Happy birthday TeamHook!
I'm sorry this is a little late but I hope you'll enjoy some fluff for your big day.
Emma cast a quick look over the dining table once more to make sure that she had everything she needed, nodded her head confidently, and then made her way down the hall.
Henry had taken the news of their move far better than she had expected, considering it would mean uprooting their entire lives, but deep down, Emma knew that her son's heart was aching for the loss he was about to suffer. It had taken Henry years to get close enough to some of the kids in his class to make friends. Pulling him away from those friends made her feel like the worst mother in the world – but Emma knew she couldn't turn down the job she'd been offered. The pay rise alone was more than worth the hassle of moving. She just hoped that her son would fall in love with the charming little town the same way she had when she'd gone for her final interview.
Unfortunately, their move to Storybrooke had fallen on Henry's tenth birthday. While a part of Emma had really wanted to push back the move to give her son one final celebration with his friends, on his actual birthday, Emma knew she needed to be in town before the old Sheriff left, or she'd be stuck trying to figure out their systems for months to come. Instead, she'd decided to make their final Friday in the city as special as she possibly could. Henry didn't know it yet but, she'd arranged to have his friends meet him at laser tag later that evening for a round or three of their favorite game, followed by a trip to his favorite pizza joint. She just hoped that it would be enough to give her son the best of memories before they drove across the country to Storybrooke the following day.
"Morning, sleepyhead," she greeted, as she pushed her way into Henry's room and took a seat on the side of the bed. "It's time to get up."
"Do I have to?" Henry mumbled, as he attempted to pull the duvet up a little higher to cover his face.
"If you wanna go and see that movie you've been rambling on about all month, then yeah, you kinda do. It starts in an hour."
Emma's words seemed to take a moment to sink in, and when they finally did, Henry bolted upright in the bed and turned wide eyes her way. "What about school?" he asked.
"I figured as it was your last day in Boston, school wasn't really necessary for today. I thought we could hit the arcade instead."
"Really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with joy at the promise of a fun day spent with his mother.
"Really," she chuckled. "Go get showered and dressed, kid, and I'll get started on breakfast."
Henry leaned forward to press a kiss to his mother's cheek before she could stand up. "Thanks, Mom," he told her, sliding out from between the sheets and running towards the bathroom.
Emma chuckled as she watched him go, casting an eye around the room that had been her little boy's since the day she'd brought him home from the hospital. It had been through many changes over the years, reflecting Henry's love of different shows or franchises, but it had never looked as bare as it did now, with only a handful of clothing left out for him to change into, and his bed in the center of the room. As she pushed herself back to her feet, Emma made a mental note to make sure that Henry knew he could decorate his room in Storybrooke however he liked when they finally got to the house that was waiting for them.
Back in the kitchen, she set to work on whipping up a batch of blueberry pancakes for breakfast. It was one of the first things she'd really learned to cook for herself, and it had always been Henry's favorite. She didn't often get the time to cook breakfast for the two of them to share in the mornings, and part of the reason why Emma had taken the job offer was because she hoped it would give her more precious time to spend with her son.
Henry's nose brought him down the hallway just as she was plating up. There was a look of utter delight on his features as he took a seat at the table, which Emma had spent the morning decorating with balloons and confetti.
"Happy birthday, baby," she declared, as she set a large stack of pancakes down in front of him.
"My birthday's tomorrow," Henry deadpanned.
"I know, but we'll be spending most of the day in the car, and that's not terribly fun, so I thought we'd celebrate it today instead."
"Does that mean I get my gifts today too?" Henry asked, shooting his mother a cheeky look from the corner of his eye.
"Don't push your luck, Kid," Emma threw back at him, as she took her seat and poured a generous splash of syrup over her own breakfast. "Besides, you still haven't told me what you want yet."
"A puppy," was Henry's immediate response, and Emma rolled her eyes at it. Her son had been asking for a puppy every birthday, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and Friday since he'd been old enough to talk. Emma had always hated having to say no. She hated crushing her son's hopes and dreams that way, but she knew that their tiny apartment in Boston wasn't suitable for a dog. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew that her ability to take care of Henry was only scraping a pass in the parenting department right now, so adding a puppy to their family just felt wrong. But maybe once they were settled in Storybrooke and she could spend some more time with Henry, she'd finally be able to make her son's dreams come true.
"A puppy before we move house?" she asked, "Don't you think that would make things a little more difficult?"
"Not really," Henry mumbled, before shoving a large forkful of pancake into his mouth.
Emma chuckled as she watched her son attempt to chew around the big, stodgy mass.
"You know, I was thinking," she began, flicking her eyes over to the rest of the supplies at the end of the table, "Maybe we could do something special this year for your birthday? Maybe you could write out a list of what you want, and then we could send it to the Birthday Fairies on a balloon?"
Henry chewed a little more furiously and then swallowed before he said, "I'm almost ten, Mom. I know the Birthday Fairies are basically just you and the Amazon delivery guy."
"You don't know that!" Emma threw back at him. "Have you ever seen a fairy before?"
"No, because they're not real."
"But they could be," she pressed, even though she knew she was fighting a losing battle.
Henry simply raised an unamused eyebrow at his mother.
"Okay, so the Birthday Fairies might not be real," she sighed, "but maybe we could still put a little note on the balloon and set it free. That way, whoever finds it can tell us how far it's traveled. And if they're a fairy."
