Raised By A Pirate *On Hiatus*

How Did This Happen?

~A/N~ I am so so so so so sorry about how long it's taken me to get this chapter out. I've had SUCH a bad case of writer's block. Hope this chapter was worth the wait!~

~Third Person~

When the smoke cleared, Regina could finally see what was going on. She went to run to Vanessa but something made her stop

Laying on the floor was a dark-haired girl who looked no older than five...

"Vanessa...?" Regina hesitantly took a step closer

Vanessa slowly picked up her head and looked around, when she spotted Regina she started to crawl backward, away from her. "W-who are you...?"

"You don't remember me?"

Vanessa shook her head. Taking a deep breath, Regina pulled out her phone.

She called Snow and Charming and told them to get Emma and Killian and come to her vault, she didn't tell them why, mainly because she didn't know how to explain it.

Not long later, they all got there.

"Regina, what's going on that couldn't wait until morning?" Emma asked, holding back a yawn.

"Well-" She started. "I came down here to see if there was anything that could help with our Maverick problem, and I found Vanessa brewing some kind of potion. When I turned on the light she jumped and knocked some bottles into the potion, smoke surrounded her and... Well, it's best to see for yourself, but be careful..."

The others were confused. Why would Vanessa be brewing a potion? What happened to her?

Regina led them to the other part of the vault, where she had left Vanessa, who was now hiding behind some boxes. "Ness?"

Vanessa slightly looked up, before burying her face back into her knees

"What the hell happened..." Emma asked. "Did she... De-age herself...?" None of them had any idea what to do, they've never dealt with anything like this before. They all were in shock, even Killian who knew Vanessa as a child.

Killian slowly went over and knelt down in front of Vanessa... "Nessa..."

Vanessa slowly looked up at him before flying into his arms. "Kil..."

"Shh, it's okay. You don't need to be scared Luv" He picked her up, making sure not to hurt her with his hook. She buried her face in his chest.

~At The Loft~

"What are we going to do?" Emma looked over at Killian and Nessa, they were sitting on the couch watching tv, after Emma had to show him how to work the tv for the millionth time.

Regina sighed. "I don't know. I have no way to know what she put in the potion or what accidentally fell into it, so I can't make a... Cure...?" She didn't even know what kind of potion she needed to fix it

Nessa looked questioningly at the others. "Who are they, Killy? How do they know my name?"

Killian picked her up. "Let's go meet them, aye?" He took her over to the others. They stopped talking and turned their attention to Killian. "So Ness, do you remember me telling you about Snow White, Prince Charming, and the Evil Queen?"

Nessa nodded slowly.

"Well, this is them. Snow White-" He pointed to each of them as he said their names. "-Prince Charming, and the Evil Queen, but she's good now, she's a friend"

Something changed in Nessa's face, she went from confused and scared to understanding and hurt. Snow and Charming shared a look of uncertainty as Ness's eyes scanned them all. Then finally she stopped on Emma. "Then you're... Emma..."

Emma nodded. She wasn't going to question how Ness knew who she was. Yeah Killian told her about Emma but Ness wouldn't know her well enough to pick her out from a group

"Ness" Regina waited until Ness looked at her. "How old are you?'

"Seven..."

Before anyone could question, Killian spoke. "She was always small for her age, she always looked a year or two younger than she actually was"

Snow and Charming looked at each other sadly, they would have known that if they had never given her and Emma up... They regret that every day

Everyone decided to call it a night and head to bed, Killian and Emma were going to stay the night, mainly because Nessa wouldn't be comfortable without Killian there and Regina went home. Emma and Snow pulled out the sofa bed and got it ready for Emma and Killian, which Charming wasn't happy about.

While they did that, Charming and Killian sat in the kitchen with Ness, Killian was making her a snack while she sat at the table with Charming.

"Ness, what do you remember?" Charming asked.

Ness bit her lip. "About what?"

"Anything..."

"I remember what happened before Killy found me... and I remember being told you guys gave me up... And I remember living with Killy..."

Killian came over with her snack, apple slices, and set it in front of her.

Charming sighed, he hoped that Ness didn't remember the part about them giving her up but apparently she did. "We didn't want to give you up... But we had to, it killed us to do it but we wanted to give you your best chance..." He didn't think Ness would understand but he hoped she would, and sure enough, she did

She slowly nodded, "I guess... I guess it's alright... You didn't know what would happen..."

"What you went through is nowhere near alright, and we shouldn't have given you up... We've regretted it ever since..."

Ness finished her apple slices and nodded. Snow and Emma finished with the sofa bed and came into the kitchen.

"Everything is ready," Emma said, nodding towards the living room.

Killian leaned down to Ness's height. "Hey, Ness, why don't you let David tuck you in?"

Ness playfully made a pouty face. "Why?"

"Because he's your father and he didn't get this chance before"

"Mmmmm..." She trailed off "Okay!"

Charming looked up and gave Killian a thankful look and mouthed 'Thank you', Killian nodded once. Charming picked up Ness and took her upstairs.

"What happened?" Ness asked, looking up at her father.

"To what?"

"Everything. Like first I'm in the Enchanted Forest with Kil and the next second I'm here and everyone is confused and I don't know what happened"

"It's a long story-" He set her down in the bed and pulled back the covers. "-I'll explain tomorrow"

Ness yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Okay" She laid down in her side, facing Charming and he covered her with the blanket

"Night Nessa..."

"Night Daddy"

Charming couldn't help but smile at those words, yeah she's called him 'dad' before but she didn't mean to. Plus it was different being called 'dad' by a teen or an adult and being called 'daddy' by a child. Charming never got that, he never got to be a father until Emma came to Storybrooke when she was 28, he missed the 'daddy' years with both of his daughters and Neal isn't old enough to talk yet

As Ness fell asleep, Charming realized he couldn't stop staring at her. This was the first time he's seen either of his daughters this young, yeah he saw Emma and Nessa as thirteen-year-olds but that was in a picture, this is real life...

He couldn't help but think about how cute, adorable and beautiful Ness was, this was one of the things that made him wish he'd convinced Snow to keep Ness, then he would have been able to see at least one of his daughters grow up.

Charming got up and left the room, looking at his daughter one last time before shutting the door. He wouldn't tell the others but he secretly wishes they don't find out how to change her back, or at least not for a while...