Ouat
Season 1 Episode 1
Pilot
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—Archie's Office—
Peter's POV:
I was at Archie's office, the last five minutes of therapy were always the most nerve-wracking, it was even more so when I got the news Henry was missing.
Ariche pushes up his glasses before saying "Well, I'm going to have to cut this short. Make sure you take your prescribed medication at the times allotted on your prescription, and you're free to wait so we can walk together."
"Thanks, man. Hey, did you know that Henry's been missing?" I started to pick up my bag, draping my scarf around my neck before yanking on my jacket. "Gina's been blowing up my phone all day, practically demanding me for any updates she can get."
Archie picked up his umbrella before grabbing pongo's leash and started to walk out of the office. "Well, she's very worried. Henry's been pulling away from her recently, so she holds on tighter." I sighed, bringing my hands to my pockets.
"It seems to have backfired though, seeing as nobody's seen the ki-" I paused for a second, squinting before exclaiming, "Wait, that's Henry right there."
"Henry! What are you doing here?" Archie exclaims before looking at the blonde woman. "Is everything all right?" Henry smiles a little bit, "I'm fine Archie, Peter." He starts to pet Pongo gently.
"Who's the blonde?" I ask, giving her a glance. She looks at me and says, "I'm Emma, just trying to give the kid a ride home." Henry perks up, "She's my mom, you guys."
I nod, "Well it is very nice to meet you, Emma." I hold out my hand for a shake. She grasps it before asking "Either of you know where he lives?"
"Yeah," Archie starts, "Sure, just uh, right up on Mifflin Street; the Mayor's house is the biggest one on the block." Emma turns her head to face Henry, giving him a look. "You're the mayor's kid?" In return, Henry gives a sheepish look, "Maybe."
"Hey. Uh, where were you today, Henry, because you missed our session?" Archie questions. Henry gives Archie a small smile "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I went on a field trip."
I roll my head a little, "What is it that Archie always tells you about lying, Henry?" Henry pouts a little, "Giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything." He repeats like he has many times before.
"Okay," Emma stresses, "Well, I really should be getting him home." I give her a small grin before asking, "You wouldn't mind if I came with you right? I know Gina is gonna want to see me before the nights out." Emma contemplates before giving a shrug, "That's cool."
"Have a good night, and uh, you be good, Henry. I'll see you on Wednesday, Peter." Archie walks away.
"He doesn't seem cursed to me, maybe he's just trying to help you." Emma states. 'He's the one who needs help. Because he doesn't know." Henry said, becoming a little defensive. Emma retorts, "That he's a fairytale character." in a disbelieving tone.
Henry tries to get Emma to believe, "None of them do. They don't remember who they are." Henry walks to the car door before getting in. "Convenient. All right. I'll play. Who is Archie supposed to be?" She questions as we open the car doors and hop in.
"Jiminy Cricket!" Henry responds. "Right. The lying thing. Thought your nose grew a little bit." Emma responds, albeit a little dryly. "He's not Pinocchio," I speak up, leaning back into the seat in amusement. "'Course he's not. 'Cause, that would be ridiculous. Who're you supposed to be, Peter?"
I tilt my head to the side, "Aster Red."
"Okay, who's Aster Red? Cause I'm not sure what you've read, but he's never been mentioned before." Emma starts.
"Have you ever heard of Rose Red?" At the nod of her head, I continued, "Well, you very well can't name a boy Rose, so Aster was the second-best choice."
"But in every story, Rose or Aster or whatever their name is a girl." I gave her a look, "Well, perhaps they just misgendered me." I reply in a slightly mocking tone. Pulling out my phone, I text Gina.
—— ——
Regina
Reid: I found Henry, heading to your place right now.
Regina: Thank God, be here as quickly as possible.
—— ——
And with that, we buckle in and she drives off.
——————
—Regina's House—
As we walk toward the front door, Henry starts to plead. "Please don't take me back there." Emma turns back for a second, "I have to. I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you."
Henry sighs "I don't have parents. I just have a mom, and she's evil." We all stop walking as we turn to look at Henry, "Your mom's not evil Henry." I say, my voice sounding a bit emotional.
Henry proceeds with his point of view on his mother though. "She is. She doesn't love me; she only pretends to."
Emma squats so she's face-to-face with him, "Kid. I'm sure that's not true." Suddenly, the door opens to reveal Regina and Graham.
"Henry? Uh! Henry!" She cries before she runs out and hugs him. "Are you okay? Where have you been? What happened?" She questions, glancing at us before putting all her attention on her son.
"I found my real mom!" Henry exclaims before running off into the house. "You're Henry's birth mother?" Gina asks Emma.
"We're gonna go check on Henry to make sure he's okay." I quietly state before grabbing Graham's hand and pulling him inside.
We walk up the stairs before stopping in front of Henry's room. "I think it would be best if you go in alone, Peter. Henry's more likely to tell the truth to you instead of me." I give a nod before entering the room.
"Henry," I say, walking over and sitting on the bed, "You had a lot of people worried today." His head peaks up from underneath the swaddle he was lying in. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to find my mom," He answers.
