Author's Note: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews, they really mean a lot to me. I did decide to continue on for one more chapter. I am still deciding what to do with the story because I do not want it to become just another re write of each episode. I might leave it as is, or make a bunch of one shot type chapters for it. We will see how much free time I have to write between work and school, and of course what these characters want.

I pulled into Storybrooke a little after midnight. Just like I had hoped Henry passed out less then 30 minutes into the ride and hadn't woken up since. I looked around the small town as I searched for a place to pull over for the night. It wasn't a very exciting place and the rain just made it dreary instead of quaint. I almost wished that the meeting tomorrow wouldn't go well so that Henry and I could find some place else to live. But I knew that wasn't fair. Henry came first and if this Dr. Hopper was the man we had been looking for then so be it.

I finally found a spot to park my car far enough from the main street in town. Normally I would try and find some kind of hotel to stay at, but it was late and I was exhausted from work and the drive. I turned my car off and got into a comfortable position to sleep. In the morning Henry and I would come up with a plan of action, but for now we needed to rest up.

I had no idea how long I had been asleep for, but I woke up to someone knocking at my window. He looked like some sort of police officer.

"Can I help you?" I asked turning on my car so that I could roll down my window.

"May I ask what you are doing sleeping in your car?" the man asked me.

"You see my son and I…" I turned around to indicate Henry, but he was no longer in his seat. "Henry?" I called out starting to panic.

I quickly turned off my car and jump out. I called for the kid again. I was about to run off looking for him when I saw a woman walking holding my son's hand. I ran over to them and gathered him up in my arms.

"Henry what were you thinking. You know better then to run off like that." I scolded him.

"I'm sorry mom, I just really wanted to look around."

I was about to say something else when I was reminded that we had an audience by the woman clearing her throat.

"Thank you for finding my son." I said as politely as possible.

"You should watch your son better." She said coldly to me.

I was taken aback by this tone, what had I done to this woman? Henry was a curious ten-year-old boy, of course he wasn't going to think to tell me where he was going. And it was hard to keep my eye on him at all time when he never stops moving and thinking.

"I usually do, but he got a little too excited being in a new town and forgot the rules." I explained while biting my tongue not to say something rude back.

"You never did finish telling me what you are doing here?" I turned around and saw the cop standing next to us, I forgot he was there too.

"Why should I tell you two?" I asked.

"Because I am the mayor and it is my duty to know who comes into this town and if they are a threat." She said in the same cool tone as before.

"Fine if you must know we are here to see Dr. Hopper."

"Wait…a doctor." Henry looked up at me as he started to catch on to the reason for our trip. This is not at all how I wanted to tell him.

"What for?" the mayor asked again.

"That is private business between me and my son."

"Fine, but I am leaving Sheriff Graham to take you and your son there so you two can get to his office and not do anything tricky."

With those final words the mayor turned her back to us and walked off.

"So can you please direct us to where we can get something to eat before heading over to Dr. Hopper's office?" I asked Sheriff Graham using my polite voice once again.

"Sure just follow my car." He said, at least he was being nice.

I had to pull Henry back to the bug and force him inside.

"Look kid I'm sorry, but I got another note from your teacher. And then I found Dr. Hopper all by myself online last night. He looks really good." I tried to explain, though I knew it was useless.

"But why do I have to see him?" Henry asked with his puppy eyes.

"You know why kid, these dreams and stories aren't good for you."

"But they aren't dreams, they're real."

"Look I am not having this discussion with you now. We are going to see Dr. Hopper and if you don't like him well go home, end of story."

"Fine." Henry pouted.

I knew this fight wasn't over, it never was, but hopefully once I got some food in him he would be more complacent.

I signaled to Sheriff Graham that we were ready and followed him back into town. I looked around some more now that there was light out. It was disappointed to see that it still looked dreary.

"Mom what time is it?" Henry asked.

"9:30, why?"

"Cause that clock says its 8:15 and I don't think its moved since I got up."

