"I know your story," Henry claimed as he approached Mary. Mary was taking Neal on a casual stroll through the town, pushing him in the stroller when Henry approached them. She turned to face Henry as he caught up to her but was unsurprised by his abrupt visit.
"Do you?" she replied to him unfazed. Mary continued pushing the stroller as they rounded a building and headed towards the docks. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
"It's Saturday. On weekends I stay with Emma, but there appears to be some sort of commotion happening at the diner so Emma's over there trying to figure out what's going on."
The air was crisp and clear and the sun shone brightly. Humidity was at the perfect percentage and a balmy breeze could be felt drifting in their direction. The temperature was a lovely seventy degrees and no one would have thought anything of it, except for Mary. The breeze coming from the docks at the harbor caught Mary's attention so she walked towards it to get a better feel for it.
Henry watched Mary curiously and added, "I know you're magical. I've read your books and seen the movie. You travel to different parts of space, visiting different realms, meeting different people…"
Mary was listening as Henry ranted on about her, but she was more concerned about the breeze gaining subtle strength. She looked out into the ocean and up at the sky as they walked along the docks. She focused so hard at the Wind that she forgot her surroundings and became incredibly lost.
"Oh dear," Mary mumbled out loud.
She stopped pushing the carriage, which caused Henry to stop, and looked around them. As she tried to familiarize herself with the new surroundings, Henry noticed Mary's confusion and asked, "What? What is it?"
"I'm afraid I have wandered a bit too far and am now lost."
"I'm sure if we just…" Henry said intending to help Mary out, but as he turned around to see if they could back-track he realized he didn't know where they had traveled to either.
"Not to worry. I will just ask for directions."
"From who? There's nobody here."
"Do not be ignorant Henry, there is always somebody here." Mary looked around and when she spotted a seagull perched on a railing she exclaimed, "Ah ha!" And with great relief, she promptly strolled over to the seagull and asked, "Excuse me sir…"
The seagull cocked its head toward Mary as if listening to her. "…I do apologize for disrupting your spectating, but my friend and I are incredibly lost. Would you be so kind as to give us directions back to town?"
Henry looked back and forth between Mary and the bird, shocked by how Mary approached the animal, as if it was a common thing. The seagull jerked its head this way and that, then fluttered its wings before squawking obnoxiously back at Mary. Mary listened intently and respectfully as the bird cawed. Henry couldn't understand what the bird was saying at all. When the bird stopped it looked over at Henry. It gave one last caw before flying away from them.
Mary turned to Henry and caught him with his mouth hanging open. "Close your mouth Henry, we are not a codfish."
Henry immediately closed his mouth and asked, "What did he say?"
"He said that once we round this corner, we should stick close to the docks and follow them until we see the warehouse."
"No, I mean… when he looked at me."
"He said that you have gum under your shoe and should remove it immediately before trekking it elsewhere." Henry looked down at his shoes and low and behold a giant wad of gum stuck to the side of his shoe. "Come, let's not dally. I always say 'best foot forward'." Henry grabbed a piece of old receipt paper from within his pocket and when he did his best to remove the litter Mary ushered him, "Spit spot."
Henry collected himself quickly and they carried on down the path that the seagull advised them to follow.
"See? Like that! What you did right there. Why do you not acknowledge your own magic?"
"Why don't you?" Mary countered.
"I… I…" stuttered Henry, not prepared to answer.
"From what I heard, you are quite the magician."
"I'm the reason why there isn't magic in Storybrooke, yet somehow… you still have your magic."
"Our gifts use similar elements, Henry, belief and love. My magic comes from when people believe and love me. I have to search for true love. You, on the other hand, are the product of true love and have the heart of the truest believer, so magic comes from you. So that is why you are the only person that can bring this particular kind of magic back."
"So what do I have to do?"
"As I have told you before, you must believe in yourself. If you're looking for evidence, just look at your fantastical family. Despite the adversities, they have somehow been able to find love and have found it in the most unusual and unconventional way. Those courageous people who have fought those odds are members of your own family and they believe in you. Now that has to mean something, does it not?"
They were nearly to the Charming apartment when Henry and Mary saw Belle get out of her car and approach them.
"Belle!" said Mary, shocked to see her daughter. Mary lifted Neal from the stroller and turned to Henry, "Henry, be a dear would you? Could you please fold up the carriage and bring it inside."
