So as promised here is the last thing I will ever write for the Test. It's a bit short but in fairness I never thought I would write anymore for this. I know in my last post i said i was in some sort of competition and only now realize i never said where to go to find it. the website is inkitt but I imagine it might be too late for that now. oh well ,lived and learned. thanks to everyone who left comments, i'm sorry i dont always respond to them either because a guest wrote them or i get busy with school and then feel like too much time has passed. I just want everyone to know i appreciate their support with this story. well i'm done talking now, i hope you enjoy this last chapter.

5 years later

Three centuries ago I was just a boy. I got older and lost my mother. That was hard but I was still young and I had my father and brother. I got a little bit older after that and lost my father. That stung a bit more because it was his choice to leave me but I knew Liam would never willingly leave me and I still had him. When I lost him I lost a part of myself. I grew into a hard and mean man after that. Somehow I fell in love with a beautiful woman and regained a part of myself I thought gone forever with the loss of my brother. Milah. She was everything; gorgeous, lively, clever and carefree. Holding her as her life drained away I knew with certainty there was never going to be anyone else for me, no love be it romantic or not. I would be dead inside just like everyone I ever knew or cared for.

Then of course over a decade ago I took a trip up a beanstalk with the most amazing princess in all of the realms. It amazes me how people can think they have their whole lives figured out and all it takes is meeting the right person to change all that. So convinced I was going to be alone and have nothing, I now have the most incredible wife, a brotherly bond with said wife's father, close friendships with old enemies, and the most rewarding title I have ever had; father.

That's not to say it has all been easy. Almost everyone I have a strong relationship with now has at one point held a knife or sword at my throat, knocked me out or cursed me. Monsters have threatened us, time travel has been a bitch and if I have to lose my memories one more time I'm just going to have to strap a camera to myself to continuously document my life.

One of the hardest obstacles in my life though has been the resurrection of a lost loved one. Most people would be over the moon to be reunited with someone they loved, not realizing the distance you've put between the person you were when they were alive and the person you have become. Milah could not accept that I was changed, and had moved on, and put everyone I care for in danger. This was worse than when I lost someone or faced some villain; I knew exactly who I was then, even if it was just a miserable excuse of a man, this time I was torn in two.

After Milah left on the Jolly Roger I was able to come to terms that the part of me that loved her would always be a part of me but it didn't define me. The love for the family and home I had found is what is the most important.

Learning of Milah's death and Henry's departure to school made me realize there was still a lot of room in my heart for a new member of the family. Sadly after the incident on the ship, Emma and I learned we could never have another child of our own. But both being orphaned we loved the idea of adoption. That is how our newest son came into our lives. He was three years old, the same age as our daughter Renee, had beautiful blue eyes and was named Liam. It seemed like fate (even if Henry wouldn't stop joking that we were just replacing him for a newer model). Speak, or think, of the devil:

"Dad, why so quiet?" Henry bumps shoulders with me. I can't believe the little boy I took sailing is now a full grown man taller than myself.

"Just thinking about life and how far we have come. Is that not customary at these sorts of events?" I jest with him. It is then that Swan decides to join us over at the cookie table where I apparently was looking too pensive for a graduation party.

"If you were thinking about everything in your life you'll still be here by the time the twins graduate!" She steals a cookie from behind me and smiles.

I clutch at my heart like I am wounded, "Oi, must you always joke about my age dear? You hurt my ego every time." She rolls her eyes, clearly thinking that is not a bad thing.

"Has he brought up about your mom almost marrying a monkey yet?" Violet, Henry's girlfriend and to my knowledge soon to be fiancée, loops her arm around his and joins the conversation.

"Thank God no, and let's leave before he does," Henry laughs and tries to pull her away.

"No, I still need to give you two hugs." Emma pulls both of them back to us and tries to smoother them.

"You've been hugging us all day Mom!" Henry tries to pull away but my Swan holds on tight.

"No, Regina, Neal, your grandparents, your siblings, the dwarves, Granny, even August have been hugging you all day. Now it's my turn. You've graduated college. You've turned into such an amazing young man." I can hear her tearing up and rest my hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks Mom." Henry hugs back hard and then disentangles himself from her to allow her to hug Violet. "Although," he says once the hugging is over, "You did say the same thing to me when I graduated high school." At this I laugh loud remembering the tears and hugs on that day as well.

"He has you there love." I shield myself as she takes a light swing at me.

"And I'll say the same thing when you graduate from Grad school, when you get married, when you have kids and all other major life events."

"And of course I will be here as well to make sure you hug your mum and allow her to cry on these occasions as well as to hug you myself." I say as I pull him in for a hug as well.

"Violet, all the love, it's suffocating me!" Henry protests.

"Shut up," we all say. I pull back after a moment to wrap my arms around Emma and smile at the young couple.

"Fine, that's enough from us old folks. Go find your siblings and make sure they haven't broken anything or declared war amongst each other." I often find my house divided between the two older siblings and the two younger ones.

"Just think, in eight years we get to do this all over again with Cecily and Davey," Emma points out to me with a small smile on her lips. Our children are growing up so fast. I lean down and give her a soft kiss to the lips.

"I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else." I declare.

"That's it. Leaving now!" Henry wraps his arm around Violet's waist and walks away with Swan and I laughing behind them.

"Think we'll be like them when we are older," we hear Violet says as they leave.

A pause, and then, "I hope so." Is the last thing I hear.