Chapter 8 When Christmas Comes to Town
We got to the boat just as the others were loading the last of the supplies onto the boat. I was glad that we weren't late; I would have felt guilty if we hadn't been back in time. I was only on this mission by accident, so it would've been awful if I were to mess it up for everyone. No one except for Emma and Regina payed us much attention when we got back. We'd stopped holding hands a little ways before we got to the boat; I wasn't at all ready for his moms' questioning.
When we had all gone inside, I caught Emma looking at us intently. She didn't look angry. If anything she looked a bit sad. I suspected that it was from the fact that her little boy was growing up so quickly. She must've felt something had changed during our little trip. I felt it too. Now that I'd admitted my feelings for Henry, it was as if they'd intensified. I felt butterflies in my stomach every time I looked at him; then felt stupid about it. Now was the absolute worst time for me to be a lovesick teenager. After all, I was on a dangerous mission, an adventure with all of my favourite characters. I would not spend this time fantasizing about some boy, even if it was one of said favourite characters.
Ten minutes later, the boat was finally really and truly underway. For the first time, the reality of our dangerous quest seemed to actually hit me. It suddenly felt real, and I found myself nauseous with worry. Usually, I would've gone to my room to suffer by myself. But for the first time, I didn't want to. Wallowing wouldn't do me any good. So instead, I went to look for Henry. It had only been a little while since we'd split up, but it seemed every moment spent apart was painful for me. I sighed at that. How quickly had I become dependent on some boy? But I went over to him anyway.
"Hey." I said, after I'd knocked on his cabin. Remus wasn't there. "Hey." He replied. "Couldn't stay away from me, could you?" He teased. "Not really, no." I replied honestly. He patted the bed next to him, and after some hesitation, I went to sit down next to him. "What's wrong?" He asked me knowingly. I turned my head towards him. "How did you know?" "Your ears look different when your upset." I looked at him disbelievingly. He rolled his eyes. "Alright. In the six days that I've known you, you haven't said a single word that sounded so depressed as the hey you just said." I knew that was probably true. My excitement had been inexhaustible, but it was gone now. In its stead there was only fear and worry.
"I'm worried about the quest." I confessed. Henry raised one hand hesitantly, then stroked my hair. It was such a comforting feeling, that all of my doubts just slipped out of my mouth. "I haven't ever fought anyone before. I don't have any magic, and I'm not smart either. I can't help anyone. I can't do anything!" I said in frustration. I had expected Henry to have some sort of speech ready, to tell me everything would be fine. I really didn't feel like hearing any of that right now. But instead, all he said was: "I know." And his voice was so quiet, I immediately realised that Henry himself had his fair share of doubts. I fell into his arms, glad to have found someone who understood. As it turned out, Henry wasn't always so sure as he seemed to be. I liked that he made an effort anyway, but I liked even more that he was just honest with me.
"I know just the thing to cheer you up." Henry said after a while. I lifted my head from his shoulder. "Yeah?" He nodded. "We're going to bake gingerbread cookies!" I jumped up in excitement. I had scarcely forgotten all of my doubts, but I was ready to try and have a good time anyway. Moping wouldn't do me any good.
And so we found ourselves in the small kitchen of the boat. We'd picked up two cookie cutters at a little baking store in town; a snowflake and a gingerbread man. I'd also bought myself a red Christmas apron with a cute reindeer pattern on it, that was perfect for the occasion.
Henry spread out the flour on the counter so we could roll the dough. At the last moment, he turned towards me and swiped a floury finger over my nose. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "It's on, Mr Mills." Henry grinned, and jumped out of my reach quickly as I dipped my finger in the flour sack and walked towards him threateningly. I finally managed to catch him and repay the favour by drawing two floury lines on his face. I was bent over, my hand on my knees, laughing, when Regina came walking in.
I froze. "What are the two of you doing here?" She asked, a hint of anger in her voice. "Baking gingerbread cookies." Henry replied smoothly. "And does that require you to throw an inordinate amount of flour on the floor?" She asked. Henry shook his head, abashed. "We were just having a little fun." "Well, I expect the kitchen to be spotless when you're done." Regina said threateningly as she walked out the door. I let out a relieved sigh when she was gone.
"Your mom scares me." I confessed to Henry. "She means well." He defended her. "I know." I said. "She was my favourite character on the show, actually. I really admired her for her strength, that she went ahead and made an effort to change, and then she did. But in person, well, she can be a bit forceful." Henry laughed at that. "I know what you mean. You get used to it." "I hope so." I said, grinning. And then I realised what that meant.
Getting used to Henry's mom would mean that I would spend a lot of time with Henry. And I wanted to; I knew that now. But it could never be that easy. Henry lived in Storybrooke, and I, well, I lived on another continent. I sighed. "Let's go make those cookies!" I suggested, and Henry agreed happily.
