I can't believe it's done! I'm so happy I accomplished it, I feel at peace for finally giving these characters the best ending I could. It was a little hard to go back to writing this story as I stopped watching the show by the third season, but as I read what I had written and got reacquainted with it the wish to give them a good ending grew. Thank you so much to everyone that followed this adventure and dropped a comment, that is one of the things that always gives me the energy to keep writing.

Epilogue

"Give me the horse!"

"No, it's my horse! My daddy made to me!"

"I wanna play just a little."

"Will, be nice and share your toys," Aurora said as she passed by the place the kids were playing, a bunch of flowers in her arms.

"They're fine, no blood yet." Snow said to her friend, watching William and Leo fighting over the toy.

"That's because Charlie is in no mood for a fight on the day of her birthday" Aurora whispered, to what Snow laughed.

Will, Leo, Anna, and Charlie were like brothers and sisters. Since the moment they were reunited, four years before, they never wanted to be parted. That meant that they would have fights and sometimes there was hair pulling and screaming, but that didn't last long. When they had fights Charlie was the first one to hold her ground and fight back. Emma and Neal's daughter was an energetic, fearless little girl that loved to run barefoot and climb anything that her little hands could touch. She always had sassy answers to her parents and grandparents but not five minutes would pass before she came back crying and professing how much she loved them and how sorry she was for being mean with them.

Emma told Neal certain night that maybe they got things mixed up. Maybe Charlie was the darkness girl and Anna was the light one, as little Anabelle was the total opposite of Charlie. She loved to sit cross-legged with a book on her lap, her brow furrowed as she deciphered the words. Her short brown hair was always bright and combed and she answered everyone politely and with a smile. When the four of them got into a fight she was the first to try to solve the situation and make everyone apologize. What she loved most was to sit between her mother and father while they read a story to her.

"Let's have all the animals of the kingdom lined," Anna said, doing exactly that with the wooden toys.

"No, let's do the other way around!" Charlie said, taking two horses from the hands of her friend and lining them in a different direction.

"I wanna do that too!" said William, joining the game.

William was some months older than the others and that was an argument he used with a lot of frequency. If they were playing a game and needed to decide who would go first, he would promptly say, 'I go first, I am the older!' After that they would get caught in a discussion about their birthdays and how many months of difference each one of them had, their little fingers being counted and recounted, to the amusement of any adult that might be watching.

William would complain to his mother about Leo always following him and Charlie being mean but if anyone said anything about them, he would be the first one to stand up and defend his friends. He was the logical mind of the group, the one that always came up with a thoughtful answer. He also ignored logic when anyone pointed out that the four of them were not brothers and sisters for real, asking 'leave my siblings alone'.

"Wait, wait for me!" Leo asked, holding as many little animals as he could (and dropping some), standing up to sit by Charlie.

Leo had light hair like his older sister and a smile that could make her do anything for him. He was a charmer and had Emma and Neal wrapped around his finger, what was a constant source of annoyance for Snow and David. To be fair, the pair did the same to Charlie: as good grandparents, they spoiled her rotten but Emma had the impression that was just some kind of vengeance against Emma and her attitude towards Leo. Leo loved his three friends dearly and was never ashamed to show that affection. He loved to draw and all the other ones had drawings he had made and folded in a complicated pattern specially for them. He did attempt to draw their whole family once but he got out of space in the paper before he could manage it.

"Charlie, you're not dressed yet?" Emma asked, entering the big room where they had their meals and, on that day, would have a dinner for Charlie's birthday. "Come on baby girl, it's almost time for dinner."

"Can't I dress this?" the girl asked, hopeful. But her mom just gave her an annoyed look before moving on to check how the dinner was coming, leaving it to Neal that came right behind her.

"You heard your mom little munchkin, you need to get changed." she turned around, seeing her father watch her with a smile.

"But daddy..." she started, but Neal picked her up and left the room, knowing pretty well she would give him all the reasons why she did not need to change for her birthday dinner, time enough for him to do exactly that.

