A/N: I promise I will eventually get to finishing my other stories, but this one shot has been floating around my head for awhile. After some Once things popped up I figured it was time for a nice piece of fluff to make us all happy. So please enjoy and let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I do not own the show Once Upon a Time or any of it's characters. They all belong to the brilliant minds of their creators.
Today was supposed to be a happy day for him. Every other child couldn't wait for it, but he had been dreading it. At one time in his life he had been like everyone else and got excited. Then he started to realize all that was going on around him, or really what wasn't happening. He was sure this year would be the year he could be excited again. He finally had everything he needed to make the day amazing and bring back the light to it. But that too had been ripped away from him.
As the day had drawn closer he tried harder to find a way to bring them back. When he realized that it was not going to happen he tried to just forget about the day all together. There were only two people who knew the significance of the day. One of them wouldn't tell anyone and the other one couldn't. The boy figured he was safe from anyone else knowing about it. And if no one knew about it then he wouldn't have to celebrate it without her.
After tossing and turning for who knows how long he figured it was time to get up. He couldn't put off starting this day any longer even though he wanted to just sleep through it. He pushed himself out of bed and threw his arms over his head to stretch; he had not slept well that night. Finding a pair of socks he had previously worn he pulled them back on so he would not have to touch the cold wood floors with his bare feet.
With nothing else to stall him he stood up from the bed and headed downstairs putting on a brave face. When he entered the kitchen he was taken aback at the scene before him.
"Happy Birthday Henry!" His grandfather greeted him; a big smile was on his face.
"How did you know?" Henry asked. He didn't know how to feel at this moment. On the one hand he was excited to see his grandfather wanting to celebrate, but also frustrated since he couldn't go about his plan of forgetting the day.
"Red told me." Charming answered and pulled his grandson into his arms. "I'm too young to have an 11 year old grandson."
Henry laughed at this, "Face it you are just getting old."
Charming playfully swatted at his head, "Come on I made you breakfast to celebrate and then you and I are going to spend the entire day together doing anything you want to."
"Anything?" Henry asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
His grandfather rolled his eyes, "Anything within reason."
The boy pulled himself up onto the chair at the counter and watched his grandfather finish preparing breakfast. Now that they had finished joking around and things were quiet again the feelings from before were starting to rise again. As much as he wanted to enjoy this day with his grandfather he couldn't. Things still were not the way they were supposed to be to make it the day he had been dreaming about.
Henry jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, "What's wrong?" his grandfather asked. Even though they had only been reunited for a short period of time, Charming had become in tune to his grandson's needs quickly.
Henry let out a sigh and looked down at the floor, "It's nothing." He mumbled.
"It's clearly not nothing if you are this upset on your birthday. Please tell me what's wrong."
The child couldn't express why he was feeling so miserable. Saying it out loud would be admitting that it wasn't going to happen. Instead he looked over at the picture that had take a permanent spot on the counter.
"Emma." Charming spoke the words that he could not. "You want her here don't you?'
Henry nodded, "She was supposed to be here for it. This was going to be my first birthday we got to spend together. Instead she is in some other land and we are still apart. It's not fair." He looked up at his grandfather trying hard to fight off the tears that were threatening to fall.
Charming pulled his grandson into his chest and held him close. "I know it's not fair kid. I wish more then anything she could be here to celebrate with us, and I bet she feels the same way too."
"I don't want Emma to be upset that she is missing today." Henry mumbled into his chest. He didn't actually know how his birth mother felt towards his birthday, but he knew that the date had to be just as important to her.
"Neither do I, but we have to make the best of it alright. I don't want you to be sad on your day and I'm sure your mom doesn't want that either. So we are going to make the best of it and when Emma gets home you can tell her all about it. How does that sound?"
"Okay." Henry looked up at his grandfather and gave him a small smile.
