Emma tossed her jacket at the couch when she made it through the front door, and when it landed on the coffee table instead, she just stared at it.
"Are you okay?" Mary sat at the kitchen island with a glass of wine and a stack of quizzes that needed to be graded.
"Yeah," Emma shook her head without looking at her friend. "Are the kids sleep already?"
"They're at a friend's house, remember?" Mary set down her red ink pen. "You are definitely not okay. Is the nightmares?"
Emma debated whether or not to tell Mary. On one hand, she didn't want to admit she was falling apart over guy, especially since they had never technically dated; but she knew Mary wouldn't stop hounding her until she opened up. She took the path of least resistance. Emma took a seat next to Mary on the island. "Priscilla is dating Killian."
"You guys broke up?"
"What?"
"Come on Emma, you two weren't exactly subtle." Mary replied knowingly.
Emma laughed harshly. "We never dated, Mary. And I'm pretty sure he never felt that way about me."
"But you felt that way about him."
"Trust me, it's a mistake I'm never repeated."
"Emma," Mary said sternly, "Loving Killian wasn't a mistake."
"Are you sure about that?" Emma replied with a edge in her voice, "Because it didn't really do me many good. I was too scared to tell him how I felt, then he pulled that 'magic is real' crap on me, I gave him the cold shoulder, and now he's ditching me for fucking Priscilla. What part of that isn't a mistake?"
"The 'having feelings' part." Mary replied. "You put this big wall between you and everyone else. And while that wall might keep out pain, it also keeps out love."
Emma looked away, "It's doesn't matter now. He was the only guy I liked for years and he's with someone else now." Her cell phone buzzed. "Hold on, it's Graham."
David downed a glass of scotch as he thought back to his client's arraignment.
Nobody complained about Flora Xue; nobody had a word to say against her. Flora worked long hours at Storybrooke General Hospital as nurse, but still found time to raise her little brother, Conner, who by all accounts was a good kid. She put herself through school after her parents and grandmother had disappeared, donated to charity, and baked cookies for the bimonthly PTA meetings. When a fire destroyed the elderly Mrs. Cohen's apartment, Flora graciously invited the old woman to live her until she could find a new home. The idea that Flora Xue had something to do with Priscilla Jefferson's disappearance just didn't fit.
Yet, for some odd reason, Sheriff Graham arrested her in connection to the crime. For now Conner was staying with a neighbor, Dawn Thorne; unbeknownst to everyone else because to the curse, Dawn and Flora were actually married. As the town's only public defender, the case fell to David. And he could, from the minute he stepped into the police station, that something was wrong. Regina had come down to station, lips quirked in self-satisfied smile as she spoke in hushed tones with Albert Spencer. If she was involved, Flora wasn't getting a fair trial. During the arraignment, the prosecution didn't offer a plea deal, and that's when he knew Flora was the scapegoat. For what, he didn't know, but he had to find out fast.
"Is this seat taken?"
David looked up to see Snow...Mary standing beside him, her eyes friendly but blank.
"Uh, I, yeah, of course," he stuttered, his shoulders involuntarily tensing.
Mary looked apprehensive, "If you don't want me to, that's fine."
"No really, it's no trouble." David lied.
Being around Mary Blanchard was an exercise in self-torment. Had she been a real person and not a construct of the curse, he might be gotten along with her just fine. But this distorted facsimile of his wife made his insides feel hollow whenever he looked at her. Even her physical appearance was off; her skin a washed-out too-pale shade, her hair short and pale blonde.
And for all effort trying to figure out how to break the curse, he had nothing, no way to bring back the love his life. If not true love's kiss, what could save her and their family?
"I get the feeling you don't like me very much," Mary noted, trying to sound nonchalant as the waitress handed her a glass of rum.
"It's not that, I just..." David shrugged. There was no way to explain what he really felt for her. "Is that why you came over?"
"Not exactly," Mary admitted sheepishly. She traced the edge of the rim with her pinkie finger. "Would it count as obstruction if I told you Flora Xue was innocent?"
"No, you'd just be saying what I'm already thinking."
"Good."
David hazarded to look her, "Why? Do you any proof?"
"No, just hope that the trial will go her way. She doesn't deserve any of this," Mary replied, looked back at him. That empty look in her eyes chilled him.
Mary set her glass down forcefully. "Why are you always looking at me like that?" she demanded.
"Like what?"
"Like I just swallowed your pet goldfish right in front of you."
"I have a dog?"
Mary rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. You always seem so uncomfortable and jumpy whenever I talk to you. Did I say something, do something-"
"No, it's not anything you did," David swore.
