Henry and Helena quietly sat down at the Gold's dinner table and graciously accepted an offer of tea from Mrs. Gold, even though they normally both preferred coffee. Kayla had been sent to bed early by her mother.
"I can't thank you enough for returning our daughter to us safely, Mr. Stable," said Mr. Gold. "Her mother has been worried about her all day."
Helena tightened her lips and waited for Henry's reaction. "Cursed" or not, there was obviously something strange about this guy. Considering his eleven-year-old had been gone all day and traveled to Boston by herself to find her birth father without his knowledge or consent, he was definitely disturbingly calm.
"What about you?" she asked gently. "You must have been worried, too."
"Of course I was," Mr. Gold insisted. "But well…you know how mothers are." He looked pointedly at Henry. "Don't you?"
Henry furrowed his brow. His last clear memory of his mother flashed through his mind.
"A monster named Cora is going to cast a curse that only you can break. Until you do, nobody will be able to do anything, or go home, or…"
What did this mean? How did this man, his wife, and Henry's estranged daughter fit into the puzzle of finding out what happened to Henry's birth parents?
"Actually, we both grew up in foster care," said Helena. "Our parents abandoned us the day I was born."
"They lost us," Henry corrected her. Mr. Gold smiled. Not that sympathetic sad-clown smile that most people flashed him when this conversation came up. Just a normal smile. Almost sinister.
"Here you go," chirped Mrs. Gold as she re-entered the room carrying a tea tray. Henry thanked her and reached for a tea cup. "Not that one," she said, swiftly taking it for herself and setting it down in front of her. "Sorry. The chipped cup is sort of my lucky charm." Mr. Gold smiled lovingly at her and kissed her cheek. Her whole face lit up.
"So, Henry? You're a detective?"
"Yes," said Henry. "I work out of a police station in Boston."
"Oh!" said Mrs. Gold. "I almost forgot. One of us needs to call Sheriff Graham and let him know Kayla got home safely."
"I'll do it," said Mr. Gold. He got up, hobbled to the kitchen, and began dialing numbers on a rotary phone.
"So, what does Mr. Gold do for a living?" asked Helena.
"We own a number of businesses," Mrs. Gold explained. "Most of them are managed by people around town, but he likes to run the pawn shop himself."
"And what about you?" asked Henry.
"I started working at the library…" she began. But then she stopped. Her face melted into a confused, almost sad expression. "I've been working there as long as I can remember."
Henry leaned in closer. "You must have taken some time off after you adopted Kayla, right?" he pried gently.
"I don't…" Her body and mind froze midsentence. Henry and Helena glanced at each other. When Mr. Gold came back and tapped his wife on the shoulder, she looked up and smiled at him, then took a sip of her tea as if nothing had ever happened.
"So, how old was Kayla when you adopted her?" asked Henry casually.
"According to her adoption papers, six weeks," said Mr. Gold. "Isn't that right, darling?"
"Hmm…" Mrs. Gold rested her hand on her chin, as if lost in thought. "I don't remember."
Henry turned to Mr. Gold. "So, what made you guys decide to adopt a child?" He ignored the look Helena was giving him for the blatant question.
"Fate," answered Mr. Gold. "It was the strangest thing. We weren't even thinking about children when we came across a story in the paper about a young woman who was being forced to give up her baby for adoption. The moment we saw a picture of our Kayla, we knew she was ours." Mr. Gold squeezed his wife's hand when he said the last sentence. Her eyes lit up when they met his, but it almost seemed like she was just going along with what he was saying.
"Was there anything in the article about why she was giving the baby up for adoption?" asked Henry.
Mr. Gold's face glazed over with a strange expression. "I really don't remember."
Henry tightened his jaw. How convenient, he thought to himself.
"We don't have to spend the night here, Henry," grumbled Helena. "If we start driving now, we can easily make it back home by morning."
"No way," said Henry. "You don't really want to spend your whole birthday in the car, do you?"
"Better than us spending it locked in a hotel room together."
"Which isn't any worse than us spending it locked in a car together," Henry retorted.
"True."
Henry and Helena quickly checked themselves into the local hotel. An old woman handed them their key and welcomed them to Storybrooke.
