Chapter 21: Unraveling the Truth
Tiana sits down in shock. Her eyes go blank and she begins to hyperventilate. Tears begin falling from her eyes and then she puts her hands over her face.
Mrs. Anderson gets up and puts her arms around her daughter. She began humming to Tiana as if she was a child again.
"It's okay Baby Girl... it's okay..."
"It hurts Mama. It hurts,"
"I know it does...but it will get better."
Tiana continues to sob into her arms, her cries are ones of helplessness and anger. Her baby boy, something a mother would never love anybody more than the little life she carried in her womb, and he was taken away by a selfish couple who only cared about money and status, using their power to rip a child from his mother.
When she collects herself, she locks eyes with me.
"W-What's his name? I never got to name him."
"Brendan, Brendan Naveen James Anderson."
Tiana covers her mouth.
"I think the father got to name him."
"Is...is he... okay?"
I swallow hard and look at Tiana. I know she wants to know about her son... the boy ripped from her arms after he took his first breath, given away to strangers, stolen because of money and status issues and that the father didn't have a back bone to stand up for the woman she loved and who was carrying his child.
"I'm not sure..." I mumble. I'm trying, to be honest with her, but I'm worried that the suspicions of abuse to her only son will crush her, make her devastated or even hell bent on revenge. "I haven't been there in a month or so."
"What does he look like?" she asks.
I slide the picture from the aquarium in front of her. I point to the tiny child clinging to a green frog. "That's him."
Fresh tears fill her eyes. She clings to the picture, seeing the five-year-old boy. I know she wants to hold him, hug him, tell him that he's a good boy and that she loved him. I'm sure she wanted to tell him that she didn't abandon him, that she wanted to bring him home and raise him like she had planned all along, with or without the father by her side .
"He looks like Naveen." she says.
"He has your eyes, though," I add gently.
"What's he like?" Tiana asks.
I decide the truth is better than lies.
"He's a painfully shy child. He wouldn't talk to any other kids and he clung to that frog there. He would hardly speak to anyone and he seemed scared all the time. I did get him to open up a little bit and when I did, he was the sweetest little boy. He's smart and musically gifted too. He told me that he was taking piano lessons at his church and he knows that he had been adopted. I think he could go far, it's just his shyness is the problem"
"Why is he so shy?"
I swallow again, here comes the bomb shell.
"Tiana... I don't know for sure, but I think Brendan might be...abused."
Her breath catches her throat and fresh tears fill her eyes. She gets up and goes to the closet door. She takes a handful of cash from her jar and goes for her purse. She puts her coat on at the front door as Mrs. Anderson and I follow her.
"Honey, where are you going?" Mrs. Anderson says.
"I'm going to New York. I'm going to find my son."
"Tiana, that's not a good idea..." I say.
"Everything's not a good idea. I've had enough of doors being slammed in my face. Being denied what I want because I can't afford it. I'm tired of being told no and I'm sick and tired of always getting the short end of the stick. You can tell me that all my life, but I don't care! I don't care what the Horton's said or did, what I can't afford is to lose the one good thing that came out of that relationship with Naveen, my son!"
"Tiana I want to help you, but breaking the laws of adoption is not going to put you in good stead for getting him back."
"Baby Girl sometimes the biggest jumps require two steps back." her mothers says.
Tiana begins unlocking the door.
"Tiana wait!" I say, rushing over to shut the door.
"Don't try to stop me!" Tiana barks. She jerks at the door. She begins shoving against me.
"I'm not trying to stop you. I'm thinking about you and your son and driving into New York, with no sense of where your son is, or how you're going to get him back. I'm sure kidnapping him will not help your case."
"My son is being abused! And you expect me to just sit here and..."
"NO!" I yell back. "I want more than anything to give that little boy a better home, and from what I learned that he was taken by force from a mother who wanted to keep him, but we need to think this through carefully or you may never see your son again."
Tiana continues to glare at me.
I take a deep breath.
"Look Tiana...I know you're going to hate me for the next part, but...you're going to have to talk to...Naveen."
