Chapter Sixteen.

With the Jolly Roger sailing into the port of Storybrooke, everyone felt a strong wave of relief; but Freya in particular - she not only had the love of her long life back, but she also had Emma and now Henry.
The Heretic steered the ship until Killian took over to finish off 'parking'.
"I see you haven't lost your touch." He smirked.
"I wouldn't go that far. I could park her just fine, if you remember. But now, I don't trust myself not to put a pier-sized hole in her." Freya chuckled, watching as one of the residents of Storybrooke placed the gangway down.
"Welcome to Storybrooke, Stowaway." Killian smiled brightly, putting his arm around her shoulders.
The group was greeted by a slightly nerdy looking man with a Dalmatian, seven other men grouped together and a young woman with chest-length brown hair and the brightest of smiles.
As soon as Rumple was off the ship, he embraced the young woman tightly, kissing her as though he hadn't seen her in years.
"Tell me who all these people are." Freya whispered to her love.
Killian chuckled. "Well there you have the seven dwarves, Jiminy Cricket, though he prefers Archie or Doctor Hopper and that there is Belle." He gave a small gesture (as not to be rude) to each of the people awaiting their loved ones.
Freya simply gave a knowing nod as she walked down the gangway.
But just then, someone familiar came into view.
"Lance!" The Heretic shrieked, releasing herself from Killian's grasp to run to the Vampire.
She was greeted with a huge smile, Lance's arms outstretched for her.
They crashed into each other, embracing each other in a hug.
"God, you have no idea how good it is to see you." He mumbled into her neck.
"It's good to see you too." Freya replied as her love walked over to join them. "Killian, this is Lance, my first-sired. Lance, this is-"
"The famous Killian Jones. Or do you prefer Captain Hook?" Lance gave a cheeky smirk as he shook Killian's hand.
"Honestly mate, whichever you prefer. It's good to meet you."

Later that evening, everyone gathered at the local diner; Granny's for a 'welcome home' party.
"Could I have everyone's attention for just a sec, please?" Emma called out over the hum of chatter and background music.
The music was faded and the talk ceased as everyone turned to hear what she had to say.
"I'd just like to thank everyone who stayed behind and helped keep the town in order whilst we were gone. I'd also like to thank our newcomer Lance." She gestured to the Vampire before her, who gave a bright smile and small wave. "You were sent here to look out for me and, even though that turned out pretty futile, I'm glad you're here."
"You're most welcome, Emma." He gave her a nod.
Emma replied with a kind smile before moving on with her speech.
"And I'd like to take this moment to formally introduce you all to the woman who got me through some of the hardest times in my life and actually gave a crap about me enough to adopt me. Freya Klay. I couldn't be more proud to call you mom and that's only accentuated by what you did for Henry. You hadn't even met him, but you put all you had into helping to find him and save his life and I can't thank you enough for that."
Just then, from behind her, the door opened and in walked Regina.
Freya's expression turned from happy to pissed off.
"Don't rip my head off just yet." She put her hands up. "I come bearing gifts."
"It's going to take a lot more than a gift to win me over after what you did to me, Regina." Freya scowled.
"Well then, we'll have to call this a start." She approached the Heretic and reached into her pocket, pulling out a key.
"What's this?"
"Call it a peace offering. Being Mayor has its perks and one of them is this. This is a key to your new house. In case you planned on sticking around." She gave the immortal a small smile.
Freya took the key and just looked at it for a moment.
"Thank you." She eventually said before turning to the other party-goers. "I'll stay if you'll all have me."
"Of course we will." Snow smiled, taking Freya's hand and giving it a squeeze.
Freya chuckled in slight disbelief.
"The house has three bedrooms. One for Lance, should he choose to stay – of I he doesn't, then for when he visits. And a spare for whatever or whoever you want." Regina told her.
"Thank you, Regina. You're far from out of the doghouse with me yet, but this," She looked back down at the key. "This is a good start."

After the party, Regina showed Freya – who was accompanied by Killian, Emma and Henry – where the house was.
"Obviously I did this in only a couple of hours, so it's not furnished, but I would want to leave that up to you anyway." The Mayor said.
"Emma, it looks like our house in Portland. You remember?" Freya nudged shoulders with her daughter.
"Of course I remember. This will be perfect for you." She smiled, hugging Henry to her side.

A month later, Freya had filled her new house with a Victorian aesthetic, reminding her of one of her favourite centuries.
Lance had moved in and so had Killian. The spare room had been turned into a library and study, which Lance and Killian joked was pointless, considering the rest of the house was layered with Freya's incredible collection of books just as much as the room itself and had also converted the attic into a spare bedroom.
She had set up an arrangement with a doctor at Storybrooke's hospital so that the two Vampires had plenty of blood to survive. Doctor Whale (Who Freya quickly learned was Doctor Frankenstein pre-curse) had made a comment along the lines of 'it's a good job we're a small and relatively safe town, otherwise we wouldn't have the blood to spare', which made Freya both thankful and cautious about her supply.
The knowledge that Lance and Freya were Vampires had originally been strictly need to know, but eventually it got out. At first the people were scared when they discovered what a Vampire actually was, but were quickly reassured by Snow, or 'Mary Margaret' as Freya had to get used to calling her, David and Emma that no harm would come to any of them.

