WHO:Emma & Neal WHEN: Middle June WHERE: Portland, Oregon WHAT: Swanfire Family vacation with paddle boats and discussions of future living situations. WARNINGS: Nada STATUS: Complete
Portland was a pretty awesome family vacation destination, if you asked Neal - and it was awesome because it had everything. Things for the kids, things for the adults, activities for both. Plus, it wasn’t too far from their home in the OC which was good - that meant less time with a potential crying baby on an airplane, but Niko had done very well for his first trip up thousands of miles in the air, contained in a metal death tube. He was about eleven months old (crazy, right?) and way settled into his sleeping and eating routine that would be blown off course by a getaway, but no big deal. The power of snacks had soothed him on the relatively quick flight to Portland. He had been pretty quiet, save for a few squeals of ‘what the fuck is happening??’ and for that Neal was grateful - he had the baby in his lap for the flight, giving him new finger foods to try and the occasional magazine to rip (which was apparently fun for him) while Henry sat by the window with his earbuds in, playing video games. That kid was easy, but since he was nearing his fourteenth birthday (also crazy!) the worst they’d have to deal with from him on the family vacay would be bored sighs and eye-rollings.
After they’d checked in to their hotel, there hadn’t been much time to do much besides have dinner and then turn in early (and Henry was texting someone on his phone - a girlfriend, maybe? Neal made a mental note to be nosy). The next day, it was time for Seaside - a prime destination for families, a walkway lined with lampposts that was built in 1920 and survived the test of time. It was a bit of a drive from the urban setup of Portland but once you got there you’d find a sunny and pleasant sandy-white beach, arcades, a colorful carousel, one of the oldest aquariums on the west coast (for feeding the seals, among other things - the kid in Neal was pretty anxious to toss smelly fish at sea puppies), and the best saltwater taffy in Oregon.
Candy shops were not lacking. Nor were ice cream parlors, pubs, antique shops, even kite stores.
“Alright, what do you guys want to do first?” Neal asked, though he was sure he’d get three different answers (this included a baaaaah from Niko).
“Arcade,” Henry answered right away, then veered off to the left. “Or no, wait - pigs in a blanket,” even though it was just past 10:00 and he couldn’t be hungry already, could he? Oh yes, he could.
The entire concept of a family vacation had Emma in the best mood possible, even the potentially headache causing plane ride hadn’t brought her down from the excitement of family vacation. Yes, she and Neal had sort of vacationed in Miami for their honeymoon, but this was a proper family trip, all four of them, off seeing the world, like a normal, run of the mill family.
Emma was the one rolling her eyes, when it came to activity selection, and the teenager instantly selected the arcade, “Henry, there are arcades everywhere, that cannot possibly be your first idea all the time.” Although she wasn’t surprised that his very next thought was food, it was always food. But that was likely a family trait.
At least it wasn’t ice cream he was hankering for.
“Food would not go a miss, but we could rent some bikes, go along the promenade? Or a boat rental, they have pedal ones, perfect to burn off all your food energy.” Emma slung her arm around Henry’s shoulders, getting away with the mom-move probably only because they weren’t in the OC right now and no one knew him.
“A boat would be cool, I guess,” Henry decided - and no, to his credit, he didn’t decide to wiggle away from embarrassing mom-affection. At least Emma wasn’t spitting in a napkin and then wiping his face, ew.
“And some of them look like swans, even better,” Neal teased. He wore Niko as a backpack, the baby nestled snugly in his carrier. The tater tot didn’t have much to contribute to the discussion though, besides cooing and gurgling. “It’ll be fun. We can all fit in one of the bigger ones.” Neal and Emma paddling in the front, Niko between them, with Henry in the back (and everyone with life jackets or baby floaties on of course). Perfect.
He began heading in that direction, with Henry actually looking excited and picking up the pace. Apparently pigs-in-a-blanket were forgotten for now. “Can I use the pedals?” he asked hopefully.
“They do,” Emma just smirked, because she’d noticed that herself and it was kind of a given, but still cute. “It’ll be suitably ironic.” Even if she wasn’t a Swan anymore, it was still a little bit of fun, the point of the vacation was to have as much fun as humanly possible. “I don’t see why not, I don’t think you could peddle us all the way back to California, so I’m not too worried.”
