He learned by looking at her mail Snow went by Mary here but had kept the last name White. Henry guessed, even to a cursed town, having a mayor named Snow might seem a little off. Mary had insisted on walking him to school on his first day, she had said that it was because she wanted to make sure he got settled but really Henry figured it was just to keep an eye on him.
"Morning Madame Mayor," Archie greeted them. "Who do you have here?"
"This is Leo, my son." Mary introduced him. "He may be coming to see you soon. Leo, say hello to Dr. Hopper."
Henry refrained from correcting his name but couldn't help but be a little rebellious. "Hello Jiminy I mean Dr. Hopper."
His smug smile was met with a scowl from Snow. Archie didn't seem to notice however as he was now mesmerized by the clock tower.
"Hey, how about that? Guess those rusty ol' innards finally straightened themselves out, huh?"
Mayor White continued to stare at Henry as she responded, "Yes, how about that, indeed."
The rest of the walk to the school was made in silence. When they arrived Snow went in to talk to the principle leaving Henry to sit in the hall.
"Nicolas, Ava, hey." Henry greeted his former friends.
The twins looked at him suspiciously. Henry didn't have to have any kind of superpower to tell that they were looking down on him. It annoyed Henry since when they had first met the two had framed him for shoplifting.
"Who are you?" Ava finally asked.
"I'm –"
Before he could respond fully Mary White had stepped out of the office and the twins' demeanor completely changed. Suddenly they seemed much more pleasant but it was fake.
"Hello Mayor!" They greeted her.
"Children," Mary greeted them with an equally fake friendly smile.
"You guys know each other?" Henry asked disbelievingly.
"Of course, these children did me a favor once, and since then I've done business with their father," Mary stated.
"He owns Storybrooke car dealership." Nicolas said arrogantly.
Henry just rolled his eyes in response, what did he care, the that time he saw there dad in his world the guy was a mechanic. What was actually interested about was whatever favor the mayor was talking about because Henry had a feeling it was something they'd done in fairytale world.
"Now why don't you take Leo with you, I believe he's going to be in your class."
Mary pushed Henry toward the twins who began to pull him down the hall with more force than necessary.
He realized he should be used to it by now, finding out that things here were different. Here, the buildings, the people, they looked the same but for all intensive purposes these people were strangers, he didn't really know them and they certainly didn't know him. When the world had been cursed at least he had grown up with them, they may not have been his friends exactly but they were familiar.
He fiddled with the straps on his backpack feeling a little worried. As he walked into class the nervousness intensified. He didn't recognize the woman who was his teacher and he wondered if it was because he hadn't paid enough attention or if she had been someone else before. He had no interest in the lesson, and spent most of the day staring out the window waiting for school to be over, not unlike a typical eleven-year-old boy would do. When class was finally finished Henry tried to bolt for the door but his new friends stopped him.
"Leo, where are you going so quickly?" Ava asked with fake sweetness.
"Nowhere." Henry replied evasively.
"Then why don't you hang out with us as Granny's?" She suggested.
"Yeah, Granny's," Nicolas agreed. "I'm in the mood for something sweet."
"You always want something sweet." Ava rolled her eyes.
The three of them walked down the street and the twins either didn't notice or care about Henry's fidgetiness. It felt odd going to Granny's without Ruby being there. There had been days of course when Ruby hadn't been at the diner when he'd come in but in this world she wasn't taking a day off, she was dead. The waitress who approached the table was dressed similar to had Ruby had before Emma had come to town, but Henry didn't recognize her.
"What can I get you kids?" She asked.
"I'll have-"
"Who are you?" Henry interrupted.
"Name's Lacey, are you three ready to order or not? The waitress spoke impatiently.
The three children placed their orders and Nicolas and Eva began speaking to each other only paying enough attention to Henry to make sure he didn't run off. Once the milkshakes arrived Henry felt like the twins were distracted enough he scooted out of the booth.
"I just umm, gotta go to the bathroom, excuse me." He spoke quietly.
