Unlike most of the residents of Storybrooke, Maine, the past life of one Sidney Trapp managed to be fascinating to some and at the same time barely worth noting, if at all. He spent centuries in the bottle that contained him, dormant, hardly even being, coming out 334 times to grant 1001 ill-fated wishes. The only reason he was even mentioned in Henry and Kayla's storybook was because King Leopold of the White Kingdom had the misfortune of discovering Sidney's bottle during a stroll around his palace grounds one morning. Once the genie had rattled off the usual wish-making protocol, the king, after very little thought, had wished for an eligible woman to propose to. The genie had reminded him that while he could wish for marriage, he could not wish for love. King Leopold had insisted that any woman would love being his queen. So the genie brought him to the home of a baron in King Richard's kingdom whose daughter was ripe for marriage. Shortly after the king and his new wife were married, he realized that she absolutely despised him and was miserable in her quarters at the palace. So King Leopold used his second wish to ask for something that would put his wife in a better mood. When that "something" turned out to be a mysterious thief who stole the queen's heart and every waking thought after just one meeting, King Leopold had forfeited his third wish and thrown the bottle back into the ocean in disgust.
Sidney's home in Storybrooke for the past twenty-eight years was only slightly less cramped and unpleasant than the bottle. Rather than being a magical genie, he was here a hermit living in a trailer in the woods just outside of town, as always cut off from mankind and any semblance of normalcy.
Until one day, when a woman he recognized but didn't know how showed up at his door.
"What can I do for you, Mayor Mills?"
"What you should really be asking yourself, Sidney, is what I can do for you."
He coughed and slumped awkwardly against a counter, interested. "What might that be, Mayor Mills?"
"I can free you from the life you've been living. You'll stay in my guesthouse and eat at my manor instead of…whatever and however it is you eat out here."
"What's in it for you?" he asked suspiciously, although his eyes were shining already.
"In return, I need you to keep an eye on someone for me. You will follow her everywhere she goes, carefully and discreetly, and never let her see you. You will report every single detail of what you find back to me."
"When do I start?" asked Sidney.
The mayor smiled. "Come with me." Without hesitation, Sidney grabbed his coat and keys, slammed the door to his trailer shut, locked it, and followed the mayor. "And by the way," said the mayor. "This is her." She handed him a photograph of Helena.
Henry and Helena's second visitation in the hospital happened early Friday morning. He told her without going into detail that his first session with Dr. Hopper had gone as well as could be expected, and she told him about how she and Kayla had been doing and updated him on the whereabouts of some of their mutual acquaintances. Neither of them mentioned the curse or the events leading up to Henry's hospitalization. Helena noticed Henry seemed more alert than he had on Wednesday but still not nearly as sharp as he usually did.
"I'm glad things are going well with Dr. Hopper, but I still don't like the fact that you're being pumped with all this medication," said Helena.
"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do about that, ma'am," one of the nurses in the room cut in. "Everyone in the psychiatric ward is on the same medication regimen for anger management and insomnia."
"Henry doesn't have anger issues or insomnia."
The nurse smiled. "Well, it's hospital policy."
Helena exhaled slowly. Henry, sensing her concern, smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, sis. I know how to handle strong medication. Claymore Home, remember?"
Helena's eyes widened like a cat that had just spotted a mouse. "What's he talking about?" asked one of the nurses.
"Not quite the same thing as this," said Helena as she pulled her brother into a hug for just a moment. "In our third foster home, there was a stretch where they made us take an adult Benadryl after dinner every day so that we'd fall asleep sooner."
"No, no, Henry," said one of the nurses with an amused laugh. "This medication is supposed to help you, not keep you tired so that you stay out of somebody's way." He realized too late that, in a lot of ways, that was exactly the purpose of this hospital's medication. Especially because most of the mental patients hadn't had any kind of outburst in as long as they could remember.
"That doesn't mean I can't deal with these pills the same way I dealt with those pills," Henry mumbled.
"Right. I'll see you on Monday, Henry," said Helena. "Promise me you won't do anything stupid, okay?"
"I promise," Henry mumbled in response, then stayed sitting up after she let go and walked away. All three nurses exited the room with her and brought Daniel along so that Henry would be alone by the time Dr. Hopper arrived.
Helena had been in Storybrooke for almost three weeks now and was finding it to be surprisingly eventful for a small town, even aside from the events that were happening to her and Henry. For instance, that evening at around six she'd planned to walk from the library to her apartment and halfway there found the sidewalk blocked by an old man yelling at Mary Margret Blanchard of all people. They were right next to a small Bistro, and Helena saw all the customers watching as best they could from the window. When she drew closer, she recognized the man as the priest, who she knew from Henry's research was also Mary Margret's father.
