Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time. Only my OCs and my version of the tales.

Chapter 2: Henry

"Hold it, Eva!" The dark-haired women pointed at the little 5 year-old, making her stop, "We already have glitter all over this apartment, Little Pixie. Do you know how hard it is to get it out of this carpet?"

"Sorry, Aunt Thea. I just wanted mom's card to be perfect."

"And it is. Just, leave off the excess glitter."

"Mom is coming back tomorrow, right?" The little girl looked up at her favorite adult, other than her parents, "I mean, it is her birthday."

"Yes, it is. And yes, she is." Thea jumped up and handed her niece a towel when the door bell rang, "Who is at my door at freaking midnight? You clean and I'll get the door."

"Yes, ma'am."

The opened the door and saw a young boy with dark hair standing there in his backpack, "You lost?"

"Um, does Emma Swan live here?"

"Not anymore. She lives in New York. She keeps this address for business purposes on her driver's license because she still has a lot of clients here. She does use her car in New York."

"Darn it!" He stomped his foot in frustration, "Are you just a friend of hers?"

"Yeah, for years now. I took over the apartment when they moved to New York for her husband's work." She took a closer look at the kid and frowned, "Now, why don't you tell me why you're looking for her."

"My name's Henry. I'm her son."

Thea's eyes widened in shock, "Um… maybe you should come in."

"Who's he?" Eva asked, coming forward.

"This is, um…" She cleared her throat, "Sorry, kid, but do you have proof? I mean, we're going to need it."

Henry pulled some papers out of his backpack and handed them to Thea, "I was adopted 10 years ago. I went on this website, after finding my adoption papers, and I found Emma."

"Wait, he's my brother?" Eva looked torn from being excited at the possibility of another sibling and having someone older than her that could boss her around.

"It looks like it." Thea gestured to the tables, "Why don't you two have a seat, and I'm going to call Emma."

Thea grabbed her cell phone and went into the bathroom to call her friend.

"Please tell me you're not letting her stay up to wish me a happy birthday. It's past midnight."

"Em, we have a situation."

"What's wrong. Is Eva okay? Is she hurt?"

"No, she's fine. But, we have a visitor. A 10 year old boy with proof that he's the son you gave up for adoption."

"What?"

"And, he doesn't look anything like the pictures that we'd been sent."

"Seriously?"

"Something's wrong, Em. These papers he handed me, shows he's from Maine."

"Wait, everything we have says he's in California."

"I know. Um, his adopted family's gotta be worried. He needs to go back, now."

"Okay, um, I can't leave until my meeting in the morning."

"Me and Eva will pack an overnight bag and take him home. We'll call you as we get there."

"Thanks Thea. I don't know what we would do without you."

"No problem. Just call Neal and let him know what's going on."

"Will do."

Thea hung up and walked back into the room to see Henry making a card at Eva's instruction, "Having fun?"

"I'm enjoying it. Besides, I don't have anything to give her." Henry said as he drew some images on the paper.

"Alright then. Um, Eva, stay here with Henry. I'm gonna go pack some clothes."

"Why?"

"Because we need to take Henry home, and your mother can't leave until after her meeting in the morning. Plus, I don't know how soon she can get a hold of your dad."

"Her dad or our dad?"

"He's your dad, too." Thea sat down for a moment, "I'm the one who talked your mom into an open adoption. I didn't want her to have any regrets. Then, your mom and dad, through some circumstances that's hard to explain, got back together. That got married and had the Little Pixie." Eva smiled big at the name, "The only consolation they had about you not being there was the open adoption. We have pictures of a little boy that is not you. And you should have had this address without looking it up, because per the adoption contract, we got to send you presents and birthday cards. You should have known who I was as soon as I opened the door. So, I'm gonna take you home, and I'm going to have a little chat with your adopted mother." The kid nodded in agreement, frowning at the information he'd just received. Before Thea could get up, though, the doorbell rang again. "What is this, party central?"

She walked over to open the door and smiled at her neighbor, "Rissa, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't getting back from Florida for another week."

