"Sorry, the club was such a bust." Hadley sighed when the four friends were sitting at a booth, eating pizza.
"It's okay. Guess, we'll have to wait for my twenty-first birthday to go dancing." Dream chuckled, taking a bit of her pizza, while in the dress Hook got her.
"Hey, is that a new bracelet?" Hadley asked, seeing Dream's bracelet on her wrist. The one Gold gave her.
"Oh, yeah, I guess... I found it while I was getting ready." Dream smiled, looking down at the bracelet.
"It looks like it was made by a middle schooler." Robbie chuckled, making Hadley laugh too.
"Robbie?" Luke scoffed at him.
"What, man? It does." Robbie shrugged when Dream just looked down at it.
"I think it's beautiful," Luke smirked, kissing Dream's head, which caused her to smile.
The four looked up when the waitress walked over with a cake. "Guys..." Dream smiled, when the waitress walked the cake over to their table.
"Come on, you can't have a birthday without cake." Hadley chuckled when Dream smiled at them.
They started to sing Happy Birthday, while Dream smiled at them. "Come on, make a wish." Luke smiled when they finished singing. Dream smiled, closing her eyes when she blew out the small candles that the restaurant put on the cake.
Dream suddenly gasped, when she saw flashes of her old life, but she did not know what they were. She saw flashes of Regina, Graham, Neal, Henry, Gold, the Charmings, and Hook.
"Hey, girl? Are you okay?" Hadley asked, when the four of them, looked at her worried.
"Yeah, yeah..." Dream nodded when she looked at the three of them. "Hey, I'm going to go to the bathroom real quick," Dream said, getting up from the booth.
"Dani?" Luke asked, but Dream rushed off to the bathroom.
"She's been acting weird, right?" Hadley asked the boys.
"Yeah, she has... Ever since that guy came to town." Luke sighed, looking to where Dream ran off to.
*Five Years Ago*
*Cursed Storybrooke, Maine*
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday to Dream."
Nearly the whole town of Storybrooke sang to Dream was sitting at the middle table in Granny's, in front of a birthday cake with fifteen candles on the cake.
"Make a wish, sweetie." Regina smiled, holding onto Dream's shoulders, while Henry stayed to the side of her.
Dream closed her eyes when she thought about what she could want. She had her family. She did exceptionally well in school. She worked hard. And she was spoiled by her mother in a responsible way.
"I wish... that I could find my happily ever after one day." Dream wished in her head, before blowing out the fifteen candles.
The room cheered when Dream looked around at her family and the town she grew up in. She smiled, when Granny moved to cut the big cake she made the fifteen-year-old girl who she watched grow up.
"Is it gift time yet?" Marco asked, smiling when he looked at Regina and Dream, while Granny passed out the cake.
"Oh, Marco, you didn't have to get me anything." Dream smiled at him, but he insisted, handing her a wrapped box. "Thank you." Dream smiled, kindly, before opening the red wrapping paper. "Oh, it's beautiful." Dream smiled, when she opened it to see a jewelry box.
"It even plays a tune." Marco smiled, when Dream opened up the jewelry box, seeing a little wooden girl sitting on a rose. It was so detailed and beautiful. The box played a soft little melody. It was the song from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, "Someday my prince will come." Dream smiled, when she hummed the melody, watching the little girl on the flower spin.
"I love it. Thank you, Marco." Dream smiled, when she closed the box.
After a few more presents, Gold walked over to Dream, who was eating a piece of cake and some ice cream with Henry. "Are you still accepting gifts, Miss Dream?" Gold asked when Dream smiled at him. For each gift that Dream got, she told the gifter that they did not have to get her anything. But they always insisted.
Gold reached out a black gift bag with purple tissue paper inside. "It's just a little something for the birthday girl." Gold smiled, when he sat next to Dream, putting the bag in front of the birthday girl.
Dream opened the bag, taking out the purple tissue paper when she saw a small box inside. Dream took out the box, opening it to find a bracelet made of rope and straw. It had a small golden heart with her name engraved on the small heart.
"It's beautiful. Thank you, Mr. Gold." Dream thanked him when Gold moved to help her put the bracelet around her wrist.
"There's a tell about a piece of jewelry like this... I heard it when I was a young man." Gold said when Dream and Henry looked up at him. "A man once started to make this bracelet as a present for his wife. He hoped that making her a bracelet would remind her of his love. But when she died, loving another man. The man changed the bracelet. He changed it to be a reminder of the man he used to be and a reminder of the man he became. But that man also enchanted the bracelet." Gold continued to say, making Dream and Henry smile as they listened.
"Like magic?" Seven-year-old Henry asked since he loved fairytales and stories.
"Like magic..." Gold smiled at the two. "He enchanted the bracelet so that if it was given to someone special to him that they would find love and happiness. It would lead them to their destiny." Gold smiled, watching Dream look back at the bracelet.
"So, this bracelet is magical?" Dream asked with a slight bit of excitement.
"Well... It was only a tale, dearie," Gold said when Dream and Henry looked at each other. "But if you believe hard enough in something, magic can be found." Gold smiled when Dream kept looking at the beautiful bracelet.
"Thank you, again. It's beautiful... I shall never take it off." Dream smiled at the man, who was feared by the entire town.
"I'm glad you love it, dearie. Happy birthday." Gold smiled, getting up with his cane, while Regina watched the whole interaction by the counter.
*Present Day*
*New York City, New York*
Dream headed to the bathroom, where she leaned herself on the sink, looking at her reflection. What was going on? She wondered to herself.
"Daniella? Are you okay in there?"
She sighed when she heard Luke's voice on the other side of the door. She had this great life. She was happy. She had a great guy. But something felt like it was missing. She was not completely happy. Dream sighed to herself, when she opened the bathroom door, seeing Luke look at her with concern. "I'm fine." She smiled when they started to walk back to their booth.
"Swan!" Hook said, opening the door to the roof when he saw Emma holding a metal pipe, and she was looking over the building. "What the blazes was that?" He asked, making her turn around to him.
"A reminder. That I was never safe... What I wanted, what I thought I could have, was not in the cards for the Savior. We leave in the morning." Emma sighed before heading inside, back to her room, without another word to Hook.
"What about Dream?" Hook asked, following her back to her apartment.
"We'll figure it out. But you only brought one bottle of memory potion. So, unless there's another way to break--" Emma went to say, but Hook stopped, making her look at him. "What?" Emma asked him, raising her brow at him.
"There is another way. I just hope it works." Hook said, walking down where the stairs are.
"Hook?" Emma asked, but she sighed waiting to follow him, but she had to go back and pack before Henry got home.
~season 3, episode 12: "New York City Serenade"~
~1317 words~