SORRY FOR THE ANGST, BUT IT FELT RIGHT. I TOLD YOU, THE MUSE IS IN CHARGE, NOT ME (AND SHE'S KINDA EMOTIONAL LATELY)

REVIEW! REVIEW!

Graham was the first one to break the silence.

"I, uh…I know what you're all thinking," he said, leaning in to speak into the microphone. "And yes, my hair is naturally curly."

And that was all it took. The tension was shattered as everyone broke into laughter and applause. Graham grinned at everyone, batting his hand in modesty as the applause rose, people shouting his name amongst cheers and whistles. Snow came running toward him as he came down the steps, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

Henry breathed out a sigh of relief. He felt a million times lighter, the tight feeling in his chest having disappeared. He turned his head to look up at Whale. "Thanks," he said. "For—"

Whale shrugged, waving his hand.

Henry gave him half a smile before climbing down the stairs to walk around with Graham as he reintroduced himself to the town.

"There you are, Henry!" Graham smiled over Snow's shoulder when he caught up to him. Snow finally let go of him, laughing through her tears. David had come up behind Snow to shake Graham's hand; while the two men were exchanging pleasantries, Snow turned to Henry.

"How did you do it?" she asked, her voice still shaky as she wiped away her remaining tears. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Long story," Henry said nervously. "I just—"

Snow hugged him tightly. "I don't care right now," she said in his ear. "I don't care. Thank you, Henry. Thank you."

"Uh…sure," he said, giving her an awkward smile as she released him. "Any time."

"Welcome back, Sheriff!" Rumple said, making his way through the crowd. Belle trailed behind him, looking at Graham skeptically. Graham looked surprised when Rumple caught his hand and pulled him closer to clap him on the back.

"Gold," he nodded politely, then slid his eyes to the side to look at Belle. "And you must be Belle."

"Fine, I'll be Belle," she shrugged, shaking his hand. "Who're you?"

"I'll explain later," Rumple said, batting a dismissive hand. He turned to Graham, clapping his hands together. "So! Have you had a drink yet? We've got an open bar!"

"Uh—not yet, but I—"

"Excellent!" Rumple linked his elbow around his to lead him to the bar. "We'll get you settled in with a nice margarita—Vince makes a mean margarita. Belle, do you want me to bring you back something?"

"One of the strawberry things," she said immediately. "With the little umbrella."

Henry jogged to keep up with them, weaving through the holes in the crowd, ducking under people's outstretched arms. Rumple kept a steady flow of conversation on their way to the bar, but Henry could barely make any of it out. He only caught the tail end of it as they reached the counter, pulling out a couple stools.

"…truly is the best suit I've ever owned, so if you ever need a tailor…that's your guy."

"Thanks, Gold. I'll, uh… I'll keep that in mind."

Rumple grinned at him, then leaned against the counter, rapping it with his knuckles. "All right, Vince—give me another strawberry daiquiri for Belle, and Graham here will have one of your margaritas!"

Vince gave him a thumbs-up and set to work, sliding bottles and glasses around the counter. Henry was watching him crush ice when he caught sight of a familiar head resting on the counter a few seats down.

"Dad?"

Neal looked up, wincing. "Hey, Henry," he said, attempting a smile.

Henry came toward him, looking at him worriedly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a headache," Neal said, rubbing his eyes. "Not been an easy day."

Henry glanced at the half-empty bottle beside him. "Clearly."

"Thanks, Vince," Rumple said, balancing the daiquiri with both hands. He looked at Graham over his shoulder. "I'm going to go run this over to Belle. You stay here with Henry—don't let him convince you to buy him a daiquiri," he added with a stern look at Henry.

Neal frowned, hitting him lightly in the shoulder. "Dude."

"I thought it was a smoothie!"

"Oh, okay," Neal said, rolling his eyes.

Graham looked over his glass at them, swallowing the sip he'd just taken. "You're… Henry's father, correct?" he asked, coming over tentatively.

Neal raised his eyebrows. "Yeah…?"

"I'm Graham," he grinned, holding out his hand.

Neal glanced over at Henry, as if for reassurance, before shaking Graham's hand."Neal," he said, still looking at him warily.

"Right, yeah!" Graham said enthusiastically, sliding into the seat next to him. "Henry's told me so much about you."

"Has he?" Neal said, subtly scooting his chair back.

"Your boy adores you," Graham beamed. "It shows."

Neal blinked a few times; Henry hastily looked down at the ground, avoiding his eyes.

Henry and Neal were both the … reserved type, when it came to emotions; Graham clearly wasn't. He said things that were meant to be understood, but never actually said. Because when you said things out loud, they just…well, they just… Henry shoved his hands in his pockets, looking for a loose thread or something to distract himself. It was too weird, he didn't want to talk about—

"Incoming Ruby," Neal said suddenly, making Henry's head snap up.

