Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon A Time Crossover
Season 1, Between Episodes 7 and 8

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

Tina had fallen asleep in her arms. Claire, however, could not sleep. Exhaustion demanded rest, but her worries would not allow it. She trembled on occasion and sobbed nearly as often. Her thoughts regularly going back to memories of Valerie as a child. Those precious moments long gone, but still treasured by her mother.

She remembered once when Valerie had just learned to walk. After a bath the little girl was anxious to start exploring again. The world was so new to her back then. She squirmed while Claire tried to towel her off. Charlie had gone off to work and left the front door open. Valerie managed to escape her mother's grasp and made a beeline for the open door.

She barreled through the screen door and ran naked across the front lawn. Giggling and squealing with pure delight. Claire followed, trying to catch the naked child. It still amazed her how a small girl could outrun a grown woman. Yet Claire spent two full minutes trying to reclaim her little one who had subsequently become enthralled by a fluttering butterfly and chased after it. A few passersby watched and laughed. A mother chasing a naked child chasing a butterfly. They found the scene so playfully delightful.

When Claire did manage to wrangle her little one, she scooped her up, pressed her lips against the tiny girl's belly and blew. The result was a silly little farting noise that made tiny Valerie shriek with laughter. "Oh you like that, huh?" Claire did it again, little Valerie squealed even louder. Back inside the house, Claire returned the girl to the tub to wash off the dirt that had accumulated on the little one's feet.

It was a truly wondrous moment for Claire as a mother.

Now that glorious little child who once ran naked out of the house after her bath was laying in the emergency room clinging to life. Claire had taken to sobbing again. She gently kissed the top of Tina's head. The sleeping form of her youngest never moved. The mother held on tightly to the young blonde girl. If anything happened to Valerie, Tina would be all that she would have left.

~O~

Deputy Swan sipped a cup of coffee from the hospital vending machine. It tasted awful. But at least she could taste something. Emma was about to keel over from the fatigue. She was trying to fill out police report forms that Graham had kept in the police cruiser. She also wanted to know the fate of the girl who had slid off the road.

The doctors said that the helmet she was wearing saved the young woman's life. It prevented a fatal head trauma. At worst, Valerie would have a severe concussion. Deputy Swan began to nod off, lack of sleep taking its toll. A ringing noise brought her back. She grabbed her cellphone. It was Mary Margaret.

"Emma where are you? You didn't come home last night," she asked.

Last night? "What time is it?"

"It's almost six thirty in the morning," Mary Margaret told her.

No wonder I'm so tired. Emma told her roommate about the accident. "Oh my gosh, is she okay?"

"I don't know, the doctor hasn't come out of the ER yet."

"Well let me know how she's doing," Mary Margaret said. "I remember Valerie when she was in my class. She always had so much spirit."

"Yeah, well she had plenty of spirit last night," Emma said. Her tiredness short circuited her filter. Words spilled out of her mouth without thought. "Sorry. I'll call you with any news, Mary Margaret. Goodbye."

Deputy Swan looked at her watch. She could not believe it was so early in the morning. Emma had spent the entire night in the hospital and had gotten no sleep. She tried to finish the reports, but instead she pushed them aside, lay her head down and fell into a deep slumber.

PIXIE HOLLOW, NEVER LAND (The Late Restoration Period on the Mainland)

Vidia gently pushed a seedling through the air and towards the Pixie Dust Tree. A new fairy was about to arrive. The seedling landed gently on the arrival pad. Fairy Gary dusted the seedling and a new fairy was born. Queen Clarion greeted the new fairy the same way she had greeted Vidia. Even down to that same insipid question. "I trust you found your way alright?"

"I guess so," the newborn replied.

Everyone else giggled or gave an "aww" as the little one spoke, but not Vidia. When it came time for the new fairy to choose a talent Vidia set down a whirlwind on the magical pedestal. This brought back a bit of nostalgia as she remembered her first day. The feeling passed quickly. When the new fairy tried to select the whirling winds and it died, Vidia just sniffed and held her nose up high in the air.

It had been many years since Swift and Festus had been banished from Pixie Hollow, yet the one thing that remained within her from that experience was her sense of superiority. Fairy Morrison tried to drum it out of her, but she clung to it mightily. It made her feel good to know she and her guild were better than the others. Queen Clarion wasn't pleased by this development, but at least Vidia wasn't planning an insurrection. She simply gave everyone a bit of harmless attitude.

