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

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

"May I?" Dr. Hopper carefully asked of Mrs. Kensington. "I would like to examine her."

Claire glanced at her frightened daughter. Her body was quivering like a leaf and she was on the verge of tears. Valerie's fingers were getting cold and she was starting to perspire through her lovely blouse. Claire nodded, releasing the young woman from her grasp and standing aside for the psychologist.

"Vidia?" he asked her in a soft and sympathetic voice. He used her chosen name rather than her given one to get through. "Vidia, it's me, Dr. Hopper. Listen to my voice. Everything is going to be alright. You have nothing to fear."

The girl carefully raised her head and looked him in the eye. She summed him up quickly before answering. "How is this possible?" she asked. "How could our home, our secrets, be such common knowledge?"

Hopper turned to Spencer and ordered him to turn off the video. Spencer replied with his usual antagonistic tone. "Your Honor, this outburst is nothing more than cheap theatrics."

"No, it's not," Dr. Hopper replied. His meek and quite voice barely pierced the noise in the courtroom, yet the defiant authority in his tone was as loud as a thunderclap. He stood up and strode to the bench. "There are certain physical reactions that cannot be consciously controlled, they are involuntary and I'm seeing them manifest in Valerie. In her mind this fear is very real."

"She has been well trained," Spencer replied dismissively.

"Can you constrict blood flow to your fingers making them feel cold to the touch, Mr. Spencer?"

"Are you giving testimony, Doctor?" he asked, "then you are out of turn."

"He's right, Doctor," the judge told Hopper. "I must disallow anything you've said until you are sworn in and called to the witness stand."

"Fine and I'll have plenty to talk about," the psychologist replied. "But I would recommend a break to allow Ms. Kensington to recover."

The judge nodded and called for a recess to allow everyone time to calm down.

PIXIE HOLLOW, NEVER LAND (The Mid Georgian Period on the Mainland)

Almost a week had passed since Vidia had witnessed the frail state of her guild mate in the hospital. Since that time she had barely come out of her home in the trunk of the Sour Plum Tree, emerging only for the occasional bit of food or water. The flyer never reported for work and preferred to not talk to anyone. The only update she had received on Wisp's condition was that she might not be able to walk, fly or use her arms ever again.

The shriek of emotional pain which she had initially felt upon laying eyes on the crippled flyer shot through her heart once again upon receiving that news. Deep down inside Vidia tried, alternately, to blame herself and then to disavow all responsibility. After all it was Wisp who was so desperate to prove herself the best that she had to put herself in harm's way.

But why was she so desperate? Because of me, Vidia would tell herself in her thoughts. The guilt kept her stomach in knots and her mind couldn't let go. At times, she would just break down and cry, unable to contain her emotions a second longer.

~O~

A knock on the door woke Vidia from her uncomfortable sleep. She had been dreaming of the day Wisp was flitting about the British troops who were headed to the colonies to put down the rebellion. She was so carefree then.

The sound of knocking once again reverberated through her home. "Go away!" she yelled, pulling the covers over her head, trying to insulate herself from the sounds that were disturbing her self-imposed isolation.

Now a voice called through the door. It was soft, but authoritative. "Prepare the receive Her Royal Majesty, Clarion, Queen of the Never Fairies." Viola, the queen's personal summoner and body guard.

Vidia wanted no visitors, not even from the queen, but she had no choice. One does not decline a visit from the royal personage for any reason. When the door opened the glorious visage of the beautiful fairy queen greeted Vidia's eyes. Vidia, however, was barely dressed. Her hair was loose, knotted and in a mess. Dark circles were present under her eyes. A stark contrast to the always properly attired and graceful Clarion.

"Your Highness," she greeted, bowing to her ruler. "How may I be of service?" It was a hollow question, she had no intention of doing anything.

"I came to visit my most accomplished fast flyer," Clarion said, speaking with a kindly voice. "I am worried because you have not been at your post these last several days."

Vidia stood aside and gestured for Clarion to enter. The queen sat down in a chair while Vidia sat in her bed. The thin and soft mattress called to Vidia, beckoning her to return to slumber, but she had to ignore it while Clarion was in her domicile.

The door closed with Viola staying outside guarding the door. This was then to be a private conversation.

"You will be pleased to know that Wisp is recovering from her injuries," Clarion said breaking the uncomfortable silence. "She is now able to move her fingers and there is feeling in her toes."

Vidia nodded, but said nothing; not even offering her queen a spot of tea, a significant gaffe. Clarion, though, did not point this out. Instead she continued in her motherly way. "Wisp takes full responsibility," Clarion added. "You should not blame yourself for this."

"Why not, I pushed her into it," Vidia finally spoke. "I had to be the best, better than her. Better than anyone."

"Yes, but Wisp took it upon herself to engage in behavior that she knew to be dangerous," Clarion told her. "She proceeded without caution or concern, a personality trait she has repeatedly demonstrated since arriving in Pixie Hollow."

"And I should have considered that before outracing her in The Kessel Run," Vidia replied.

"This is who she is, Vidia," Clarion advised. "With Wisp it wasn't a matter of 'if' but 'when.' If it wasn't you it assuredly would have been someone else. There is a fine line between healthy competition and obsession and Wisp willingly crossed that line."

