Today is one of those days when Grace feels exactly her age. Papa explained it to her: 28 years had passed since the Evil Queen cast her curse and sent everyone to Storybrooke. Or, at least, it had been 28 years to the world outside, and inside the minds of those who were able to keep their memories (like Papa). But within the town itself, time was frozen. Every year they started over as if the previous one had never happened at all. No one ever aged and, since nothing new ever happened, no one could really remember the long years they spent in Storybrooke. So, while most of the time Grace is a normal ten year old girl with normal ten year old thoughts, there are rare occasions when she feels like someone who really had been alive for the better part of four decades.
This is one of those times. She and her Papa are on their way to a city council meeting, and that fact in and of itself might be reason enough for the heavy feeling in the atmosphere. Council meetings always meant something bad was at hand, and, although Papa never told her what happened inside the school with the adults while the children played outside, Grace could always count on her friend Henry to tell her everything he knew.
Henry was always her favorite friend, even before the curse broke. She could barely remember the years before she knew him, but when he came to her class, life was definitely more interesting. She regrets not making a stronger effort to befriend him sooner (he always seemed so lonely), but she was afraid of his mother. All the kids were. Even when there was a party where everyone was invited, the mayor never let Henry go.
Grace is glad Henry lives with his new mom now. She can tell he's much happier with her, even with all the bad things that are happening now, and Princess Emma even lets him come play at her house sometimes. She loves those days especially, because while she had lots of friends when her name was Paige, she remember living alone in the forest with her Papa. Henry makes her think of what it must be like to have a brother.
A brother with the best gossip in town, as it turns out. Since his mom and grandparents are the ones who formed the city council, Henry hears things that Grace always fails to get her father to reveal. Henry was the one who told what that strange purple smoke was the day the curse broke: magic.
Princess Emma broke the curse that was making everyone forget their old lives, and barely a few minutes later the violet cloud rolled through town and restored all the magic. Ever since, the mayor – no – the Evil Queen has done everything in her power to keep the residents of Storybrooke under her control.
It hasn't been easy for her, though, thanks to the city council (Grace can't help but think proudly). As soon as the dust settled, so to speak, Snow, James and Princess Emma had pulled everyone together to help protect them from the Queen's mad rampage. With their help, the most she's been able to do is scare people.
Grace is especially grateful for the council, due to an incident that occurred with her father shortly after magic came to Storybrooke. The Queen came to their house, and though Papa sent her to her room, Grace hovered on the staircase to eavesdrop (she felt a little guilty for being disobedient, but she was scared of the Queen taking Papa away again). He called the Queen "Regina," and told her she "must be madder than I am" if she thought he'd do anything for her ever again. He said that if she ever came around to bother him again, he'd make sure she regrets it.
That night he took Grace to Princess Emma's house. She played with Henry while the adults talked (for a long time, it seemed). Finally, Emma agreed to give him a seat on the council.
Henry said his mom didn't like her Papa at first, but won't talk about why. It made Grace a little sad that someone so kind and beautiful would hate her father (someone equally kind and wonderful in every way, in her eyes anyway), but as the weeks passed, Emma seemed to warm up to Papa. Sometimes she would bring Henry over to play and they would talk for a while. The children always tried to listen to what the conversations were about, but inevitably Papa would catch them and make sure they went to Grace's room before talking again.
All in all, with her father happy, safe, and home with her again, her friend Henry just a phone call away, and all the stuffed rabbits she could ever want, Grace thought that, if it weren't for the Evil Queen, life would be pretty much perfect right now.
But it isn't. The air is heavy and smells like something dangerous (magic, Papa says), and Grace feels exactly her age as she and her father come up on the elementary school where the council meetings are held. Her gloomy mood only worsens when they reach the playground. She can see Henry there waiting for her, but their other two friends, Hansel and Gretel are absent.
Papa told her before they left why the meeting had been called tonight. The twins' father had gotten worried that the Queen was going to come after them (they, too, had some kind of bad history with her), and tried to leave Storybrooke with his family. But that part of the curse didn't break when they got their memories back, and so right when they reached the edge of town, Otto suddenly lost control of the car and crashed it. He was fine, but the twins both had to go to the hospital.
Grace was sad to hear about her friends, but still doesn't understand why the meeting was called. She is hoping Henry will have more information for her, but one look at him is all she needs to know that he's feeling very depressed. He is sitting on the front steps next to Miss Nova (Grace's favorite fairy) with his chin cupped in his hands and his eyes pointed down at the pavement. A nervous feeling takes root in her stomach; had something happened to Hansel and Gretel that Papa hadn't told her about? A tugging sensation on one of Grace's braided pigtails alerts her to her father trying to get her attention.