This wasn't the first time he'd snuck away from the diner, he knew he'd have to move quickly too, for some reason Nicolas and Ava were in league with the Evil Queen and once they'd realized he was gone he had a feeling Graham would be on the look out for him too. As he walked down the street toward the hospital he thought Operation Cobra 2.0 is officially a go, he just hoped his mom was still there.
"You're still here." Henry sighed with relief when he saw Regina.
"Yes, and you were making me feel quite foolish about it too," She gave him a teasing smile. "But you're here now. So why are we here."
When Henry was doing his recon the day before he'd stopped at the hospital thinking that if Snow and Regina had switched than maybe Daniel and David had been too. He had been right but like instead of a coma, Daniel was awake and had the ability to move about but had been describes as catatonic. Henry hoped that the same tactic Snow had used on David would work for Regina and Daniel.
"Come on, I'll show you," Henry began walking toward where he'd seen Daniel the day before.
The moment Regina saw Daniel, Henry thought the curse might have been broken from the look on his mother's face. She stood with her mouth hanging open just a little bit, there was shock, but something else as well.
"Who is this?" She asked. Henry bit his bottom lip and scrunched up his face not sure if she was ready to hear. "Come on, I'm here aren't I? Have a little faith."
Henry nodded and pulled out his book. "That's Daniel and he's your true love. I think if you read him your story he might wake up."
"Oh…" Virginia wasn't sure what she was expecting but it wasn't that. It made since though if this boy was so invested in fairytales then obviously he must believe in true love as well. She looked at Daniel and couldn't stop a blush from creeping into her cheeks, Daniel was handsome after all, she frowned though when she stopped to wonder what had happened to put him in this state. She turned her attention back to the boy standing next to her looking up at her, his eyes full of hope.
"Please," he held out the book to her. "Try."
"Ok… I'll try but this doesn't mean I believe what you're saying." She finally agreed.
"That's ok," He smirked confidently. "I know you can get your happily ever after this time."
"Now Leo-"
"Henry." He corrected.
"Look, I know you want to believe in magic, true love and happy endings and that's great, but sometimes life just doesn't work that way. Sometimes bad things happen to people and you can't fix them. Not having a happy ending is painful its true," She swallowed. "But... giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse and I don't want to do that to you."
Henry nodded not able to bring himself to speak. Emma had said almost the exact same thing to him when he was trying to get Snow White to wake up Prince Charming the first time around. It was odd for him to think about how similar his two mothers were. Sure they still had differences but there were moments like now when he could see them being friends, it was after all Emma who had been the one willing to defend Regina.
Henry was about to leave when Virginia spoke again.
"Well if I'm going to do this, you have to stick around." She smiled at the boy.
A small smile began to form again on Henry's face, as he followed his mom to where Daniel seemed to be staring out the window. The kid pulled up a chair and listened to the story.
"Once upon a time…" Virginia began.
"Regina dear, you are not to leave the estate while we're gone." Cora Mills reminded her daughter.
"Mother please," The young girl begged. "At least let me have access to Rocinante."
Cora sneered at the mention of her daughter's horse, while she had agreed to riding lessons for her daughter, Cora had always hoped Regina would acquire some more delicate interests. "Dear, I don't like you riding alone. This would be a good time to practice needlepoint."
Regina made an unhappy frown and her mother grabbed her by the chin with more force than would have been expected by the look on Cora's face.
"Sweetheart, we're looking for an appropriate suitor, a prince, for you to marry."
"Mamma what if I don't want to marry a prince?"
"Don't be silly of course you do."
"I'm fifteen years old and I've never done anything for myself, I don't have any friends –"
"Friends are overrated"
"-and when I marry I want it to be for love."
"My darling girl," Cora caressed her daughter's cheek. "Love is weakness now enough of this nonsense -"
"But-" Regina interrupted and looked to her father to help.
"Cora dear perhaps…" The girl's father who had been silent the entire time finally spoke. Or at least tired to, Cora cut him off with a glare.
"Henry, can you give us a minute."
Cora didn't bother to look at her husband as she spoke. Henry pursed his lips and Regina thought for a moment that her father was going to come to her aid but he merely sighed and stepped into the carriage.
