DISCLAIMER:: do not own. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: PLEASE BE ADVISED:: this story does not reflect my personal views on the matter of henry's father. it was a prompt. i hope i did it justice, but i DO NOT think baelfire is henry's dad. that being said, on with the show. enjoy and review.
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He stared down at the book cradled in his arms, this book that had taught him the truth about the town he'd grown up in, about the woman he'd grown up with. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, he could barely even admit it to himself anymore, but his world had once began and ended with the Evil Queen herself. There was nothing she wasn't capable of doing. For quite possibly the first time in her long life, she had been the hero of the piece. She had been his hero. And then the book had been given to him, another thing Snow White had done with good intentions that ended up affecting the Evil Queen's life negatively.
He stared down at the book and slowly turned through the pages. Therein were contained the stories of Snow White, Little Red and the Big Bad Wolf, Jiminy Cricket, Rumpelstiltskin, Prince Charming, Pinocchio, Dreamy/Grumpy and the other dwarves, the Evil Queen, and even the story of his biological mother for the precious few moments she was in her home world after her birth, before she had been put in the wardrobe and transported here. The only person whose story wasn't contained within its pages was his. The book, this thing that had come into his life, stolen his faith in one mother and put it in the other, changed everything he felt about everyone in his life, yet had failed to give him the most crucial detail of all.
A look of anger crossed his eleven year old face and he tossed the offending tome with all his might into the waves before him. The tide, just on its way out, carried the book out with it, pulling it from his view. Served the stupid thing right for not warning him.
He tucked his hands into the pockets of his school uniform trousers and started his trek back along the shoreline towards the harbour. He had lied to Emma, telling her that he was going over to a friend's house to do homework. She'd agreed he could go as long as he was at the Sheriff's station by six, so he could go home with her. He wasn't sure when the mayoral mansion had become home to her. It had been a quick, sudden thing. One minute magic had come back to Storybrooke, the next, the white knight, the saviour of fairytale kind, his biological mother, had defended the Evil Queen in the trial for her life that the town had held. She'd immediately left her mother's flat in town to move into the spare bedroom after that. Even though everyone in town had ruled in favour, although some more begrudgingly than others, of letting the Evil Queen live, Emma had still been worried for her safety and swore it was the only way she could protect both the Evil Queen and Henry from harm.
In the months that followed he saw them grow closer, as Emma worked to pick up the shattered pieces of his mom's life, until one day she stopped sleeping in the spare room, moving into the master suite with his mom instead. They shared little kisses when they thought he wasn't looking. It had bothered him at first, the saviour and the Evil Queen, was there a greater contradiction? But he had grown accustomed to it; it became his normal. It became everyone's normal. Which was why everyone had been so thrown when the bell had rung that night. No one had expected the man who stood on the other side. No one had anticipated his father, least of all him.
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TWO DAYS AGO
Henry tore into the house, leaving the door thrown open for Emma. "Mom, we're home!"
Regina popped her head out of the dining room. "How many times must I tell you, young man? No running in the house." Before she could scold him any further, her gaze fell on the blonde who'd just made it in the doorway.
Henry made a disgusted face at the googly eyes his mothers were making at each other and went up the stairs. He so didn't need to see this.
Regina stepped fully out of the dining room. She still wore her power suits though she no longer truly had need of them. She wasn't the mayor anymore, didn't have any social standing whatsoever but appearances were appearances and she'd be damned if she let those do-gooders see her reduced to sweats and baggy t-shirts, or worse… mom-jeans. She shuddered at the very thought.
Emma closed the door. She hadn't changed one bit either, some things would always be constant.
They met in the middle of the foyer, hands seeking purchase somewhere on each other. It had been that way ever since that night when they'd first brought their mutual attraction to light. Once it had been put out there in the open, they had been drawn to each other like magnets. Or maybe they'd always been like that and this was just the result of them stopping their fight against the pull. Either way they could barely be in the same room now without some form of contact whether it be just a hand on the shoulder or something much less innocent.
