A/N: I don't have much inspiration, but I decided to write this anyway. I hope you guys enjoy this, but I'll understand if you don't. (My bitterness probably leaked into it anyway).

Henry held the storybook to his chest.

He had all his memories back thanks to a fairly recent true love kiss between Hook and his daughter Alice. He had even managed to get a cure for his heart!

He should've been happy that he had his memories back and that he was cured, but now all he felt was confusion, anger, and slight deja vu.

The worst part was that he couldn't even tell his own mother about it, nor could he ever tell Lucy.

Well...he would have to tell them eventually at some point, but he wasn't looking forward to it.

Most of all he didn't want to let them down.

How could he look them in the eye, especially Lucy, and tell them that he was only with Ella for all of those years because he didn't want Lucy to grow up with separated parents?

Divorce wasn't exactly a viable option in a place like The Enchanted Forest, and he didn't want to end up like his birth mother, Emma. Not that he didn't like original Hook, but a part of him always secretly wished that his birth parents had stayed together. And having always idolized his grandparents love, he longed to meet a girl, fall in love, and then have a child just like they did.

Something simple and easy.

And it seemed that way...in the beginning at least.

Fighting with Ella and taking down bad guys seemed like a good idea, and when they discovered that she was pregnant shortly after returning from Wonderland, they were both over-joyed at the prospect of being parents despite the fact that they had only known each other for two weeks.

The excitement of being a father remained with Henry for about three years until he started to realize that maybe the whole "love-at-first-sight" thing wasn't such a good idea after all.

And he totally understood why his curse persona became so infatuated with Jacinda, because she did have some endearing qualities, but those qualities quickly wore off after a while.

"Henry Mills," filled him with so much excitement in the beginning, but then once Lucy turned five years old, it went from endearing to just plain annoying. Every time "Henry Mills" came out of Ella's mouth, Henry immediately knew it would be followed by a complaint about him and/or something irrelevant about Tiana or Hook or whatever.

He had grown to hate those two words.

Henry Mills.

Now don't get it confused. Ella was still the mother of his child, so he could never hate her, but at the same time, he couldn't imagine being with her forever.

And this was made perfectly clear on Lucy's seventh birthday.

~*THE NIGHT OF LUCY'S SEVENTH BIRTHDAY*~

Henry sat at the desk in his study with the author pen trying to decide what to write.

Of course, there was nothing to write since everything was fine and they had no one to worry about...yet.

So he would have to settle for Lucy's birthday.

"Lucy had a great time tonight didn't she?" Ella's voiced asked from behind him as he started to write on the paper.

Henry smiled. It was always nice seeing his little girl happy.

"Yeah, she did. I'm glad Tiana gave me the idea to surprise her with that toy. She's gonna carry that with her until she's at least...ten."

Ella laughed lightly.

"Well, I don't know about you, but her mother is very tired and would like to go to bed. Unless of course...you would like to join me."

Henry knew what the tone meant. But he needed to write this down.

At least, that's what he told himself.

"No, I'm good, Ella. Good night," he replied bluntly.

He didn't even need to turn around to sense that she was disappointed. But there was no argument from her because she had heard the same response on and off for the last two years.

The sound of her footsteps echoing in the hall stayed with him until there was nothing but silence.

It was only after she had left that Henry was struck by a horrible realization: They were drifting apart.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, it suddenly dawned on Henry that the only thing they had in common was Lucy. They didn't have a real connection outside of that.

But no matter how unhappy he was in their marriage, Henry refused to separate from Ella because of Lucy.

Which made it ten times worse.

~*PRESENT DAY*~

Henry put the book down on his table.

It had only been a few days since the curse broke and his heart was cured, but he still felt like there was something missing inside him.

At first he thought it was Ella, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was someone much closer to her; her step-sister.

He missed Ivy. Or Drizella he should say.

They shared a connection that he had never shared with Ella. A connection that wasn't formed because of a child, but because they were two lost souls who had found each other.

And when he remembered the curse and the poisoning of his heart, his immediate reaction was anger, but then that anger slowly turned into understanding and then forgiveness.

The last time he had seen Drizella, she apologized, unbeknownst to him, for poisoning his heart.

And once he had figured that out, he became very disappointed.

Not with her, but with himself.

For allowing everyone else to dictate his actions and only pursuing Jacinda because they said so. Even Drizella herself said that he should be with her! But he should've ignored everyone else and gone with what his heart was telling him instead.

During all of the time he spent with Drizella, every instinct in his body told him that this was the woman that he wanted to be with. This was the person he wanted to connect with after being alone for all of that time.

But now that she was somewhere else with her sister Anastasia, Henry didn't know if he would ever see her again.

And for the first time, he finally understood the phrase "I will always find you." Because being separated from someone he cared about, someone he almost...loved, was too much to bear sometimes.

And he already needed a curse to get into the real world again, so his chances of seeing Drizella again were slim to none.

Henry chuckled to himself.

"Well. That's what happens when you live in the real world. You don't always get what you want."

"Are you talking to yourself?"

Henry jumped at the voice behind him.

"Mom! God, you scared me. When did you come in? I didn't hear you."

"You gave me a key remember?" Regina held up the key in her hand and shook it. She looked at him apologetically and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"'m sorry. I just wanted to see how you were doing. You've been very...off ever since you've...woken up."

He could tell she was concerned by his unexpected behavior.

Henry made his way to the other side of the room and sank into the sofa.

"Yeah, I've just been thinking...about...my life and...what I want."

He could already feel himself growing uncomfortable, but deep down, he knew that he needed to get this off of his chest.

Regina sat down beside him.

"What do you want, Henry?" She asked him calmly.

"I think I know what I want, but...I'm afraid of what will happen."

"Afraid of wanting something?"

"No, admitting that I want something out loud. It's...hard."

Regina sighed and grabbed his hand.

"Henry, I am not going to judge you. I'm your mother, and I just want you to be happy."

Henry knew he could trust his mom. It had taken many years of heartache to realize it, but he knew that he could.

Inhaling slowly through his mouth and out his nose, he gathered all of his courage.

"Mom, I...I miss Drizella, and I want to see her again."

Regina let go of his hand.

He immediately threw his head down in shame.

"Great. I knew she wouldn't be happy if I said that," he thought glumly to himself.

"I have a magic bean."

Henry's head snapped up.

"Wait. What?"

"I have a magic bean! I got a bag of them from Facilier as gift. I took them because I thought that they would be useful one day."

Henry's face lit up for the first time in days, but then...

"But ...I can't just leave Lucy and Ella behind. They need me."

Regina laughed softly.

"True. But Henry...How do you even know that Drizella feels the same way?"

The thought never crossed his mind.

But it should've.

"I...I don't. But I really want to see her again. I just need to tell her that I forgive her for everything."

Regina sighed and got off the couch.

"Alright then. Operation Reunion is now a go."

"Did you just say 'Operation Reunion'"?

"Yeah I know. The name needs a lot of work."

A/N: Next part coming up soon!