"Mother all I want –" Before she could finish her sentence she was lifted into the air by magic.
"Regina I said enough of this nonsense." Cora's voice was cold and unwavering.
"I'm sorry," The young woman began to tear up. "Please I'll be good."
"That's all I wanted to hear." The witch released the magically hold on her daughter. Cora reached out to Regina but her daughter turned and ran to her room.
Unbeknownst to the two women the exchange had been witnessed by the family's stable boy. The young man Daniel had often watched arguments such as these over the years between mother and daughter. As soon as the carriage was on its way off the grounds Daniel went into the main house and went up to Regina's room.
"Milady?" Daniel knocked on the door.
"I do not have a riding lesson today." Regina's voice came from the other side of the door, she tried to hide the fact she'd been crying but Daniel knew better, he also knew better than to argue with her.
"Well, some of the servants are having a small party in the kitchen this evening if you'd like to come." Daniel didn't wait for a response.
Regina released the pillow she'd been hugging tightly and crept to the door to watch the stable boy walk down the hall.
That night Regina turned around and walked back to her room three times before making it down to the kitchens. She could hear the servants laughing and carrying on and she was jealous.
"Sorry I'm late." She gave a curtsey as she entered.
Everyone stopped their celebrating and stared.
"Miss Mills…" The cook spoke nervously. "You shouldn't be here…"
"I invited her." Daniel came into the room.
The tension seemed to ease a bit once the stable boy had assured them that she had joined them as a guest and not a spy for Cora but still Regina could feel how much of an outsider she was. At first Regina attempted to socialize but she had nothing in common with them so she resigned herself to sitting alone in the corner with a fake smile on her face trying to pretend she was having a good time. Suddenly a plate with a slice of cake appeared next to Regina.
"Cake?" Daniel offered.
"I'm fine, thank you." She smiled politely then looked away. "Besides, Mother doesn't approve of sweets."
"Oh well alright." Daniel stood awkwardly for a moment then started to walk back over to the others.
"Wait," Regina reached out to stop him. "Thank you."
Daniel turned and smiled, "No problem… for what?"
"For… inviting me." Regina answered nervously and her eyes shifted downward. "It was nice of you even if nobody really wants me here."
"That not true, I mean, I wanted you here." Daniel offered.
"Well.. thank you... again, but I think they'd be happier if I just went back to her room."
She began to leave and this time Daniel reached out to stop her. "Hey, they just don't know you –"
"Oh and you do." Regina snapped defensively.
"I didn't say that, but I'd like to… get to know you that is." Daniel nervously rubbed the back of his neck with a shrug.
"I think I'd like that too." Regina admitted.
Daniel leaned forward and kissed the girl on the cheek. Regina bit her bottom lip and blushed furiously. She didn't speak as she left the party but her dreamy smile said it all. Regina was in love."
Virginia stopped reading as a hand reached out and grabbed her own.
"Daniel?" Virginia asked hesitantly. "Is that you?"
She felt foolish asking the question, it was just a story from a child's book. This man couldn't be Daniel, and yet… the man who had been catatonic now seemed to be aware the glassy look in his was gone. Just as the John Doe looked like he was about to speak Virginia got up to leave.
"I'm sorry this is too strange." She handed the book back to Henry. "I have to go."
"Wait!" Henry called after her but she was already out the door. He then turned back to Daniel. "Don't worry we'll figure this out."
Putting his book back in his bag Henry ran toward Mifflin street. Part of is was out od habit and the other was that he had nowhere else to go. If Snow was going to pretend to be his mom then he'd play along if it meant a roof over his head.
"I heard you abandoned your friends at Granny's today." Snow spoke from the living room.
"They're not my friends." Henry replied shortly.
"Still best not to go wandering off in a new town something bad might happen."
It sounded like something his mother would say back before the curse was broken but while he'd never doubted Regina was the Evil Queen he also knew his mother would never hurt him. Henry didn't know about this woman though, she was a stranger and he was afraid.