"Sure," said Henry. Mary walked over to Belle while Henry brought the folded stroller inside.
"Mother," greeted Belle with a small smile.
Mary briefly stared at her daughter and offered, "Won't you come inside? I was about to put this one down for a nap."
"Sure."
"Oh good. I hope you don't mind my looking out for Neal. I needed to keep myself busy for the short time I was here in Storybrooke."
"I don't mind," said Belle as she descended the stairs with her mother into the Charming apartment. "In fact, there were a few times this year I had to look after him. He really has been a good baby to practice with."
"And a Charming baby at that," agreed Mary as they all followed Henry into the apartment. Henry placed the folded stroller by the door and was greeted by Belle who entered the room.
"Hi Henry," said Belle greeting Henry with a small wave.
"Hi Belle. I'll just," started Henry. After noticing that they needed their privacy he pointed to the stairs and continued, "I'll just go upstairs and read a book."
Henry trotted up the stairs as Mary glided softly toward Neal's crib. After she laid him down to rest she looked up at her daughter deciding what to do next. Belle leaned against the dining table looking expectantly back at her mother. Before a single awkward moment could happen, Mary immediately offered, "Tea?" and strode off to the kitchen.
"No, um, thank you." Belle searched for a topic to initiate their conversation with and thought back to what her mother said that struck her oddly. "Mum, when you said that you needed to keep yourself busy for the 'short time you were here', what did you mean by that? Are you going somewhere?"
Mary smiled and looked at her kindly as she sweetly said, "Don't you worry about that. How can I help you?"
"Well, I finally heard from Papa what happened… about why you left us and…" Belle moved closer to her mother until finally she outstretched her arms and brought her mother in for a hug. "…I wanted to apologize. I'm so sorry, Mama. I didn't understand and I've been nothing but monstrous to you."
Touched and surprised by the moment, Mary hugged her daughter back and cried, "Oh, my Belle."
"I love you Mama."
"I love you too, my sweet. I never stopped loving you… and I never forgot about you. In fact, you were the reason why I pursued childcare. You see," she said pulling away to look in her daughter's eyes, "I only ever wanted to care for you and watch you grow up, but I could never get back to you. So it left this void in my heart. I found that raising children came close to it, but no child could ever fill that void. It was always only you."
Upon seeing her mother's tears, Belle's eyes watered and she hugged her mother again. "I had to see you. I have so many questions… so many things to say."
"Well," said Mary pulling back from her daughter again to look at her better. She held on to Belle's arms lovingly as she assessed her daughter's condition, "I must ask. How are you feeling? You looked distressed when you arrived."
"Rumple…" Belle said looking down at her stomach and began rubbing it, "Rumplestiltskin and I had a fight."
"Oh no," said Mary as she led her daughter to sit down across from her at the dining table. "That's not good at all."
They took their respective seats as Belle went on, "As you know there's no magic in Storybrooke and he's been struggling with it. For the longest time, the curse on this town prevented anyone from leaving it. If anyone tried, something bad would happen to them. Sometime ago I accidentally crossed it and I lost all my memories. If it wasn't for the Blue Fairy I would have lost my memories permanently, but most recently, actually, this morning I learned that anyone who crossed Storybrooke's town line could still keep their memories. Out there in that world, there's no magic. And our disagreement was where to have our child. I wanted to leave and raise our child in the land without magic. He wanted to stay here where magic was. So we argued. I want to go Mama."
"That is an awfully big move, sweetheart, and lot to ask of your partner."
"I know."
"Also, in light of his fragile state, I'm not so sure leaving him alone was the wisest choice. You should keep a vigilant eye on him. If left to his own devices he might do something he may regret later whilst you are away. I only say this because I know him and I believe he makes better decisions when he is with you."
After hearing her mother's opinion on the matter, Belle realized that she was right. Her sudden wanting to move from Storybrooke was probably asking a lot from Rumplestiltskin. She felt guilty about the whole ordeal and admitted, "I suppose you're right."
"In regards to raising your child with magic, it isn't bad. It's what you decide to do with that power that makes the difference."
"Speaking of magic, Rumple mentioned to me that you have this spell, and that somehow I have to cast it. What is that all about? I've never seen you perform magic in my life and I never really believed I had the magical touch until you arrived."
"Ah," said Mary as she got up to finish fixing that cup of tea.
"Why didn't you tell me about your magic, or that you were a deity for that matter? I mean, I realize that magic was prohibited in the kingdom at the time, but you could have told me. I wouldn't have told anyone."
