Rushing to the airport very much resembled the scene from home alone, only with a lot more swearing. Luckily for us, we didn't leave a young child in the attic. Neal had started talking and it was near enough impossible to leave a room without him chasing after you, tripping over his feet from time to time.
"Remind me again why wheels are necessary for carrying luggage?" Killian complained as he was unpacking the minibus outside the airport.
"If you think you're so strong, you can carry ours as well." Zelena smiled as she dumped her and Robin's case in front of the pirate before running away, giggling like twelve year olds.
David and Killian, being the chivalrous men they are, ended up lugging two cases and a large bag each. Their competitive streak means that neither of them were going to back down, even though what they were carrying weighed more than me.
"We did well." Mary Margaret smiled, joining me and Emma at the back of the group. She spent so long thanking the taxi driver that everyone was already halfway to the airport entrance. Of course, not wanting to miss out on any gossip or conversation, the grandmother of two ran in her sky blue kitten heels to catch up with us.
"I can't argue with that." Emma lightly chuckled. I couldn't help but smile at the view. Closest to us were Killian and David, probably boasting about who's luggage weighed more, and in front of them were Regina, Zelena, Henry, Robin, and Neal skipping as if they were all Neal's age. I don't think any of us every imagined we'd be this happy. I, for one, never imagined linking arms with Snow White on the way to Disneyland.
"One second," Emma put her hand assuringly on my upper arm before jogging and calling Killian's name.
"What is it, love?" Killian asked
"I doubt you're going to get your Hook through customs." Emma pointed out. Regina had obviously had the same thought at the same moment and left the skipping fivesome to join my parents. With a a flick of Regina's hand, his hand replacement was invisible. I turned both ways to see if anyone was around and had perhaps fainted at the sight of a chunk of metal instantly disappearing, but it was surprisingly quiet.
"She's careful, Phoebe, don't worry." Snow assured me, sensing my worry. "So, are you as anxious about Disneyland as I am?"
"Anxious excited or anxious worried?" I asked.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, both." She laughed uneasily. "Obviously I'm excited to have an amazing time with my amazing family, but can you imagine your father coming into contact with anything Peter Pan themed?"
"And you won't have an issue with tacky, cheaply made Snow White merchandise?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'm sorry, Phoebe, but I think it's wrong to sell plastic cutlery with cartoon versions of my face on the handles!" Mary Margaret defended herself. I couldn't keep in my laugh while thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when we had gone shopping and somehow made it into the homeware section. My grandmother lightly hit my shoulder, but smiled nonetheless.
• • •
"So, here's the seating plan Robin and I designed" Snow enthusiastically smiled, passing around a piece of scrap paper with colour coded designs.
"You were in on this, Robin?" Killian asked, faking his surprise. "You traitor"
"Hey, you're sat next to me. You should be grateful, pirate." David said, snatching the piece of paper from his son-in-law.
When the sheet made its way to me, I found out I had been placed between Regina and Zelena. That information was all I needed to know this would either be the best or worst trip of my life depending on their moods. I knew I'd been put between them because I was the only kid who wasn't biased towards one sister so could put an end to any bickering between the sisters. In short, I was their childminder. In the row behind me was David and Killian; in the row in front of me was Emma, Mary Margaret and Neal, and two rows ahead was Henry, Roland, and Violet. I knew Mary Margaret had been secretly planning this for a while, as she was the embodiment of Pinterest and organisation. I admired how she had cleverly put her in the perfect position to question her daughter for the entire plane ride, depending on how fast it took Neal to fall asleep.
"I've also brought snacks for the plane ride." Mary Margaret announced, pulling out an organised lunch bag for everyone. Each brown paper bag was sealed with a glittery sticker and a sharpie was used to write everyone's name in sharpie on the designated lunch.
"You mean to tell me half of what I carried in here was food with shiny decorations? Can't Regina just poof that here anyway?" Killian exclaimed.
"I thought you said the bags weren't heavy." David reminded him.
