Chapter 1

"Well... Another day of my life went by as planned," thought a man, walking through the front door of his small Boston flat.

He was tall. His lean swimmer frame was dressed in a black suit with a white shirt underneath. His golden blond hair were sleeked back and his sea-green eyes tiredly looked over the room. His name was Emmet Anthony Swan. Everyone called Tony.

At this moment all he wanted to do was get out of his clothes and jump into his comfortable bed. But firstly he had something to do. After all, it was a yearly tradition.

With a cupcake on the table and a lit candle in it, Tony only had to make a wish.

"Happy 28th Birthday to me," he smirked and blew out the candle. "And may I never be alone on this day ever again."

Suddenly, a sound of someone knocking on the door was heard.

'I wonder who might that be,' mused Tony, but nonetheless took his gun out. He made a bunch of enemies throughout his years as a cop as well as bail-bonds person, and he really doubted that someone would visit him at this hour just to have chat.

'Heh... Paranoia, after all, is taking its tall on me.' with that thought in mind he looked through the peephole and...

And saw no one.

This made him only more wary.

The knock sounded again.

This time Tony reacted immediately.

He threw open the door; his gun ready to shoot anyone who dared to attack him.

"Ahh!" a frightened shout came from the mouth of a small boy, standing on his porch.

"Who are you and what are you doing here, kid?" asked Tony, still not putting his gun away. After all, it might be a trap.

"Are... are you Emmet Swan?" boy's eyes were still full of fear at the sight of the gun trained at him, but at the same time Tony saw something completely different in them. Excitement, maybe?

"I'm asking questions here, kiddo, and you'd better answer them," said Tony with a stern mask on his face. But on the inside he was kind of amused.

"I'm Henry Mills and I'm looking for Emmet Swan. Is that you?" answered kid, squaring his shoulder as if trying to look more serious and get rid of the understandable fear.

"And what if I am?" Tony looked at the boy with suspicion clear in his eyes.

"I'm the son, he gave away for adoption ten years ago," Henry threw back at his newly-found daddy.

"Wow..." Tony was rendered speechless and took a closer look at the boy.

He had wavy well-trimmed brown hair, bright hazel eyes and a slightly crooked nose that clearly were hers, but you could definitely see that his facial structure boy without a doubt got from his father. Even all this baby fat couldn't cover it.

The boy was tall enough for his age, had good clothes on and from the looks of it was well-fed and cared of. So what would he need with the father, who abandoned him so many years ago?

"Ok, come on in, kid. No need to talk on the porch," Tony let the kid into the house, looked down the hallway, checking for anything suspicious, closed the door and only then put away his gun.

Upon entering the kitchen Tony noticed Henry comfortably sitting on the bar stool and looking around with curious eyes.

"Do you want something to eat?" Tony asked walking straight to the fridge and openning it.

"No. I'm good," Answered Henry with a wide smile. It was a little unnerving for Tony. Ok, not a little. Full-on unnerving. "But you know, we should probably get going."

"Where are we going?" Tony was still going through the contents of his fridge and didn't pay much attention to the boy.

"I want you to come home with me," answered Henry as if it was obvious.

This phrase got Tony's full attention. He closed the fridge, turned to the boy, then put his hands on the counter between them and looked Henry in the eyes.

"Listen to me carefully, Henry. I'm not going with you anywhere and your parents must be worried sick by now. So now you will give me their phone number and I'll call them, so they can come and get you," he stretched out his hand, but was met with silence. "Or I can call the cops."

"It's just me and mom and I don't have her number," said Henry, looking at everything, but Tony. "And if you call cops, I'll tell them you kidnapped me and..."

"And they'll believe you, because I'm your biological father," Tony smirked.

'Hmm... That's smart, really smart, kiddo.'

"Yep," a huge shit-eating smile appeared on Henry's face.

'What a witty little... Must be genes.' thought Tony and started walking around the counter.

"It's true, kid, but you are missing one thing," now Tony stood right in front of the boy and crouched to be on one eye-level with him. "I have this skill, you may call it superpower. I can tell when anyone is lying to me and you are. You are definitely bluffing. So who should I call? Your mom or cops? You decide..."

Henry stubbornly looked at his father without muttering a word.

After a couple of minutes of staring at each other, Tony straightened up and went for his phone. "Cops it is..."

"Wait!" Henry jumped from the bar stool and looked at Tony with his well-practiced puppy dog eyes. "Please, don't call anyone. Just, just drive me home."