Since the day the little family arrived at the castle they felt at home. After having been passed out for a week and worried everyone around her, Emma woke up in a nicely decorated room, Neal and Snow by her bedside. After that, she recovered fast and when strong enough took her time to get acquainted with every inch of the castle and the land that belonged to her parents.

Both Neal and Emma had been worried about adapting to life in the Enchanted Forest but their families being there made it so much easier. They had lived four years of peace and tranquility and any worry about adaptation vanished from their heads. Central heating and smartphones were not as important as seeing their daughter grow up surrounded by so many people that cared for her dearly. As the saying goes it takes a village to raise a child, and they couldn't have asked for a better village than that.

Neal was still astonished with what his father had become. Having lived for centuries as the Dark One, Neal expected that as soon as he got to that land he would look for ways to have magic once again, as any addicted would do. But that never happened. The first sign that his father had changed was when they made the terrifying walk to the castle when they first arrived – Neal had his hands full with Emma, and Henry with Charlie so his father walked in front of them, one dagger in his hand, ready to defend them even without magic. He had become someone Neal was proud of, not the Dark One, not a coward, but a man that stood up for his family.

Emma had never seen Neal smile so much in her life. For their first weeks there he would make a comment every night before going to bed about how he couldn't believe how lucky he was, having Emma, the kids, his father, and Belle. Emma promised herself to always do her best to keep that smile there.

All of that led them to that moment – celebrating their daughter's fifth birthday with their family. As the little girl entered the dining room followed by her parents everyone smiled. For once her hair was up in a beautiful braid and her blue dress was clean and nice. But what shone the most was her smile as her family gave her hugs and presents and congratulated her.

During the dinner Regina updated the others in the improvements she was making in her land while Henry, that had spent some weeks whit his adopted mom, talked to his little sister about everything he missed. Aurora and Phillip, expecting their second child, talked to Grannie about little socks and blankets while Will and Leo were very intent on building a tower with chicken bones. Snow, David, Hood and some of the dwarfs discussed the protection of the land, even though nothing to be worried about happened since Neal came back with his family four years prior. Anna, sitting on the lap of her father, updated him on the last book she was reading and Belle talked to Neal and Emma about their new project – a school in the village.

The talks ended little by little when Emma stood up, smiling.

"I would like to thank you for being here for Charlie's birthday. I will say a few words before we can sing her happy birthday and eat cake."

"Don't embarrass her, mom!" Henry cried, what made the table laugh.

"Charlie..." Emma said, looking at the excited soon-to-be-five-year-old. "You were such a big surprise for me and I was so scared when I first discovered that I was having you because I thought I was alone and I wouldn't be able to handle having a baby."

Neal, sitting at her side, put an arm to his wife's back as a way of support.

"But you see, I wasn't alone. I had Henry, your caring older brother and soon enough your grandfather Rumple joined us, monitoring my eating habits and taking care of us. And your father found his way back to us, traveling through words to bring our family together."

The little girl smiled at her parents, listening eagerly. She had heard bits and pieces of the story of her birth, but never in details.

"I was so scared of doing things wrong and so sure I had messed up but you, my girl... having you was the best thing I've done. You were the last piece missing from our family, the piece that brought us together and came with so much joy. It has been wonderful to watch you grow and see your personality develop and I can't wait for the next years to come. We love you, Charlie."

The little girl stood up, hugging her mom tightly as the table clapped. Her father stood up as well, giving her a bear hug.

As the three of them stood in front of a big cake and everyone sang happy birthday to you, Henry took a moment to cherish that. He thought about a little bit more than five years before, when he still lived with Emma and fake memories in an apartment in New York. He had wished with so much might to have a big, messy family and as he turned around that was exactly what he saw. Many of them were not related by blood and some of them were, but weirdly (aka his five-year-old uncle Leo and aunt Anna) but the most important thing, they cared and they were there for each other.

And he thought that was the best way his wish could ever be granted.