Two Households Of Dignity

By Schroederplayspiano

Chapter 2: Fractured Moonlight On The Sea

"Emma!" We hear her son scream again.

"Are you really going to let him think somebody abducted you or are you going to show yourself anytime soon?" I challenge her. We make eye contact again and I can see the wheels turning in her head. "I thought he was the most important person in your life," I say quickly, hoping she would go to him.

I watch as her eyes widen, some light going off in her head.

"You owe me a favor," she repeats my conversational speed with accusation.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"I just saved your life."

"You just saved everyone's lives," I correct her. "What's your point?"

"You owe me a favor," she slurs her words together talking so quickly. "And, aren't you supposed to be unselfish and everything in order to stay a real boy?"

I can't believe she is actually using who I am against me.

"You can go get Henry for me and tell him I'm fine."

"Why?" I couldn't help letting out a small laugh at her request. "So your parents will think somebody abducted both of you?"

"Don't call them that," her words seemed to come of her unconsciously.

"Oh!" I step back from her in amazement. "Is someone still in denial?"

Now all three of them are yelling her name, we hear somebody running down the alleyway. She moved further down the wall.

"Just go!" My heart goes out her when I see the fear on her face. It was painful to watch. "Please," she begs.

"Fine," I concede. I had to look at her for one more moment. I wondered if she would run in the opposite direction when I left. "Stay here." I demand then turn, running back around the corner into the alleyway.

Sure enough, Henry was running in our direction in search of his mother. He stopped with clear surprise when he saw me.

"Pinocchio!" He yells.

Shoot. Even though the whole town remembers now, I had hoped to remain anonymous for a little while. Rumpelstiltskin was enough to deal with.

"Where's Emma? Have you seen Emma?"

I raise my index finger to my lips in attempt to quiet him.

He approaches me so we are whispering length apart. "Where's Emma?"

I bend down to him. "Your mom is fine, Henry."

"Where is she?" Worry is in his voice. "She was right behind me and then she disappeared."

"Everything's okay," I try feebly to comfort him and know I am doing a terrible job when I see the disbelief on his face.

"You're not supposed to be lying," he states in his know-it-all tone.

"Henry!" I blurt out, shocked at his words. "It's really important that you don't tell anyone who I am."

He furrows his eyebrows, obviously confused. "Why?"

I try to speak his language. "It's part of the plan of operation Cobra." Some confusion leaves his face when I use his code. "Just promise me you won't tell anyone who I am."

"If you tell me what happened to my mom."

Wow, her boy is good.

"Your mom can't see her parents right now."

Henry crosses his arms, unsatisfied. "Why can't she see them?"

That is a good question, Henry. I search through my brain, hoping to find an explanation that would make sense.

"She's still on operation Cobra duty. She has to take care of some more of the follow out from the curse breaking. Your mom just wants to make sure everything's in order before she returns to her parents."

Does covering for somebody you're trying to protect count as a lie?

"I want to help!" Henry jumps at any chance to be part of operation Cobra.

I think fast. I look up to see Snow White and Prince James about to turn down the alleyway.

"Henry," I put my hand on his chest to try to tell him my request is important. "We need you to take care of your grandparents until Emma is done with her work. Can you do that? That would be helping."

Before he can respond, Snow White locates him. She runs down the alleyway with her husband. I stand up straight.

"Henry!" Snow White cries in relief. Prince James smiles as his wife takes his grandson in her arms. He puts his hand on Henry's back. "Don't run away like that!"

"I was just looking for Emma," he says. When he sees that they're both still worried he adds, "I'm sorry."

Then I notice Prince James is examining me. "Who are you?" He inquires.

I hesitate for a moment. "I'm August," I answered.

That is what Snow White knows me as – at least the grown up version of myself.

"August, have you seen Emma?" Snow White interrupts her husband's examination.

"Uh," I feel trapped in a wooden body again. I hate this feeling. "Yes," I reply shortly.

"Well," Prince James was clearly annoyed with me, "Where was she going?"

I look at Henry. I can tell he wants to help me, but can't find a logical way to do it.

"I'm not sure, sorry. She looked in a hurry."

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that counted as a lie. Henry closes his eyes signaling his disapproval.

Great.

"Who are you?" Prince James questions again.

Why is he doing this? I must have 'liar' written on my face.

"I told you, I'm August."

"That's your name in Storybrooke." His words are a statement although its obvious he's asking a question.

I don't bite. "Yes, it is."

"August is a friend of Emma's," Snow White tells Prince James.

"And he was running somewhere when I bumped into him, weren't you?" Henry chimes in.

I knew I liked that kid.

"Yes. I was," I tell a version of the truth, "And I should probably get back to it," I add, pointing ahead of me.

"Right," Snow White says. "Well, we wouldn't want to take up more of your time."

I smile to her in gratitude.

I lift my foot to move when Prince James stops me.

"What direction do you remember Emma going?"

"That way," I lie again and point in the opposite direction she was hiding. I smiled briefly before running past them and around the block.

The streets were surprising empty since the curse broke. I wonder if people are having their reunions indoors or if they are hiding from the magic that has just arrived in town.

