...7 years ago…
Henry stared at the wall calendar in his room, frowning.
"Henry!" called out Regina from downstairs. "Today's the day. They're moving. Are you ready to go?"
"I'll be down in a minute!" shouted Henry from the depths of his room. They had practiced this before, Henry and his grandfather, Rumplestiltskin. He wasn't nervous. If anything, Henry felt depressed. He didn't want to see his new baby Aunt Lily, Belle or his grandfather move away.
At the border they worked on magically turning off Storybrooke's magic and then cloaking the town, which Henry mastered in just two days. The goal was to turn magic off so that when they left they would still have their memories. He could still remember the conversation he had with his grandfather while at the town line:
"Grandpa, are you sure want to move?"
"Yes, Henry. This is our happy ending. Besides, I'm sure nobody will miss us."
"That's not true… I'll miss you guys."
"That's very kind of you Henry, but I think this will be the best… for all of us."
Henry quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs to meet his mother. They got into the car and drove to the town line where they would be meeting the rest of his family along with a few other people from town. As much as Belle and Gold wanted their moving away to be discreet, it wasn't. So naturally, all of Storybrooke knew. It was a small town after all. However, only the closest of friends and family came to see that they were sent off properly.
Regina parked behind Emma's Volkswagen and were greeted by a slew of other people. Gold's Cadillac was parked in the middle of the street right in front of the red line. All the rest of the cars parked accordingly off on the side of the road. Regina and Henry both got out of the car and saw that Belle and Gold were already saying their goodbyes. Gold held his daughter and was talking to Emma while Belle hugged and kissed her father. Regina and Henry walked straight towards Gold. As if announcing her arrival to them, Regina spoke, "You pack light."
"Everything we need is already over there. The condo is fully furnished and as far as clothes, we'll just get more when we arrive there. Other than the few essentials we would need for ourselves and for Lily, I would say we're all set," said Gold.
"Not completely," stated Henry. Henry waved his hand and red smoke appeared. When the cloud disappeared a cane magically appeared in his hand and he handed it to his grandfather.
Gold scoffed and then humbly took the cane from him, "Thank you Henry. I almost forgot about that."
After saying her goodbyes to Dr. Hopper and Ruby, Belle came over to Henry and pulled out a set of keys. "I think it's us who should be doing the gifting," Belle said as she handed the keys to her car to Henry. "It's all yours. With all the subways and public transportation, I won't really need it in New York."
Henry's eyes lit up as he gratefully took the keys from her. "Wow! Belle! Thank you!" Henry said while smiling. The keys were barely in his hands for three seconds before Regina snatched them away from him. Henry looked to his mother disappointedly, to which she replied, "When you are old enough… and with a license."
Emma had the look of relief on her face as she leaned over to Regina and whispered, "Thank you."
"And I have a gift to you," Gold said as he gently handed Lily off to Belle. "When you reach of age, I'm giving my house and the shop to you."
"What?!" cried the family.
"Henry is my grandson, I would think it's only appropriate. Besides, it's protected under blood magic and other protective enchantments," Gold continued while pulling out a set of keys from his pocket and placing them into Henry's hands. "The residences will only open to you, but only when you're ready to receive them. The properties are yours."
"How will I know?" Henry asked.
"Continue your training with your mothers and you'll know soon enough," Gold replied with smile. Unexpectedly, Henry hugged his grandfather. The sudden affection caught him off guard and he slowly lifted a hand to pat Henry's back.
"Thank you," said Henry while squeezing his grandfather.
"You're welcome Henry," said Gold. When they pulled apart from each other, Gold cleared his throat and awkwardly shuffled his feet as he stepped back away from the group. "Are you ready Henry? Just like we practiced."
"Yeah, I got this," nodded Henry towards his grandfather.
Gold nodded back to Henry and then headed to his car. Belle turned with Lily and opened the back door to the car, placing her carefully inside her car seat. As soon as Belle and Gold got into the car, Gold looked up into his rear view mirror and saw Regina approaching him. He rolled down the window and allowed one last correspondence. He placed his keys into the ignition and then turned his head to look at his old apprentice.
Regina bent low to peer into his side window and said while leaning her hand on the window, "I suppose, if you need anything… you have my number."
Gold nodded and then unexpectedly reached for Regina's hand. Out of respect for each other, he held it firmly and said sincerely, "For what it's worth… I hope you find your happiness. Thank you Regina."
Regina smiled to the man and replied, "Good luck Gold."
Gold smiled back to her as Regina backed away from the vehicle. He turned on the ignition and the car sprung into life, waiting to eagerly cross the border. Regina looked at Henry giving him a nod, cueing him to go.
Henry closed his eyes and extended his open hands. As soon as he lowered them magic disappeared. The difference couldn't be seen, but it was definitely felt. Gold took a deep breath and then shifted the gear into drive and drove across the border and into the real world. When the car left completely, Henry raised his hands bringing magic back and waved over the surrounding area. Henry didn't want to place the protection spell over Storybrooke, but knew it had to be done. If Storybrooke's magic became open to the non-magical world it would be a spectacle, disrupting the tranquility and happiness of the people and citizens within.
Seeing that the deed had been done, Henry sighed disappointedly. His eyes continued to follow after the car, which was now only a speck in the distance. Emma placed a caring hand over her son's shoulders and watched him look on into the distance.
"Come. Let's head back to Granny's for your birthday cake. I hear that it's chocolate," Emma said as she backed away from her son. She turned around and started walking to her car.
Henry slowly backed away from the border and said silently and sadly to himself, "Happy Birthday to me."
