Disclaimer: Do not own Once Upon a Time. Never will, only Ally.
02- The Thing You Love Most
Ally awoke the next morning to the usual shaking by Gigi and the sun streaming into her room through the shades. She quickly grabbed her uniform and made her way out of her room so that she could go to the diner to get breakfast. As Ally opened the door to leave she almost ran into Regina Mills who was holding a big basket of apples.
"Oh! Sorry Ms. Mills. I didn't see you there." Ally cries moving aside to let the Mayor into the inn. Regina turned around and took in the young girl who was her son's best friend.
"Its okay Allison. Just watch where you're going from now on." She tells her before turning around and climbing the guest stairs. She must be going to see Emma. Ally looked after her worriedly before shaking her head. There was nothing that she could do about it.
With a sigh Ally closes the door behind her, and starts skipping down the street and into the diner. The first thing she sees is Henry in the booth closest to the door. They grin at each other, and Ally holds up her finger to let him know that she'd be with him in a minute.
Ally had spotted her mom and that was the main thing on her mind. She sped over to her and hugged on her apron. Ruby smiled down at her daughter and led her over to the counter. "Good morning pup." She says happily kissing her head.
"Morning Mom." Ally says happily before leaning in closer to her. "Did ya see that the clock moved?"
Ruby glanced out the diner in the direction of the clock. "I did this morning when I was opening up. Pretty neat that that old thing found some new life." Ruby comments. "I'll bring you and Mr. Bond over there some breakfast."
With a grin Ally skips back over to Henry and slides into the booth beside him. "Did you see it?" Henry says excitedly. Ally nods her head.
"This is crazy Henry. Its actually happening!" She tells him. Henry grins, and messes with his silverware.
"So is Emma staying with you?" He asks.
"Yeah she checked in last night. I think you really got through to her, she agreed to stay for a week. Only problem is that I saw your mom come in this morning. Emma's the only one staying with us so…" Ally trailed off uneasily. Henry groaned at that.
"She's evil. She's going to drive Emma away before we even get a chance to fight." He sighs and slumps in his seat. Just then Ruby comes over with pancakes and milk for the two of them.
"Hey squirts what's got you so down? I thought you two would be excited seeing as Emma is staying now." She says setting down the food in front of them.
"Its not that Ruby. Just… what if she decides that she doesn't want to stay?" Henry asks her. Both of the children look up at her expectantly now. Ruby crosses her arms and thinks about what she would do if she were in Emma's situation with her own daughter.
"Henry if Emma doesn't stay then its her own issue it won't be because of you. You're a smart, charming, and funny little boy. Anyone could love you, and if she can't see that, then she doesn't deserve you. If all else you can know that I care for you Granny and Ally included, so you'll never be alone." Ruby tells him.
Seeing the acceptance on Henry's face, and the brilliant smile on Ally's is enough to tell her that she said the right thing. After she had left Henry and Ally got into their food, and not much was said for a while. Almost an hour later they were done and Emma had come into the diner.
She was sitting at the counter reading the paper. "I'm going to get her a hot chocolate. That way we can begin to talk about our plan." Henry explains. So when Ally's mom comes back around Henry orders Emma a hot chocolate with cinnamon on it.
Ally stuck her tongue out at that for she'd tried it before and it was terrible. She much more preferred peppermint in her hot chocolate. Both Ally and Henry watched as Ruby set down the cup in front of Emma much to her shock.
"Here you go." Ruby says. Emma cocks an eyebrow at her in response.
"Thank you. But I did not order that." Emma says refusing the drink.
"Yeah, I know. You have an admirer." Ruby says as way of explanation. Emma looked around trying to find who had sent it to her, and went over to Graham.
"Looks like you just got replaced with the Sheriff." Ally snickered to Henry. He glares at her and hits her in the arm, to which she pouts.
"Ah, so you decided to stay." Graham says looking at Emma with interest.
"Observant. Important for a cop." Emma replies with sarcasm. Ally snickers beginning to like Emma more besides the fact that she's Henry's mom.
"It's good news for our tourist business, it's bad for our local signage. It's… It's a joke. It's because you ran over our sign." Graham says chuckling. Henry and Ally exchange a look. Who runs over a sign?
