When Jenna woke up, she was in a queen sized bed next to a sleeping Henry.
The previous day was a bit of a roller coaster ride. Jenna had been sure that Emma had joined some crazy cult or was just insane, but she been right when she said that had never lied to Jenna. Jenna had to admit though, it probably wasn't smart following a might-be-insane lady to a town full of might-be-insane people, but there were people she could call if something went wrong.
A big part of her wished that she could just believe Emma, but there was a small part of her that wanted Emma to be crazy. Having a crazy parents was something Jenna had dealt with before and it was a lot easier to handle than accepting the fact that magic and fairy tales were real.
Pushing the covers off of her legs, Jenna got up from the bed and immediately went over to the window and pushed the curtains open; giving her a view of the entire town and the large clock tower that Emma had described.
"What are you doing?" Jenna turned around to see Henry slowly waking up as he used one hand to shield his eyes from the light that the open curtains let in.
"Sorry." Jenna apologized, but she didn't shut the curtains as she went back to the bed and sat down next to Henry's legs. "That's Storybrooke." It was still hard for her to say that ridiculous name without a snort or an eye roll.
"Yep." Henry nodded. "I bet this is one of those tiny little towns in the middle of country states where everyone knows everyone and they still get milk delivered to their door."
At that Jenna did snort. "Yeah, probably."
Suddenly, the door to the room opened and both Swan children turned to see their mother entering the room. "Hey, good. You're both up." She said. "Why don't we go downstairs and get something to eat?"
"Uh, sure." Henry replied. "Let me get dressed." Emma nodded and left the room with a glance at Jenna. Once the door was closed, Henry went to one of his two suitcases and got the clothes before going to the bathroom.
"Hey, kid. I ordered you some cocoa." As Henry sat down across the table from his mother, Emma couldn't help but noticed that Jenna wasn't with him. "Where's Jen?"
"Right here." As if by magic, Jenna came out of nowhere and sat down in the seat next to Henry. Emma wasn't surprised to see her hat on her head. "Sorry I took so long." She apologized. "I couldn't find my toothbrush." Emma gave the brunette a reassuring smile as Ruby came over with two cups of cocoa and sat one in front of each of the two children.
"Here you go Hen- Nice young man." Ruby corrected herself at the last moment. She smiled nervously at Emma before glancing at Jenna with a slightly confused look before moving away.
"Hey," Henry called softly, causing Ruby to turn back around. "The cinnamon; how did you know?" She seemed slightly lost on how to answer that, but quickly came up with something.
"Lucky guess." She lied. "You've got a cinnamon kind of face." Ruby went back behind the counter and Emma looked to Jenna who was staring down at her cocoa.
"You okay?" Jenna looked up at Emma and tried to muster a smile. She was still adjusting to everything, but the fact that Emma had been telling the truth had suddenly hit her all at once and she was trying not to show how freaked she was.
The bell above the front door to the diner chimed and Emma looked up to see her parents enter. It was still a bit weird, seeing her mother pregnant, but she was slowly getting used to it.
"Henry, Jenna," Both kids looked to her before following her gaze to the couple standing in front of their table. "This is David and Mary Margaret." Henry gave the two a smile while Jenna tried not to stare. These people were Snow White and Prince Charming? Jenna couldn't help but notice the features that both they, Emma and Henry seemed to share and the large protruding stomach that Snow White possessed.
"Are you helping our mom with a case?" Henry inquired before looking to his mother. "Or are they the ones who skipped out on the bail?"
"No!" Emma assured as she stood. "They are- they're just...old friends."
"Friends?" Henry questioned. "From where?"
"Here." Emma answered at the same time Mary Margaret said, "Phoenix." Henry looked at them suspiciously and Jenna didn't blame him. How had they not gotten their stories straight the night before?
"Well, Phoenix and then here." Emma recovered.
"I thought you were only in Phoenix because you got locked up?" Jenna said before closing her eyes. She hadn't meant to poke holes in Emma's story.
"Right," Mary Margaret nodded. "We were cellmates." Emma looked at her mother dubiously and Jenna wondered how Mary Margaret expected them to believe that someone like her had been to prison.
"Really?" Henry asked, now interested. "What were you in for?" Emma looked at Mary Margaret who seemed very unsure of what to say.
"...Banditry." She answered reluctantly and Jenna resisted the urge to face palm herself. "Emma has told us so much about you both."
