After Queen Red got over her initial resistance to the idea of entertaining houseguests (two of them in particular) she proved herself to be a gracious hostess.  She called for servants to show Chris, Darren, Kurt, and Blaine to the lavishly appointed guest wing of the castle, and even managed to bite back her obvious disapproval when they assured her that only two rooms would be required, rather than the four she'd planned on.

Chris — suffering from the combined effects of jet lag and inter-dimensional travel — flopped down gratefully on the featherbed he and Darren would be sharing.  Looking up at the man who had so recently become something more than a friend, Chris let out a long breath.

“You okay?” Darren asked.

“Yeah, just exhausted.  I'll be fine once I get some sleep.”

“Well, that's what beds are for,” Darren smiled.  “Among other things…” he added with a wink.

Chris kicked him half-heartedly.  “Other things are going to have to wait.  Even if I wasn't totally jet-lagged, you do remember the curse, right?”

“Yeah, yeah — no kissing — I know,” Darren grumbled.  

“But we can still cuddle,” Chris offered.

Darren perked up at that.  “Yay!” he cheered, quickly stripping down to his boxer-briefs.

“You'd better be the little spoon,” Chris told him, “so you don't forget about the curse in the middle of the night and inadvertently start kissing the back of my neck.”

Darren huffed.  “What — the back of my neck isn't tempting enough to kiss?”

“Sweetie, I'm so tired my lips can barely even manage to have this conversation right now, let alone do anything else.  Just c'mere.”

He pulled Darren's back against his chest, wrapping him tightly in his arms.  Nuzzling into his boyfriend's (Oh My God! Chris thought, Darren's actually my boyfriend!) soft curls, he murmured, “And for the record, your neck is very tempting.  But as good as sleeping forever might sound to me at the moment, it's certainly not something I want you to do, so I'm going to exercise my vast stores of willpower and keep my lips to myself.”

Chris felt more than heard Darren's chuckle.  “G'night, Chris.  I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

…

Chris awoke to the sound of singing.

Good day sunshine 

Good day sunshine 

Good day sunshine

Blinking the sleep from his eyes, Chris saw that Darren was already up, dancing around the room.

I need to laugh 

And when the sun is out

Ive got something I can laugh about

I feel good 

In a special way

Im in love and its a sunny day

As soon as Darren noticed that Chris was awake, he flung himself down on the bed and sang the chorus directly to him.

Good day sunshine 

Good day sunshine 

Good day sunshine

 Chris laughed.  “Well, good day to you, too, sunshine.”

“Man, I slept so well.  I know you're the only one who admitted to being exhausted last night, but honestly, I was dead tired, too.  I barely slept the whole time you were gone.  I guess I got so used to cuddling up together the last time we were here that I forgot how to sleep alone.  And I hope I never have to remember.”

Chris stretched experimentally.  “I slept surprisingly well, too.  I'm not sure whether it's you, or this place, or some combination of the two, but I never feel as refreshed waking up at home as I do here.”

Darren leapt from the bed, pulling Chris with him.  “It's a good thing we're both so well-rested, ‘cause it sounds like we're gonna have to bring our A-game to defeat the Enchantress.”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, sobering slightly.  “Ryan is counting on us.”

“Oh, right — Ryan.  I guess rescuing him is important, too.  But mostly I just want to stop this curse so I can kiss you again.”

Chris shoved him playfully in the shoulder.  “I'm gonna tell him you said that.”

Darren paled a bit.  “No, don't!  You know I was just kidding.  Sort of…”

“Who's afraid of the big, bad Ryan?” Chris teased.

“Hey!” Darren objected.  “It's easy for you.  Everyone knows you're his favorite.  But the rest of us have to stay on our toes if we don't want to be written out of the show.”

“Come on.  You know Ryan loves you.  And even if he didn't, he's too savvy to let go of one of his most popular characters, not to mention one of his biggest money-makers on iTunes.” 

Darren looked embarrassed, the way he still sometimes inexplicably got when he was reminded of the fact that he wasn't just some goofy kid with videos on youtube anymore.  He hastily changed the subject.

“Let's go see what's for breakfast.  I'm starving.”

Chris and Darren put on the clothes they'd been wearing the day before, and went in search of something to eat.  Delicious aromas wafting down the hallway led them to the breakfast room, where Queen Red, Froggy, Kurt, and Blaine were already seated around a table piled high with food.

After a hasty round of ‘good morning's, everyone began to eat.  For a few minutes, the only sounds to be heard were the clattering of silverware on dishes and the pleased mmmmm's of those assembled.

Darren, though (never one to be constrained by mundane rules like don't talk with your mouth full) soon broached the subject on everyone's minds.  “So, let's figure out the most prized possessions of the six most feared and hated people in the world, so we can go out and track them down.  Any ideas?”

