Jane and Carlos step out into the sunlight and feel the warmth on their skin. Jane inhales the clean air and sighs in happy content.
Despite being literally realms away from her parents, she cannot deny that the town had a great 'home' feel to it and gave you the impressions that you had lived here all your life. The people were friendly, and the world moved at its own pace that was calming and almost encouraging her to stay longer.
She and her boyfriend sit on the side of the building, partially shaded the overhead awnings. She reopens the book and begins to read its contents for further information about travelling through portals, as Belle had requested.
"Good call on coming outside," she comments.
Carlos looks on in the distance, seeming to not have heard her. She notices an expression of worry on his face... he looked even a little afraid of... something, but she wasn't sure what it could be.
She nudges him gently with her elbow to bring him back to the present moment.
"Huh? What?" he says practically jumping from where he sat.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'm fine," he says dismissively, trying not to draw attention to the contents of his pocket.
"No, you're not," the daughter of Fairy Godmother says, knowing much better. Sometimes it seemed that she knew Carlos better than he knew himself.
"Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that... ever since we came to town, you've been really jumpy and scared... like you're afraid that something is lurking around the corner waiting to get you."
"Really? I haven't noticed."
"Well I have, and so has everyone else."
"It's nothing," he lies, wishing Jane would stop prying into his life.
She doesn't need to know what I'm doing... She has her alternate parent here (Fourth Wall Break: We know from the tv show that Jane's mother from this realm was killed by Rumple, but Carlos doesn't know that and Blue can act as a surrogate mother to her). She's had a great life with her mom and family... she'd always gotten what she wanted and never had to go through what I have... Thank goodness she hasn't but... I want a mother... I want a family-related by blood, is that too much to ask? What if I blow my only chance by screwing this up?
"Carlos..." she says. She cups her hand against his cheek and guides him, so they are eye to eye with noses barely touching. His dark brown eyes meet her blue ones and he feels himself melt into a puddle. Her sweet face, while serious, left him weak in the knees and his heart pounding against his chest. "Please, don't keep secrets from me..."
The hint of sadness in her voice forces him to his lip to keep himself from crying too. The son of Cruella hated it when she was sad, it broke his heart but he couldn't let her know about this secret. She'd hate that he was back to his old ways of stealing and then tell him that he's sabotaging their way back home to Auradon. She'd also think that he was insane for trying to bring back the dead...
Fear begins to grow in the pit of his stomach, a fear that she would break up with him over this and he couldn't lose her... she was the only girl for him. It hurt to keep this to himself and he knew his friends would say the same thing. He didn't want to go home, not yet, if he had the chance to meet this mother and maybe make an actual connection with her. He doesn't understand it and there would be no way to explain it to anyone. He just needs this and then they can go home.
His mind races to think of something to say as Jane seems to be waiting for an answer.
"Sorry, Jane... it's just... all of this has been so hard. The new world, the parents, the siblings, the places we're staying; it's all been a little too much for me to handle." He tries to sound as sincere as possible, make her believe that this was the reason that he was so distant. "I guess I've just been walking around town, trying to get used to the place and sort of process everything... I'm sorry if you've felt like I'm ignoring you, I'm not, I've just had a lot on my mind... like you have..."
"Oh, Carlos..." Jane says. "If that's all that was bothering you, why didn't you say so?"
The knot in his stomach releases a tiny bit of tension now that she had bought his lie. While it wasn't a complete fabrication; everything about this is overwhelming, he could still keep the rest of it hidden from her.
"I... I didn't want to worry you or anyone. Mal and the guys have enough to worry about as it is."
"I suppose, but if you're feeling this way, it's always better to talk about it than keep it bottled up inside. My mother taught that to me a long time ago."
"Really? When did she teach you this?"
"A while back, when I was in... grade school, I think and a lot of the other kids in the class were making fun of me. I can't even remember why they were teasing me, probably something really stupid and childish like my haircut or clothes, but their words did hurt. The thing is that I didn't tell anyone about it. I kept silent for a long time, letting it build up and getting worse. I figured that no one else felt the way I did and that no one could help me. No one could understand the way I was feeling. Anyways, one day some kid was driving me crazy no matter how much I tried to ignore him, he just kept at it until I couldn't take it anymore and I punched him in the face."
