Another day, another chapter. This is a long one, and I'm going to actually have this particular episode in three chapters by the looks of things. Yay! I've still got the poll up, and intend to keep it there for the next...probably fifteen maybe less chapters. How long a time period that will be is anyone's guess. Basically, I have till Jefferson shows up- for obvious reasons. Or, alternately, until I come to a decision. Whichever happens first. Make sure you vote! (Just head to my profile page, the poll's at the top there for those of you who are new to the poll game.) And PM me if you have a really decided opinion and tell me about it! Right now, we have Jefferson leading in the poll (barely- and by barely, I mean by one vote last I checked). Nobody's really PMed me, so please, do! I need your thoughts for inspiration one way or another!
Either way, here's the next chapter!
11/29/22 Edit: Just trying to tidy up still!
December 20, 2011
The night after...the incident- Emma decided she needed a drink. A drink at a minimum.
She banged into Granny's on a mission, but, of course, Graham was there. And, of course, she almost walked right into him.
"Emma," Ruby gave her a small smile in greeting, "What can I get you?"
"Nothing," Emma quickly told the waitress, making a strategic retreat for the front of the dinner.
She was just about to grab the door handle when suddenly a dart thudded into the molding by her face.
She turned, already angry and about to get worse, "What the hell?" Emma's voice was relatively calm, all things considered, "You could have hit me!"
Graham held out both arms to his side and gave a shrug while approaching her, "I never miss. Have you been avoiding me? Ever since last night when you saw me-"
Emma cut him off, "Leaving the Mayor? And yes," she continued, hoping her words would cut, "That is a euphemism," she sighed and attempted to gain some control over the situation (and herself); "I'm not avoiding you, Graham. I just have no interest in having this conversation. It's your life, and I really don't care."
With that, Emma exited the dinner, her internal voice telling her retreat! retreat!
But, Graham followed her. "If you don't care then why are you so upset?"
"I'm not upset!" but her voice was getting just on this side of shrill, and Emma hated it.
"If that were true," Graham caught up to her and dashed in front of her, halting Emma's progress, "You'd be at the bar with me having a drink and not running away," the words running away stung Emma slightly- they'd been used on her before.
"It's none of my business," she stepped around the Sheriff and continued on her way.
"Can we please talk about this?" Graham begged, willing to put his feelings out there in a way Emma never was, "I need you to understand."
"Why?" she whined, as Graham stopped her yet again with a quick touch on her arm.
"I don't know," he answered, looking about as tormented as Emma felt. "Maybe so I-I can understand?"
Emma held on tightly to her walls, "If you need analysis, go talk to Archie!" she threw her arm out, gesturing towards the Doctor's office.
"I want to talk to you," he told her, looking at her intensely. Emma tightened her grasp on those walls.
"Your bad judgement is your problem," she told him, starting to walk again, trying to get him to leave- leave like she knew he would once he had whatever he wanted or once it got too difficult or once something better came along. "Not mine."
"You don't know what it's like with her," Graham continued to chase after her, and part of Emma loosened a little at his persistence, his reluctance to let their friendship, or whatever relationship they had, go on with such a sour feeling between them, his willingness to try and work with her, and another part of her tensed at the mention of Regina, who suddenly stood between the two of them. No, that wasn't true. Apparently Regina had been there this whole time; Emma just hadn't been let in on the secret. And that hurt. "I don't feel anything. Can you understand that?"
"A bad relationship?" Emma countered. "Yeah. I understand a bad relationship. I just don't wanna talk about yours." And she didn't. Aside from the fact that Graham was her boss, someone she had thought was a friend, someone she had thought had considered her his friend, Regina was...it seemed dramatic to say her worst enemy, but it was the only descriptor Emma could think of. Regina was the person who mercilessly bullied Emma and her friends- Mary Margaret and Ada (though the last was rather unsuccessful because Ada would not be cowed); Regina was the person who stymied Emma's every attempt to interact with Henry (an understandable feeling, but Emma thought that Regina should put aside her own personal feelings for whatever was best for Henry, and the woman just didn't seem to be willing to do that); Regina was the one who manipulated events into making Henry think Emma thought he was crazy; Regina was the person who forced Archie into breaking Henry's heart by telling the boy he was delusional; Regina was the person who was still trying to run Emma and Ada out of town; Regina was the person that Ada (and Emma, though she tried to tamp it down, not wanting to consider it) was convinced was emotionally abusing Henry; Regina was the woman who seemed to have the entire town under her control, and Emma was never very good with authority figures, especially ones who appeared to be going unchecked.
