Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon A Time Crossover
Season 1, Episode 2, Chapter 1
The events in Storybrooke / Enchanted Forest occur during the second episode of the first season titled: The Thing You Love Most
~O~
THE GRIFFITHS' SUMMER HOME OUTSIDE LONDON, ENGLAND (The early Edwardian Period)
As the final balloon carriers arrived in the meadow across from the Griffiths' summer house, the sun had set and the last daylight was fading way. Lizzy Griffiths now a teenager, greeted the fairies with subdued excitement. She had always been fascinated with fairies and was close friends with Tinker Bell. She and her father even learned the fairy language to converse with them easier.
Upon learning what was happening, Lizzy was devastated by the news that Pixie Hollow was being destroyed. However, she consoled herself with the knowledge that her close friend Tinker Bell would in her very backyard. The girl envisioned the two visiting every day after her schooling was ended. Lizzy wanted to help the fairies re-establish their world while having fun and adventure with the little tinker fairy she met one rainy summer afternoon several years ago. The girl had not seen Tinker Bell in sometime, learning only belatedly that she had run off with Peter Pan to have adventures. Now her heart swelled with excitement in anticipation of seeing the tinker fairy once again.
She ran from balloon to balloon calling and looking for Tinker Bell. At arriving at the last one to land she found only the two ministers: Hyacinth and Redleaf.
"Tinker Bell? Did she make it?" Lizzy asked the ministers.
Redleaf could not even look her in the eye. He bowed his head and slowly shook it, indicating "no."
"I'm sorry, child," Hyacinth answered. "The dark magic has taken your friend and our queen. They never had a chance."
Lizzy ran to her father and wrapped her arms around him. She put her head into his chest and sobbed.
"She's…, she's gone, father," Lizzy told him. "Tinker Bell is gone."
"There, there, Lizzy," Martin Griffiths whispered, gently stroking her head in consolation.
Redleaf and Hyacinth delivered the awful news to the Never Fairies that escaped to the meadow. Queen Clarion did not escape the curse. She was lost. The hope that lived within their hearts instantly evaporated.
The first order of business for the three warm ministers was to try and establish a governing body. They bickered and yelled amongst each other. The fairies who watched felt more and more that they had no hope for their future. Their queen was gone and the ministers were arguing over petty grievances.
Dr. Martin Griffiths suggested a solution. Until a queen became available, they should establish a government devised from the British model. The ministers listened, quietly dismissed it. However, after more bickering, they ultimately decided it was the best solution available.
Redleaf was selected as the Prime Minister, overseeing the colony as the queen did. Redleaf was chosen because he was the eldest of the three, the wisest, the most experienced and he maintained his cool and composure in difficult situations better than either Hyacinth or Sunflower. He would also continue as Minister of Autumn, pulling double duty.
A fairy council was established with an upper assembly and a lower assembly. The upper assembly would consist of representatives from the major guilds. The lower was composed of representatives from the minor guilds, those that existed as sub talents of the major guilds.
Finally, two judiciary councils were formed to deal with conflicts between fairies. One for criminal transgressions, the other for civil disagreements. Fairy law and its overriding pillars remained an integral part of their culture and government.
With this work done, the fairies began the enormous task of rebuilding their shattered world. Zarina was tending to a wisp of a sapling that was peeking out of the ground. It was surrounded by her alchemy students, garden fairies, water fairies and light fairies. This was the new Pixie Dust Tree. It became a symbol of hope, the only one the Never Fairies formerly of Pixie Hollow had left.
STORYBROOKE, MAINE (October 2011)
Morning. The sun rose over the waters of the Atlantic bathing the city in a rejuvenating glow. Its warmth did not go unnoticed as the birds chirped, insects hummed and many denizens of the town by the ocean stirred at the first light. Granny's Diner opened for business. Sheriff Graham was one of the first customers today. Every day in fact. People began to fill the streets as they walked or drove to work, to shop or to school. Emma Swan woke in the comfy bed at the inn. She looked out the window and remembered where she was.
Inside her palatial, two story home Mayor Regina Mills paged through the book Mary Margaret had given to her son, Henry. The one titled Once Upon a Time. Inside were fairy tales, stories of fantasy that no one would believe were real except Regina. These stories were the history of her land, the Enchanted Forest and detailed incidents that she remembered with vivid clarity. When she reached the end of the book, the last few pages were gone. Torn out on purpose.
"Where are the missing pages?" she demanded of her son.
He claimed it was on old book. "Stuff's missing," he lied.
She saw him smiling as he readied himself for school. Regina didn't understand why he seemed so happy until she heard a sound from outside his window. It was the gong of the clock tower. Regina was startled by it, then shocked. The clock in the center of town never worked. It was a reminder that time was frozen here. Frozen by the dark curse. If the clock was moving, it meant the curse was losing its grip on the city. She was losing her grip on the city.
