Nothing excuses my behavior. Nothing. I'm sosososososo sorry. Personal things came up, and I've been kinda busy. So it took me a week to write this chapter, but it might suck. I'll do a time skip next chapter.

Emma's POV

Chapter 20

One hamburger for me and one hot cocoa for Henry later, we sat in the booth at Granny's, and Henry pulled out his book. It seemed even bigger than when I had it. I wonder what he had to show me that I had forgotten. It had been so long since I read that book. I remembered there was a baby in it, but that's about it.

"Okay. Now what is this book about?" I prompted.

"It's about why Storybrook was created. And who made it." Henry said the last part quietly, as if he was ashamed of it. "It's all about fairytale characters."

"Like…" I trailed off, trying to think of some of the Disney movies I watched as a kid. "the Princesses and stuff like that?" I couldn't think of one Princess, but everywhere I looked as an adult in the city, I saw Princess-themed parties for little girls. There was always Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White on everything.

"Yeah. Except they all have back stories. Snow White, for example." Henry flipped to a page with a girl with dark hair, a pale face, and a bow clutched in her hand with a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder.

"Well, she's not exactly singing to birds to make them clean for her." I said, which was all I could basically comprehend.

"Snow White ran away from the castle, lived out in the woods with seven dwarves." Henry said.

"Okay. This follows the Disney version so far… Where does the bow and arrows come in?" I asked.

"Well, they were Snow White's weapon of choice. When she lived out in the woods, she wanted to forget about Prince Charming, because he was engaged to another princess. It's really complicated. All of the stories cross at one point or another. Red Riding Hood was Snow White's best friend, and you even learn why Snow White's evil stepmother is the way she is. Anyway," Henry flipped through a few more pages, until he came to a picture of a small baby in a white blanket with Emma embroidered on the side. "Snow White and Prince Charming had a baby. There was a curse coming, and the only hope was Emma. She was sent through a magic wardrobe that would protect her and one other. Charming went through with Emma, and everyone else ended up with replaced memories. They ended up here, in Storybrook. And you're supposed to be the one that saves them." Henry finished, and I was in minor shock.

"Look, they're all just stories. None of them actually existed, or ever will exist. It's just like telling a lie, Henry. If you write down a lie, it doesn't make it true." I said, my voice of reason coming out.

"But in the front…" Henry flipped to a page with big font. These characters are real. It said.

"Another lie." I said, slapping money on the counter of the table. I had enough of this kid's game. He wanted to meet his mother, I was fine with that. He could've just said so, without making up a big lie that somehow revolved around my childhood. Maybe I wrote something in the front that said the book belonged to me. I was in that habit around first grade anyway. Maybe that's how he knew. But I was told that those stories were fake. Also, fairytales don't happen in real life.

If fairy tales were real, Neal wouldn't have left. We'd have been able to raise Henry ourselves, and not give him away. We'd be a real family, living the perfect house in Tallahassee, right on the beach.

I only got angrier thinking about it.

Henry sensed that I was upset, and closed the book. The words glittered, almost as if mocking me. I couldn't tell a ten year old that his complete fantasy world was a big, fat, bust. I had already had that happen once, and it sucked. I wasn't going to do that to Henry.

"Henry, just out of curiosity, where did you find that book?" I asked, and Henry pointed to the boarded up library.

"In there. It was just sitting there on the floor, and I wanted to read it." Henry explained. "Something about the cover pulled me in." He got a dazed look on his face, like he was in the library instead of here. "The letters glowed in the dark… like magic."

He shook his head, and he was brought back to the here and now.

"Anyway, sorry. I just thought-"

"Don't be sorry, kid." I said, and hugged him. I felt so horrible for him. First, he thinks his adoptive mother doesn't love him, then his birth mother doesn't love him, and then he tries to explain everything, and I shoot it down immediately. Is this what Regina is like? I could see why he thought she didn't love him.

I'll never be like Regina. I promised.\

A/N: So yeah, that took me a week... Anyway, I'll be back, maybe not tomorrow, but on Saturday!