All of that suddenly was in between her and Graham, as thick as a physical barrier. And Graham had been someone she was willing to trust.
Emma didn't trust easily.
"Look, I know you and Regina have your own issues, and I should've told you about that before you took the job," Graham said, his hands spreading as if he wanted to hold them up in surrender.
"Yeah, why the secrecy?" Emma latched onto this, willing to discuss this topic. As long as it was quick. "We're all adults. You can do whatever you want."
Graham seemed tortured, and as much as Emma wanted to take a sort of satisfaction from that, she couldn't. "Because I- I didn't want you to look at me the way you are now."
"Why do you care how I look at you?"
"Because-" he seemed at a loss for words.
"What?" Emma repeated, sick of this whole interaction, wanting to get away from the whole...Regina of it all.
Graham paused for a moment, before reaching forward for her face, leaning in. He moved quickly, but not so quickly Emma couldn't have reacted, but her entire brain seemed to short-circuit even as his lips found hers.
But she found herself again quickly- just remembering what (or, rather, who) exactly she and Graham had been discussing. She pushed him off her, and he went easily, not trying to hold on, stumbling away from her.
"What the hell was that?" her pitch had gone up in shock.
Graham's eyes were wild, "Did you see that?" he asked, panting.
"How much have you been drinking?" Emma asked, knowing she had the slight taste of whiskey from his kiss. She wasn't going to hold a drunken kiss against him. Well, not too much. The man was still responsible for his actions. "That was way over the line," she told him.
"I'm sorry," he shook his head, sounding chocked, "I just-"
She cut him off, "What? You what?"
"I need to feel something," he confessed to her as if it were shameful.
"Listen to me, Graham," she quickly told him, "You are drunk and full of regret, I get it. But whatever it is you're looking to feel, I can tell you one thing," his eyes tracked her face, locked on her, Emma took a step back as the intensity started to get to her, "You're not getting it with me."
She walked off, leaving Graham standing on the corner.
Ada will admit that she had been a bit...distracted today. Well, not so much distracted as freaking the hell out.
She had snuck...okay, broken into, the offices of the Storybrooke Mirror as soon as business hours were over.
What Ada had found was not exactly comforting.
She had pulled out the archived papers and dug through them, scanning, searching for anything out of place.
But everything had been out of place.
Newspapers that were dated as years apart had the same headlines, print, bylines, everything. There was no evidence anyone had ever worked at the Mirror aside from Sydney Glass for the past twenty years, and there were no papers older than about thirty years, when the Mirror apparently opened (which seemed odd to Ada- she'd have thought the newspaper would've opened long before that). The outdated computers contained no evidence, but what really freaked out Ada were the articles.
Up until Regina had done that smear against Emma, the paper, with the exception of the dates, was the same.
The same articles every day- there was one about Leroy being publicly intoxicated, about Graham having some sort of animal rescue charity thing- Ada barely scanned it. She sat on the floor, surrounded by newspapers, each exactly the same.
Exactly the same, but for the tiny date in the upper corner that slowly ticked forward bit by bit.
Ada stood and mechanically put everything back in its place, leaving the building with the door locked behind her.
This couldn't possibly be real, she told herself, trying to ignore that inner voice, screaming at her.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone, her subconscious hissed at her.
Figures her subconscious would be so freaking sarcastic.
Emma hadn't actually said anything to Ada about...Graham and the Mayor. She was sure eventually she'd crack, but right now she was trying to convince herself that it was Graham's secret to tell and spreading it to Ada was wrong.
Or maybe she just didn't want Ada to make her really look at how the whole situation made her feel.