~O~

When the ten year banishment term had come to an end, Swift and Festus waited at the gates of Pixie Hollow. Scouts guided them back to the presence of Queen Clarion. They confessed to having learned their lesson well.

"We were so terribly outclassed in the world outside of Never Land," Swift answered. "There were so many things we had come to take for granted in Pixie Hollow that were not available to us."

Festus nodded in agreement. "It was difficult just to survive without the benefit of the other guilds to support us."

"Your Highness, we humbly ask to be reinstated as sparrow men of the realm of Pixie Hollow," Swift asked, both down on one knee. "Our mistake was made known to us. Our lesson has been learned. Neither of us shall act in any way superior ever again."

After a short pause, the queen answered, "Welcome back, my children. You have come home."

~O~

A party was held in their honor. Two wayward sons of Pixie Hollow had returned, ready to once again be good members of the fairy family. It was not unlike the biblical tale of the prodigal son. They were greeted enthusiastically by just about everyone. Only Fairy Morrison kept his distance.

"Why do you not receive them with good cheer?" Queen Clarion asked her fast flying guild master.

"I don't trust them," he answered. "They lie, cheat and manipulate others. How do we know that they didn't do that to survive in the outside world?"

"And who would they have manipulated?"

"I don't know, but minds like theirs always find someone," Morrison answered. "My apologies, Your Highness, but I refuse them entry back into the guild."

"I see."

"You could force me to take them back," he added.

"I choose not to," Clarion replied. "I would prefer you learn to trust them on your own. Forcing the issue would only engender more resentment. I prefer harmony over friction."

"The queen is wise," Fairy Morrison said.

Clarion acknowledged him with a nod and then returned to the festivities.

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

"Mrs. Kensington?" the doctor called. "Mrs. Kensington it is Dr. Whale."

Claire opened her eyes. She had finally drifted into sleep. Her dreams vanished, but she could still feel their essence. Memories of her beautiful girl evaporating before her very eyes.

"Wake up, sweetheart," she whispered to her sweet blonde child. Tina stirred and sat up groggily.

Dr. Whale pulled up a chair and sat down directly in front of Mrs. Kensington. His first words were reassuring. "It was a miracle," he began. "I don't know how, but Valerie came away from that awful spill with only a broken wrist, a few minor internal injuries and a concussion. She is going to be fine."

Claire burst into tears of relief and joy. Dr. Whale put his arms around the distressed mother and held her tightly.

"Thank you, doctor. Thank you so much," Claire wailed.

~O~

Deputy Swan was jostled awake by a nurse who brought her the good news. Emma grabbed her police reports and went into the waiting room to speak with Mrs. Kensington. She was greeted with the sight of Dr. Whale embracing the crying mother. Deputy Swan sat down next to Mrs. Kensington. A fresh, but still lousy cup of coffee in hand. She set it down on the end table next to her and put a comforting arm on the crying woman.

Dr. Whale gently pulled away from Mrs. Kensington and said. "You can see her soon. She is being moved into the ICU. A nurse will take you back there when she is ready."

"Okay," Claire squeaked.

Whale returned to his duties. "Mrs. Kensington, are you alright?" Emma asked.

"Oh, Deputy Swan, Valerie is going to be alright," Claire said. The two mothers embraced with the joyous news. "My baby is going to be alright," Claire wailed again.

"Yes, she is, Claire. Yes she is." After a short pause, the young woman added. "Call me Emma."

~O~

After more waiting, Claire and her youngest were escorted down the hall and into another room. They sat and waited again in a different place. A television was on with a news report detailing the accident which nearly claimed the life of her girl.

Claire watched intently as the newsman gave an account of the incident. The news report ended with, "Valerie Kensington was admitted to Storybrooke General Hospital last night in critical condition. Her current status is unknown at this time."

But it was known, to Claire and Tina at least. Valerie was going to make it. She would be fine and would probably come home soon. Then a random thought entered Claire's head. It was the Friday after Thanksgiving and all the schools and town buildings were closed for the day. Tina wouldn't miss any classes and she wouldn't have to miss a day on the job at Town Hall. Even with insurance, this was going to cost her dearly. She could no longer afford to lose that much coveted contract with the city of Storybrooke. Without out it…, without it life would become impossibly difficult.

