Once upon a time chapter 1
*So I've been wanting to write this for a while now, I hope you reviewers/readers enjoy this! Review too, please!*
I stared out the window to the streets of Boston, going from the small town of Storybrooke to the big city of Boston is always a 'WoW' kind of moment.
I heard Henry close his book, at the same time a blonde woman leaned over.
"Is that a good book?" She asked all smiley.
"This," he nodded towards the book. "is more than just a book."
"Oh." The stranger said still smiling.
"South Station, last stop. Thank you for riding Greyhound." The bus driver said over the speaker.
The bus lurched to a stop in front of the bus station. Me and Henry stood up and jumped in the aisle and started to make our way off the bus. The sound of honking cars and sirens wailing met our ears when we got off on the sidewalk. We passed a bum before we headed to the right.
"You owe me big time dude." I said as I saw the weird stares we got. You know 2 kids walking around at like 8 at night, kind of weird huh?
"How is buying you ice cream for the rest of the week 'big time'?" He asked while laughing and looking up at the passing street signs.
"In my mind it's big time." I had to look up at him just a bit, seeing as he was probably 5 inches taller than me. We ended up walking towards a cab. He knocked on the window before the guy got off his phone.
"Do you take credit cards?" I rolled my eyes; I still couldn't believe he snagged it from Ms. Blanchard's purse.
"Where to chief?" He asked. I hopped in after henry handed the cab driver the credit card. Henry told the guy to drive to an address and leaned back in the seat next to me. The credit card cleared with a 'beep' and we were off.
"So get your mom, go home, and hope everything goes well then?" I asked casually.
"That's the plan."
"We should call it Operation Cobra."
"Why?" He asked with his trademark smirk.
"Cause it makes it sound cool." I laughed.
We were at the building within 20 minutes. It was pretty decent, nothing outrageously fancy but it was fancy enough. We walked into the hotel and went to the front desk to ask for an 'Emma Swann'.
"Floor 12." The man said.
"Thanks." Henry turned around and walked towards the elevator with me following behind him.
Emma Swann's door was on the end of the hallway.
Henry stood there silently; I nudged him gently and nodded at the doorbell. He smiled at me and pressed it. It didn't take long before a blonde haired woman in a tight pink dress came and opened the door. She first looked over our heads before she realized we were shorter than she initially thought. She opened her mouth slightly before she got a grip.
"Uh- um. Can I help you?" She leaned on the door frame.
"Are you Emma Swann?"
"Yea. Who are you?" She said looking at the both of us.
"My names Henry and this is my friend Clarion." He paused. "I'm your son." He got all smiley and his bio-mom seemed to grow anxious. She looked at me, I nodded.
Me and Henry walked in while she was having her moment of surprise. When we entered the threshold and started walking into her kitchen she seemed to snap out of it.
"Woah, hey kids, kids. I don't have a son." She padded barefoot towards us. "Where are your parents?" I walked around the island, towards the stools.
"10 years ago, did you give up a baby for adoption?" He asked simply.
Her face looked stunned.
"That was me." He got his smirk on again. Her eyes went kind of bug eyed.
"Give me a minute." She walked towards the bathroom and shut the door. Henry sighed.
"Hey you have any juice?" He opened the fridge. "Nevermind I found some." He pulled out some orange mango juice and drank from the bottle.
I rolled my eyes, he offered me some. I looked at it before I grabbed it and took a swig. She came out of the bathroom a bit more collected than before.
"You know we should probably get goin'." He said, taking the juice and capping it.
"Going where?" She folded her arms across her chest.
"I want you to come home with me." He said. I took the juice and started drinking it again.
"Okay kid, I'm calling the cops." She walked over to the make shift living room and picked up the phone.
"Then I'll them you kidnapped us." She looked at him then me, then back at henry.
"And they'll believe you 'cause I'm your birth mother."
"Yup." Henry said. I set the bottle down and capped it before I pushed to the center of the island.
"You're not going to do that." She said powerfully.
"Try me." He smirked.
"You're pretty god kid, but here's the thing. There's not a lot I'm great at in life, but there is one skill that's called a super power. I can tell when anyone is lying, and you kid, are." She started dialing the police.