"Just go inside and try it!" snapped the old man. "How will you know if you never try?"
"I already know what I want!" said Mary Margret, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Nothing you do or say is going to change it, Father. I'm sorry."
The old man put a comforting hand on Mary Margret and looked down at her sternly. "That boy isn't good enough for you." That only caused Mary Margret to cover her face with her hands. "I'll leave you alone to think about it. If you don't go in there, I'll be very disappointed."
The old man walked away and rounded the corner. Mary Margret looked up and suddenly became aware that Helena was watching, as was everyone else who could see them.
"Um…you alright?" asked Helena awkwardly, then wished she'd asked something else. Obviously the other woman wasn't alright.
"My father found out about David and he doesn't approve," Mary Margret blurted out. "He's set up a date for me with this…" she pulled a slip of paper out of her purse and checked it while wiping a tear from the corner of one eye. "Dr. Whale."
"No," said Helena.
Mary Margret looked at her strangely. "No?"
"No." Helena put a hand on the younger woman's elbow. "Trust me."
"I know I don't know any of you very well, but I don't understand why your father would object to David," said Helena. She and Mary Margret were sitting on the steps outside of Granny's. "He seems like such a nice guy."
"He is. But my father wants me to date someone older and more established and mature."
"So he set you up with Dr. Whale?" Helena asked incredulously, thinking that if Storybrooke had a Worst Parent award, Mary Margret's father just might be able to give the mayor a run for her money.
"He hasn't even spoken to David, and he already loathes the idea of us being together," said Mary Margret. "I don't know how to tell David about this, but I feel like I have to."
"Whatever you do, don't give in," Helena urged. "Dr. Whale aside, if what you and David have is working well for you, you shouldn't let anyone mess with that. Not even someone who thinks they're helping you. Your father has no right to judge David before he gives him a chance to prove himself, and I think that if he could see how much David truly cares about you, he wouldn't be trying to interfere."
Mary Margret wiped the last of her tears away and flashed a sweet smile. "I guess you're right. I hope he comes around eventually."
"I hope so, too," said Helena softly. A few seconds later, Mary Margret looked across the street and her face lit up. David was walking towards them.
"I need to get going," said Helena. "I'll see you later." Mary Margret thanked the other woman for her advice, then left and pulled her beloved into a sweet kiss in the middle of the sidewalk for all the world to see.
Henry refused to talk to anyone for most of the rest of the day after his session with Dr. Hopper. The therapist had tried to make him think more about why he felt he was responsible for saving the town and then talk about his childhood. It had been a very unpleasant conversation.
"So, how did it go?" Daniel asked eventually.
"Could have been better, could have been worse," Henry admitted. "I keep telling myself that the sooner I do what the guy wants the sooner I can get out of here, but I have a feeling that's going to take a while no matter what."
"Did he really tell you that there's a chance of you getting out of the hospital if you listen to him?"
"I know there is," said Henry. "Eventually, if he feels the treatment is working on me, I'll get transferred upstairs and then sent home. That's how places like this are supposed to be run."
Daniel shifted so he could see Henry better. "If Dr. Hopper can help you with your problem, do you think that he might be able to help me remember who I am?"
"I have no idea," Henry answered truthfully after a moment. He wondered if Dr. Hopper would even be willing to attempt to treat Daniel. If he was, then the memories he "recovered" might not even be real. Or maybe they'd find nothing at all. But at least if Dr. Hopper got to know Daniel and realized that he was a nice harmless guy who just had amnesia, he might get transferred to the minimum security ward automatically.
"Can you ask him?" Daniel pleaded. "Please? I want to remember who I am, Henry."
"I'll try," Henry finally agreed. "But there's something I think you're going to have to do if you want it to work."
"What is it?"
Henry hesitated. "Can you promise to keep a secret?"
"I promise," said Daniel, mostly because he was afraid Henry wouldn't talk to Dr. Hopper if he didn't agree to do it.
Henry walked over to him, sat down, and whispered, "The pills they're giving us aren't helping us. They're dangerous. They're the reason we feel tired and crappy all the time."
Daniel looked more surprised than Henry had expected him to. "You think we're not actually supposed to be this tired all the time?"
"Of course not." Henry realized with a pang that his father didn't know life any other way. "I know the real you, remember? You used to spend all day riding and training horses, mucking stalls, doing barn work."
"Which it doesn't sound like I'd have the energy to do now," Daniel admitted. "But what are you trying to say, Henry?"
"I'm saying that in order to feel better, and to give therapy any chance of working, you have to stop taking the pills they're giving us."
"That's not allowed."
"Which is why we pretend to take them," Henry explained. "It's not hard. I taught Helena how to do it when she was six."