"Welcome home Sheriff." Regina placed a chaste kiss on the Sheriff's mouth.
"It's good to be home, Grandma." Emma grinned.
Regina let out a scoff of disgust and pulled away. "I told you not to call me that!"
Emma grasped at her hips, preventing her from pulling away completely. "I know, I know. I just like pushing your buttons."
"It's things like that that could lead to you sleeping in the spare bedroom again." Regina pouted, still trying to pull away from the embrace.
"Well I suppose I could sleep in the spare bedroom." She leaned in and dragged Regina's mouth to hers. She smiled when the brunette put up no resistance, allowing Emma to deepen the kiss and slide her tongue into a warm mouth. She pulled away suddenly, leaving Regina's mouth leaning after hers. "But I don't think you really want me to."
"Our son is upstairs Sheriff." That didn't stop Regina from stealing another kiss. "Don't tempt me." Yet another kiss.
Emma pulled away and put a finger to Regina's lips to prevent further kiss-assault. "I'm going to go set the table before our son decides to reappear and catch us in a compromising position."
The doorbell sounded. Regina looked towards the door. "And I'll get the door." She moved past Emma on her way to the door, smacking her ass playfully as she walked by.
Emma put a hand down to the assaulted cheek to ease the sting and gaped after her girlfriend. "You'll pay for that."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Regina smirked and glanced through the peephole, frowning at the dark haired man she didn't recognise. "Who's this then?" She opened the door. "Can I help you?"
The man, who appeared to be in his late 30s to early 40s, had dark curly hair and devastatingly dark eyes. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Regina didn't recognise him and that only served to alarm her. No one ever came to Storybrooke who wasn't of their world. Emma Swan and August Booth had both just been returning to their people, where they belonged.
He smiled at her, exposing a row of straight white teeth. He obviously took care of himself. "Good evening ma'am, I apologise for disturbing you but I'm looking for Emma Swan and I was pointed here as her place of residence."
Regina glanced over her shoulder. The door was still closed enough that it blocked Emma from view of the stranger, but the blonde could see him well enough.
Emma's face held a mixture of fear and disbelief. She slowly, as if just registering she had limbs capable of movement, jumped into action. Anger fueled her as she surged forward and wrenched the door open. Her eyes narrowed as they sized up the man on the stoop. "You are not welcome here."
Regina glanced between the impassive look on the stranger's face and the look of undisguised fury on Emma's. "You know this man?"
Emma spared a momentary glance at Regina, her eyes softening in apology. "He's… not important. Besides, he's just leaving, aren't you Mr. Sparks?" She turned a green-eyed glare back on the man in the doorway.
"I came to speak with you Emma and I'm not leaving until I get that chance."
"I'm warning you Bailey…"
"So you do remember my name."
"I remember more than I ever wanted to. Now go."
"Mom?"
All three pairs of eyes flicked to the boy at the bottom of the stairs.
Emma was about at her breaking point. "Go to your room!"
Henry looked confused and wounded. "But Emma!"
"Regina." Emma infused all command she could muster into that one word.
The brunette got the hint. With one last glare at the man and a quick touch to the small of the blonde's back, she turned to their son. "Back upstairs young man."
"Mom, what'd I do? Why's Emma mad at me?" Henry looked to the brunette for answers as she guided him upstairs with a hand on his shoulder.
Once they were upstairs Emma glared at the man.
"So you live with that woman and her son? So what, are you gay now? She's beautiful, I'll give her that; if anyone could turn you, it'd be her. But then again, you always were a little butch."
"Go Bailey! My life is none of your business anymore!" She tried to close the door but his hand splayed across its surface, stopping her.
"What are you going to do Emma, call the Sheriff on me?" He seemed amused at the very thought. "Have me arrested? I just want to talk."
Emma grinned as if just remembering the badge at her hip, hidden under her jacket. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Seriously?" He raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
Emma unzipped her jacket, revealing the gleaming gold (Regina made a point to polish it; Emma's appearance now reflected upon her too after all) badge.
"You're the Sheriff?" His eyebrows shot even higher.
