Ending 2 -Let's get an alien army and kick my dad's... ah... the evil queen's ass!
I'm looking for a place to start,
But everything feels so different now.
Just grab a hold of my hand,
I will lead you through this wonderland.
Water up to my knees,
But sharks are swimming in the sea.
Just follow my yellow light
And ignore all those big warning signs.
Yellow Lights – Of Monsters and Men
As Neal stood up and left the room, he had no clear plan on his mind. He just knew that he needed to see Emma, he needed... to share with her.
"Whoa, what is this?" Emma asked, surprised, as two hands hugged her from the back while she washed the dishes.
"I love you." he whispered in her ear.
"I love you too." she answered, turning around and looking in his eyes. But she didn't expect to see his heavy expression. "What is the problem?"
He inhaled deeply.
"What would you do..." he whispered, still holding her hips, keeping her close. "If someone came to you and told you that you needed to leave Henry and me, because that would be the best for us?"
She felt that was something serious, not one of his jokes or games, so she decided to honestly answer him.
"Do I know this person? The one that came talk to me?"
"No."
"What is the argument of this person? Why would I need to leave?"
"Because you are not letting me fulfill my destiny."
She frowned.
"That sounded so not convincing."
He still stared at her.
"No! I would not just leave you an Henry! Not if someone said I needed, not if someone offered me a thousand dollars."
"What about ten thousand?" he joked, but she was done answering. She needed an explanation.
"What is going on?"
"That happened to me today." he offered.
"A person came up to you and told you to leave us?" she asked, horrified.
He nodded.
"And why would you take him seriously?"
"He knew our names."
"That is not something hard to find out."
"He knew my real name."
That stopped her.
"What do you mean your real name? Your name is Neal, Neal Cassidy." she said, a bit of panic in her voice.
"Emma..."
She pushed him away.
"No... don't tell me... you have not been lying to me!"
"No, I haven't. Neal is my name. It is the name I've chosen."
"What do you mean?"
"I wanted to leave my past behind and start fresh. So I abandoned my old name, believing that I would leave all the bad memories behind with it."
"What was your real name?" she asked, slowly. How did someone knew about this secret that he hadn't share even with her?
"Baelfire."
"I can see why you wanted to leave the name behind." she said, trying to lighten the mood, her mind not wrapping itself around that idea yet.
Neal shrugged. He never had a problem with the name by itself, he actually liked it when he was a kid. The problem was the life it was connected to.
"Who knew about your name? How old were you when you stopped using it?"
He raised his eyes. The explanations were starting to get complicated.
"No one here, for sure. I was fourteen."
He thought there were going to be more questions, but there was none. She kept looking at him, thinking. She finally said:
"It doesn't matter what he claims to know. He can't just come to you and convince you to leave your family behind."
Neal had no answer to that. At least no answer that he wanted to share. He saw it happening many times before, people coming to you and asking you to leave all your loved ones. Maybe for a fight, maybe for power or knowledge. People would do crazy things for power and fame.
"You are not allowed to leave, do you hear me?" she said, pointing a finger.
"I am not going anywhere." he promised, and he meant it.
She hugged him and he tightened the grip. He was not leaving. But he was still worried.
~X~
"Can I get a brownie?"
"For sure, birthday boy!"
"Were is the waitress?" Emma said "I haven't seen her around."
"I think she is by the entrance." Neal answered. "I will tell her to come to our table, I need to use the restroom anyway."
He asked their waitress to bring a brownie with ice cream and a candle to their table and she smiled, asking whose birthday it was. When he said it was his son's birthday she smiled and mentioned there was a woman making balloon sculptures, and she would also send her over.
Neal glanced at Emma and Henry at the table before entering the restroom's hallway.
"You are still here."
Neal jumped. Right in front of him was Mr. August, locking the restroom door behind them as he stared at the other man.
"I don't have time for your crap today."
"I asked you to leave."
"That's right, you asked. But I didn't want to."
"You need to."
"No, I don't. This is my life. And guess what? I make the decisions."
"You can't do this to Emma or all the people from the Enchanted Forest. If she doesn't break the curse, they will be forever under the spell."