Daniel thought about Henry's proposal for a minute. As much as he liked Henry, he still didn't entirely trust him. And it wasn't like him to break the rules. But after nothing having been done for him for as long as he could remember, if there was even a chance that he could do something to make things better…well, it couldn't possibly hurt to try. What did he have to lose?"
"You with me, man?"
"Yes."
Virginia was in the kitchen cooking when Helena arrived home and flopped down on the couch.
"Long day?"
Helena grunted in response.
"I'm making a pie. I do hope you like apples."
"That sounds delicious, actually," Helena admitted. "Today was more bizarre than anything." Virginia kept listening as she put the apple pie in the oven. "I saw Henry this morning, and he all but told me that he's figured out how to hide and flush the meds they're giving him. I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Are you going to tell Dr. Hopper?" Virginia asked as she came over and sat down on the couch next to Helena.
"Dr. Hopper himself made a comment to me about how he might clash with Dr. Aras over Henry's medication. I think that he would actually be okay with this, but if I were to tell him he might feel obligated to report it to the hospital. If Henry seems like he's planning to escape or do anything else dangerous, I'm sure one of his doctors will pick up on it."
Virginia nodded. They both looked away and sighed.
"And then after that, I spent all day reading at the library because I had nothing else to do," Helena continued. "Kayla stopped by after school and spent an hour trying to convince me to join forces with Mother Superior and Ruby to break Henry out of the hospital. And on the way back from the library, I ended up giving Kayla's teacher relationship advice. I've never done that before. Mostly because the biggest thing I've managed to learn about being in a relationship is how to tell when it's over."
"That's a lot more than I know about being in a relationship," Virginia admitted. Helena had figured as much, considering how little freedom the other woman had apparently had for most of her life.
"Don't worry," Helena assured her. "Most of my relationships haven't been worth it in retrospect anyway. Come to think of it, the longest and best relationship I ever had happened was when I was too young for it to really be serious." Virginia's eyes widened with mild surprise and curiosity. "I was thirteen; he was a fourteen-year-old boy staying at my brother's foster home. I met him by chance when I was over there visiting Henry. He started taking me out on little dates in the afternoons after school, and he'd sometimes visit me at the girls' home pretending to be my cousin. Then after a couple of weeks, Henry realized what was going on and went ballistic. I think he came close to hitting the boy. Partly because he already had issues with his behavior in general. Something about him stealing from their foster home and from their school."
"And that's where it ended?" Virginia guessed.
Helena shook her head. "That's where Henry thinks it ended." Virginia raised her eyebrows. "Neal and I kept seeing each other for another two-and-a-half years or so. I was always begging him to sit down and talk to Henry with me, because I felt like if Henry just got to know him a bit better he would have realized how much Neal cared about me. But Neal was too afraid, and I was afraid to risk ruining my relationship with either of them, so I never said anything."
"How did you keep Henry from finding out when Henry and Neal were living together?"
"Neal ran away from the boys' home before Henry even found out we were dating, actually. He was homeless for most of the time I knew him. He got caught and put into different foster homes twice but always managed to escape within a month. You'd think that a fourteen-year-old wouldn't be able to fend for himself as well as he did, but he had amazing street smarts."
"So what happened to him?" asked Virginia.
"He disappeared." Virginia looked sympathetic for a moment. "And the worst part is that over ten years later he's still the nicest guy I ever dated."
"Maybe someday you'll find someone new," said Virginia encouragingly. "Probably not while you're still in Storybrooke, but someday."
Helena looked away. She didn't want to think about the inevitable "someday" that involved her leaving Storybrooke and not being able to make Henry her top priority every day.
"Let's have some apple pie," Virginia suggested a few seconds later, as she got up to open the oven. They shamelessly spent the rest of the evening avoiding their family problems and ate half the pie between them.
"And then Helena went into her apartment and hasn't come back out since," Sidney explained. "I stayed until all the lights went off. I assume they're asleep."
"I see," replied the mayor coldly, obviously pleased. "Did you get any more information about the David and Mary Margret situation?"
"I…I didn't know I was supposed to track them, too," Sidney sputtered. "As I was trying to follow Helena home from Granny's, I heard Mary Margret tell David she wanted to spend the day in the woods tomorrow, just the two of them. He agreed to pick her up at 7:15."
"Excellent," said the mayor, her voice smoother than polished glass. "Here's what you're going to do." Once Sidney had heard her plan, she asked him if he understood.
"Yes, Madam Mayor. But if I may ask…how is hurting David and Mary Margret supposed to help us deal with Helena? They don't even seem that close with her."
"Anything we can do to sabotage that woman's efforts to give the people in my town things they shouldn't have will weaken her," said the mayor. "Now don't ask any more questions."
"Yes, Madam Mayor."