"Freya?" Killian called from upstairs one morning as the Heretic made pancakes for breakfast. "Freya, love?"
"In the kitchen!" She replied as she flipped the last one.
She heard him jog down the stairs and then appear in the archway to the kitchen.
"Lance is getting peckish. He says his mini-fridge is empty." He sighed, coming over to wrap his arms around her waist as she turned off the stove, placing the last pancake on the pile.
"There's a bag or two left in mine." She replied, turning around in his arms.
"Thanks Freya!" The pair heard Lance's voice from upstairs, clearly having heard them talking.
The Heretic chuckled and leaned over to turn on the kitchen tap before wrapping her arms around her love's neck.
Killian looked at her, confused.
"Vampire trick. If you don't want to be overheard by one of us, create a constant flow of background noise; for example, run the tap and keep your voice down." She smirked.
"What exactly don't you want him to hear?" Killian asked.
"I'm gunna do some matchmaking." She shrugged, earning herself an eyebrow raise. "Oh please tell me you've seen the way he looks at Ruby."
Killian shook his head.
"Can't say I have, love."
Freya chuckled, planting a kiss on his lips.
"He's smitten. It's so obvious. I think she feels the same way, but she's very good at hiding her emotions."
"Does he know what she is? I thought Vampires and Werewolves were supposed to be natural born enemies." He frowned.
"That counts for those from this realm. I think there's an exception for Little Red Riding Hood." The Heretic smirked.

The plan was in place. Emma and Freya had managed to get Ruby to go out for a girl's night and Killian had organised to go for a guy's night with Lance. What neither of them knew was that it was a set up.
The night of the 'girl's/guy's night' was upon them. Freya had cast a glamour spell, making herself, Killian and Emma look entirely unrecognisable so that they could ensure everything went smoothly.
Lance was the first to show up. He looked around the bar only to find that Killian 'wasn't there yet', so he pulled out his phone and texted him.
"He's sent me one of those electronic letter things." Killian said, staring down at his phone with the most confused look Freya had ever seen.
She laughed. "You're hopeless. Give it here." Killian sighed and handed her the phone. "He's wondering where you are. Just don't reply until Ruby gets here."
Killian nodded as he took his phone back, shoving it back into his pocket.
A few minutes later, Ruby appeared.
"Oh hey, Lance." She greeted him with a bright smile, tucking a section of hair behind her ear.
"Ruby. What a pleasure." Lance grinned. "You're looking divine tonight."
"Thank you very much. You're looking very dapper, yourself." She blushed.
"Are you meeting someone?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm supposed to be meeting Freya and Emma here for a girl's night. Don't suppose you've seen them anywhere?" She frowned.
"I can't say I've seen Emma today, but Freya was at the house earlier. I, myself am supposed to be meeting Killian here for a guy's night." Lance said, before beckoning over to the bar. "Can I get you a drink whilst we wait?"
"Yeah, that'd be great." Ruby smiled brightly.
"Okay, text him now." Freya told Killian, who nodded.
"Sorry mate, Freya needs me to go on a blood run." He read aloud as he typed.
"Nice." Emma nodded her approval.
The three watched as Lance took out his phone upon hearing his notification sound go off.
"Ah..." He sighed. "I think I know why we're the only ones here."
"Damn it, I think we're busted." Freya huffed, listening in carefully with her Vampire hearing.
"We're being set up, aren't we?" Ruby chuckled, shaking her head as her fingernails drummed her cocktail glass impatiently.
"I believe so." Lance laughed, taking a sip of his Bourbon. "Would you like to get out of here and go on a real date?"
Ruby put her hand on her chest and faux-gasped. "Lance! Of course I will."
The pair chuckled before Lance held out an arm, which Ruby took after finishing her drink, then both made their exit.
"Mission accomplished, my loves." Freya smirked.
"Well now what?" Emma sighed.
"I think we need a drink to celebrate our good work." Killian proposed.
"Oh, absolutely." Freya agreed. "On me."

A few drinks in, a familiar face walked into the bar, instantly sparking a fire in Freya.
"What the Hell..." She growled, slamming her drink down on the table and storming over to him.
"Oh no..." Emma sighed.
"Hey." Freya called out.
Mid stride, just as Neal turned to face her, Freya leaned back and gave him the biggest backhand of his life, instantly dropping him to the floor.
"MOM." Emma shouted, grabbing the attention of the whole bar.
"You let my daughter go to prison because your pathetic ass knew you couldn't handle it. You're damn lucky I didn't use my real strength. I would've ripped your head off your bloody head!" Freya screamed.
"Mom, stop." Emma ran in front of her, holding her by her shoulders. "It's fine. He's fine. He's explained himself."
"What he did is beyond explanation. If he didn't abandon you, you would've been able to keep Henry." Freya growled, not taking her eyes off of the man on the floor, clutching his face.
"Mom. Please. Stop. Let him explain." Emma begged, moving to help Neal up off the floor.

"So it was August's fault." Freya frowned after listening to his explanation.
"I mean... Kinda?" Neal shrugged.
"I'm gunna break his neck." Freya scowled off into the distance.
"Stowaway. Calm yourself, love." Killian mumbled into her ear, wrapping his arm around her waist.
She looked to Neal, who had an ice pack over his right cheek, his eye swollen and red.
"I'm still holding you partially responsible." She glared.
"That's fine. Everyday I've thought about it and every day I still come to the conclusion that I made a mistake." He nodded, shuffling his bottom jaw in an attempt to reline it.
"I think we need to call it a night..." Emma sighed.