"Oh, so there is a spell." Neal said, happy with the little slip the other guy made. But then his expression changed. "Wait. Who cast the spell?"
"The Evil Queen."
"Oh, good. It was not my dad this time. Cause you know, having my girlfriend fight my dad..."
"It wouldn't be easy?" August asked, kind of sympathetic.
"What? No, it would be amazing! I would probably help her kick his ass!"
August laughed and Neal stared at him, surprised.
"That is probably the first time I see you even smiling. I didn't think you had it on you."
"It has been a long time." August joked. "Look, man..."
He stopped. He was about to change his plans and the last time he did so, things didn't turn out well. He hoped this time they did.
"Maybe this will work out. Maybe we can work around the new elements."
"Yes, that's it! Of course we can! So come on, tell me more about the curse."
August was about to do so, but someone knocked on the restroom's door.
"Let's schedule a meeting, shall we?" August said, smiling.
~X~
Emma thought that was all too weird.
Neal had never been a guy to have friends. That was why they were so drawn to each other: before they met, they had always been two alone kids in the world.
And that's why it was so weird Neal saying he was going out to meet a friend. He was even going to a bar, for God's sake. She would have been fine with him making a new friend, but he wouldn't talk about the guy either. Whenever she asked something, he just pointed the conversation in another direction.
So she did what any girlfriend would do. She followed him.
"I don't know man, it is not like I want to mess up with the order of the things." she heard Neal say to the tall man seating at a stool by his side. "But there is no way in hell that I am leaving Emma and Henry."
Emma tried not to gasp. Why was he talking about that again? She hadn't heard him mention it anymore, not since a couple of years before. She pulled her hood, hiding her face, and tried to hear what the other man was saying, but he was too far and the bar, too loud.
"I know, August." Neal answered to whatever the other man said "But I also know there is always a price to be paid. And it is usually paid by innocent people. If I left, that would be it. We would be paying it. Since I am not... what is going to be the price?"
Emma sat at a table were she could keep listening to the conversation. The tall man shifted on his stool and Neal kept talking.
"My worst fear is that, by being selfish and staying with Emma, I am impeding her to meet her parents."
At this point she needed to try really hard to suppress a surprised sight. But this time August answered a little louder, and she figured out what he said.
"We need to make her believe. That is the first step to break the curse."
Ok, maybe she heard it wrong.
"Good luck with that." Neal said, laughing. The other guy said something she couldn't figure out, and Neal added. "Hey, it is your job, guardian angel. I can help you around, but I am not doing all the dirty work by myself. You didn't stick out when she was a baby, so you are doing so now."
Right after he said that, there was a commotion at the bar – someone scored a touchdown or something. She braced the opportunity to leave – she needed to think over everything she heard. She didn't think she could take any more new information, anyway.
She took her time going back home. Henry was with a neighbor that used to babysit for them, so she still had half an hour or so. As she walked to the apartment complex were they lived, she thought about the weird conversation she just heard, trying to somehow make sense of it. Two adult men talking about curses and fate and some crap about her parents. What annoyed her the most was that they were talking about her without her presence. She now knew that was the guy Neal talked about some years ago. But didn't he say the guy was a stranger? How did they became friends?
When she reached her neighbor's apartment door, her head was heavy. But she had made a decision: she would wait. She would not say anything to Neal and she would watch how things played out for the next days, and how his behavior would be.
When he got home that night, she tried to act normal. She asked how was his night and he answered with a smile.
"You should meet August. Maybe I can bring him over for dinner one of this days."
That would be interesting, Emma thought, but didn't voice it.
"Hey, I brought something." he said, taking off his jacket and sitting on the couch. A thick book was placed on the coffee table.
"What is it?"
"A book with stories of the place were I was born."
She flipped the pages, confused. He watched her every move, already prepared for her dejected reaction.
"These are fairy tales!"
"That's how you call it here. But yeah, they are fairy tales."
"What kind of joke is this, Neal?"
He gently took her face with his hands.
"I am telling you I came from a magic land. Am I lying, Emma?"
She looked deeply in his eyes, wanting so much to find the lie. But she didn't, so she gasped.
"You... you lost your mind. You really believe in what you are saying."
"Why would I lie to you?"
