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

STORYBROOKE, MAINE (The Kensington Household)

Clarence was in the kitchen doing the morning dishes. The breakfast he had made was quite good. He confessed to being a rather good cook largely because he had been on his own for so long. The three other young men he roomed with, his friends from the Post Office, could barely boil water.

"Yeah, I think they're the only people in the entire world who can actually burn a pot of water," he joked.

While he and Claire spoke, she noticed that Tina hung on his every word. She eyed him throughout breakfast and was quite casual with him.

When breakfast ended and Clarence had cleared the table, Claire brought Tina into the living room to talk with her. She had remembered what Valerie had said the other night. Tina and Clarence were planning on having sex so she could get pregnant. Claire didn't want to believe it then, but seeing how her youngest seemed so enchanted by the young man the mother decided it was time to ask a few questions.

"Tina, do you…, like him?"

"Yeah, he's my friend."

"Do you…, like him a lot? A whole lot?"

"Ye-eah," Tina answered, sounding confused.

"Tina, you can be honest with me," Claire said, trying to be as gentle as possible. "Are you in love with Clarence?"

Tina was taken aback by this question. Her body language made it abundantly clear that Claire had hit a nerve with her. "We're just friends, Mom."

The night Valerie ran from the house, Tina responded to Val's revelation as if she were betrayed by a confidant. "Tina, I'm okay with it if you love him. You're sixteen, being in love is part of growing up."

The girl didn't answer right away. "We're just close friends."

"How close?"

"Mom? Are you okay?"

"You're not 'friends with benefits' close…, are you?"

"MOM! No we're not! I'm not having sex with him or anyone. How could you even think that? I'm only sixteen."

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Claire replied. "You may not believe this, but I remember what is was like to be sixteen. My hormones raged and there were times when I thought I was so in love, but I wasn't. It was just a physical attraction. I know how good it can feel to have someone like you the way Clarence does. That feeling can be so intoxicating and you just want to run into things without thinking. Tina, I don't want you rushing into something and end up regretting your decision. Okay? I worry about you. I always have."

"What about you and that Mr. Hartley?" Tina asked defensively. "Are you two being friendly with benefits?"

"Absolutely not!" Claire replied. She calmed herself after the terse rejoinder. "Though I should have been more honest with you and your sister. We are seeing each other. And not just as friends, either. I like him the same way you like Clarence."

"Is he going to be my new dad?"

"I have no idea, sweetie," Claire answered, laughing somewhat uneasily. "It is still very early in our relationship, but I promise not to do anything I wouldn't want you girls to do. Okay?"

"Okay."

"And if you have any questions, about anything, you can come to me. I won't judge and I won't yell, and I will be completely honest."

"Even about Mr. Hartley?" Tina asked.

"Even about Mr. Hartley," Claire responded, adding a smile to ease her little girl's anxieties.

Tina nodded her acceptance.

Claire gave her youngest a quick peck on the cheek followed by a big hug.

~O~

Tina retreated into the kitchen with Clarence. She embraced him for no reason. Actually, there was a reason. Tina felt as if her life was changing so rapidly and she just couldn't process it fast enough. Clarence became her rock, her steadfast constant.

"Do you love me," she asked of him, her arms still wrapped around his torso.

"Wha? Yeah, of course."

"I mean, do you really love me? It's not just some teenage thing, is it?" Tina needed to know, remembering her conversation with her mother just moments ago.

"Tina, I love you. Deep down, I love you."

"Thanks, Clarence." She snuggled in closer, burying her head in his chest. Clarence put the dishes down and put his arms around her. He then leaned down and kissed her cheek. The boy heard her start to cry. She was upset, Tina told him. She felt lost and fragile.

"Don't worry, I'll never leave you."

These words brought Tina some comfort.

~O~

The phone rang. Claire answered. It was from the hospital, Valerie had woken up.

"Oh that's great news," Claire gushed.

"Yes, it is Mrs. Kensington. I can see her from my station. I'll call the doctor and let him know so he can meet you in Intensive Care."

"I'll be right over."

Moments later Claire and Tina dashed out the kitchen door and headed down the road in the work truck. The drive to the hospital was only minutes, but it felt like hours to Claire. I should have stayed there last night, she thought, recriminating herself for not forcing the issue and keeping vigil at Valerie's side.