"How long will you be staying with us?"
"Just tonight," said Helena.
Simultaneously, Henry replied, "No more than a week." He felt his sister look at him.
"Well, okay then," said the old woman. "Ruby! We have customers!"
A stick-thin girl with bright red highlights about sixteen or seventeen year old came over and showed them to their room, chattering on about the diner and the bakery and the auto shop in case the car needed any repairs and complaining about how hard her granny made her work on Founder's Day. Henry welcomed the chatter. Anything was pleasant compared to what he knew was coming when Ruby closed the door and walked away.
"You're not seriously planning on staying here for days just because an eleven-year-old you barely know asked you to?"
"She's my daughter," said Henry. "And I'm not leaving her until I find out what's going on with those parents."
"Why are you always so suspicious of people you barely know?" asked Helena, even though she knew the answer. "I'll admit that the way they were sidestepping things was a little…weird…but I didn't get the impression that they're guarding anything. They seemed like a perfectly normal, nice family who were surprised to suddenly find their child's birthfather on their doorstep."
"They were hiding something," said Henry. He sat down and pulled off his boots. "I know they were."
"It didn't seem that way to me," said Helena gently. "Henry, plenty of people in this world are good, loving parents. In fact, most people are."
"Yeah? And how many of those ever gave a crap about us?"
"You mean other than our alleged real parents who you still haven't told me about?" Helena hated herself for a moment after the words slipped out. Maybe that wasn't the best timing.
"I'll tell you sometime soon," Henry promised. "Let's just get some rest."
"You've been saying soon for ten years!" snapped Helena. "And don't you dare pull that 'when you're ready' crap again. Whatever it is, you've known about it since you were four, and somehow you think it's okay to keep it from me for twenty-eight years?"
"I've already told you, it's not that I don't think you could handle it," Henry insisted.
"Well then what is it? I mean it, Henry. I'm not that baby someone handed you in a basket anymore."
"Soon," grunted Henry again. Then he laid down on top of the blanket on the bed in the room they were given and pretended to fall asleep while he tried to fight off the questions playing with his mind. He heard Helena get under the covers on the other side of the bed and waited to open his eyes until her breathing grew heavy.
"I mean it this time," he whispered. "I just have to make sure I'm right."
Just as Henry was closing his eyes for real, the residents of Storybrooke heard the clock tower chime for the first time in twenty-eight years.
The next morning, Mrs. Gold woke up to find her daughter in the kitchen making tea.
"Be careful with the stove. And don't think that being nice means you're not still in trouble for running away."
"I wasn't running away," said Kayla. "And I know. I just figured you'd want some tea now because Granny's doesn't have the kind you like."
"Since when are we eating breakfast at Granny's?"
"I called ahead and told Henry we'd meet him there," said Kayla. "Daddy said I could."
Mrs. Gold sighed and took over the tea preparation and told Kayla to go find something to wear. Of course Kayla had asked her father for permission instead of her. He would say yes to that. He said yes to a lot of things she never would. It had all started when Kayla's teacher, Mrs. Blanchard, gave her the seemingly harmless gift of an old storybook. But Kayla had become obsessed with it to the point of becoming convinced that Storybrooke was a town full of fairytale characters who were cursed and couldn't remember who they were and that Mayor Mills was some sort of wicked witch. Normally Mr. Gold's patience with Kayla was something his wife loved about him, but the indulgence of an obsession that to her seemed outright psychotic was where she drew the line.
One day after school while he was at the convent harassing Mother Superior about the rent, Mrs. Gold had taken Kayla to see Dr. Hopper. Only when the therapist encouraged her to reach into Kayla's fantasy world in order to draw her back out had Mrs. Gold relented.
The Gold family arrived at Granny's just as the town clock struck 7:45. Kayla pointed to the clock and squealed. "Look! Time is moving again! I knew it!"
A smile spread across her father's face. "So it is, Kayla. So it is." His wife shot him an amused look.
"Uh-oh," whispered Kayla. Mr. Gold turned and saw Mayor Mills marching up the sidewalk. She never came near Granny's.