Henry chuckled at his mother's addendum but finally nodded his head in agreement. "Maybe it'll travel to Storybrooke, and we could find it," he suggested.
"Maybe, Kid."
After cleaning up from breakfast, Emma and Henry set out for their first treat of the day – a trip to the movies. It had been a while since Emma had taken the time to actually sit and watch an entire film with her son. Usually, while Henry watched, she'd have most of her focus on work, making preparations for the following day to try and give herself a lighter load but, that morning, she found herself enjoying the film Henry had chosen for his big day. Having the entire theatre to themselves was an added bonus, and Emma felt wonderfully relaxed as she whispered questions to her son about the vague references made on-screen to the previous movies in the franchise that she hadn't seen enough of to understand.
Henry, for his part, seemed to really enjoy sharing something he loved with his mother. He understood that Emma worked as hard as she did to give him what she felt was the best life possible, but that often meant that he didn't get to see as much of her as he would have liked. Henry hoped their move to Storybrooke would change that. While Emma's new job would come with a ton of new responsibilities, he'd Googled the town's crime stats while he'd been at school one lunchtime, and apparently, the entire town reported less crime in a five-year period than Boston did in a single day.
After the movie had finished, they made the short walk to Henry's favorite restaurant, where they feasted on burgers and fries before heading to the arcade Emma knew he liked to visit with his friends on the weekend. At first, she spent her time just following Henry around, making sure he wasn't getting into any trouble and offering him quarters when he needed them. But as time wore on, Emma found herself getting sucked into the games her son encouraged her to play. By the time the arcade had started getting busier with kids dropping by on their way home from school, they had an armful of tokens to exchange for treasure, and Henry had a new plush toy that he'd won too.
"Thanks, Mom. This has been a brilliant day," he trilled, as they made the walk back to the parking lot where they'd left the bug.
"It's not over yet, Kid."
Henry's eyes twinkled with curiosity, and Emma simply shook her head as she unlocked the doors on the vehicle. He would find out soon enough, so she wouldn't be talked into ruining the surprise.
When they finally made it back to their apartment, Emma encouraged Henry to head inside and wash up as she found space in a few of their boxes for the new trinkets they would be taking to Storybrooke with them.
"So, what's for dinner?" Henry asked, as he clunked his way back into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.
"You'll find out soon enough," Emma chuckled. "But first, I was thinking that maybe we could send your birthday list to the fairies."
Henry rolled his eyes at his mother's choice of words, and Emma ignored him in favor of the small stack of goods she'd already prepared for the occasion. "Just humor me, okay, Kid? Write down your birthday list on this piece of paper, I'll tape it to the balloon; we can add my Instagram handle to the bottom, and then hopefully, whoever finds it can get in touch and tell us how far it's traveled."
"That actually sounds kinda cool," Henry admitted, uncapping a pen and pulling the paper towards himself. "But won't the balloon hurt the animals? I'm sure Miss Whitbread told us about that in science."
"Not this one," she assured him, because as she'd been preparing for Henry's special day, a small voice at the back of her head had reminded her that her son would never want to do anything he thought could bring harm to others. "I got it online. It's biodegradable, so we don't need to worry about it damaging the environment or any animals it comes into contact with."
"Awesome!"
Henry bent his head, and Emma watched as her son used his best handwriting to pen a brief message for the 'Birthday Fairies' and then added his top five gifts to the list. She disregarded the word puppy written right at the top and instead made a mental note of the other four items, praying that Amazon would be able to deliver them to their new home in time. At the very bottom of the note, Henry added a small message asking anyone who found the balloon to take a picture and tag his mom in it on Instagram before he signed it off.
"Looks perfect, Kid," Emma praised, as she pulled out a roll of tape and used her teeth to snap off four long pieces. It took her a moment of puffing to inflate the balloon, but once she'd tied it off, Henry stuck his message to the front of it, beaming the entire time.
"Wanna head up to the roof and release it?" Emma asked.
"Yeah!"
Henry was already out of his seat before Emma could push away from the table and rise to her feet. Chuckling affectionately, she snatched her keys from the counter and then followed her son out of the apartment and up the four flights of stairs it took for them to get to the roof.
As soon as Emma unlocked the door for them, Henry bounded outside to stand in the middle of the rooftop garden. The balloon was clutched tightly in his right hand - which he'd already straightened towards the sky.
"Okay, Kid, which direction are we aiming for?"
He took a moment to look around them at the different scenery the Boston skyline had to offer. After a long moment, he finally paused with his back towards the ocean.
"The wind should blow it out to sea," Henry explained.
"Won't that make it harder for people to find?"
"If the Birthday Fairies are real, they can find it anywhere," he argued, and Emma was a little proud of the sheer amount of sass her son packed into that one small statement.
"Okay then. To sea it is."
Henry brought the balloon back down to his chest for a moment and whispered, "Good luck," before he held it up in the air and let it go.
Spinning on his heels, he turned to watch with his mother as the wind blew it across the Boston skyline and out towards the ocean before it eventually disappeared from view.
Emma let him stand and look for just a moment longer before she finally said, "Okay. I think it's time to go and get ready for laser tag."
"Laser tag?" he squealed, his eyes brightening with delight.
"You didn't think I'd make you move across the country without saying goodbye to all of your friends first, did you?"
Henry threw his arms around his mother's waist and squeezed her tightly. "Thanks, Mom," he whispered into her stomach.
"Any time, Kid."
Thanks for reading.