Mary placed a hot kettle, cream and sugar on the tray and looked up at her daughter with a knowing smile. "Well, not only were you much too young to understand my magic, but nobody really understood my magic; nobody except for your father. It was just easier to simply hide my magic rather than force people to understand what I was. Besides, I never felt the need to use it around you. You were actually quite content without it."
"Really?"
"Mmhmm. As far as my spell," she began as she walked over to the dining table with the tray in hand, "it is very peculiar. Now whenever one creates a spell, certain alchemy is involved. And with my spell, I had to strike the perfect balance between good and bad elements to achieve the desired result. As you may or may not have heard, my Impossible Possible spell was created so that I could strip my existence as a deity and live my life as a human. At first I wanted to be human because of all the friends I had loved and lost, but then I had you and it made me only want to pursue it even more. It wasn't until before I left that I realized that you were my missing ingredient. But you were much too young to understand what I would be asking of you and it was unfair to take advantage of you like that. So I restrained myself because you are my daughter and I love you. That was the sacrifice."
"I just wanted you."
"I know, Bluebell, but it was all too soon. I had overstayed my time at the kingdom and the Winds punished the kingdom for it. Your lives depended on me leaving, and since I didn't allow you to perform the spell I had to leave."
"So this spell of yours… what does it require exactly?"
"You see, long ago when I was experimenting with it, the spell wasn't getting enough power. So I tweaked it with a personal touch to make it more potent. The personal touch was someone who had never seen me use magic, who had loved me and believed me unconditionally. That's why you are the perfect caster. All you would need to do is say the spell out loud and your heart would know of your intentions with it."
"Mum… that's a lot of power you're giving me."
"I know and I cannot think of a better person to use it."
Mary looked about ready to share the spell when Belle stopped her, "Wait…" Mary seemed stunned by Belle's hesitation, but waited patiently to hear what she had to say next. "…How will I know when to use it? I don't even want to know if the consequences of enacting it reap a terrible price."
"You have doubts?"
"I doubt myself. I doubt my abilities with magic, my wanting to leave Storybrooke, how I should have handled telling Rumple my intentions to leave Storybrooke... I even doubt that I'll be a good mother…"
"Darling," Mary said reaching for Belle's hands and then holding them within her own, "You're going to be a wonderful mother."
"Will I? My only experiences with motherhood have been but my few interactions with you. And maybe with Neal… but you were just perfect."
"Belle… I may be practically perfect, but I'm not perfect. A perfect mother would have stayed with you to guide you and love you like a mother should have, but instead I left. Now how is that perfect?" Mary's comments did relieve Belle for a bit, but not much. Seeing that Belle wasn't completely satisfied with her answer Mary continued, "I may be a deity, but you make me human. Belle… you make me feel alive. While I was pregnant with you, I got to feel what it was like to be human for the first time. I didn't have magic and I can tell you that being human was… different. Unnerving?
I was vulnerable, but it was the most interesting and memorable part of my life because every second was precious. Seconds which… I had always forsaken… until you. And it humbled me… that feeling of truly living. My life before had been like walking through a never-ending field of dull colorless flowers. All of them so mundanely identical and predictable and then you came along, my Bluebell; a blue flower in the midst of grey flowers. You're not perfect my love, just different and that's quite alright because different makes you unique and beautiful… and I love you for it."
From up in the second loft, Henry looked down upon the mother and daughter fondly, eavesdropping on the conversation they were having. Eager to learn Mary's spell, he listened quietly from above as he speculated what it could be. He had an idea as to what it was, but he wasn't positive. So he waited to hear the spell to confirm his suspicion.
Mary held on to Belle's hand and comforted her. "So please believe me when I say that you will be fine."
Belle, moved by her mother's words, began to cry. From within the depths of her carpetbag, Mary quickly pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed her daughter's tears with it. Belle chuckled at the maternal gesture and took over wiping her own tears away. She felt comforted by her mother's words and in it the confidence boost she sorely needed to believe in herself. She finally felt like should could face motherhood. With confidence Belle replied, "I do. Thank you."
"Good. Now, if you and I shall both be leaving Storybrooke soon, let me at least say goodbye to my grandchild."
Belle smiled as she scooted her chair back to expose her extended belly. Her mother got up from her chair and knelt down beside her daughter to feel her stomach. Mary felt the subtle movements of her grandchild within Belle's belly and smiled lovingly over the precious moment.
