A/N: I was totally not expecting such a response from you guys! Thank you everyone who's read/reviewed/favourited/followed! :)

I apologise if any of this sounds a little strange to you Americans, I tried! :)

x

They turned to see the teenager looking down at them. She was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday, the hood of her hoody up yet again. The only difference was that the hair that escaped from the hood and hung against the dark material of her sweater was soaking wet and leaving dark patches on the material.

"I knew she'd been in Boston so I went there. Then I was told she was back in Maine… this is the nineteenth town I tried."

Regarding her with suspicion, David's paternal instincts kicked in. "Why were you so desperate to find her?"

"Desperate? That's a little strong." Liv told him with a smirk. She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, helping herself to a mug of coffee as though she owned the place. Before she continued, she settled herself on the stool beside Emma's at the breakfast bar. "I just had no one else I wanted to look for, that's all. As soon as I turned sixteen and got out of the system I decided to track her down. It's taken me over a year to do it."

The matter of fact tone she used, combined with the words she'd spoken, caused all four of them to look at her in bemusement. Emma, used to the teenager's attitude, shook her head slightly and smiled into her mug, but no one else was really sure what to say. The knowledge that the kid had spent so long trying to track Emma down made the blonde slightly uneasy, but in a good way. On the other side of the room, Mary Margaret and David were looking at each other carefully, as though having a conversation that no one else could hear. Henry was just staring at Liv with an open mouth. Liv herself was drinking her coffee as though nothing unusual was going on.

After a couple of moments, the girl looked up, curiosity blossoming over her features. "Who are you guys, by the way?" She registered the slight panic that crossed the couple's faces and turned her attention to Emma quickly. "Because it's a bit weird if a married couple with a kid have taken you in as a lodger."

"Oh… I'm not their kid." Henry told her before anyone else could speak. "I'm hers. I'm Henry."

"Wait…" Liv furrowed her eyebrows looking between Emma and the boy. "That's your kid? You found him? How?"

"He found me, actually. I–"

"I tracked her down in Boston and brought her here. I needed her help to break the curse!"

There was a moment of silence. Emma, Mary Margaret and David seemed to be holding their breath and Liv was staring at Henry as though he'd grown an extra head. Then she started laughing. "Curse? Good one, kid. Well it got her here, so maybe it wasn't as stupid a plan as it sounds."

"It wasn't a stupid plan!" Henry pouted at her. "It's true! Emma broke the curse and everyone got their memories back. Right Grandpa?"

Liv followed the boy's gaze to the man standing awkwardly on the opposite side of the kitchen. Her eyebrows shot so far up they almost vanished into her hairline. "You're kidding?"

"Err…" Emma stood up abruptly. "I've got get to work. Can either of you watch Henry?"

"Sorry, honey, I've got to run." The other woman replied apologetically, glancing at the time. "I'm already late."

"Same…" Her husband agreed with a small shrug.

"But…" Emma glanced towards her son who had settled himself at the breakfast bar with a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice.

"I can watch the kid." Liv offered with a shrug. "He doesn't seem too irritating."

"Oh… I don't…" The brunette started, pausing in her task of shrugging on her coat. Her husband, helping her into it, stopped too and looked between the blonde and the teenage girl.

Liv shrugged again, taking a gulp of coffee. "Seriously, it'll be fine. It might even be fun."

"Fine, sure, whatever." Emma agreed, raising her hands slightly, almost in defeat. "Just…"

"Henry can give me a tour of this place… show me all the highlights of Storybrooke."

"Maybe later…"

As the blonde beckoned her son over and told him something in a low voice, earning herself a quick nod, the girl watched them curiously. Something seemed a little odd about the whole situation. She was pleased that the blonde had got her son back, but the fact that he had called the man 'Grandpa' when there was no way he was much older than Emma confused Liv deeply. Then again, the kid had mentioned some kind of curse that Emma had broken, so maybe he was a little slow.

"Right… I'll be back about five. Just stay here and be good. If you need me I'll be at the Sheriff's station."

Henry nodded and returned to his seat at the table and Liv raised her hand in a salute, before focusing her attention on her coffee once more. Neither of them spoke as the blonde sighed and left the apartment. The second she was gone, the girl leant over the breakfast bar and fixed Henry with narrowed eyes.

