Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time. I never will. I only own Ally.

A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! Having to skip over parts where there is little to no action for the kids.


09-Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

So things had managed to calm back down in Storybrooke for the most part. The only new thing that had people on edge was August, the stranger in town. When Ally had gotten back to the inn that night, she had seen him in the sitting room sipping on a mug of something, and watching the fire dance.

Ally decided that she had enough of people beating around the bushes to figure out what's going on, so she'd simply walked up to the man and introduced herself, and demanded that he do the same. August had simply laughed, and asked if Ally was indeed the Sheriff's kid.

Ally had made a face at that thought. As much as she loved Emma, and that Henry had now found her, she wouldn't give her Mom up for the world, now that she'd actually found her.

After a few seconds of studying the girl he introduced himself as August, and that he'd be seeing her around town. He wasn't joking about that, but as there weren't any giant disasters, Henry and Ally actually had to focus on their schoolwork for once, which was not the most entertaining.

But now, something bad has happened again. A big storm had come through town the night before, and Henry had woken Ally up early that morning by walkie-talkie. They had to go and check on their castle since, that's where they had decided to hide the book, since Regina or Evil Queen, was beginning to catch on to what they were up to.

So Ally had started out for the castle on foot, since couldn't ride her own bike to get there. When she was finally able to arrive Henry, was already there, with Emma leaning against her squad car. Ally looked at the wreckage of their castle in dismay. This wasn't supposed to happen. Their place was never supposed to be taken away.

"The storm!" Henry cries looking around very upset. Ally comes to stand next to him while Emma catches up.

"It's okay – we can fix it. I'll talk to Marco." Emma says trying to reassure the two kids, that their favorite place won't be taken away.

"Do you think it's still here?" Henry asks Ally, as he drops down into the sand near the structure, with Ally right next to him.

"It better be, or we'll be in some serious trouble." Ally murmurs, helping Henry start digging through the sand, as best she can.

"What are you two looking for?" Emma asks crouching down beside the pair. Henry doesn't bother glancing at her, while Ally looks up at Emma.

"The book." She says softly. Emma's eye widen slightly at the mention of the book that both kids have grown attached to.

"Why'd you bury it here?" Emma asks not quite following the kids this time.

"So my mom doesn't find it." Henry says simply finally pulling out a red lock box, and getting started on opening it.

"Hiding it under your mattress wasn't good enough?" Emma demands shaking her head at this whole cloak and dagger operation.

"That's the first place the Evil Queen would look." Henry says absentmindedly while Ally nods her head in agreement.

"How about leaving it with me or Ally?" Emma asks him confusedly. Ally heaves a sigh and gives her full attention to Emma.

"That's the second place." Ally says seriously, as Henry finally opens the box to reveal the book. Both kids sigh, at seeing that it's safe and still there.

"Its still here, good." Henry says relieved.

"So, your mom doesn't know about the castle?" Emma asks looking around at the fairly barren surroundings.

"No. This is our secret." Henry says solemnly locking the box again, and both kids start reburying it. It was a good thing that they did so at the moment, for a car pulled up and a very angry Madam Mayor stepped out.

"Henry! Ally! I've been looking everywhere for you two. You know you have a session with Archie this morning. I should've known he was with you. Henry, Ally – car. Now." Regina orders, stalking over to the small group as fast as she can in high heels in the sand.

Ally has to cover her mouth with her hand quickly at how ridiculous she looks. Henry stands up with a glare, but not before grabbing Ally's good hand, and dragging her along as well. Once the two get to Regina's car they slide inside. "She's up to something." Henry says the moment the door closes again.

"She's always up to something Henry." Ally tells him watching out the window as Regina and Emma argue yet again. "Those two really know how to go at it." She says softly. Henry turns his attention back to both of his mother's and shrugs his shoulders.

"They're good and evil. They're bound to fight more than most." Henry says. Ally lets out a sigh, and sinks back into her seat, trying to shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen very soon.


After their session with Archie, Henry and Ally decide that they were going to go back to the castle so that they could grab their book, and hide it somewhere else. Now that Regina had actually shown up at their castle, the security of the book had been compromised.

"That book is all we have left of the truth. If we don't have it, then no one's going to believe us. Then everyone in Storybrooke won't get their proper happy endings as well." Henry says leading the pair back towards the beach.

"Its not like people believe us all that much even though he have the book Henry." Ally states glaring down at her sore arm. Its almost healed, but still stuck in the annoying and itchy cast.

"Yeah but it's the history of all these characters. If we don't know it, then how are we going to help them until they are going to remember?" Henry prods turning the last corner before coming to a stop. Ally's eyes widen as she takes in what's happening.