"Why don't you go take a seat, darling?" Mr. Gold gestured for his wife and daughter to go ahead inside. Then he turned and gripped his cane a little harder than usual. "What can I do for you, Madam Mayor?"
"The clock in the tower. Why is it ticking again?"
"Oh, that. I arranged for some acquaintances of mine to have it fixed late last night." The mayor stared at him hard. "I was just tired of seeing it not moving forward, you know?"
The mayor glanced through the window at Granny's. "Who's that girl?"
"What girl?" replied Mr. Gold.
"The one sitting with your wife. Who is she?"
"Just someone whose father I have some urgent town business to discuss with."
"What kind of town business?"
"I'm afraid I'm unable to disclose that at this time. You'll find out soon enough."
Fortunately, the mayor was interrupted a few seconds later by Sherriff Graham to deal with some minor safety concern. Mr. Gold turned and went inside. Henry and Helena arrived shortly. Kayla plunked herself down right next to Henry as soon as they got a table. The meal went by quickly, full of polite conversation about how well Kayla was doing in school and the various buildings Mr. Gold owned, including this very establishment apparently. Kayla kept looking at Henry like she wanted to tell him something but there were too many people around. She flashed him a sweet smile every time he caught her eye. It killed him a little how much her smile reminded him of a younger Helena.
"So, Mr. Stable, how long are you planning on staying in town?" Mr. Gold finally asked.
"Just a few days," said Henry. "You don't mind me spending some time with Kayla, do you?"
Mr. Gold shrugged. "I suppose an hour or two a day after school couldn't hurt."
"Just make sure we know where you are," added Mrs. Gold.
Kayla flashed Henry another smile and gave him a quiet high-five.
"Well...Mrs. Gold and I need to head to work soon," said Mr. Gold. "Henry, why don't you bring Kayla by the animal shelter for a few minutes? I heard they rescued a litter of puppies last night."
Kayla squealed and looked up at Henry. "Please?"
"Sure," he said, surprised that the man he had just met last night was willing to trust him with his child.
"She has school," Mrs. Gold objected.
"It's okay for her to be late just this once," said Mr. Gold. His wife raised a skeptical eyebrow but didn't say anything. Helena didn't say anything, but that was the one part of the family dynamic that she found suspicious. Mr. Gold was showing no signs of being a controlling father or husband-if anything he seemed too relaxed-so why was his wife ultimately going along with every little thing he said?
"I'll see you later, Mr. and Ms. Stable," said Mr. Gold, standing up without his cane long enough to shake their hands, then grabbing it and escorting his wife outside.
"Mind if I go back to the motel to take a shower?" asked Helena.
"No problem," said Henry as he brought Kayla out to his car. She hopped into the front seat next to him.
"Thank you for staying," she said. "I knew you were here to help me."
"Of course I am," said Henry. He was a little touched by her remark. And a little suspicious.
"It's not just my parents, you know," said Helena sadly. "It's everyone."
"What do you mean everyone?" asked Henry.
"This whole town," said Helena. "Everyone and everything here was brought here by the curse at the same time as my parents. They just don't remember who they are."
Henry bit his lip. Kayla's parents being from another realm he could understand. But an entire town created by magic? That seemed a little...as much as he hated to even think this word in the context of his own daughter…crazy. It was improbable at best.
"Any particular reason why you think that?" he asked.
"The fairy tales in my book," explained Kayla. "They aren't finished. Cinderella got a wicked stepmother and stepsisters who made her a maid, but the ball she was supposed to meet the prince at hasn't happened yet. Jiminy Cricket vowed to help Geppetto find a son, but Geppetto never built Pinnocchio. Snow White got a stepmother, but her stepmother never turned evil or tried to give her the poisoned apple. Sleeping Beauty was put under a curse by Maleficent, but Maleficent was never killed and the prince never woke her up."
"And you really think that everyone in this town was a character in your book?"
"Yep," said Kayla. "That's why they're not finished. The savior has to defeat the evil witch and finish the story."
"And who's the evil witch supposed to be?" asked Henry.
"Probably Mayor Mills, of course," said Kayla. "You believe me, don't you?"