STORYBROOKE GENERAL HOSPITAL (Intensive Care Unit)

Upon waking she was inundated by sights and sounds she did not know. There was that constant chirping. She looked down and saw she was in a bed, wearing a gown of some sort. Her usual purple leggings and top were missing. Long vines ran all over her body. Were they vines? Or something else? She tried to pull one and it was stuck to her quite firmly.

Leeches? They didn't look like any kind of leech she had seen or heard about.

A look over her shoulder brought another strange sight. A tablet with squiggly lines that drew themselves hung from the wall. Numbers appeared at the right and changed randomly. Suddenly she felt a tightness on her arm. Something was wrapped around her arm and was squeezing it. Her first thought was that it might be a snake, but it was too wide and flat to be a snake.

The squeezing got tighter and tighter. Then it stopped, but held firm. Slowly it released. After several seconds it let go. The squeezing was gone, though that flat thing was still tied to her. In the ceiling she noticed large rectangles of bright white lights.

"I wonder how the light talents did that?" she asked herself. "Are they using fireflies? Or are they funneling light in from the outside? Iridessa will know."

There were also other devices positioned nearby. Some had blinking lights. Others just sat there doing nothing. When did the tinkers build these things? she asked herself. And why?

She finally registered chatter. Talking, but it was in a language not her own. It was in English, but not English as Lizzie and Dr. Griffiths spoke it. The accent was very different. She tried to sit up. Her right arm shocked her with pain.

A look at the arm revealed a brace of some kind. How did that happen?

Upon further inspection she discovered another one of those strange vines. This one seemed to be burrowing its way into her skin. "Worms?" It was attached to a bag that hung from a pole. "What's it doing? Sucking me dry?"

It was a bit of struggle, but she finally sat up. When she did one of the vines that had been stuck to her chest popped off. A shrill sound came from one of the devices to her side. She looked around trying to find where it came from. What kind of animal makes that awful noise?

"Fawn? Fawn, I think one of your fuzzy wuzzy critter friends needs some help," she said calling to a friend. No one came.

"Where am I?" It couldn't be the Pixie Hollow hospital. This place looked nothing like the infirmary at the base of the big oak tree.

"Fawn? Rosetta? Somebody?"

"Oh hello," a kindly voice answered. "I see you're finally awake. That's a good sign. A very good sign."

The person addressing her was a slightly overweight woman with dark skin and a pleasant demeanor. She was dressed in a blue top and trousers.

"We were beginning to worry about you," the woman told her. "You've been out for a quite a while."

One other thing about this woman that stood out. No wings. Someone else walked by. Not flew, walked. He also had no wings.

Suddenly, that chirping noise got faster, as if reading her own heartbeat. She drew deeper and deeper breaths and it was more accelerated. Her eyes darted left to right and up to down looking for something, anything that would indicate where she was. Other people came into focus. Not one of them had wings.

"Here," the pleasant lady said, leaning over. She took the vine that had fallen off in hand and brought it close. "Let me put that back on for you."

"HUMANS!" the girl screamed. She had to get away and started thrashing about trying to get out of the bed. "Let me go! Let me out of here!"

"Please, Ms. Kensington. I'm not going to hurt you!" the lady said in a raised, but caring tone.

"NO, DON'T TOUCH ME. LET ME GO!" she screamed.

"Orderly!" the woman yelled. "Orderly, I need help!"

Two burly men in white and another woman in a pink top and pants came running to the woman's aide.

"NO! I'm not a science experiment. You're not going to cut me open!"

Visions of butterflies pinned up in display cases shot through her mind. Just like those in the house of Dr. Martin Griffiths, the scientist who studied nature. An image of herself held in a cage being observed by detached men of science filled her head. Then, she was being held down as a large knife came down up on her and cut into her flesh.

She screamed until darkness overwhelmed the pain. Finally, the last image was of her corpse, pinned up in a display case in a museum. Next to her were the preserved bodies of Fawn, Iridessa, Rosetta, Silvermist, Tinker Bell and Queen Clarion. All for the pleasure of the gawking humans.

"HELP! HELP! I am not going to tell you anything! Let me go!"

All four humans now had a grasp of her. They were holding down her legs and arms. Or at least trying to. "Get me a sedative!" someone yelled.

The word had no meaning to her, but it didn't sound good. She pushed harder against her assailants and screamed even louder. The worms stuck to her body quickly became detached the more she struggled. One leg got worked free and she kicked the man trying to hold it. A twist and another kick and in seconds she was up from the bed.

The worm buried into her arm yanked out. It tore at her flesh and she started to bleed. She put her left hand on it to try and stop the blood flow.