A construction crew with their bulldozers are destroying and knocking over the castle. The one place that they could be themselves without anyone judging them is being taken away slowly but surely. "The book!" Ally cries. Henry races forward with Ally on his heels, dodging past the construction worker who shouts out that they can't be there.

The two jump over shattered and splintered pieces of wood to get to the spot where they stashed the book. What was worse than losing the castle was seeing the hole where the box used to buried. Ally shot Henry a worried look, before an angry yell went out.

"Henry! Ally! What the hell do you two think you're doing running around a working construction site? Did you two not learn anything from the mines?" Regina growls grabbing bother kids by their arms and dragging them back from the scene, and coming to a stop far enough away.

"Why'd you do it?" Henry yells tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Ally already has tears flowing. That castle has been their special place since they were little, and now it was gone, along with the book that proved that this town was indeed under a curse and not like every other in the country. Ally couldn't believe that, too much was riding on the fact that they were cursed now.

"Henry. Despite what you may believe. I love you very much, and allowing such an unsafe structure to be standing where you or Ally could get hurt, would be irresponsible for me. Sorry if that makes me the bad guy." Regina says before storming back over to the foreman of the site.

"Henry…" Ally says trailing off into sniffles not sure what to even say to comfort him. Henry turns to Ally with determined eyes. He digs around in his backpack pulling out his walkie-talkie.

"Emma… Emma come in… we need you over at the castle ASAP!" Henry says into the device. They both waited breathlessly for Emma to respond.

"Okay… give me a few minutes." Emma responds, and Henry gives Ally a grim look.

"She won't get away with this. We can't let her." Henry tells Ally. Ally nods slowly unsure if this was a battle that they could actually win. The two kids watch in silence as one of their best childhood memories is torn down. A few minutes later though, Emma pulls up in her squad car, and hurries over to them her eyes wide as she watches more of the play structure fall.

"Hey, what happened? I came as soon as I could." Emma says not being able to tear her eyes way from the carnage either.

"The castle! She's tearing the whole thing down! My book! It-it's gone." Henry cries, and Ally starts crying again.

"She— she just took it away." Ally says sadly. Emma glances down at the kids sadly before steeling herself. She goes and marches over to Regina who is still with the construction guys.

"This isn't going to end well." Ally says softly watching as Regina and Emma go at it yet again.

"I don't care anymore. We have a serious problem on our hands. We need to recreate the book, before we forget anything." Henry says suddenly. Ally's eye widen thinking about what he's suggesting.

"That— that book had over two hundred pages in it!" Ally exclaims. Henry gives her a determined look.

"More reason why we have to start now." Henry says seriously before, grabbing Ally's hand, and starting to run the other way back to town. They were going to need supplies, and lots of them.


The next day found Ally and Henry sitting next to each other at the counter in the diner. There's markers scattered all around them, and sheets of papers in front of each child. Ruby looks at the pair of them slightly concerned, but happy at the same time. The pair of them have been at it for hours starting yesterday and going into today.

She was still worried about the pair of them though, since when they arrived at the diner yesterday, Ally was in tears and had run to her flinging her arms around her, even though she had a try of food in her hand. Usually the girl was much better at knowing when she could hug her mother and not when she was working.

Ruby was still unsure about why Regina would tear down the playground that both of the kids were so attached to. The las time that Ruby had been there with them, it had seemed perfectly safe, but she hadn't been there in a while. With a sigh Ruby grabbed the two mugs that she had been preparing for the kids, and set them in front of the diligent pair.

"Here you go, two piping hit mugs of hot chocolate one with cinnamon for the man with a plan, and one peppermint for the pup that won't give up." She says happy with her quick thinking. Henry and Ally look up from their work on the book to see Ruby smiling at them.

"Thanks Mom." Ally tells her with a tired smile. Ally hadn't slept well the last night since her Mom had gone out again, and her and Gigi had had another yelling match. Things seem to be crumbling faster around here than the pair of them could fix things. Henry was beginning to freak out about it all again.

"Yeah thanks Ruby." Henry mutters absently adding the last touches to his drawing. With a fond shake of her head Ruby goes back to pick up a ready order for a customer.

"Just finished with part of the Evil Queen's story." Henry says softly. Ally nods her head, and takes his finished pages, pulling out a folder in her backpack, and placing it inside to keep them safe. The bell over the door to the diner rings, and suddenly August is sitting down next to Henry. Both kids look at him warily not sure what he's wanting with them.

"Whatcha working on?" He asks them, trying to take a peek at Ally's page, which happens to be the last page of Little Red Riding Hood's backstory. She pulls the page closer to her, not sure if they can trust the man with the book.

"Uh, no time to talk. We got to write it all down before we forget." Henry tells August turning back to his new sheet of paper, and beginning to write out the next bit of story.

