Eliana sits on her knees for a little extra height in the chair that accompanies her cousin Henry's writing desk. She reads in stops and starts, turning the pages slowly and sounding out the larger words - the ones that are more difficult for her to pronounce. She relies heavily on the full-page illustrations for a substantial part of her understanding.
Norah closes, and pushes her eldest brother's laptop to a safe corner of the desk where it's not likely to be disturbed. She perches comfortably on top of the desk and reads along with Eliana.
When the redhead comes to a particular story line in the book, she stops and stares in absolute wonder. "Look Norah!" She declares as if she's just received an unexpected gift. "It's my dad!" Eliana points to an expertly rendered image of two gods who both wear thunderous expressions. One of whom, wields a lightning bolt shaped crystal and the other who has magnificent cobalt blue flames leaping from the crown of his head.
Norah shrugs as she hops off the desk momentarily and opens the bottom desk drawer. "Of course, it's your dad. Everybody who lives in Storybrooke is in this book. Even you and me. Even Theo."
Eliana rolls her eyes and begins to read the corresponding story.
Norah rummages around in the drawer until she comes up with a metal tin that is secured with a combination padlock. Shielding the rotating dial from Eliana's view with one hand, she spins it until the lock disengages. Once the tin is opened, she extracts two pieces of chocolate Riesen candy from a nearly full sack, and then closes the box; snapping the lock back into place before she returns the tin to the back of the bottom drawer just as she found it. She nudges the drawer shut with her foot before hopping back up onto the desk. She offers one piece of candy to her cousin before unwrapping the other and popping it into her mouth. Talking around the chewy treat, she says, "Don't get that on the pages."
Eliana shakes her head and squints at the words on the page as she quickly does away with the wrapper. "What's these words?" she asks, pointing as she bites into her own piece of candy.
Norah sounds out the first word slowly; three letters at a time "for- kid? No, that's not right. For-ceed…Forced. Forced, I think." She shrugs.
Eliana nods agreeably. "Okay, what about the other one?"
Norah tries again, with less success. "ee-x-ill-ey." She wrinkles her nose. Don't know. That one is weir.."
Her head jerks upward at the sound of her grandfather clearing his throat, and she finds him leaning casually against the door frame.
Knowing that they are caught, she tries a smile. "Hi Papa."
The old king laughs. "Hi Norah… What's going on in here?"
"We're just reading,"
Henry nods. "Well, that's always a good thing to do. Only trouble is, I'm sure this door was locked. Your brother likes his privacy."
Norah shrugs. "I know how to get in. We won't mess up anything."
"Obviously. Mind telling me how you managed it?"
Norah comes up short.
Trying to help, Eliana says, "The window was open."
Norah kicks her.
"Ow!" She rubs her right shin. "What was that for?"
Squinting curiously, Henry joins them at the desk, and stops near the only open window in the room. Leaning over to reach around his granddaughter's shoulder, he pulls the drapes open a little wider. Peering out at the ground far below he asks for a clarification. "You don't mean this window?"
Now afraid to say anything, Eliana becomes stone-faced and goes utterly mute.
Henry eyes his granddaughter sternly.
Norah gives in and nods slowly.
Momentarily stunned beyond the capacity for rational thought, Henry shouts, "Norah Locksley! Have you lost your mind?"
Norah stares in wide-eyed shock, instantly on the verge of tears.
Henry stammers wordlessly.
Norah waits; frozen in place.
Almost contrite at the sight of his young granddaughter's silent panic, Henry closes the window with a little too much force and locks it with the snap of his wrist. He shakes his head and points toward the bedroom door as he leaves the room without another word.
The two girls are silent for several seconds, simply staring at each other in shock and dismay before Eliana finally finds the courage to whisper, "What should we do now, Norah?"
Norah shakes her head and shrugs at a loss for words as two fat teardrops slip free of her eyelashes and slide down her face to land softly; soaking into the pages of Henry's storybook.