"Look, the cocoa was a nice gesture, and I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon on my chocolate because most people don't, but I am not here to flirt. So thank you, but no thank you." Emma tells him firmly. Graham gives her a confused look.
"I didn't send it." He tells her. Henry grins and pops over the back of our booth.
"I did. I like cinnamon too." Henry calls. Emma has a dumbfounded look on her face for a few moments before coming over to the kids.
"Don't you two have school?" She asks us suspiciously. Ally rolls her eyes and huffs, while Henry nods.
"Duh, we're ten. Walk us." Henry tells her, and the kids slip out of the booth and exit the diner with Emma.
"That didn't stop you two from skipping yesterday though." Emma points out.
"We were up more than half the night!" Ally cries defensively.
"Well you two should have thought of that before you made a trip to Boston on a school night." She scolds.
"Allie gets cranky when she doesn't get enough sleep." Henry relays. Ally smacks him and he smacks her right back. "See?"
Emma pushes herself in between them to stop the squabbling. "So, Henry what's the deal between you and your mom?" Emma asks him.
"It's not about us, it's about her curse. We have to break it. Luckily, I have a plan. Step one – identification. I call it Operation Cobra." Henry says with a wild grin.
"Cobra? That has nothing to do with fairy tales." Emma says confused. Ally rolls her eyes and huffs.
"I suggested we call it Mission Impossible, but Henry says it sounds like we've already given up." Ally says adding a skip to her step.
"Its not supposed to sound like fairy tales. Its to throw the Queen off the trail." Henry goes on ignoring Ally's complaint.
"So, everyone here is a fairy tale character. They just don't know it?" Emma says trying to process everything.
"That's the curse. Time's been frozen— well until you got here." Ally explains hopping over a puddle. Out of the two kids Ally had the most energy that needed to be burned off. Emma pulls out one of the apples that Regina had given her earlier and takes a bite. Henry's eyes widen at the sight of it.
"Hey! Where'd you get that?" He demands.
"Your mom." Emma says.
"Don't eat that!" Henry says grabbing the apple from her hand and throwing it behind them. Ally was chuckling by now at the astonished look on Emma's face. It's been there for a long time now.
"Okay, uh… what about their pasts?" She questions.
"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything. And you'll see. My mom and Gigi barely remember me being little." Ally tells Emma sadly. Emma can see that the curse thing is really important to both kids.
"So, for decades, people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious." Emma asks slowly getting the hang of what the curse is all about. "I have a question though didn't you say that Ally is a character in your book, why hasn't she not aged?"
Henry and Ally exchange worried looks. "We haven't figured out that yet. Ally was about a year old when the curse was cast and you were put in the wardrobe. Our best guess is that the Queen wanted for me to have a friend growing up." Henry explains. Emma looks over Ally trying to picture the young girl at some point actually having been older than her. It was only serving to give her a headache.
"It's complicated. I know. But you're the only one who can stop the curse." Ally says apologetically.
"Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?" Emma says again sounding skeptical.
"Yes. And right now, we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that. I took out the end. The part with you in it. See? Your mom is Snow White." Henry says showing her the ending of the book where you can see baby Emma being held in her mother's arms before they're separated. That part always made Ally want to cry.
"Kids…" Emma says. Henry and Ally stop in front of her for they've now arrived at the school. Henry cuts off Emma's excuses.
"I know the hero never believes at first. If they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take them. Read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are, then it would be bad. I got to go. But I'll find you later and we can get started. I knew you'd believe me!" Henry says. The two start walking towards the door and past their teacher Ms. Mary Margaret Blanchard.
She smiles at the pair and gives Ally a fond but stern look. The young girl only gives her a sheepish look in return. Mary Margaret is a close friend of her Mom so the two have known each other well for a long time.
"I never said I did!" Emma calls after them.
"Why else would you be here?" Henry shouts back at her. Emma sighs, and Ally pulls Henry along into the building so that they can get to their classroom.
"I think we're finally getting to her." He says with a triumphant smile.
"I still can't believe that we're going with Operation Cobra. Can't we pick a cooler name?" Ally whines as the two take their seats at their desks. Ally takes out her notebook and begins to doodle in the margins while Henry looks out the window watching the interaction between Mary Margaret and Emma.
