Dreams of Stars (A Once Upon a Time/Jiminy Cricket fanfic)

Dreams of Stars Part 25

The next few days after David convinced everyone to stay in Storybrooke were a whirl of joy to Kaelin. She was still as busy as she had been before the curse was broken, but even so, everything in her life seemed to have magically fallen into place. Jiminy and Geppetto were the best of friends now, closer than they ever had been. She thought she might burst with joy seeing them talking together, laughing together, and working together. It was beautiful. The only missing piece was Pinocchio.

Also, Kaelin had suddenly found herself surrounded by old friends. There was Nova, her best friend as always, but now with even more happy memories attached to her. Then there was Ella and her baby Alexandra, who Kaelin hoped she'd be able babysit sometime to give Ella a night off. Belle, Kaelin was getting to know better every day. She stayed at Rumpelstiltskin's mansion at first and helped Kaelin with the cleaning, but almost the next day, she moved into an apartment near the library. She was going to be the librarian. Though her relationship with Rumpelstiltskin was rocky, they seemed to still be together. Sometimes, when Kaelin was working after school, Belle would come over to the mansion to help and also to vent her feelings about Rumpelstiltskin. Kaelin was beginning to feel compassion for the man who had let her mother die.

Immediately after meeting each other, Nova and Kaelin realized there was someone missing from their former trio, though they weren't sure how to go about finding him. It wouldn't do much good to draw a picture of him and post it around town. He hadn't been a human in the Enchanted Forest. They both resolved to keep an ear out for any possible mention of him.

Then, of course, there was Jiminy. Kaelin got to see Jiminy every day now. She had moved her things from her apartment into his guest room. In the mornings before school, she would get up early just to make breakfast for him, though he kept insisting she didn't have to. Kaelin felt that she did have to, however—and not just for him. It was something she could do to show her love, and it was fun. In the evenings, Jiminy would drive her home from Rumpelstiltskin's mansion, and they would have a late supper that he prepared—usually something made of fresh vegetables cooked so flavorfully that Kaelin wondered why she had never before discovered how delicious they could be. Then Kaelin would go sleep in the guest room, leaving the door open because Pongo sometimes liked to curl up beside her in bed. Since Kaelin and Jiminy had both been animals in the Enchanted Forest, having Pongo there was like having a third person in the house. Kaelin had made another friend.

Kaelin finished her work at Rumpelstiltskin's mansion quite early that week because of Belle's help. One day, then, when she was able to come straight home from school, she called the nunnery and asked for Nova. Jiminy was going to stay at his office late that night to finish dictating charts, so Kaelin felt it would be a great opportunity to spend an evening with her friend.

Nova came over immediately, and they plopped down on the couch and started talking. Jiminy had taken Pongo to his office to keep him company while he was doing paperwork, so they didn't have anyone to bother them. At first, they just chatted about everything going on in Storybrooke. "Dreamy—er, Grumpy—and the other Dwarves are trying to mine for fairy dust!" Nova shared excitedly, "Rumpelstiltskin brought magic back into Storybrooke, you know, so there just might be some down in the old mines! If we find some—Oh, I don't know what Blue plans to do with it exactly, but we might just be able to bring back Sneezy's memories. He was the one who went over the border and forgot everything, and it's just awful."

"Oh, um—Nova," Kaelin began. Suddenly, she was flustered and looked down at her hands. There was something she had been meaning to ask, but now she found she was nervous. "About Grumpy...I mean, not about him necessarily. About you. Are...are you..."