Emma gave a firm nod in acknowledgement. "And you sir, are trespassing on private property. So I suggest you take your excuses back down the walkway and out of my town."
His jaw stiffened. "We need to talk Emma; I think you know why. I'm staying in the Bed and Breakfast just off Main Street, I'm sure you know the one. When you decide to be an adult, come find me." He didn't wait for her retort, just turned and stormed back to his BMW she could see parked just past the hedges.
She closed the door, suddenly exhausted. With a sigh she hung up her coat and moved into the parlour. She grabbed the decanter of Regina's infamous cider and a crystal tumbler, pouring herself a generous amount. She thought about keeping the bottle with her but she'd made it a point to drink less now that she'd moved in. One of her foster mothers had been prone to drink and it was not a time in her life Emma looked back on with fondness. She sat on the couch and stared at the amber liquid in her glass, tilting it to watch the liquid move around.
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"Our son is too angry and upset to eat. He's taking a bath and going to bed early." Regina watched her girlfriend, trying to gauge how she was feeling.
"Yea, well my appetite's pretty shot too." She set down her glass. "I'll go put dinner away."
"I already did. I figured you might not be hungry. Can I join you?"
Emma nodded. "I'd really like the company."
Regina walked in and closed the door. She came to the couch and sat down beside Emma. Without thinking about if it was appropriate, Regina's hand sought Emma's knee, rubbing slow soothing circles.
"I'm so sorry." Emma's anger broke at the brunette's touch and she looked at Regina, the apology written starkly across her features.
"Sorry for what? It's not like you knew he'd show up on our doorstep unannounced." She used her free hand not on Emma's knee to push some wayward golden strands behind Emma's ear. "Who is he?"
Emma picked up her glass again and downed the rest of the cider. "His name is Bailey Sparks. I met him many years ago. He's some hot shot LA lawyer."
"An ex-boyfriend?"
Emma nodded. "The only ex-boyfriend. You know how I don't do relationships, present company excluded? He's why."
"How old were you when you guys broke up?"
"Young."
"So why is he here, after all this time?"
Emma shifted a little, looking pained. "He's probably here about his son." Again she turned apologetic eyes on Regina.
"Oh, he has a son?" And then slowly, it dawned on her. She started shaking her head before she'd even spoken. "No. Not our son? Emma, tell me I'm wrong."
"He didn't know! I never thought…"
"Then how in the hell did he find out?" Regina withdrew her hand from the blonde's knee.
"Sydney found out about my past easily enough when he dug up dirt for your front page expose, and he's just a small town reporter. Bailey was rich, obviously still is; it would be nothing to him to pay a private investigator to find out what happened to me after we broke up. And since I had Henry only six months after that, it wouldn't be hard." She ran a hand through her hair. "The good news is that no matter how deep he digs, I don't think he could find Henry's adoption records. As long as we keep Henry away from him, so he can't grill him for info on me, then he'll never know." She groaned. "I guess this means I have to talk to him myself. Fuck my life." Her head fell back against the couch, her eyes closed. Talking to Bailey Sparks was the last thing she wanted to do. Scratch that… explaining all this to Henry was the last thing she wanted to do, this being a close second. But it seems both were inevitable.
"Emma dear, I don't want this man anywhere near our son. I already have to share him with his grandparents and my patience with even that is growing thin."
Emma didn't lift her head or open her eyes. "I know. I don't want him here either. He may have contributed twenty three chromosomes but he has never been Henry's father." She sighed, finally opening her eyes, and turned to look at the brunette. "Are you mad?"
Regina was rigid, straightbacked, and tense, Madame Mayor come again. "Am I mad?" She seemed to ponder the question for a long moment. "At him? Furious. At you? No."
Emma felt the edge of her mouth turn up towards a smile. "Really?"
Regina nodded. "Yes, really." She grabbed Emma's hand and tugged on it. "Come here."
Emma scooted over, and as she got close enough, Regina grabbed her leg and pulled it over her lap so the blonde was straddling it. Emma rested her forehead against the brunette's.