"Really?" Jenna questioned. "Because Emma's never mentioned you to us...ever."
"Jenna." Emma warned and the teen sighed.
"Sorry." She apologized, pushing her cocoa away. "I'm sorry. I just...I need some air." Standing up, Jenna grabbed her coat and rushed out of the diner as fast as she could before Emma could get another word in.
Henry turned to his mother ad Mary Margaret and David sat down. "What's wrong with Jenna?" Emma tried to give him a comforting smile.
"Nothing," She assured him. "She's just...adjusting."
Outside, Jenna tried to calm herself down; she didn't know why she had said what she did, things had just gotten a bit too...overwhelming for her.
But who could blame her? Just the other day, she had been a normal teenage girl with a loving mother, an annoying little brother, a nice home and friends that she loved. An entire day hadn't even passed and now Jenna was in a town named Storybrooke with younger brother who was oblivious to the life he had lived and she had just met Snow White and Prince Charming- who just so happened to be her adoptive grandparents and they were expecting another bundle of joy; it was enough to overwhelm anyone.
"Jenna," The teen turned around to see her mother exiting the front door of the diner with David. While Emma stopped, he continued on towards a fading red truck.
"Where are you going?"
"I've got to go help David with something." Emma told her. "Just...stay here and watch out for your brother. Mary Margaret is going to stay with you." And before Jenna could even open her mouth to object, Emma was already rushing across the street to her car. After watching her speed off after David's truck, Jenna closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Everything's going to be fine, Jenna." She told herself as she took another breath. "Everything's...okay." With a scoff, Jenna shook her head. Everything was definitely not okay, but it had to be...at least, for the next couple of hours.
After a few more minutes, Jenna started to get cold and reluctantly admitted it was time to go back inside.
Once inside, Jenna saw that Mary Margaret and Henry were seated in a different booth near the back of the diner.
"Hey," Henry greeted, looking away from his game as she sat down next to him. Mary Margaret kept her eyes set on her book, not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Are you okay?"
Jenna gave him a smile. She may not be able to lie to herself, but lying to Henry was one of her better skills. "Yeah," She assured him. "I'm fine. I just, uh...girl problems. You wouldn't understand." Accepting her answer, Henry went back to his game and Jenna tried not to stare at Mary Margaret. It wasn't every day that you sit across from a fictional princess, so she really couldn't be blamed for staring a little.
Thankfully, her attention was pulled away when she felt her phone vibrate and she quickly pulled it out, glad for the distraction. It had been a text.
Where are you? You're not in school. - Ash
Of course it was Ashley texting. He'd probably been waiting on the steps at school for her as usual.
Taking a trip with my family. - Jen
Where? - Ash
Jenna though for a moment; there was no way that she'd tell him the truth about her mother having some secret life as a fairy tale characters kid, but Ashley was smarter than most people- Henry- gave him credit for. He'd know if Jenna was lying. Her eyes flicked over to Mary Margaret before she looked down at her phone.
Disneyland. - Jen
How come you didn't tell me sooner? - Ash
Mom surprised me Henry with the tickets last night. - Jen
Is Walsh with you? - Ash
Jenna had completely forgotten about Walsh. She didn't know why he hadn't come to Storybrooke with them, so she'd have to ask Emma later.
He couldn't come. - Jen
Jenna continued texting Ashley while Mary Margaret red her book and Henry played his game. She had managed to steer the conversation away from Walsh and her vacation and back towards Ashley- which wasn't hard. Jenna hated to admit it, but Henry was a little justified in thinking that Ashley was like every other boy. He could be a little self-centered when he wanted to be.
After a few minutes of listening sound effects from her brothers game, Jenna put in her earbuds and turned on her music. However, it wasn't loud enough to drown out the sound of Mary Margaret talking about something called cradle cap so Jenna turned her music up louder. It wasn't long before Mary Margaret realized she couldn't compete with a their phones and offered to take them to the library in the clock tower. Jenna only knew that because she had read the womans lips a skill her father had taught her when she was a little girl.
Henry seemed to be okay with the idea and left the booth by jumping over the back. Jenna watched him go and only took out her ear buds after he disappeared in the back.
"I'm sorry." Jenna apologized, surprising Mary Margaret. "About earlier. I just got a little...overwhelmed. I tend to lash out when I feel like I'm losing control- my therapist's words, not mine."
"I understand," Mary Margaret nodded. "Emma was the same."
