CHAPTER 2 - PILOT CONTINUED
"GRAHAM! HENRY'S RUN AWAY AGAIN. We have to..." Regina's voice called out through the station. Her and Evelyn coming to a pause on their way into the office at the sight of Emma behind bars. "What is she doing here? Do you know where he is?"
"Honey, I haven't seen him since I dropped him at your house. And I have a pretty good alibi," Emma said, gesturing to the bars between them.
Regina responded impatiently, "Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning."
Wanting to be helpful, Emma suggested, "Did you try his friends?"
"He doesn't really have any. He's kind of a loner," Regina spoke, Evelyn cleared her throat causing Regina to clarify, "Besides Evelyn, but he's been distant lately."
"Did you check his computer? If he's close to someone, he'd be emailing them," Emma continued, making Evelyn wonder if she had experience dealing with runaways.
"And you know this how?" Regina asked.
"Finding people is what I do," Emma said, leaning forward resting her head between the bars bargaining, "Here's an idea. How about you guys let me out and I'll help you find him?"
The group had gone back to the house to search Henry's computer. Turns out he'd used a website to find Emma and an expensive one at that. Upon recovering the transaction record they were able to track down who he got the card off.
Mary Margaret Blanchard. Ironically, the same woman who had given Henry the book that started the chain of events leading up to this day.
"We'll pick this up after recess. No running!" Mary Margaret reminded her eager students who rushed out of the classroom.
Regina harshly shoved her way through, Emma and Evelyn trailing behind more gently walking past the children. Graham had left having to take care of some things back at the office.
The teacher looked at the new arrivals confused, "Miss Mills. What are you doing here?"
"Where's my son?" Regina demanded.
"Henry," she said, "I assumed he was home sick with you?"
"You think I'd be here if he was?" Evelyn flinched slightly at Regina's tone directed towards Mary Margaret. She had never understood why Regina hated the school teacher, probably one of the sweetest people in town, so much.
"Did you give him your credit card so he can find her?" she asked accusingly, gesturing to Emma who stood awkwardly at the back of the room.
Mary Margaret shifted her glance over to the unfamiliar face in the room, questioning, "I'm sorry, who are you?
"I'm his...I'm his..." Emma stuttered, shortly cut off by Regina.
"The woman who gave him up for adoption."
Mary Margaret sighed, moving to grab her purse from her bag. Emma deducted, "You don't know anything about this do you?"
"No, unfortunately not."
Opening her purse up she looked defeated at the empty spot where her credit card usually resides, saying to herself, "Clever boy...I should have never given him that book."
"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" Regina snapped.
"Just some old stories I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy. So smart, so creative and as you might be aware, lonely," she said forcefully. "He needed it."
"What he needs is a dose of reality. This is a waste of time," Regina said, turning on her heel purposely knocking over a stack of books with her bag. "Have a nice trip back to Boston."
The group watched her leave, Evelyn decided to stay behind mainly because Henry was still missing and she didn't particularly want to be around Regina at the moment. She had learnt just how short the Mayor's temper was at times and to give her space.
Swiftly, the two moved to help pick up the books scattered around the table. "Sorry to bother you," Emma apologised.
Mary Margaret shook her head, "No it's...it's okay. I hear this is partially my fault."
"No, Mary Margaret. Henry made his decisions," Evelyn said, throwing the teacher a smile as they finished picking the books up and placed them back on the desk. Mary Margaret stood up returning a grateful glance.
"How's a book supposed to help?" Emma asked, the group making their way out of the classroom.
"What do you think stories are for?" Mary Margaret said rhetorically. "These stories are classics. There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense. See Henry hasn't had the easiest life."
"Yeah, she's kind of a hardass," Emma said, causing Evelyn to let out a snort of laughter disguised as a cough.
"No, it's more than her," she said, briefly looking at the younger woman in amusement catching her slip-up. "He's like any adopted child. He wrestles with the most basic question they all inevitably face, why would anyone give me away?"
Realising what she said in front of the very woman who had given him up for adoption, her eyes widened as she quickly continued, "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean in any way to judge you."
Emma shrugged tightlipped, "It's okay."
The teacher sighed as she stopped in the hall to face the blonde woman, "Look, I gave the book to him because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have. Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."