"Stop her!" one of the men in white said. Other humans in colored clothing approached, arms outstretched to grab her. She ran, looking for any way out. A turn through some desks, into a hallway, down a corridor, though some double doors. She had to dodge humans walking by, rolling by in chairs with wheels and some in beds that rolled.

Some places she turned were dead ends, rooms filled with humans sitting in chairs. Down another hallway to a pair of doors that did not open. She had to double back.

"There she is!" The men following her were closing in. She ran faster. Her bare feet had no protection from the cold floors. Then it struck her. These humans weren't the towering creatures she remembered. They were as tall as she was.

Or was she was tall as they were? Running from her pursuers, the girl leapt into the air and tried to fly. She fell back to the floor and nearly to her knees.

"What happened to my wings?" she asked. "Why aren't they working?"

She tried again, still she could not get airborne. "I must be out of pixie dust," the girl reasoned. Now her fears grew exponentially. Without dust she couldn't fly and escape these humans. She would have to run. Could she keep running? How long before he legs fell out from under her.

The likelihood of becoming a science experiment increased greatly without the ability to fly. It seemed almost inevitable now. Part of her wanted to just give up and let them take her. Get it over with sooner than prolong the agony. Part of her refused to give up and wanted to take every chance to escape, no matter the outcome.

A quick turn down another corner and she stared right into a familiar face. "Queen Clarion!"

It was her, wasn't it? The queen was dressed in the strangest clothes. Blue pants, a funny red shirt with vertical and horizontal stripes. Her hair was down. And something else. "What happened to you? Where are your wings?"

"Valerie? What are you doing?" her queen asked.

"Valerie? Who are you talking to?"

"Sweetheart, what are you doing out of bed?" her queen asked. "You should be resting."

"No, I won't be taken by these humans."

"Valerie, come with me back to the ICU so the doctor can make sure you're okay," the queen told her.

"Why do you keep calling me Valerie?"

"There she is!" She turned and saw the men who had been chasing her.

"That's your name. Your name is Valerie," the queen kept telling her.

"Mom, what's wrong?" a blonde haired girl asked.

"Tinker Bell?" Just like the queen, Tinker Bell was dressed in strange clothes. Not her usual green mini dress. But in leggings and a coat. And also, no wings.

"What happened to you?" she asked the queen. "Where are we? Where are your wings?"

"Wings?" Tinker Bell asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Honey, let's go back to your bed," the queen advised, looking terribly distressed.

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because that's your name," the queen answered.

The two man who had given chase were now slowly approaching her, using the distraction to gain ground.

"You're not my mother," she answered.

"Oh, sweetheart, let's not go through this again," Clarion replied. "Why can't we put the past behind us and be a family again?"

"Family?"

"Yes, you and me and Tina."

Who was Tina? "We're not a family. You're the queen."

"Valerie, please, honey don't be like this," Clarion answered. "Give us another chance. We can work things out. I promise not to play favorites. I'll try to be a better mother."

She turned to run, but the two men were steps away. She looked for a way out. There was none, except through the queen.

"Valerie, please, sweetie. Let's be a family again."

"Stop calling me that," she yelled. "My name is not Valerie."

"Yes it is," Clarion answered.

"No it's not!" She backed into a wall. Nothing made any sense to her. The queen and Tinker Bell looked like humans and were as big as humans. They had no wings. When she turned, there was a reflection of her in the glass. She was different, too. She looked like a human. And her wings were missing. Gone.

"What's happening? What's going on? Where are our wings?" She pressed herself up against the wall. Tears welled up in her eyes and then trickled down her cheeks.

"Why won't someone answer me!" she yelled.

"Valerie, please, stop and let's go back to your bed."

"My name is not Valerie!" she yelled to her queen. "That's not the name you gave me. Why can't you remember?!"

"Sweetie, I do remember," her queen said. "I gave you that name."

"No you didn't. NO YOU DIDN'T!"

"Then what name did I give you?" the queen asked.

She slid down the wall, falling to the floor and wept. "Vidia! My name is Vidia."

So what do you think about that for a cliffhanger?

Sorry it took a while to post. I've been pretty busy lately. Any and all reviews and feedback are welcome.

BTW, this story has reached 6,000 views. Incredible. I so appreciate everyone who has been keeping up with this little fiction. Thank you for reading.

I would like to ask, does anyone think my chapters are too long or too dense? Any comments to improve my writing will be accepted. Critical comments are okay, but no flaming. Thank you.