So she said nothing, and, had Emma been less occupied with her own inner thoughts, she would've thought it strange that Ada hadn't immediately picked up on Emma's inner turmoil.
Had Ada been less occupied with her own inner thoughts, she would've picked up on Emma's inner turmoil.
And had Emma been less occupied with her own inner turmoil, she would've picked up on Ada's.
As it was, both girls' heads were spinning. Emma bumped into Ada as she walked back to Mary Margaret's.
"Ada!"
"Emma! I am freaking out!"
"You're freaking out? I'm freaking out!"
"No- Emma- you're never going to believe this!"
"Graham kissed me!"
Ada was sufficiently diverted.
"What? He kissed you?" she paused and thought for a moment, "Was it any good?"
"Ada! That is not the point!"
"Emma, hot guy kissed you. I'm pretty sure that was the point. Or, you know, on its way to it."
Emma rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Yeah, not in this case- he's been sleeping with Regina."
Ada's mouth literally dropped. "Ew."
Emma rolled her eyes again, "And he followed after me, I yelled a bit, then he tried to kiss me, and I pushed him off, told him to sober up and figure out his own bad relationships-"
"How long has this been going on?" Ada interrupted, "And when did you find out?"
"Last night," Emma sighed, "I was on shift, and I saw him climb out of the window at her house, and...," she waved her hand as if to gesture to the current situation, "I have no idea how long it's been happening- I didn't exactly want to know."
"Oh. My. God."
"Yeah."
"God, Emma- I'm sorry."
Emma automatically crossed her arms in defense, "For what?"
It was Ada's turn to roll her eyes, but she let it go- no need to push Emma on it tonight.
This was also clearly not a good time to bring up how they have potentially stepped into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Well, crap.
December 21, 2011
That morning Emma descended the stairway and immediately spotted some flowers lying on the counter.
To say she was angry was an understatement.
She quickly grabbed the offending flora and shoved it (maybe a touch violently) into the trashcan while sighing, "Really?"
"Oh! Hey- wait- what're you doing?" Mary Margaret asked, jumping into the room as Emma slammed the lid shut.
"If Graham," Emma told her, stalking away, "Thinks flowers will work on me," Emma left the sentence unfished.
"No, those," Mary Margaret grimaced and then continued, obviously resigned to her gift now inhabiting the trashcan, "Were mine."
"Oh," Emma turned from grabbing her jacket, feeling both guilty and a little silly for attacking flowers. "From David?" she questioned.
Mary Margaret gave a nod.
"I though you guys were doing the whole...he gets his life together first before anything happens?"
"Well, friends...send each other flowers sometimes," Mary Margaret attempted to justify.
"So how come you never send me flowers?" Emma teased.
Mary Margaret sighed, "I probably shouldn't have called."
"Really?" Emma looked at her, "The whole point was to let him figure out himself on his own, you're not supposed to be calling him."
"Well," Mary Margaret started adding sugar to her tea, barely noticing the heaping spoonful in her distraction, "I was wondering how his therapy was going- you know he has to get PT and everything, and since I'm not volunteering at the hospital anymore," she trailed off.
Emma said nothing, merely raised an eyebrow.
"Are we going to talk about the floral abuse?" Mary Margaret diverted the conversation back onto her roommate.
"What floral abuse?"
It was now Mary Margaret's turn to say nothing, merely raising an eyebrow.
"I don't get emotional- especially over men."
"Again, the floral abuse- tells a different story," the brunette countered.
Emma sounded almost offended when she turned around to stare at the woman, "And what story is that?"
Mary Margaret couldn't help but smile a tad as her eyes followed Emma as she paced the room, getting orange juice in an attempt to distract herself. "The one that is obvious to everyone, except, apparently you," her face became confused, "That you have feelings for Graham. Oh, gosh, why isn't Ada here to explain this to you?"
"Come on," Emma protested.
"And there-" Mary Margaret pointed to the blonde, "There, you put up this...wall. To protect yourself." She said nothing more, merely retrieved her flowers from the trashcan.
"That's not a wall," Emma protested.
She received the most disbelieving look she was sure had every crossed Mary Margaret Blanchard's face, "Really?"