"Yeah, I hate it when great ideas slip away from me." August says with a sigh. Ally raises her eyebrow having forgotten that August had mentioned to her Gigi that he was a writer before.

"They're not our ideas. They're stories from a book that we lost." Ally tells him finishing the last little bit on her Mom and Gigi's story. She glances over it, before putting all the completed pages into her folder.

"Must be a hell of a book. What's it about?" August asks curiously trying to get another look at the pages they're working on.

"Stuff." Henry says quickly giving August a wary look. You never knew who could be a spy for the Evil Queen after all.

"Sounds exciting." August comments. Henry sets down his marker and narrows his eyes at the still mysterious stranger.

"You seem awfully interested in me and my book." Henry says suspiciously. Ally glances around the diner trying to find her Mom incase something bad happens.

"No, I'm just being neighborly." August says holding his hands up to the kids defensively.

"What are you doing in Storybrooke?" Ally demands finally getting fed up with her lack of answers from the man. He chuckles at the pair's tenacity.

"I'm a writer." August says simply. Ally rolls her eyes at his obvious and unhelpful answer.

"You can write anywhere. What are you really doing here?" Henry demands sticking with the pressure. The man laughs this time getting up from his stool.

"Stuff. Good luck with the stories." August says before turning and leaving the diner, like he had never been there in the first place.

"I don't like that guy." Henry mutters turning back to his sheet.

"You just don't like him because you can't place what character he is." Ally tells her friend with a grin. Henry glares and her and gives her a small shove back for that comment, before sighing. They still had a long way to go.


The town was abuzz later that day because of what had happened at the town council meeting. Emma had stood up to Regina and accused her own taking money from the town, but it turns out that it was all so that she could build a new playground for Henry and all the rest of us kids to play on. Ally wasn't so sure that was actually the case, for how much money did building a new playground actually take, when the old one was perfectly fine?

The next day found Henry and Ally sitting on a bench watching a multitude of other children playing on the new playground that Regina had made. They were both thoroughly displeased since there were so many other kids there now. This wasn't going to be a place where they could be alone.

At least she didn't build this new hunk of junk where their old one used to stand. "We'll make a fort." Ally says suddenly, jarring Henry out of his bad mood.

"What are you talking about?" He asks her. Ally grins, and starts bouncing a little in her seat.

"This is perfect! Your mom won't expect us to go back and be there anymore, so we can build a fort. That way we don't have to be around the rest of these kids. Come on Henry it will be fun, and we'll finally have a base of operations again." Ally says trying to bribe her best friend into going along with this idea.

Slowly Henry starts to smile. "I like the way you think Wolfpup." He says with a grin. Ally scowls at him, and pokes him in the ribs hard.

"Took you long enough Nightwing." She returns. Suddenly Henry looks behind them, and grins. "Look! Its Emma!" He cries. Ally turns around and smiles as well seeing Emma sitting in her car. Ally digs out her walkie-talkie so that they can talk.

"Why are you so far away? Come out here!" Ally says, Henry waving at her to get her to join us.

"Sorry, kids. I can't today." Emma says. Both kids give the walkie weird looks like they're sure that they didn't hear her right.

"You're undercover, aren't you? For Operation Cobra?" Henry says. A sigh comes through the device, and Ally bites her lip in worry. Something's not right here.

"No, Henry. I'm not undercover. Your mom – she doesn't want us seeing each other for a while." Emma says finally. Henry shoots a scandalized look at Emma over in her car.

"You don't have to listen to her." He counters, getting anxious.

"Actually, this time, I do. I screwed up, Henry. I got mad at your mom about you and the book and everything and… Well, we're just going to have to be apart for a little while." Emma tells him. Ally growls softly not liking this one bit.

"I don't want to be apart." Henry says sounding close to crying. Emma takes a shaky breath and presses the button to talk to the kids again.

"Neither do I. But, right now, we have to. Don't worry – I'll find a way back in. And hey. If it's out there, Henry – I will find your book." Emma tells him determinedly.

"Good luck. It's probably gone and it's probably never coming back." Henry says sadly. With that the three give their good byes and Emma drives away. Ally looks at her crestfallen friend, and nods determinedly.

"Come on." She says getting to her feet. Henry jumps up beside her cocking his head to the side unsure what's going on.

"Where are we going?" Henry asks. Ally give him a grin, grabbing his hand, and pulling Henry to his house.

"We're going to build a fort and I know just the person to ask." Ally tells him. When they get to his house, Ally rings the bell just to get some amusement out of this. A few minutes later, a rather annoyed looking Rose opens the door.

"Don't you have a key? Or use your ninja skills to break in or something?" She asks letting them in and closing the door behind them. Ally just smiles at the teen, and Henry mimics her.

"Actually, we need your help." Ally says. Rose raises her eyebrow, and the three of them retreat up to her room to plot in secret.