I round the back corner of the building and see the savior still leaning against the cement wall. Her eyes are closed and I see her chest reflect her deep breathing in and out. She still looks stressed and upset.

I decide the best thing to do is to ignore her pain in hopes she will recover from it faster.

"You owe me big time," I boast.

Her eyes burst open and she stares at me.

"What are you talking about?"

"I just lied for you so you can hide from your parents who, by the way, are still looking for you."

"How does Henry know who you are?"

"You heard us?" I ask, shocked.

She ignores me. "How does he know who you are?"

"He knows who everyone is."

"August," she says disapprovingly.

"I'm not lying." The look on her face tells me that wasn't the point. "He came to see me when I was dying."

I can see her putting pieces together. "And he saw your wooden limbs."

I cross my arms and smile smugly. "He was excited."

"I bet he was."

She returns my smile only for a moment before our expressions turn serious.

"So, what are you going to now that you don't have anyone to hide from?"

"Well," she starts and I already know I won't like the next words out her mouth. "I thought we could go see your father."

My brain freezes.

"And would we do that?" I ask quickly.

"Well," she starts again slowly. "You're supposed to protect me, right? I think I would feel more comfortable having a reunion with my family after I see yours. You could be an example-role model type person for me." I lips turn upward at her pathetic list of excuses. She can see I'm not convinced, so she adds, "Plus I thought you would look good if you bring me home with you."

"Bring you home with me?" I ask, wondering exactly what she means.

"Yeah, you know," she says casually. "Like you promised him."

"Wow, the more afraid you are of facing your family the thinner your excuses become."

"Okay, never mind," innocence is all over her face as she speaks. "We can avoid our parents together," sarcasm creeps into her voice. "We'd be a pair of 'used to be orphans, orphans.'"

"Emma."

"Or 'we waited all our lives to find our parents, once we did, we avoided them.'"

"Stop."

"No, wait. I'm on a roll." Despite my annoyance, I'm glad she's smiling. "We found the gold at the end of the rainbow, but we didn't try to take it because the leprechauns were scary."

"Since when are leprechauns scary?" I ask.

But she's ignoring me. So, I gently grab her wrist, start walking, and pull her behind me. Her feet move, but I doubt if she notices; she's too absorbed in her quirky remarks.

It's cute.

"Or 'our parents abandoned us so we could save them from a horrible, magical, curse. When we did save them, we never returned home because we had trust issues.'"

"I don't have trust issues," I inform her.

She ignores this too.

"If we don't return to our parents, we'd be letting down all those children who watch Disney movies. It'd be like telling them there was no Santa Claus on their 8th birthday instead of their 11th – 'The movie says they got their happy ending, but since Snow White's daughter and Pinocchio didn't complete their task, Disney lied.''"

I wonder if her quirkiness is her way of dealing with her emotions.

"Imagine the lawsuit against us!"

I could not imagine the lawsuit against us. I kept pulling her along, deciding to ignore her until she returned to reality.

It took a while, her analogies sounding worse and worse each time.

Suddenly she stops. Both her lips and her legs freeze at the same time.

"Oh, ran out of fairytale idioms, have we?" I tease.

She looked at my hand on her arm and then straight at me. I didn't let go of her arm and she didn't ask me to – at least not verbally.

"Where are we going?"

"Where do you think we're going?" I throw back at her.

She is silent. Her expression turns serious.

"Do you realize," I keep hold of her arm, moving closer to her. "That almost all of your analogies, sayings, moral lessons – whatever – actually had the underlying message telling you to go see your parents?"

"No." She freezes again. "I did not realize that."

I cross my arms and a huge, victorious smile appears on my face.

"You're mocking me." Through her annoyance, a smile begins to show on her face.

I don't what is cuter, her quirky remarks or when half of her is annoyed with me and the other half of her is amused.

"Very possible."

I laugh at her. She pushes on my arm and follows my back step. "August!"

I am extremely aware that our faces are close together, our noses and foreheads almost touching.

We both turn serious.

"When are you going to start calling me Pinocchio?" I whisper.

"When you stop thinking of me as someone you need to protect," she whispers back.

I look deep into her eyes and can see her honesty and her fear as she silently pleads with me.

I could never think of her as someone I didn't need to protect.

"I guess we're at an impasse then," I say.

A slight smile reappears on her face. She's beautiful.

"I guess so."

I return her smile, but now am loss at what to do next. I watch her eyes close for a moment and then reopen. A question is being asked behind those hazel eyes.

I can't answer it.

She backs away.

"Where are we going?" She asks breathlessly.

Her words snap me out of the moment.

"We're almost there."

I point around the corner, and she walks ahead of me. I wait behind; unaware I am also out of breath.

I turn the familiar corner that leads to my father's house.

First, I see her, frozen in misstep.

Then, I see both our families, standing in my father's front yard, clearly waiting for nobody but the two of us.

A/N: Wow, I'm floored by the response to this story! I'm so glad there are August/Emma fans out there. Readers don't have to worry about updates if they continue to share their enthusiasm.