Wandering along behind Henry, with his new found direction and mission, finding the boat rental, Emma leaned into Neal’s side. She was very glad they’d opted to go on the break, get away for a while and be a normal, run of the mill family. It was refreshing, knowing that this was hers, this little slice of life, she got this, they could expand and build on this.
“It’s good that he gets equally excited about food and exercise in the form of paddling, right?”
“Oh, definitely. He can also burn off the donuts he had for breakfast this morning before eating elephant ears and candy,” Neal replied with a laugh, putting his arm around Emma and dropping a kiss into her hair. Henry had zoomed ahead, picking out the best boat for them to all fit into but then Neal called him back for a second. “Hey, kiddo, do us a solid and put your brother into his swimsuit - “ Niko was then passed off to the elder of the two boys; they’d come prepared, and since it was inevitable that they’d be in the water at some point, Niko had a swimsuit that was specially for babies - a floaty suit, meaning it’d keep him above water. Some kind of foam inserts, whatever - not like anyone planned for him to fall overboard, but just in case.
Neal, meanwhile, went to go pay for their hour or two with the paddle boat. “He’s all squirmy,” Henry sighed, but still managed to get the baby into his suit by distracting him with tummy tickles. That no one should see. He was way too sophisticated for this.
But there, now they were all set with the proper boat. “Ladies first,” Neal told Emma gallantly, giving her the life jacket.
Squirmy was definitely Niko’s default mode when it came to clothes, any kind of clothes, and getting in them. Weirdly, he’d strip in seconds, he’d help get out of clothes. Emma had thought it was a myth about babies just happy to lie around naked any time they could, but Niko seemed to sense the moment it was time for a bath and his clothes were half off before Emma even got to pop the buttons.
But even with Henry’s long suffering sigh of teenage brotherhood, he was as adept at getting Niko into his little floating device and keeping him from getting too fed up. Squirmy baby was at least not a crying baby.
“Ah, the height of life-saving fashion.” Although if she drowned in shallow waters in Oregon after diving off ships on the way to Neverland, then Emma wasn’t sure what that said about anything. Bright orange, just her colour.
Same with Neal - he’d navigated the Jolly Roger between realms and learned how to sail from a pirate, and a fearsome one at that. Paddle boats wouldn’t present much of a challenge. He hoped. “You’ve never looked more beautiful, babe,” he complimented, carefully climbing into the boat after Emma. He held out his arms for Niko, Henry passed him over, then jumped in last.
With the baby cooing excitedly, flailing his chunky little arms, he was settled in between Henry and Emma up front. Neal took the back, ready to be taken on a leisurely stroll in the water - until Henry got bored of paddling and made his dad switch places with him, that is.
“What if we go off course and end up eaten by a shark?” Henry asked with a grin, though it was clear he wouldn’t mind if such an exciting thing happened.
“Think this water is shark-free, kid,” Neal chuckled. Sorry to disappoint him.
Emma imagined that Henry would like the paddling for a total of twenty minutes, maybe less, since it wasn’t as interactive as his little battle games and the potential for sharks, crocodiles or mermaids was exactly zero, he’d likely want to be ferried around pretty quickly.
“We’ll need to take you further afloat some time, maybe out to Miami, huh? See if you and your dad can’t find that croc hunter and get some lessons?” Like Emma wouldn’t fret and worry the second that happened. But Henry would love the wildlife in Florida, from the water animals to the snakes, probably even the run of the mill zoo animals too. Probably more exciting than horses and donkeys, cats and dogs like at home.
It was sedate and fun, just a casual peddling through the water, and at the very least Emma felt it was a damn good work out for her legs.
Of course, saying the words croc hunter to Henry got him planning for the next fantastic getaway. “I can’t believe you guys met a croc hunter,” he was wistful as he spoke (and paddled, for the time being). “Like an actual legit croc hunter.”
“Snake hunter, technically. In a bar, no less,” Neal reminded. “Though he said he’d been a ‘crocodile response agent’ before too - it was twenty-five bucks an hour for that work. He was definitely the real deal.” No experience required, which was why any old joe could go to Florida and be trained to hunt scaly things - basically with the whole state being a swamp, it made sense that there’d be an abundance of reptiles slithering around.
Shudder. No thanks.
“Let me know when you want a break,” he leaned back in his seat, like he was enjoying the good life. “It’s nice out here, huh?”