We'd rolled out the dough and had cut out the first cookies with our adorable cookie cutter, when Henry suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "I'll be right back!" He said, as he dashed towards his cabin. He returned with an iPod and a portable speaker. "You can't bake Christmas cookies without Christmas music." He said by way of explanation. He turned on the music, and I heard the first notes of my favourite Christmas song.
"When Christmas comes to town!" I exclaimed. "From the Polar Express!" "You know this song?" Henry asked. "Duh! It's my favourite!" "Really? It's my favourite too!" We laughed together. Henry suddenly walked the other way, then walked over to me again. "May I have this dance, Milady?" He said comically. "You may." I replied, grinning. I took his hand, and we danced around the little kitchen. Neither of us had any actual dancing experience, so we just improvised. It didn't matter, though. The song was perfect, and I was here with the only boy who had ever made my heart beat faster.
By the end of the song, we were both singing along at the top of our lungs, not caring if we were singing out of tune. As the children in the song sang the last "When Christmas comes to town", Henry leaned in towards me and kissed me. The kiss was already slightly better, but I broke it of quickly anyway. "What would your mom think if she were to walk in on us now?" I asked teasingly. "I don't care." Henry said boldly, and I laughed. "Let's go finish those cookies."
The rest of the time passed quickly, and before I knew it, it was the twenty third of December. I had made good use of my time, spending most of it with Henry. We did fun Christmas things together, but that wasn't all. Now that Henry and I were in something of a relationship (neither of us had really labelled it, but we were more than just friends) and I had found the courage to tell him about my doubts, I'd also found the courage to tell him about my lessons with Annabeth. Henry was, predictably, enthusiastic about learning to use weaponry. And so we got Annabeth to train the both of us.
Learning about the weaponry definitely made me feel more prepared for the upcoming fight, but I was still unsure. But there was little more I could do now, I thought, as I saw the ice float in front of us. Henry and I were standing at the front of the boat, and from here, we could see the snow covered plain that was the North Pole. Our boat had been cutting through the ice until we got to the point where the ice would be walkable, which couldn't be more than an hour away.
I shuddered, and it was more from nerves and fear than from the cold, which was brutal. Henry wrapped his arms around me anyway, and we stayed that way for a long time, standing at the front of the boat, watching the sun set on the ice in front of us. It couldn't be more than one o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky was already darkening. The darkness would not work to our advantage, although it might work to the Grinch's. Luckily, we had plenty of flashlights, even those that you attached to the top of your head so you wouldn't have to hold them with your hands.
When the boat stopped moving, we went inside to join the others. It was time to make battle plans. "Hello, everyone." Regina said, like she had said that very first time we'd all been together. That moment felt like it had been ages ago, but it had only been eight days. Stuck on this ship together, we'd grown closer quickly, and even Regina's voice held more warmth towards everyone now.
"We don't know the Grinch's exact location." Emma spoke. "All we know is that he is somewhere here, but it's going to be hard to find him. The North Pole is big, and for all we know the Grinch is hiding behind a magical barrier. Since none of us can use magic here, a tracking spell or something of the sort won't be possible. We're going to have to rely on wits and number." She looked to Annabeth when she spoke about wits, and I knew that Annabeth should be our battle strategic, since she was, after all, the daughter of Athena.
"Numbers?" Annabeth spoke, the battle strategic that had been dormant rising to the surface. "For all we know, the Grinch's got a whole army out there." "Excellent point." Emma told her. "We'll just have to scout the surroundings, to see what we're up against, and then devise a strategy."
"So basically, we're just going to go out there and walk around the North Pole until we happen to find something?" Sirius summed it up. Regina glared at him. Those two really didn't get along well. "Well, we're going to do it just a tad more smartly than that." Emma spoke calmly. She wasn't as easily provoked as her girlfriend. "We have a map of the North Pole, divided into squares. We're going to search each square, then cross it off on the map so we know which parts we have covered." That actually seemed like a smart strategy. But how would we get around? After all, the whole North Pole was covered in snow.
Sirius, as usual, voiced my question. He was just one of those people you could rely on to ask the question that was on everyone's minds. I was glad; it meant I didn't have to. "How are we going to get around? As far as I can see, there is a lot of snow out there. I don't suppose you had the presence of mind to bring a snow scooter?" He asked. I rolled my eyes. You could rely on him to voice your questions, but it did mean that he was the one to phrase them, and that didn't always turn out the way I would've asked the question.
"You're right, we didn't think of that. But we all have legs, so we're just going to walk." Emma told him, thereby ending the conversation. "Alright, folks. Time to get dressed for a trek through the snow. We have a lot of ground to cover, and not much time."
