Chapter 7

After finishing his sandwich, Henry looked up to Malificent. "I wanna help with finding Lily and Merlin."

Mal looked at Henry as if she knew this was coming. "I'm sorry, Henry, but you can't. We have enough people working on this and Emma didn't want you involved in this for fear of your safety and frankly, I agree with her. "

"But…." Malificent cut him off right when he tried to argue. "I understand you want to help, but the best thing you can do for Emma is to live your life. You know she's safe and she's happy. We are doing everything we can to find a solution and I will contact you when we find one. I promise, but you can't stay here. She will get suspicious and Haylee is wicked smart for her age. She will sense that something is up and at her age, she won't have a filter."

Henry nodded to say he understood her point, but he wasn't happy about it. There had to be something that he could do to help. 'Maybe if I go back to Storybrooke, I can begin searching with Grandma Cora and Grandpa Rumple.'

"I'm supposed to be leaving back to the states in 3 days and my friend Gabe is already worried about me. If I leave, will you promise to stay in contact with me?"

Malificent nodded, "Of course I will. I've finally met my grandson. I'm not letting go of him now." She smiled and hugged him tightly.

"What do I even call you? I mean, you're my real grandmother, not Snow." The look in Henry's eyes became bitter. Now he knew why his other grandparents shunned him. It had hurt so bad when they did that and he never understood what he had done wrong.

"You can call me whatever you'd like. Haylee still calls me MawMaw since she couldn't stay Grandma when she was learning to talk." Mal blushed, "She calls Cora, Grans."

"I think I can work with Grans." Henry grinned and then blushed.

"I think that would be just fine, Kid." She pulled him in for another hug and placed a kiss on his cheek. "You'd better get going. Emma and Haylee will be due home soon and we'd have a difficult time explaining why you're here."

"I understand." Henry grabbed a piece of paper that was sitting on the kitchen desk and wrote down his cell phone number and email. "Here you go. Please use it to call or text me anytime. I also use Voxer, WhatsApp, and I'm on Facebook if you'd like to use private messaging. Just please stay in touch and keep me posted on the latest." He had a worried look on his face. Malificent could tell Henry was reluctant to trust that she'd contact me.

"Henry, I promise I will." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a business card and then wrote on the back. "Here's my personal info on the back and my business info on the front. Now you can reach me too." She winked at him.

Malificent walked him out and guided him back on the right path that would lead to Gabe's place and the slopes nearby. After he left, Malificent sent Cora an email explaining that they needed to talk. Something had happened that she should be aware of. Then Mal left to meet up with Emma and Haylee for dinner.


In Storybrooke…..

Rumple walked into the main room only to hear retching coming from the closed bathroom door. Cora ran to the kitchen to grab a ginger-ale for her daughter. Finally, Regina surfaced from the washroom holding her stomach and looking completely ashen.

"Here, Dear. Drink this to calm your stomach. I'm so sorry you had to see that." Cora glared at Rumple for showing the video.

"I'm sorry, Darling, but I know Regina. I know how her mind works and she wasn't truly grasping the gravity of our situation." Rumple just waved off her concerns and sat down on the couch.

"I'm going to text Ruby to come over so she can see what we found in New York. I believe her nose may be of help now." Cora left to grab her cell phone in the next room.

Turning to Rumple, Regina then asked "What did you find? How does Ruby play into this?"

Rumple rolled his eyes seeming put out of the situation. "We found Lily's apartment. She had already left, but many of her belongings remained so we took some clothing in hopes that Ruby can get her scent and find her quicker."

"How the hell do you expect Ruby to do that in a world without magic?" Regina asked as if Rumple was stupidest person on earth.

"I don't need to the wolf to shift, we just need her nose. Her senses will remain intact in the outside world."

Cora then returned, "Ruby will be her in about 15 minutes. Can I get anyone anything to drink or snack on while we wait?"

Regina looked like she wanted to puke in response, but held it in, simply taking another sip of her ginger-ale. Once finished, Regina got up and grabbed her purse, "I need to go and get a ticket to Switzerland! I can't waste time here anymore."