"It's probably just old and the cogs are so rusted that they can't move."

I wasn't going to give Henry time to come up with some ridiculous reason as to why the clock was stuck. I found that usually worked best to keep his imagination in check.

The diner wasn't too far from where we spent the night and soon Sherriff Graham was pulling over to the side and parking his car.

"Thank you for leading us here. I think all I need to know now is where Dr. Hopper's office is." I said in my best voice. I wanted to get him away from us as soon as possible.

"It's just up the street in the big red building, you can't miss it."

"Thank you again." I grabbed Henry's hand and started to lead us into the diner.

"Wait, I don't think I caught your name."

"I'm Henry and this is my mom Emma. Do you want to have breakfast with us" So now Henry decided to open his big mouth.

Damn that kid was sneaky, always butting in before I had the chance to say no. I really did need to be more careful around him when I talked about work before he turned into a mini me.

"Sure I don't have to be back at the station anyway." Sherriff Graham shrugged.

The three of us walked into the diner and sat down at a booth in the back. It was nice to see that there was some life in this town. Though the town's people did not look thrilled to be here either.

"So how long have you live here Sherriff?" Henry asked.

"You know, I'm not sure. It feels like I've lived here my entire life though." The sheriff replied though looked confused as he answered the questions.

"How can you not know especially because you have an accent?"

"Henry be polite." I gently elbowed him and gave that look that meant trouble. I had raised him better; I had no idea where his manners were.

"Yeah I guess the accent my parents had just stuck."

I could see the cogs turning in Henry's head and I quickly ordered us breakfast before he could say anything else. Hopefully a large cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and French toast would be enough to get him to drop whatever he was thinking.

The rest of breakfast pretty much went the same way. Henry kept trying to get Sherriff Graham to talk about his past; clearly I needed to rethink my distraction tactics with him. I'm not sure what was with the kid today. I knew he was curious child, but he usually knew when to stop. At least the sheriff humored the kid and answered his questions as best as he could.

When we were finished and said our final goodbyes Henry and I walked off in the direction of Dr. Hopper's office.

"Do I have to see him mom?" Henry begged one more time.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but maybe he can help. I know you don't want to see him and I wish I didn't have to send you to the shrink, but your teacher and school won't leave me alone." I explained to him, it was the same speech I had been giving him since day one.

Henry pouted and we walked the rest of the way in silence. At least it wasn't a far walk, I hated when the kid was mad at me. It was easy to find his office too, which was a plus. I was not in the mood to roam around the building to look for the guy.

"Come in." the voice inside said after I knocked on the door.

I turned the doorknob and pushed it, and Henry, inside of the office. I did a quick look around. So far so good, it actually looked like a psychiatrist's office and not a prison cell.

"Hi I'm Emma Swan. I sent you an e-mail last night explain our situation." I said holding out my hand, which he grasped and shook firmly.

"Yes I got a chance to look it over this morning. Which means you must be Henry." Dr. Hopper turned to my son and shook his hand as well.

"Hi." Was all that Henry managed to get out. While he usually wasn't a shy kid, see a new therapist brought out his clingy side. He wrapped his arms around me and I just rubbed his back hoping to calm his down.

"So Henry do you want to tell me what is going on?" Dr. Hopper asked.

The kid just shook his head and clung harder to me.

"You sure, because I would really like to hear about your stories and this book. They sound fascinating to me."

"They do?" This peaked Henry's interests as he started to pull away from me.

"Yeah your mom gave me a brief summary about what they are, but I am sure you can do a much better job of it."

Henry nodded his head and looked up at me for approval, I smiled down at him. So far things were going better then I had hoped they would.

"Ms. Swan would you mind leaving Henry and me alone for an hour or two. You could go check out the town or the elementary school." Dr. Hopper suggested.

"Of course." I smiled and then pulled Henry into a hug. "Be good." I whispered into his ear. While I was excited that we might have found a therapist, I was a little scared of what the kid could say.