"If... if this bullshit is all true, why would you just want to tell me now? We have been together for eight years and you never mentioned anything!"
"You trust me enough to know I wouldn't lie to you, right? Up to now I didn't have the courage to tell you. But I want you to know about the place were w... were I came from." He almost said were we came from, but he stopped himself just in time. She wasn't ready for that yet. "All I ask is that you listen. I will tell you my story and please, baby, just listen. Don't judge or make suppositions, not until I am finished."
So he told her. With the help of some of the pictures in the book, he told her about growing up in the Enchanted Forest, his mom running away with a pirate, his dad's cowardice that made him become the Dark One. He mentioned things like portal traveling and the price of magic. She obediently listened to him, but she wasn't buying it.
"I know it sounds like something crazy, but it is just because on this world no one believes in things like magic, fate or true love anymore. But it is there, Emma."
She inhaled deeply. It was probably three in the morning, and she was so tired that she couldn't process anything else.
"Maybe we should go to bed, Neal. We talk about this tomorrow."
Her tone was icy, so he knew he wasn't being successful. But before she could stand up, he stopped her.
"Just let me give you something."
He walked to the desk were they stored all the important documents and opened a drawer. There was this little, old box that he used to carry with him, but never showed her the contents. He opened it almost reverently and took something out, putting it on her hands. It was a picture inside a plastic bag.
"When I was taken to Neverland, the only thing I had with me was this. I always carried this picture with me, even when I went to bed, because it reminded me of people that really made me feel like I had a family again. It is one of the things I most cherish."
He left her to contemplate the picture, and went to their room.
Emma analyzed it, surprised. She didn't expect physical proof. But there it was, an undoubtedly old picture, maybe a hundred years old. There was a family – mother, father, one girl and three boys. Even if the picture was black and white and a bit yellowed by time, she could recognize the taller boy. He had the pensive look that Neal had sometimes, but in a more rounded, innocent face. A face that resembled Henry's.
She flipped the picture and there was something scribbled there – The Darlings, April, 23th 1910. George, Mary, Wendy, Baelfire, John, Michael.
~X~
"Can I have ice cream? I want to have ice cream!"
"Henry, why don't you go play outside? I need to finish lunch, after lunch you can have ice cream."
"I don't wanna go outside." the boy complained, getting the remote and sitting on the floor to watch TV instead.
Emma looked at the boy, his back to her, his dark hair in his shoulders – it was time for a haircut.
"What's the matter?" Neal asked, as he left the bathroom, fresh from a shower. Emma was standing in the middle of the kitchen, a concerned expression as she watched Henry.
"I wish he could make friends." she whispered, watching their son. When he was born, she thought he was going to have a life so different from hers and Neal's. He had two parents that loved him and took care of him. The truth was, the three of them were happy. But that was all they had: each other. Henry never made friends easily. Even on the building complex where they lived, full of kids around his age, he didn't have friends. It was like he was different from all the other kids and was never comfortable around them.
"He is fine, Em. He will enter a new school in some weeks, then he will have plenty of friends."
"It is like he doesn't fit anywhere." she said, still whispering so her son wouldn't hear them. "Just like us."
"Hey." Neal said, pulling her shoulder so she could look at him. "We have each other, we are going to be fine."
"Mommy!" Henry called, startling both of them "Where are my Disney DVDs?"
"First drawer, kiddo." She answered. She knew Neal was staring at her. Henry always loved the Disney stories and since he was little Neal would read him fairytales. He thought that, someday, he would tell his son that those were more than bedtime stories.
Emma never thought it was weird before, but now she realized that maybe he had his own agenda.
"You never said anything about the book or the picture." Neal said, still staring. It had been almost a week since he came back home with the book.
"If you are thinking about reading that book to Henry, I would say no. I mean, princesses having kids and a imp instead of a fairy godmother helping Cinderella? Not appropriated."
"Imp? Oh, fuck." Neal said, not believing his dad had messed up even with Cinderella.
"And I don't know how you made that book up Neal, but it is not fair to include my name on it. And my baby blanket? That was low."
"What? What are you talking about?" He hadn't have the time to read it, the bits that he didn't know before, like Emma's curse, August told him.
