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

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

Claire had always viewed herself as a strong and capable woman who did not need a man to complete her or come to her rescue. Yet every bit of evidence over these last few years seemed to contradict that assumption. When Charlie passed away her life revolved around his memory for years. She did her best to do his job, a line of work for which she was poorly suited.

She was a music major trying to run a construction business. If she were the fully independent woman she imagined herself to be, Claire would have shuttered the business and sought out work at one of the schools as a music teacher or playing the piano in the local orchestra providing music for live theater productions. The town's arts scene was where she belonged. Yet she chose not to pursue that avenue, keeping Charlie's business alive was all about keeping Charlie's memory alive.

Her marriage to Charles Kensington was utterly fulfilling and satisfying. She never wanted for anything. Though he couldn't buy her everything she wanted Charlie could make her feel so loved and adored that she never missed what she didn't have. Claire spent eight long and lonely years trying to recapture those same feelings and always failed. Memories only went so far.

Now she was enthralled by this handsome man who was her knight in shining armor. A man who had come to her rescue for no other reason than she needed a helping hand. Hartley was the proverbial Good Samaritan and she loved him for it. His gallantry, his good looks, his altruistic motives all struck a chord with her. Those feelings she had lost when Charlie died, were coming back and it was Hartley Winter who was making her feel so good all over again.

Claire began to wonder if she was letting herself by defined by another person. She asked herself, if it makes me happy, is that really so bad? After all, it wasn't that she needed a man, per se, but that she needed the love and companionship of a soul mate. And who cared if that soul mate was of the male persuasion so long as it brought love and happiness back into her home? Wasn't that what really mattered?

Her answer was yes, that's all that mattered.

~O~

Young Henry Mills visited Dr. Hopper's office for his regular session with the psychologist. They talked, as they always did, about his belief that everyone in Storybrooke was a fairy tale character. As they spoke, Henry noticed three DVD cases on Archie's desk.

"What are those?" he asked the doctor.

"Oh, those are for some research I'm conducting for a patient," Archie replied.

Henry strained to read the titles, he couldn't quite make them out, but they appeared to be fairy themed. "Aren't those movies for little girls?" he asked, turning his nose up at them.

Archie stopped writing and mulled over what the boy had just said. "Yes. Yes I suppose they are, Henry. But like I said, they're research."

"For who?"

"For whom, and it's confidential."

The boy stood up to get a closer look at the DVD covers. "Hey! These are Tinker Bell movies," he exclaimed.

"Uh, why don't we get back to our talk," Archie said, trying to regain control of the session.

"But she's in my book!"

"Who is, Henry?"

"Tinker Bell," the boy replied. "She tries to help the Evil Queen when she was still good."

"I don't remember that in the movie," Archie commented, referring to the widely known 1953 Disney Classic. In fact, Henry's book contained many classic characters of fairy tale literature that were made into Disney films. Yet none of those stories seemed consistent with those movies or even some of the more well-known revisions, such as those published by the Brothers Grimm.

Henry remembered that day a few weeks ago when Emma tracked down Ashley Boyd. A front page story alerted the town that Mrs. Kensington, a widowed mother of two girls, may have taken an iPad from local television celebrity Desiree Collingsworth. As it turned out, the iPad was just hiding in Desiree's car, under the seat. Letters had been posted in nearly every storefront announcing that Claire Kensington was not a thief. The newspaper had buried the story that exonerated Mrs. Kensington. That was the day Henry had made a tenuous connection between Tina Kensington, Claire's youngest daughter, and Tinker Bell.

Now here were these movies. Young Henry wondered why he had never heard of them before. In an instant he remembered why: the target audience for these movies was girls, not boys. "Are these about Tina Kensington and her sister?"

"How do you know about Valerie?"

"I read the paper," he said. The morning after the motorcycle accident, the particulars were detailed in an article of the Daily Mirror, the town's only news periodical. "What happened to her? To Valerie, I mean?"

"There's really nothing you can do, Henry," the doctor replied. Then something occurred to Archie. "Wait? What about Tina?"

"She might be Tinker Bell," Henry told him.

"I really think we should talk some more," Archie replied. It didn't matter now, Pandora's Box had been opened and Henry had become very curious about these films. He asked if he could borrow them after Archie had done his research. Dr. Hopper told the boy he would need them for some time, but suggested he talk to Emma, she had copies.

~O~

When dinner ended, Tina and Valerie / Vidia climbed into the truck and waited for Claire. From their vantage point they had a perfect view of Claire and Hartley who spent several minutes saying goodbye to each other. He clasped her shoulders and pulled in for a goodnight kiss. One that lasted for a solid minute.

Vidia, while embarrassed to have to see it, was at least grateful that they were falling in love. Tina, though, was thoroughly uncomfortable with the sight. She folded her arms and huffed.