I walked out of the office and headed back towards my car. I wasn't sure what I could do for an hour in this town. This was not like Boston where there were shops and parks to kill my time in. I don't think that I was ready to head into these stores just yet.

I decided to take Dr. Hopper's advice and head over to the elementary school. It looked as if we would be staying in this town and I might as well see where I would be sending the kid to school.

Once again it didn't take long to get to the school, it seemed like nothing was too far away from the main road. The elementary school looked exactly like every other one Henry and I had gone to.

I parked my car and headed inside towards the office. I might as well get the ball rolling on the paper work. It wouldn't hurt even if we did end of moving back to Boston.

"Hello can I help you?" A woman asked as I was looking around.

"Yes, I'm looking for the office. I want to get my son enrolled." I explained.

"Are you moving here?"

"Well we're thinking about it. I figured I might as well look around to see what I got us into. And the elementary school seemed like the most exciting place to start. There isn't much to do here is there?"

"Yeah, not much happens around here. I guess that's part of its charm. If you don't mind my asking what grade is your son in?"

"He's in fifth." I answered, though I'm not sure why I was being so open with her.

"Looks like he will be in my class then. I'm Mary Margret Blanchard. Why don't I show you around."

"Sure. And I'm Emma." I smiled at Ms. Blanchard and followed her down the hall. There was something about her that seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

We walked down the hallway and towards the classroom. It was eerily quiet, I knew the kids had to be in class now but there was usually some sort of noise.

"So what's your son's name?" Ms. Blanchard asked me once we got to her room.

"Henry." I answered a looked around. It looked like she tried hard to make this place more colorful and happy for the kids, but still struggled with the bleakness that was this town.

"That's a nice name. May I ask what made you decide to move?"

"We came to see Dr. Hopper. Henry has this book of fairy tales that he believes are true and it was starting to worry his teacher so we have come here to talk to a new therapist." I explained.

I really had no idea what had come over me now, I usually never told strangers about Henry's problems. Sure she would be my son's teacher and would learn about it anyway, but there was something that made me want her to understand his case better.

"Well Dr. Hopper is one of the best and I'm sure he'll be able to help your son. Though it sounds to me like he has a big imagination, and these stories are a way to channel it."

I looked at the teacher in shock. Was she actually agreeing with me? That had never happened with any of Henry's other teachers, and she hadn't even met the kid yet.

"That's what I thought, but his teachers kept tell me that it wasn't the case."

"I think it makes perfect sense that he is turning to a book. It's giving him an escape from the classroom."

I just nodded my head; I still couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Well I better get going, I should go pick Henry up before he starts to spill our families dark secrets. And I still have to go fill out that paper work."

"Don't worry about it, I'll get them for you. Here give me your number and you can come pick them up later."

"Thank you." I said and programmed my number into her cell phone. "I'll see you later then."

"See you. And Emma, I hope you find what you are Henry are looking for." Ms. Blanchard waved and I turned around to go.

I got back into my car and drove to Dr. Hopper's office. Hopefully things were still going well in there. I looked at the clock tower to see how much time as back, forgetting that it was broken on 8:15. I couldn't help but wonder if there was significance in that time. But I shook my head at the idea, Henry's ideas were starting to rub off on me and that was not a good sign.

I parked my car in front of the office and headed inside. I knocked on the office door and opened it slightly. "Is it safe to come back?"

"Hi mom!" Henry said, with a smile on his face. That was a very good sign.

"So things are going well in here?" I asked and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"Yes very well. Henry why don't you go step outside so I can talk to your mom?"

Henry nodded and jumped off of the couch and headed out the door.

"So how was it really?" I asked getting nervous; I knew how things could change once kids were out of the room.

"Everything was fine. You have a great kid." Dr. Hopper said, and I let out a sigh of relief. "Though I can understand why you are concerned about his fantasies, they are very realistic. But I don't see the harm in them for now. I think in time they will start to fade away."

"So you don't think anything is wrong with him?"