"Then what is it?" Mary looked hurt. "I mean, you don't have to like me, that's fine, but I guess I just want to understand, you know?"
"It's not anything you did," David assured her.
"Then what is it?" Mary pushed.
David hesitated, but ultimately decided to tell the truth. Some of the truth. "You remind of someone. I mean you look just like her, it's uncanny. Um, she's...she's not here anymore, so...seeing you reminds me of her, and that hasn't been easy to deal with."
"Oh," Mary looked down, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize..."
"Don't me," David told her. "Like I said, it's nothing you did or said. This is my problem, not yours."
"Still..." Mary took another sip of her drink. She blushed, shy as she asked, "Do you want to talk about her?"
David felt so tempted. The words were on the tip of his tongue, how smart and fierce and loving Snow was. But it didn't feel right. "I...I have to go actually." He downed the rest of his scotch. "I'll see you around." He hated to leave Mary like that, but he had to get out of there.
Snow woke to suffocating heat of the bear's body. It had been a blistering cold the night when they had first escaped, but in the morning sunlight she felt as though she were about to melt. The teenage princess shimmied away from the huge, hairy creature whom she had dubbed Charming, not even caring about the dried mud that splattered her clothing. Charming woke, his golden eyes following Snow as she stretched her stiff legs and rose to her feet.
"You remember me?" she asked.
Charming nodded. Snow knew Charming wasn't an ordinary bear, but she could only guess what sort of magic had granted him human-level intelligence and the ability to understand human speech.
"Thank you for saving me," Snow said with a sad smile. "I guess that makes us even."
Charming gave a gruff snort and nudged his head against her stomach. Snow stroked the thick fur between his ears.
"Oh no," Snow gasped. "I have nobody to do my hair." She looked down at the filthy clothes and for the first time in downed on her that this was her only dress. She had nothing to change into, nowhere to take a bath, no perfume or anything. "I can't go out looking like this!"
Charming lifted his head from her lap, his expression judgmental.
"Don't give me that!" Snow snapped. "I'm a princess, I deserve better than this."
Charming rolled his eyes. Actually rolled his eyes. Snow was astonished by human he seemed, but mostly just annoyed that he didn't seem to care how horrible this was for her. He was a bear after all, he didn't have to worry about looking presentable.
Snow got up to her feet and did a quick inspection of herself. Her glossy black hair was a tangled mess. Her stocking and hem were so muddy she couldn't remember their original color, and dust coated her skirts and bodice. She even noticed a large tear on the side of her skirt. She didn't know anything about washing or mending clothes, and she had no money to buy news ones. There was nothing she could do but walking about the ruins of her dress. She'd have to work for money is she wanted new clothes. Normally her father could...
No. She couldn't think of her father or surely she would collapse in tears. She couldn't bring him back to life, she just had to focus on what was right in front of her. Her dress. Her dress was ruined and she had do something about it. That's what she had to keep her mind on.
"This is going to harder than I thought," Snow sighed aloud.
Snow and Charming stayed near the roads, but not directly on it. One the huntsman returned to the palace without her heart, Regina would undoubtedly send more men to try to kill her. She felt safer knowing she had a ten foot tall bear to protect her, but Snow knew better than to let her guard down. She hoped that when she found the dwarfs, they lived in a castle underground like in the stories her father used to tell her, surrounded by gleaming jewels and hall gilded in gold. Being on the run didn't agree with the young princess. She had spent her whole life in luxury, the future queen of the kingdom, attended day and night by servants.
At midday, Snow stomach began rumbling. She remembered that she had no food and no money. The forest could probably provide something for her to eat. She turned to the nearest tress and found small, dark berries growing under its broad leaves. Snow picked a few, before she realized she had no idea if it was safe to eat. Charming would probably know, but she felt embarrassed asking him. For the first time in her life, Snow White felt helpless and useless. She'd been given the finest education, in history and mathematics and science and music, but what go was any of that when she had no idea how to take care of herself?
Charming came to her, and sniffed the berries in her hand. With surprising gentleness for such a large, ferocious-looking creature, he gently swept the berries from her hand with a paw.
'Guess those weren't all that good for eating after all,' Snow thought.
Charming walked over to another tree and Snow followed him. It had dark, narrow leaves with soft-looking red fruit hanging from its branches. He placed a heavy paw on its trunk.
"Is this safe to eat?" Snow asked meekly. Charming nodded.
What had happened to her life? She was princess - she should have been queen by now! But instead she was standing in the middle of the forest in a tattered, filthy dress asking a human-like, probably magical bear what tree had fruit that was safe to eat. Charming was her only companion, with her father dead and her own mother accusing her of killing him. Why would her mother even say that? How could anyone believe that? Snow had loved her dearly, everyone knew it! She would never, in a million years hurt him. She didn't deserve this.
