Chapter 1: a wish made

The apocalypse was a regular occurrence in Storybrooke. And, no, Henry didn't mean the monsters and other various and assorted nefarious and villainous, but the epic fights between his two moms. He sighed as he watched the two stand toe to toe, magic practically crackling between the two as well as something else he didn't think he was old enough to quite understand or define.

"For the last time, my son is going nowhere NEAR that filthy pirate! He will come back infested with fleas- or worse!"

"The only place he would pick up fleas is from the forest where you shack up with Captain Pine-Cone and his butt boys. It surprises me how you conveniently forget your strict adherence to sanitation and manners when you are around him!"

"Watch your language! You are the one who has no couth! I understand you were raised without your parents, but one would hope that you would pick up a thing or two as many times as you've been around the block. I take that back, I'm certain you HAVE picked up a thing or two- like chlamydia or hepatitis. At least there's a cure for those unlike the idiocy you seemed to have inherited in spades."

"Just like you inherited utter evil and entitlement."

"Oh you have no idea how much that is not true," Regina seethed. "If I were more like my mother I would have ended you when you first arrived in Storybrooke."

Henry sighed as the fight continued to escalate. He looked around the diner at the gawking faces who had dared to stay before his eyes shifted to the street where the other, not so brave, townsfolk, watched with interest to see if this time the two would either kill one another or... the uncomfortable thing that he was too young to really know about but sort of knew.

As physical violence became a certainty and no longer a chance, Henry stood and lost his temper. He was tired of this. He was becoming a pawn in their argument, a piece they used to goad the other and taunt. He realized he was becoming lonely and missed both his mothers and wished they could just step back and really see the person standing in front of them.

"Enough!" he shouted. His exclamation was so unexpected his mothers stopped fighting instantly and turned to him.

"Henry, are you alright?" Regina asked in concern as she reached forward and felt his forehead. Henry's face felt like it was flaming but he knew it was from his anger- his RIGHTEOUS anger, he decided.

"No, he isn't okay. He is subjected to your over mothering every second," Emma snapped smugly.

"How dare you! I have been his mother for longer that you've even held a steady thought, must less a job, home, family, relationship-"

"STOP!" Henry shouted once more, his eyes beginning to tear up as he saw the hurt that flashed across Emma's face before she could hide it behind more anger. "I'm tired of you tearing each other apart! How can you both be so wonderful and kind to me and so mean and hurtful to each other?" He tried to sniff back the tears that were suddenly clouding his vision, causing the image of his two mothers to run together. If only they could understand each other, he thought. "I wish you two could figure out that... that you're both more than what you think of the other." They both were looking at him in confusion and he drove his fists into his thighs as he tried to find the words in his childish vocabulary to express his very adult thoughts. "I wish so hard that you could understand each other and where the other is coming from," he said softly.

His eyes widened as a great gust of wind suddenly blew through the diner.

"Henry!" both his moms yelled at once, their hands reaching for him as the wind settled around them and with a howling cry, it wrapped around them and they vanished from his sight.