The two women walked back into the apartment when Eva squealed, "Aunt Rissa!" Narissa Knight reached down and picked up the little girl, "Little Pixie. What are you still doing up? Where's your mom?"

"Mom had some work at home and I got to stay with Aunt Thea." The little girl pointed to the boy at the table, "That's my brother Henry."

"Brother?" She looked over and frowned, "He looks nothing like his pictures."

"I know. I'm gonna go pack a bag. Eva, stay with Henry. Rissa, come with me."

The two women walked into the bedroom and Thea closed the door so she wouldn't be heard, "I have a bad feeling. Excited, happy and bad all at the same time."

"What's going on?"

"Aside from the fact that we have getting all the wrong information about her son, including his name, and that he came looking for her."

"Which means, he's unhappy at home."

"Correct." Thea started tossing clothes in a bag, "Can you come with me? Emma can't leave until tomorrow afternoon. I need to take home and something doesn't feel right."

"Feel right as in, it's Emma's 28 birthday?"

"Right. What if, where Henry has grown up, is exactly what we've been looking for?"

Narissa paused in thought for a moment, "Rum."

"Exactly."

"I am so coming with you."

After getting bags together, with clothes and essentials, the four went down stairs and got into Thea's Jeep. "What with the book, kid?" Thea asked, curious.

"I'm not sure you'd be able to handle it."

"For some fairy tales?" Eva asked, looking at the book.

"They're not fairy tales. Every story in here actually happened."

Narissa and Thea looked over at each other, smiling, "You believe in magic Henry?"

"Yeah, so?" He asked, defensively.

"Nothing wrong. It just so happens, that we do to." Narissa smiled over her shoulder, "Your mom, not so much."

He paused for a moment, "She's in here."

"Who? Your mom?" Thea asked, shocked.

"Can I see?" Eva asked, leaning over to get a good look, at the last page on the book he was showing her, "That's mom's baby blanket."

"May I see your book, Henry?" Narissa reach back to grab to grab it and opened it in her lap. After cursory glance, she looked up at Thea with a smirk, "Are you ready to go home?"

"Wait, home?" Henry asked.

"It's a long story, Henry. We'll explain it another day. Right now, we've got to get you home and wait for your mom to get there. It's going to be interesting to see how everything pans out."

"Cool. I'm hungry. Can we stop for snacks."

"When's the last time you ate, kid?" Rissa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"About 7 o'clock last night."

"Alright. Will go through a drive-through."

"After that, it's off to Storybrooke, Maine."

1-2-3-4-5

"Is it just me, or does this town look a little creepy?" Thea shuddered.

"It's better than some of the villages we used to deal in." Rissa smirked.

"True that." She parked stopped in the middle of the street, "Alright kiddo, I need an address."

"24 'not-telling-you' street"

Narissa snickered as Thea just looked at her, "What? He get's that from his mom's side of the family."

"Okay, kid. Here's the thing. I have to take you back to your mom. Technically, legally, she is your mother and you are only 10. We could go to jail. You want us to help you? You want to bring back those happy endings? Then I need an address."

"You believe me."

"Yes, we do." Thea nodded, "But, like we said, it's going to be harder for Emma to believe. She's lived a very tough life, and it's hard for her to believe in anything other than what' right there in front of her."

"108 Mifflin Street."

They pulled up and parked in front of a large white house, "Seriously?"

"My mom's the mayor." He got followed Thea up the front as Narissa stayed in the car with Eva.

The front door opened and a woman came out with a man behind her. "Henry," she seemed worried, she ran up to him and hugged him "are you okay? Where have you been? What happened"?

Holy crap! The Mayor, Henry's adopted mother, is freaking Regina. The shook her head in disbelief, "Figures."

"I found my real mom." He said as he pushed past her and went into the house.

"You're Henry's birth mother."

"Nope. She's in New York until tomorrow. I volunteered to bring him home."

The man said "I'll just go check on him".

"'I thought the birth mother didn't want any contact."

