Granny stood at the counter of her diner, staring glumly into space. Behind her glazed eyes she was superficially aware if what was before her: the clean, brightly lit restaurant, the diners with their subdued chatter but pleasant faces, the sun streaming through the blinds. But none of it registered on her conscious mind, not until a presence slid onto a stool near her, she felt eyes on her face and finally blinked her mental fog away, turning to regard the newcomer.
Perched on the other side of the counter, regarding her evenly with almost-disguised curiosity, was young Henry Mills. What was his last name anyway now that he didn't remember his adoptive mother? Did the false memories Regina planted in his head make him think of himself as Henry Swan? Or maybe Emma now "remembered" putting the father's name on the birth certificate? Henry Cassidy, perhaps? When she saw it was him her spine straightened as she schooled herself. Damn foolish, she knew. She couldn't possibly give anything a way with a blank stare, but she certainly wasn't going to be the one to cause a headache for Emma by letting it slip to Henry that the entire town knew him far better than he thought.
"Hello there." Granny greeted him with a cordial smile, trying not to be too familiar with this boy.
No, this young man now. Once upon a time he had spent many hours in one another of her booths reading,working on homework, playing games with Ruby or bonding with one of his mothers. Now she had to pretend he was a stranger. Pretend she didn't notice the extra inches he had gained in a year or the baby fat he had lost that was turning his soft features into strong features that favored his father.
"Meeting someone for dinner? I can make you up a cup of cocoa while you wait."
"That's okay, I'm fine." Henry said, waving the offer aside, "unless… Do you have a cappuccino machine?"
Granny raised an eyebrow at him, taken aback once more by how quickly he was growing up. His voice was deeper and he was more confident when he spoke.
"Aren't you a bit young for coffee?" She asked.
A sly grin spread across his face, "Can you be sure of that? You don't know how old I am." He pointed out.
Granny froze for a moment, worried she'd been caught out but the mischief on his face made her unwind. He may not remember being any other way but it warmed Granny's heart to see Henry the carefree troublemaker a young boy ought to be. She had to chuckle at his new audacity.
"I've got eyes to see with, boy, and I can see you're not a man grown. When your mother says you can have one, I'll make you one but not before." She said, smiling for half a moment to temper her acerbic tone.
Henry rolled his eyes but had to smile in return. He hadn't really expected to get away with it. While Emma had occasionally let him sample the wares of a few New York coffee shops he knew she wouldn't approve of him drinking it casually. A sip of her latter was different from a cappuccino of his own. Caffeine stunts you growth, she would say and tease him about growing up to join the Knicks.
Granny turned aside, grabbing a cloth to wipe the already immaculate counter-top. In her efforts to appear nonchalant, she forced her mind away from him and her thoughts quickly fell into thinking about the missing year. No matter how she tried to probe her memory she couldn't draw out a single detail and that made her worry. Anything might have happened. She could be surrounded by newly-made enemies at any moment with no telling when they might get their memories back and decide to come after her.
Once again lost in her thoughts her hand moved by its own volition; sharp-eyed Henry didn't fail to notice that Granny was wiping the same spot of counter-top over and over again, polishing it to a shine. He had learned a lot from his mother, including how to read people. And he could tell Granny was miles away. The deep wrinkles between her eyebrows told him something was bothering her.
"Is… is everything okay?" His voice, cracking once from the strain of his body's transition from boyhood to manhood, drew her out of her reverie.
"Of course!" She responded automatically and tried to turn the subject. "Change your mind about that cocoa?"
Henry pursed his lips in annoyance and added Granny to the list of adults in this town who wouldn't give him a straight answer. So far that was most of them. He wondered if the kids who lived in Storybrooke were taken in by the weak lies. At least his mother usually didn't outright lie to him. When she couldn't be honest she usually promised to explain when the time was right.
"It's okay, you can tell me." He tried again. "My mom says I'm a good listener."
His earnest face looking up at her was hard to ignore, but there really was no way you could tell him the truth.
"Oh, it's nothing, just feelin' a bit restless. Probably just the change of season making me antsy. Need a bit of excitement is all." Right, because Storybrooke never sees any excitement. She almost choked on the cheerful falsehood.
Henry meanwhile was heroically suppressing a scoff at the idea of excitement in Storybrooke. He knew the world wasn't like Manhattan but so far he hadn't witnessed so much as a traffic accident on the quiet streets of the bucolic town. Even the alley behind the local bar was clean and free of drunks sleeping off last night's bender. Sometimes he appreciated the quiet, but sometimes the town was boring. But he couldn't be unkind, so he glanced around groping for something polite to say.
