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"TESSA!" Tessa jerked awake as Henry burst into her bedroom. He jumped onto her bed, causing Chess to jump off in annoyance.
"Happy birthday!" Regina added, coming into the room. Tessa smiled slightly as she looked over at her clock. It was noon. At least they had been nice enough to let her sleep in. If it was any other day, Regina was hauling her out of bed if she wasn't up by seven.
"Yeah… I'm twenty. Practically an old woman…" Tessa said with a laugh. Regina shot her a look for that one.
"Twenty is not old." Tessa laughed just at the look on her face, but didn't say anything. She knew that Regina was even younger than her when she gave birth to Tessa. Tessa wasn't about to push the subject.
"Once you get dressed, come on downstairs." Regina told her before walking out of the room again. Tessa kicked the covers off her and went to pick out an outfit from her closet. Henry moved off her bed, but didn't leave the room.
"You know you're actually turning forty-eight." He told her as casually as if commenting on the color of her pajama top.
"Excuse me?" Tessa asked, turning back to look at him in confusion and shock.
"Because everyone's been cursed, not aging, for twenty-eight years. You're forty-eight."
"And you're just being mean by pointing that out. Speaking of out… Get out." She told him. He rolled his eyes and left the room.
A minute later, Tessa came downstairs dressed in a blue tank top, faded jeans and blue high-tops. She skipped into the kitchen, where Regina was just pulling a birthday cake out of the fridge. Tessa spoke before she could.
"Since it's my birthday, you two have to do what I want, right?" She asked. Both Regina and Henry gave her a suspicious look.
"Within reason…" Regina told her. Tessa rolled her eyes, as if she had actually made either of them do anything horrible on her birthdays.
"Great. Henry, here." She pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her pocket and handed it to him.
"Go buy that comic book you wanted from the store."
"Really?"
"No, I just like handing you money and taking it back. Yes, really. Go." He grinned and ran out of the kitchen. She turned to Regina.
"And you can do whatever it is you normally do." Tessa told her airily, swiping some frosting off the cake with her finger before licking it off.
"I thought we would stay in and celebrate." Regina suggested. Tessa shrugged it off.
"I'm not in the birthday mood today."
"Why not?" Tessa shrugged again.
"Just not."
"Okay… Well, your presents are on the coffee table." Regina told her, grabbing her jacket and purse.
"Thanks." Regina walked out the front door. As soon as the door shut, Tessa was on the move. She hurried upstairs and into her bedroom again. She quickly grabbed her phone, tucking it into her pocket as she ran back downstairs. She ducked out the door and ran for the edge of town.
As she reached the edge of town, she did what she'd done before: set the stopwatch on her phone and stepped out of the town limits.
She was sitting in a dark cell. She wasn't in good shape. The wound that would later turn into a scar on her back was still fresh and painful. She was covered in dirt and dried blood. Her lip was split and she tasted blood in her mouth. Her hands were bound in front of her with rope. She looked around the cell, desperate for a way out. She heard someone approaching the cell. She looked towards the cell door as Cora appeared, flanked by two of her guards. An evil grin spread across Cora's face.
"Happy birthday, dear granddaughter…"
She woke up to someone shaking her almost frantically. She jerked up and Emma held up her hands to show she wasn't going to hurt her. Tessa looked around. It was dark already, which meant she'd been there for a while. She grabbed her phone and hit the stop button. 4:50:00. Better than last time, she mused in her head.
"What the heck?" Emma asked when Tessa didn't explain anything to her. Perhaps 'demanded' was a better word for it. Tessa got to her feet and Emma straightened up as well.
"I… When I do that, I get memories back." Tessa couldn't come up with any believable lie. Emma could call her crazy, but at least she would know the truth. Emma gave her the look that Tessa was expecting, something that silently asked her if she was off her meds.
"Henry's right, Emma! About the curse, about my mom, everything!" Tessa told her.
"I… I don't know what's gotten into you… Look, I was just waiting for a guy to come fix my car and I saw you in the middle of the road like some road-kill!" Emma explained. She motioned towards her car on the side of the road. Tessa noticed two young kids in the backseat.
"Is there some kidnapping going on here I should know about?" She asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Emma rolled her eyes.
"I'm supposed to be taking them to Boston… Unless their dad sees them and changes his mind about wanting to take care of them."
"And I'm guessing that their dad is the guy coming to fix your car?"
"Yep."
"Sneaky." Tessa amended with the slightest bit of respect in her eyes. Emma nodded once.
"Thank you. Why don't you get in the car? I can drive you back if this works or maybe he can give you a ride if it doesn't." Emma told her.
"Okay." She went to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. She looked back at the two kids while Emma paced outside the car.
"I'm Tessa." She introduced herself.
"Ava."
"Nicholas." They introduced themselves.
"Nice to meet you." She told them. They nodded grimly and said nothing else, looking down at their feet.
"Why are you two going to Boston?" She asked out of curiosity. No one ever left Storybrooke. Ever.
"They're going to put us in the foster care system… and separate us." Ava explained tearfully. Tessa turned around completely in her seat.
"Well, that is not going to fly with me." She told them. Before they could ask what she was going to do, the truck pulled up behind them. The man that Tessa could only assume was their father stepped out and spoke with Emma.
"Wait here." She told Ava and Nicholas. She got out of the car and walked over to the two of them.
"You're their father?" She asked.
"Those are them?" The man asked, looking past her at the car.
"Those are them."
"And the car? It's fine." He said, looking at Emma. She nodded. Even sneakier, Tessa thought to herself.
"I just wanted you to see them, just once. I didn't think I could do it either. I gave up Henry cause I wanted to him to have his best chance. When I saw that he didn't have, I couldn't leave. I was just as scared, more, probably. But once I saw him, once I knew him, I couldn't go back." Emma told him.
"You're taking them? To Boston?"
"I don't have to."
"No… You don't have to." He walked over to the car to talk to them. Tessa turned to Emma.
"Nice work, Blondie."
"Thanks, kiddo."
"I knew today was going to be a good day." Tessa said with a sigh.
"How?"
"It's my birthday. It's a whole day to celebrate my awesomeness! Something good had to come of it." They both laughed at that.
"Well, my birthday gift to you is giving you a ride back home, even though you're dirty and annoying." Emma told her.
"Gift accepted." Tessa told her gratefully, although slightly offended by the 'annoying' part.
"So… When you step out of town, do you really get… 'memories' back." Emma made quotation marks with her fingers when she said the word 'memories'.
"Yeah, I do. I know it sounds crazy-."
"It sounds completely insane."
"Jeez, thanks for letting me finish." Tessa said sarcastically. Emma made a motion with her hand for her to go on.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I do believe Henry." Before Emma could say anything to that, the man walked back over with Ava and Nicholas trailing along behind him.
"I'm going to take them home, if that's alright." Emma smiled widely.
"Go ahead." He opened the door to let them get into his car while Emma led Tessa back over to her own car. As they climbed into the front seats, Emma turned to look at Tessa again.
"By the way, you have dirt on your face."
"Thanks for telling me sooner."
"No problem, birthday girl."
Tessa quietly went into her house, but it wasn't quiet enough. Regina hurried over to her the second she heard the click of the door shutting.
"Where were you? You were gone all day!"
"I know that I was. I was where I was." Tessa told her, smiling at her own cleverness.
"Are you okay?"
"Peachy."
"Good. Do you want to open your presents now?" Regina asked, motioning towards the living room. Tessa smiled wider.
"Sounds good."