Emma sighed, glancing at Henry, that was distracted again with the TV, then went to the bedroom. Neal followed her and Emma handed him the book that was hidden in her closet. She opened it on the right page, showing him the picture of her baby version on the wardrobe.
"I haven't seen this picture before." Neal said, smiling. There it was, the same blanket Emma had since she was a baby.
"You are playing me!"
"No, I am not! August gave me this book, Emma, and even if I know part of the story, a lot of it happened after my time in the Enchanted Forest, your story included."
"My... you are not saying..."
"We are both from there, Emma. That's why we both grew up alone, that's why we don't fit anywhere."
"No! Neal, stop it!"
"But it is the true!"
"Are you guys fighting?"
Both of them turned around to see Henry looking at them from the door, his barefoot feet shifting, just like Neal did when he was uncomfortable.
"No." Emma said, lowering her tone. "No, sweetie. We are just discussing something."
"You don't need to yell, you know?" the boy said, like he was lecturing his parents. Then he saw the big book opened on the bed.
"Hey, what is this?" he asked, getting closer to check the book out. He closed it to see the cover. Slowly he put the letters together. "Once upon a time? Is this a fairytale book?"
The stare that Emma threw at Neal was homicidal. Well, he was a brave man.
"Yes, it is. But it is also more than that. Every story in this book actually happened, Henry."
"Really?" the boy asked, his features lightning.
"Yes. I thought we could read it together, the three of us, what do you think?" Neal said, ignoring the silent words that Emma's lips were forming - 'not appropriate'.
"Yeah!" the boy cheered, jumping in the air. "Can we begin now?"
"Not right now son, your mom and I need to finish lunch and you have dentist today. Before bed we will read it, ok?"
"Ok." Henry answered.
"Now go watch your movie. Lunch will be ready soon."
Neal kept looking at Henry as he left, but he knew Emma was still glaring on his direction. He could feel the side of his head burning.
"Don't you dare to include Henry on this, Neal." she hissed. "He is just a kid, he will believe in anything you say."
"Yeah." Neal said with a sad smile. "It is too bad that we loose this innocence as we grow up."
Emma was ready to answer back, but his voice sounded so broken and his eyes were so empty of life, that she couldn't bring herself to say anything. She let it pass that time.
They began reading the book with Henry every night before bed. Emma still thought Neal was either out of his mind or planning the biggest prank of all his life as he insisted that all those stories were true.
"Papa, how do you know this stories really happened?" Henry asked certain night, when they were getting ready to their night ritual.
"Because I was born there."
"Are you in the book?" Henry asked, excited. "Who are you?"
Neal laughed, helping the little boy in his pajamas.
"Yes, I am. And that, Henry, you will need to guess."
Emma entered the room, turning on the nightlight and tucking Henry in. The boy looked up at her.
"Is mommy in the book too?"
"Yes, she is." Neal answered, much to Emma's horror.
"She is easy to guess! Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter!"
Neal nodded, getting the book and lying by Henry's side. Emma made a mental note to scowl Neal later. But by the time Henry fell asleep, she was so tired that she had no energy left for a fight.
On the next weekend, August was invited over for dinner. Emma was curious about how that meeting would turn out and Henry was extremely excited – it was not something common on their house to have a guest.
After burning the first casserole, Emma decided to go with frozen lasagna and neither of the boys complained. August arrived at eight sharp, greeted her politely and played around with Henry. He looked comfortable around them, and Emma asked herself if anything about the crazy supposition of fairytales being real was going to be mentioned. Then, when they had finished dinner and Henry left the table to eat his dessert as he watched The beauty and the Best – for, like, the hundredth time – August asked Neal:
"So, is she a believer yet?"
Neal just laughed, then looked at Emma.
"My dear girlfriend is more skeptical than you imagine, August. She changed a lot since you last saw her."
Emma rolled her eyes.
"Don't tell me! August here is Pinocchio and he decided taking care of a newborn was too much, so he just left me to come back when I was old enough to take care of myself."
"At least you are smart." August said, a sad smile playing on his lips.
"Ok, let's say all this craziness is true. For one moment, let's ignore the fact that it is impossible and improbable, and let's play make-believe. Why would you leave me, August? If it is so important to break this curse, why did you leave a helpless baby to find her way by herself?"