"What's wrong with you?" Vidia asked her. "I thought you would be ecstatic? You were the one who brought them back together."

"Ecstatic? I don't want Mom falling in love with that man," Tina announced. "What about Dad? Doesn't she even care?"

"Dad?"

"Yeah. Dad. They were married for a long time and now he doesn't matter?"

Tinker Bell's answer made little sense to Vidia. They were fairies, they had no parents. Only the queen could be a mother if she chose. "Tinker Bell! What are you talking about? We never had a father. We never had a mother. We're fairies!"

Tink looked shocked and horrified. "How can you be so mean?"

Vidia gave up. Until she could reverse whatever had altered her friends and the queen, this discussion was pointless.

~O~

"We're home!" Claire announced to her two girls.

Vidia looked at the home where her queen drove the horseless carriage. The house looked similar in design to Lizzy Griffiths summer home. The major difference was that this house did not have a thatched roof. Instead it was made of shingles.

Queen Clarion referred to it as Tudor architecture, named for the Tudor family that reigned for many years as English Monarchs. The queen parked the carriage inside a carriage house, which they called a garage.

The three entered the house through a back door and into a room which Vidia quickly deduced was a kitchen. As before, the house used electric light to illuminate the interior. She took a quick look around and saw a number of objects that were somewhat familiar looking. A cooker was recognizable.

A tall, monolithic object thoroughly had Vidia baffled, though. There were two handles on it. Vidia pulled the lowest one and a door swung open. Inside were foodstuffs. And it was cold. The upper door was the same, but smaller. It was also colder inside that upper compartment.

"Whoa! It's like the Winter Woods in here," she said.

"Uh, that's the freezer," Tina announced, sounding confused. "You should know this. You've lived her all your life. Geez!"

"No I haven't," Vidia replied. "Today is my first day."

"Right! Fairy! I forgot," Tina said testily. "Y'know that was cool sounding the first couple of days, Val, but now it's getting old real fast."

Vidia closed both doors and turned to her old friend. "What's wrong with you?"

Claire was out of the room so Tina was able to speak more openly. "It's like I said at the diner. Mom is getting all goo-goo eyed with Mr. Hartley and I don't like it. He's not my Dad and no matter what she says, he never will be." With that, Tina was gone in a huff.

Vidia sighed. Then chased after her. "Wait!" The door swung open and into the next room. This was a formal dining room, with a large table and chairs at its center. On one wall was a cabinet where one might find plates, but it was empty.

"What goes in there?" Vidia asked herself. "Hey! Tinker Bell!" The flyer went through the door into the next room where she found Tink ascending a flight of stairs. "Why is that cabinet empty?"

Tinker Bell explained to her that it used to contain the queen's fine china. Expensive plates, saucers, cups and flatware. All of it had been sold to the pawn shop to help pay bills. The pawn shop owner, Mr. Gold, offered far less than it was actually worth, but it was necessary to prevent bill collectors from coming around. "She's been selling off quite a few things," Tink informed her. "Business hasn't been so good since Dad passed away."

Vidia stared back at the room where the empty cabinet stood. Currency had always been at the center of all human transactions. Paper or coin, if the humans said it had value then it did. Money was used either to buy or sell goods and services; or to render a value upon something; or it could be stored for future use.

Then she remembered all that money the deputy said was hers. From the hospital, Vidia carried a white bag with pull strings. In it was what little of Valerie's possessions survived this accident everyone kept talking about. Vidia sat at the large sofa and opened it. Inside were the torn remains of clothing, a wallet and all that money. Rolls and rolls of it. I wonder if this will solve the queen's problems, she asked herself.

The flyer had no sense of the true value of money or the items it had purchased in this human world. Fairies in Pixie Hollow never used currency. Vidia was going to have to learn how to use it, how to earn it and what value the humans placed on it if she was going to help her queen, and by extension herself, so long as they lived in this human world.

"Sweetie?" a kind and soft voice called out to her. She turned around, the queen was standing over her. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I was just looking at all of the… um… what is all of this?"

The queen chuckled and then sat down next to her. "What do you want to know?"

Vidia pointed to a large box in the room. It was very similar to the one in her hospital room, only larger. "Is that a television?"

The queen chuckled again. "Yes, it is." She picked up an odd looking box with buttons on it and pressed one. The television came to life. The sound, though, was very different than in the hospital. There it came from the little box that was always at her side. The sound was small and weak. Here it was deep, full and loud.

"Where is that coming from?"

"The television set, dear," the queen answered. Even with her memories and identity gone, the queen could still be gentle and caring. Vidia asked more questions about her "home" which the queen answered with a loving patience. The flyer learned that the house had its own indoor outhouses on both the lower and upper floors. The refrigerator / freezer was used to store foods that would spoil quickly. The cooker, or stove, worked on natural gas, an odorless and colorless substance that burned easily.

