A/N: This takes place shortly after 7x10. Drizella/Ivy gets out of Gothel's dungeon and Lucy is still in the hospital.
"Henry?"
Henry looked up from where he was sitting.
Next to Lucy.
Ivy swallowed down the uncomfortable guilty emotion that was fighting its way into her mind, and gave him a friendly smile.
A genuine smile.
Being trapped in the well for two days after Gothel's betrayal had really put her priorities into perspective.
For one thing, she had learned the hard way just how stupid her faith in the old witch really was. And equally as stupid was her desire to get revenge on her mother and taking it out on poor Anastasia. It was her rash decisions that had trapped her here in this world in the first place.
The second thing was Henry. No, not a thing. Someone. Henry wasn't an object to be toyed with. He was a person, and quite frankly, someone she would even consider a real friend.
But it wasn't a real friendship. Not at first anyway.
"Ivy, hey," He said quietly from his chair. "What are you doing here?"
She would've been the first to deny it, but she actually enjoyed her drink with him on Halloween. She always knew he was a bright-eyed saint, but she had definitely underestimated how nice it was to actually have someone listen to you.
"I heard about Lucy and I came to see how she was doing. How is she?"
Henry sighed in despair. Ivy suddenly noticed dark circles under his eyes.
"Not good."
Ivy bit her lip. She knew what happened because her mother had told her while they were in the well. Her first instinct was to immediately brush it aside and pretend not to care, but she did care. She cared about Lucy. They might not be blood-related (a factor she is all too grateful for), but a part of her had grown to like the kid. She was smart, determined, and to top it all off, didn't take any crap from her OR her mother.
Ivy liked that.
In all honesty, she wished she had been more like Lucy instead of giving into revenge so quickly. If she had done that, they would all still be in the Enchanted Forest, Henry's heart wouldn't have been poisoned, and none of this would be happening.
But it was happening.
And she didn't know what to do.
She could A) give Henry a memory potion to revive his memories and prevent him from ever kissing Lucy or "Jacinderella", or B) find another way to wake Lucy up that doesn't involve a true love kiss from Henry. But both options left her at a crossroads. If Henry got his memories back, he would most certainly hate her for poisoning his heart and would probably never speak to her again. Upon that reflection Ivy realized just how much Henry hating her would crush her spirit. She deserved it of course after all she did, but that didn't make it any better.
"Well, where's Jacinda?"
Henry shuffled an empty coffee cup back and forth between his hands.
"She went to go speak with the doctor. And actually-" He got up and began walking toward her until he was two feet away from her.
"Respect for distance. Another good trait," Ivy thought to herself.
"I overheard them talking a little bit." He lowered his voice even though they were the only people in the room besides Lucy.
"Do you understand any of this?"
Ivy shook her head.
"No. Poor Luce, she just...she needs a miracle."
Henry nodded and tried to form a smile, but it never reached his eyes.
"Ha. Yeah she does."
Henry turned around to glance back at Lucy and sighed.
"If only real life were more like fairytales. Maybe then she would have a better shot at getting through this."
Ivy didn't know what hit her, but in that moment, she wanted to make all of his suffering go away. She wanted to will Lucy into waking up despite having no magic, but she knew that was impossible.
So she did the only thing she could do at the moment.
"Henry?"
Henry turned around with raised eyebrows, clearly wondering what she wanted.
If you had told her ten years ago that she would be doing this, she would've laughed in your face.
But people change. Friendships and love change people.
"Love" was such a scary word to Ivy, but in that moment, all she cared about was him.
So she crossed the two feet barrier between them and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. She knew he needed it, but she didn't realize how much she needed it too. She felt his arms awkwardly tighten around her waist, but after a while the awkwardness melted away and their embrace felt more natural than she had expected it to. Almost like it was meant to happen.
But Ivy couldn't let herself get lost in Henry's arms forever. He had a wife and a daughter, and once she figured out a way to get the poison out of his heart, she would lose him forever.
She pulled her arms away and gently patted his shoulder.
He nodded at her and she nodded back.
They shared a friendly smile, much like the one Ivy had given him when she first walked in.
"Lucy will wake up from this Henry. I promise," she said softly.
"What does that-"
She turned around and began walking away before Henry could ask her what she meant.
But she meant every word.
She was going to wake Lucy up.
And no one, not even Gothel and her eight witches, were going to stop her.
But to do that she needed to team up with the two people in the world who wanted nothing more than to literally throw her under a bus.
Regina and Zelena.
"All's well that ends well," Ivy thought to herself as she made her way into the hospital elevator.
A/N: And that's that. Hope it was somewhat enjoyable. :D Don't forget. The rest of season 7 will start again on March 2nd which is next Friday.
