Chapter 19

"Why'd you do it, Henry?" Ruby asks, sitting across from the teen in the booth.

"I'm not really sure," he shrugs. "Can I get back to you on that?"

"For me, sure, but you'll have to answer that for your mother and probably Regina and Mary Margret too."

"I wonder how many weeks I'll be grounded."

"Probably a lot," Ruby smirks and Henry kicks her under the table. "Ow! What? It's the truth. I can't imagine your mother will ever let you out of the house again, after what happened to her. I cannot tell you how many months I was grounded for running away and putting the whole neighbourhood into a frenzy?"

"You ran away?!" the teen says in surprise.

"Do you even know me? I ran away six times when I was in my teens."

"Why?"

"Because I hated my life."

"Why? Granny…"

"Granny wasn't the problem," Ruby sighs, moving a scarlet lock of hair from her face. "It was my mom, dad, and brother."

"What happened?"

The waitress swallows a large lump in her throat and shifts uncomfortably. She blinks back tears

"It's not something I like to talk about but… Let's just say that Dad was a wreck loose and an alcoholic. And one night while I was at a sleepover, he was picking my mom up from yoga and my brother from baseball, and… he was tremendously shitfaced …"

"Oh…" Henry says, giving her a very sympathetic look.

Ruby lets a few tears fall, ignoring what it would do to her makeup.

"Both of them died on impact, but that bastard lived…" she clenches her hands into fists and whacks one of them on the table. "He lived and I was supposed to live with him. But Grandma fought tooth and nail to have me live with her. She even sold her house to pay for the lawyers. She knew what kind of man he'd become and she didn't want me anywhere near him. It was constant back and forth. I'd move into Grandma's place and then three days later, my dad would force me to pack a bag and come back "home." To a crappy apartment that he could barely afford and there was no food or heating. Even when Grandma won custody of me, my dad was constantly harassing her and me. I just got fed up and thought I'd do better on my own."

"So, what brought you back?"

"I guess part of me knew that Grandma loved me and it would break her heart to leave. She was the only person who was ever there for me after my mom and brother died. She gave me a true place to call home and gave me the love and protection I needed and deserved. And, the other part was, I knew I couldn't make it on my own. The world is a very scary place… how your mom and Neal did it I'll never know, but every time I went to the bus stop or stood on the side of the road with my thumb out, I found myself hesitating. Yes, life was hard, but it would be even harder on my own. I knew I was leaving someone who truly loved me behind. I knew she was the only family I had left and I was about to lose her too."

Henry looks down at his empty mug, a fair representation of how his life would be right about now if he'd gone through with the decision. His father's words from last night about not losing the family you have and what a true home really was made sense to him now. He'd been so caught up in the anger of moving, he forgot what he'd be leaving behind and that a home is where a family is, nothing more, nothing less. He thinks about all the people who he would leave behind, all those who were there for him when the world wasn't. Regina, Mary Margret, David, Jacob, Ruby, Lacey, Aurora, Violet, Elsa, Anna, Killian, his dad, his mom, and his unborn baby sister. People who cared about him and wanted the best for him. Those who gave him purpose and the love he deserved. He hadn't thought about what his actions would do to them, he'd only been thinking about himself. He remembers how he felt when his mother was missing and he can only imagine what she must be feeling now. He wipes away a few tears in embarrassment.

"It's okay Henry," Ruby says, reaching over, and patting his arm. "We all think that life becomes so unbearable that we'd rather be anywhere else, but the truth is, we need to be here because, without it, we're nothing but a shadow on the wall or that lonely hitchhiker on the side of the road, no direction and no purpose."

The teen is silent for awhile, thinking about how selfish he'd been. He starts rehearsing what he's going to say to his mom when she comes, how he's going to say sorry.

"So how did your grandma stop your dad from harassing you?"

"She took out her old crossbow, something that belonged to my grandpa and confronted him on the street. She told him that if he ever came within five feet of me or the house or the restaurant, she wouldn't hesitate to shoot him through the heart."

"Wow!" the teen's eyes are impressed. He'd never guess that an elderly lady like Granny, could be so intimidating and badass.

