Clara came storming into the little coffee shop where Henry was reuniting with his own parents. "You lied to me!" she shouted, slamming the door behind her, the little bells over top jangling fiercely with her aggression. "How could you not tell me!?"
The only three people in the cafe looked up sharply at Clara's violent entrance. JJ and Will glanced from her to Henry, then to each other, obviously confused and concerned by the anger clearly burning in her eyes.
Henry nearly stumbled over himself to stand up and reach her. He extended his hands as if to clasp hers, but she moved them out of his reach before he could. "Clara what... What are you doing here?" His tone was soft and placating, but it seemed to be having no effect on Clara's fury.
"I'm here so you can explain yourself!" she snapped. "What the fuck, Henry!?"
"Clara," he said slowly, calmly, "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about you lying to me! About everything!"
JJ and Will had joined them then. JJ rested a gentle hand on Henry's shoulder, looking from her son to his wife in concern and confusion. "Henry, what's going on?" she asked.
He shook his head, not understanding either.
"You're one of them!" she seethed. "You've been using me this whole time to break the curse!"
Henry's face blanched. "Clara, no," he insisted urgently. "That's not what this was, I swear..."
"Then what was it?" she demanded. "Because from where I stand, it looks like our whole relationship has been a lie."
For a few moments, Henry stood in the doorway to the little dance studio, just watching in silence as Clara danced – Sleeping Beauty's Rose Adagio – face a perfect mask of concentration, so that she failed to notice his presence.
It was a notoriously difficult piece of choreography, but she danced it flawlessly, like she'd done it a thousand times before. Like she was born to dance the role.
He'd always loved watching her dance, ever since they'd been kids taking their first ballet classes together. Something about her presence on stage was breath-takingly awe-inspiring and he was helpless but to watch.
She spun to a stop as the CD player skipped. With an irritated sigh, she moved to fix it, but startled when she saw Henry standing there. "Oh, it's you..." she remarked dryly once the immediate alarm subsided.
He didn't want to fight, though, ignoring the barb and letting it fall uselessly into silence. Wordlessly, he crossed the room in his sock feet and started flipping through the stack of CDs sitting beside the player.
"What are you doing?" Clara asked with a frown. She was still very much annoyed with him and wasn't all that appreciative of him just showing up and interrupting her time to think, to process the revelation that had turned her world on its head.
He didn't answer, simply replacing the Sleeping Beauty CD with a new one and pressing play. As he rose, the lilting notes of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier's pas de deux filled the studio.
"What..." Clara started to ask, trailing off as he bowed to her, offered his hand, waiting to see if she understood, if she accepted his offer of a dance.
Seemingly powerless to resist, she reached for his hand, rose onto pointe, moving with the flow of the music. For several counts, they simply danced, revelling in the familiarity of the choreography. They'd danced this particular pas de deux so many times it was practically second nature by now, moving almost as one, as extensions of the other...like they'd never so much as danced a step apart.
Henry was the first to break the spell with a gentle murmur of, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth..."
At first, he wasn't sure Clara was going to answer. At length, though, she replied, "How could you not tell me? I'm your wife – I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything."
He sighed, wishing he had a better answer, but answering nonetheless, "I didn't think you'd believe me."
She opened her mouth as if to reply, but didn't seem to have a good response because, honestly...if he'd told her a few weeks ago that they'd break down in a small middle-of-nowhere town and wind up breaking a curse that was keeping a bunch of fairytale characters from remembering their true identities, she would have laughed him right out of the apartment... "You could have told me anyway..." she said softly, almost meekly.
"I know," he agreed. And he had wanted to tell her, but there were some things that could only be learned by having lived them. "I guess it was just easier to say nothing than to get my hopes up that one day I'd see my parents again."
Once again, she couldn't seem to form a response. "Who are they?" she asked at length, curiosity suddenly getting the best of her.
"Cinderella and her Prince," he replied. A beat. Then, he burst out laughing, realizing just how ridiculous that sounded to someone who had lived in this world for their entire life.
"Does that make you a Prince too?" she asked with a little smirk, biting down on her own laughter.
He rolled his eyes, retorted, "I guess so, Princess..."
She rolled her eyes right back, before her expression suddenly saddened. "Do you love me?" she asked in a whisper.
"Of course I do!" he insisted vehemently. He stopped in the middle of the choreography, resting a hand on Clara's cheek to force her to meet his eyes. "Clara, I love you with my whole heart. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't. I know this is all a lot to take in right now, but you're my best friend and my wife and we will get through this. From now on, I promise not to keep any secrets, okay?"
"Okay," she murmured, blinking back tears that she couldn't quite explain.