Chapter 9

I awaken to the smell of coffee and smile to myself, and then the distinct smell of something burning.

Before I have time to get my bearings or even figure out what time I am in I jump out of bed and run down to the kitchen.

As I get to the kitchen this time though, it's a completely different sight to see.

The first thing I see is Henry standing on top of a high stool fanning the smoke alarm with a towel.

I immediately go to him, scared he will fall and crack open his skull.

"Henry, get down from there this instant!" I yell and I am literally carrying him off of the chair.

"Sorry mom, we just didn't want to wake you up." He looks down guiltily, so I caress his cheek to let him know I'm not mad at him.

It's only once I've assessed that he's ok that I turn and look around my once pristine kitchen.

There is flour on the countertops as well as the stove, and a sink full of dishes. The milk and orange juice are on the countertop. But what was most disturbing were the burnt pancake looking things on the stove and plate near the stove.

There is also fresh fruit sliced up, with the peeling and stems scattered about the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"Henry what are you doing? Haven't I told you not to…" I am immediately cut off by Emma walking into the kitchen in nothing other than very small shorts, and a white singlet.

She is holding a rag to her finger and hasn't seen me yet when she says to Henry, "Hey what are you doing down here, I thought you were fanning the fire alarm."

As she finishes her eyes follows Henry's eyes and sees me standing there, my head high and hands on my hips and nose flaring.

She knows she's in trouble before I even start, "Ms. Swan what are you doing? How could you allow Henry to climb up on that tall chair, and then to leave him unattended, he could have fallen and seriously injured himself!" I am out of breath and I know the vein in my head is bulging out.

"And what are you wearing? There is a young boy in the house, could you atleast cover yourself up a bit more." I say and as flail my hand towards her.

I am so surprised and flustered that I have to hold onto the chair to keep from falling over. The adrenalin from me jumping out of bed and sprinting down the stairs finally catching up with me. I suddenly feel faint.

I can start to feel myself get dizzy and grab onto the chair tighter, which finally alerts the two other people in the room to take action as they had been standing frozen in place.

Henry rushes to me first, "Mom I'm sorry we just wanted to try and make you breakfast to thank you for letting Emma stay with us." He looks so innocent that I cannot stay mad so I node at him and ask him to go brush up and get cleaned up.

When he runs off I pull out the chair and sit for a moment before Emma approaches me. "Look I'm really sorry about the mess; I will clean it up. It was actually Henry's idea to do it, and well it sounded like a good idea at the time… Are you okay? You seem a little out of it." She comes to stand right near me.

"I was just surprised is all, this isn't the first time that Henry has tried to surprise me with breakfast, and as sweet as it is, I'd like to keep my house intact, thank you very much." I say the last part with such defiance that she actually starts laughing.

This is not the response I expected from her. To be honest I expected her to fight back about how she was just trying to do something nice, and I ruined it as usual. Or that I was being controlling and needed to ease up.

Instead I get full out laughter. And as much as I try to keep my straight and angered face, I cannot help but break out into a small smile.

"I'm sorry..." she says between laughs, "Really I am, but the look on your face was priceless, and the look on Henry's face…" she is unable to even finish her sentence as she is almost crying now from laughter. I have never seen this carefree spirit before.

"Ms. Swan, this is hardly a laughing matter. You could have burned down my house! And Henry fanning that alarm…" I cannot do it; I start to laugh as well. "You should have seen the look on his face when I walked in."

She pulls out a chair now and is sitting across from me. She's looking at me with such lightness, and it feels so nice to just sit here together and laugh about our son.

Am I upset about what happened? Of course I am, and I am going to make them clean every inch of this kitchen, but I am glad to share this moment with someone.

Before I can help it I continue, "You should have seen the look on his face the first time it happened. He was 4 and tried to make toast…" before I finish a new set of laughter takes over.