Just as she was about to walk out of the room, Cora grabbed her daughter's arm. "Are you nuts! Did you learn nothing from our story? You can't go! She won't remember you and Emma asked that you stay away from this situation. You need to respect her wishes on this. She wouldn't want you anywhere near her Darkness. It doesn't matter that the Darkness is now dormant. You don't know what harm you will cause by going."

Regina glared at her mother in rebellion, "I don't care. I've been separated from Emma and our daughter long enough. We could start over! I could make her fall in love with me again and we could live our life in that world as if nothing had happened."

Rumple then intervened, "You're forgetting Malificent." Regina winced in response. "She won't let you anywhere near Emma. You aren't her favorite person right now. In fact, you're lucky she hasn't tried to kill you."

DING!

Ruby entered sensing the choking atmosphere. "Um, should I come back later?"

"Don't be silly, Ruby. Please come in. We have much to catch you up on, Dear." Cora motioned for Ruby to have a seat in the nearby loveseat. She then glared at Regina to take her seat and behave. That mom-look always had an effect on Regina and she quickly found her place on the couch.

Cora explained the Lily situation to Ruby and also how Regina now knows about Emma. Ruby nodded, taking in all the information. "Alright, I guess I need to head to New York. I'll need her address again and I'll take the clothing items with me. If I can start from her last address, I may be able to find the trail she took and where she's hiding now. Where is Zelena at on the Merlin search?"

Regina's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Zelena?! She's in on this too? Is there anyone that didn't know?"

"Zelena and Belle have been looking for Merlin since he disappeared after the night he removed the Darkness from Rumple. Zelena can travel through realms and has been tracking him down. She's narrowed her search to an area in Camelot. He's still missing, but rumors say he's been sealed somewhere in the area. Belle is working with Arthur to narrow the search area. She's also researching the spell Blue may have used on the girls all those years ago. Belle is really a resourceful woman." Cora smiled proudly. Belle is just like another daughter to her now.

Regina turned to Ruby after making a decision. "I want to go with you to New York."

"What?!" Ruby's jaw dropped. She was about to say no when Regina intercepted.

"She's my Truest Love and Haylee is my daughter. I need to do this. I need to help. I can't just sit still on this. If you don't let me go with you, then I'm going to Switzerland instead." Regina crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch, satisfied with her ultimatum.

Ruby looked back and forth between Cora, Regina and Rumple and finally relented. "Fine. We leave tomorrow. Since you've got the nicer vehicle, we take your car. It'll give me a chance to focus on my search." Regina beamed with delight, excited that she was going to help find Lily. Ruby, on the other hand, was now dreading a road trip with the Queen of Analness. 'Fuck my life'.


Back in Switzerland, Haylee was in her room watching Teen Titans Go on her iPad and reading the latest ski magazine in her bed. She felt a swoosh of air rise from below her bed and when she leaned over the edge to take a look, she noticed a golden glow coming from directly underneath her bed. Curious, she hopped off the bed and looked under it. There, glowing in gold magic, was a leather-bound book with the title 'Once Upon A Time'. She pulled the book out., 'Man this thing is heavy' and sat it on her bed. Standing up, she turned through the pages and looked at some of the pictures. Her eyes bulged out when she arrived on a page with a picture of her mother. She was wearing a red leather jacket, tight blue jeans, and brown leather knee-high boots. 'Wow. She's beautiful'.

Haylee knew how to read at a fourth grade level. Very impressive for her age, but looking at the thickness of the book she knew it would take her a long time to get through it. Grinning, she made sure her bedroom door was closed all the way and quietly recited a spell that her MawMaw had taught her. Her hands hovered over the book while she whispered the spell and soon, the words and pictures were jumping off of the pages and absorbing into her mind. Her eyes glowed a dark pink and when it was over, she felt enlightened.

Her eyes closed momentarily, taking in the new information and processing it. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she opened her eyes, Tears welled up and she smiled at herself in the mirror across the room, "I have another mother and sister". She then passed out on the bed from overuse of her magic.