think you should come too.”
“Okay!”
Kaelin was relieved at the prospect of leaving her cleaning job for a while. It
would be nice to be involved in the outside world, at least for a little bit.
“Just let me put away the cleaning supplies,” she said. She wouldn’t leave a
job half-finished again. Running upstairs, she stuffed the cleaning supplies
back into the closet, then hurried outside and met Jiminy at his car. They
drove to the courthouse.
The
main room of the courthouse was packed full of clamoring people. Six of the
seven dwarves were there, as well as Red, and Granny, who was carrying a
crossbow. Jiminy and Kaelin met with Geppetto near the front of the room. As
time dragged on, the crowd became more restless. “He should be here by now,”
Jiminy muttered, “What could’ve happened?” Henry was nearby—a young boy with
dark hair and a determined face. He was trying to call David on a cellphone.
Kaelin had learned from Jiminy that Henry was David’s and Snow’s grandson, as
well as Regina’s adopted son.
Suddenly,
the double doors of the courtroom exploded open, as if on their own. Everyone
turned to look, and a tremor of fear went through the whole crowd.
Regina
herself stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. As she
strode into the room, everyone parted to make way for her. “My, what a nice
turnout,” she teased, “No need for a fuss. It’s just little, old me.”
As if
on impulse, Jiminy moved toward her. “Regina,” he began breathlessly, “Think
about what you’re doing!”
Regina
rounded on him with a snarl. “Bug,” she spat. Pointing her hand at him, she
blasted him back with an invisible force. He landed heavily on his back on the
hard floor. Kaelin and Geppetto ran to help him.
Immediately,
another person charged at Regina and was blasted back in the same way. Kaelin
recognized him as Grumpy, Nova’s crush. The other dwarves gathered around him.
As Regina reached the front of the room and turned to face them, Granny shot
her crossbow. Without even flinching, Regina snatched the bolt out of the air.
It burst into flames in her hand.
Drawing
back her arm, Regina flung the flaming bolt at the crowd, and it soared around
the room. Everyone ducked, but the bolt simply flew back toward Regina,
striking the brass medallion behind her and setting it on fire. The medallion
continued to burn with unnatural, magic flames.
Red
lurched to the center of the room. “What do you want?” she cried emphatically.
Silence.
Then,
a single, small voice rose from the crowd: “Me!” Looking back, Kaelin saw Henry
pushing his way to the front of the room. “She wants…me!” he shouted, and
stopped, meeting Regina’s eyes. “Okay, I’ll come with you! Just…leave them
alone!”
Regina
took a few steps forward. She held her hand under the boy’s chin, and her red
lips formed a trembling smile. “That’s my boy,” she whispered. Then she put an arm
around his shoulders and led him out, the people parting once again to make way
for her.
The
moment she was gone, the room fell into a panic. Jiminy glanced back at the
still-burning medallion, then turned to Kaelin, desperation in his eyes. “Come
on,” he gasped. Seizing her hand, he ran with her out to his car. As soon as
Kaelin was in the passenger’s seat, he slammed on the gas and they screeched
away down the road.
“Do
you need anything?” he asked breathlessly, “Clothes? Books? Anything from your
apartment?”
“I-I
don’t understand,” Kaelin stammered.
“We’re
getting out of here!” Jiminy exclaimed, “Is there anything you want to take
with you?”
“What
do you mean?” Kaelin cried.
“We’re
leaving Storybrooke!”
“No!
We can’t leave! Didn’t you say we’d
lose our memories?”
“We
can’t stay here, okay, Kaelin!?” Jiminy shouted at her. He turned back to the
road and ran a hand through his curly, red hair. “Not when Regina has this much
power,” he added more softly. Kaelin fell silent.
In a
few minutes, they were at Kaelin’s apartment. Kaelin followed Jiminy up to her
room, but she stopped once they were there. “What if I refuse to go?” she
demanded.
Jiminy
turned to face her. “Please, Kaelin, we have
to,” he begged, “She’s too powerful. She…she’ll hurt you.”
“But
if we leave here, we’ll be Archie and Bridget again,” Kaelin protested, her voice
failing, “Archie and Bridget can’t be together.”
“We can; we’ll find a way,” Jiminy insisted
clasping her shoulders, “Even if we lose all our memories, my duty right now is
to protect you. I’ll keep you safe no matter what. Don’t you think…even if our
lives were restarted, don’t you think we would always find each other again? Do
you believe that?”
Kaelin
nodded, lowering her face to hide her tears.
“Look
at me,” Jiminy said, and Kaelin lifted her eyes again. “Kaelin, I…” his mouth
and eyes worked as he struggled to form the words. Yet when the words came,
they were firm and absolute: “I love you.”
Kaelin
stood stunned, wanting with all her heart to reply in kind but too tongue-tied
to do so. She should be able to say it—she had said it to him before, a long
time ago. Yet then it had meant something different, hadn’t it? She opened her
mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
As
she struggled to say something, Jiminy hesitated once more, just a little. Then
he bent down and kissed her deeply.
Kaelin
had never been kissed before. Nor, as far as she knew, had Jiminy ever kissed
anyone before. At first, he was cautious, but then he became bolder, putting
his arms around her and drawing her closer. For a long time, they kissed.