"OK, kid, spill. Why did you call that guy Grandpa? Who are they?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not supposed to tell you anything."

"Why?"

"Because Emma wants to talk to you properly later."

"So you're not allowed to tell me what's going on round here?" When he didn't respond after a couple of moments, she leant back and folded her arms. "You always do everything your Mom tells you?"

A strange look passed through his eyes and then he shrugged. "No."

"So?"

"You'll think I'm crazy."

Liv laughed. "I already think you're crazy, so you might as well spit it out."

He took a deep breath and then launched into a story about fairy tale characters and a curse and the occupants of the town. The girl was a good listener, letting him talk without interrupting at all. Her face remained passive through the entire story, but her eyes gave away her emotions, rapidly shifting between confusion, amusement and disbelief. She'd met loads of kids who made up complicated stories like this to make themselves feel better about their situations, but none of them were as in-depth or far-fetched as Henry's.

"So… let me get this straight," Liv muttered when the boy finally came to a stop, looking at her anxiously and obviously wondering what she was going to say, "Emma is some Saviour and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Those people who were here earlier, Mary Margaret and David, are actually Snow and Charming which means that they're Emma's parents?" He nodded enthusiastically, a beaming smile appearing on his face. "And your Mom – your adopted Mom – is the Evil Queen and she hates Snow White because she destroyed her life?"

"Well… yeah…"

"And the curse was broken because your Mom tried to poison Emma with an apple turnover, but you ate it instead and then Emma kissed you and woke you up, which broke the curse?"

"Yeah."

"And everyone in Storybrooke is a fairy tale character?"

"Except me and you."

There was a long pause as Liv continued to digest the information. When she spoke again, the boy's face fell. "You know, kid, I used to live in a home with this girl who told everyone that her Mom was Jennifer Aniston, but she had to give her away because of being famous and filming Friends and stuff."

"It's not the same!" He argued. "That's a lie… this is true."

"I get that you want it to be true because it makes you feel better or something, but–"

Henry glared at her. "I'll prove it to you!"

Liv watched him curiously for a moment. She could see the anger and sadness mingling in his eyes as she continued to watch him. "Why is it so important that I believe you?"

"Because I like you and Emma likes you and I can tell she wants you to stick around." He said without a trace of hesitation. "But you can't stay if you don't know the truth."

"I…" The teenager sighed deeply, her eyes trailing over his face seeing hope and disappointment in equal measures. There was a pang in her chest and she realised that it was guilt. The kid had dreams and she was taking them away from him. They weren't hers to take. With another sigh she nodded slowly. "Alright, kid… if I'm gonna believe this I'm gonna need some proof."

His eyes lit up and he jumped from his seat, rushing to the door and grabbing his jacket. When she didn't move, just regarded him with a bemused expression, he beckoned her towards him. Liv rolled her eyes but slid off the stool and crossed the room, coming to a halt in front of the boy.

"You ready for that tour?" He asked, his eyes sparkling with something that the girl hadn't seen in her own for a long time; hope.

As they wandered through the streets of Storybrooke Liv had to admit that she was, against her better judgement, starting to think that Henry might not be as crazy as she'd originally thought. She had started a game, almost attempting to trip him up, in which she would point at passing people and ask who they were. Henry would give her their Storybrooke names followed by their fairy tale names without a second's thought. With some of them he even gave a backstory.

In fact, the more Henry told her, the more interested the teenager found that she was. She pushed her hands into her jeans pockets, tilting her hooded head down to look at the boy as he told her enthusiastically about David wandering out of the hospital still in his coma and making his way down to the Toll Bridge in search of Mary Margaret. Her eyebrow arched slightly as he told her that he had woken up when the woman had kissed him.

"But they're supposed to share True Love, right?" She queried, earning herself a nod and a broad smile. "And you said that could break any curse. So if they kissed, why didn't the curse break then?"

"Because it was Emma who needed to break the curse; she's the Saviour."

"So when she admitted to herself that she loved you when you were sick…"

"Exactly." Henry agreed, beaming at her. "You do believe, Liv!"