"She moved the two of us here into the city where he was less likely to look for me and she opened up this place. And we haven't seen him since."

"Do you want to know what happened to him?"

Ruby frowns and shakes her head. "Not really. I want him to be getting the help he needs, but it's more likely he's either homeless or in prison."

"I guess you don't miss him."

"No, he'll always be my dad, but Grandma's been more of a mother and father to me than anyone else in the world."

"Then why are you so desperate to move away."

"You would want to too if you were 26 and still living with your grandmother."

"I guess,"

A yellow bug screeches to a halt in front of the restaurant. Henry sucks in a breath and stands up from the booth, ready to face the music. He hears the car doors slam and frantic footsteps before the bell over the door rings.

"Oh my god Henry!" a pregnant blonde woman says, racing across the tile floor to her son. Her dark-haired boyfriend follows closely behind her. She pulls him into her arms and squeezes him tightly. Tears are flowing down her face as the pain within her body disperses. The agony she felt at the thought of losing her son was slowly dissipating as she clung to him. Henry cannot breathe from the tightness of her hug, but he tolerates it, knowing what she must've gone through.

Eventually, she releases him and stares deep into his eyes.

"I'm sorry Mom," he says earnestly.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she nearly yells. "You have no idea how worried I was. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"I wasn't Mom, that's the thing. I was being stupid and thought it would be better to just to leave because you wanted to move. I wasn't thinking about you or anyone else, just me and I'm really sorry."

"I-I just can't believe… t-that you would think that it would be a g-good idea! Why? Why would you do this?!"

"I don't know. I guess I was just angry and scared and thought that I was better off on my own."

"You're never better off on our own. You're better off with those who love you."

"I know that now," he says, swallowing the large lump of guilt in his throat.

"I just wish you had come to talk to me…"

"But you're not around when I need you," he points out.

Emma blinks away a few of her tears and nods. "I know and I'm sorry. I should be there for you more, but I want you to be able to come to me Henry whenever you have a problem. What happened to me was not your fault or mine, but we need to tell each other how we feel. I'll admit we both have our problems, I just don't want you to end up like me, alone with those walls. I want you to feel love…"

"I do Mom, I feel it right now."

The two hug again. Killian and Ruby watch with smiles on their faces. Eventually, the docks man joins the group hug.

"From now on, come to me with your problems and I promise that I will talk to you about mine and include you in all our decisions."

"Okay, mom."

"We're glad you're okay Lad," Killian says, ruffling the teen's hair affectionately.

"Thanks, Killian." The kid smiles, happy that his mom's boyfriend actually cared about him.

Soon the restaurant is crowded with Henry's loved ones. Regina looks like she wants to smack him upside the head and hug him at the same time. Mary Margret and David hold the boy they thought of as their own son or nephew close and shower him with love. Everyone else hugs him and asks if he's okay. Even his father is there and he hugs his son for an extended period of time.

"I'm sorry about what I said," Neal says quietly. "I just thought tough love was the way to make you see reason. Add this to the list of reasons I'm not a great parent."

"You do fine dad,"

'You can come live with me if you want to."

"If it's okay with you dad, I want to continue living with Mom, Killian and my baby sister."

"Of course, it's okay."

Everyone then sits down to have a calm meal as a family.

As they eat, Emma looks in his duffle bag after her son goes to the bathroom and she sees his storybook amongst his clothes. She picks it up and the handful of pictures fall onto her lap. She picks them up and smiles before wiping away the last of her tears.

…

Henry was grounded for two weeks after what he'd done, but he was fine with it, happy to be home and he now knew that this was his mother's way of showing that she loved him.

The three of them went to an open house to see the home that Regina had suggested. Henry was very skeptical and still angry, sad even. He still hated the idea of moving, but his mind slowly shifted once he saw how big the place was and how much room there was for everyone, by the end, he'd already picked out his room, with the promise of having his own TV and game system hooked up.

There was still much to be done in order to close a deal on the house and actually pack, but it looked like the growing family would be moving very soon.

…

The following week;

"Hello Henry, it's nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Hopper."

Some Ruby backstory and things are hopefully looking up... for now.