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

PIXIE HOLLOW, NEVER LAND

This had been her fourth time through The Kessel Run just today. Wisp had incrementally improved her time during each attempt, but it was still not enough to overtake Vidia. Not nearly enough. She felt ragged and out of breath. Her anxiety and anger had taken their toll. Beads of sweat covered her face, her normally wind swept hair was plastered to her forehead and neck. Even her clothes were soaked through. The very muscles she used for flight were screaming for mercy. She would give them none of the sort.

Wisp took a few sips of water and nibbled on some mouse cheese before she returned to the start for another try. She was exhausted from this. Every day she had been at this, running this course over and over again trying to improve upon Vidia's time, looking for any advantage, any way to save a second here, a half second there. Her improvements were too small to make much of a difference.

Inside, her heart was beating almost as fast as her wings. Part of her mind was begging for her to give up, to admit Vidia really was better than her. Wisp refused to listen to those thoughts. Instead she focused only on her anger, her hurt pride and her need to be number one. This was mental exhaustion creeping in. Overcoming a tired mind was one of her keys to success. The other was trimming tenths of a second at every turn and curve she encountered.

At the forest section Wisp could not trim enough and she needed a new strategy, she cut her turns and corners tighter and closer to the trees. Her mind did not register just how close she was coming to making contact with the bark and leaves. The combination of mental exhaustion and an unrelenting need to be the best at any cost blinded her to the danger she was putting herself into.

Wider curves meant more distance and more time to move from one obstacle and gate to the next. Shallower twists, turns and curves reduced distance and time. It also brought her closer and closer to obstacles until her wings began clipping leaves, then branches and then tree trunks. She had to shave full seconds off her overall time. Not hundredths, not tenths, whole seconds were needed to overcome Vidia's incredible performance.

She became blind to her ambitions, no other concerns entered her thoughts. Not how close she was coming, not that her wings were bouncing off the hard trees, not that her life was in danger. Not until it was too late. She clipped a branch and cluster of leaves. It threw Wisp off her rhythm which she cursed under her breath. It would slow her. It did not occur that this small clip changed her approach to the next tree.

Normally, she could see where to turn to navigate around the thick tree trunk. The slight change altered her angle and now she could not see safely around where a branch was hiding. When she finally saw it, it was too late and the tiny fairy smacked off of it, sending Wisp into a spiral until she plowed head first into the next tree. It was the last moment she could remember.

Wisp's unconscious body fell to the ground where yellow and orange leaves were shoved into the air by her impact and then floated down around and on her, obscuring her location from the air. She had been practicing without the benefit of a spotter, no one knew she had been injured or even where she fell. Her rescue was now left entirely to chance.

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

Lydia had been very careful about what she told Vidia prior to the hearing. She decided that allowing Vidia to have genuine responses to certain questions would sell the judge that the young woman was not herself anymore. If answers to critical questions about herself, her environment or history seemed rote or coached it would destroy any chance of a favorable outcome. Vidia was made aware of this during her counseling immediately prior to the court date. She at least knew that some things would be a surprise to her. "Just be yourself," Lydia advised her before Vidia was to take the stand in her own defense. "Answer the questions truthfully, but remember what I taught you."

"Okay."

Van Buren was taking a huge risk. It was a cardinal sin to put your own client on the witness stand during one of these preliminary hearings, but without the MRI scans to prove her case having Valerie display her total change in personality and lack of personal memories was her best bet at winning this case.

It could also backfire horribly. If the D.A. and the judge were not totally convinced, this would go to trial and the evidence was stacked up against Valerie. The smashed motorcycle, her mother's testimony, eyewitness accounts and the police reports were too much to overcome. Even if she could prove that Valerie was beyond distressed, the fact that she had planned to leave town with her boyfriend undermined that defense. Lydia hoped that the girl understood the weight of her answers. She was on trial, fighting for her own future.

~O~

District Attorney Albert Spencer approached Valerie and asked directly, "Please state your name."

"Vidia," she answered.

"Your legal name," he demanded. "The name your parents gave you."

"Legal?"

"What name is on your legal documents?" he asked trying a different line of questioning.

"What documents? My name is Vidia."

There was a bit of chuckling from the gallery. Spencer approached the judge and asked that Valerie be forced to answer the question. Lydia immediately objected stating that the girl had no recollection of her former life and therefore did not know her legal name or what legal documents were. "They aren't part of the world she has created for herself."