She frowned, holding on to the small shred of cynicism that remained. The girl had to admit that she was starting to believe what he was saying was true. "Maybe… but…"

They had reached the playground by now and Liv slumped heavily on the bench, looking around. It was deserted apart from them, which she was grateful for. She examined the almost brand-new looking climbing frame with a critical eye. It was the kind of thing she'd have loved as a kid, but there had never been anything like that around for kids like her.

"Go and play, kid." She almost ordered as Henry sat down beside her, looking expectantly up into her face.

"How do you know her?"

"Who?" The teenager asked, although she was well aware who he meant.

"Emma."

Liv frowned, looking at him carefully. "She told you this morning."

"That was her side of the story; I wanna hear yours." He said seriously doing a very good impression of someone far older than him.

She hesitated for a long time, staring at the climbing frame and biting her lip. Beside her Henry started to fidget as he tried to wait patiently. After a couple more minutes, she glanced sideways just long enough to meet his eyes before returning her gaze to the apparatus in front of them.

"What d'you wanna know?"

"What was she like?"

"She was… it's hard to remember what she was like when I was little. I was only five when she left the group home but… but I remember that she used to watch out for me. The other kids used to tease me and steal my desert and any treats I got. Emma stopped them. She used to hug me when I got hurt and sit with me when I had nightmares." Something flickered in Liv's eyes and she shrugged, almost shaking herself out of her reminiscing. "I'm not sure, but I think she was different with me than everyone else. She was always in trouble for something with the adults and none of the other kids really liked her. But I loved her… she was the closest thing I had to a sister or a Mom and I was so sad when she left me."

"But she came to find you." Henry pointed out with a shrug.

Despite herself, Liv smiled. "Yeah, she did. I was eight when she came back. I hadn't seen her for about three years and then there she was, just standing outside my school one day. When my Foster Mom found out that Emma was visiting she sent me away… I don't know why. But Emma just followed me around every time they moved me someplace else. Every time I saw her in a different place I was surprised. She promised she'd take care of me but I didn't really believe it because no one else did. But… she did."

"She said you asked her to foster you?"

A frown appeared on the teenager's face and she clenched her hands into fists on her thighs. "I never actually expected her to say yes, but I really, really needed to get out of there."

"Where? Why?" His tone and the expression on his face was so innocent that Liv found she couldn't not answer.

"Because… group homes aren't like your home, kid. There isn't any Mom and magical fairy tale grandparents to take care of you. There are a few Evil Queens around," she half-joked before nodding towards the climbing frame, "but they'd never build something like this just to make sure you had a safe place to play. But like I said, I never actually expected Emma to agree. It would have been too much responsibility; she was happy to turn up every now and then and make sure I was still in one piece, but I know the thought of having to take care of me all the time terrified her. I could see the guilt in her eyes, so I made out I didn't care. Two weeks later I got sent to another home for fighting with the other kids and I didn't see her again."

"But you came to find her?"

She nodded slowly and turned to smile at him. "Yeah… when I got out of the system I realised I had nowhere to go and I thought about Emma. Tracking her down was real hard, but somehow I did it."

Henry grinned at her. "Because she's your family and you love her. That's how you found her."

"If you say so, kid." Liv told him with a shrug, arching an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound like one of your fairy tales."

"But you do believe me now, right?"

"I don't not believe you." She conceded with another shrug. "But if you tell anyone any of what I've told you I'll kick your ass. And trust me, you don't want that."

"My Moms are the Saviour and the Evil Queen… you wouldn't dare." He challenged, narrowing his eyes, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk. "I've got the same superpower as Emma, so I know if you're lying."

Liv returned the look. "Try me, kid. Am I lying?"

"Alright, I won't say anything." He agreed with a nod after a moment. She grinned and nudged him with her elbow. "Liv… why do you always have your hood up?"

"It's like… it blocks everything else out and makes me feel safe."

He nodded in understanding without commenting on her words. "Why do you call me kid? My name's Henry."

"Yeah? And my name's Liv, but it never stopped Emma calling me kid." She spotted the look on his face and smiled. "I'm guessing she always calls you kid too."

He nodded again and then stood up. "Let's go and get a drink at Granny's diner."