"My mom always say springtime is the best time for change. Maybe that's what you need! New curtains or tablecloths or something." Henry's eye's settled on a corner of the diner. It was an awkward corner to have a table in, tucked back out of the way against a wall with no windows. An idea occurred to him. "Hey, do you like music?"
.x.x.x.x.
"No way, come on Granny, it's perfect!" Ruby's voice was loud in protest.
"I just don't know if that's what people want while they are trying to eat their meatloaf." Granny said.
:"It's only one night a week, a few hours. Anyone who doesn't like it can just come to dinner before or after. But it would make the town more cheerful!" Henry said, countering her concerns.
"And you think we need cheering up are here, do ya?" Granny lowered her head, looking at Henry over the rim of her glasses.
"Well," he said sheepishly, "everyone around here seems really serious a lot of the time. My mom is always off helping someone with something she cant tell me about." He paused for a moment then asked what had been on his mind. "Are a lot of people in trouble?"
Ruby met Granny's eyes over Henry's head. When he started asking questions, it was time to steer him towards something else. He was a smart kid and with the investigative talents he had picked up from his mother it was getting hard to keep things hidden from him. No one in town liked lying to him but lately they had bigger concerns than rewriting Henry's entire life out from under him, at least the one he remembered.
"No," Ruby said, interjecting smoothly to cover for Granny. "No trouble. There's just too many boring adults around here." She winked at him and Granny's scowl in response was only partly feigned for his benefit. Ruby turned back to her and picked up their original topic. "He's right, anyone who doesn't like it will just come to dinner later. Its not like there's many options in this town. You, we, wont lose any business."
Henry grinned at Ruby's snark and turned his most persuasive expression on Granny. "Come on", he cajoled her. "You know its a good idea.."
"Oh do I?" Granny raised an eyebrow. Before she could respond to his cheeky sense of assurance Mayor Mills appeared behind him.
"I'm sure if young Henry here is responsible for it, it must be a great idea." Regina smiled down at her lost son, trying to maintain her composure. It was hard to look down into the face of the child she had raised and see only the polite attention one would afford a stranger. "Your mother tells me you are quite the problem solver, full of creative solutions."
Henry shrugged, not wanting to appear childish by bragging to the most important woman in town.
"No need to be modest." Regina said, placing her handbag on the counter and taking a seat next to him. "What grand scheme have you concocted for Granny here?" She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "Maybe I can help you talk her into it."
As Henry laid out his plan for Granny's a warm glow filled Regina Mills. He may not remember any of her mothering but he had been her son for most of his life. She couldn't believe that his steadfast heart and keen mind weren't due in part to her, even buried under false memories. His plan was well thought out, easily executed, and was something that never would have occurred to anyone who had grown up in the Enchant Forest or even here in Storybrooke. New York had expanded his world view but it hadn't changed his spirit. The part of Regina's heart that had been wild with worry for him since the day he rode out of town in the yellow bug started to quiet finally. She had never doubted that Emma would look after him but... any world is full of dangers.
"They do it all the time in coffee-shops back home," Henry was elaborating. "It makes people want to stay longer and then they spend more so it would be good for business too!"
"Well, I think it is a wonderful idea." Regina said. "No one else would have thought of it but I think an Open Mic night would be great. Give the good people of Storybrooke a chance to showcase their talents."
Now it was Granny's turn to suppress a scoff. Two curses and not a single election later and Regina Mills still sat as Mayor of Storybrooke. Despite being ousted from office the last time they were in this world. It appears old habits died hard. Still, Granny couldn't fault the woman for wanting her son to think well of her, even if he didn't know who she was. This idea of his was a sight less bloody than some of the ways Regina had attempted to bond with Henry.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt a thing to try it," Granny said, capitulating at last. Before Henry and Ruby could cheer she went on. "Only for a week or two, mind. If people don't like it we forget about it. Now, it was your idea young man, you are going to help me get it set up and spread the word so people know about it."
"Yeah!" Henry cried enthusiastically. Adults didn't usually listen to his ideas back home; he was just another kid for them to shuffle off to school, off to debate club, off to bed. Besides, playing video games in the room all day while his mom was busy was starting to get boring.
"I'll help too and mention it at the next city council meeting. If there is any trouble getting performers I'm sure I could lean on a few people." Regina volunteered.
The slight quirk of her lips that accompanied the offer did not body well for any bards that had been caught up in the curse, Granny thought.
"C'mon Henry, I've got some gel pens around here somewhere. We can make a poster to hang on the door." Ruby ushered Henry to a booth where they could draw in peace. Regina's eyes followed them and Granny saw the tiny sigh that escaped her.