"Good. Now let's eat." Charming quickly gave the kid a kiss on the head before presenting him with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes and a single blue star candle on top. "Make a wish." He reminded his grandson as he lit the candle.
Henry knew exactly what he was going to wish for. He scrunched his eyes up and repeated the wish inside his head before blowing out the star.
"You gonna tell me what you wished for?" His grandfather asked playfully.
"I can't do that Gramps or else it won't come true." Henry rolled his eyes.
Charming let out a laugh, "How could I forget."
Their breakfast was filled with chatter and laughter. His grandfather was trying hard to keep Henry talking never giving him a break to think about his birth mother. When they finished he was ushered upstairs to change quickly so that they could start their sword fighting lesson.
He jumped down the stairs of the building and outside bubbling with ideas of what he and his grandfather could do today. The possibilities were endless and the more he did the bad feelings stayed far away. He was just about to share one of his ideas when he stopped mid word, someone had called his name. But it couldn't be, his imagination had to be playing tricks on him. He heard it again though, this time a little louder then before.
"Henry!" He couldn't deny the voice anymore and turned around to see to see the source.
"Emma!" He shouted when he realized it wasn't a dream.
Henry ran as fast as he could towards the voice and straight into his mother's open arms knocking both of them to the ground. He held onto her tightly never wanting to let go. He didn't even mind that she too holding on too strong.
"I missed you so much kid." Emma whispered into his hair.
"I missed you too mom." He answered back not able to hold the name in any longer. He had wanted to call her that for so long, but the moment needed to be perfect.
Emma must have agreed with him on the timing because she pulled him in even closer, which he was surprised was even possible.
"How did you two get back?" Henry heard his grandfather ask breaking him and Emma out of their spell.
"It's a long story, we'll explain later." Was his grandmother's response.
Henry broke apart from his mother to only throw them around his grandmother's. In all the excitement of being reunited with Emma he had forgotten that she too had been gone. Snow returned the hug and when they broke apart he drifted back to his mother not wanting to apart from her ever again.
"I told you if you don't share your wishes they come true." Henry explained to Charming reminded him of their previous conversation.
"You are correct Henry." He laughed.
"What wish are you talking about?" Emma asked looking down at him.
"Gramps made me chocolate chip pancakes and put a candle in the middle of it for my birthday. So I wished for you and Grandma to come back and it came true."
"It's your birthday?" Surprise showed on his mother's face as she registered the date. She sunk down to her knees so that they were at a similar height. "I cannot believe it has been 11 years since you were born. I remember getting to hold you in my arms."
"You got to hold me?" Henry asked shocked.
Emma nodded, "It wasn't for very long, but yes I did. Those few minutes are some of my only good memories. And I am so glad we made it back in time for today. I never want to miss another birthday."
Henry threw her arms around her once again, "I love you."
"I love you too kid." His mom answered back without any sort of hesitation. She slowly stood up again pulling Henry up with her. He wrapped his legs around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. He probably was too big to be held this way, but Emma had never done this before and he didn't care how old he was. There was something special about his mom holding him like this. "So birthday boy, what are the plans for today?"
"Gramps and I were going to practice sword fighting." He answered.
"Sword fighting?" Emma raised her eyes brows staring at her father.
Charming shrugged, "Hey he's my grandson, I figured he properly needed to learn how to use a sword."
"We don't have to do that now though Mom. We can just go back to the apartment and talk." Henry suggested.
"Are you sure that's what you want kid?" Emma asked him.
"Yes, you and grandma can tell us everything that happened to you."
"I think that sounds fair." Snow agreed winking at her grandson.
"Alright then to the apartment it is." Emma placed her son back on the ground and pulled his smaller hand into hers.
As the four of them walked back to the building Henry couldn't stop smiling. Finally things were the way they were supposed to be. His entire family was back together and nothing could separate them now. Plus he was finally able to enjoy his birthday like all the other kids. Nothing could ruin this day and he knew that it was going to go down as one of his favorites.