"Where shall you be going this time?" Belle asked, getting back to her original question.
"Hmm?"
"You mentioned that you were leaving again. When shall you return to me?"
"Oh, yes. The Wind is calling me again to leave, but I tell you what…" Mary went to her carpetbag and pulled out what appeared to be a ticket stub of some sort. "…take this."
"What is this?" Belle said, looking over the ticket stub that had the word 'Storybrooke' on it.
"This is my return ticket. So that you know I will return to you. Just in case."
"But your spell… tell me what it is so I can cast it now. You can be human again."
"That's very kind of you, but… I'm afraid you were right from before. It is a lot of power. You're not ready to cast it, at least not yet anyways. Soon though. Very soon I imagine. Don't worry. You will know when to cast it. Just toss the ticket into the Wind to summon me and that is how I will find my way back to you." Seeing that Mary was readying to leave, Belle stood up slowly up next to her mother. "Now," Mary said patting her daughter's shoulder, "I believe we both must get going. The Charmings shall be home any minute. I have a phone call to make and then I must see your father. If you're leaving Storybrooke as well, don't you have some packing to do?"
"Yes, well… I've got to talk to my husband some more before actually leaving. I'm afraid I might have been a bit rash with my ultimatum when I left him."
"Your heart knows what it wants my darling. There is nothing wrong with wanting something."
Henry descended the staircase from the upper loft and spoke, "I'll be heading home now. I can escort you down to your car on the way out, if you like?"
"Thank you, Henry. I would like that," said Belle gratefully.
"How very kind of you, Henry," remarked Mary.
Henry nodded and smiled as he replied, "Not a problem."
"Goodbye mother," Belle said as she hugged her mother. "Please don't be too, too long this time."
"I promise I won't," Mary said hugging her daughter tightly. "I will back before you know it."
"I love you Mama."
"I love you Belle."
Before separating herself from her daughter, Mary reached gently for her daughter's head and kissed her lovingly on the forehead.
Henry slung his book-bag over his shoulder as he held the door open for Belle. Belle crossed the door's threshold and turned glancing at her mother one last. Mary smiled and waved as Henry closed the door behind him. He held his hand out to Belle and asked as they descended the apartment staircase, "Do you need help getting down the stairs?"
"No, I'm… I'm fine Henry. Thank you," replied Belle with a congenial smile, using the railing for support as she stepped gingerly down.
"So, are you and grandpa planning on leaving Storybrooke?" Henry inquired.
"Well, I really wanted to, but… I think I made that decision too hastily. Magic hasn't been really good to us here. I was kind of hoping to raise our child without it."
"So is that why you wanted to know your mother's spell?"
"Yes, well, sort of. She doesn't think I'm ready for it, though."
"I really hope you guys don't move. You guys are family."
"You can always come visit us," suggested Belle.
"I suppose I could, but you'll be missed. You guys give the community hope."
"Really? How so?" Belle asked as Henry opened the apartment's main door for her. She stepped out onto the patio and turned to Henry to hear his explanation.
"It isn't an unknown fact that my grandpa hasn't exactly had the greatest track record for doing good. And your marriage and now your expectancy with him gives everyone hope that anyone can have a happy ending." Suddenly, Henry felt something stir within him as he said honestly and naturally, "You guys make me believe."
At Henry's last comment, a buzz surged in the air causing the bulb from the nearest lamp post to explode and car alarms to go off on the street. Magic continued to radiate from Henry as it penetrated the air around them causing Belle to clutch her stomach. Henry immediately looked over at Belle with alarm and rushed to her side, "Belle! Belle! Are you alright?! I'm so sorry. I didn't know! I mean, I didn't mean to…I-"
Belle grabbed Henry's arm, cutting him off. Belle's heart felt like it was given a dose of adrenaline, racing at the presence of magic. Her baby…
She had the look of surprise as she realized what was happening to her. "Henry...," she said in between exhaled breaths, "Do you have your cell phone with you?"
"Yes?"
"I need you to call your grandfather. I think my water just broke."
Here we go! Last few chapters closing in! Any guesses as to what you think Mary's Spell is? I'd love to hear your theories. Thank you to Imusicluver23, ladybugsmomma, Grace5231973, CrypticCobra and Montreat11 for reviewing the previous chapter. See you next chapter!