"Henry, you didn't have to go all by yourself, you could have just asked me and I would have taken you."
"But you can't leave, bad things will happen." He responds, sounding despondent. "We could have figured something out, Henry. The next time you ever want to leave town, come talk to me about it. I don't ever want to feel like you have to run away again."
There was a little pause of conversation in the room."Goodnight Peter." He finally responds, and my heart drops a little at the obvious dismissal. "Night Henry," I responded, kissing his forehead before walking out of the room.
When I got downstairs, Gina was just showing Emma out the door. She held up her hand and counted to five before turning around and looking at me. "Why didn't you tell me that woman was with you?" She gave me a glare.
"That's not the kind of thing you'd want to hear from me, or over text, Gina." I tilted my head, "It's not like she's staying long anyway. She'll be back to wherever she lives by tomorrow."
Her features softened, looking more upset than the anger she just displayed a second ago. "How was your session today?" I let my hand shake a little, starting to tap my feet in an alternating pattern. "It was, uh, good. Talked about Dan fronting while driving."
"Well, I hope it gets better. It's getting really late, you should head home." She smiles when she speaks, but she really looks like she's about to cry. I walk over and give her a hug, albeit a little sluggish. "I'll see you tomorrow Gina." She pulls away to open the door for me, "Good night."
——————
—Richard & Peter's house—
Richard Gold's POV:
It was around 11 pm when Peter stumbled into the house. He takes off his shoes before climbing into my lap. "Hey, how was work." He asks. I leaned down to give him a peck on his lips before answering, "It wasn't anything special, how was your day?"
"I found Henry and his birth mother today. She gave me a ride to Gina's house." He replied, his head bobbing before giving out a yawn. It had been a while since I and Peter had done anything together, but in 4 days it would be Saturday and we could have some fun.
"Henry even told her about his theory." He says, a dopey smile plastered on his face as he gives my collarbone a peck. A yawn was released from my lips as we got up to move to the bathroom.
"Rich, she did not even try to humor the kid; like I get that he dragged her from her life but even then the least she could do was indulge him in his theory until she leaves." He complains, running his toothbrush underneath the water one final time before bringing it up to brush his teeth.
"She probably is one of those realists," I start, beginning to prepare my toothbrush; "People with hard lives who deny that fantasies are what people sometimes need." I start to brush my teeth.
He lifts his hand to give me a love tap on my cheek. "People like you?" Peter says, giving me a cheeky smile, his teeth covered in the foamy toothpaste. "Hey! I admit I'm a little, er, strict, but I can even admit that people need fantasies."
Peter spits out his toothpaste before leaning his head on my shoulder. "And what do you fantasize about, Rich?" He gives me one of those sultry looks that send a shiver down my body. "Well, this particular one involves you with rope and a particularly naughty pair of red lace underwear." We both rinse our mouths before walking to the bedroom.
"But these fantasies are to be acted upon another day, my sleepy boy," I say tucking him into bed before climbing into bed. He cuddles up to me as I absentmindedly run my hand through his hair. We mutter our goodnight's before allowing ourselves to drift off.
——————
Michael's POV:
When I woke up, Richard was still sleeping. I shook him awake, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, sighing as he stroked my back.
"Good morning babe. What happened yesterday?" I asked, leaning into his touch. "Henry ran away to find his birth mother. She brought him back and you caught a ride with her to Regina's house before coming over here." He said.
"Thanks," I reached up and ran my hand through his hair, "Katrine has been complaining about the lack of quality time with you. And Lilly thanks you for the new hair bow." I smiled slightly as he kissed my neck. "Do you have anything to do after you close the shop?" I questioned.
"Well I have to collect rent from Granny, but other than that there's nothing much to do, why?" I slowly sat up, grabbing my phone right as notifications started to roll in.
—— ——
Regina
Regina: Have you seen Henry?
Regina: He wasn't here this morning.
Regina: This is twice in a row
I've woken up and he's gone.
Reid: I haven't seen Henry.
Reid: I'll be at your house in twenty
minutes.
—— ——
"Henry's missing again." I let out a breath as Richard rested his chin on my shoulder. "I gotta head to Regina's to help look for him, but after that, I was hoping we could have a little alone time later."
"Well, I am more than willing to spend time with you after work." He presses a kiss to my head before saying, "Now come along, we both have things to do today." We both get up before heading along with our day.
——————
—Regina's House—
I rushed to the front step of Regina's house, banging my fist on the door. "Regina, I'm here!" I shout, trying to grab her attention. However, it's Sheriff Graham that opens the door. "They're heading to the school," He says, not even stopping to look at me before stalking off to his car.
Before I can even question what he means by that, Regina and some blonde walk out the door. "Good morning Regina, it's Michael," I say before turning to the blonde, "And what would be your name, miss?" I questioned, holding out my hand for a handshake.
She gives me a look, "It's Emma, like I told you yesterday when we met." I turned to look at Regina, the question in my eyes was obvious. "Never mind who met who, we're going for Mary Margaret's class," Regina says, her body on high alert as we walked to her car.
