Henry can't believe his luck. The bus ride was worth it. He's not only at her door; it's a door covered in cursive script with words like "spell" and "mesmerize" and "transport." The numbers look like call numbers in a library, but now is not the time to examine them. He has to control his heartbeat because he is not the only one who needs to meet her. Get a grip, Henry, he thinks. You're a herald, the person who ropes the hero into the story. Heralds can't freak out. He knocks.
Mom. He thinks it, doesn't say it. She's young and beautiful and alone. She makes the same confused face he does...and then a terrified one once he tells her who he is. She rushes into another room in the apartment, so, since he's a little scared, too, he can imagine all the freaking out that's going on in what's probably her bathroom. Good thing he's read all about this. This is called Refusing the Call, something a lot of heroes before her have done. Wanting to burst into tears and rush into her arms, he breathes. You have to be the grown-up here, he tells himself.
After rummaging through her refrigerator, he settles on some juice and waits for her. Strange that it's her birthday and she's all by herself.
She comes out and is all over the place, finally marching to the phone. Crap. Quickly, he threatens to tell the cops she kidnapped him. That puts and end to that, he thinks. But she's not dumb. She has a superpower, she says. Somehow, that makes sense. A princess should have powers, and he can see how telling when someone is lying would be a good one.
"Wait. Please don't call the cops. Please come home with me."
Come home with me and be my mother. He loves her already.
"Where's home?"
"Storybrooke, Maine."
"Storybrooke? Seriously?" Disbelief is on her face and...mild panic? He can tell she's brave. Bravery is when you're afraid but you do what has to be done anyway. She will be such a great hero. "Alrighty then, let's get you back to Storybrooke."
Henry smiles. He busied himself on the bus thinking about how he would break the news to her, that everyone is trapped and an evil curse prevents all of them from being a family. But he's found her in spite of that. That thought makes him feel as if he's grown several years in a matter of seconds. Family always finds each other.
A/N: And here we are, the last chapter. The door to Emma's apartment in the pilot has seemingly random words and numbers on it. You can look it up or re-watch it. The writers claim no significance and that it was actually a coincidence it had words like "spell" on it, but, an observant fan noted that the numbers could apply to the Aarne-Thompson Fairy Tale Classification System. If you look that up and match the numbers, they all apply to OUAT in different ways. Pretty interesting. Big thanks to everyone who has read and especially to those who have left a review. They have been much appreciated.