"Your honor, we have not yet established that the defendant is suffering from any psychological or mental breakdown," Spencer rebuked.

Lydia countered that both Dr. Whale and Dr. Hopper had confirmed a change in her mental and psychological status. "The digital MRI files are not in our possession as a result of a cyber-attack on the hospital's network."

The judge thought about both arguments for a moment. No one could know for sure what was going in her head and the depositions from both medical experts seemed to corroborate Van Buren's claim. Yet it was equally possible that Ms. Kensington was taking advantage of the situation. He decided to err on the side of caution, but with a critical qualifier.

"Sustained. I'll allow it for now, but if I find your client is playing games, Ms. Van Buren, I'll hold her in contempt of court and for interfering with a police investigation and obstruction of justice."

To acquire the same information, Spencer utilized a different tactic. He asked for and received Valerie's state issued driver's license. He handed it to the girl and asked, "Is that you on this license?"

"Yes," she replied.

"And how do you know it is a license?" he asked her.

"You just said it was a license. And it says so right here," she replied pointing to the word "license" on the small card. The gallery chuckled at Spencer's misstep. He felt the sting, but proceeded with his next question.

"What name appears next to your picture?"

"Valerie Segall Kensington," she replied.

"Is that your name?"

"No, my name is Vidia," she answered, this time more adamantly.

"Has it always been Vidia?"

"Yes," she answered.

"From birth?"

"From the moment I arrived in Pixie Hollow and the queen gave it to me," Valerie replied.

"And how would you remember this? You were an infant."

"I didn't arrive as an infant," Valerie told him. "I arrived pretty much as I am now."

"That must have been a painful birth for your mother?" was Spencer's snippy reply.

"Fairies aren't born like humans," Valerie replied.

"I see. Well then enlighten us, how did you come into this world?"

"We're born from baby's first laugh."

"Did you arrive in a hospital?"

"No."

"Then where were you bor-, where did you arrive?"

"A landing at the Pixie Dust Tree in Pixie Hollow."

"And where is this 'Pixie Hollow?"

"On the island of Never Land" Valerie testified.

This caused an uproar of laughter from the gallery.

Lydia leapt to her feet. "Your Honor, please."

The judge pounded his gavel and bellowed to the crowd. "That is enough! This is a courtroom. A place where we conduct the people's business with the utmost decorum. If you cannot restrain yourselves I'll have this room cleared."

The laughing and snickering quieted instantly. His own outburst had the intended effect. "Please continue, Mr. Spencer."

Spencer was unhappy with the way things were panning out, so he moved on. "What is your mother's name?"

"I don't have a mother," she replied. "Fairies don't have parents."

Spencer asked Valerie to identify the women he was pointing to. "Who is that person right there?"

"She is Queen Clarion, ruler of the Never Fairies of Pixie Hollow and the Winter Woods."

This brought a few chuckles and snickers from the gallery. A quick pound of the gavel and a hard stare from the judge put an end to it. "Proceed," the judge ordered.

"That woman is not your mother?" Spencer restated.

"Objection," Lydia yelled. "Asked and answered."

"I'm seeking clarification," the older man replied.

"I'll allow it, but just this once, then move along."

Spencer tried to stare down Vidia and in a deep and intimidating voice demanded, "Answer the question."

"No, she is Queen Clarion ruler of the Never Fairies."

Claire looked hurt. She knew this was coming, but to hear her own child deny any parental bond still felt like a knife in her heart.

"And the young, blonde girl? Is that your sister?"

"No."

"Who is she then?"

~O~

Vidia looked around, sat up rigidly straight and answered. She knew what would happen but nonetheless stated, "Her name is Tinker Bell."

Nearly every member of the gallery burst out into peals of laughter. Lydia jumped to her feet and pleaded with the judge who needed no additional prodding. "Bailiff's, clear this courtroom."

This caused several to boo the judge; he immediately had anyone caught booing arrested for contempt of court. It took several minutes to clear the gallery and five or six were taken away by the bailiffs charged with maintaining order. The remainder of the court was held with a mostly empty room. A few supporters for Vidia remained, but only because Lydia identified them as important to her case. Desiree, Clarence and Hartley stayed. Mr. Gold and two of his employees were not asked to leave since they had all remained silent throughout the early moments of the proceedings. Regina stayed in her seat, unhappy with what had just happened.

