A/N: I've taken down the other chapters because I plan to redo most of this story...I had no idea what I was doing and was just pulling it out of thin air. I'll be reposting as I get them done. Thanks for sticking with me!

When the knock on the door sounded early in the afternoon, Henry had a moment of panic that his mothers had come home early and in his rush to hide the Halo game he wasn't supposed to play, he knocked over the soda he wasn't supposed to drink.

Thankfully, it was neither of them – so hopefully he could figure out how to clean up the spill before it stained. Instead, he found a teenaged girl standing there, scuffing her boots against the cement step.

"Is your…mom or aunt or… Is Emma Swan here?" She brushed her messy blonde curls behind her toque-covered ears (the same blonde curls, Henry noted, that Emma had).

"Who are you?" he asked after a moment of studying her, deciding she definitely wasn't from Storybrooke.

"I asked you first," she retorted, a little immaturely, quirking an eyebrow.

"She went out," he shrugged. When she didn't reciprocate by answering his question, he asked again, "So, do you have a name?"

"Lux," she replied shortly. "Is she gonna be home soon or what? 'Cause, I kinda need to talk to her."

"Don't know. There's a town hall meeting or something. But you can hang out here and wait. You can play Halo with me." He moved to pop the disc back into his Xbox before she'd even answered.

The look she gave him was a little skeptical; she was trying not to relate to the look of sheer eagerness at the idea of having a companion to play with him. "Aren't you not supposed to let strangers inside if you're home alone?"

"It's Storybrooke," he replied, as if that made it obvious. "I'm Henry," he introduced, returning to the foyer where she still stood rooted to the spot. When she didn't seem inclined to come any further inside the house, he asked, "Why are you looking for my mom?"

Lux set her faded messenger bag on the floor, but kept a sheaf of papers clutched protectively in her hands, and scrutinized the boy, judging him to be fairly close to her age. "Emma Swan is…your mom?"

"One of them." He seemed to miss the questioning look she shot him. "How do you know her?"

"Just genetically," she said quietly, thoughtfully. He looked confused by her reply, so she explained, "She's kind of my mom too…"

Henry's eyes widened in excitement, "Hey, cool! So, that makes you like my sister!"

"Yeah, awesome," Lux said, voice making it clear she wasn't particularly enthused by that revelation. "Look, I really need to talk to her; my emancipation hearing is the day after tomorrow and I need her signature."

"Isn't that like divorcing your parents?"

She raised a brow. "Yeah, sort of, I guess. Except I don't have parents – I'm getting emancipated from foster care."

"Why didn't you get adopted?

"That's not really your business. I can't get emancipated until I get her signature because she never signed a release of parental rights, so she's still legally my mother. And I am done with bouncing around crappy foster homes with mouthwash drinking moms and dads who try to hit on me. Not that you'd know what that's like since she kept you."

"Actually, I was put up for adoption too…she had me while she was in jail. But I was adopted by my other mom and then I went to look for her and…"

That did nothing to calm her. She interrupted, "Yes, well, at least you got adopted and had a real family. At least she actually put in some effort to be in your life. You have no idea how good you have it." He looked a little hurt by her tone, but she was trying hard not to let it quench her anger.

"So, do you want to play video games with me?" he asked after a long pause, "I'll have to find my other controller, it doesn't get used much."

"Aren't you worried about it killing your brain cells?" she retorted.

"That's what my mom says," he grinned in a way that implied he was breaking the rules, then hurriedly added, "My other mom, not…our mom."

Before she could answer, he'd already scampered up the stairs to his room in search of the controller and Lux took advantage of the solitude to gauge her mother's new life. It was a damn sight better than foster care, that was for sure.

Henry returned, thundering down the stairs like a herd of elephants, not with a controller, but with a very large brown book. "I had a better idea!" he exclaimed with glee. "I'm going to tell you about our mom…"