Henry didn't answer. He wanted to believe her. Really he did. But this was a lot to ask someone to believe, even someone like him.
"Is this the right place?" he asked as soon as they arrived at the animal shelter.
"Yeah," said Kayla. She got out of the car and ran a few steps ahead of him. By the time Henry reached the doorway, Kayla was already at the desk.
"Mr. Nolan? Can I see the new puppies you brought in last night?"
"Sure, Kayla. They're in the back, but let me grab one for you."
Henry froze as soon as the man at the desk durned around. He caught a glimpse of his face
"Kayla, who's that?"
"David Nolan," she said. "Why?"
"Is he in your book?"
Before Kayla had a chance to answer, David returned holding a fresh white puppy just small enough to carry comfortably. "Here you are. Come pet him."
Kayla smiled and stroked the little white creature in David's arms while he held it still. "Be gentle. Make sure you stroke in the direction of her fur."
"Be gentle, Henry. Make sure you stroke in the direction of his fur."
"I know how to do it, James! I help you pet sheep all the time!"
"I know how to do it, Mr. Nolan. I help you with the dogs all the time, remember?"
"I know, I know, just making sure. Do you want to hold him for a minute?"
As Kayla took the puppy in her arms, Henry stepped closer and stared hard at his early childhood idol. He looked exactly the same as he remembered. Except that in most of Henry's memories, he had longer hair and a beard. But same voice, same mannerisms. Same age. James was over ten years younger than Henry now.
"Can I help you, sir?" asked James/Mr. Nolan.
"I…um. Hi. I was just wondering, do you have any sheep here?"
The man laughed. Even though Henry knew he was laughing at him, it was comforting to hear. He'd never thought he'd see him again. "What could you possibly want with a sheep? There are no sheep here in Storybrooke."
"Are you sure you've never tended a flock of sheep?" asked Henry.
"Um…no?" James looked away from Henry long enough to scoop the puppy out of Kayla's arms. "Where are you from? I've never seen you around here before."
"I'm new in town," said Henry.
"Welcome then," said James. "I hope you come to enjoy it here despite the lack of sheep."
Henry swallowed the lump in his throat as he reached out to shake James's extended hand. So many years he'd wondered if he'd ever see this man who was so close to family again. So many words he was holding back.
"I…I think I may have met your mother once," Henry finally managed.
"That's quite possible," said James. "Her name is Edith Nolan, she's a nurse at the hospital."
A small smile spread across Henry's face. "That sounds right. Do you have a picture?"
"Um…yes," said James. He held out a small photograph of himself and his mother. Henry recognized her face instantly. His memories of her were as clear as the ones he had of his own parents. He shut his eyes tightly for a moment.
"Yes. That's her." And if Ruth was in this town, so was everyone else he loved.
"Did she ever treat you?" asked James, obviously confused by the emotional impact of the photograph.
"She helped save my life once," said Henry simply. He cleared his throat. "Well, I've got to drop this one off at school." He grabbed Kayla's shoulder.
"Cool. I'll see you around?"
"Yeah," said Henry.
"Now do you believe me?" asked Kayla as soon as they were back in the car.
"Absolutely," said Henry.
Unexpectedly, the child wrapped her arms around him, pulling him to a stop. "I knew you would," she whispered, not doing Henry's efforts to keep his emotions in check any favors. He knew he should have been there for her all along. He knew he should have been her father. Not that their current situation was entirely his fault. It was just another thing the universe had never given him the chance to do right.
"By the way, he is in my book," said Kayla. "So's his mom."
"What about his wife?" asked Henry, suddenly vaguely remember James returning home for a visit with a pretty blonde princess on his arm.
"She is, but somehow they got split up during the curse," said Kayla. "I think he's had a crush on my teacher for a while."
"And what about my parents?" asked Henry.
Kayla shook her head. "I can't find them anywhere. But they're here. The book says that the curse brought everyone to the same place."
"Do you mind if I hold onto it while you're at school?" asked Henry.
"Of course not," said Kayla with a broad smile as she hopped back into Henry's car.
This was something he was going to do right. He had to. It was what he was born to do.