Emma slowly approached her roommate as Mary Margaret carefully placed the flowers in a vase, tweaking a stem here and there. "There's nothing wrong with being cautious," Emma softly said, her eyes on the flowers as Mary Margaret's hands seemingly danced among the greenery.
"Oh, true. True," she turned to Emma, her eyes softer and kinder as she gave Emma a small smile before it fell into an expression of concern, "But, Emma, that wall of yours...it may keep out pain. But," she gave a shrug, "It may also keep out love."
Emma was silent as she remembered meeting Ada, and taking years to really trust her, to really let herself be loved and loved in return by her sister, the woman who Emma would do anything for and knew she could always count on to return the favor, without even being asked. Emma knew, with a sort of bone-deep certainty that Ada would, without hesitation, drop everything and sacrifice anything for Emma, if it would help Emma. It still surprised Emma to feel that certainty, to know that kind of love and care from someone, but Emma knew it was there.
But Ada had to get past Emma's wall first, and it had taken years. Years where Emma could've had that certainty but kept pushing it away.
Mary Margaret gave the blonde a small smile, before stepping away.
She quickly stepped back to grab the flowers though, before leaving again.
She wasn't going to give Emma the chance at more floral abuse.
After a semi-disturbing (which, given the man's tendencies, was actually relatively tame) chat with Mr. Gold (wherein the pawnbroker mentioned dreams being the memories of past lives as if all of the answers Graham was searching for were just...there- within reach), and after chasing after a wolf for most of the night (after having another soul-sucking bout with Regina that solved nothing and only made him feel worse, and yet...he couldn't seem to help himself) and chasing said wolf into the now morning, Graham stumbled into the school, seeking a woman with pale skin, dark hair, and a strange kindness in her smile.
"Mary Margaret," he said, practically stumbling into her classroom, "Can I talk to you?"
The teacher, noticing his state, was immediately concerned, "Graham, what's the matter? Are you okay?" Mary Margaret took in his state- his eyes were wide, bloodshot, and wild, he had a slight tremor that seemed to cover his entire body, and his hair, while never really neat, was reaching new states of unruliness.
"I think we-," he gulped, his entire face conveying confusion, "I think we know each other?"
"Of course we do," Mary Margaret continued to clean up her classroom.
"No- no- not from here," he stuttered out, "Not from Storybrooke."
Mary Margaret looked up into his face, shaking her head slightly, her brow furrowed. "From where then?" she asked.
"Another life," Graham replied, not even sounding sure himself, but nodding and putting as much certainty as he had into the statement.
Mary Margaret's eyebrows rose, and she sat down in one of the desks. Graham paced before becoming still and turning to face her.
"Mary Margaret, how long have we known each other?"
"Um," she sighed, "I don't know- awhile."
"Do you remember when we met?" he questioned, moving to sit across from her.
She gave a slight grimace, "You know, Ada asked me the same thing the other day- I can't remember."
"Me neither," he shook his head, "I can't remember when I met you or when I met anyone. Isn't that odd?"
"I don't know," Mary Margaret shook her head, "I mean, I- I suppose," but she shook off her uncertainty, "I think that's just life- things get hazy."
Had Ada been there, she would've felt a chill go up her spine at the familiar, and now eerie, word.
But she was not, so Graham continued on, "Have I ever hurt you?"
"Oh, Graham, no," Mary Margaret immediately reassured him, leaning forward as if she would place a hand on his knee or grip his hand if he were close enough, "Of course not. What is going on?" she asked, concerned.
"Do you believe in other lives?" he asked her, his voice creaking, his entire body shaking, and Mary Margaret suddenly noticed the sheen of sweat across his forehead.
"Like Heaven?"
"I mean like past lives," he corrected.
Mary Margaret gave a grin and chuckled slightly, "You've been talking to Henry."
"Henry?" Graham questioned.