Henry turned to a little softie.
"Wait. Please don't call the cops. Please? Come home with me?" He had a puppy dog face.
"Where's home?" She said while looking between me and Henry.
"Storybrooke, Maine." I said while putting the juice in the fridge.
"Storybrooke? Seriously?" She sighed. She looked towards me. I nodded slowly.
"Alrightey then, let's get you back to Storybrooke." She started to grab a few things before she led us out to a yellow punch bug. Henry ended up in back because I knew the way back home best.
"So? How did you get roped into this?" She asked.
"I don't really know exactly." I pointed for her to turn right.
"Well than what's your last name?" She was looking out towards the highway.
"Jamison." I said.
"Clarion Jamison." She repeated. "Okay, where are your parents?"
"I think they had died in a car crash when I was 2." I said simply before I motioned her to take the exit.
"I'm sorry." She stared straight forward.
"Don't be, they were teenage parents that left me with my grandparents most the time. So I didn't see them often." I leaned back and fixed my white boots.
"I'm hungry. You want to stop somewhere?" I slouched down in my seat as Henry asked this.
"This is not a road trip; we're not stopping for snacks."
"Why not?"
"Quit complaining kid, remember I could have put your butts on a bus, I still could."
"You know I have a name, it's Henry." He was still looking in his book.
I slid down further in my seat, not listening to them talk, he was just telling her about the book anyway.
It took a couple of hours for us to get home, and by the time we did it was done raining.
"Okay kid, what's the address?"
"44 not telling you street." She skidded to a stop, whether from the red light or the fact Henry was saying anything. She got out, and henry climbing out her side before she shut the door. They talked for a bit, but then Henry's therapist, Archie, came towards the car. Henry played off of a story about a field trip. I couldn't really hear them because the car seemed to make their voices jumbling mumbles.
"Jiminy Cricket" Henry said while crawling in back. I slipped down, not listening to them again. We drove off towards the mayor's house, henry protesting all the way there. I hoped out and pulled the seat up to let henry out.
"Please don't take me back there." We opened the gate and walked up the path.
"I have to, I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you." She sped up.
"I don't have parents, I just have a mom and she's evil." We stopped.
"Whoa, that's a bit extreme, don't you think?"
"She is, she doesn't love me; she only pretends too." He bowed his head.
"Kid. I'm sure that's not true." The front door opened, Regina and the sheriff were standing there.
"Henry?" She sprinted down the path as fast as her heels would allow her and she hugged him. Henry hugged her, but not sincerely. "Are you okay?" she asked as she pulled away. "Where have you been? What happened?"
Henry's face turned into an agitated one very quickly. "I found my real mom." He ran into the house and up the stairs. I pulled my jacket closer around me, feeling a little exposed because I was hiding behind Henry and Emma before. Regina looked at me, and turned to Emma. Regina blinked.
"You're Henry's birth mother?" I turned to start walking down the path, but I hand on my backpack strap stopped me. "Clarion!" I cringed. I backed up as Regina pulled me towards her. Regina put her hands on my shoulders. Regina knew about what happened to my parents, so when Henry and I became friends she turned into a distant 'family' member of sorts.
"I'll just go check on the lad." Sheriff Graham said.
Regina put up an unnoticeably fake façade, which Emma probably couldn't notice unless she could read people like I could.
"How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?"
"You got anything stronger?" Emma asked. She brought the both of us inside, leading me by the hand. She walked into the dining room and prepared two glasses of apple cider, and a glass of water. She handed me the water.
I stood in the door way next to Emma, slowly sipping my water.
"So how did they find me?" I could feel Emma's eyes on me while she asked this. I pretended to find the bottom of my glass more interesting than their conversation.
"No idea. When I adopted Henry he was only 3 weeks old, records were sealed. I was told the birth mother didn't want any contact."
Emma looked at her glass. "You were told right."
"And the father?" Regina asked, I raised my eyebrow.
"There was one."
"Do I need to be worried?"
"No, he doesn't even know."
"Do I need to be worried about you Ms. Swann?"
"Absolutely not." I turned and walked into the entrance room. They followed me a few moments after.