Regina dragged her fingers up the blonde's sides as she stared into her eyes. "Do you love me?"
Emma bit her bottom lip and nodded.
Regina lifted the blonde's arms and draped them over her shoulders. "Henry, you, and I are a family, are we not?"
Emma got the hint and grabbed the back of the couch. She nodded again. Her eyes were already starting to betray her lust, darkening as her desire grew.
Regina smirked, delighting in the blonde's arousal. "And he doesn't make you wet like I do, does he?"
Emma shook her head. "Never. You. Only you." She ground down against the ex-mayor's thighs trying to get any form of friction she could.
Regina unzipped Emma's jeans, her hand sliding down into them, sampling the abundance of wetness.
Emma moaned and rocked against the slow strokes across her hot flesh. "Please Regina."
Regina smirked, her mouth at the flesh of neck, jaw, and collarbone. Her hand slipped from the blonde's jeans. "We have to get these off."
Emma immediately stumbled up and pulled desperately at the denim, trying to get it off.
Regina grabbed her frantic hands to stop their movements. She placed a soft kiss to the little sliver of flesh exposed by the open fly of the blonde's jeans before hooking her fingers through the belt loops on either side and calmly dragging the fabric down.
Emma stepped out of them before resuming her position on Regina's lap.
Regina's hand sank into the lacy boy shorts that encased the blonde's pelvis. Her fingers slid into wet folds and then two separated from the pack and plunged into Emma's entrance.
"God yes." Emma's head fell back, her hair cascading down her back like a golden waterfall. "Deeper. I want you to fill me."
Regina obliged, sliding in all the way to the knuckle. Slowly she withdrew almost all the way and then plunged back in.
Emma rode the brunette's fingers, panting as her climax built. She wanted to rub her own clit but she was too afraid to let go of the back of the couch; it would change the position of the brunette's fingers inside her and that position was too delicious to adjust.
Regina's pupils were dilated with her growing arousal, but even through her desirous haze, she saw the need of Emma written across her face. She pressed the heel of her hand against the blonde's clit with every inward thrust. Her mouth latched onto the blonde's neck, sucking and biting at the flesh. "Come for me darling."
Emma bit her bottom lip to stifle the scream as she came hard. As soon as she could trust herself to be quiet, she released her lip. "Regina." She captured the brunette's mouth in hunger.
Regina removed her fingers from the blonde, pulling back from the kiss to lick them clean. Her eyes fluttered closed as she pulled them from her mouth. "Have I ever told you how divine you taste Miss Swan?"
"If I taste divine then you taste heavenly." Emma smirked, sliding down the brunette's body until her knees touched the floor. She reached up and quickly unbuckled the belt so she could get to the button and zipper of the older woman's trousers. She got them undone and urged Regina to lift her hips so she could pull them over the rounded curve of her ass and down her legs, taking her silk underwear down with them. She tossed them aside before bringing her hands up to Regina's knees, rubbing her thumbs soothingly across the tan skin before slowly opening the legs before her, spreading them until she had a clear path to Regina's glistening centre. She wrapped her hands around the sides of Regina's hips and dragged her forward to the edge of the couch. She placed wet open-mouthed kisses on Regina's thighs.
The brunette whimpered. "Emma, please, I need you."
Emma smirked against Regina's thigh. She looked up into eyes that were now near black. "Tell me where you need me."
Regina bit her lip. "I need you inside me. Taste me Emma."
Emma placed a conciliatory kiss to her thigh before bringing her mouth to the wet folds at their apex.
Regina groaned in appreciation. "Yes, God Emma, yes." Her hands gripped the couch cushions tightly as she rocked into Emma's mouth.
Emma dipped her tongue into the brunette's entrance. "You're so ready for me." Her tongue traversed the brunette's length several times before dipping into her entrance once again, licking up her wetness.
"Emma, more."
That one request fueled Emma's fingers like a call to action. She plunged three fingers into the brunette, eliciting a hiss from the woman above. She kept them still, allowing the woman above her to adjust to the stretch, sucking her clit into her mouth by way of apology. Once she heard the moan of approval, she began to slowly thrust.