None of them expected the reaction on August's part, as he half whined, half shouted:
"I was seven! No kid should carry such a big responsibility at seven!"
Neal could tell how guilty August was that he left Emma. Even if the guy was a pain in the ass sometimes, he was growing to like him. And he agreed with what August just said, as he thought about his son, almost the same age.
As Neal remembered Henry, he turned around and the boy was staring at them with a scared expression.
"That was really good, August, I love this movie!" Neal said, tapping August's back and nodding on Henry's direction. The little boy relaxed instantly and soon was back to paying attention to the TV.
"Look, Emma." August said, in a lower tone. "I am really sorry about how things turned out. Being young or not, I should have stood by you, but I left instead. But you need to trust me now. We need to find a way to help our families."
"No!" Emma spitted suddenly, and her eyes began to tear up "I already have a family and I want you to stay away of them! I don't want to hear your bullshit! I don't know how you convinced Neal of this craziness, but you are not convincing me, and if you keep insisting, I will get you to an asylum!"
"Emma..." Neal tried to calm her down, but she was scared and angry.
"I refuse to listen to you two! Get out of here, August! Get out right now!"
At some point she began to yell and Neal was so worried with her that he forgot to check on Henry. August stood up, and he was still trying to reason, but Emma kept yelling.
"It is better if I go." August finally said, looking at Neal. The other man nodded, holding Emma's wrist. August thanked the dinner and turned around, and Neal hugged Emma, trying to calm her down. She didn't refuse the touch, but she was rigid on his arms. And she got even more tense when she heard what August said right after.
"Where is the boy?"
Neal and Emma looked up and Henry wasn't on the room anymore, his unfinished dessert sitting on the floor by itself.
"Henry?" Neal called in a high pitch tone, running to the boy's room, and then the room he shared with Emma. It was a really small apartment, with not many places to hide. Emma ran outside, also calling the little boy's name.
"Oh my God." she whispered when Neal reached her. The grey jacket he had been wearing earlier was dropped on the hallway. "He ran. He heard us fighting, and ran."
"Does he do this often?" August asked, watching them from a distance. Neal's hand was resting on Emma's shoulder, the panic taking over, both of them staring at the piece of clothe just like Henry was going to magically appear in front of them if they waited
"He doesn't like when people fight." Neal answered. "He usually ask us to stop, sometimes he hide."
"He ran outside, Neal!" Emma said, finally looking up. "We need to find him! What if he crosses the street running, or someone tries to... Oh, my God!"
Neal breathed in. Emma was usually the reason and he, the emotion. At that moment he felt they had switched places. He needed to control himself for her sake, it would be no use both of them being a wrack.
"Calm down, Em. He wasn't gone for that long. Why don't you look for him around the building complex? I'll get the car and check if he left and is still running."
Emma agreed, and they both went into action. August decided to go with Neal. He was also worried with the boy, and would like to help, but he was afraid that being alone with Emma would mean his death.
Neal was worried sick, and August really wished they could find Henry quickly. But they drove around the block, and then some blocks farther, asking people on the streets but just getting 'no's as answers. August mentioned calling the police, but Neal declared that was not an option.
Emma had looked everywhere. She had talked to neighbors, and even some kids, but it was almost ten at night and most of the people were inside their apartments already. She was walking down the sidewalk, thinking about what to do the next, when she saw the playground from a distance and was struck by a sudden inspiration. She ran to the little castle that had sliders, monkey bars and swings.
"Henry!" she shouted to the empty playground. No response.
She climbed the stairs to the inside of the little castle and a wave of disappointment washed through her. It was like something was pulled out of her chest, brusquely and with no mercy, that was the feeling she got since she learned Henry had left.
She sat on the little castle, and cried. When she pictured how their life would be, she thought that Henry would have a normal childhood. But no normal kid had a packed suitcase ready in case they needed to run away quickly. That was not a normal childhood.
"Mommy?"
Emma raised her head, thinking she had at last lost her mind. But there he was, her boy, all limbs in place, looking at her with a concerned expression.
"Oh my God, Henry!" she said, hugging him tightly. She cried even more as she held him, trying to prove to herself that he was there and not going anywhere.