"Mrs. Kensington, if you would follow me," a nurse instructed. Claire and her daughter followed the white clad nurse into the Intensive Care Unit. She walked through hallways lined with the sick and the injured. Long curtains hanging from sliding tracks attached to the ceiling provided minimal privacy. The room was cold and the sounds of ventilators, staff calling out instructions, carts being wheeled about and heart monitors beeping filled the room. Yet even with such noise, the room was oddly rather quiet.

At the end of the hallway was her daughter. Claire stopped dead in her tracks. There was Valerie lying unconscious on a hospital bed and dressed in a simple cloth gown. Wires and sensors reached out to her like tentacles and were attached to her body. Heart and respiration monitors, a brain tissue oxygen monitor, an EEG machine, blood / oxygen sensors, an EKG machine, a blood pressure cuff and a pulse rate monitor and more were all positioned nearby or were directly attached to Valerie. Tubes fed oxygen into her nose and IV's brought much needed fluids and medicines into her blood stream.

Claire had to turn away from this horror. She buried her face into her hands and cried. The sight of her baby girl in such a bad way was too much for her to take in all at once.

"She'll be okay, Mom." Tina reminded her. Claire could only nod. Moments later she stood tall again and drew in deep breaths to compose herself. She turned around again and was able to look at her girl. The shock was still there, but not as intense. Mrs. Kensington walked to the bedside and sat down next to Valerie. She took the young woman's hand in her own and said, "Valerie? It's Mom. It's Mommy. I'm here sweetheart. The doctor says you're going to be okay. Please be okay. Let's forget the past. I just want you to come home."

~O~

Good mothers never abandon their children. Claire was one of those good mothers who remained seated by her daughter's side all day long. Tina brought her food from the hospital commissary and drinks from a nearby vending machine.

Mrs. Kensington kept watch on the monitors and asked questions from every nurse and technician who came by to get a reading. "How is she doing?" she would ask.

The nurses and techs were used to this response from friend and family who were still in shock. "She's going to fine, the readings look good," they would tell her.

In the middle of the afternoon, Claire received a shock. "Hartley?"

"Hello, Claire. How are you holding up?"

She responded by taking him into her arms and holding tight. She kissed the man she had been dating for his thoughtfulness. Claire wasn't expecting him to show up today. Or any day. Yet here he was, concerned for her well-being and Valerie's.

~O~

Tina wore a look of shock on her face. She had never seen her mother kiss another man since her father had passed away. Not only did her mother kiss him, but kissed him passionately on the lips. Then they hugged just like her mother and father used to. It was a moment she disliked intently. But she held her tongue. Valerie was the greater concern. Tina concluded that the stress was getting to her mother and that when this was all over so would all this hugging and kissing.

INSIDE VALERIE'S MIND

She could hear voices. Many of them. And sounds which she could not place.

At first they were distant. Then they came closer, into greater clarity. People chatting in the background and a constantly recurring sound, like a tweeting.

What is that, a bird, she asked herself.

It couldn't be a bird. It repeated itself with such precision.

Where am I? She could not see anything. Only the sounds around her were registering.

More voices. Someone spoke, saying the word "nurse." It was Queen Clarion.

I must be in the healing ward, she said. The nursing talents were tending to her, but the voice was unfamiliar.

Another voice, Tinker Bell! And now Lord Milori, too. What is he doing here? Why is he here?

Who is Hartley?

A man spoke, she could not identify him. Queen Clarion addressed him as Dr. Whale.

Who is Doctor Whale? Wait, did he just call the queen 'Mrs. Kensington?' And who is Valerie?

She desperately wanted to move, to open her eyes. Too look around and ask questions. She could not.

What's going on?

The voices began to recede. Am I dreaming? Maybe I'm asleep.

The sounds drifted away and soon her consciousness drifted away as well.

Okay, here it is, the big moment. Thanks to Mastermind4892 for that incredible review. It was beautiful. And thanks to everyone who has been reading, leaving reviews and has made this story a favorite or marked it follow. I am very appreciative of my fans. Thank you all so very much.

Let me know what you think so far.