"Faster." Regina rocked her hips again.
Emma picked up her speed, thrusting hard into her as she dragged her teeth across the sensitive bundle of nerves. She felt Regina's climax coming quick and had just enough time to shoot up and swallow Regina's blissful cry into her own mouth as she crushed their lips together. She stroked softly in the brunette, coaxing her through her climax, before pulling out. She crawled back up Regina's body, collapsing against her. "I love you."
"My saviour." Regina placed a soft kiss to the crown of blonde locks. "I'll fight him, for you, for Henry, for what is mine, my happy ending. I've just found all that I've missed and I'll be damned if some… sperm donor is going to ruin it."
Emma looked up into brown eyes and saw the barely disguised undercurrents of fear. She wanted to do whatever was necessary to remove that fear from Regina. "The war has already been won. Henry and I, we're already yours."
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Regina was so tightly wound that she knew the littlest thing would almost certainly set her off. Emma had already left for work, Henry to school and she was once again left to her own thoughts. And her thoughts had a long history of becoming dangerous when left unchecked. But she couldn't go there, not again. If she gave into that pull, even the slightest bit, she would lose everything. It was a dark and tempting abyss, but she couldn't lose the long lost Princess or their son. If she lost them, no fate would be left to her except execution. She simply didn't want redemption if she couldn't have them too. They were everything, her world. She'd lost her entire existence, everything she'd created, everything she'd been. But none of that mattered, because she had gotten to keep them. And now Bailey Sparks was threatening that. She paced once more across the foyer. That was precisely why she'd called over to the Bed and Breakfast and asked him to stop by. To… talk. She glanced at the clock. 11:28. She'd asked him to be here at 11:30.
At one minute til, the doorbell rang. Well at least he was prompt. It was a quality she normally respected in a person but she found she was slow to admire any quality in a man who had seduced an underage girl (her underage girl as it were) and then left her. Emma hadn't seemed fit to share the details of their breakup, just that he was the one who'd broken her heart and not the other way around. And, in all honesty, the thought of him breaking Emma's heart made Regina want to break his face.
She opened the door to find him once again standing there. He was in a well pressed business suit, as was she. It seemed they both were prepared for battle, their professional appearances were their armour, their wits were their weapons.
"Please, Mr. Sparks, come in." She held open the door.
"Thank you." He stepped inside and immediately surveyed the foyer. Obviously this was a pissing contest to him. He was observing her material wealth, sizing up what she could provide Emma and then surmise if he could offer more. Finally he turned to meet her cold gaze. "It seems in all the chaos yesterday evening that we never were properly introduced. Bailey Sparks." He extended a hand towards her.
Regina considered snubbing him by not accepting the handshake but she wasn't quite ready to give him any clues as to why she requested his presence here. She gave his hand the briefest of shakes. "Regina Mills."
"And what is it you do Miss Mills that you've accumulated such wealth?"
This was it. He obviously considered career to be prevalent over family.
"I'm in politics, and until very recently I was mayor, running uncontested for several straight terms."
He nodded, though she couldn't tell from his expression whether or not he was impressed. "I'm sure Emma told you all about me."
She gestured for him to follow her to the parlour. "Would you like a drink?"
"Yes, please."
"Pick your poison." She smirked to herself as she approached the sidebar. If only she could poison him, but Snow White had long ago proved it was never that easy.
"Scotch if you have it." He sat down and she smiled as she realised he was sitting in the spot where she'd pleasured Emma not eighteen hours prior.
She poured his drink and brought it to him, taking the seat across from him. "In response to your earlier statement Mr. Sparks, Emma has disclosed very little about her past to me. It's a sore spot for her, as I'm sure you can imagine. She doesn't like to discuss it and I prefer not to press the issue. The past should remain in the past. It is comprised of lessons to be learned not regrets to be constantly relived."
"I can see you aren't particularly fond of me Miss Mills."