There she was: pushing through the crowd, stumbling on her heels as she tried to weave her way through the mass of people. Her face was streaked with her mascara, with a watery smile that grew bigger as she got closer. Graham slowly stood up, his eyes wide.

"Ruby?" he breathed, breaking into an ear-splitting grin. "Ruby, I can't believe—whoa!"

He let out a surprised laugh as Ruby flung her arms around his neck, half-laughing, half-crying. Henry fixed a bored expression on his face, successfully masking the ripple of anger and jealousy underneath (not that he was angry or jealous, because he didn't even think about Ruby like that, she was just a friend who happened to be incredibly beautiful, but he didn't even pay attention to that because he barely noticed because he didn't think about her like that, okay?)

"Oh, my God, I missed you so much!" she said breathlessly, pulling away (though Henry's eyes narrowed at her arms lingering around his neck).

"It's good to see you again," Graham smiled. "You'll keep my table open for me in the mornings again, yeah?"

Ruby nodded, beaming, before going in for another hug. Henry blew out a breath, rolling his eyes to the side. Fan-fucking-tastic, he thought bitterly. Hook was bad enough, but Graham was somehow worse. Maybe because he was so goddamn perfect, he felt guilty for hating him. But right now? Yeah, he kind of did.

"Oh, shit," Neal muttered, seeing something over Henry's head. He followed his line of vision, catching sight of Hook making his way through the crowd. He was walking slowly and deliberately, his jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed: clearly unhappy.

For the first time in his life, Henry didn't feel the urge to slam his fist into Hook's face.

At the moment, they had a common enemy: Graham. The Ruby-thief. When Hook passed Henry, they gave each other an almost imperceptible nod. It was brief, but respectful; a silent affirmation of, I know we hate each other, but THIS guy…

"Oh!" Graham said suddenly, noticing Hook over Ruby's shoulder. "Who's this?"

Ruby looked over at the approaching pirate."Oh, him," she said, turning a violent shade of pink. "Oh, he's my… he's my, uh…"

"Your 'uh'?" Graham said teasingly. Henry rolled his eyes. Fucking hilarious.

"Yeah, I'm her 'uh'," Hook deadpanned, coming to a stop in front of them. His eyes flickered to Ruby before settling maliciously on Graham. "I don't know what you are."

He seemed not to notice his hostility, smiling warmly as he held out his hand. "I'm Graham."

Hook eyed his hand disdainfully, then slowly put out his left arm, offering Graham his hook. Graham's smile faded as he looked at the hook, then slowly drew his eyes back up to the pirate.

"We, uh—" he chuckled—"we appear to be at an impasse."

"That we do," Hook said through clenched teeth, not lowering his hook.

"Hook," Ruby said warningly, finally sliding her arm off Graham as she walked toward Hook. "Don't."

"I'm not doing anything."

"Yes, you are," she hissed, slitting her eyes at him. "And you better stop."

Henry leaned back to mutter in Neal's ear. "I sense a disturbance in the Force."

"A disturbance in the what? What are you talking about?"

Henry closed his eyes impatiently. "I think they're going to break up again."

Neal snorted. "You're such a nerd, Henry."

"Star Wars is not nerdy!" Henry whispered indignantly.

"Can you stop acting like a child for two minutes?" Ruby spat, glaring at Hook. Henry and Neal looked between the two of them, watching it like a tennis match, as Hook's eyebrows shot up.

"Me, acting like child? You're the one acting like a bloody schoolgirl right now!" he retorted.

"What is wrong with you?" Ruby demanded. "Are you seriously getting angry because I'm happy to see him again? He was dead, you ASSHAT!"

"Asshat?" Graham repeated confusedly.

"So, what was I—just some consolation prize to replace him?" Hook shouted furiously.

"Well, why not?" she shot back. "That's what I was for Emma!"

"Oh, snap," Neal muttered. Henry dropped into the seat beside him, watching wide-eyed as Hook and Ruby argued back and forth; Graham's eyes flicked between the two of them worriedly, while Neal and Henry had a hushed commentary.

"This is intense."

"I know."

"Like, really intense."

"It's like a fucking soap opera."

"Henry."

"What?"

"Language, dude."

"I'm sorry," Graham said, raising his voice over Hook and Ruby's shouting match (which had started to attract onlookers by this point). "I hope I'm not getting in the middle of anything here, I just—"

"You're not getting in the middle of anything," Ruby said through clenched teeth, not taking her eyes off Hook. "There's nothing to get in the middle of."

"Is that a break-up I detect?" Henry whispered as Neal dug a tiny calendar out of his inside pocket. "Because that was a week, I think I win the pot."

"Hang on…" Neal murmured, frowning at the various numbers and names scattered around the month of November. "Let's see, they got back together on the ninth…"

"Oh, now there's 'nothing to get in the middle of'? Twenty minutes ago—"

"Twenty minutes ago, you weren't acting like a jealous asshat!"