This time I do not hold back, I start laughing, and it feels so good; so nice to be able to speak to someone else in this town about my son. Not just these lifeless zombies I had been dealing with for the last 28 years, but an actual person who will appreciate it.

"I remember a time when I tried to cook for this family, thinking they would want to keep me if I could do things like that for them. Let's just say that I was labeled a pyromaniac after the incident and shipped back to the orphanage." She says it with a smile, but I know she thinks this is anything but funny, and I appreciate her sharing with me.

I try to lighten the mood back to what it was by saying, "Well then we will have to call Henry Pyromaniac Jr. what do you think." I ask with a wink.

She's blushing now and smiling, and I don't know why it makes me happy to see that redness run across her cheeks. I'm just glad that I was able to pull her out of that sadness.

"Yep, must be in the genes. Man, I wish I could have seen cute little Henry in that kitchen, I know I would have been mad but is it even really possible to stay mad at him?" she asks.

"It really was scarier than anything. I could barely see his little figure through the smoke. But no Ms. Swan it is impossible to stay mad at him; nevertheless I still have to punish him so as to show him it is not okay to do such things." I look over to her and see her agree.

"Well you are doing a great job so far, I only wish I had been here to see him grow up." She looks down.

"Me too." I say and am stunned at my own admission; just as stunned as she is. What am I saying? How could I divulge something like that to her? She barely even knows us yet. The Emma I am referring to is the one who had sacrificed herself for me, fought side by side to save our son. But this was that Emma, she just hadn't become her yet.

She just smiles, and lets me off of the hook. "Alright since I butchered these crepes, how about I treat you both to breakfast at Granny's?" She is trying to pull that innocent look that I know too well. But since she let me off the hook I will do the same for her.

"Alright Emma, but only if you and Henry clean this entire kitchen as soon as we return." I say getting up, and heading for the door.

"Okay deal, and one more thing Madam Mayor, I am not the only one wearing skimpy clothes, perhaps you should wear a robe around such a young boy." She smirks at me and walks right in front of me and out the door.

It is only then that I look down to see that I am wearing one of my shorter and more revealing nightgowns. In my haste to get downstairs I never did grab my robe.

She is challenging me normally where I would be annoyed I find myself intrigued.

…

I'm annoyed. Scratch that I'm more than annoyed I'm angry.

I can see that Henry knows I'm angry because he is studying the menu like he doesn't already have it memorized.

I am also studying my menu even though I know I will order one of 3 items that I frequent.

And where is Emma. Well at the moment she is at the counter speaking to none other than Ms. Lucas. They seem to be engaged in a hilarious conversation by the looks of it.

Why did she invite us here to just have us sit while she flirts with that? I am almost ready to just get up and walk right out when Granny yells from the back for Ms. Lucas to get back to her job.

This inadvertently required Emma to return to our table.

As she sits down she is still smiling to herself, and I cannot figure out why I am so bothered. Her and Ms. Lucas have always been close so it shouldn't bother me, but ever since last night after Emma so casually stated her sexuality I have began to wonder if they always had something more; more than just a close friendship.

"Emma what were you and Ruby talking about? It looked funny; did you tell her you were gonna live with us now?" Henry asks her, and I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering.

"Oh nothing important, just some adult stuff, kid." She playfully ruffles his hair as she tells him.

"C'mon Emma, just tell me, is it a secret?" he smiles sneakily and whispers, "Because I am good at keeping secrets, we could even have a code name."

"Henry come off it, let's just eat and get back to the house. You and Ms. Swan have a lot of cleaning to do when you get back, and I have things to do as well." I snap at him and do not mean to take that tone with him, but it's too late.

He immediately recoils, and mumbles, "But it's the weekend, our first weekend with Emma."

"Yes well we cannot all just sit goofing off all day. I have things to take care of, and this is taking longer than I had expected." I cut looking at Emma who hopefully catches my drift.