"Why would my cousin know where Henry is?" I asked, my mood suddenly upturned at the thought of seeing her. Regina starts the car, driving fast enough to barely stay below the speed limit.
"Because it was her credit card he used to find her." She jerked her head at Emma, who was sitting in the backseat.
"Why would she give him her credit card?" Emma asks, her face making a look that could only be classified as confused. "Because she ruins things," I say, my hands lightly clenched against my shirt. "If there's one thing you'll find, Emma, it's that Mary-Margaret Blanchard is the person to bring your life to ruin, even if she doesn't realize it."
"What did she ever do to you?" Emma questions, her eyes giving away how she feels about my claims.
"She destroyed my hope."
——————
—Mary-Margaret's Classroom—
We walked into Mary-Margaret's class as soon as the bell rings. "Where's my son?" Regina asks, her face coated in anger. "Henry," she starts, her tone light as if she was discussing the weather. "I assumed he was home with you." Her face showcasing a decorated innocence that only irritated me and Regina more.
"We wouldn't be here if he wasn't, Mary." I start, being sure to keep my tone as passive as I can. "Did you give him your credit card so he can find her?" Regina finishes, gesturing her hand to Emma.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Mary Margaret asks, giving Emma a glance as she tries to work out who she is. "I'm—I'm his,—" Emma stutters out before I cut her off. "It doesn't matter who she is," I claim, my voice losing its tone in exchange for one of annoyance.
"You don't know anything about this, do you?" Emma asks, glancing my way to make sure I won't cut her off. "No, unfortunately not," she claims before going to check her bag. "Clever boy. I should never have given him that book." She says, her tone slightly shocked at what Henry had done.
"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" Regina questions at the same time I say, "You're the one who gave him that book?" Mary-Margaret dips her head a little before answering our questions. "Yes, well, it was just a book of some old stories that I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy: so smart, so creative, and as you might be aware, lonely. He needed it." She sounded so secure in her sentence as if she was righting the wrongs of someone else.
"What he needs is a way to make friends, not an overbearing teacher who doesn't know how to stop butting into people's lives," I exclaim, losing any type of passive feelings I was holding onto. "This is a waste of time. Have a nice trip back to Boston." Regina says before we both take our leave from the classroom.
As the two of us walked down the hall, I took a look at my watch. "Shit, sorry Regina, I gotta get to work." She gives me a small smile before saying, "Go ahead, wouldn't want the only tolerable employee at the bakery to be late."
"Thanks, I can't help you search tonight though, I got a date," I say before starting to jog down the hallway.
——————
—Richard & Peter's house—
When I arrived home, there was a note on the table. "Change into the outfit on the bed and head to the backyard." I read aloud, a small smile on my face. It wasn't like Richard to do dates in the backyard, preferring to rent out places for the night so that we could have lavish date nights without people leering at us.
I'm 28, not 17. I knew exactly what I wanted when I pursued a relationship with Richard. We had been friends since Peter had turned 20 and didn't engage in any romantic relationships until Peter turned 24.
It annoys everyone in the system when we're out on dates and people try to but into our relationship with words like, "You know how he is, don't you?" Or whispers or how Richard groomed me to be pliant to his wishes.
I headed for the bedroom, the outfit Richard had picked out made me smile. It was the outfit I had worn when we had proposed to him. Originally, it was going to be just Peter, but I wanted to be there too and was co-conscious for the whole thing.
It was a black shirt with a dark red jacket layered over it, decorated in lace. The pants were also black, but with the tiniest red dots all over to leave the actual color of the pants ambiguous from afar.
As I changed, I couldn't help but think of the proposal. We had been so sure of ourselves all the way through, giving very detailed descriptions of our love for Richard. When Richard said yes, however, we promptly burst into tears, feeling very emotional. (That was more on Peter's part but I still share the blame whenever Richard teases him about it.)
When I arrived in the backyard, I smiled in awe as Richard shouted from the picnic blanket. "Come along now, dearie. The food is getting cold." Dearie, that was a new one. Never had he ever called me dearie before.
"You remembered," I stated, the soft blanket bringing comfort to me as memories blurred past my head. Before Peter's mother died, they used to go on family picnics every other weekend. I had only mentioned it once to Richard high on dopamine after sex.
Peter and I became co-conscious. This had gone from my date to our date. I smiled as Peter began to speak, "I haven't been on a picnic since I was 4, Rich." Our voice was soft, slightly slurred from being slightly dissociated. "Oh, has Peter come out too?" He asks, his accent sending warmth throughout our body.
"Yeah, I wanted to be here." He said, and a smile ran across Richard's face as he realized he was taking both his loves on a date. He began to unpack some of the food he had prepared.
"So I have some kimbap because it's Michaels favorite, and I made some meat pies because I know that Peter loves them. I have potato scones because I can't ever escape Scotland food. For dessert, I bought some cheesecake from The Heel while you were on break, tiramisu, and some red velvet cookies."
I grinned, Peter moving to give Richard a hug. "Thank you, Rich," he starts pulling away so he could put food on Richard's plate. "You didn't have to do all of this." I finish, moving to dish food onto my plate.
And as we laughed and ate, we realized that we were exactly where we were supposed to be.