… …
The usual friends of family came to Granny's Diner to celebrate Henry's birthday, but the other real reason everyone celebrated was the rejoicing of Rumplestiltskin leaving town. Henry sat at the diner listening in and eavesdropping on the joyous sentiments.
"I just can't believe he's gone," stated Doc as he took a swig from his pint.
"Well believe it brother. If you ask me, good riddance," Leroy added.
Henry looked down the counter and saw both his mothers conversing with Hercules and Elsa. He got up from his stool to place some space between himself and the dwarfs and walked over to his mothers. As he neared his parents he could hear the conversation become more distinct.
"…so that's it. No more Rumplestil- I mean, Mr. Gold," Elsa said trying to gain confirmation from Emma.
"Yep. They left earlier this morning," acknowledged Emma.
Hercules took a sip from his cup and asked, "And he left with nothing?"
"Well not nothing, but" corrected Regina, "they certainly did pack light. Both he and Belle seemed pretty adamant about starting a new life. They are capable individuals. With Belle's academia and Gold's financial wizardry I'm sure they'll do just fine." Regina looked down on the ground and for a moment appeared a bit somber. She took a sip of her drink smiling briefly to the group to feign happiness and said, "Whatever makes them happy."
Emma lifted her glass and said, "To happy endings."
"Happy endings," said the collective group and they all clinked their individual drinks together, taking in the ceremonial sip.
Killian made his way towards the group, listening in as Henry was to their conversation. As much as Killian wanted to partake in the festivities, he couldn't help but feel suspicious of the whole thing. He walked up behind Emma and said, "I just can't believe he left without taking any magical souvenirs. It doesn't seem like him at all to do that."
"Well, things change when you have kids," reasoned Emma as she glanced over at Henry with a smile. Henry looked on and grinned back. Emma turned back to Killian and continued with astonishment, "Apparently, Gold left his home and shop to Henry."
"That includes Henry's Cogsworth, right? That's still in his shop right?" asked Hercules.
"Who's Cogsworth?" asked Leroy, joining in on the conversation. The dwarf's timing couldn't have been any worse.
"Oh, it's just Henry's realm traveling device," answered Hercules blithely, not understanding the repercussions of his honest statement. "It's how I got here, along with that monster a couple of weeks ago… and that hydra."
Everyone turned to look at Hercules with contempt. Hercules, oblivious to what was going on, reacted defensively by saying, "What?"
"You mean Henry has had the ability to traverse to other worlds this entire time?! Why didn't you guys say anything to anybody? You know, some of us still want to go home right?!"
"What if some of us want to do commerce with the people outside of Storybrooke? If Henry was able to let Belle and Gold leave, why can't we?" said Dopey. Everyone turned to look at Dopey. Dopey never typically said anything, so the fact that he spoke shocked everyone in the room. Not only did he say something, he asked a legitimate question and his poignant insertion into the conversation only emphasized his point. Seeing that tension was mounting in the room, David and Mary-Margaret moved closer to the center of the conversation.
"Is everything alright?" asked David, while trying to look diplomatic.
"No!" Leroy said to David honestly, his voice escalated in a matter of seconds. "Your entire family has conveniently neglected to inform the rest of the community of its ability to go back home, or leave Storybrooke in general. Am I the only one who thinks this stinks?" Dopey leaned back away from the group to literally smell himself. "Not you Dopey," Leroy said to his brother as he rolled his eyes.
While holding Neal, Mary-Margaret looked over at Grumpy sternly and asked, "Are you really that unhappy Leroy?"
Just then a group of nuns came passed the group to exit. As Sister Astrid walked passed, she gave Leroy a heart-warming smile. He glanced upwards at Astrid and greeted her with a toothy smile of his own. As soon as she left the diner with the rest of her sisters he turned back to the rest of the group and replied with great confliction, "No."
"I suppose if you want…" suggested Emma, "we can always make special accommodations for you. I doubt you'd want to be entering the same world as Mr. Gold, though. He, at least, has had some experience living out there. You only have your cursed memories of what it's like and believe me, it's not a fairy tale."
"How about this," interrupted Regina addressing Leroy, "when Henry comes of age and gains access to the shop again, we can discuss the terms and use of it. But for now, it looks like you're stuck here with the rest of us." Much to the crowd's disappointment and dissatisfaction, the crowd dispersed. Regina looked over at Henry and got closer to him on the counter. "Henry…" she said to her son in a more subdued and serious voice. He looked up at his mother as she looked deeply into his eyes. "Promise me you'll let us know the moment you are able to enter your grandfather's shop. Now that everyone knows of its existence, it's crucial that the pocket-watch doesn't fall into the wrong hands. We don't want anybody from outside Storybrooke coming in without our knowledge."
Henry looked away from Regina and saw the rest of his family looking at him, eagerly awaiting his reply with bated breath. He felt every eye in the room stare at him with anticipation. The pressure to concede was imminent and inevitable and he could feel the weight of their futures rest on his shoulders. Henry didn't want to disappoint the family so he said looking back at his mother to ease everyone's fears, "I promise."
There seemed to be a collective sigh from the group as they all seemed to relax a little from the news.
"Well," said Emma, breaking the ice, "How about some cake, huh?"
Just then, Granny came out into the diner with a cake lit with candles bearing the number '15' in blue.
So this is the first of quite a few chapters dedicated to explaining what happened when Rumple and Belle moved away from Storybrooke. What do you think so far? I'm trying out this story within a story thing and I kinda like it.
As always, I love reading your comments. Thank you Imusicluver23, CrypticCobra, ladybugsmomma, NatalieMosherRumbelle, Grace5231973, and Montreat11. Not only do you guys rock, but you all are oh-so clever. I like it! See you next chapter.