Regine went to the town square and gazed at the moving clock which sat atop the permanently closed library building. She was joined by Dr. Archie Hopper and his Dalmatian, Pongo. "Looks like those rusty innards finally worked themselves free," the psychologist commented to her. Regina was not amused. A happenstance glance towards the bread shop revealed an old, yellow VW Bug. Emma Swan was still in town. Apparently, Ms. Swan didn't heed Regina's warning to leave town last night. She was going to need more "convincing."
~O~
Despite the new dawn, each day was pretty much the same for Claire Kensington. She woke up at 5:30 am, cleaned up a bit, put on a long robe and went downstairs to cook breakfast for her two daughters, sixteen year old Tina and twenty four year old Valerie. The two girls slept much later than she did, so to keep herself company Claire turned on the small color television on the kitchen counter to watch the morning weather report. Then she switched to the talk show Storybrooke This Morning hosted by a pair of bubble headed women. Claire didn't particularly like the show, but it was better than the often depressing news on the other channels. With breakfast halfway done she could hear her daughters stirring and like every day they were fighting over the single common upstairs bathroom.
~O~
When the alarm went off Tina hit the snooze button for a few extra minutes, but fate just wouldn't let her have them. She heard the alarm go off in her sister's room. Tina rocketed out of bed and shot into the hall.
"Hey, I was first," Valerie yelled through the closed door. Tina had ducked into the bathroom right under her sister's nose and gave the older girl the raspberry as she closed door in Valerie's face.
"Get out of there you little punk, I have to pee," Val yelled again.
"Sucks to be you this morning," Tina replied as she put toothpaste on her toothbrush. "Just use the one in mom's room." Tina didn't hear anything from the door after that so Valerie must have taken her advice. After a good shower she snuck back into her room before Valerie could try anything as payback for stealing the bathroom. Fortunately, Val was in the en suite's shower so she had no opportunity at revenge. Tina feared that would change later.
~O~
When the plates were set out on the kitchen table it wasn't much longer to wait for Tina to descend the stairs. She slipped into the kitchen and announced in a happy, high pitched voice, "Hi, Mom!" right before giving Claire a quick peck on the cheek, which Claire would reciprocate. Tina was usually bright and cheerful, with a sense of wonder of the world around her. Claire took great pleasure in watching her explore; she was especially fascinated with mechanics and loved to repair or take things apart.
Today her mother fixed whole wheat dollar pancakes, two eggs sunny side up, three strips of bacon, two sausage patties, grits and orange juice. Tina couldn't wait to start eating, but after the first bite she couldn't just wolf it down it was so tasty. For herself, Claire cooked a different meal since her doctor expressly told her to cut back on fats and salt to lower her high blood pressure. Her breakfast consisted of the whole wheat pancakes, egg whites with Ms. Dash salt free sprinkle for flavor, half a Ruby Red Grapefruit with sugar substitute and coffee.
The inhumanly perky talk show hosts were chatting about the weather and then began a segment about lawn and garden care. Claire listened intently as the two airheads detailed how to apply beneficial nematodes to eliminate pests in a garden or lawn. Nematodes were tiny creatures that lived in the soil destroying many unwanted insects harmful to a garden, pets and people.
Maine had to deal with ticks that carried Lyme Disease. The nematodes were a natural way to control the flea and tick population in a yard or garden. The two jabbering hosts did mention that the little worms were safe around pets and people. "You have to water them into your garden early in the morning before first light, or after the sun has gone down," one of the ladies on the television explained in a cheery and helpful manner. "If you apply them during the daylight hours, the sun will kill them."
"Beneficial nematodes," Tina's mother said writing the name down on a piece of paper. "Another service we can offer our customers." Lately her mother had started doing simple yard work when other jobs began drying up. Tina knew offering another service would mean a little more money for the family. It also meant getting up extra early on Saturday mornings. Well, so much for the cartoons…, or sleeping in for that matter.
A few minutes later, a little slower and with far less energy was the older Valerie. Val and her mother had a contentious relationship ever since Claire's husband, Charlie, passed away. Since his death, the young woman changed her clothing; got numerous piercings; her work ethic disappeared; and she recently tinted her dark hair with purple steaks. Val often expressed her discontent through her clothing and today did so with a tight fitting tee for the heavy metal band AC/DC with the words "Highway to Hell" emblazoned across the front in blood red.
Not exactly subtle, Claire thought to herself.
"Hey," was all Val muttered when she entered the kitchen for breakfast. Valerie wolfed down her food so she could get out of the house as quickly as possible rather than take a ride to the work site with her annoying mother and cloyingly perfect little sister. When Claire wasn't looking Val leaned over to her sister and whispered "I hate your guts." Then she went back to eating. Tina just sort of grinned and whispered back, "Loser."
Though an employee of Claire's general contracting business, Val much preferred to hide out at The Rabbit Hole, the local bar where she could hustle the men out of their money at the pool table or dart board. Valerie finished her breakfast, gulped down her juice and left the table with a mumbled "bye." She grabbed her leather jacket and helmet and made a beeline for the door to the backyard and garage.