Jenna's eyebrows furrowed. "Really?" Mary Margaret nodded. "I've never really seen her lash out at anybody. She's never yelled either."
"Well, motherhood must've changed her." The queen figured as she put her hand on her own stomach, pulling Jenna's attention to it.
"How far along are you?" She asked suddenly and Mary Margaret looked down at her stomach before her mouth quirked to the side.
"I'm not sure." She admitted. "There was a curse- Emma said she told you." Jenna nodded. "Well, we were gone and then suddenly we were back here and I was pregnant. Someone took our memories." She added as an explanation. "I scheduled an appointment at the hospital for later, so I'll know soon enough."
"Are you scared?"
"...What?" Mary Margaret asked, thinking she hadn't heard the young girl right.
But she had. "Are you scared?" She asked again. "Emma said that you sent her here to the real world as soon as she was born and that she didn't meet you again until she was twenty-eight. That means you didn't get to raise her," Jenna put her phone down. "So, I guess my real question is; are you afraid of raising a baby for the first time?"
Mary Margaret was quiet, now knowing exactly how to answer. "I...I don't know." She admitted. "We've all been so busy worrying about what's going on that I haven't really had a moment to stop and think about it."
"...And now that you have?" Mary Margaret still didn't know how to answer such a bit question. Thankfully, she was saved by doing so when Jenna's- now lukewarm- hot cocoa seemed to knock over itself into her lap. "Crap!" Jenna quickly picked the cup back and sat it upright.
"Are you okay?" Mary Margaret asked immediately as Jenna grabbed at the napkins. The brunette nodded.
"It wasn't that hot." She promised, abandoning her mission to try and wipe up the cocoa before it soaked into her pants. "But I think I need to go change now."
"That's okay," Mary Margaret assured her. "The library will still be there when you're finished." She promised.
"No, you don't have to wait for me." Jenna insisted. "It's a small town. I'll just find you guys later."
"Are you sure?" Jenna nodded. "Okay." Giving the woman a thankful smile, Jenna slid out of the booth and disappeared into the back of the diner. Now alone with nothing but her thoughts, Mary Margaret picked up her book. "Cradle cap..." She started again.
"You know, it goes away," A voice said and Mary Margaret turned to see who had spoken.
It didn't take Jenna long to clean herself up and change, but by the time she went back down to the diner, Mary Margaret and Henry had already gone. Seeing as how it was practically impossible to miss the large clock tower in the center of town, Jenna knew it wouldn't be hard to find her brother and his grandmother again if she decided not to go straight to the library. With that thought in mind, she pulled her hat on her head and went in the opposite direction of the clock tower.
It didn't take Jenna long to realize that there wasn't much to Storybrooke- well, not much that she found interesting. New York had more interesting places than it knew what to do with. Eventually, her boredom took her to clock tower. She didn't want to go there, but she didn't have much of a choice.
"You're new." A voice said while she was making her way there. She turned to see who had spoken and came face to face with a boy.
He couldn't be much older than her- if he was older than her. He had short, golden blond hair that was covered by a beanie and blue eyes to match. If that was all to his appearance, he would appear innocent enough, but the tattoos and multiple ear piercings, eyebrow and lip piercings told a different story.
Shoving her hands in her pockets, Jenna looked looked him up and down. "Now, why would you say that?"
"Because," He started as she slowly made his way towards her. "I've lived in this town for twenty-eight years." He came to a stop in front of her. "I'm pretty sure I've met everyone here at least twice."
"Well, obviously not if you haven't seen me before." She shot back and he grinned. "I'm Jenna Swan." That earned her a lifted eyebrow.
"I thought the Savior's kid was a boy?"
"He is." She confirmed. "They met me in New York after you all got yourselves cursed again." He nodded, accepting her story. "Now that you have my name, can I get yours?"
"Everyone here calls me Topher."
"I didn't ask what everybody calls you, I asked for your name." She pointed out.
He smirked at her. "Christopher." He answered. "Christopher Robin." Jenna snorted and her quirked his eyebrow. "Is my name funny?"
"You're the little body would went around playing with Winnie the Pooh?" She snorted again. "That's adorable."
"If by adorable, you mean amazing, then yeah." He nodded. "It's not what the books and the TV show makes it out to be."