"Well," Mary Margaret nodded and kept her smile- sure she'd found the source of Graham's strange behavior. Doubtless between a long night, a few too many drinks, a hangover, a fight with Emma, and then talking with Henry, he was getting a bit mixed up and maybe a little ill. The Sheriff probably just needed to go to bed, take some medicine, and sleep the day away. "He has this book of stories. He's been going on about how he thinks we're all characters from them. From another land," she sighed, "And we've forgotten who we really are." She noticed Graham's pale face, and was concerned again. "Which of course makes no sense," she tells him, leaning in for a closer look.
"Right," Graham returned his gaze to her, and Mary Margaret got a good look at the bags under his eyes. "No, of course."
"Graham," she stood and pressed her hand to his forehead, feeling the temperature of him. She placed her hand on the back of his neck, tilting his head down to follow her face as she kneeled before him, "You are burning up. Go home and get some rest. I think you'll feel much better after you've had some sleep."
"Right," he nodded towards the teacher dazedly, "You're absolutely right," he stood, helping her up from the ground, "I'm sorry I've disturbed you," he apologized before clasping her hand quickly as he said, "Thank you."
"Of course," Mary Margaret nodded and watched him leave her classroom, her face worried, and then, a bit confused.
Emma sat quietly in the Sheriff's office. It was a slow day, then again, most days were. It wasn't like Storybrooke was a crime capital or anything. She put a completed file (one detailing Leroy's most recent public intoxication arrest) on Graham's desk and, spotting a dart, attempted to throw it at the board.
She missed by about a mile, and was supremely glad Graham (Mr. I-Never-Miss) had not been there to see it. He wouldn't have teased her (considering they were still on awkward terms, had they not been, he would've had a free-for-all) but the embarrassment would've been enough for Emma. She didn't like not being good at things.
The dart had knocked into the wall, flying all the way back towards Emma, landing a foot or two in front of her. She sighed and bent to pick it up just as she heard a voice.
It wasn't one of her favorites, either.
"Our tax dollars hard at work, I see," to say Mayor Mills sneered as she waltzed into the station would have been inaccurate. While the words seemed to contain that subtext, her voice was cool, even, as if she needed no inflection for them to carry their full weight of her meaning. Emma grimaced and began to take down the darts that Graham had left in the board last time.
"Graham's not here," she told the Mayor, turning briefly to observe the woman in her pencil skirt, blouse and jacket (all in varying shades of grey and black, and the jacket tossed over her shoulders but her arms still free, one hand gripping the jacket's lapel so it would remain in place). "I assumed he took a sick day- with you."
"Oh, so you're aware of us?" Regina gave a crocodile's grin, "Good. That's why I'm here," she told the blonde, who was giving her the most plastic and small of smiles, "Because I'm also aware of your relationship with him," Regina said quickly, nodding to Graham's desk as if to indicate the man himself.
"I don't have a relationship with him," Emma corrected her- wondering if there was something in the water. First Ada, then Mary Margaret, and now Regina Mills. Just what she needed.
"Oh?" Regina said, her voice perfectly polished as Emma returned to her own desk, "So nothing's ever happened between the two of you?" Emma smirked, already knowing where this was going, and put her hands on her hips, ready to be entertained by yet another episode of the Regina Mills Show. "You forget, Miss Swan" Regina continued, sounding smug, "I have eyes everywhere," and she gestured around the station. Emma wouldn't put it past the woman to actually have surveillance all over the town including the Sheriff's Station.
"Nothing that meant anything," Emma informed the Mayor, watching as the woman slowly stalked around the office, her smirk still there. Emma was sure she'd tell Ada about this later and they'd both probably have a good laugh. They'd realized the only way to deal with Regina's machinations was to laugh them off and continue to do whatever they pleased.
"Well, of course not," Regina smiled as if the very idea of Emma meaning anything was ludicrous. "Because you're incapable of feeling anything for anyone," she quickly stated. Emma would admit, that barb did land, but she gave no sign of it- merely raising her eyebrows slightly at Regina's audacity. The Mayor was going to have to try a lot harder than that. Emma had been dealing with foster kids and foster parents and social workers and teachers and students and even cops her whole life, all of whom had tried to bully, put down, and control her.
She hadn't broken yet- the closest to come to it was Neal, and Emma didn't trust Regina the way she had Neal, so the blonde figured she was pretty safe.
