Red came up when they sat down at the counter, saying, "Hey, my favorite customers are gracing me with their presence once again!"
"Presence and a question," Grace corrected, getting straight to the point.
Red crossed her arms over the counter and got comfortable, prompting, "Alright?"
"What do you think of Daniel?"
"Regina's Daniel?" Grace nodded, and Ruby continued casually, "I thought he seemed like a really sweet guy and nice. Why?"
Grace turned to Henry who shrugged uncomfortably, hedging only, "Stuff happened awhile back that he doesn't really know about that I don't like."
"That," Ruby pointed out. "Describes half of what Regina's done since creating this town. But it's Daniel that you're worried about?" Henry nodded and Red pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, saying, "You know, I was right by their table last night, but they weren't paying me any attention, and I managed to record their reunion thing. You wanna see? Because they really did look genuinely over the moon to see one another," she got a look in her eye as she added, as if she'd just thought of it, "Kind of like you and Grace seeing one another again once Zelena was gone."
So saying, she handed over the phone, and Grace and Henry bent their heads together to watch the video together.
Daniel was the first to reveal himself on the video, and, oh, the look on Regina's face when he did! Henry knew instantly just how much she loved him – how happy she was to see him – because the only other person she'd looked at like that was him. And the brilliant smile on Daniel's face spoke volumes too. He felt the uncertainty coiled in his gut loosen exponentially.
As they kept watching, Milah nearly collapsed at Hook's feet – and then he recognized who she was.
That was when Henry came to his own realization. Ruby was right. The look on Hook's face was extremely similar to the one Grace had worn when she'd seen him again after Zelena.
He glanced at Grace out of the corner of his eye, and saw that she was looking back at him with the same thoughts swirling in her eyes. But that wasn't right, was it? These people were true loves!
Sure, he and Grace were one another's best friend, and he liked her – maybe he did even love her – but – he turned fully towards her, seeing his train on thought still mirrored in her wide-eyed gaze – they weren't true loves!
Were they?
His heart hammered in his chest the very idea. He had just exchanged one uncertainty for another – but he had an idea of how he might be able to get an answer to this question. If Grace would be willing to go along with it…
When the video was finished, he shoved the phone back into Ruby's hand, grabbed Grace's wrist, and the two of them headed out the door while he called out absently, "Thanks, Ruby!"
Henry was thinking the same things she was, Grace could tell – about true loves and the two of them. Yet, she had no idea what he was thinking of doing about it. There was obviously something on his mind though, as he all but dragged her into the Charmings' apartment.
"What are you doing?" she asked a little raggedly as she tumbled up a set of stairs at his heels.
This was the first time she'd ever been inside either one of his homes, and she couldn't even take the time to be curious. He was slamming around in drawers and grabbing something, and she was pretty sure she hadn't even heard her question by the time he dropped down on the bed in what was apparently his room.
"A necklace?" she asked, noting what he now held as she sat down beside him. "What's it for?"
He stared down at the strange piece of jewelry as he shrugged off his jacket and muttered, "My sleeping curse."
"I don't understand." But she wanted to, because this was obviously a huge deal to him.
"I need you to do something stupid. I'm going to put this on and go to sleep. I need you to take the necklace off of me once I'm asleep…" he took a deep breath, blushing as he muttered, "Then kiss me. If I don't wake up, just put the necklace back on me."
Grace froze, even in her confusion hearing what he didn't say loud and clear. He was going to put himself back under his sleeping curse because he wanted to see if she could break it – which would require their being true loves – and by extension, that's what he wanted to figure out.
But what if something went wrong? What if she couldn't wake him up? More importantly, what if she could?
Her voice came out breathy with a million different emotions as she asked, "Are you sure?"
"Grace, there's no chance that I won't wake up. Failing plan A, putting the necklace back on me means that I can wake myself up from the place having the necklace allowed me to go to in the first place. Please, I really have thought about this a lot, and I just want to do it before I lose my nerve. Nothing has to change between us, and I don't want to ruin anything – everything – between us," he glanced at her hesitantly, murmuring, "But I really do want to know."
Grace nodded in agreement, thinking and watching as he kicked off his shoes, laid down, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He was clearly more nervous then she was, considering that he was the one going under… and she had already kissed… well, at least the lips that went with the body.
Not that he knew that.
Or that either one of them knew what to expect from this little experiment.
Maybe that was why he was having such a hard time going to sleep.
"Breathe, Henry," she reminded him, running her fingertips soothingly along the length of his arm as she promised, "No matter what, I won't leave you."
His breathing evened out a minute later, and when she was sure he wouldn't wake at her touch, she gently slid the necklace over his head. Knowing what came next, she paused, a ticking clock sounding ominously in the silence. Then she saw the crease furrowing in his brow, recalled the burns he'd sustained in the past over this curse, and acted before she thought.
After all, it was just going to be a second kiss that he wouldn't remember and she wouldn't know how to handle, right? At least that's what she told herself.
Until the air stirred around them and she broke the kiss to find him smiling back at her, wide awake.
"Well," he said softly. "I guess that answers that, huh?"
Grace smiled shyly and leaned her head onto his chest so that he couldn't see her blush as she said the first thing that came to mind: "Papa's going to freak out."
"I wonder what my family's going to say?"
"Oh my gosh!" she sprang upright, remembering, "Belle! I am so late, and she'll know something's up! How am I supposed to explain this?!"
"Maybe we don't have to yet," Henry offered, catching her arm as she moved to leave the apartment. "We are young, and I'm not sure even my family would believe us at fourteen."
"Your parents met young, right? And they had true love by the time you came along; you told me that's how your heart's magical."
Henry nodded. "But even they were eighteen"
"Eighteen!" she repeated dismally.
They had true love – sure, they hadn't realized it until Ruby pointed it out, but it was theirs! It was new and exciting and she wanted to tell everyone now, not wait four years!
"Maybe we could tell once we're seventeen?" Henry suggested.
That was still forever away, but maybe she could handle it. "Okay," she agreed.
"Okay," he repeated, and Grace gave him her most bone-crushing hug yet before running out of the apartment and onto the street, heading in the direction of the library.
One: (disclaimer) I have no idea if the sleeping curse would work this way or not, but here we're going to say that it can.
Two: That marks the end of this story; reviews would still make my day and I'd be thrilled to have you guys back to read more when I begin posting the fourth in the series, "Into Our World," which goes back into the, shall we say bigger picture of what's going on after "Common Ground."