Vidia, however, did not appear ashamed or humiliated. Instead, she was more defiant and determined than ever.

~O~

Spencer tried to question Valerie her about the night she ran away from home. Sensing that the young woman might be very well coached he decided to ask his question sideways. Rather than quiz her directly if she remembered having an argument with her mother and running away, he asked a simple, unrelated question. The idea was to make the witness think about something unrelated. This would cause them to lower their guard and reveal their deception. It was a tactic he had used successfully before.

Remembering that the night Valerie bolted from the house was Thanksgiving he asked, "How was the turkey?"

"Turkey? I don't eat meat," she replied.

"It was Thanksgiving," Spencer added. "You had turkey for dinner, did you not?"

"What is this Thanksgiving?" Valerie asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Did you happen to notice any mist settling in that evening?"

"How should I know? I wasn't even there," was her adamant response.

"Deputy Swan pursued you in her police cruiser," Albert replied. "She remembers because your mother was following you in her work truck."

"I already told you, I don't know. I have no idea where I have been the last one hundred years."

"Yes, you claim to be from the year 1905," Albert reiterated. "Very well, who was the President of the United states in 1905?"

"I don't know and I wouldn't care, either," Vidia answered. "We don't concern ourselves with the affairs of humans."

"Yet you knew that the King of England at that time was Edward VII," Albert responded, suspecting a lie.

"Lizzy told us," she answered.

"Yes, the little girl you claim to have befriended." Spencer paused for a moment and glared at the young woman in the witness stand, trying to intimidate her. Valerie must have known what he was doing because one side of her lip curled up in a smile. She was challenging him. The girl was not afraid.

"Where does she live again?"

"In London, England."

"Who won the Super Bowl in 2008?" This question made more than a few people shift uncomfortably in their seats. The 2007 New England Patriots had finished the regular season that year undefeated and were primed to become only the second team in NFL history to have a completely undefeated season capped by a Super Bowl win. However, the New York Giants, a team that barely made the postseason, upended the supposedly unstoppable Patriots in Super Bowl 42 leaving the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only team in NFL history to have completed such a spectacular feat. That game left a bitter taste in the mouths of all Patriots fans, including many of the residents of Storybrooke who followed Boston professional and amateur sports with a passion.

Valerie's response, "Somebody won a giant bowl? For what?"

"Do you have any interest in sports?"

"Sure. In the Pixie Hollow Games we have Leap Frog…"

"Stick to the facts, Ms. Kensington," he demanded.

"These are facts," she replied with arms crossed and an arched eyebrow, "or do they scare you?"

"Can you verify these facts? Are there records that can be scrutinized?" Spencer's voice began to grow louder and louder as he spoke. "Well, where can I find them? Are they in City Hall? Maybe in a children's book? Perhaps we should look…"

"Objection," Lydia protested. "He is badgering the witness."

"Sustained. Restrain yourself, Mr. Spencer."

In a calmer, yet no less intense voice, Spencer asked again, "Where can I find some legal proof of their existence?"

"Objection," Lydia protested again. "Ms. Kensington is suffering from a psychological disorder in which her memories have been displaced by new memories of her own design and is incapable of offering legal proof."

"They are of her own design, Your Honor," Spencer countered. "Her own conscious design to avoid prosecution."

"That hasn't been proven," Lydia replied. "That is the point of this hearing, to determine her mental fitness for a court trial."

"I'm well aware of this court's purpose, counselor," the judge responded somewhat annoyed. After a moment's thought the magistrate overruled the objection and allowed Spencer to proceed.

Vidia's answer however, was most unconventional. "Do you have this 'legal proof' that they don't exist?"

"Never Land is found in a children's book," Spencer responded. "It's a fairy tale, folklore. It does not exist."

"England is found in fairy tales and folklore, does that mean it doesn't exist?" Vidia retorted with a smirk and a wily glint in her eye.

Those remaining in attendance laughed at Valerie's comment. Even the judge snickered. Lydia, however, was horrified by the flip response. She face palmed and let out a groan under her breath.

Spencer was equally unamused. "Your Honor, please instruct the witness to restrict her answer to the question at hand."

The judge informed Valerie that she could only reply to what was asked of her.

"Now tell me, Miss Kensington, just how do you know of fairy tales and folklore?" Spencer asked Valerie, sensing an opening.