"Nothing that he can't grow out of, and of course seeing me won't hurt either." Dr. Hopper laughed at the last part.

"Yeah that sounds perfect. Thank you so much Dr. Hopper." I smiled back at him.

"Please call me Archie, and I'll call you to set up the next appointment."

I smiled and bid Archie a final goodbye. For this first time since the whole book ordeal started I felt relieved. Of course that didn't last long as I headed out into the hallway to find that Henry had run off again. I needed to have a serious talk with him about his attitude when I found him.

I was ready to run back into Archie's office when I got a text from Ms. Blanchard about the files. I figured I might as well ask her where a ten-year-old boy would hide in this town; she was a teacher after all.

It didn't take long for her to reply back with three words, try the castle. I thought for a moment trying to think of what castle she could be talking about when I remembered where Henry and I had spent the night.

I quickly ran to my car and jumped inside. I speed all the way there until I saw the run down wooden castle Ms. Blanchard had been talking about, and of course Henry sitting on top of it. I quickly parked my car and got out running the rest of the way to my son.

"Geeze kid way to give me a heart attack." I gasped as I sat down next to him.

"Sorry mom, I didn't mean to. I just really wanted to see the town." Henry explained.

"Seems to be the theme of the day doesn't it." I gave him a stern look and he looked back at me sheepishly.

"This is the town you know." Henry said after a pause.

"What do you mean?" I asked even though I knew I shouldn't have.

"The town that's in my story, the one you are meant to save."

"Kid I'm not saving any towns."

"But you are. It all makes perfect sense. It's why Sherriff Graham and Dr. Hopper couldn't remember their past. It's why everyone looks so miserable and why the clock tower hasn't moved. You're meant to bring back the happy endings."

I wanted to believe him so badly, that this small town was the answer to all of our problems. But I knew I couldn't do that happy endings didn't come that easily in our world.

"Come on Henry lets go." I chose not to fight this battle, or at least not today. I jumped down off the castle and waited as Henry ran down the stairs. At least there were some things he was still too small to do.

"Go? Go where? We aren't leaving are we? I like really like Storybrooke and Dr. Hopper. I promise I'll be good and won't complain when I have to see him. Can't we just stay here for one week? Please?" He begged me, and I held back a laugh.

"Yes we are staying here. I don't know how long. We will see how your sessions with Dr. Hopper goes and if this town can stand us for that long." I smiled down at him.

Henry beamed up at me and threw his arms around my waste. I pulled him in close. I hoped it would always be this easy to make him happy.

"And don't think I forgot about you running away, twice. You and I are going to have a long talk tonight."

Henry's smiled faded and he looked down at his shoes. I hated punishing the kid, and normally I didn't have to. But I couldn't let him off the hook that easily for his behavior today.

I grabbed the kid's hand and squeezed it. When he finally looked up at me I gave him a small smile letting him know I wasn't too mad at him. Henry's smile grew once again and together we walked back to the car.

Henry and I spent the rest of the day looking around town, and of course heading over to Mary Margaret's apartment to pick up the paper work. Where she too was put through my kid's questioning, but she also did not seemed turned off by them. She even invited us to stay for dinner, which Henry was delighted about. Mary Margret then sent us on our way to the local inn, where I booked us a room for one week.

I was finishing getting ready for bed when I saw Henry looking out the window.

"Anything good out there kid?" I asked coming over and wrapping my arms around him.

"The clock moved." He pointed out.

Sure enough he was right as the clock read 8:16. We watched it for another two minutes as the minute had continued to move.

"Guess the cogs finally decided to work." I shrugged and pulled him away from the window.

"Or something like." Henry replied back giving me that mischievous smile.

I gave him a smirk back before I picked him up and threw him onto the bed. Together we landed in a fit of giggles for tonight we were not worried about a stupid book or curse. Once again it was just me and my son against the world and nothing was going to hold us back.

"Hey mom." Henry asked once we had called down and were under the covers.

"Yeah kid?" I asked turning my head to look at him.

"Will you read me a story?"