"You know where he is, don't you?" Emma asked.
"You might want to check his castle." Mary Margaret smiled, "Evelyn knows the way."
She gestured to the girl who had been silently following along with their conversation, bidding the two goodbye as the bell rung signalling the end of recess.
Evelyn waved Emma towards the exit of the school, saying, "Come on. We should go before we get trampled again."
The two walked in silence, Emma taking in the scenery of the town around her while Evelyn was thinking over her conversation with Regina last night. As they approached the infamous yellow car, Emma unlocked it and gestured for Evelyn to hop in the passenger side. Now was the perfect opportunity for her to get to know Henry's birth mother.
Emma beat her to it as she started the car up and pulled out before turning her attention briefly to the woman, questioning, "So...you were there last night with the Sheriff, but you never came back down?"
"Yeah, I live there," Evelyn responded, continuing quickly, "I'm not her daughter or anything, at least not by blood. I've worked for her at the office for years and then when she got Henry she found it difficult to juggle a newborn and her job so I moved in to help out. As he got older he started calling me his aunt and now I think of them as family," she explained, briefly.
Emma shot her a look, with a raised questioning eyebrow, "Even Regina?"
She sighed, "Regina seems like a lot and trust me she can be. But her and Henry are as close to a family that I've got." Folding her arms across her chest, she continued, "Honestly, she's petrified that you're here and the thought of losing Henry-"
"I'm not here to take him away," Emma clarified, cutting her off.
"I know," Evelyn smiled at her, saying, "It's going to take time, a lot of time, and I honestly don't think that there's a way to move on now without you being involved in Henry's life. I'm sure one day the two of you will reach an agreement of sorts, for his sake. Just don't give up."
"I hope you're right," Emma said, turning the car down a road off the main street when Evelyn directed her to. They were still a few minutes away from the boy's wooden play structure he dubbed his castle.
Evelyn cleared her throat, "Do you have family back home?" Watching with slight concern as Emma stiffened, continuing, "I'm sorry if I overstepped."
"No. No, don't worry about it. And to answer your question, it's just me," she said with a brief smile. Evelyn returned the smile thinking maybe her and Emma had more in common than she thought.
Reflecting back to what Emma said back at the Sheriff's station earlier, she wondered if the woman's past had something to do with her current job. "You mentioned this morning that you find people for a living..."
"Yeah, I'm a bail bondsperson," Emma said.
"Wow, can't say that I've ever met someone in that profession. What's it like?"
"It's mainly a big city thing. There's not a lot of that around here," Emma briefly laughed, looking around the deserted shore. "But it's good, it keeps me busy."
"I would love to see the city," Evelyn said wistfully before jokingly adding, "Or at least something beyond this town."
Emma blinked in surprise, saying, "Hang on. Have you never been out of Storybrooke?"
"No," she responded after a while. Shrugging, she continued, "I've never had a reason too. My life, my job...Henry. It's all here."
They sat in comfortable silence for a while longer, Emma glanced briefly over at the girl who was day dreaming out the window. She appeared so young, but like she had lived an entire lifetime at the same time. "If you had the opportunity to travel anywhere. Where would you want to go?"
Evelyn's gazed snapped back over to Emma, briefly making eye contact before Emma turned back to focus on the road. She thought about the question. Where did she want to go? Up until this point she thought that Storybrooke was the only place she needed, after all she did enjoy the quietness of the town and the connection they all had. It was like a big family.
But part of her longed to be in a place where nobody knows your name. A place where you could be whoever you wanted and no one expected you to act a certain way. A place where you could be whoever you wanted to be.
"I don't know. Somewhere different to here...New York or Boston maybe," she said, looking back out the window.
Emma smiled, "I live in Boston. Well, did, until Henry dragged me here."
"Wait, isn't Boston like four hours from here?" Evelyn's eyes widened as she spoke to herself, "How they hell did Henry get there?"
"I don't know, but he stole Mary Margaret's credit card so she probably paid for the travel expenses," Emma informed, laughing at the young girl's expression.
"Someone's going to get a very serious talk later," she muttered, looking up at the road quickly saying, "Oh, take the next left turn up here."
Emma following her directions and they soon came to a stop at the dead end road glancing at the wooden play structure. Henry sitting on the ledge closest to the water looking over the town, lost in his own thoughts.
