Storybrooke- Part 5 (ik still Storybrooke cause i'm renovating the next FTL part)

NOTE: This chapter guest stars Gareth Hughes, a forerunner of the OUAT database (the link is easily found on the FACEBOOK PAGE=ONCE UPON A TIME FANS) also on twitter ONCEUPONAFAN in my own rendition of him in Storybrooke.

ALSO: The rest of the team from the site will be featured in a future chapter.

FOLLOW ME on twitter if you want ShiGoodfield.

Storybrooke (present day)

Henry burst into Mr. Gold's shop out of breath and frantically wiping away tears. The run back to town was a long one but he managed. "Where are you!" Henry kicked the closest desk; the small object on it rattling.

Hardly a second passes before Henry is answered, and it'snot Mr. Gold. "Whoa, kid. What's going on?"

For a moment Henry calms, maybe this man can help. "Who are you?" The man tilts his head to the side a bit at first in consideration with answering Henry's question.

"I'm Gareth. I sorta work here, but not really. Mr. Gold should be back soon, I occasionally run the shop while Gold goes out to run errands and stuff. Anyway, what is wrong?"

Henry scrambled to find words; how much could he reveal to Gareth? "Well...how in business are you with Mr. Gold?-" The bell above the door chimed.

Mr. Gold entered. "Henry." Henry only glared. Gold nodded and Gareth left suite.

"You knew it was gonna happen didn't you!" Henry- in a blind rage- lunged forward to push Mr. Gold, but missed. "Why did you send her there!" Gold's face flickered through many millisecond expressions that Henry couldn't register them in the time given.

In the end he settled for a look of alert confusion. "Where is she-" Gold took a step forward that ,at first Henry dodged and then lunged at Gold again- looking him right in the eyes.

"She's still down in the mines! Where else would she be!"

Gold seemed to falter, Henry saw it in his eyes and body language. He took out his small pocket cell. "Gareth- pull your car back around and take us to the mines."

"Where's your car?" Henry haphazardly inquired.

Gold smirked only a little- to him the answer was obvious. "Walking is good. You'll never know what you might find."

Once in the car Gold prompted Gareth to drive quick and careful "For the boy's sake." And in a short while, Gold and company were down at Emma's side. They found her deep in unconsciousness.

Henry was extra careful not to shine the flashlight on the silver-gem-threaded wall (if that was what Mr Gold wanted at the cost of a life, especially his mom's, he would NOT let him have it. This was surely something more than assisting Ms. Blanchard.)

Gareth and Gold rushed her to the car- Gareth supporting most of the weight due to Mr. Gold's leg issue.

When they arrived at the hospital Gold instructed Gareth to go home yet again. But Gareth, as any other normal human being would- in a time of crisis, first went to console the distraught child (Henry). Buying him a hot chocolate and hoping the promise of "guaranteed smiles" was true, not to mention he was frustrated he couldn't stick around to see the result of their heroics.

A little while later, Henry had been sitting by Emma's hospital bed for what felt like hours. Gold had been waiting in the hall, letting Henry calm down in private, and finally saw fit to enter. He was holding a dough nut meant for Henry but when he spotted the hot chocolate idle and cold on the counter he tossed both in the trash. Gold then took a seat in one of the crappy plastic chairs opposite Henry, Emma asleep between them. It was now very late at night.

Only a few volunteers moved about the place, Dr. Whale wasn't around. Plus no one had examined Emma yet- Mr. Gold told them not to and they listened without question. "Henry, what happened to Emma?"

Henry kept his gaze on the ground below- shadows around his eyes. "Where are the doctors-"

Gold interrupted. "Henry. Tell me. It's very critical."

Mr. Gold was known for keeping and knowing secrets- he was like a one man mob. All black ops. In this town were under his jurisdiction. And this was playing out to be one of the blackest ops. yet- at least in Henry's mind it was. After all, Gold had Gareth- apparently also medically educated- hook up Emma to the support systems himself.

And as Henry thought about it, the monitors seemed to be growing louder with each of his mom's heartbeats. "This is what happened." He buffed as if Mr. Gold didn't already know and held out the mint container. "Spiders."

Gold went a little rigid and moved slowly forward as if Henry was handing him a live bomb. "A teeny weeny- spider..." Henry pulled back at the underlying melodramatic tone in Gold's voice.

"Hundreds."

"Did you find anything else down there?"

"There was an APOLLO bar wrapper-" Henry watched Gold spin his cane with antsy fingers.

"There is a reason you kept this spider, Henry...I know about your affiliation with fairytales." Gold paused and glanced up thoughtfully into the air then back at Henry. "Do you know that fairytales have their own fairytales?" Gold now had on a look like he'd just handed Henry a gift that he knew was sure to please. Henry was intrigued.

Gold teased a little further. "Primarily Nursery Rhymes, really. Some say that they're not just songs and poems but mantras taught at birth- warnings to protect children. Now Henry, was Emma...bitten?" Henry delved into thought. How was the bite of an itsy bytsy spider truly harming his mother?

Henry eyed Mr. Gold- he really seemed to have not known about the spiders, of which seemed to be quite dangerous. "Yeah."

They stayed by Emma a little while longer and on the way out of the hospital this time Gold too had his eyes cast down. They found Gareth awaiting them- he hadn't left after all.

Gold insisted that Gareth take Henry back to Regina and he'd be just fine with walking. No one wanted to fathom the kind of vicious spiel that'd be if Gold showed up with Henry in the middle of the night.

And so Henry took a seat in the back of the car- diagonal from Gareth. "Who are you?" He must be an important character if he was helping Mr. Gold behind the counter- and possibly behind the scenes.

Gareth glanced in the rear view mirror. "Well Henry. I consider myself a jack-of-all-trades. I work a little here and there around Storybrooke- you can almost say that I pull all the seams together. And I will tell you this, I am NOT a henchmen for Mr. Gold, as I said- I am simply around." So Henry considered, was Gareth tied into every tale or just in the background? Henry was going to keep an eye on him.

Before taking Henry to the door, Gareth slipped on a pair of sliver rimmed glasses- what for? "OK, Henry. The story is that you were at Mary Margaret's with Emma and me planning our booth at the upcoming town fair." Henry almost forgot about that.

"The mayor keeps records on the fair booths and Ms. Blanchard isn't registered. Plus, my mom is in the hospital know. Why are you wearing glasses now? And did Gold plan this?" Henry was utterly confused with the plans logic.

Gareth laughed. "For one, I thought of this. And yes Emma thought of a bake sale to secretly raise debt payoff- it will be registered tomorrow. And the hospital setup is temporary, I guarantee you she'll be relocated by the morning. And to pull this all off- 'cute nerdy glasses' + teacher Mary Margaret = a successful pull off of my new alias as a student teacher."

Henry nodded, it was practically flawless. "So Ms. Blanchard will have to know. And hey...if Mr. Gold wants to help and is so 'rich' why couldn't he just pay the debt? Why make us go into the mines- What else is down there?"

"Now that, Henry, I don't know..." They went to the door- Gareth relayed Regina the lie and she fell for it- she truly did believe.

Gareth was cool- definatley a consideration for Operation Cobra.