"Whoa, hey I'm sorry okay I just haven't spoken to Ruby and she was filing me in on a few things. I didn't know you guys were ready to order your food." She looks down at her menu, forehead creased.

"Well, being that this is a small town I do not see how we would need to study a menu that hasn't changed since I came here!" I hastily get up and excuse myself to the restroom.

Once inside I look at myself in the mirror. What was wrong with me? Why am I picking fights with her over such small things? I have no idea why I am here, and I seem to be doing a good job of messing things up right now. It's like I'm reverting back to who I was in the past, or it's something else that I cannot describe.

She can anger me so easily, get me wound up so quickly and has always been that way.

Initially I thought it was because she was trying to take Henry away from me. But now what is the reason to fight her? We were getting along fine. She is obviously not trying to take him away; she is even living under my roof for goodness sake. I think I just need some time by myself today. I need to get to the bottom of whatever is happening.

I wonder what Henry is up to for a brief moment, the older Henry, the real time Henry. I woke up today still being here which means I am still in a sleep of some sort. I hope he is okay. I know he is scared, and I have to make this right for him. I have to control whatever emotions I am having right now and figure out a way to get back to him, and how to save Emma.

It bothers me a bit that I am unable to even think of Robin at this moment, but what am I to do? I cannot become distracted from why I am here, whatever that reason may be.

….

When I return to the table Henry is telling Emma about Mary Margaret. That definitely peaks my interest.

"She is my teacher at school. She's also in the book…" he gets quiet when he sees me approaching.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." I look to both of them, Henry looks like he's trying to hide something, which I know he is, and Emma looks indifferent.

Her look bothers me; I thought for sure that she would be upset with me for what I said earlier.

Either way I know I need to apologize if I want things to work between the 3 of us.

"I am sorry about earlier. I may have been rude and abrupt, and I would like to just like to.. say.. that it's not very easy for me. This whole situation is not something I am used to so if you two will bear with me." I stammer a bit, but only because I really want to make this work.

I see them look at eachother, as if weighing out what I have just said. It makes me more nervous. So nervous that I look down so I don't have to see their reaction much longer.

When I do look up I see them both smirk at eachother, their faces identical. And then Henry begins, "It's okay mom, I get it, but I think you need to make it up to us."

He has his serious face on, and I am listening very closely.

"Yeah that's right… and the only you can do that is by getting us 2 chocolate milkshakes!" Emma says, now a full out grin with Henry nodding next to her.

I physically deflate as I exhale. They actually had me going there for a minute. But I'll get the back.

"Oh how nice of you two to let me make it up to you. Even though Ms. Swan here was supposedly treating this breakfast since she is the one who helped you to destroy my kitchen this morning." They both sink a little in their seats, and I know I've got them right where I want them.

"But of course I'll treat for the milkshakes, not the meal, and I am sure you both will work it off when you are walking back home!" I close my menu as I say this and call the waiter over to take our orders.

I order with a large smile on my face, which I am sure has the waiter feeling rather nervous since I know I was hardly in a good mood back before the curse broke.

Once the other two have ordered we are back to silence.

I look over to Henry, "So Henry you were talking about your teacher earlier? How is she, how are you doing in school?"

"Oh doing really good, I was just telling Emma about her. I thought she would like to meet her." I know I am making him nervous, especially since I know that he is the one that brought them back together.

"Oh that's nice. She's not really a very interesting person, but have you met her yet?" I look to Emma and see her nod no.

"Actually Ruby was just telling me that she was looking for a roommate. She thought that since I was looking for a place that maybe I would want to stay with her." She mentions while playing with her utensils.

"Oh I see, well I suppose that is good for you then. I know that our home wasn't exactly what you were expecting anyway." As I say this I see Henry sadly nodding in agreement.

"Actually I told her thanks, but I have already found a place." She smiles at me then, and I try to hide my happiness at her answer. But Henry doesn't feel the need as he is literally beaming at her.