Dark One's Daughter *Book Four*

White Out {1}

With Storybrooke's own abdominal snowman destroyed and the town's streets once again safe, we had all met up at Mary Margaret's to offer her some company as I'm pretty sure she was losing her mind from being alone with a baby for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; She needed some older company, if you know what I mean. But as I leant up against the island, watching David and Emma pace around the apartment and Bae sitting on the couch with Henry, I noticed that even with us all here, Mary Margaret still couldn't tear her eyes from Baby Neal for more than a few seconds at a time.

Rocking him gently in her arms, Mary Margaret lowered the sleeping baby into his cot.

"There you go, sweetheart. I'll see you in three hours for your midnight shrieking," Mary Margaret sighed, straightening up and looking down at her son with adoration in her eyes. "Sweet dreams."

"What do you suppose babies dream about?" Henry pondered.

"Skydiving," I suggested as David said, "bullfighting", while Emma said, "laser tag" and Bae said, "sword fighting."

"That's not true," Mary Margaret instantly denied, as Emma and I shared a smirk.

"I think they're joking," Henry told her.

"Right," Mary Margaret muttered. "I'll recognise funny again when he's three and I've had some sleep."

"Three? I see the optimism returning," David smiled, as Mary Margaret collapsed into a chair. Noticing her shutting her eyes and trying to sleep, I magicked a blanket over to me and laid it over her.

"Sleep. We'll keep an eye on Neal for a while, okay?" I assured her.

"I can look after myself," Bae said, making me roll my eyes and throw a pillow at him. "That wasn't nice."

I gave Bae a sarcastic smirk before returning to the island and perching on one of the stalls.

"Olay, chocolate, DVDs, ice cream... red wine. That's one heck of a late-night snack, kid," Emma said from behind me, making me swirl in my chair to see Henry putting said objects into a basket.

"Ooh, nice one, Henry. Mind if I join?" I asked.

"Sorry, Tash, it's actually for me mom," Henry told me.

"Pity," I sighed.

"I don't drink and sheriff," Emma said, resting a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"My other mom," Henry corrected her. "I googled how to get over a break-up. It didn't talk about your boyfriend's wife time-travelling back from the past, but close enough."

"In that case, you might want to add this to your basket," I commented, thinking about what I wanted before magicking Dirty Dancing into my hand. "It's a classic."

Henry gave me a smile before taking the movie and placing it into the basket.

"That's really sweet of you," Emma complimented.

I walked over to the sofa where Bae was and rather than walking around to find a free seat, I squeezed into the miniscule space between Bae and the sofa arm, forcing him to move up.

"How old are you?" Bae asked sarcastically, shifting over to his left.

"Five," I answered, just as sarcastic.

My comment was quickly followed by the sound of something crashing into the window, making us all jump. Getting to our feet, we all approached the door to see a jet black raven sitting on the windowsill, waiting for us to open the window for it. Once the window was open, Mary Margaret held out a finger and the bird hopped onto it, a small note clearly tied around its leg.