Regina smirked. Understatement of the year. "I'm not fond of anything or anyone that threatens my family. My son and I lived many years without Miss Swan and I believe us to be worse off for it. I have no intention of letting some fling from the past waltz in and take what's mine."
Bailey nearly spit out his scotch. "You misunderstand my intentions. I think it was quite obvious last night what Emma thinks of me. Even if I desired being back in her life, she'd never allow it. That chapter of my life is closed Miss Mills. It is not Emma I desire, merely some information I believe she possesses. You see, Emma and I were much more than a fling; we loved each other."
"So you make a habit of leaving the people you love?"
He bristled, the first break in his calm composure. "My leaving was in Emma's best interests. I know she fails to see it that way but I… I come from a complicated situation. I would have only complicated her life. I would have left sooner but there was just something about her that kept bringing me back. Something about her that reminded me where I came from, as odd as that is." He looked as if he truly meant his words. "If I had known…"
"That she was with child?"
That caught him off guard. "You know then?"
"Yes I know." She gritted her teeth. He was going to share his missed-fatherhood woes with her. She wasn't sure she could handle that. Henry was hers and Emma's. Their son belonged in no part to Bailey Sparks. "The question is, how do you know?"
He frowned. "I wanted to find out what became of Emma. It wasn't hard to trace her from LA to Phoenix. The birth records were easy to find. After she gave him up, they both dropped off the map. His adoption records were sealed airtight. It made no difference how much money I offered, the file had nothing useful in it."
"So how did you pick up on Emma's trail?"
He smiled. "Through the adoption agency actually. They said that a woman had been hounding them about the same case for years. She always left a number where they could reach her if they ever found out more information. It took some financial incentive but they gave me the last number she left them, eighteen months ago. It was for a cell registered to Emma Swan of Boston. It didn't take long to track her from there to here."
"If she was calling that often, what makes you think she'd know any better than you where the child is?" She raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "The adoption agency says she's been calling once a year, every year, same day, like clockwork. Until this year. She missed the day. So either she just gave up, which wouldn't be like her, stubborn hard-head that she is, or she found out the information she needed sometime between then and the next anniversary."
Regina regarded him cooly. "Or maybe, she found a new family and decided to let him live his life."
The corners of his mouth turned down in a frown. "I mean no disrespect and I'm sorry if I said something to offend you; I'm just trying to find my son."
Regina could feel the vein in her forehead becoming more pronounced. "To what end Mr. Sparks? You seem to forget that wherever that child is, he already has a family. Did you ever consider he may not even know he's adopted? He has spent eleven years without you. Is it fair to upset his world like that because you suddenly feel like being a father?"
"He is my son." Bailey's eyes flashed dangerously. "Maybe that means very little to you, but I spent the better part of my life without my father and I won't put him through that same fate."
Regina stood abruptly, the same warning clouding her gaze. "Yes, well, Emma and I have a son of our own and he knows nothing of the history you share with her. I'd like to keep it that way. He is to be unaffected by this pointless search of yours. Am I understood?" Her tone left no room for argument.
He stood. "Fine, you don't want your son affected, you tell Emma to come talk to me. I meant what I said yesterday; I won't leave until I find out what she knows." He moved into the foyer.
Regina followed him to the door. She opened it for him wordlessly.
He gave her one last glare before storming down the walk towards his fancy car.
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Henry ran in excitedly before Emma. "Hey mom." He didn't spare her a glance as he bolted upstairs.
Emma's body sagged with exhaustion as she closed the front door, flipping the deadbolt, and pulled off her jacket.
Regina crossed the foyer and helped her out of the Sheriff's jacket, hanging it in the coat closet. "Bad day?"
Emma shook her head. "No. Just long. I went to see Bailey on my lunch but he was away. I'll go try after dinner." Emma trudged in the direction of the kitchen.
"Are you going to tell him about Henry?" Regina closed the door to the coat closet slowly.
Emma froze, turning around. "What do you mean tell him about Henry?"
Regina frowned. "Mr. Sparks is here because he believes you know the whereabouts of your biological child, which we both well know you do. That is all he wants from you. I would like to know if you plan on telling him about Henry."