"Or really?" He nodded. "Fine, then." Jenna went over to the bench that was placed near the edge of the sidewalk and sat down before patting the open spot next to her. "Enlighten me on the tales of Christopher Robin and his midget bear pal." Topher made his way over, sitting down as she instructed.
"For one," He started. "Winnie was a three hundred pound bear." Jenna raised her eyebrows in silent shock. "Yeah, I know. And we didn't just go around having adventures together- well...not until we escaped with the rest of the gang."
"You mean Tigger, Piglet, and Eyore?"
"Don't forget Kanga and Roo." He told her. "And Rabbit-"
"And me." A voice said just as its owner jumped into Topher's lap.
"Darby," Topher didn't sound happy to see the girl, but he didn't sound upset either. He sounded more annoyed.
Darby was a girl Jenna's age with short bright red hair that was obviously dyed with black roots and stuck out and every which direction. Much like Topher, she had ears that held multiple earrings, a lip ring and an eyebrow piercing. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue which stood out when paired with her tanned skin. Despite the fact that it was still winter, she wore a short denim skirt, a pair of boots, and a long sleeved shirt. Her only defense against the cold being the long scarf wrapped around her long neck.
She smiles brightly at Jenna. "I'm Darby."
"I heard." Jenna nodded. "I'm Jenna."
"Anyway," Topher brought the attention back to him. "As I was saying before someone interrupted-" Darby smiled angelically. "Darby's dad owned a travelling circus-"
"A sucky one," Darby interrupted, to Topher's annoyance. "He barely fed the animals and my dad was a horrible ring leader. I swear, his only saving grace was me."
"What did you do?"
"Trapeze, silks, tightrope, magic; everything my father was too cheap to hire other people to do." Darby told her.
"And where does Topher come in?"
"My mother took him in before she died," Darby said. "We were both thirteen, but we hated each other."
"After her mother died, we realized that we hated her dad more than we hated each other." Topher took over. "So, one night when he drank too much, Darby and I loaded up all the animals we had left into a cage and left."
Jenna raised an eyebrow. "And you weren't worried about them eating each other?"
Darby shook her head. "Winnie, Kanga, and Tigger had been together since they were just cubs and joeys. Plus, Eyore was pulling the cart and I had Rabbit with me."
"That's another thing," Jenna crossed her legs. "You couldn't come up with a better name than Rabbit for the rabbit or Piglet for the piglet?"
"I was a kid," Darby defended. "Anyway; we started our own circus and it kicked ass."
"Yeah," Topher agreed. "We even performed at Snow White's wedding."
"Wait," The two pierced teenagers looked to Jenna. "You said you knew magic?" Darby nodded. "Can you still do it?" Darby held out her hand and a white cloud surrounded it. When it disappeared, Jenna's phone was in her palm.
"Did that answer your question?" Darby asked as Jenna felt her pocket for her phone. She handed back the phone and Jenna grinned.
"You are officially my new best friend." Darby grinned and looked to Topher.
"Did you hear that Gopher?" She asked, hugging Topher's face into her. "She likes me more than you."
"She won't when she realizes how annoying you are." By Darby kept smiling.
Jenna ended up spending the rest of the day hanging out with Darby and Topher, sending a text to Henry to tell him she was abandoning him and Mary Margaret. Ash texted her a few more times, but Jenna managed to dodge his weirdly Walsh-related questions.
"I have to get home, now." Jenna told the two as they left from Storybrooke Zoo where their animal friends were being housed. "My mom's kind of anal about me being home before dark."
"Are you staying with your grandparents?" Darby asked before thinking. "Well, adoptive grandparents?"
Jenna's eyebrows furrowed; it was weird to her that Snow White and Prince Charming- the people she had read stories about- were her grandparents now. Just a day ago she had thought that her adoptive grandparents were two irresponsible hippies who left their newborn child on the side of the road instead of leaving her at a safe haven like a fire-station or a hospital.
"No," She told them. "We're staying at Granny's. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"See ya," Darby waved as Jenna headed away from the entrance of the zoo.
Even though it wasn't that dark, Jenna couldn't help but feel paranoid about walking alone. She knew that likely nothing would happen to her while walking through the town filled with story book characters. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but let her fears take over; what about the villians from the stories? Sure, the Evil Queen was good now, but what about Maleficent, Ursula- Hades? Were they just lurking around Storybrooke intent on destroying everyone's happiness like the Evil Queen had once been?
