TW: reference to rape
Henry had caught a flight to Maine last minute for his mother's birthday. He had finished an assignment early, affording him time he didn't think he'd have. He had intended to sneak into his house undetected and surprise his mom when she got home.
He had assumed he'd walk into an empty house, when he heard the tv in the living room on, and Eliza curled up on the couch. He recognized the sound coming from the tv immediately. It was that movie.
That god damned movie.
"Eliza?" he called out, expecting Eliza to throw her arms around him like she usually did when she saw her big brother. Instead she looked up from the couch almost….angry. "Hi Henry. What are you doing here?"
"Surprising mom for her birthday. What are you doing home?" he walks over to the couch and ruffles her hair with his hand. "Home sick?"
"I decided to take a half day from school today." Eliza says, her eyes focused on the movie.
"Uhh, why?"
Eliza looks up at him now, her faced blushed red and her eyebrows knitted together, as if she were ready for a fight. "Good question. Well, today I found out that my mom killed Roland's mom, just to mess with our mom, and let's see, oh! And my mom raped my father. And that's how I was made. So I dunno, under the circumstances…."
Shit. Henry winces.
"Oh and by the way you're looking at me I'm assuming you already knew. But you know, that's fine, everyone in town knew except for me, apparently. I think it's great that I get to learn about who my mother is from Aurora and Mulan's son. Just great."
"Philip told you this? I'm going to kill him."
"He has two mothers, and I have two mothers, so I thought we weren't too different, but apparently his mother didn't rape his father to get pregnant. So you know, he wins in that department."
"Eliza…"
"I mean you were all so careful when it came to telling me of how evil Regina used to be, but when it came to Zelena it was all 'she used to struggle with evil too'. Struggle with evil? She tried to kill the entire town and the only reason I'm on this earth is because she….pretended to be Roland's mother. That's sick, Henry. And someone should have told me."
"We were going to tell you, before you started high school."
"High school? You were going to wait another two years before telling me?"
"It's pretty adult stuff, you seemed a bit too young."
"I've had sex ed, I know how babies are made."
"I know, but the whole thing could be hard to process."
"What, the fact that I'm the product of rape?"
Henry sighs, wishing he had the magic ability to summon his mother at that moment, because there's nothing he can think to say to alleviate Eliza's anger.
There's a silence between them, with only the song from the tv coming on.
"Just you wait, Henr Higgins, just you wait!
You'll be sorry but your tears 'll be to late
You'll be broke and I'll have money
Will I help you? Don't be funny
Just you wait, Henry Higgins, just you wait!
"God, remember this?" he asked, nodding his head to the tv, lost in nostalgia for a second.
As a toddler, it was Eliza's favorite movie. Every time the movie came on she asked to rewatch the "Just You Wait" song over and over again. Afterall, it was a character named Eliza singing to a character named Henry. And it might have been cute the first time Eliza sang that song to him, and Henry made the mistake of singing back with her. But then she expected his performance every time the song came on, and it got old quick. It was old by the time she was singing loudly, bouncing on the couch, while Henry sat on the couch, determined to ignore her, causing her to eventually grab his attention by screaming "Just you wait, Henry Higgins!" while she hit the top of his head with a Bernstein bear book.
"You know she's a four year old girl and her favorite song in the world is about murdering a person named Henry. We should probably be a little worried about that." Henry had mentioned to his mom one time, but Regina had only laughed.
"She loves you, Henry. She looks up to you. Just let her have her way and watch this with her again, please, Henry?
"Of course I remember this movie" she mutters, "I know, I was super annoying about it as a kid."
"You were. You must have made me watch this movie a thousand times. Drove me crazy. But you were cute as hell. I'd have watched it a thousand times more for you."
Eliza rolled her eyes. "Gee thanks, you won't tell me the truth about who I am my entire life, but you'll gladly watch a movie you hate to make me happy. Thanks."
"My point is, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're my sister. I don't give a shit how you got here. I'm just glad you are here."
Eliza is quiet, as if weighing his words and determining whether or not to believe him.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Honestly? I think everyone was afraid you'd hate yourself. I mean, you were pretty observant. You could tell Robin couldn't be around Zelena at a real young age. Asked all sorts of questions about it. Robin didn't want you to think that you know, he blamed you or thought less of you. And he thought maybe you'd understand when you were older."
"My mom didn't want me to know because she thought I'd hate her, I'd assume."
"Zelena? Zelena is the only one who wanted you to know earlier. I think she just wanted to get it out into the open as soon as possible and make sure you knew no one regretted you being born, even if they all regretted that it happened that way. She's been afraid of this day for…since forever. Wanted to be the one to tell you – she has a whole speech planned. I think she wrote you a letter about it too at one point. Once she changed – truly changed – she was pretty worried about you."
Eliza looked down. "How does dad, how does he even…like, how does he even look at me?"
Henry shook his head, "Don't go there. You're going to hurt him if you go there, okay? He never saw you and thought of how you were made. He just never did. He said it doesn't work that way."
"I look just like her." She says, her eyes wandering to the tv, afraid to meet Henry's. "I look just like her, and he can barely even look her in the eyes."
"Do you have one memory – even one memory – where your dad looked upset to be around you?"
Eliza thought back. Truly, she'd been a daddy's girl her whole life. And Robin had doted on her. She couldn't even recall a moment where he looked unhappy to see her.
Her silence was the answer.
"See? He loves you."
Eliza shrugged. "I'm still mad at you all for keeping this from me."
"I know, we were idiots and we didn't think anyone your age would know about it or talk about it. And I'm going to talk to Mulan and Aurora, because Phil was way the fuck out of line and they raised him better."
"Phil just used me as an example in debate class when we were arguing on abortion. We had to argue that abortion should be illegal in every circumstance, even in cases of rape, so he asked me if we should bring me up, and say, "hey, Eliza was born due to a rape, and I'm glad no one aborted her." He suggested the argument to me and then immediately realized I didn't know. He felt really bad about it, Henry. He looked like he was about to throw up. I'm pretty sure he's terrified mom is going to kill him."
Henry sighed. "Why are you debating abortion in seventh grade?"
"Because we're in the gifted class and we're expected to handle mature topics, Henry" she says, clearly imitating her teacher in a mocking tone.
Henry chuckled. "Alright. My guess is after mom finds out, that will be off the curriculum indefinitely"
He settles himself down on the couch next to his sister, his eyes on the movie that plagued much of his teenage years.
"I still have a lot of questions" Eliza whispers silently, minutes later.
"I know. Mom and dad will answer them. Both your moms. And if they refuse to answer, I'll make them tell you, okay? You're right. You deserve to know about this. You can handle it."
"Thanks Henry." Eliza grabs the remote from his hands quickly.
"Now that you're here we're going to watch this movie from the start."
Henry groaned in protest but didn't move from his seat on the couch. He'd endure anything for his sister.