"I am sorry, Mom." Henry whispered guiltily.
"Never do that to me again, do you hear it?" she said, holding his shoulders and looking at his face.
He nodded and she relaxed the grasp on his shoulders.
"Why did you run, anyway?"
Henry sighed, like he was a frustrated man, not a stubborn little boy.
"I am tired of not knowing what to believe."
"What do you mean?" she asked quickly. Henry was the one that always brought hope to them, always optimistic, the one that did believe in happy endings. Hearing him say that just sounded wrong.
"I mean, you and Papa had been arguing all the time lately. And it is always because he believes in one thing and you, on other. Now this guy came by and there was more arguing and fights. I don't want to take sides. I don't want you and Papa splitting up."
"Oh, baby, this is not happening. Your Dad and I are not going to split up."
"See? I can't even believe you!" he said, tears coming to his eyes. "You never told me why we need to run away from the police! You say one thing, and dad says another! Someone is lying to me and I don't know who I should believe!"
Emma's breathing suspended. All that mess was taking a toll on Henry and they didn't even realized it.
"Henry, I am so sorry. This is going to end, ok? I will not allow August to come back to our house, and I will talk with your Dad about things... we will tell you anything you want to know. Life will go back to normal."
"Why is it so hard for you to believe, Mom? Maybe you should listen to Dad and August. I feel like... they are right."
He said that with such kindness and conviction that Emma thought she didn't deserve the kid she got. She smiled.
"Maybe you guys are right. Now why don't we come back? I bet your Dad is really worried."
The boy agreed, letting his Mom take his hand and guide him back to the apartment. He really wished things would get better. He really wished his guts were not telling him the wrong thing. He really wished his mom could also believe.
~X~
Since Henry ran away that Neal had been having nightmares. Emma would be awaken by his shifting and muffled screams, and spend the next twenty minutes trying to wake him up, then calming him down.
Things had quieted down. She allowed August to come back and was even treating him with civility, something she was doing for Henry. But August and Neal didn't mention the fairytale theory for some time, even if Henry did so frequently. The boy claimed that they needed a plan. He had been calling it Operation Swan.
Some months later Emma woke up with a startle in the middle of the night. She looked for Neal's warmth by her side, but the bed was empty. She looked around curiously, and there was light coming from the hallway. As she stood up, she heard a sob.
Neal was not one to cry easily. His eyes would water up now and then when Henry or Emma said something sweet, but a real sob was another story. He cried when Henry was born, and he cried the time they had such a huge fight that Emma thought they were going to break up. But there he was, sitting on the living room by himself at one in the morning, crying.
"Neal?" Emma called carefully.
He turned around surprised, quickly drying the tears with his wrists.
"Hey, baby. I am sorry I woke you up."
"No, you didn't." she said softly. "But I guess I felt something was wrong."
He tried to smile.
"What are you talking about?"
"What is wrong, Neal?"
"Nothing is wrong."
For once, she switched from the empathetic expression to the don't-fuck-around expression.
"It is not like you to leave the bed at one in the morning to cry. Spill it out, what is going on?"
"I am so sorry." he said in a low tone, and his eyes watered again. "Look, you don't want to hear it. Just go back to bed."
She put an arm around his hips, resting her head on his shoulder.
"There is no way I am going to leave you here like this. What is going on?"
He inhaled deeply and kept quiet for some seconds. Emma began to make little circles on his back to soothe him, and suddenly he began to talk.
"I am so sorry Emma, all of this is my fault. The reason why you grew up alone, why our life is so fucked up. It is my fault, he did all of this to find me."
"Who?"
"My father."
"Neal..."
"No, Emma! You don't understand!" He said, looking at her in the eyes and she was surprised to see such fear... such anger. "He used to be a good father, he really did. Before the war and the Dark One and all that shit. But power corrupted him, magic ruined who used to be my papa, and consequentially, my whole family. Now he is trying to find me again, and your family and all these people were drawn into this, and I can't do anything but try to help you break the curse, and pray that, whatever we do, it works."
He was saying everything in a rush, his voice raising as he went on, and Emma never saw so much anguish on his face before. For one moment she thought about telling him to stop talking about crazy things like they were true, but she looked in his eyes and she just knew she couldn't.