Plus, now she had Ada.
"There's a reason you're alone isn't there?" Regina told her coolly, seeming to dismiss Ada's presence entirely (which caused Emma some entertainment- Regina couldn't deal with how easily Ada verbally put the woman in her place, and so the Mayor took every opportunity to ignore the redhead's existence. It was like a child covering herself up with a blanket, because if she couldn't see the monsters, then they couldn't see her.)
"All due respect, I'm not alone, and the way I live my life is my business." Emma turned back to her desk, gathering some pens.
"It is," Mayor Mills countered, stepping forward, "Until it infringes on my life." Emma turned back to face the woman. Doubtless, this would be good. "Stay away from Graham," the woman said with a saccharine smile and a threat in her eyes, but the words were delivered as if they were a matter of course- the Mayor has decreed it so, and so it shall be. "You may think you're doing nothing," and Regina's voice showed what she thought of Emma thinking, "But you're putting thoughts in his head," she shook her own, like having new ideas was the very worst sort of thing to happen to a person, "Thoughts that are not in his best interest," Emma's eyebrows rose (she couldn't quite believe they were discussing an adult man in this way- as if he were a dog who Emma had been teaching bad behavior to), "You are leading him on a path to self-destruction," Regina leaned forward and nodded in all seriousness, her voice remaining cool and competent. Emma waited out a slight pause before the Mayor continued, in a soft whisper that still managed to sound icy, "Stay away."
Emma watched, her face showing her disbelief plainly, as Regina calmly walked away and out of the building.
Had that seriously just happened?
Ada had arranged to meet Henry after he got out of school- he had told her earlier that Regina wouldn't be home till five, and Ada hadn't wanted him in the big house alone.
Henry might have realized that if he told Ada he'd be left home alone for long periods of time, she got concerned and would arrange it so she would at least be able to check on him several times.
He tried not to think of purposefully telling her when he was home alone as taking advantage of that concern, but he was mostly wrapped up in the concept of having a family outside of one other person.
It had always been him and Regina. It wasn't easy to make friends when the kids who were with you in First Grade stayed in that class and forgot they had ever been friends with you as you went to Second. And during the school year when everyone still thought he was their age and that they had been with him in classes before, most kids were too afraid of the Mayor to want to be chummy with her son. And those kids that were willing to play with him, definitely didn't want to go and hang out at his house. (Not that they would've been allowed, Regina had a very strict rule about people coming over, and Henry certainly wasn't supposed to leave home.) Even the adults avoided him mostly. There were always nice and all, but that was mostly because they were afraid of his mom. They all kept their distance.
So it was just him and Regina, and when he realized that he was growing up while all the other kids stayed frozen, and that wasn't exactly normal, Regina checked him into therapy. So then, it felt more like it was just Henry.
But Henry knew what was happening around him, and Mary Margaret gave him the book, and he put the pieces together.
It was clever, he knew that, but he was still alone. It was still just him and the Evil Queen, and that was not nearly as comforting as the idea of it being him and his mom.
He knew she had to know the truth, he knew she had to remember, but she kept sending him to Archie, and saying that everything was perfectly normal in Storybrooke.
But then he found Emma, and he thought, maybe, instead of it being him and the Evil Queen, it could be him and Emma. And Emma was so nice; sure, she was a bit prickly, but he could get that. And whenever he got Emma to smile at him (which was actually pretty easy), it felt warm. And Emma was the Savior from the book! So not only did he get his real mom- the one who gave him up for his best chance, just like Snow White and Prince Charming did for their baby (and wow- his mom loved him as much as Snow White loved her baby- that's pretty amazing)- but he also got the Savior.
He found the person who was going to bring back all the happy endings! He found the person who would break the curse, and he'd be able to be friends with kids who'd grow up at the same time as him, and he'd be Emma the Savior's son, instead of the Evil Queen's son, so people...people wouldn't keep their distance anymore.
And then, with Emma came Ada. Emma said Ada was practically her sister, which meant she was practically Henry's Aunt. So even now while the curse was still going, it wasn't just him and Emma; it was him, Emma, and Ada.