"Madame mayor? You can relax, other than being a tired little boy; Henry is fine." Sheriff graham went down the last few steps and stood in front of us.
"Thank you Sheriff." Regina looked tired and exhausted at the thought of Henry. Sheriff Graham nodded and walked out.
"I'm sorry he dragged you out of your life, I really don't know what's gotten into him." They walked to Regina's home office and shut the door. I looked down at my glass; they had left me in the front entrance. I emptied my glass in a flowering plant and tried to quietly tiptoe towards the door and listen with the empty glass. I heard mumbles on the other side; I pressed the open end of the glass to the door and pressed my ear to the glass.
"So I push for order. Am I strict? I suppose, but I do it for his own good. I want Henry to excel in life. I don't think that makes me evil do you?" I rolled my eyes and tried to stifle a laugh.
I re-concentrated and listened in.
"I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairytale thing—" my eyes widened.
"What fairytale thing?" Regina asked.
"Oh, you know his book. How he thinks everyone is a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket." She chuckled awkwardly.
"I'm sorry I really have no idea what you're talking about." I stomped my foot. However, my boots gave my feet a painful vibration through my bone.
"Owwww!" It took a few seconds, but I heard heels and boots click on the other side of the door. I stood in the middle of the entrance room and pretended my foot wasn't throbbing. I pretended to drink from my empty glass. Emma stopped, and smiled with a nod before she walked out the front door. Regina glared at Emma's back as the door closed.
'Crap.' I thought. 'Alone with the beast.' I looked at Regina; I could start to see her vein popping out in her forehead.
"So how did Henry find her?" I felt my face turn red.
'Crap.' I set the glass down on the table. "Well it's funny you should ask…"
She walked to the middle of the room where I was mine.
"Clarion?" She made her voice sound sweet. I fixed my backpack.
"I don't know." I crossed my arms. She rubbed my shoulders with the pal of her hands and crouched down to my level.
"Henry didn't tell you?" She asked cautiously.
"No, he said that if I went to find her, he'd by me ice cream for lunch for a whole week." Regina raised her eyebrows, and squeezed my arms gently.
"Okay." I supposed she gave up, because she stood up and picked up our empty glasses.
"Can you tell Henry I'll be here around 7:30?" I followed her through the house as she was cleaning up.
"Yes. But now you should probably head back to granny's." She turned me around and started walking me back to the door.
She opened it and I walked out.
"Bye Madame Mayor."
"Good night Clarion." I heard the door click. I stopped and saw Henry in his bedroom window. I held up seven fingers and then 3 on my right and made my left into a zero. He nodded and waved goodbye.
The walk home was quiet, the streets were dead and when I walked into the Inn. The air was squeezed out of my lungs as granny held me in a bear hug.
"Where have you been?" She asked, she was dressed in her nightgown with her reading glasses.
I already knew the answer that would stop the question before they started.
"Madame Mayor's house." She smiled nervously.
"Well, I'm glad you're safe. But you could have called or left a note, at least." I stepped on the stairs as she leaned on the railing.
"I know, but I was with Henry for the most part and we were having so much fun."
'That wasn't a lie was it? The bus ride was pretty fun.' I thought.
"Well at least you're home." She turned and walked into the sitting room of the Inn.
"Night granny."
"Night kiddo."
I headed up to my room, which was at the top floor. It was also the 'tower' as I called it, mostly because it was like a round fairytale tower of sorts. I opened the door, and set my bag on my bed. My room was turquoise with pictures of different cities plastered everywhere. My dresser was across from my door, my mirror hung on the wall above it. My bed was centered underneath the windows and was white with black swirls on it. I changed into white sweatpants and a pink t-shirt.
I slipped under the covers and thought about today. Henry had found his mom, I was happy he had found her but to hear that she didn't want anything to do with him was sad. Henry only had Regina and she could love or hate him at times. Me? I would be happy if I had Regina for a mom even if half of her didn't love me for real. Sure I had Granny, but she was just a woman that gave me a home. She wasn't really family; she was a woman who I stayed with so I wouldn't have to go into foster care. I still had an inheritance from my grandparents from when they passed away, and that's been helping me pay for my clothes ever since. I sighed and closed my eyes, falling asleep in the silence of the night.
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