"That's because, twenty minutes ago, you weren't hanging all over another guy!"

"I don't know, kiddo," Neal said, rubbing his thumb thoughtful against his lips. "David said six days, you said seven…if they break up before eleven o'clock, David wins."

"What time is it now?"

Neal checked his watch. "Ten-forty."

"Shit!"

"Henry."

"Sorry."

"I'm not doing anything wrong!" Ruby shouted. "I can't believe you're acting like this!"

Graham opened his mouth to say something, but Henry reached over and put his hand on his shoulder. Graham looked at him quizzically, slightly shaking his head.

"What? What is it?"

"Listen…" Henry smiled awkwardly. "Uh, you got to stay out of it at this point. Those are the rules."

"Rules?" Graham said incredulously. "What are you talking about?"

"Can't interfere, man," Neal said. "You gotta let it happen on its own."

"Let what happen on its own?"

"The break-up," Henry explained. "See…we've got this pool going…"

Graham raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"These two break up constantly," Henry said, pointing between them as they shouted back and forth, waving their arms around wildly. "So we started this pool a while back, to take bets on how long it takes before they call it quits again."

Graham looked horrified. "That's despicable!"

"Oh, come on, don't be such a Boy Scout," Neal scoffed, going back to his calendar. Henry picked up his wrist to check his watch again.

"Okay, ten minutes, and I win," he breathed, crossing his fingers. He already knew what he was going to spend his winnings on: there was a new X-Box 360 he'd been eyeing for a while, ever since his old one started acting funny.

"Hey!" David came jogging up to Neal and Henry, looking concerned. "What's going on? What's happening?"

"You've got ten minutes until Henry wins," Neal said absently.

David folded his arms, leaning one on each of their shoulders, as he watched the argument. "So, who started it this time?"

"I'd say, Hook," Henry shrugged. "Where's Grandma?"

"Oh—" David batted a dismissive hand. "Emma needed some girl-talk or something, they're hanging out in the bathroom. Oh, by the way, Robin took Regina home, so you're riding back with us."

"He took her home?" Henry turned around, looking at him anxiously. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"I think she's just feeling a bit overwhelmed," David said, not taking his eyes off the scene. "He's going to stay with her tonight, so if you want to—"

"Yeah, I think I'll stay with you guys tonight," Henry said quickly. He'd been burned before. He would not be burned again.

"That's it!" Ruby shrieked, stamping her foot. "I've had it! I can't stand you anymore! We're done!"

"Ruby, come on—"

"NO!" she screamed, covering her ears. "I MEAN IT, THIS TIME!"

Hook blinked rapidly. "Don't, okay? We're not—"

"DONE!"

And with that, she shoved past him, sweeping the crowd to the side with her arms as she stormed away. Hook ran after her, a gesture that went unnoticed by David and Henry as they immediately grabbed Neal's wrist to check the time.

"Yes!"

"Henry, it clearly says ten-fifty-nine. I win."

"Oh, please. The minute hand is right on the twelve!"

"No, it's on the tick before!"

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, Henry. Yes, it is."

"It is not!"

"See, this is why I told you to get an electronic watch!" David snapped, rounding on Neal. "Your kid's trying to con me out of my money based on this stupid thing!" He slapped the watch the back of his fingers.

"Hey! This was expensive!" Neal said indignantly, holding up his wrist. "And besides, you win either way! Ruby said 'we're done' at least ten seconds before eleven!"

"YES!" David's fists shot up victoriously; Henry swore violently, pounding his fist on the table.

"Those stupid sluts couldn't stay together another ten seconds?" He pounded the table again. "Goddamn it!"

David chuckled, folding his arms across his chest. "God love 'em," he said, shaking his head. "They just bought me a new set of golf clubs."

"Okay, I gotta text everybody," Neal sighed, pulling out his phone. "They'll have to have their bets in before the night's over; those morons are probably getting back together as we speak—if you know what I mean." He glanced at Henry's darkening face, and smiled apologetically. "Sorry."

"Who cares?" David said gleefully, throwing his hands up. "I won! I've never won yet, I finally won!"

"Okay, Belle says two days from the minute they get back together, and my dad says three," Neal said, reading off his phone. "And I'm waiting on everyone else." He looked up at them. "You guys have yours yet?"

"Give us couple minutes," Henry grumbled, still cringing at "if you know what I mean." Neal nodded, and looked over at Graham.

"What about you, Graham? You want in on this?"

Graham could only stare at them, his eyes wide with incredulous horror. He opened and closed his mouth in disbelief a few times, before he finally managed to speak.

"What is wrong with you people?" he whispered. "How do you live with yourselves?"

The three of them raised their eyebrows, exchanging a glance, before turning their eyes back to Graham.

"One day at a time, bro," Neal shrugged, stowing his phone away. "One day at a time…"