Which was more family then he'd ever had before.
And Ada liked to talk to him- she'd tell him stories about things she'd done with Emma, places she and Emma had been. And Henry was pretty clever (he'd figured out the curse on his own, after all) and he knew Ada made sure all her stories had Emma in them because Henry wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about Emma, everything about the woman who loved him so much she scarified her chance to be with him so he could have everything. Turns out he hadn't gotten everything, not really, but Emma was sticking around with Ada to make sure he would.
That was more than anyone else had ever done for him. That was huge.
So Henry wanted to know everything about his mother, and Ada would oblige with stories. He was sure she was keeping some details out (Her story of how she and Emma met was filled with a lot of gaps that, when he questioned, Ada said would be filled in "When you're fifty.") but Henry loved it.
So he always told Ada when he'd be left home alone.
Ada was kind of quiet and...Henry wasn't sure what it was, but she seemed a little jumpy about something. Nevertheless, she had him laughing at a story of how Ada and Emma had gone on a city-wide hunt for the best ice cream in San Francisco (caused by Emma's skepticism over whether the ice cream parlor advertised as "San Francisco's Best Ice Cream" was actually the best or not) as Ada walked him back from school (and having Ada around was super cool, cuz it was like having a piece of Emma even when she couldn't be there cuz she had to be at work) when he noticed Sheriff Graham ringing the doorbell of his house.
"Sheriff?" Henry questioned, walking up the brick path leading to his front door. "My mom's not here."
Graham turned around and Ada immediately noticed how ill the man looked, but Graham's eyes were glued to Henry.
"Actually, ah," he stumbled over the words, "I'm here to see you, Henry."
Henry's head cocked to the side in interest as he got his house keys out of his pocket.
"I was hoping you could help me," Graham confessed.
"Help you with what?" Henry opened the front door and Ada reached out for Graham, as if she could assure herself of his wellness with physical touch. But the man's arm was shaking, and he felt sort of clammy.
"It's about your book," Graham said, all seriousness, which Henry appreciated, "Am I...in it?"
Oooooh. And the plot thickens. Ada's catching on that something's not quite right. She doesn't believe it's the curse, not really, but she's noticing holes in the story around her (hence the title of this chapter). And wow, that Henry section got long fast when I was trying to give us all an insight to Henry's thought process. It's always been such a sad story to me, Henry's early life, and I can't believe the show doesn't acknowledge it more. The boy is the only person in the town who is aging! Can we take a moment to realize the implications of that? We saw in the flashback of Regina's first days of the curse that Storybrooke essentially is the same day, over and over again, on repeat. That's why she got bored and wanted a kid (who ran away from her when he realized she had killed his father in an attempt to keep him to herself) and then later adopted Henry. But that means Henry probably had the same school lesson day after day until he got to advance to the next year. It's not till Emma arrives that time starts moving. I'm hoping Regina somehow managed to revise the curse so that Henry's education wasn't like that, but can she do that after it's already cast? Especially since she's not the creator of the curse?
It's pretty disturbing to think about what the first ten years of Henry's life must've been like. That's why I think he was just so thrilled to have Emma in town, to having time moving, why he pushed so hard for Emma to break the curse right away- kid did not have time to be subtle. His life has basically been an extreme psychological torture session. Seriously, if governments could get ahold of the ability to make someone repeat the same day, over and over, with only one person aware of it, with only that one person aging? Ultimate torture technique right there. Frightening.
What really upsets me is that we see Regina can leave Storybrooke if she so chooses- she left to get Henry and left again when she wanted to initially give him back & then changed her mind. She could've left town and raised Henry somewhere normal with the knowledge that all the fairytale characters were still in Storybrooke, trapped and miserable, maybe a few trips every year or so to check on things, but she didn't. She chose to raise Henry in that town so she could personally watch everyone be miserable, no matter the cost to him.
That, I think, is probably the most disturbing thing she's ever done.
Either way, sorry for that depressing end note- but yay! Another chapter- and some of Henry's point of view. I like writing Henry; I'll have to see if I can manage to do it more often. We'll see.
