A/N: Sorry for the wait, between work and getting ready for vacation I've been either too busy or too tired to write, but I finally sat down and finished, so I hope you like this! Thank you to everyone who's favorited, commented, and followed it really makes me happy that people enjoy my story so much :)
It took Henry two hours to figure out they had a visitor at his house. Most days after school he came home immediately, locked himself in his room, and listened to music in a weak attempt to forget that she was gone. It never worked.
"Henry, dinner's ready." Roland said, cracking his door open only a little for fear of getting cussed out by his older brother. Robin and Regina had strictly told him not to pester Henry after Addison was taken, just because they didn't need him angry and annoyed on top of being sad.
"I'm not hungry." Henry muttered, turning the music up louder which Regina would inevitably yell at him for. It wasn't like Henry cared, he didn't care about much anymore.
"Regina says you have to eat." Roland retorted, opening the door wider. Henry groaned, wishing he had a lock on his door at moments like this.
"Tell her I'm not fucking hungry!" He shouted, throwing his blanket over his head.
"Henry, watch your language." His adoptive mother scolded, suddenly appearing behind Roland. "Ariel is here and she has news so if you're done moping you can actually figure out how Addison is doing."
In the month and a half since Addison had been taken, Regina hadn't seen Henry move as fast as he did when he heard those words. He sprinted past her and thundered down the stairs, nearly tripping over Josephine and making both of them fall.
Henry slid across the floor into the dining room, where Ariel was sitting at the table talking to Robin. When she saw he had entered, she stopped talking and smiled.
"Hello Henry." She greeted pleasantly, her smile growing.
"How is she?" He asked, wanting to know immediantly instead of dancing around the subject.
"Henry, don't be rude. We'll discuss this after dinner, Emma and David are coming over as well to hear what she has to say to see if it will help us any." Regina scolded, sitting down in her usual seat. Henry shot his mother an agitated glare but stayed quiet.
Dinner dragged on with boring small talk and Henry wished he could magically make time speed up so he could hear about Addison. How was she? Did she miss him? Or did she think Thomas was better than him and never wanted to come back? Questions floated around in his head, making him dizzy. Finally, when his other mom and grandfather arrived, Regina shooed his younger siblings out of the room, allowing them to talk.
"How is she?" Henry asked again, hopefully not sounding too desperate for answers. Ariel sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly before she adjusted her posture again.
"Her and Thomas were married a month ago." She said sadly. Henry slumped down in his seat, his heart sinking. That was the first part of his plan to get the throne. "I never actually saw it, but I've heard that she's very bitter now. Always angry and lashing out at maids and servants, but she was very pleasant at the ball after the wedding."
"She was in Princess Mode, of course she was nice." Henry muttered, setting his head in his hands. "Did she seem happy with him?"
"In front of everyone, yes very, but when I pulled her away to talk she was very sad and agitated when he tried to come and get her. It's quite obvious that it's a loveless marriage, but unfortunately that's not uncommon." Ariel said with a sad sigh, looking down at her hands. She looked up at Henry with a sad look. "She has a message for you though."
Henry's heart raced, she was a genius, of course they could use Ariel to send messages back and forth! When he rescued her he was going to kiss her extra hard for being so brilliant.
"What was it?" He asked excitedly, feeling more giddy that he had in months.
"She said that she loves you very much, and that she will love you for the rest of her life, but she wants you to move on. She doesn't want to be the reason you never find love again. She made it sound like she was never coming back." In a split second, Henry went from the top of the world to tumbling back down deeper into the depression that had consumed him since she left.
"She doesn't think she will. He's going to kill her." Henry muttered, setting his head in his hands. He heard Regina sigh next to him and shuffle closer.
"You know we're trying to get a portal open, he won't get away with it." She assured, rubbing his back soothingly. This did nothing to calm him down. How could she have told him to move on? He didn't want to, he refused. Addison was better than any girl he would ever meet.
"Not for lack of effort mom. He's hell bent on getting her throne." He said with a sigh, looking up at her. Emma frowned and ruffled his hair.
"He needs an heir for his plan-"
"I know." He snapped, fighting the urge to glare at his mom. "Don't remind me that someone else is fucking-"
"Henry!" Regina and Emma scolded at the same time.
"Sleeping with," he corrected with a sigh. "My girlfriend. Not something I enjoy thinking about."
David chuckled and leaned back in his chair, crossing her arms over his chest.
"You should've seen me when I figured out Snow slept with Whale during the curse." He said, earning a glare from Emma.
"Not helping dad." She stated dryly. David held his hands up in defense and Regina rolled her eyes before speaking.
"With luck, it'll take them a while to actually conceive, then after that we know that we'll have nine months left to rescue her." She said, making Henry snort.
"Let's aim to rescue her before she gets pregnant." Henry dead panned, feeling sick just thinking about it. "Can you give her a message if you see her again? Tell her that I'm not giving up, we're going to get her back."
"Of course I will, I'll keep you updated here if anything happens or if they announce a pregnancy too." Ariel assured, standing up and smoothing out her dress. "I have to go now, Melody's birthday ball is in a few days and Eric is hopeless with last minute preparations." She gave all of them hugs before Emma and David left to take her back to the beach.
"I'm going to my room." Henry mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Wait." Regina called after him, following him out of the dining room. Henry sighed and spun on his heel. "You said you didn't like the idea of someone else sleeping with Addison, now I know it's not really my business but to me that sounds like..."
"You're not good at beating around the bush, Mom." Henry chuckled. "If you're trying to ask if we've slept together, we have."
He felt his face heat up, a little embarrassed that he basically just told him mom he wasn't a virgin. Regina blushed as well, shocked that he had actually told her.
"Well I hope you were careful." She said sternly. Henry rolled his eyes and leaned against the stair railing.
"Of course I was careful." He scoffed. Well all except for that first time... Panic momentarily ran through him at the realization. He quickly brushed it away and backed up the stairs slowly. "Can I go now?"
"Fine, I'm going to Gold's shop to see if he's found anything. Make sure Daniel and Josephine don't kill each other." Regina ordered with a snort. The three year olds had gotten a mean streak and seemed to fight every waking moment of the day now.
"Can do mom. Can Paige spend the night?" He asked, which shocked his mom. He never spent times with friends anymore.
"Of course. I'll see you in the morning." She replied as smiled and ran up the stairs to call her. He wasn't sure what about Ariel's visit had cheered him up so much, but for some reason he had renewed hope that she would be rescued.