"Stay here," Claire said. "Don't you dare leave this house, young lady!" Claire tried to follow her outside, but she was still in her robe and wouldn't go passed the door. "Valerie! Valerie, dammit get back in here!" Claire's wayward daughter could no longer hear any other sound except the roaring of the twin cam engine of her old Harley-Davidson motorcycle as she sped away for the Rabbit Hole.
~O~
When Claire and Tina finished their breakfast and the morning dishes were clean, the youngest daughter sat in front of the television to watch the rest of Storybrooke This Morning while her mother went back upstairs to finish dressing for the day. For the work site Claire dressed in work jeans by Dickie's, a red tartan flannel shirt to keep out the chill and thick socks under steel toe boots both by Wolverine. Claire combed and set her honey brown hair in a simple ponytail and slipped it through the opening on the back of her company ball cap.
She performed one last morning ritual.
Claire went to her private bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a glass bottle of cologne for men. She opened it and took a whiff bringing back wonderful memories of her deceased husband Charlie. The joyfulness of the moment was quickly replaced by the pain of knowing he was long dead and that memories were all that she had left of him. Ree, as Charlie called her, put the cologne back into the medicine cabinet and then sprayed on a little perfume to her neck and shirt, just enough so she would smell nice even as she sweated through the long and rugged work day.
Claire came downstairs, grabbed her coat and with Tina right behind they left the house and climbed into the old GMC pickup truck Claire used as a work vehicle. Tina was dropped off at school before Claire stopped at The Rabbit Hole to collect Valerie.
~O~
When the door to the bar opened Valerie was being pulled from the wrist by her mother.
"Get into the truck," Claire said angrily.
"Not fair, I'm old enough to do what I want!" Val shouted.
"Then act your age," her mother blasted back. "As long as you live under my house you live by my rules. I don't care how old you are, Val, you are still my daughter and you will obey me."
"Fine, then I'm out of the house. I have enough money for my own place," Val roared defiantly.
"And how will you keep paying for rent? You'll need a steady job with regular pay, not this hustling gig you've cooked up. You do remember what Mayor Mills said yesterday, don't you?"
"I have a job, remember? I work for you."
"Since when? You never show up on time, you do as little work as possible and you are the first to leave even if your work isn't finished. I should fire you for being useless."
"That's all that I am to you, isn't it? Useless. Ever since your precious little golden haired princess was born I've been the odd one out. You should have just sent me back to the orphanage where I could find a real mother."
"I AM YOUR REAL MOTHER!" Claire shouted. "I'm your mother because I want you to be a good young lady who is responsible and hard working. Who won't end up getting taken advantage of in a bar or working the red light district as a prostitute, or living under the old toll bridge because you have no money for a place to live. I'm your mother because I love and care about you as much as I do Tina."
"No you don't. You have always loved her more than you do me because she is your flesh and blood. I'm just some hard luck case you adopted because you and dad wanted a baby and thought you couldn't have one of your own. Well now you do so you can kiss my ass goodbye," Valerie screamed to her mother as she pulled away from Claire's grasp and turned back towards the bar.
"Fine, you want to spend the rest of your life hustling for money you go right ahead and do that," Claire yelled back. "But if you go into that bar instead of the truck you will never be allowed back in my house ever again and you can find work somewhere else. If you don't want to be my daughter then by extension you don't want any of the things I give you. You will have no roof over your head, no food in your stomach and no clothes on your back. You can fend for yourself for all I care. Have fun living in the gutter."
Valerie stopped at the entrance, her hand on the door handle. She wasn't sure if Claire was bluffing, but if her adopted mother wasn't then what would she do to survive? Valerie decided not to call Claire's bluff and stormed her way to the old GMC pickup. She climbed in, slammed the door and sat there, angry as hell waiting for her mother to drive to the worksite.
~O~
On the way over Valerie asked, "What about my bike?"
"I'll pick it up later," Claire replied. "How could you afford that thing anyway?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" was the only thing Valerie offered as an answer.
The young woman in purple and black just stared out the truck door as the town moved passed the window. Her soft, pale blue colored eyes reflected back at her in the glass. She expected to see anger and hatred, but instead saw only hurt and sadness. Once at the site Claire donned a yellow hardhat over her cap while Valerie topped herself with her own company baseball cap. Claire kept vigil over her employees, checking on what they were doing, that they were meeting code, following prescribed OSHA safety requirements and ensuring they were all hydrated, a tricky thing in Storybrooke's usually cool environment. Then she set to work putting down paper and tar on the roof.
Valerie sat up on the opposite side of the roof and would occasionally pound in a nail to hold down the shingles. But mostly she looked up at the sky thinking about the aircraft she would sometimes see flying overhead on clear days and wished she could be up there with them. That is where she wanted to be, what she wanted to do with her life: fly. Not fix roofs or run water pipes or put up dry wall. Fly in the clear blue sky with all the freedom that came with it.
Author's Note: Charlie is not Lord Milori. He is a false memory created by the curse to keep Clarion and Milori apart in Storybrooke.
As always, reviews and other feedback are greatly appreciated.