Rachel swallowed her eggs before replying.  “Everyone knows that the Snow Queen's most prized possession is her scepter.  It's the source of her magical power over the weather.”

“And the Mirror of True Love is what the Evil Queen treasured the most,” Kurt reminded them.

“Okay, what else?”

“I'm not sure what the giant's most prized possession was,” Blaine admitted.  “But it shouldn't be too hard to discover.  After all, there wasn't a whole lot in that castle.  If we go back and look around, I'm sure we'll figure it out.”   

“The Sea Witch has a reputation for loving her jewels,” Froggy said.  “I don't know whether she has one favorite item, though, or whether we'll just have to take her whole collection.”

“Oh, speaking of jewelry, I know exactly what the Wicked Stepmother prizes the most,” Rachel offered.  “It's her wedding ring.  I've heard that she was always waving it under people's noses, showing it off.  To her, being married is a woman's ultimate success.  That's why she was so dead set on having one of her ugly daughters marry Prince Charming.”

“Great,” said Darren.  “We've got five out of the six.  Now we just need to figure out what the Enchantress's most prized possession is.”

Chris, who'd been silent until this point, now spoke up.  “From what I know of the Enchantress, she values power above everything else.  So I think we need to find the source of her power — whether it's something literal or symbolic — and take that from her.”

Before anyone could respond, they were interrupted by a servant, carrying two letters on a golden tray.  “Excuse me, Your Majesty,” she said, bowing low to Queen Red Riding Hood.  “These were brought by runners in the night, and I thought I should deliver them as soon as possible.”

“Thank you,” Rachel said, reaching for the tray.  

With an apologetic smile, the servant passed it to Froggy, instead.  “I'm sorry, My Queen, but they're addressed to Prince Charming.”

Froggy picked up the letters, and the servant hurried away.

“Who are they from?” Rachel asked.

Froggy turned over the letters and held them up to show the sealing wax, imprinted with the insignias of the Northern Kingdom and the Charming Kingdom.  “They're from my brothers.”

The others looked on curiously as Froggy opened the letters and quickly read each one.  “King Sam wrote to tell me that he and Queen Snow White are en route to the Charming Kingdom to provide what support they can during this terrible time, and to encourage me to join them.  But King Puck's letter says that news of our mission has already reached him and Queen Quinderella, and that they are in agreement that the best thing for me to do is to aid in defeating the Enchantress, ending the curse, and restoring Princess Beth to them.”

The others nodded in solemn agreement.  Until then, they hadn't really considered the fact that Froggy's niece was one of the victims of the curse.  It made them even more determined to prevail against the Enchantress.

“Alright,” Darren said bracingly.  “We're pretty sure what we need to collect, and where the items are.  Now we just need a plan for how to get them.  I know my understanding of geography isn't the best, but it sounds like we'll be traveling from one end of the world to the other.”

“That's right,” said Froggy.  “And some of the places we're going will be hard to reach.  There are no roads over the northern mountains, and certainly none leading to the Sea Witch's lair, either.”  

“I have an idea,” Chris offered.  “It may sound unconventional, but I believe it will work.  If we fashion a hot air balloon, with a ship suspended underneath, we could use it to float over the mountains and sail across the sea.  Plus, if we travel at night, we can reach our more centrally located destinations without drawing undue attention to ourselves.”

“Not drawing too much attention to ourselves would be wise, especially since two of us are wanted fugitives,” Kurt said, winking at Blaine.  “And a flying ship is an interesting idea.  But how could we possibly build something like that?”

“Oh, I know someone who can build anything,” Red said. “The Third Little Pig.  He's the best builder in the kingdom — probably the best in the world.  And he owes me a favor.  I'm sure I can convince him to build it for us.”

“The time has come,” Darren said, “to talk of many things.  Of flying ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.  And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.”

Everyone present stared at him as though he'd just sprouted another head.  

“You do realize that no one here has ever heard of Lewis Carol, let alone read Through the Looking-Glass, right?” Chris asked.  “They all just think you're insane.  And what do cabbages have to do with anything?”

“They're in case we run into any two-headed Orgs on our journey.  You know — to dispose of a two-headed Org, jump up and down three times, roll a head of cabbage, and giggle.”

Chris gave him a look that said he was beginning to agree with the general consensus on Darren's sanity —  or lack thereof.

“Don't tell me you've never seen that episode of The Monkees.”

“Darren, I've never seen any episode of The Monkees.  That show went off the air twenty years before I was born.”

“Oh my god — as soon as we get back, we have got to watch the entire series.  You'll love it!”

Chris rolled his eyes.  “Fine.  But for now, let's get back to our regularly scheduled program — defeating the Enchantress.”

“Here, here!” Kurt and Blaine cried, clinking their glasses together.

“Yes — to defeating the Enchantress,” Froggy toasted.

They all raised their glasses.  “To defeating the Enchantress!”