May Muses 7: Neal's guardian

We're a week into May Muses! My idea for today: what if a tragic event occurred that left Henry as Neal's guardian?

Henry hated seeing Neal so broken. How could he blame the boy though? He'd lost so much in such a short space of time. Snow, Charming and Emma had all been killed in a dreadful accident. Regina, as well as many other friends, had all offered to take Neal in and raise him, but Henry wasn't having that. He was Neal's last remaining biological relative, so he would raise the five year old. Even if it meant him coming out to New York to live. Of course Henry was nervous. He was barely an adult himself. How could he look after a child? But together, he and Neal were working it out. Step by step.

The main obstacle Henry was finding, was that Neal wasn't sleeping at nights. Every time he closed his eyes, he was having dreadful nightmares. Henry was doing his best to combat this without any medical help. He didn't want people poking their nose in. So instead, Henry had brought out his old storybook. Slowly, he was working his way through it with his little uncle. That particular night, Neal was fighting sleep with everything he had.

"One more story, please Henry?" He pleaded. Henry shook his head.

"You're tired, buddy, you need to sleep." He said gently. Neal nodded glumly. Henry felt heartbroken for him. He wished he could use his Author powers to take his pain away. Heck, if Henry was being honest, he wished he could use them to bring them back. But not even Authors have powers that great. He missed them all too. "Well, how about this. What if we have a proper sleepover tonight? What if I stay here?" Neal suddenly beamed at him. He nodded enthusiastically before settling down. He rested his head against Henry's chest. "Goodnight, Henry." He said sleepily. Henry kissed the top of his head.

"Night buddy." He whispered. Neal was asleep minutes after that. Sleep would not come so easily for Henry, although he wished it would. He didn't want to show his grief in front of Neal, but he was in just as much pain. But he would be strong for his uncle. After all, Henry was all he had left.