"Emma's talking with her mom Ally! This is going faster then I thought it would!" He whispers to Ally. Ally looks up and over his shoulder to see Emma fidget shyly in front of their teacher who is smiling warmly at her.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Ally wonders. Henry shrugs his shoulders.
"I dunno what do you talk abou with your mom?" He asks her. Ally bites her lip and turns her attention back to her doodles.
"Nothing much… I don't get to spend all that much time with her since she's always working. And, you know that she goes out pretty much every night. Gigi is the only one there to talk to me in the nighttime." Ally mumbles not looking away from her drawing.
"Hey, I'm sorry that I brought it up. I know that I'm not the only one with a hard situation. Yeah my mom's the Evil Queen, but at least I still have Rose around to hang out with at home." Henry tells his friend giving her arm a squeeze. Ally smiles at Henry because he really is the best friend that she's ever had.
"Thanks Henry. I hope that your mom manages to break the curse soon because I'd really like to have my Mom and Gigi back." She tells him.
"She will, just you see. She's the savior after all." Henry says assuredly. The noise level in the classroom decreases when Ms. Blanchard comes in the room and closes the door behind her.
"Okay class, settle down! The day is about to start, and its going to be a special day today. I was thinking that since we're starting a new and exciting science unit, that we can have some class time outside later!" She announces. A cheer goes up from all the kids, grateful to not have to be stuck inside their classroom all day.
Ally is especially grateful because she's never really enjoyed being indoors for long amounts of time. The day drags on until it gets to the afternoon when Ms. Blanchard decides that the kids have been cooped up for too long and it was time to go outside. "Okay, grab your science books. We're heading outside!" She declares. Ally jumps to her feet and pumps her fists in the air while the other kids cheer and stand up.
Henry laughs at her enthusiasm. He's always been more content to hide away and read a book, while Ally would pace while the book was being read. Ms. Blanchard lead the class outside to a shady patch of grass and they all sat down in front of her and opened their books to the first page dealing with the water cycle.
While Ms. Blanchard read, Henry and Ally picked grass and subtly threw it at each other to keep from getting bored and caught. About twenty minutes later the clicking sound of heels approaching gathered Ally's attention. She looked up to see Henry's mom the Mayor approaching the class.
"— water, synthesize…" Mary Margaret reads when she's interrupted.
"Ahem. May I speak with my son and his friend?" Regina asks coolly staring down Ms. Blanchard. Henry and Ally were the only ones who actually knew why she disliked her so much, and that was because they are fairy tale rivals.
"We're in the middle of a lesson? Is it important?" Ms. Blanchard asks. Ms. Mills turns on the teacher with a cold glare in her eye.
"Do you think I'd be here if it wasn't?" She demands. At that Henry and Ally scramble to their feet and walk a good ways from the class to a bench when she actually makes to talk with them.
"Ally, Henry, sweetie, I have some bad news. The woman who you brought here – she's been arrested. She broke into Dr. Hopper's office and stole his files, about you and Ally. She's a con woman. She's trying to learn about us in order to take advantage of us. That's why she's sticking around. I'm sorry." She tells them sadly, but there's a cold satisfied look in her eyes that counters her tone.
"No, you're not." Henry says, glaring at her. Ally didn't say or do anything because personally Henry's mother the Evil Queen and Mayor scares her to death. She might be brave, but she's not stupid.
"I know you think otherwise, but all I'm doing is trying to protect you. This is going to be good for us. You'll see. Things will be better." Regina says. The bell rings at the school in the distance. Ally starts backing away.
"We've got to get back to class." Ally says, grabbing Henry's hand and pulling him behind her back to their class. They grab their books, but before they can get too far Ms. Blanchard stops them.
"Is everything all right?" She asks worried about her struggling students. Both Henry and Ally look grim which isn't that usual for them.
"Something happened to Emma." Ally says sadly. Henry on the other hand is mad.
"And you know what Ms. Blanchard? I think you can help her." He says. She looks at the two kids confusedly before Henry explains his idea to them.
After the last bell of the day rings, Ally, and Henry wait impatiently by Mary Margaret's desk for her to pack her bag. Their mission is to get to the police station as quickly as possible. Ally reasons that she can't get in trouble with her Mom or her Gigi if she's with her teacher. She smirks, loving that there's loop holes in everything.
