Henry quickly got off the school bus and started running. It was Friday afternoon and it was time to spend the week at his mom and his grandparents. He had been staying at his mom, Regina's home, but he hadn't packed. He had only about an hour before his mom, Emma came to pick him up.
If there was as one thing Henry was good at, it was running. In fact he would have been there in exactly 5 minutes it he hadn't stopped abruptly. He had heard someone call out his name.
"Henry!"
There it was again. Henry turned everywhere to find the source.
"Behind the tree."
Henry knew he had to be cautious. After all crazy things did happen in Storybrooke all the time. But then again...he was also curious. He walked over to the nearest tree. Kneeling behind it was a small girl about 12 years old.
"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Henry asked quickly.
The girl stood up. She wore a red coat and a white sweater. Her dark hair was long and a bit curly but what stood out the most were her bright blue eyes. The girl looked so familiar but Henry was sure he'd never seen her.
"It's kind of weird seeing you so much younger, Henry. "
"Do I know you?"
"I'm your sister, Henry. And I really need your help."
Henry took a step back. How could she be his sister? It was a trick.
Emma reached out to the coffee being given to her.
"Switching from rum to coffee?" Emma asked.
Killian chuckled.
"Not yet. I just thought m'lady would rather enjoy some afternoon coffee."
Emma smiled and looked back at the paper piles that had taken over her desk. She had been in the sheriff office since morning trying to get all the paperwork organized.
"Well thanks I really needed it. This paperwork never seems to get smaller. I think it just keeps getting bigger."
She took a sip of her coffee and flipped through some more pages.
"Need any help?" Killian asked taking a chair next to her.
"It's ok I can handle it. I just want to finish this part before my dad gets here to take over."
Killian leaned in and kissed her forehead.
"I certainly do hope you don't get too stressed out by the work." He said softly.
"How could I when I have such a gentleman looking after me?" Emma smiled and leaned over to kiss him on the lips.
Emma's cellphone ringing interrupted them.
"Hi Regina. Don't worry, I just need to finish this and I'll head over - wait what?" Emma glanced over to Killian who raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"What do you mean he's not home? No he's not here. He should have been there 20 minutes ago. Ok. He didn't answer? Well let's go and find him then." Emma hung up and grabbed her jacket.
"What's wrong? Henry's missing?" Killian asked.
"Regina said he hasn't come home. She called him but he doesn't answer. " Emma said in a hurry grabbing and organizing things.
"Where could he be?" Killian stood up.
"I have no clue. Come on. I'll text my dad to come in on the way. "
Killian walked behind and grabbed her hand. He wanted to let her know that even in troubled times he'd always be there.
Emma gave him a quick smile and then pulled him to run along with her.
"No Henry please don't run. I came to find you because I knew you would help me. First you have to help me convince Mom and my dad that I really am who I say I am."
Henry stopped and turned around. Could she really be his sister? She did have the curious sparkling eyes that he saw when he looked in the mirror. She looked like she was telling the truth. He decided he'd hear what she had to say.
"Ok. I'll let you explain."
Lily smiled and hugged him.
"Thanks. Come on let's go sit somewhere."
They started walking towards the forest.
"Ok first off I am your sister. You just haven't met me because I'm from the future."
"What? But how can that be possible. That's only happened once." Henry said in total confusion.
"Well in the future someone finds out how to come back and he's here." Lily said sounding worried.
They had walked a couple of feet into the forest. Lily took a seat on a nearby rock and Henry sat next to her slowly.
"Ok...but I don't know." Henry said with doubt in his voice.
Lily grabbed his hand to hold it and looked into his eyes.
"I also came to you because you have the heart of the truest believer. If there's anyone in this town that would believe me right now it's you."
Henry shook his head. The heart of the truest believer. When he looked at Lily he wanted to believe, but he didn't wanted it to be a trick and fall into trouble again.
"I still don't know." Henry replied.
Lily took off her backpack and opened it quickly. She took out a worn out brown book.
"Look. Your storybook. You gave it to me on my 7th birthday. You told me that it was one of the important things of your childhood. It gave you hope when you thought there was none. You wanted me to have this book so that I'd always believe there was hope."
Henry smiled. He took the worn out book and flipped through the pages. It looked exactly like the one he had at home. What Lily said sounded a lot like him, but still could be a trick.
Lily smiled back at him.
"I know it's a lot to take in. A sister from the future. Well half sister. We just share our mom Emma."
"And your father is Killian?" Henry asked.
"Yup." She stared at the trees in front of her and suddenly laughed.
"You wanna know my favorite moment with you? When I pointed out that we weren't real siblings. We were only half siblings. I was probably only 5 and you took me by the hand and said 'Lily, I don't like the word half siblings. You are my sister not my half sister. Family is family and I don't need to distinguish between half or full. I love you and that's what's important. I'm your brother and you're my sister."
Henry thought about it. If he did have a sister right now he wouldn't like to call her half sister. It felt wrong as if he didn't want her to be family. As if only half of her was real to him. He would prefer to call her sister.
"That does sound a lot like me." Henry agreed.
"So do you believe me now?" Lily raised an eyebrow.
Henry nodded. Maybe it was his heart that was taking control but he did believe her. This was his sister. Henry leaned over and hugged her.
Lily smiled and hugged him back. She started filling him in on the details of why she was here.
Killian and Emma reached the library where she said she would meet Regina.
Regina was pacing back and forth talking on the phone.
"Emma! I just got off the phone with the bus driver. She said she dropped him off at the same time and he was running towards my house." Regina said fast paced.
"And nobody else saw him?" Emma asked.
"Not the people that I have asked." She replied.
"It's probably best if we search all the places we know he could be and ask if anyone has seen him." Killian said.
"Well he's not at the library and Belle hasn't seen him. I already asked her." Regina replied.
"Did you try Granny's? The boy could have been hungry?" Killian suggested.
"He would have called Regina or me." Emma replied.
"Let's go check just in case." Regina said.
She got into her car and drove towards it while Emma and Killian followed.
There they asked if Henry had been there. All three of them walked out disappointingly.
"What if something happened to him? How could no one have seen anything?!" Regina said angrily.
"Let's not get worked up. We'll find him." Emma said trying to calm her down.
"Why not try the forest? Perhaps. that's why no one has seen him." Killian pointed out.
"I'll stay here and keep asking around. You two go to the forest and call me if you find him." Regina said.
"You got it. Killian let's go!" Emma hopped back into her car. She was getting worried. Where could her son be? Why would he run off without letting any of them know where he was going.
At the forest Killian and Emma split up to cover more ground. They yelled out for Henry. After minutes of walking Killian heard voices. Children. He walked towards the sound.
"Henry! What are you doing? Your mothers have been terribly worried. Emma! I found him"
Henry stood up surprised to see Killian. The girl next to him smile grew wide. She ran towards him and gave him a big hug. Killian stood in shock wondering who the child was.
"Dad!" The girl exclaimed.
Emma rushed in running towards Henry.
"Henry! We've been looking…wait did she just call you Dad?" Emma said expecting an answer from Killian.
Killian turned towards Emma and shook his head, clearly very confused.
The girl stopped hugging him and looked up at Emma. She smiled yet again widely.
"Mom!" She hugged her and Emma reacted just as Killian had reacted. She just stood there in shock looking down at the child embracing here.
"I'm sorry, but did the girl just refer to you as her mother?" Killian raised both eyebrows.