"HELL NO!" she screams. "That bastard turned against me and worked with his parents to take Brendan away. There is no way I'm going to..."
"Please here me out Tiana," I say wincing. "We're fighting against the courts here and if we can even get Brendan away from the neglecting family, he'll just be put in the foster system, and based on what Emma Swan told me...that's not gonna be good for him at all."
"Why the hell are we gonna need Naveen?!" Tiana barks.
"Because..." I explain, taking the file from the table. "You're both the parents and it says on the bottom of the record that neither of you showed up to fully approve the adoption. This is our leverage against the Horton's, I don't even know how they managed to put him up for adoption in the first place. I'm pretty sure it was illegal, technically kidnapping..."
"But we can't afford a lawyer." Mrs. Anderson says sadly.
"I'll worry about that," I reassure them. I go up to Tiana and take the money from her hand and go back to the closet. "You worry about how you're going to have to talk to Naveen and how you're going to accommodate a five-year-old in this house." I put the change back in the jar. "You're also going to need some kind of financial security to win back custody of him."
I suddenly get a brain storm.
"And I can get you started...!" I shout in excitement.
Both women look surprised by my sudden outburst.
"I have a space below my apartment that you can use for your restaurant! I can give you half the price of buying another building altogether and when you're not working on the restaurant, we can work upstairs on the case."
Tiana's eyes light up with excitement and hope.
"You'd really do that for me?" Tiana asks.
"Why not?!" I say in excitement. I'm practically bouncing off the walls about how this is all coming together.
Tiana lets out a cry of joy and hugs her mother tightly.
"It's happening Mama...it's happening! My dreams are coming true and I'm gonna get my baby back!"
I can see she's crying in joy and her mother can't help but smile.
I feel amazing inside, almost like crying myself. I'm changing three lives today, maybe even more. Giving hope to someone who needs it most, it's the most rewarding feeling. Of course I know the road will not be smooth and the process will be long, especially in court. But it's a start. It always starts with a little bit of hope.
Tiana and Mrs. Anderson, who insists that I call Eudora, encourage me to stay for dinner. They cook up their famous gumbo, her father's secret recipe. It's very rich and tasty that I have two bowls, also to feed my baby. Tiana talks non-stop about getting her restaurant started. It's clear she's done her research and business planning for a long time. I tell her we'll worry about the numbers later.
Eudora shares some of her stories of her time in the Enchanted Forest, all about living in the swamps and raising Tiana with her husband. I really get to know the two them well. I tell them stories about where I've been in my life and leave out the mother stuff, I just mention on a side note that I don't have a mother anymore. They are understanding and don't pry.
But what both of them want to hear the most is about Brendan. I tell them everything I can remember from spending time with him...the happy parts of who this kid is as a little individual. They listen with tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Once I tell them that he is musically gifted they say they got that from his grandfather. He could play the strings of a guitar and keys off a trumpet. They neglect to mention that Naveen is also a musician, but that's a sore subject at the moment.
Tiana immediately begins planning for where Brendan would sleep and what kind of toys to get him. I keep the smile on my face, to keep the hope up. We don't know what the Hortons might do and it could be a rough ride ahead. Or what the courts will say. We'll just have to see.
It's pitch dark when I start packing up. Eudora insists I take some of the gumbo home, they make enough to feed an army and I happily accept. Before I leave, I give Tiana the photo from the aquarium. I watch as she grabs another jar from a kitchen cupboard, cuts out the photo and pastes it on the side. She gets a slip of paper and writes Brendan's full name on it and sticks that to the jar. She holds it, tears running down her face. She leans forward and kisses the photo.
"I will work my head off to bring you home Baby," she says quietly. "It's where you belong."
She places the jar next to her restaurant one and shuts the door.
I go up and give Tiana a hug, which she gratefully accepts.
"He will come home to you..." I whisper.
"I know and thank you." she answers.
Both women come onto the porch to see me off. I smile and wave as I start my car up. I see them standing together in my rear view mirror.