A large guest bedroom on the first floor had been converted into the queen's private office. Here she operated her "business." There was a desk with papers and books and something the queen referred to as a computer. Then Vidia asked about the china cabinet. Her queen sunk into one of the chairs in the dining room and sighed.

"Your father bought us that fine china when we got married. I hated selling it to Mr. Gold, but we needed the money."

"For what?"

The queen smiled at her. "You don't have to worry, sweetie," she said.

"I want to know, your highness" Vidia pressed.

Queen Clarion drew in a deep breath while staring at the empty cabinet. Vidia deduced that the queen had not intended to be without those dishes for very long. Time just snuck up on her. "I had to pay some bills and needed the money." It was the same story she had gotten from Tink. "Business was slow and I couldn't pay the bills on this house so I took my fine bone china and sold it to the pawn shop. I used the money to make sure we had food, water and heat."

Vidia could tell the queen was lying. Probably to spare her from worry. "Why?"

"Because nothing is more important to me than my girls," she said. Her eyes watered up. She blinked and that water drained down her cheek. "You and Tina are all that I have left."

Almost spontaneously, the queen reached out and wrapped her up in a big hug. "No matter what, we will always be together. Right?"

"Of course, your highness" Vidia answered. "Fairies always stick together."

The queen laughed a bit. "Yes. Fairies…, family always sticks together."

~O~

Mary Margaret answered a knock at her door, it was Henry. "Hi, Ms. Blanchard," he greeted with his boyish charm and beaming smile.

"Henry, what are you doing here?"

"I need to ask you a couple of questions about today's homework assignment," he said. "If that's okay with you."

"Yes, come in."

Henry sat at the table and removed his book from the backpack. Ms. Blanchard sat next to him and together they reviewed the questions Henry was having the most difficulty with. "You understood this so well in class today, Henry. What happened?"

"I forgot. You understand something one minute, the next you forget."

"That sounds very troubling," Mary Margaret said sounding very concerned. "Does this occur often?"

"Not really," he answered. "Usually I'll remember when I read the book again, but today I couldn't."

Emma descended the stairs from her upstairs bedroom. "Hey, kid," she greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi, Emma," he answered, trying to sound sincere. "I'm just here for some help with my homework assignment."

"That's not all, is it?" Emma asked, noticing the slight inflections of his voice that indicated he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"Well, I was wondering if I could borrow something from you."

"Out with it."

"Do you still have those Tinker Bell videos?"

"Tinker Bell? That's what you came all the way over here to get?"

"Wait, you don't need help with your homework?" Mary Margaret asked him, looking and sounding confused.

"I did, but I also wanted to ask Emma about those movies," Henry answered her.

"Why do you want them?" Emma asked him. "Those are for girls. I didn't think you would be into them."

"They're for research," Henry said, parroting Archie's response. "For Operation: Cobra."

"Operation: Cobra? Wait, does this have something to do with Valerie Kensington thinking she's a fairy?"

"Valerie thinks she's a fairy?" he asked, both perplexed and excited.

"Wait, what's going on here?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Henry has this idea that Tina Kensington is Tinker Bell," Emma replied.

"Tina!? Little blonde haired Tina?"

"You know her?" Emma asked her roommate.

"Yes, she was in my class six years ago," Ms. Blanchard confessed. "Very bright and eager to learn. I have one of her lawn ornaments in the front lawn."

"The Tinker Bell ornament?" Henry asked excitedly. "She made that?"

"Yes, Tina was always handy with tools," Mary Margaret said. "She probably got it from her father."

"See, she is Tinker Bell," Henry blurted out eagerly to Emma.

"Henry, we don't know that," Emma said. "Wait, who was her father?"

"Tina's dad was a contractor before he died," Mary Margaret informed her. "She was probably born with his love of tools. Like father, like daughter."

"Can I borrow the movies?" Henry asked Emma again. "Please? I promise to return them by the end of the week."

"Okay, I'll get the videos," Emma responded, acquiescing to his pleas. She ascended the stairs and returned moments later with the three DVD's in hand. "But I want them back by Saturday. Remember, kid, I know where you live."

Henry smiled. "Deal. Now tell me more about Valerie? Why does she think she is a fairy?"

Emma opened the door and barked, "Out!"

"I'll see you tomorrow in class," Mary Margaret said as she waved goodbye to her student.

"Goodbye, Ms. Blanchard," Henry replied, waving back. Then he stopped in the doorway to talk with Emma. "Who does Valerie think she is again?"

"Go home, Henry," Emma told him. "Before your mother comes around looking for you."

"Okay. Bye, Emma."

Henry is finally getting clued in. Vidia has come home and Tina is none too happy with her mother dating another man. Tune in next time for more.

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