"Are you okay out here with Miss Nova?" Papa always asks that when he drops her off at the playground, but she doesn't know why. It's like he thinks she's scared to be alone, but really, she doesn't feel like she's... important enough to be in any danger. She's more worried about what goes on in the meetings themselves, and why Papa never talks about them.
"Yes, Papa," she replies obediently anyway. She's eager to talk to Henry and ease the anxiety she's begun to feel.
"Good girl," her father replies with kind of a half-smile. He bends down and kisses her forehead. "Be safe." That is another thing he's taken to saying anytime he's not with her. But Grace never worries. Miss Nova always keeps a close eye on the children. And she's a fairy – she has magic just in case the Queen tries something.
Papa goes inside, leaving the kids alone with Nova, but not for long. Henry looks up and gives Grace a significant look, tilting his head toward the dome-shaped jungle gym. It's their favorite haunt, where they go to talk about council meeting stuff. Normally, Hansel and Gretel would come with them – Hansel would be an endless stream of questions and Gretel would be shushing him, citing "operational security." Gretel took council meetings very seriously. She always talked about the four of them helping out the adults and joining the fight; they reach had a personal vendetta against the queen (except, maybe, Henry), but they could never find out enough about the meetings to do anything significant.
Their friends' absences are sorely felt as Grace and Henry crawl through the bars and make a little nest in the wood chips inside the dome. Grace waits what she feels is a respectful amount of time before leaning in conspiratorially and whispering, "So? What's going on? Are Hansel and Gretel okay?"
"Yeah, they'll be okay," Henry replies, picking at the wood chips idly to keep his hands busy. "That's what my mom says, anyway."
A heavy moment of silence passes between them as Grace waits for her friend to continue. The twins' promise of a full recovery is good news, certainly, but nothing to call a meeting for. There must be more to the story, but Henry isn't talking. "So..." she prods gently. "What's going on, why are we here?"
Henry sighs, tossing away the piece of wood he had been fiddling with. "The fairies are trying to heal them as best they can, but without their wands or any fairy dust, their magic just isn't strong enough to do much. Otto and some of the others think it's time to ask Rumpelstiltskin for help."
Grace pulls a face. She doesn't know much about the man with the funny name, but what she has heard hasn't been good. Henry told her that he's a wicked and selfish man – that he has all the magic power to save everyone from the Queen, but he won't use it unless it can benefit him somehow. And Papa said that he once did "the imp" a favor, and that was the last time he hoped to deal with him ever again. When she asked why he wouldn't use the favor to protect them from the Evil Queen, he only said that he was saving it for when he had no other options. She thinks her Papa is more afraid of Rumpelstiltskin than the Queen.
"Why didn't the curse break?" Henry wonders out loud suddenly, looking out over the playground. "Why didn't everyone go back to the fairy tale universe? None of this would be happening if you had."
Now, Grace doesn't know much about the curse, only what Papa and Henry have explained to her (she still doesn't understand parts of it). She knows that time was frozen and that hardly anyone had their memories, and no one was allowed to leave Storybrooke. But Papa never mentioned going back to the forest where they used to live, and she honestly thinks he doesn't want to. She doesn't blame him – not that he knows, but she was aware of how sad it made him that they didn't have any money living in the forest. He did all he could to make her happy, and together they made the best of their lives, but it wasn't anything like what he had here.
Presently, she drapes an arm around Henry's shoulders, hoping it cheers him up a bit. "I don't wanna go back," she tells him firmly. "Papa doesn't either. We like it here. Besides..." She trails off, tilting her head slightly as she looks at him. "You're from here, right? Would you even be able to come with us? Cause if you can't, I definitely don't want to go."
Henry looks up and he does look a little better. "I hadn't thought about that," he admits thoughtfully. "I don't really know. Maybe you're right, but still..." He sighs again before turning to her fervently. "Gretel was right. We gotta do something to help, we can't just wait around like this until something bad happens to one of us, right?"
"But what can we do?" Grace asks apprehensively. Her Papa keeps such a close eye on her, she doubts she'd be of much use to anyone, and besides, they're only a couple of kids. What are they against the Evil Queen, where their parents have failed?
"I don't know," Henry replies and Grace is surprised to see a fiercely determined expression on her friend's face, "but if my mom's taught me anything it's that just because something sounds scary, and even if you don't think you're strong enough or brave enough or important enough, you still have to try!" He turns to her then, all fire and rebellion. "What do you say, Grace? Is Operation Gemini a go?"
Grace smiles in spite of herself. She squeezes his shoulders, her arm still wrapped around him affectionately. "It's a go!"