Snow collapsed to the ground as the tears began following freely down her face. This whole time she had holding her true feelings inside, focusing on things that didn't really matter, but now the flood of grief and anger and fear washed over her. Charming, alarmed, nudged her cheek with her snout, but Snow swattered him away.
"It's not fair!" she cried, sobs shaking her small body, "It's not fair! I don't do anything wrong! It's not fair!"
"Conner aren't you hungry?" Dawn asked. It was just the three of them at the table: her, her daughter Pippa, and their guest Conner Xue. Since his older sister's arrest, Conner had been abnormally quiet and gloomy, not that she could blame him. If Flora was convinced of kidnapping Priscilla Jefferson, he will have lost his entire family.
"Not really," he shrugged. His plate was still more than half full, just like last night, and the night before that.
"You have to finish eating," Dawn told him firmly.
"I said I'm not hungry!" Conner snapped. "Don't tell what to do, you're not my mom."
Dawn took a deep breath to calm herself. 'Conner isn't a bad kid,' she told herself, 'he's just doing through a lot.' She replied, "I know I'm not, and I not trying to replace your family. But I am responsible for your well-being and that includes making sure you eat enough."
Conner pushed the plate aside and roughly got up from his seat, "Leave me along!" As he stomped to the guest room, Pippa began crying.
Dawn picked up her daughter and began rocking to try to calm her. She'd just have to let Conner cool down on his own.
Long after his mother had bid him goodnight, Henry stayed up using a flashlight to study his storybook. Since his mother had gotten stricter and more hostile toward anyone who tried to spent time with him, he hadn't had the chance to make much progress on his efforts to break the curse. He still had yet to find a way to convince Emma that magic was real. It was only by luck she hadn't changed her mind and left Storybrooke by now. Henry and Emma only got to see in each in brief moments when his mother wasn't watching him like a hawk, but those were getting fewer and farther between. Emma was always tired from work and eager to get home, plus she had to take care of Ava and Nicholas.
Henry was still on the fence about how he felt about the twins being Emma's foster children. On one hand, he knew they deserved a home and someone to look after them, especially after what Regina did to their father. But he couldn't shake the envy he felt whenever he saw Emma drop them off at school, fixing their hair and smiling as they waved goodbye to her. Part of him still hadn't given up home that Emma was his birth mother.
He just wished he had a mom who genuinely loved him. He wished he had a mom who didn't lie to him and try to make him feel like he was crazy, who didn't make him a prison in his own home just because she wanted to be the only person he loved.
A stone hit his window. Henry sat up straight in bed. Letting his flashlight hit the ground, Henry jumped over to the window and pulled it open. Conner had somehow managed to sneak into the backyard. He stood outside in a thick winter coat and a scarf, his face pale and serious. Word got out quickly that Conner's older sister, Flora, had been arrested.
Henry opened his bedroom window and carefully climbed down via the nearby tree. He had been practicing this for a while, so he could sneak out to see Emma while his mother though he was asleep. When Henry finally reached the ground, the first thing he did was hug Conner. The other boy wrapped his arms tight around Henry, pressing his face into Henry's shoulder as he began to crying quietly.
They stayed like until Conner collected himself and let go, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.
"I'm sorry about what happened to your sister," Henry said.
Conner shook his head. "She didn't do it, you know that right? Everyone says she did, but I know Flora. She'd never do something like this."
"I believe you," Henry reassured him. "Actually, I think my mom set her up."
Conner's eyes widened, "Seriously?"
"The same Flora got arrested, my mom looked really smug for some reason, like she just go away with something."
"I didn't get it," Conner tilted his head. "Why would she want to hurt Ms. Jefferson or frame my sister for it?"
"I don't know," Henry admitted, "But I do know my mom is up to no good. She's the Evil Queen, after all."
Conner looked skeptical, "You still believe that fairy tale stuff?"
By now Henry had gotten used to people doubting his theories, so he didn't let it bother him. "Yes. Listen, the sheriff does whatever my mom wants and if my mom wants your sister to go to jail, there's nothing we can do to convince himself other. But Emma hates my mom. If we can help her find proof that your sister is innocent, she'll do everything possible to make sure Flora's name is cleared.
"But how are we gonna do that?" Conner asked.
"I have a plan," Henry smiled.
AN: This was a lot shorter than I had planned, but I have non-fanfiction related stuff to take care of, either I'll go back to edit this chapter, or I'll include what I meant to have in this chapter in the next one.