"What?!" Carlos gasps in amused shock. The peaceful, diplomatic Jane who would much rather talk than using her fists, hit someone. It was almost too unbelievable. "You actually punched him?"
Jane turns red but does her best to hide a proud smile. "Right in the nose. It started bleeding, he started crying, and a teacher took us both to the headmaster... I got in trouble of course and my mother was livid. She lectured me the entire way home until I broke down and told her what had been happening."
The fairy daughter pauses for a moment, a hint of those past emotions briefly come to the surface.
"I cried like a baby and begged her not to send me back to school, that I was a bad girl and didn't deserve to go back. I couldn't face anyone now that I'd actually hit another kid. I felt that I'd embarrassed the family, worried that this would reflect badly on my mother as a headmistress at Auradon Prep. Despite how bad I felt, it was such a relief to finally cry it out, express what I'd been feeling for so long. Then I remember my mother taking me in her arms and telling me that it was all going to be okay. She rubbed my back and soothed me as she used to when I was little and I scraped my knee. She asked why I hadn't said anything sooner and she told me that she'd do her best to help the problem. It was her job to so, as well as to protect me. When I couldn't give her an answer as to why I hadn't spoken up, she told me how unhealthy it was for my mind and body to keep things bottled up. Certain situations and secrets can only hurt us if we hide them until they bubble over and we do something that we regret. She told me that the next time I had a problem, come to her or someone that I trusted and talk to them. It was better to fix it now before it becomes worse in the future. Then she took me back the next day and had everything sorted out with the headmaster. None of the kids bugged me after that. I always assumed that it was because of the adults, but now that I think about it, it might've been that they were a little afraid of me."
"Wow, I'm dating a bad girl. Maybe there's a little VK in you after all," Carlos chuckles, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend. He squeezes her gently, feeling bad that she'd gone through something so difficult and obviously scarring. She didn't deserve that, especially since she was such a giving soul. However, in the back of his mind, this situation seemed pretty tame compared to what the kids on the Isle had to deal with. But, this did impact her deeply and he had to be understanding about that.
Jane smirks. "Just don't tell my mother."
"A regular Rebel Without a Cause,"
The daughter of the Fairy Godmother looks at him curiously.
"It's a movie I saw listed on Regina's movie channel, a really old one too."
"Old, but a classic," a voice answers.
The couple looks up to see a bearded man in a brown leather jacket coming up the street towards them. He did look familiar, but neither teen could place him.
The man could somehow tell that the kids couldn't recognize him. "I'm August... uh, Pinocchio,"
"Oh," Carlos says, now knowing that this was Pin's dad. "Well I'm Carlos and this is Jane."
"Nice to formally meet you both, I just came here to see if Emma or Killian were around?"
"Why?" Jane blurts out, realizing how rude she was being. She blushes. "Sorry."
"It's okay. My father and I kind of have a juvenile pirate problem going on at our workshop."
"What?" the son of Cruella.
"A couple of the teen pirates from your realm have decided to cause some chaos. Nothing major, but my father is too old to be dealing with these kinds of problems."
"Oh man," Carlos says. "Sorry about the Uma's Crew, without their captain, they tend to get out of control."
"It's okay, none of us want them arrested, we just want them gone. My papa has been spending all day showing his new grandson the tricks of the trade of woodworking and this disturbance was not called for."
A twinge of jealousy fills Carlos's stomach, even Pin is enjoying time with his new family.
"Well, they're not here right now, they went to go speak to Ursula and her kid, Uma. Hopefully, they'll be back soon, with Uma and she can sort it out."
"That would be very much appreciated," the man nods, scratching his beard. "I'll just give her a call, you two enjoy the rest of the afternoon."
"Bye," Jane says politely as the man walks away to make the phone call. "He seems really nice."
"Yeah... really nice. Pin's lucky to have a good dad..."
The smile falls from the teen's face again as his secret and lies fill his mind again. At least his nose doesn't grow to show his deceptive nature.
A/N: Hello everyone. I am so sorry that it's taking me forever to update, despite what's been happening in the world, I've been staying busy with housework and other projects, which makes me kind of too tired to write. But here's a new chapter and sorry if it's not super long. Obviously Carlos is hiding so much from his friends and as Jane said, it's bad to keep it concealed... some possible foreshadowing for events to come. Please follow and review.