Henry’s love for adventure, any adventure, was never going to cease to amaze Emma. As much as his love for it all was endearing, it still made Emma wonder about Orange County and raising Niko there and how risky it all was. She knew that there were upsides to it all too, of course. Their family, the magic in their lives, the wild and wonderful things. But the drawbacks sort of seemed so much more obvious.
Especially here, in Oregon where it was all calm and normal.
Even Florida had been mostly normal.
“It’s really nice,” the weather was great, there was lots to do, there were no portals opening to horrible dimensions or letting in different creatures. Just a nice day, with no crisis. “How nice would it be to have this, all the time, no worries about abnormal crazy things happening, just… Peaceful and normal.”
At little tickle at Niko’s leg got a sharp laugh out of the tubber. She didn’t bother adding that it was safer, she had no doubt that Neal knew that.
After all the bullshit that happened to Neal while living in Orange County over the past couple of years, yeah, he’d agree that a city like this was safer - he revelled in the simplicity of everything too, a life without the worry of aliens or demons or Rumple; his father popping up in whatever form happened to be the most annoying was something he was a bit paranoid about, even after facing it all.
“It would be nice,” he agreed, leaning over to scoot nearer to Emma, the breeze ruffling his hair. The look on his face was contemplative - maybe he was mentally making a list of everything he’d endured since moving to the OC, from being possessed to dying to being held hostage with Lina, tortured in a dank, dark place (to hell and back) to technically being responsible for the Shattered Sight curse. It was an embodiment of his father who broke out of the Philosopher’s Stone replica to wreak havoc, there, he blamed himself.
There were good things too. The trip to find Henry, the winter carnival where he and Lina first came across the kid. Reconnecting with Emma. Obviously Niko’s birth was the highlight of it all.
“Maybe it’s time we did have it.” He looked at Emma, kind of hoping she felt the same way - especially because it seemed like things kept going badly for her, in the dreams. And the longer they stayed here, the more they were at risk of Henry beginning to dream too. That was the last thing Neal wanted. What any of his parents wanted.
There was a lot of joy in her life that the OC was responsible for. Indeed, Emma’s happiness right then was largely due to Orange County and everything that came from there. If she were truly honest, she wouldn’t change a thing about the last two years of her life; the dreams, the magic, the turmoil, the darkness, all of it was enough that she could deal with to have what she had right then.
Her family. Her boys and her true love and the life they were going to go on build together. But what mattered was the safety and security to do that.
“Yeah?” Emma stopped peddling a moment, twisting a little to face Neal, “A nice safe place, a place we don’t need to worry about portals on the lawn or flying monkeys.” She didn’t think they needed to go far away, no. But a place away from all the chaos, a place they could raise Niko and Henry without constant fear that something was going to tear up their little family, that Henry would go through this turmoil of dreaming when he was meant to be focusing on his studies and his future. “You’d want that?” They’d need to talk it over, obviously, go through the details, what they could give up.
But Emma was sure that they were both in this to ensure their boys got everything they needed.
Before Neal could answer, Henry spoke up. He’d been eavesdropping and he stopped paddling too. “Are we moving?” he asked, and he sounded worried by the possibility - probably because he’d gotten used to things while living in such a crazy place and, let’s face it, he thrived on all the adventures Orange County had to offer. Plus, there was Regina and Killian and Meara - he was close with them, he loved them too.
“Nah, not far, kid. Don’t worry,” Neal promised. “But sometimes this place can be a little much. It’s just...it’s something to talk about. But I do want that,” he answered Emma’s question. “I want the best life possible for all of us. A fresh start, you know?” Henry was on summer vacation anyway; he’d start high school in a new place and make new friends. Like any kid his age would do.
“Definitely not far,” Emma agreed there, somewhere near Orange County, so they could still stay close with their friends and extended family, enough that Niko and Meara and Amelia could all still grow up kind of close together. And she wouldn’t dream of removing Henry from Regina, not now.
But it was something that they’d need to all discuss, including Henry and his input, but Emma was glad that Neal seemed on board with the idea. “We’ll talk about it at home, okay? But let’s just enjoy our vacation and we’ll figure everything else out later.” She gave Henry an encouraging nod, and twisted slightly to give Neal a grateful smile. She knew they’d have a lot of big decisions to make as parents, but she had no doubt they’d get through things together at this rate.