Finding Hope
Written by: FionaPendragon

A/N: hey everyone! Sorry it took so long to post this, life got super hectic so I barely even had time to work on any of my fics. Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter; I worked super hard on it. Also, I wanted to say that I'm going to attempt to start posting bi-weekly on Saturdays!

OH! And before I forget, if my chapter's formatting seem a little off, please let me know! Because when I post my chapters it's either off my laptop or from my phone so I never really know what the formatting is going to look like…

-FionaPendgraon

(changed my username again…)

Chapter 3: Meeting the in-laws!

"are we there yet?" Shrek exclaimed in exasperation.
"yes!" Fiona replied eagerly.
"oh, finally!" Donkey exclaimed.

As the onion carriage neared the kingdom of Far Far Away, Shrek's discomfort in the situation became more evident. Fiona placed her hand on his in reassurance, but even she had her doubts—though she would never admit it—about seeing her parents for the first time in years.

Part of the ogress knew that her parents were definitely going to be surprised to see her as an ogre and not a human, and that they might not take the news as well as she'd hoped they would, but she couldn't let her fear be visible for both her husband and daughter's sakes.

Finally, the carriage arrived at the castle where a large crowd of people were waiting for the couple. The King and Queen stood at the door of the castle, waiting for their daughter and her husband.

"announcing the long-awaited return of the beautiful Princess Fiona and her new husband!" a voice announced to the crowd.
"well, this is it." Fiona stated, as she began to exit the carriage.

The crowd gasped in shock at the sight of the ogres; no one had even considered the possibility of the princess being rescued by an ogre who would turn out to be her true love, after all. As the ogre couple began to make their way to meet Fiona's parents, the King and Queen met them halfway.

"mom, dad. I'd like you to meet my husband, Shrek." Fiona introduced after hugging her parents.
"well, it's easy to see where Fiona gets her good looks from." Shrek chuckled awkwardly.
"and who's this?" the queen asked, trying to relieve the obvious tension. Fiona looked towards where her mother was pointing, and realized Hope was hiding behind her, holding on to her dress.
"this is our daughter Hope; it's okay sweetie, there's no need to hide. These are mommy's parents." Fiona reassured with a gentle smile.
"it's pleasure to meet you, Hope, and welcome to Far Far Away." The Queen smiled at the child after shooting her daughter a glance that begged her for an explanation.

Once inside the castle, Fiona's parents shot her a look; eagerly waiting for their daughter to explain a few things.

"how did this happen?" the king exclaimed in shock, almost angrily as he pointed out his daughter's surprising appearance.
"Shrek's the one who rescued me from the dragon's keep." Fiona replied.
"Harold, enough, what I really want to know is what's the story with that little girl? Where did she come from?" the queen asked her daughter in turn.

"we…don't really know. We found her on our doorstep when we came home from our honeymoon. We asked her where she came from, and she seemed almost afraid of going back, so we took her in." the ogress explained.

Dinner was awkward. The king glared at the ogre his daughter had married for most of the evening. Shrek could feel the King's cold eyes stare daggers into him. Fiona shifted her focus from her plate to her daughter, and sometimes even to her mother, wishing there was something she could do to ease the tension in the room. Deciding to break the silence, Fiona's mother, Queen Lilian spoke:

"so, Fiona, tell us about where you live,"
"well, Shrek owns his own land. Don't you, honey?" Fiona laughed awkwardly.
"oh yeah. It's in an… enchanted forest! Abundant in squirrels and cute little duckies, and…" Shrek began before he was cut off by Donkey's laughter.
"what? Now, I know you ain't talking about the swamp!"
"Donkey," the ogre scolded.

"an ogre from a swamp. Oh, how original." King Harold exclaimed.

"well, I suppose that'll be a fine place to raise Hope and any other children you may have" the Queen smiled.

The King choked on his soup, meanwhile Shrek accidentally swallowed the spoon he was eating with and coughed it nearly across the table.

"it's a bit early to be thinking about that, isn't it?" He asked while everyone at the table stared at him.
"indeed. I just started eating…" King Harold mumbled.
"Harold!" The Queen scolded.
"what's that supposed to mean?" Shrek inquired.
"Dad, it's great. Okay?" Fiona chimed in, hoping to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
"well, for his type, yes!" The King replied harshly.
"my type?!" Shrek's voice rose, clearly getting annoyed by the whole situation.

At that moment, dinner was served. As the feast was placed on the table, King Harold and Shrek both began viciously eating.

"so, I suppose any other grandchildren I could expect from you would be…" he began.
"ogres. Yes." Shrek replied harshly.