As Emma went to get out of the car, Evelyn place her hand on her arm halting her movements, "Hey, I might head off. I think this is a moment you and Henry need to have together, just get him back home before dinner."
"Of course," Emma nodded, returning a warm smile, "Thanks, by the way. I'm glad that Henry's has someone like you looking out for him."
"No worries," Evelyn said, "He's a good kid. I'll see you around." She picked up her brown leather satchel style bag off the floor, bidding a farewell to Emma as she shut the car door. Looking over towards Henry she saw him glance over hearing the noise and briefly waved at him before walking away.
After leaving Emma and Henry at the wooden play structure Evelyn found herself wondering towards the edge of town, specifically the woods. She didn't know what had drawn her there, she just felt the need to get away.
Coming upon a secluded area amongst the trees she placed her backpack down before sitting down on a log. In the silence of nature she thought about her encounter with Henry's birth mother.
Evelyn swung her head around as the crunch and snap of a stick echoed behind her. "Who's there?" she questioned, hoping that it was a person. A person she could deal with, a wild animal not so much.
Peering through the trees she held her breath as she listened to her surroundings. Hearing nothing unusual she let out a breath, chuckling to herself for being paranoid.
"Boo!" someone screamed in her left ear causing her to scream and fall off the log. Sitting on the ground, heart pounding against her chest she looked up at the uniformed culprit.
Quickly getting to her feet she stormed over to the hunched over laughing Sheriff. "Not funny!" she said slapping his arm.
Graham straighten up holding his laugher back as he replied, "You're right, it's not. It's hilarious." He burst out laughing again, Evelyn just crossed her arms and glared at him. If looks could kill, he would have exploded into a million pieces right then and there.
"Are you finished?" she enquired, waiting for his laughter to die down.
Graham took a deep breath nodding, "I think so...You should've seen your face."
Evelyn rolled her eyes walking past the Sheriff to grab her bag. "Don't think that I'm not getting you back for this," she said, walking away from Graham along the path leading out of the woods not bothering to look back as she knew that he would follow.
"I'll be counting on it," Graham joked as he caught up to her and swung his arm over her shoulders. Evelyn tried to shove him away however his grip was too strong, so she just slouched against him.
Evelyn rolled her eyes muttering under her breath, "I hate you."
"Love you too, E." Graham said. The two walking side-by-side out of the forest towards the Mayor's house.
"Regina! I'm home!" Evelyn called through the foyer of the mansion, gently closing the door behind her. Graham had opted to flee to safety, leaving Evelyn to defend for herself against Regina's wrath.
As predicted it didn't take long for the familiar click of heels against the pristine tiles to grow louder towards the foyer. Stopping in the threshold of her study, Regina stood arms crossed with a scowl plastered on her face, "Where have you been young lady?"
"Out," Evelyn shortly responded turning towards the stairs, not understanding why she was so pressed on knowing where she was. She hadn't done anything and she's an adult, technically whatever she does with her day is her business. Due to Henry's adventure she had missed work, but it's a small town and it'll be easy enough to catch up tomorrow.
Regina raised her voice, "Don't walk away from me."
Evelyn rolled her eyes, walking a few steps up, "I can do what I want. I'm 24." Henry mustn't be home yet or she would have heard movement from upstairs.
Storming towards the staircase, Regina stood at the bottom seething, "Evelyn Mills. You will do as I say. In case you're forgetting, you work for me and this life that you've grown accustomed to, is provided by me. I didn't have to give you a job, but I did and I can take it away just as easily."
She paused in her steps sighing, "Look, I'm sorry I missed work." Turning around to face Regina she walked back down the few stairs she had taken, "But I think we can both agree that Henry was the priority today. Who I found by the way. Emma should be bringing him home soon and before you say anything."
She held up a hand to stop Regina from interrupting, continuing, "He deserves to be allowed to spent some time with his birth mother."
Regina took a long breath, hesitantly nodding, "Very well." Gesturing for Evelyn to follow her they both entered the office across the other side of the foyer, Regina closing the door as Evelyn took a seat on one of the leather couches.
They sat in silence as Regina poured them both a drink of apple cider, handing one to Evelyn and taking a seat opposite her. Regina took a sip of her drink before questioning, "So, what did you find out about her?"
