Chapter 7: Seattle

Henry took the change of clothes. They looked exactly the same as his previous clothes. Plain blue long sleeved t-shirt and a grey pair of sweatpants. He then did the walk out to the recreation room with the man who wasn't Robin Hood leading the way.

Ever since he had known her, Henry had thought of Emma Swan as a powerful force for good. Even since she had become the Dark One he still thought of her as being someone who would always use her powers for good.

And now he looked at her and he couldn't see it. Not the Dark One, not the Savior. Like Zelena had said, she was just a woman who had given up a baby.

Still his mom though. Still definitely his mom.

"Hey kid," said Emma, smiling a smile that Henry hadn't seen from her in a long time. It was a warm but uncertain smile.

"Hi Mom," said Henry.

"Your mom," said Emma, and then paused " – I mean your other Mom obviously – Regina – anyway. She told me that you were out of your coma and doing better. And apparently she told you what's going in Storybrooke as well."

"Yeah," said Henry, then had a realization. In this reality, his moms did not get along last he was around to hear about it. At all.

"You two are getting along?" he asked.

Emma smiled.

"Reasonably well. She made sure you had good care after your break. And she was very willing to let me have visitation rights. We buried the hatchet after that. Us fighting over you was only hurting you after all."

"Mom didn't really talk much about Miss Blanchard and how all those people were doing," said Henry.

"Mary Margaret and David got married two and a half years ago. Kathryn – his first wife – was pretty amicable about it. Then she left for Miami, where as far as I know she lives to this day. Mary Margaret kept her name. I seem to remember her outright refusing to be called 'Mary Margaret Nolan'. I think she even tried to get David to change his. He nearly went forward with it, before he decided that 'David Blanchard' didn't sound great either. As far as I know, they're doing pretty well now."

"'As far as you know'?" asked Henry.

"Ah…thought you might notice that," said Emma, "Well Henry, I left Storybrooke two years ago. I'm happier in cities. Ended up living in Seattle. Just got off of a plane from there."

Henry had been feeling like his world was crumbling ever since this whole thing had started. So this hardly even phased. It did surprise though.

"Will you ever move back?" asked Henry.

Emma shrugged. "Probably not," she said. "Especially since I've got business in Seattle."

Right, thought Henry, No family there. Not since I left.

"How are you, Henry?" asked Emma.

Henry thought about it.

"Everything is falling apart. A week ago I was in a world full of magic and now, my world is made out of a bunch of white rooms."

Emma laughed a little.

"They don't exactly go for varied décor do they?" she said. Henry giggled a little, shaking his head.

"You being treated alright?"

"I don't really know," said Henry, "I haven't really had a meal here yet – not one that I can remember anyway. I was given a sedative yesterday, and I went out like a light and woke up in –" Henry stopped himself.

"Storybrooke? The one with magic in it?"

Henry nodded, unsure.

"Hey, Henry," said Emma, "it's okay. You can talk to me about this stuff."

Henry smiled at her.

Like with Regina, Henry and Emma mostly talked about Emma's life. Emma was still a bail bondswoman, but Seattle was keeping surprisingly busy. She was still spending most of her time alone, but she seemed happy.

Happy to see him that was.

Everything had gone so wrong. Henry could remember that the longer she had been in Storybrooke, the happier she had seemed. Okay, so she was consistently fighting Regina over affairs of the town, but she had still seemed much happier than when he picked her up. And now she was the lonely woman he'd brought home with him five years ago.

When Emma left, an orderly offered Henry some lunch, which Henry, realizing he hadn't eaten much since he woke up, gratefully accepted. It was a substance that could generously be called chicken casserole.

Hospital food, though Henry, I've got to get out of here.

While he was eating the boy who looked like Peter Pan came over to talk to him.

"Hi," said Pan, "are you able to talk?" He had the same accent that Pan did.

"Uh…yes?" said Henry.

"Sorry about this," said Pan, "it's just that in the past you've always been a little…out of it."

"People keep on telling me that I'm 'as lucid as I have been since I got here,'" said Henry.

"They're right," said Pan, "My name is James, by the way."

"I'm Henry," said Henry.

"Nice to meet you Henry. Do you play chess?"

Henry had never had much time to learn chess. So he accepted the offer. Learning was slow going at first, but James was a fairly good teacher, and, as he put it, actually pretty terrible at the game. So by their forth game, Henry was definitely on his level.

Henry was actually rather enjoying the game. Maybe because it was the only thing he'd actually done since arriving in the hospital that didn't depress him in some way or other. And when playing chess with someone who looks like one of your imaginary arch-rivals is the least depressing thing you've done all day – you enjoy that moment the best you can.

Afterwards Henry was escorted back to his room and offered dinner. Something vaguely resembling tortellini, and pills, but no sedative this time. The new nurse looked like nobody Henry had seen before, a tall, clean shaven man. Afterwards, Dr. Jones stopped by to talk to Henry.

"Hello, Henry," he said.

"Hi Dr. Jones," said Henry.

"I want to talk to you about your condition."

Henry nodded.

"I don't think you're best served being here anymore. You seem to be on the road to recovery. But I need you to be honest with me. Are you certain this is the real world?"

Henry thought about this question for a second. Was it really? After what had happened the last time he'd visited Storybrooke, the nonsense with Zelena, and everything else, it definitely seemed more likely. Was he certain though?

As certain as he'd ever be.

"Yes," said Henry.

"Good," said Dr. Jones, "Now, unfortunately, there is a barrier to your leaving this hospital. I believe it would be in the best interests of your treatment if you were released, with regular psychiatric visits and plenty of medication of course, but you would need a legal guardian with a stable life – it's a hospital policy. Now your mother – Regina Mills – is your legal guardian of course, but with the legal troubles she has been facing lately, I don't think that the Board would approve of my releasing you to her custody. And to be honest, I don't think it would be good for you either. Living with a mother who might be danger of going to jail every day could be very damaging at this stage of your condition.

"Do you have any extended family that could possibly take you in?"

Henry thought about it. Regina had never taken him to see any of her family. He shook his head no.

"Well, I'm sorry to get your hopes up," said Dr. Jones.

"Wait!" said Henry "What about my mom? What about Emma?"

"Your birth mother? That might work. There'd be quite a bit more paperwork, and Regina Mills would have to approve of the transfer of guardianship over to Emma Swan, but if that all goes through, I don't see any reason to disapprove.

"Now get yourself some sleep," added Dr. Jones, kindly, before locking the door behind him.

Henry smiled. He was going to go live in Seattle with his mom.