Emma's mouth opened and closed several times. "I'm not sure."
Regina's jaw stiffened, her mouth falling into a hard line. "Henry is our child."
"Yes, but he did contribute in the baby making department. Don't you think he deserves to know what became of his child?"
"He abandoned you!" Regina shook her head in disbelief.
"Yes, he did." Emma nodded in agreement. "He abandoned me. But he never abandoned Henry. He didn't even know I was pregnant."
Regina came across the foyer, that old anger in her eyes. "Henry doesn't need anyone else, he has us."
Emma sighed, too tired to fight. "Don't you think we should let Henry decide that?" She regretted the comment almost immediately after she saw the look of fear that crossed the former mayor's eyes, the memory of Henry's choice of Emma over her popping into the forefront of her mind. She walked over and pulled the woman into her arms, kissing her temple. "It's okay, we'll figure things out."
"That guy was my dad?!"
Both woman's eyes shot to the top of the stairs where their son was looking down at them, the betrayal he felt like a neon sign across his young face.
He stormed down the stairs. "Is he?"
Emma glared at Regina, her upset eyes saying 'this is your mess, clean it up'.
Finally Regina sighed. "Yes."
Henry glared at her. "And you weren't going to tell me?!"
"Henry…" Regina reached for him but he backed out of her reach. Her hand dropped ineffectually back to her side.
"I want to see him! Take me to him!" Henry ignored Regina and turned his full attention to Emma."
"I don't think that's such a great idea kid." Emma started to shake her head.
"No! I want to see him!"
Emma sighed. There was no way she was going to win this one.
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He was still in his business suit when he answered the door. His brow furrowed in confusion. "Emma?" His eyes shot to Henry. "What's…"
Emma's jaw worked as she tried to force out the words. "Bailey Sparks, this is Henry Mills. He's your... son." She nearly choked on the statement; it sounded infinitely wrong.
The confusion didn't leave Bailey's face. "What? Your girlfriend's son can't be mine."
Emma flinched. Obviously Bailey needed some parental sensitivity lessons. Lesson one: don't deny your kid is your kid when he's right in front of you. She gritted her teeth in frustration, willing herself not to punch him in his handsome face. "Regina adopted him when he was a newborn."
Finally, reality started to register on the man's face. "How'd you get the records?"
"I didn't." Emma put an arm around Henry's shoulders and smiled fondly at him. "When the time was right, he found me."
Bailey glanced between them. "Let me take you both to dinner at the diner."
Emma frowned. "We should really get home to Regina."
Henry shook his head. "Please mom?"
Oh, the dirty rat! Playing the mom card. It was like her kryptonite.
"Yea, please mom?" Bailey pouted.
Looking at them next to each other with matching expressions floored her. She saw it then, the resemblance. There was something oddly nice about it. She found she was nodding before she could stop herself. "A quick bite and then it's home for both of us."
Henry nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Emma sighed. Regina would make her pay for this later.
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Only in the confines of her brain, where no one else could hear, would Emma Swan admit that this was the happiest she'd seen Henry in a long time. Bailey and him had a surprising amount of the same interests despite the nearly three decades difference between them. She didn't know whether Henry was older at heart or Bailey was younger, maybe a mix of both. But there was something positive that flowed between the two as they talked through dinner. Emma just sat by and watched quietly from the other side of the booth. She'd heard most of these stories from both boys throughout the time she'd spent with each of them. But there were a couple she'd never heard of and even the ones she did know, it was interesting to watch them retell it to each other. Henry's face would light up in awe and disbelief when Bailey shared stories of his younger exploits. His look said 'I have the coolest dad in the world'. And for his part Bailey listened with just as much enthusiasm. His look said 'that's my boy'. It was almost endearing to watch.
It happened so suddenly that Emma barely had time to process what was going on. One minute Henry was animatedly telling them something cool one of his classmates had told him and the next Bailey's face went stark white, ghostly pale as his eyes caught something over her shoulder. She had heard the ding of the bell over the door, signaling a new patron had entered the diner, but she was so used to the noise that she didn't even look up anymore. Catching his immediate and adverse reaction, she turned to follow his line of sight.