With loud thoughts circling through her head, Jenna was able to block out the paranoia of walking alone in the dark. Unfortunately, her paranoia was warranted.
One minute Jenna was just walking down the street and the next her feet weren't even touching the ground. Letting out a scream, Jenna kicked and struggled as she twisted her head to see what had grabbed her. Seeing that she was being carried by a monkey with wings only made her scream louder.
"Help!" She screamed as she was flown over the town square and she was relieved to see that people were noticing her. Unfortunately, she realized that there wasn't much they could do. "Help! Help!"
"Jenna!" She looked down to see that Emma had exited out of her yellow bug along with her father and the Mayor.
"Emma!" She screamed. Another scream forced itself out of her throat as a bright beam shot at her and the monkey, which barely managed to move out of the way. That didn't stop the beam from hitting it's wing and it let go of Jenna.
Screaming as she shot towards the ground, Jenna somehow managed to get herself turned upside down. When she hit the ground- when, not if- she would crack her head open and die. That thought only made her scream louder.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the monkey came out of nowhere last send and it grabbed onto her ankle right before she hit the ground. "Jenna!" She heard Emma yell once more as she was flown, upside, over the trees of the forest and out of sigh of the town square.
With her heart beating wildly the entire time, Jenna was flown over the forest for- what had to be- half an hour before the monkey lowered itself closer to the ground and then dropped Jenna on the ground, twisting her body so she landed on her stomach. As soon as she hit the ground, all the wind was sucked out of her body and she groaned. She was only able to recover as quickly as she did because she was used to taking falls like that in gymnastics training.
Getting up, Jenna tried to take a few breaths as she took a look at her surroundings; there was nothing around except trees, trees, and- was that? Yep; more trees.
Shoving her hand into the pocket of her coat, Jenna pulled her phone out- intent on calling her mother- only to use a swear word she knew Emma wouldn't approve of when she saw that she didn't have any bars.
"You won't find any service out here," An accented voice insisted and Jenna whirled around to see a woman; she had long, curly light brown hair, blue eyes, and wore something that Jenna figured probably came out of the costume design for Sound of Music.
"Who are you?" She asked immediately.
"My name's Zelena," She introduced with a friendly smile. "I don't live far from here and I heard your screaming." Jenna's eyebrows furrowed.
"You heard me screaming?" She asked suspiciously before shaking her head. "No," She denied as she slowly backed away. "I stopped screaming back at the square; there's no way you could've heard me way out here." The woman just stared at her for a moment before her smile dropped.
"Lying never was my strong suit." She sighed, pulling off her leather gloves. "Deception, yes, but bold-faced lying was something I could never get the hang of." Not waiting for her to say anything else, Jenna turned on the spot and started running. She, unfortunately, didn't get far before she was surrounded in green smoke, but she didn't stop running which resulted in her running straight into a stone wall after the smoke disappeared. With a groan, Jenna fell on her back into some water and her hand shot up to the spot on her forehead she had hit.
"Ugh..." Opening her eyes, Jenna saw only a circle of dark sky and a few stars and squinted at them in confusion as she sat up. Taking out her phone, Jenna turned on the flashlight and looked around only to realize that she was in a well. There wasn't much water in it, but it was deep. No cracks or holes in the brick meant that she wouldn't be able to climb her way out. Her only other option was to call for help. "Emma!" She yelled, not knowing if they could heard her. "Henry!"
"They won't hear you," Zelena insisted as her head popped over the side of the wells opening. "So, I'd suggest you save your energy-"
"Emma!" Jenna yelled again, trying to block out the woman who rolled her eyes before making a swishing motion with her hand. "Em-" But the rest of her call refused to come out. Touching her throat, Jenna cleared it and tried again, but nothing sounded.
"That's better," Zelena smiled. "I can't have you calling out and being found before I need you to be. I, also, don't need you dying." She waved her hand again and the water in the well began to rise, but stopped just over the teens waist. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the water was warm. "There,"
Why are you doing this? Jenna wanted to ask, but knew that her voice wouldn't come to her aid. Somehow, Zelena seemed to know what she was thinking.
"I'm doing this because it's necessary- not personal." She insisted. "The longer they're out here looking for you, the longer they're not looking for me, but don't worry, I'm sure you won't be here longer than a day or two." She looked annoyed. "The Charmings have an unfortunate knack for always finding one another." And then she was gone, leaving Jenna with only a dying phone flashlight and warm water to keep her company.