A Strange Family Reunion
It had been three days since Neal (or Baelfire), learned he had a son. The boy, Henry, was sitting on the couch in Mary Margaret's apartment, playing with a loose thread coming off the arm of the couch. He looked so peaceful and solitary. Should Neal approach the boy, or leave him alone. He chose the latter, keeping back and waiting for Emma to return from work.
Henry looked up at him, his hazel eyes looking inquiringly into Neal's brown. How Henry looked like his mother, with the same facial features, the pert nose, the wide lips, the pale complexion, although his hair was the same colour as Neal's.
"Hey kid," Neal said, trying to make awkward conversation. "How's school?"
"It's good, I'm in my grandma's class," Henry said, feeling a little strange talking to this man whom he'd just learned was his father. "We're learning about extreme weather and lots of natural disasters like that. It's cool."
"Man, I loved science when I was a kid," Neal said, taking a step or two towards Henry, then finally sitting on the couch next to him. "I had a jar full of beetles. I used to bring them home and give them names."
"You went to school?" Henry asked.
"Yeah, when I came to this world, I got myself to an orphanage, and they sent me to school," Neal explained. "I really loved science, I got my best grades in that class."
"Was your teacher as nice as Ms Blanchard?" Henry asked.
"Yeah, he was great. His name was Mr Brightman," Neal chuckled. "We called him The Light Bulb because of his last name."
At that time, Emma arrived home and put her red leather jacket on the coat hook. She sat down on the threadbare sofa arm next to Neal.
"Hi, Emma," Neal said mock cheerfully. "How was your day?"
"Stupid and boring." Emma looked annoyed for some bizarre reason. "How was yours?"
"Good, we're talking about science," Neal said.
Emma looked even more annoyed. "Stupid Dr Whale kept asking me about road cones, like I don't have enough on my plate."
"Who's Dr Whale?" Neal asked.
"Frankenstein," Emma said dully.
"What?" Neal asked, feeling pretty squirmy inside.
"Don't ask, he just showed up here when the Curse happened," Henry put in casually, so casually Neal was incredulous.
"What the hell did the Curse bring here?" Neal asked himself, in a strange state of awe.
"Probably everyone, I wouldn't be surprised if Lord Voldemort was walking down the street," Emma dead panned, not looking at Neal on purpose.
Quiet moments passed with only the smallest amount of chatter. Everyone was feeling pretty awkward, with Henry dealing with sitting next to his father and Emma sitting next to her ex who just happened to be Rumplestilskin's son. Suddenly, Emma burst out laughing.
"What?" Neal asked, feeling mildly annoyed at Emma's mirth.
"Just this whole situation," Emma said, her words punctuated by slightly hysterical giggles.
Neal's annoyance melted away as the situation hit him as well. Suddenly all three were laughing, which helped ease the tension between all of them. Then they sat there, feeling strangely embarrassed like people were looking at them, looking straight out the window, with the odd emotion pricking at them from the outside.