Kaelin kept thinking that this couldn’t end, that it must never end. What had
to happen after this moment was too awful; that time could never come.
Even
so, the kiss finally did come to an end. Jiminy stepped back first, holding
Kaelin’s hands. “If you remember nothing else…” he whispered, “Remember this.”
His smile made her want to kiss him again. “If we remember this…maybe the curse
won’t last forever,” he said.
“True
love’s kiss can break any curse,” Kaelin recited softly. She looked up at him.
“Do you think this is…”
“I think
it always has been,” he said.
Kaelin
blinked back tears. She was happy now—happier than she could ever remember
being. Yet the feeling that she was about to lose everything weighed heavily on
her heart. “I love you,” she whispered, “I don’t want to forget you.”
“Don’t
worry; I’ll stay with you,” Jiminy assured her, “I just have to remind
myself—‘don’t leave Bridget’.” Turning to the small table in the apartment, he
found that there was some scratch paper and a pencil lying on it. On the corner
of one of the papers, he scribbled a note to himself, signing his name as
“Archie Hopper”. Tearing off the corner of the paper, he folded it and put it
in his pocket. He smiled triumphantly at her.
Kaelin
couldn’t help but laugh. That was so much like him.
“Now,
let’s go,” he said.
Kaelin
and Jiminy packed their necessities as quickly as possible. Stacking the
multi-colored suitcases on top of his maroon car, Jiminy tied them down. Pongo
jumped into the back seat, and they were off. Many other cars were beginning to
file out of town, but Kaelin and Jiminy found themselves among the first, only
one car back from the front of the line. Once out of town, the cars began to
move faster, faster, approaching the border of Storybrooke. A green sign loomed
ahead of them: “Now Leaving Storybrooke”. Kaelin took one last look at Jiminy.
Perhaps it would be the last time she knew him as Jiminy.
Suddenly,
a big, brown, pickup truck screeched past them. Its tires squealing on the
pavement, it turned in front of the blue car ahead of them, jerking to a halt
and blocking their path. Red and David leaped out of the truck, David climbing
into the back.
Jiminy
cursed under his breath, startling Kaelin. Flinging open the car door, he got
out and confronted the king. “Get out of the way!” he shouted, striding
forward, “We have a right to go!” Other people were gathering around him. Mother
Superior—the Blue Fairy—was there, and Geppetto hurried up from farther down
the line. Kaelin climbed out of the car too, coming to stand slightly behind
Jiminy.
David held up one hand,
trying to calm them. “Listen to me! Listen!” he cried. He paused, and the
people were silent. Jiminy looked him hard in the eyes, pressing his lips
together, trying to hold his peace.
David
took a deep breath. “If you cross that line, you’re gonna be lost!” he began
fervently, “Everyone who loves you will lose you! But there’s something worse:
You’ll lose yourself!” He looked at all of them, appealing to them. “Look, I
get wanting to leave here. I do. And I get that it’s easier to let go of bad
memories, but…even bad memories are part of us.”
Kaelin
looked at Jiminy and Geppetto, who stood on either side of her. Geppetto’s
intense gaze never wavered from David’s face, but Jiminy lowered his eyes.
Kaelin’s heart twisted. She knew what memories they were thinking of; she could
feel the pain of those memories too.
“David…”
the king went on, “Storybrooke David was—is…weak. Confused. And he hurt the
woman I love. I wouldn’t give up being Charming just to be him. But you know
what? I wouldn’t make the other trade either. Because that David reminds me not
only of whom I lost…” he paused for a long moment, “…But of who I wanna be.”
People
were beginning to smile now, including Blue and Dr. Whale.
“My
weaknesses and my strengths,” David
continued. He lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper, but then it began to
rise. “David and the prince. I am both. Just like you. You are both. The town is both. We are both! Stay here, and every choice is open to
you. Live in the woods if you want! Hell, live in a shoe if you want!”
Jiminy
was smiling now, and Geppetto’s wrinkled face had broken into a wide, laughing
grin. Kaelin laughed too, feeling warmth spreading around her as people
responded to David’s words.
“Or
eat frozen burritos and write software,” David was saying, “Let’s open
Granny’s, the school. And get back to work.” He gave them a short, firm nod. “I
will protect you,” he vowed, “She
won’t be able to hurt any of us—not as long as I’m alive. Not as long as we all
come together! As we did before. As we shall do again!” Coming to the end of
his speech, he paused, breathing heavily.
For a
time, everyone was silent. Then, Jiminy nodded with a little smile. This was
what they needed. This was courage, not fear. Unity, not panic. Jiminy was the
first to turn back toward his car, Blue and Geppetto patting him on the back.
Kaelin turned back as well, happily taking his hand. With big smile and a
little tip of his hat to James, Geppetto turned away too. Everyone was
returning to their cars.
As Jiminy
opened the door on the driver’s side, Geppetto put a hand on his shoulder.
“Jiminy,” he said affectionately.
Jiminy
met his eyes. “Yes?”
The
smile on Geppetto’s face widened even more. “You have permission to marry my
sister,” he said.
“Excuse
me?” Jiminy stammered.
Geppetto
laughed. “It was what Sofia always hoped for,” he said. Then he headed off down
the road.
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