Vidia did not immediately respond to this. Before she took her leave the queen summarized herself with these words. "Vidia, you may have started her on this path, but she chose to continue down it herself. Always remember that."

Once again Vidia remained silent. Clarion glided to the door, knocking softly to indicate to Viola she was ready to leave. The door swung open, but before she could leave the room Vidia softly asked, "Will she be able to fly again?"

"There is some hope that she can."

Vidia's shoulders slumped at this answer.

"Better to have some hope than none at all," Clarion added before leaving.

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

"Honey. Sweetie, it's okay," Claire said trying to reassure Valerie. "It's just a movie. It can't hurt you."

Valerie had finally been coaxed to her feet. She was moved to a bench seat in the hall where she could sit and compose herself. Tina had brought her a glass of water while Claire and Dr. Hopper tried to calm her nerves. It wasn't going well.

"That was our home," she told Claire. "Don't you remember any of it?"

"Sweetheart, it's just a movie. A work of fiction for little girls."

Valerie looked at her, horrified by that answer. "You're Queen Clarion. Look in the mirror, don't you see the resemblance?"

Claire blushed a little at the comparison. "The one with the beautiful wings and shimmering dress?"

Valerie nodded.

"She is quite lovely, but I look nothing like her," Claire replied.

"What? Yes! You do," Valerie insisted. She then pointed to Tina and declared that she looked very much like Tinker Bell. "Did anyone notice that Desiree resembles Rosetta or that Clarence and Terence looked similar? And what about me?" Valerie asked. "Didn't you notice how much I look like Vidia in that movie?"

"Actually I thought she resembled Megara from Hercules," Tina stated. "Kind of eerie, too."

Claire shushed her youngest. "Sweetheart just because Tina has blonde hair doesn't mean she looks like Tinker Bell."

"But she does," Valerie insisted. "How could you not notice? Dr. Hopper, you saw it didn't you?"

~O~

Archie Hopper had been standing to the side listening to the conversation. He had been very interested in her responses. Now that he was brought into the conversation, Archie stepped closer and answered that there could have been a resemblance.

Claire was shocked by his answer. He pulled her to the side and whispered that the on screen characters were just non-descript enough to be associated with any number of people who shared those same basic physical traits like hair or eye color. He reasoned that Valerie was associating certain characters with people that surrounded her based on those simple traits. He offered as an example the round, cherubic face and blonde hair that Tina and Tinker Bell shared.

"Yes, Doctor, but she thinks she is this Vidia character from the movie and I just don't see the resemblance," Claire protested.

"No, but some physical characteristics are there such as hair and eye color," Archie told her. "She could have just as easily associated Ruby with Vidia as they share similar physical qualities and personalities."

A bailiff arrived to inform them that court was about to resume. Lydia came by and asked of Doctor Hopper if he thought Valerie was in any condition to continue. He said she was and the small group quietly returned to the court room.

~O~

When court was brought back into order Spencer insisted that the other two films be played in full. "The court must see that all of Valerie's testimony has been lifted entirely from these films," he said, his voice in a full throated rumble.

Lydia tried to prevent this by stating that he had already made his point. Spencer countered that everything the court had seen was just a cleverly staged stunt organized by the defense to flout the law and undermine Storybrooke's court system.

After a moment of contemplation the judge agreed, allowing Spencer to enter all of his evidence into court for the bench to consider. Lydia was quietly outraged, but bit her tongue. Soon it would be time for her to cross examine. Valerie's breakdown in the courtroom was a huge boon to Lydia's case.

However, to put the nail in the coffin of Spencer's argument she would need the MRI images. She quickly reasoned that as long as the movies were playing it afforded the little girl at the hospital that much more time to recover that much needed evidence.

Soon, she prayed. Get here soon.

~O~

The hospital computers had been under assault from millions of home PC's, Macintosh computers and video game platforms controlled by Penny and her friends. The encryption had succumbed yesterday morning, but Penny felt the crushing weight of each second that ticked by. The hearing had already begun and while the RAID Array hard drives were spinning frantically, she was no closer to recovering the lost MRI files for Valerie Kensington than she was when her program began digging through the layers of gibberish that had been used to erase the network storage system.

She looked worriedly at her peer, Allen the Network Administrator who had been as persistent as she was at trying to locate the images that were so sensitive to the court hearing. Her eyelids drooped as lack of sleep was catching up to her. Neither soda, coffee nor No Doz could stop exhaustion and sleepiness from overwhelming her mind and body.

Nothing until her computer chimed at her. She looked up and tried to read what was on screen. She had to rub her eyes to wipe away the bleary vision. This time the alert message was clear as day.

"I GOT IT!" she yelled triumphantly. "WE GOT THE SCANS! ALL OF THEM!"

Instantly her energy level soared as the files were being transferred to an SDHC Memory Card to transport them to the courthouse.

Allen took his phone and tapped out a text message. Files recovered, get here soon.

Yes, finally, the next chapter. Sorry things have been so slow on the story front. My real life is very busy right now.

If you like the story so far please let me know. Thanks.