Sorry for the wait, I've been in the process of moving down to FL and then there was the SQ incident at SDCC that sort of depressed me and stole my motivation but any who I'm back. This chapter is shorter than most of the previous ones, I think I'll just be shorter chapters from now on so I can update more frequently. Thanks again to all of you who are sticking with me for this story.

"I'm home!" A familiar male voice called from downstairs.

Henry cautiously crept out of his room where he'd been hiding since Snow had threatened him the night before. He figured he would have to approach things differently than when he'd broken the curse with Emma and had spent the previous night trying to come up with a plan. When he'd made it half way down the stairs he froze.

"David?" Henry looked on confused. It couldn't be, David was dead and it had been Snow that had killed him, that's what his book said.

"Well, I'd prefer you calling me dad, but we can work on that." He chuckled.

The boy was so taken aback he allowed this man, who was an exact replica of Prince Charming, to ruffle his hair.

"Sorry I couldn't be here on your first nights, working late."

"Working late?" Henry replied dumbly.

"Yes dear," Mary stepped over and put her hand on David's shoulder proudly. "David here is a lawyer, his father is the District Attorney..."

Henry wasn't listening anymore as he tried to figure out what was going on. It had to mean David had a brother, a twin. Not for the first time that day did Henry wish his book contained the whole story instead of just fragments. If it had then he probably wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

"…Yeah, we're actually pretty busy with a case so I just stopped by to get a change of clothes." David told them.

Henry saw the look on Snow's face, a look of sad acceptance poorly covered by a mask of false happiness. It was a look he recognized from his real mother. David had already gone upstairs to change and Henry just watched as Mary White busied herself in the kitchen.

"Hey, kiddo why don't I drive you to school and we can grab something at Granny's." David offered as he came back down the stairs.

"Why don't you two have breakfast here?" Snow asked and Henry almost felt bad for her.

During the drive Henry studied this David trying to figure out if he knew about the curse or not. After dropping a few fairytale names and receiving no worried look Henry guessed whoever he was, was indeed cursed. When they were right in front of Granny's David got a call on his cell.

"Sorry sport got to head over to the office now, you can walk from here right?" He asked once he was through with the call.

"Sure," Henry nodded.

David then handed him twenty bucks, "Alright get some breakfast and then straight to school."

Henry had to force himself not to roll his eyes before turning and heading into Granny's. He ordered a hot chocolate with cinnamon and frowned went it arrived. What was he doing here, he asked himself. Sitting at Granny's with a cup of cocoa wasn't going to break any curses. With out even taking a sip he paid for it and began walking toward school. Before he'd made it inside he saw his mother walking up to the building and raced over to meet her.

"Hey! So I know Daniel didn't wake up on the first try but I thought maybe we could try again. Snow had to kiss David to wake him up and-"

"Leo, enough!" Virginia spoke harshly. Henry froze. "There is no curse, this is just some silly fantasy. You need to grow up and leave this nonsense behind."

"But mom-"

"You're not my son!" She nearly shouted.

He knew Virginia wasn't his mother, not really, but the words cut deeply. He steeled his face against the tears that were threating to fall and ran. He was like both of his mothers that respect, running away from his problems like Emma, and attempting to hide his emotions like Regina. He could hear Virginia call after him but could also tell she was making no move to follow.

Henry ran all the way to the well without stopping. He didn't know why he decided to run there, perhaps it was because that was where for a moment it seemed like everything could turn out okay. Regina had managed to save Emma and Snow from the death curse and he believed she really had changed but then Cora showed up and convinced everyone that Regina had killed Archie. He felt guilty, if he'd believed in her more maybe he wouldn't be in the situation he was now.

"Boy why are you crying?" A girl's voice asked him.

"I wasn't crying," He answered defensively then looked up and realized he recognized the girl. "Paige?"

"Wow, that was a good guess." She giggled. "What's your name?"

"Henry." He said with determination that earned a strange look from Paige.

"Okay Henry, what brought you out her to not cry." She teased him.

"You wouldn't believe me."

"You'd be surprised, my father used to tell me the strangest stories."

Henry knitted his brows taking in this information. He couldn't be sure, but he remembered that when Emma had met Jefferson she'd asked to borrow his book, meeting him had helped Emma start to believe in the curse. Henry guessed that Jefferson had never forgot his true self, perhaps it was due to his time spent jumping between worlds but it didn't really matter what mattered was that maybe he remembered here as well. So hoping that his suspicions were correct Henry told Paige everything.

Once he'd finished his story of fairytales and time travel, Paige did not laugh, did not judge just nodded. "Do you really believe it?"

"I know its true." Henry said resolutely. "Do you think your father could help?"

"My father?"

"You said he told stories, stories like the one I told?" He hopped.

"Yes… he used to…" Paige frowned. "That was before he disappeared."

Henry joined in her frown, "Disappeared…" he repeated. "When did he disappear?"

If possible Paige's frown intensified, "I don't remember… its been such a long time."

A sigh revealed Henry's evident disappoint though he wanted to hide it. This wasn't Paige's fault, it was his, he'd tried to change the past and only manage to get the town cursed again and this time there was no savior in sight.

Paige walked with Henry to the edge of town before waving goodbye. She told him she lived in the woods and Henry could understand why, in the pervious cursed version of Storybrooke when his mom had found the orphans Hansel and Gretel she had tried to ship them off to Boston. Henry knew if anyone tried to leave Storybrooke something bad would happen.

Henry wandered back into town with no real aim. He missed his old life, he missed Emma, and he missed his mom. As if on cue he saw Virginia walking in his direction with a distraught look on her face.

Virginia Regan had trouble focusing on her lesson the entire day, even though it had been one of her favorites. Today they had been learning to grow plants from seeds. The conversation with Leo had been weighing heavily on her heart. There had been no reason for her to yell at the boy, clearly something traumatic had happened to him to make him believe the stories he'd told. Perhaps the hostility also came from the reminder of her desire to have children of her own but the inability to do so. Either way she owed him an apology.

"Leo," She began but saw the anger in his eyes. "Henry, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have snapped at you…will you accept my apology?"

He starred at her, old feeling of distrust and anger welled up inside him, he wondered if this was some kind of trick, but he quickly pushed those feeling away. Henry nodded and ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. This wasn't his mother but she was supposed to be.

For her part Virginia stood there confused by the hug and yet couldn't bear to pull away, instead allowing herself a minute of peace as she rested her chin on the boy's head. As an additional peace offering Virginia invited him to join her for a snack at Granny's. Henry agreed happily and began telling her about Paige and what happened when he'd been trying to break the curse with Emma.

Virginia smiled and nodded as he spoke, Henry could tell she wasn't convince but at least she was listening. The ringing of her phone stopped the story. Henry studied her as she answered it and offered a few murmurs of agreement before hanging up.

"Do you have your storybook with you?" She asked him.

"Yeah, why?" He pulled it from his bag and passed it to her over the table.

"Umm," She swallowed nervously not sure she wanted to tell him for fear it would only add to his belief in fairytales. "The hospital, called it seems the John Doe we visited yesterday has become more lucid. They were wonder if I'd be interested in coming back to read to him again." Immediately Henry's eyes lit up and Virginia bit her lip as she asked nervously as she held up the book. "Can I borrow this?"

"Absolutely!" Henry smiled brightly thrilled that there was finally some forward progress in Operation Cobra 2.0.

"Henry, this doesn't mean anything." Virginia didn't want him to get his hopes up but the boy was ecstatic.

"Whatever you say," Henry grinned madly knowing that by this time tomorrow Daniel would be himself again, and once Daniel remember he could help.