"Yeah, well, you're right. They weren't heavy at all. Im not weak." Killian defended himself, David smirking at his defeat.
A scratchy, robot-like voice emitted from a loud speaker, announcing that it was time for us to board. Families with young children were allowed to board first, so all of us used little Roland to our advantage and skipped the queue. I wondered what people thought about us while we walked past and how they thought the relation was between us all.
"Big family?" A smiling air hostess with unfairly shiny hair asked as we boarded the plane.
"Correct." Emma returned the smile, showing off her perfect teeth. Even without makeup, my mother looked beautiful all the time. It wasn't fair.
"What's the relation between you two?" The hostess, who has a badge labelling her as 'Candace' asked about Emma and Mary Margaret.
"She's my-" Mary Margaret began, eager to join any conversation.
"Sister. We're sisters." Emma interrupted, wrapping an arm around her mother and coincidentally squeezing her too tight. Snow got the message.
"Well, you're sure a good looking family." Candace replied, still smiling. Her pink lipgloss was equally as shiny as her pearly white teeth. She has the perfect, stock image air hostess image with her uniform in perfect condition and her fake tan just the right shade.
"She dresses like you, sis." Zelena taunted Regina as we all made our way to our seats.
"That's a uniform, Zelena." Regina rolled her eyes. I could sense that Zelena was in one of those moods where she wanted to annoy her sister, and Regina was in one of those moods where the slightest thing was going to annoy her. Sitting between them was going to be a joy.
"I know it's a uniform, I'm not a total idiot," Zelena snapped back. "You basically wear a uniform every day, though. You're wearing a blooming pantsuit on a plane! I've watched enough movies to know that's not normal."
"I'll have you know that I've packed a pair of jeans for trip." Regina said proudly as she sat down, crossing her legs in the small amount of legroom she had.
"Oh my god! What a time to be alive! Alert the press!" Zelena threw her arms up and pretended to faint into her chair, attracting a few looks from the passengers on the other side of the isle. Knowing our family, this wouldn't be the last we got on this flight.
"People are looking." I laughed, pulling the red haired woman's arm down.
"You think this is funny?" Regina raised an eyebrow. I knew she was harmless, but I still felt like Regina was a lot more likely to ground me than Emma was, despite the fact she had no legal responsibility for me.
"Of course not." I smiled before pulling a handful of lollipops from my bag to suck on as the plane flies up. I then had to explain to Zelena and Regina that your ears pop in the air. Killian and David listened from behind, as did Mary Margaret from the seat in front. Emma turned at the end and shared an amused look with me.
"Looks like you're going to be a teacher like your grandma." She smiled before reaching to snatch a lollipop from me.
We probably all looked very strange sucking identical lollipops, but they worked for most of us. Zelena was too busy asking me questions about why the Kardashians were famous to stop her ears from popping.
"I'm not keen on this," Zelena stated. "I much prefer my broomstick."
"This is the third time you've said this, Zelena." Regina glared through her reading glasses, lifting her head from her Michelle Obama biography.
"You're no fun."
"Says the one complaining."
The bickering stopped after a while, much to mine and the elderly man in the row across from us' relief. You wouldn't believe both of these women were mothers of teenagers. Zelena and I then engaged in an in depth discussion about the Kardashians, answering all of the questions she had about the family.
I had an hour of peace and pleasant chatter before I heard raised voices from the row behind.
"You have an unfair advantage, mate," Killian complained. "It's a lot harder playing snap with one hand."
"You're only saying that because you're losing." David argued. I twisted my body in an uncomfortable position to look behind at the pair.
"I'm losing because I have one hand, Dave!" Killian sighed, knowing how stubborn the Charmings could be.
Luckily there were no Grey's Anatomy style disasters and we all survived the journey. I think everyone around us took a sigh of relief when the wheels hit the ground and the plane ran along the runway. Stepping off the plane and experiencing the change of climate, my arms linked with Killian in a Disney channel fashion, was when it hit me that I was going to have the time of my life on this trip.