On the way home, I can't help but smile. What started out as a strange and awkward day became amazing and joyful in a matter of hours. I'm really making a difference in someone's life, making their dreams come true. I know this will never make up for all the crap I've done over the years, including killing my mom, but... it's a start.
I get back into Storybrooke as the moon rises over the trees. I pull up to the tuck shop and get out.
Time to make someone else's day! I think to myself.
I open the door and I see Belle behind the counter reading, of course. She smiles when she sees me, a hesitant smile, but regardless.
"Hello, Crystal." She says in her accented voice. "Rumple's in the back, but I don't think him..."
"Actually I came to see you." I interrupt.
"Me what about?"
I smile warmly at her and I lean into a whisper.
"Listen, I have this ability to sense energies in other people, which is how I could tell Emma was the Savior and Dark One, etc... and when I met you I saw/sensed a new energy and heartbeat...inside you."
Belle's eyes go wide for a moment.
"How...How?" she stammers.
"It's something that my powers allow me to see," I explain. "So is it true?"
Belle smiles and nods.
"That's so great!" I say, beaming from ear to ear. I go to the counter and pull her into a hug. I really am excited about this. I've never had a sibling before or at least one that lived long enough for me to meet them. I don't really care if it's a boy or a girl, I'm just happy to have some form of a family.
"Do you have an ultrasound picture?" I ask.
"I do," Belle says. "It's upstairs, I'll go get it."
Belle slips behind the curtain and I hear her go up the stairs.
Eventually, Daddy dearest comes out on his cane.
"Evening..." I say formally.
Rumple just grunts and nods in my direction.
"What is my wife doing upstairs?" he asks.
"She's getting something for me," I answer.
"Can't imagine what," he mutters
We stand in silence for a long while. I notice that a golden chain is sticking out of his pocket. I immediately recognize it as the locket.
"It keeps her close huh?" I ask.
Rumple looks at me. I nod to indicate the pocket.
"It's her ashes encased in there, really keeps her close to me. That and the moving picture inside"
"It can also protect you...you see I put a protection charm on it after I gave it to her," Rumple explains. "I was worried her husband might try to attack her if he found out she was pregnant, I did it out of love."
"Is that what keeps the charm alive?" I ask.
Rumple swallows and nods.
"She never took it off you know..." I say into the silence. "She loved you."
"And I loved her too." he says softly.
"I know you did." I nod.
We fall silent again. This is a step in the right direction, we actually had a civil conversation without being at each other's throats or ending up with fireballs flying all over the room. It's not much, but it is a start.
I hear Belle's footsteps come back down the stairs. She hardly notices Rumpel and she hands me the ultrasound photo.
I can barely make out the tiny shape that is my step-sibling. It's slightly bigger than mine, and I can start to see the head and the body overall. I smile and tear up a bit.
"Congratulations," I say.
"How did you know she was with child?" My dad asks inquisitively.
"Rumpel, don't be rude," Belle says.
"I could kind of tell with the growing bump, but also... It's hard to describe, but part of my powers allow me to see people's heartbeats and their...I guess auras/energy which tells me who you are and when I met Belle, I saw an additional heartbeat and energy."
My dad's eyebrows in suspicion but I also think in interest.
"I've never been able to do that," he says.
"I think it's something I developed on my own," I say. "I think it's pretty clear that you and I don't have the same powers."
"And hopefully this one doesn't have his either," Belle says, putting her hand on her rounding stomach. I ask to place my hand there and she lets me. I tear up again, so happy that despite how evil my Dad is, he can create something good.
I swallow and decide to tell them my news. "There...was another reason that I came here..." I say gently...
"You're also going to be a grandfather..."
Belle immediately squeals and goes up to hug me. I feel myself crying, but also jumping up and down. I give in to the joy of being with child and Belle and I will be there for each other every step of the way.
"That's so amazing!" Belle says.
"Thank you and congratulations to you too."
We break from the girl hug and I go over to my dad. He looks at me hesitantly so I make the first move, I lean forward and hug him.
He doesn't hug back at first, which is fine, but slowly his arms come around me in an embrace.
"Congratulations my child."
"Thanks...Dad."