As soon as their teacher's bag is packed, the three of them are out of the classroom, and the building. "Thank you so much for doing this again Ms. Blanchard." Henry thanks her for what seems like the thousandth time.
"Its no problem Henry. I've talked with her, and it seems like she really cares about you." Mary Margaret assures him. Ally's walking heel to toe on the edge of the sidewalk beside them, and Ms. Blanchard grabs her by her arm and tugs her back onto the sidewalk.
"You're going to hurt yourself, and I'm going to be the one explaining to your mom how you managed to fall off a sidewalk." She chastises lightly. Ally rolls her eyes.
"Its not like she'd have a hard time believing it. I've gotten hurt doing far less before." Ally points out. Henry snickers form the other side of their teacher.
"Remember the chalk incident of last year? You almost got your eye poked out!" He snorts. Ms. Blanchard looks upset but Ally scowls at that memory.
"That's only because Johnny was throwing that chalk at you because you solved your problem at the board first, and made him look dumb." She mutters. Finally Mary Margaret just shakes her head, and prays for more patience with fifth graders. They finally arrive at the Sheriff's office and Henry and Ally run ahead of her into the station.
When they get inside they find Emma getting her mug shot taken by Graham. "Hey!" They cry gathering the attention of both of the adults in the room. Mary Margaret trails the kids in looking at Emma who looks more annoyed than guilty is anything.
"Henry, Ally! Henry, what are you doing here?" Emma asks shocked to see them at the station.
"His mother told them what happened." Mary Margaret explains coming up beside the kids. Emma groans and rolls her eyes.
"Of course she did. Henry, I don't know what she said…"
"You're a genius!" Ally breaks in before Emma can finish the sentence directed at her son. Emma looks at the young girl.
"What?"
"We know what you were up to. You were gathering intel for Operation Cobra." Henry says excitedly bouncing a little.
"I'm sorry. I'm a bit lost." Sheriff Graham says.
"It's need to know, Sheriff. And all you need to know is that Miss Blanchard's going to bail her out." Henry tells him. Emma turns to Mary Margaret shocked.
"You are? Why?" She asks. The teacher shifts uncomfortably for a moment under all the scrutiny.
"I, uh, trust you." She says lamely. Ally guessed that was enough for Emma because she's soon holding out her cuffed hands to Graham.
"Well, if you can uncuff me, I have something to do." She says flatly.
Later on that evening Ally is sitting behind the counter of the inn incase a guest happens to come by. This has mostly been her punishment for running off with Henry to Boston and skipping school the next day. It's pretty much boring and pointless since Emma's the only real costumer to use the inn in a long time.
Ally is fiddling around with a wooden carved wolf, when the door opens and Emma walks in. "Hey kid." She greets, and Ally smiles in response. The girl watches as Emma climbs the steps to her room and a few seconds later Gigi follows. Ally bites her lip because that couldn't be good.
A few minutes later Gigi comes back down the stairs clutching Emma's key. "Emma's checking out child. Could you please return the key? I have to get back to the diner." Gigi tells her handing Ally the key.
"She's leaving?" Ally asks softly. Gigi looks down at her great-granddaughter and sighs, at seeing the sad look on her face.
"There's nothing that I can do child." She says softly, and pats Ally on the cheek and leaves. Ally clutches the key tightly before returning it to its hook. Right after that, she climbs the stairs and stops in the open doorway of Emma's room. Ally watches as Emma stuffs some shirts into her bag rather viciously.
"Are you leaving?" Ally asks finally in a small voice. Emma spins around and stares at the girl in the doorway.
"The inn? Yes. Town? I'm not sure yet." Emma says truthfully. Ally nods her head slowly and continues to watch Emma pack.
"I'm sorry she's making you leave. Gigi wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for Henry's other mom. You know— I can always sneak you back in at night." Ally says trying to get Emma to stay in Storybrooke longer.
Emma sighs and goes over to Ally kneeling down so that she's level with her, and takes the girl's hands in hers. "Ally, you are one of the most courageous and thoughtful little girls that I've met. But, I don't want you getting into any more trouble with your mom and granny because of me.