Tony wanted to get rid of the boy as soon as possible and just go to bed and forget this ever happened, but some nagging voice inside his tired mind told him to help the boy. 'Ahhh, to hell with that...'

"Where is home?"

"Storybrooke, Main," seriously answered Henry.

"Storybrooke?" a small laugh made its way out of Tony. 'It's getting more ridiculous with every passing second.'

"Mhmm."

"Ok, kid. I'll make you a deal: I'll get you to Storybrooke," he scoffed at the name. "And you'll tell me why you tried to find me at the first place. We have a deal?" Tony crouched a bit and offered his hand to Henry for a shake.

"Deal," beamed Henry and took his father's hand.

"Great. Let's get you to Storybrooke," Tony smiled and put his hand on Henry's shoulder, leading him out of the flat.

"Ok, kid, you can start telling me everything right about now," Tony said.

They just left the townline and the silence was already killing the owner of the car. Henry on the other hand was just staring through the window without a care in the world and was tightly clutching in his hands some ancient book.

"I'm not sure you are ready," said Henry and chanced a look at the man near him. "And my name is Henry, not kid."

"Sure, kid," scoffed Tony and continued. "What am I not ready for?"

"For this," Henry put his right hand protectively on the top of the book as if it was something sacred.

"I'm not ready for a bunch of fairytales?" Tony's voice was full of skepticism that even a ten year old child couldn't miss.

"They are not just fairytales. They are true," answered boy defensively. "Everything in this book actually happened."

"Sure it did."

"I'm not lying. Use your superpower," Henry tried to turn his body to look straight at Tony, but the seatbelt made it difficult.

After a minute of silence Tony broke it: "Let's say I believe you," he glanced at the boy, but then returned his attention to the road. "What do I have to do with any of this?"

"You have to do everything with it. You are in the book after all and you are really special," said boy using a 'duh' tone.

"Ok, kid. You have some problems," Tony smirked. On the inside he found it all very amusing. 'If only you knew, kid. If only you knew.'

"Yep," Henry popped the 'p' and brightly smiled at him. "And you're the key to fixing them."

Upon crossing the townline Tony felt something changing around him and that called for some investigating. But this could wait. Now he had more pressing matters at hand. Like his son, who he gave up long time ago, sitting right next to him.

After a trip to the center of the town, talk about fairytales, Evil Queens, curses, frozen time, conversation with Archi Hopper aka Jiminy Cricket, they finally made it to Henry's home.

'This day is something else. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly from here,' thought Tony. But it seemed, today luck wasn't on his side.

"Please, don't make me go there..." begged Henry, looking at Tony from his seat.

"And what, tell me, should I do then?" Tony unfastened his seatbelt and turned to Henry to do the same with his. "Kidnap you and run away? And then hide from cops for the rest of our lives?" He looked Henry right in the eyes.

For the first time since their meeting, Henry was rendered speechless. He just stared at his father with eyes wide open.

"As I thought," Tony put his right hand on boy's shoulder and lightly pushed him to the door of the car. "Now man up and let's get you to your mother."

They only managed to make it halfway to the front door, when the said door was thrown open. A breathtakingly beautiful woman ran out of the house moving in their direction.

"Henry!"

"Henry, are you okay?" She fiercely hugged her son, but he didn't return her embrace. "I was so worried. Where have you been? What happened?" She slightly leaned away from him and put her hands on his shoulders.

However, Henry tried to look everywhere but at his mother and pulled completely away from her. "I found my father!" Then he just ran to the house, leaving two adults alone.

The woman straightened up and finally looked at Tony, as if just noticing him.

Her eyes were full of unshed tears, and Tony could easily read all her emotions in them. Pain caused by harsh words of her son. Relief, because now she knew that he was okay and nothing happened to him. Fear... That Tony couldn't explain.

"Y-you are Henry's birthfather?" her voice was shaking.

Everything about this situation screamed awkward. "Hi."

This seemed to take the woman out of some trance. An impenetrable mask appeared on her face, her stance changed to something more regal and haughty. However, Tony still could read all of her emotions in her eyes.

"Oh, well... Where are my manners?" Tony threw her a charming smile, but her expression didn't change. "My name is Anthony Swan. And you are..?" He held his hand out.

She didn't take his hand, just continued staring at him inquisitively.

"Regina Mills. How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?"

"I have a long road home ahead of me, so I must refuse. However, some water would be nice."

A/N Thanks everyone for reading. Should I continue it?

Please, tell me of any mistakes you see so I can correct them.