Even after the curse broke, many of the town's citizens had decided to retain their Storybrooke counterpart's names and identities. They were stuck in this world it would seem and they needed to continue to be people who fit into this world, even though they didn't. So even though many knew who he'd been and the deeds he'd committed, everyone still referred to Rumpelstiltskin as Mr. Gold. He was still a shady pawnbroker who seemed to have his greedy fingers in everything.
"Who's that?" Bailey's eyes never left the man, following his every movement.
"Mr. Gold. He owns the local pawnshop." Emma turned a curious gaze on Bailey.
"Do you believe in fairytales Dad?"
Stunned by the use of the foreign term, both Bailey and Emma tore their gazes away from Mr. Gold to stare incredulously at Henry.
"What did you just say?"
"Do you believe in fairytales? That they're real?"
Emma was giving every kill sign she could imagine, trying to stop Henry's line of conversation. She didn't want Henry's practical lawyer father storing it as ammunition to use in a future custody battle. The very thought made Emma's stomach turn violently and fury to bubble in her chest. She now had a keen understanding and a deep appreciation for what Regina must have felt when she decided to stick around. This was not a pleasant feeling at all.
"Say that I do." Bailey eyed Henry, trying to piece out his angle.
"Everyone here in Storybrooke is a fairytale character."
Emma groaned inwardly. Here we go.
Henry continued, oblivious to her displeasure. "Ruby over there is Red Riding Hood, Leroy is really Grumpy, and Mr. Gold is…"
"Rumpelstiltskin." Bailey said it before Henry even got the chance.
Everyone in the diner gaped at the man sitting with Emma and Henry except Mr. Gold himself, who only turned an impassive gaze on the stranger.
"How did you…?" Emma stared at her ex-boyfriend as he stood.
"Have we met before?" Mr. Gold's expression remained impassive but Emma could see his eyes scrutinizing every detail of Bailey carefully
"A long time ago, you once broke a promise to a little boy. Do you remember that?" Bailey's eyes flashed with long buried accusation. "Do you remember that boy who thought a bean would solve all your problems?"
The change in Gold was immediate. He looked the most out of sorts she'd ever seen him, truly thrown. "Bae?" He took a cautious step away from the counter and towards their booth. "Is that you?"
"Bae?" Emma raised an eyebrow. She was so confused. Who was Bae?
Bailey's icy demeanor didn't waver. "Hello Father."
Emma tumbled from her side of the booth, so great was her shock. She had NOT seen that one coming. Rumpelstiltskin had a son? She had slept with Rumpelstilskin's son? She felt dirty at the very thought. Regina would not like this at all. She was going to freak when she found out that not only was Henry Snow's grandson, but now Rumpel's as well. Emma could practically already feel her rage.
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Henry kicked at the sand. It was unfair. How could the book not have warned him about this? His mom had been furious of course. The only proof that she wasn't still the Evil Queen was her immediate forgiveness of Emma. She'd screamed at her initially, a habitual reaction she had yet to break, her magic swirling around her dangerously. But then she realised mid-rant what she was doing and proceeded to switch gears. They'd then wallowed in their mutual disbelief and anger over glasses of cider. Henry's face screwed up in a petulant frown and he kicked at the sand once more. And that's when he saw it. There, laying in the sand, just out of reach of the tide, was the book.
It lay splayed open face down, its open pages pressed against the sand. He approached it slowly. The tide had obviously just carried it back in. That had to be it. He bent down and picked it up. It was completely dry. But how was that possible? Was it magically protected from destruction? He flipped it over to the story it was open to. It was new!
Henry looked at the illustration to the left, taking up the whole page opposite the beginning of the story. It was a little boy, brown haired, walking along a beach, clutching a book. And it looked uncannily like him. He looked at the fairytale's title. The Grey Prince. So that's why he hadn't been in the book… because his story was just beginning. He sat down and he began to read.