Ally nods her head sadly and sighs. "I had to try didn't I?" Ally says. Emma smiles at the girl and stands back up to go and zip her bag. "I believe that you are a hero. Even if you don't believe you're one. If you weren't you wouldn't have stuck around this long for Henry."
With that Ally slips out of the doorway and back down to the front desk. She stares intently at the wolf carving again, and sighs.
Later that evening Henry and Ally sit on the couch together in their therapy session. Henry is depressed because he over heard Emma telling his mom that she thought he was crazy. Ally was upset because she had let Emma trick her into thinking she was a good person when in actuality she wasn't.
Archie Hopper watches as both of his charges sit sullenly not speaking. Henry was fiddling with Archie's umbrella, while Ally was scuffing her shoes on the floor.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? You know, that umbrella kind of is my good luck charm. Is that why you think I'm Jiminy Cricket?" Archie asks Henry attempting to get at least one of them to talk.
"I don't think you're anyone." Henry mumbles upset. Ally scoots a little closer to her friend.
"You're Dr. Hopper." She adds in simply. Before Archie can say anything else though, the door bursts open, and Emma comes charging into the room. Archie jumps up from his chair in fright.
"Miss Swan! Look, I can explain. The Mayor forced me to…"
"I know. Don't worry about it. I get it. Henry, I'm sorry." Emma says turning to Henry. Ally scoots away from Henry, and gets up to go to a corner of the room. Even at ten, she knows when a conversation is meant for her or not.
"I don't want to talk to you." Henry says not even looking at Emma.
"Miss Swan, if she knew you were here…" Archie attempts again.
"To hell with her. Henry, there is one simple reason I stayed here. You. I wanted to get to know you." Emma tells him sincerely.
"You think I'm crazy." Henry cries.
"No, I think the curse is crazy. And it is. But, that doesn't mean that it isn't true. It is a lot to ask anyone to believe in, but there are a lot of crazy things in this world. So what do I know. Maybe it is true." She admits.
"But you told my mom." Henry says confusedly.
"What she needed to hear. What I do know, is that if the curse is real, the only way to break it is by tricking the Evil Queen into thinking that we are non-believers. Cause that way, she's not on to us. Isn't that what Operation Cobra was all about? Throwing her off the trail?" Emma asks him.
Henry grins at her widely. "Brilliant!"
"I've read the pages and, Henry, you are right. They are dangerous. There is only one way to make sure that see never sees them." She says pulling out the pages of the book, and walking over to the fire. Emma throws them into the fire and everyone watches as the flames slowly burn them out of existence. "Now we have the advantage." She states.
Henry gets up off the couch and goes over to her. "I knew you were here to help me." Henry states hugging Emma for the first time. She stiffens in shock for a moment before returning the hug.
"That's right, kid. I am. And nothing, not even a curse, is going to stop that." Emma promises him. Archie and Ally watch as the two of them leave the office. Archie shakes his head at the sight, and turns his head to look at his other patient. Ally is still standing in the corner of the room with a sad look on her face.
"Are you all right Ally?" Archie asks the girl. She startles and turns her gaze back to the therapist.
"I think that Henry already got his fairy tale ending Archie." Ally tells him softly.
"Why do you think that?" He questions.
"He got his real mom back now, and he's happy." She replies. Archie takes in the defeated stance of Ally.
"And you're not happy?" He asks already knowing the answer to this particular questions. Ally shrugs her coat back on, and starts for the door.
"No. Night Dr. Hopper. See you next week." She says and leaves the building. Outside she looks down the street and sees Emma and Henry walking, and Emma has her arm around Henry. A pang of sadness washes over her, as she turns the other way and makes it back to the inn.
The moment she steps inside the sound of fighting washes over her. Gigi is glaring at her Mom who is all dressed up to go out again. They don't notice when she slips into the room and around them to head to her room. She closed the door behind her even though it didn't do much good in tuning out the shouting.
Ally throws herself onto her bed and buries her head under her pillow. A minute later a door slams making her flinch. There goes her mother again, and she didn't even say good night this time.
That night Ally lies in bed and prays that Emma breaks the curse soon, for she's not sure how much more of this she could take.