"Honestly, not much," Evelyn said, "She's a bail bondsperson from Boston and we already know why she's here. All she wants is to make sure Henry's okay. She doesn't have any family back home, so I think the least we can do is let her spend some time with Henry. For the both of them."
Regina glared, "So you mean to tell me you found nothing of value?"
"Regina, I only just met her," Evelyn said, "You told me to befriend her and I don't think the way to do that is by interrogating her."
She raised her voice slightly in emphasis, both pausing as Regina considered, "No, I suppose not." Taking another sip she turned to look back at the girl an idea forming.
"You said she had no family back in Boston?" Evelyn nodded, allowing Regina to continue, "No roots. Meaning that she'll most likely want to stay in town and take Henry back."
"She said that she has no interest in taking him away. She knows that this is his home and family, all she wants is to get to know him," she explained softly.
"He's my son!"
Ignoring the outburst, she continued reassuringly, "I know that, but you can't deny that being the birth mother she has a right to get to know the baby she birthed."
Regina opened her mouth to respond, however they were interrupted by the sound of the door bell. Standing up the Mayor brushed out her dress and flicked her hair back out of her face, saying, "We'll continue this conversation later."
She breathed a sigh of relief feeling the tension leave the room as she too got up to follow the Mayor to the door. Lingering by the stairs she watched Regina open it to reveal Henry and Emma.
"Thank you," Regina said shortly, Henry running past her straight up the stairs to his room.
Emma shrugged her shoulders with a forced smile, "No problem."
"He's seemed to have taken quite a shine to you." Regina don't, Evelyn thought, sensing the tone arising.
Emma, unfamiliar to the hostile edge continued, "You know what's crazy? Yesterday was my birthday and when I blew out the candle on this cupcake I bought myself, I actually made a wish. That I didn't have to be alone on my birthday. And then, Henry showed up."
Evelyn smiled, understanding the longing to have someone. Maybe not in this life, but she had a feeling that at a time she can no longer remember she knew exactly what it felt like to be alone.
"I hope there's no misunderstanding here."
Emma blinked at Regina, taken aback by the harsh reply, "I'm sorry?"
"Don't mistake all this as invitation back into his life."
Emma glanced over Regina to make eye contact with Evelyn who sent her a tightlipped smile. Evelyn honestly felt sorry for her, no one liked to be on the receiving end of Regina's wrath.
"Oh..." Emma trailed off.
"Miss Swan, you made a decision ten years ago. And in the last decade, while you've been..." Regina paused briefly, "Well, who knows what you've been doing. I've changed every diaper. Soothed every fever. Endured every tantrum. You may have given birth to him, but he is my son."
"I was not..."
Regina advanced on Emma, continuing, "No! You don't get to speak. You don't get to do anything. You gave up that right when you tossed him away. Do you know what a closed adoption is? It's what you asked for. You have no legal right to Henry and you're going to be held to that. So, I suggest you get in your car, and you leave this town. Because if you don't, I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do."
Spinning on her heel, Regina stalks back to the door simply saying, "Goodbye, Miss Swan."
Catching Emma's look, Evelyn discreetly shook her head. Despite this Emma said, "Do you love him?"
"Excuse me?" Regina asked, facing Emma again.
"Henry," Emma repeated her question, "Do you love him?"
"Of course I love him," she responds, slamming the door behind her and successfully ending the conversation.
Evelyn waited with bated breath, hoping that Regina was done lashing out at people for the evening. Seemingly forgetting that the other woman was there, the mayor makes her way up the stairs to Henry's room to retrieve the book that started all of this.
Truthfully, Evelyn didn't know how she felt about all of this. The longer Emma Swan was here the more she felt like she was losing control, over what she was unsure. Little did she know that over the other side of town, the clock tower hands had just moved for the first time in forever.
Emma was staying in Storybrooke.
Things were changing...
AN: Ahhhh the pilot is done! Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story so far! I apologise for the delay. I really want to be consistent in uploading, but I've had to prioritise my mental health at the moment. Worry not though, the majority of season 1 is written I'm just indecisive and want to change everything a million times.
Thanks again for reading :)
To guest reviewer 'noone' - Thank you! I agree, there isn't enough out there. Graham was a good character and it's a shame that his story couldn't continue.