"Lizzy's father read them to her when he put her to bed at night," Valerie replied. "Some of those tales were great fun."

The District Attorney asked for details; in particular which stories which she heard. Valerie listed such titles or characters as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood and a few more.

This was another brick wall. Each of the stories Valerie mentioned were written before the late 1800's and early 1900's. If she had mentioned something that was recent, he could have shown her as the fraud he was certain she was. Spencer frowned at his opponent, Ms. Van Buren. She had done an excellent job of coaching this girl.

From that point onward the District Attorney attempted to extract as many answers in rapid success as he could. He quizzed Valerie on personal history and tastes such as did she remember skinning her knee while riding a bicycle at age ten; what was her winning time at a track meet in middle school; what presents did she get at her last birthday; did she remember the day her father died; what was her favorite food; what was her favorite color and finally he wanted to know about the bar incident in which her own mother had to win a dart game to make her go to work.

Valerie maintained that she didn't know anything about those events. "My name is Vidia, not Valerie Kensington," she said. "I don't know what happened because I wasn't there. I don't even know who this Valerie person is."

"And you don't remember when your own father passed away?" he asked her, trying to make her look as heartless as possible. "For a teenager that should have been a traumatic experience."

"I'm a fairy, we don't have fathers or mothers," she reiterated. "We're born from a baby's first laugh."

"What about the day your mother tore down every model aircraft in your room and destroyed them?" he asked her. "What feelings did you have that day?"

"I wasn't there," she answered again. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't know where I've been for the last one hundred years."

"What is your favorite color?"

"Purple, the colors of my talent guild," she replied.

"What do you like most about your favorite drink?" Again Spencer tried asking the question sideways, alluding to her love of Mr. Pibb.

"Mouse milk," she answered.

"I'm sorry, but did you say mouse milk?"

"Yes, who doesn't love mouse milk? It tastes great," was her answer.

Spencer's stomach turned and twisted at her reply. "You get milk from mice?"

"Sure, we have dairy mice that produce enough milk for our entire population," Valerie told him. "The animal talent fairies care for them and extract their milk for us to drink."

"Ms. Kensington, mice are vermin," Spencer told her. "They eat our food and spread disease."

"Sure, if you try to hoard all the food for yourselves, but we share," she said. "Mice are our friends. We house and feed them, care for and bathe them regularly and in return they help us with our day to day tasks in Pixie Hollow. AND they're a lot nicer than you."

Spencer glared at the woman. The judge pounded his gavel and sternly warned Valerie that any more such impudent or disrespectful remarks would be grounds for contempt of court.

"What are their names?" he asked her.

"Well, there's Cheese, Cheddar, Roquefort…"

"Those are names of cheeses," Spencer helpfully informed her.

"Yes, that's what we call them," Vidia explained. "We don't know their actual names, but when we yell out 'Cheese' or 'Gouda' the right mouse comes running right up to us."

"I see. What was the last thing you remember?" he asked her. "I mean, before you woke up in the hospital?" Spencer was aware of what she had said to Dr. Hopper. Now he wanted to find out if her story had changed.

"Tinker Bell coming back to Pixie Hollow," Valerie answered.

"Tinker Bell? You mean your sister over there?"

"I mean Tinker Bell," Valerie replied.

"Why did she leave in the first place?"

"She felt unwanted and unneeded."

This answer stunned Spencer and the remainder of those in the courtroom. Everything known about Tinker Bell had come from books, movies and plays. Suddenly, to have this information presented to them was like a bombshell.

"She didn't run off with Peter Pan?"

"Yes, she did."

"Then you lied."

"No, I didn't. She left with Peter Pan because she didn't feel like she had a life in Pixie Hollow anymore. She had tinkered every new idea she could think of and…"

"Thank you, Ms. Kensington. Let's move on," Spencer said, cutting her off. Although he didn't necessarily have the advantage he was hoping for, Spencer had decided on a new course of action. One he intended to employ if he could not break her any other way. Thus he put into play his ace in the hole.

"I want to talk about your home on the island of Never Land."

Whew, sorry this took such a long time to post. Courtroom drama can be so difficult to write if your name isn't Dick Wolf (of Law and Order fame).

I hope you find this new chapter to be well worth the wait. Drop me a line if you enjoyed it. Thanks.