Out in the hallway, leaning with one hand against the wall for support, Henry places his other trembling hand against his chest and breathes deeply several times, in and out. He breathes slow forced breaths and counts to ten. When that's not quite long enough, he does it over again three more times before he feels his elevated heart rate slowly began to return to normal. Squaring his shoulders, he inhales one last time before stepping quietly back into the room. He settles himself on the edge of his eldest grandson's bed and pats the spot beside him.
Moving slowly, hoping not to startle him again, Norah approaches and climbs up onto the bed warily.
Henry picks her up and settles her across his lap. For a long moment, he simply hugs her until she murmurs in confusion against his shirt front, "Papa?" .
He kisses the top of her head. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. I shouldn't have done that. You surprised me, that's all. I thought nobody would ever scare me as badly as your mama used to."
"Mama used to scare you?"
Henry chuckles wryly. "Boy, did she ever!"
"When she was bad?"
Henry shrugs and runs his fingers through the girl's hair. "We've all got bad in us Norah, but we've all got some good in us, too. The trick is to use more of the good than the bad."
"I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't want to do that."
Henry studies her with a raised eyebrow. "But you're not sorry you climbed through the window."
Norah looks at the window and then wrinkles her nose and slowly shakes her head.
Henry chuckles and tightens his hold on the girl. "That's what I figured." He shakes his head and smiles incredulously. "But you are your mother's child!"
Norah studies his face and squints." Papa, I can't tell. Is that good, or is it bad?"
"It's a bit of both… Usually more good than bad."
"Am I still in trouble?"
"A bit, yes. Suppose you tell me how you even managed to get in here?"
Norah whispers. "I hopped off Mama and Daddy's balcony and walked on that thing where the flowers grow."
Henry closes his eyes and mutters under his breath.
"Uh, Papa? You're hugging too tight. You're squishing me!
The old man loosens his hold and tilts her chin up, gently forcing her to look him in the eye. "Okay, new rule. From now on, unless your brother is in this room, that window stays locked. You are never, ever to enter this room, or any other room of this house that is not on the ground floor, courtesy of a window. Got it?"
"Aww Papa! I never fall."
"There's always a first time for everything. All it takes is one missed step; one loose nail in that trellis. Norah, this house has three stories. Do you even know that you were 70 feet off the ground? You could have been seriously hurt. You could have been killed!"
"Mama wouldn't let me die."
"First, your mama isn't here. Second, while I have great respect for the powers she can wield, the power over life and death is not one of them, my girl."
Norah squints. "Is too! She got you back, Papa!"
Henry groans, chuckling softly as he shakes his head yet again. "It's wonderful that you trust her that deeply. However, she didn't accomplish getting me back all by herself. She had a lot of help from one of the very few individuals who does have power over life and death… And how do you even know about that, young lady?"
Norah sighs. "Papa, my ears work good. I can hear people when they talk; and people like to talk about Mama. They do it a lot. I know she went to the underworld. I heard all about it."
Henry coughs uncomfortably. "I sincerely doubt you heard everything there was to hear. Yes, your mother brought me back from the underworld, but that is something she cannot do on her own. That required the favor of, and a considerable amount of help from Zeus… As well as a very special friend of mine."
Norah nods. "I know. Miss Maggie. You miss her."
Henry nods. "Yes, I do. Norah, I miss her more than words can say - and I don't want you going to join her. Not for a very, very, long time. You're supposed to squeeze every drop from life that you can get, Norah. You are not allowed to die until you're really, really, really old! I mean older than me."
Norah giggles. "Papa!"
"I mean it! So, that means, no more hopping over balconies, or scaling walls without a safety net!"
"Okay, okay!"
"Promise me you two girls will never climb through that window again!"
"Eliana didn't. She's not good at climbing. Just me."
"Never again!"
"Okay Papa. I promise. I won't climb through Henry's bedroom window anymore."
Henry raises an eyebrow. "Ground floor windows only! This house is entirely too tall!"
"Don't people scale castle walls all the way up from the ground?"
"Stupid people! And I know you're not stupid! So, no more! Got it?"
Norah relents, "I got it."
"Good! Now, it's not like you two have never seen that book before. What story was so important that you had to risk your life just to come in here and read it?"
Norah smiles. Finally, completely at ease again, she beckons to Eliana. "Bring the book. Papa, what is this word?"