"That's where you're wrong." Thea held up a folder, "This is the adoption agreement. It's an open adoption, Madam Mayor. Now, we had assumed that Henry was a sweet little blonde living in California, according to the photos we received. So, either the adoption agency is screwing with us, or you have some explaining to do."

Regina sighed, "I was told that it was a closed adoption. I got Henry when he was only three weeks old. There must be some mix up at the adoption agency."

"Mix up or not, I will eventually get to the bottom of this. Miss Swan iron clad contract that can't be broken. I know, because I'm lawyer and I'm the one helped her adopt Henry out to lovely couple in Los Angeles." Thea turned to gesture behind her, "I've gotta got. I've got a very tired 5 year old in the car. I'll see you around, Madam Mayor."

Thea ignored the glare she was receiving and got back into her Jeep, "His mom is Regina."

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Rissa look in the back seat, making sure Eva was still asleep, "Regina, the Evil Queen, adopted Henry?"

"Yep."

"Terrific."

"I saw a bed and breakfast on the way in. Let's stop and get a room for the night." She drove to the bed and breakfast and got out to get Eva as Narissa went inside to get some rooms. She had a small smile on her face when she came back out, "What?"

"This place is run by Granny."

"As in Granny and Red?"

"Yes, ma'am." Rissa grabbed their bags so Thea could carry their sleeping Pixie, "Which means your Beta is now a hotel clerk and waitress. They own the diner attached to the B&B."

"Poor Red."

1-2-3-4-5

Thea woke up to find Eva missing. She went to Narissa and started knocking, "Of course you're already dressed." She stalked past her, "We have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

"Eva's not in the room."

"Okay, you go change and I'll go down to the diner. Maybe she woke up hungry and didn't want to wake us."

When Thea came down, Rissa was waiting anxiously, "They said she was here, but she saw something outside the window and took off."

"Alright. Let's get to the sheriff's station."

They walked in just as the sheriff was letting a man out of a cell, "Leroy, if I'm gonna let you out, you need to behave. So, put on a smile and stay out of trouble."

"What can I do for you, ladies?"

"My niece is missing. I woke up and she wasn't in our room. Granny at the diner said that she had come down for breakfast and took off after something outside. As this is our first time here, we could use some help. She's five."

"Alright, let me get a map." As he turned from the, they heard Regina's voice coming from the hall, "Graham, Henry's run away again, we need to… " she stopped mid-stride when she saw the women already in the station, "What are you doing here? Do you know where he is"?

"Lady, we haven't seen him since we dropped him off at your house, last night." Narissa said, coldly, "And I really don't like the insinuation."

"Wait, Henry's missing, too." Thea held up a hand, "Maybe Eva saw him outside the diner and decided to go talk to him." She turned to Regina, "Where does Henry like to go to just hang out?"

"How should I know?" Regina huffed.

"Aren't you his mother?" Narissa smirked.

"Did you try is friends?" Thea asked, trying not to laugh.

"He's doesn't really have any. He's kind of a loner."

"Every kid has friends. Did you check his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them."

"And you know this how?"

"I'm a lawyer, Mr. Mills. Former District Attorney. I got tired of living the corporate life and now, I work in security. I'm analyst who specializes in cyber and criminal security, personal security and security analysis." She picked up her purse, "I'm also a license social worker, parole officer and skip tracer. I run a business with Emma."

"And we're really good at it." They looked over as a blonde woman wearing a red leather jacket walked in, scowling, "Does someone want to explain to me why the woman at the diner said my daughter is missing?"

"Emma?" Thea walked over to hug her friend, "We weren't expecting you so soon."

"My appointment cancelled on me, so I rushed over as quickly as I could." She smirked, "No ticket, promise."

"That's a relief." Rissa smiled, "As for your daughter, she woke up before we did and went down to the diner to eat. We think she saw Henry outside and followed him out."

"Alright, well, I'll go with…" Emma pointed to Regina, "…his mom?" The mayor nodded, "We'll see what we can find on his computer. Could you two do a canvass for me?"