"not that there's anything wrong with that, right Harold?" Queen Lilian stated, glaring at her husband.
"no, no, of course not. That's assuming you don't eat your own young!" The King exclaimed.
"dad!" Fiona exclaimed, shocked by her father's behavior.
"oh no, we usually prefer the ones who have been locked away in a tower!" Shrek yelled in reply.
"Shrek, please!" Fiona half scolded, half pleaded.
"I only did that because I love her!" The King defended.
"oh aye, daycare or dragon-guarded castle!" The ogre exclaimed.
"you wouldn't understand; you're not her father!" King Harold defended once more.

A full-fledged food fight raged between the king and the ogre in the dining room, much to Fiona's chagrin. Hope watched the scene while trying her best not to laugh at the crazy antics going on around her. The child barely understood why her father and grandfather were having a food fight, but enjoyed the show none the less.

Fiona, on the other hand, just wanted both of them to stop and behave themselves for a minute. On the one hand, she could understand why Shrek was upset by her father's remarks, but on the other hand, he was still her father. The princess was slowly starting to regret her decision to introduce her family to her parents.

'Not much I can do about it right now...' the ogress thought to herself.

Fiona's thoughts were soon interrupted by the roasted pig that flew into the air after her father and husband played tug of war with it.

"Shrek!" She scolded.
"Fiona!" Shrek defended.
"Fiona!" King Harold defended in turn.
"Mom!"
"Harold!"
"Donkey!" Donkey exclaimed, wanting to desperately be a part of the conversation.

Frustrated with the whole situation, the ogress stormed out of the dining room, desperate to clear her head. Not really paying attention to where she was going, Fiona ended up in her childhood bedroom; the very room Hope would be sleeping in for the duration of their visit.

Taking in the room, the few happy childhood memories the ogre princess had came back to her. Approaching the fireplace, Fiona noticed her little figurines were exactly as she had left them so many years ago. There was a toy Princess, a knight and an ogre along side a plush toy of a dragon. The ogress picked up the princess figurine and sighed; being in her childhood home brought up many conflicting feelings.

She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't miss being a human at times, but most days Fiona was quite content living her life as an ogre. But seeing her parents again after so long brought a lot of her insecurities back to light. Stepping out onto the balcony, a few small tears escaped the princess's eyes.

Meanwhile, the King and Queen had retired to their chambers for the evening as the castle staff cleaned the remnants of dinner that were now all over the room. Hope decided to go explore the castle as much as she could, until she ran into Shrek and Donkey who were searching for Fiona.

"I think she's in there," Shrek stated after hearing voices coming from one of the many rooms in the castle.

Barging into the room completely unannounced, Shrek, Donkey and Hope were greeted by a surprised Fiona, enchanted furniture, and an ever-so shocked Fairy Godmother.

"uh, Fairy Godmother, furniture, I'd like you to meet my husband, Shrek and our daughter Hope." Fiona awkwardly introduced.
"your husband? Your daughter?! What? When did this happen? How did this happen?" Fairy Godmother questioned, the last of her many questions confusing her the most. How did two ogres manage to have a human daughter?
"well, Shrek's the one who rescued me, and we adopted Hope several months ago when we found her," Fiona explained.

"well, that can't be right!" Fairy Godmother exclaimed.

Hope kept her distance from the fairy godmother, there was something about her that made the four-year-old uneasy. The child quickly tuned out the conversation the adults were having, and only realized it was over when her mother stormed out of the room.

"that's real smooth, Shrek. I'M AN OGRE! ARRRG!" Donkey added.

Later that evening, Shrek read Hope a bedtime story, and tucked her in for the night. Before he finished the story, the child squeaked:

"I don't like it when you and mommy fight,"

Shrek was taken aback by his daughter's words; what was he supposed to say to that? Arguments are a part of every relationship, he was well aware of that, and he's had arguments with Fiona in front of Hope in the past, and knew full-well she understood that couples fight sometimes, but it didn't change how they felt about each other.

He realized that maybe this time, the argument escalated more than usual. The conversation played back in Shrek's mind and he regretted saying the things he said to Fiona deeply.

"we don't like it either, sweetheart, but your mum and I will patch things up; we always do," the ogre reassured.
"okay. Goodnight daddy," the child smiled tiredly.
"goodnight Hope,"

With that, Hope's eyes grew heavy and she soon drifted off to sleep. By the time Shrek returned to the bedroom he and Fiona shared, he found the ogress fast asleep. Needless to say, it was going to be a long night for the ogre.

A/N: Well, there you have it! Another chapter complete, and now, the fun part can begin! I will mention that the next chapter will be more Hope-centered, so we won't be seeing much of Shrek and Donkey's whacky adventures/ shenanigans that happen in Shrek 2; it's going to be more focused on Hope and everyone else at the castle. As I mentioned in the previous A/N above, I'm going to attempt to post a new chapter bi-weekly on Saturdays.

Anyways, I'll see you all next time!

-FionaPendgraon