"Neal, whatever your dad does, it is not your fault." she said, determined. "You didn't ruin my life, you helped me build it. And whatever happens in the future... well, be certain that you are and always will be my family."
That made him cry once again and, as Emma hugged him, he repeated time over time 'I am sorry', the memories of all the things his dad had done that he still remembered or that he read on the book lingering in his memory.
For one night, Emma didn't think Neal was crazy or making up stuff. For one night, she let herself be a believer.
~X~
"What can we do to make Papa feel better?" Henry asked the next morning, as he snuggled with Emma on the big bed, after Neal had left to 'buy some food and clear my mind'.
"I don't know, kid." she said with a sight. It broke her heart to see him so lost.
"Do you think we are going to be able to break the curse?"
Emma looked at him, curiously.
"I thought it was my curse and I was the one supposed to break it."
"Mom, we are family. We do everything together, so if it is your mission, it is also ours."
That touched her, and she hugged her little boy tightly. And at that moment, a decision was made on her mind.
"I love you, Henry. I love you and your dad more than I ever imagined I would love someone. And if anyone tries to mess up with our family, they will get in serious trouble."
"Does that mean..."
"We need to trace a plan to save the rest of our family." she whispered, like she didn't believe she was actually saying that. "We need a plan to break the curse."
~X~
Emma planned on telling Neal about her decision as soon as he got home. But she never got the chance because some hours later, when she was folding some clothes and Henry was reading a book, they heard pounding on the front door.
"It's the police, open it up!"
She gasped. Her mind went on survival mode – they needed to escape. With the practice of years, she got a suitcase and stuffed it with important things – that were already separated on the closet, as an emergency kit. Henry got his own emergency backpack then she grabbed Henry's arm and asked him to follow her instructions.
They went down the fire scape as silently and quickly as they could and as soon as they got to the bug, they left.
"What about papa?" Henry asked, scared. "What if he comes back?"
Emma threw her cell phone on the back seat.
"Send him a text. The party is over, meet me at the diner."
"What does that mean?"
"He will know. We need to leave, kid."
Henry punched the keys on the cell phone and Emma looked around frantically. Why was the police looking for them? Was it Neal's watches again? Or the last few stealing when they were both without a job some months before? Or did it have nothing to do with them at all? Well, she was not going to risk it.
They had been moving so frequently that she didn't know where to go them. She liked Georgia, they had been in Atlanta for almost one year then. As soon as she picked Neal up they would decide were to go. Maybe they could drive north. Maryland? Maybe farther?
"Where do you think we should go this time?" she asked as Henry returned the cell phone, trying to calm herself down by calming him down. The boy had a collection of magnets for each state they passed by, a way she and Neal found to make their gipsy life at least fun for him.
"What about Maine?" the boy asked as Emma saw Neal on their rendezvous place. "I read a book about it the other day, it seems cool. Besides, I don't have the magnet yet!"
"Maine? But it is so cold!"
"Hey!" Neal greeted as he entered the car "Everyone ok? Did you have time to get the suitcase?"
"Yeah." Emma answered, driving away.
"I got my backpack, and the book." Henry said proudly.
"Good job, son." Neal complimented, messing up his hair and Emma's heart flinched a little by thinking that no kid should be prepared to run away from the police, and be congratulated for doing that right.
"Were are we headed to?" Neal asked as Emma took an exit to the interstate.
"Your son says Maine." Emma said, wrinkling her nose.
"Oh, I could use some lobster right now."
"You guys can't be serious. Rain and cold, that is pretty much Maine."
"Oh, come on Em. It is almost fall, it is going to be beautiful. We can enjoy a family trip, huh?"
"Two against one, mom! The boys won!" Henry shouted, doing a victory dance.
"You guys always win." Emma said, pretending she was upset. "I need someone else on my team to make things even!"
"Cool! Can I have a sister?" Henry suggested.
Neal laughed and Emma watched him, mouthing 'not happening'.
"Maybe one day, pal." he said, his memory returning to the curse they needed to break.
Well, they still had one year to think about that. Maybe after they got to Maine they would put a plan together. Who would say?