"You got it, Ladybug." The two women nodded in agreement and took off, "Where do you want to start?" Thea asked when they stopped by the cafe, "We can asked some people in here, or…" she trailed off as her friend seemed to be frozen in place, "Rissa?" She followed her line of vision and gasped in shock. There, walking down the sidewalk, was none other than Rumpelstiltskin. "He looks…"

"Amazing." Rissa sniffed, trying not to cry, "Handsome. A force to be reckoned with." She sighed, "I can't let him see me. I don't know if he has his memories or not. I couldn't handle it if he didn't recognize me."

"You can't hide from him forever."

"You're right, I can't." Rissa turned away from the cafe, "I need to hide from them."

Thea looked inside the cafe and saw a petite strawberry blonde, about 19, coming out with two cups in her hands, "Hey, Papa. I got you a coffee."

"Thank you, a bhobain."

They turned and walked in the opposite direction of the two women who were standing with their backs to them. Thea looked at Rissa's face, as tears rolled down her cheeks, "It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna help you make sure that damn curse get broken. One of us deserves to have their family remember them."

Rissa's eyes widened as she turned to her friend, "We both deserve that. Don't ever think otherwise. Just because Rumple and Thalia are here, doesn't mean I'll be the only one who gets her family. We will find them. They may or may not be here, but will find them. I won't stop until we find your husband and daughter, either. Understand?"

They nodded together, each understanding the importance of finding their loved ones. They had been walking around for 30 minutes when Emma called. She had found them at Henry's castle, a wooden play area of sorts. She would meet them back at the hotel later. The girls, deciding they were hungry, went back to the diner to eat.

1-2-3-4-5

The girls, after eating, had decided to do another walk around Storybrooke, this time as tourists. Coming to a stop, Rissa nudged Thea to look at the building on the left. It was a large 3-story building with open windows on the first floor two floors. Looking inside, it had wooden flooring and a high ceiling support by thick wooden beams. And it was completely deserted. "What are you thinking, oh Dark Enchantress?"

Rissa smirked, "I've been having an internal debate all day." She pointed to the For Sale sign in the window, "It's perfect. A place I can call my own. Store front on the first floor, workshop and kitchen on the second and an apartment on the third."

"You planning on sharing the apartment with anyone in particular?"

"Just you, if you'll join me. I'll wait until after the curse is broken before I even consider moving back in with him. It's going to take some time to get used to this town, get her used to me and hope he has his memories."

"Look," Thea pointed to the reflection in the window from the shop across the street, "that must be his." They saw Rumpel and Thalia come out and lock the doors behind them, "Mr. Gold, Pawnbroker and Antiquities Dealer." They smirked at each other, "Still doing what he does best." She turned to her friend, "Will being across from him every day be a problem?"

"Actually, I think it'll be healing." She took out her phone to save the number from the sign, "It'll be a good way to cope while trying to help Henry with the curse." She put her phone up and smiled, "In the meantime, we'll get a hold of a contractor to help remodel the building. I'm going to want a two fully functional kitchens and work areas on the second floor. I'm gonna give it a few days, maybe more, then go back to Boston to close up my other shop."

"You can help organize our stuff to be sent here then." Thea said as they walked down the street to the Inn, "We can combine our two apartments into the one here."

"That'd be good. Not to mention all of the stuff we have in storage. I think I'll rent mine out, fully furnish, and have the extra income coming in."

"That's a good idea."

They walked into the Inn to see Emma at the counter, "Hey, Em, you don't need to rent a room. I'll move into the room with Rissa and leave mine to you and Eva."

"Thanks." Emma nodded to Granny behind the counter and followed her friends upstairs, carrying a sleepy Eva in her arms, "Little Bit here has had a very long day."

After getting settled and ready for bed, Thea looked outside the window and smiled. She looked back at Rissa, the clock tower's minute hand just moved."

"Really?" Rissa walked over and looked at the clock, "It's working."

"Yep. Now, it's time to get work."