Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
A Disney Fairies / Once Upon A Time Crossover
Season 1, Episode 10, Chapter 6

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

"Ned, you're late," Hartley Winter scolded. "Today of all days we cannot afford to be behind schedule."

Hartley had every right to be worried. The next twenty four to forty eight hours were going to be sticky for the residents of Storybrooke. The sky was threatening. The temperature was dropping, clouds had moved in, the wind was picking up and the occasional rumbling of thunder could be heard in the distance. The morning weather report specifically mentioned a strong thunderstorm would be coming to town the next day. It would bring with it heavy rains, driving winds and frequent lightning. Everyone in the city including Hartley Winter was scurrying to get as much done before it hit.

Ned jumped into the company van. Both men were dressed in cold weather clothing over their coveralls and thermal wear under them. "Sorry," Ned replied. "Dee wanted to ring in the New Year again this morning. Twice, actually."

"First, the new year is well underway," Hartley said, a hint of anger present in his tone. "Second, I do not wish to hear any sordid details of your relationship with Ms. Collingsworth."

Ned and Desiree had moved quickly from simple dating to having regular sex. In fact, Ned was spending more time at her large Colonial Revival home than at his own apartment. He had recently suggested moving in with her, but she casually dismissed it saying it was too early to talk about such things. This was right before having more sex.

Hartley found their behavior most distasteful. He declared that the newer generation was too obsessed with physical intimacy and put little emphasis on romance, true love and emotional intimacy. He even cited his own courtship of Claire Kensington as a proper model.

"You mean you haven't had sex with her yet?" Ned asked, chuckling. "What was all that MILF stuff New Year's Eve?"

"Claire and I do not discuss such things in public," Hartley countered indignantly. "But if you must know it was a misunderstanding. We are not engaged in a physical relationship. How we feel about each other is far more important than how we feel against each other's skin."

"What are you? A Jedi?"

Hartley scowled. "I am a proper gentleman."

"Have it your way. Me? I'm having fun. We both are."

The object of a relationship was not fun, Hartley instructed. Love, romance and happiness were. Those can only be accomplished through patience, respect and dedication. Ned complained that it all sounded like too much hard work.

"Perhaps, but true love is lasting and considerably more fulfilling." Hartley turned on the heater in the van to full blast and then put the van in gear, driving towards their first appointment. "Have you ever considered that perhaps Ms. Collingsworth is merely using you for her own purposes?"

"I'm more than happy to be her nightly entertainment. Besides, she's just living out her fantasies. Dee has a huge collection of romance novels and now she gets to live out what she's been reading." Desiree's proclivities veered more towards the adventuresome side, much to the chagrin of her house cleaning service who had to clean up afterwards. "They're still trying to figure out how we cracked the kitchen countertops."

"Enough! That is far too much and it borders on the indecent. I will say this, however. When she has finished with you and you have found yourself evicted and replaced by the next square jawed plaything that crosses her path, do not come to me for sympathy. You shall not receive any," Hartley warned.

"Don't worry, I won't," Ned replied with a devil may care smile. Hartley sighed despondently just as they drove up to the local coffee house for a cup of hot coffee and their first appointment.

~O~

Elsewhere, at about the same time, the tall visitor to Storybrooke had stopped in front of Mayor Mills' house. Henry, dressed in a warm jacket and scarf, walked out to the curb to speak with him.

"What are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"I'm fixing my bike," the stranger replied. Indeed, he was using a tool to make a minor repair to his motorcycle. Henry asked about the box secured to the back of his motorcycle. The stranger gave only a cryptic answer, saying that it was what he needed for what he was doing in Storybrooke. Henry thought he was just visiting. The stranger replied that he still had something to do here.

Regina Mills saw Henry talking to the tall stranger. The man finished his repair. Just before roaring off on his bike, the man told Henry to get on to school, warning him that a storm was coming.

~O~

Mary Margaret ran up the steps of Granny's Diner. She arrived at 7:14 a.m., just in time. The schoolteacher had awoken late this morning and rushed out, telling her roommate Emma Swan that she had to get to the school to help her students with a volcano they were building for a class project.

What she was actually doing was waiting for David to arrive. Mary Margaret sat at a table with her back against the door. She grabbed a book and used a spoon as a mirror to fix her hair. That was when she saw David enter the diner. She opened the book and pretended to read as David Nolan ordered two coffees to go.

On his way out, he saw Mary Margaret and they shared a brief conversation and a laugh. When he went back outside he handed one coffee to his wife, Kathryn and gave her kiss. Watching this made Mary Margaret's heart sink.

"This is building a volcano?"

Mary Margaret swung around. Sheriff Swan had followed her from the house. Emma told Mary Margaret that she was acting like a stalker. "No I'm not," Ms. Blanchard replied. Then she rattled off his entire daily schedule for the week, including when he came for coffee, went to work, had lunch, got off work and went home. She even knew that on Thursdays David and Kathryn had Chinese food for dinner.

"I am a stalker," Mary Margaret said with stunned realization. "How did you know?"

Emma checked off all of the little things Mary Margaret did differently now that tipped her off. "When I first met you, you were a top button sort of gal."

Ms. Blanchard quickly became aware that the top buttons of her sweater were now open. Blanchard finally had to admit that she came to Granny's every morning at 7:15 just to see David as he came in for coffee. No matter how hard she tried, the school teacher just couldn't get him out of her mind. Emma reminded her roommate that David was still very married and that the first step in putting David out of her mind was not coming to the diner each morning to see him.

Mary Margaret sighed, wishing that there was a magic spell to stop her from loving him.

~O~

THE ENCHANTED FOREST

The night was as dark as it could be. A lone figure in a small boat glided across the waters towards a pier. Mist blocked the view of the distant shore until it was very close. The person coming to this place was Snow White. She had learned from her friend Red that Prince James still intended to marry Princess Abigail. Snow couldn't get James out of her thoughts and out of her heart so Red directed her here. To a man with such dark powers that he could accomplish almost anything. Red could only whisper his name, though, as it struck such fear into people's hearts.

As soon as Snow White moored her little boat she was greeted by someone. "How much for this?"

She turned and saw a horrid looking man with a sinister grin sitting in the very craft she had just exited. Somehow he had managed to get by her without being seen. Quickly she deduced who he was. Rumpelstiltskin. The Dark One. The wizard Red had told her about.

Snow asked for something special. She was in love with a man she could not have. Rumple reminded her that he could not make a person fall in love. "I don't want to make him fall in love with me," she said. Quite the opposite. Snow wanted to not love him anymore.

Now that was a horse of a different color. Rumpelstiltskin took a small flask from his coat and filled it with lake water. He held it aloft and with a flick of his wrist it turned cloudy and white. Then he pulled a single strand of her hair and imbued the water with her essence. Any potion needed to counteract love had to be personal.

This small flask contained exactly what she needed. Drink it and Snow would forget everything about the man she loved, but could not be with. Snow remarked that it seemed rather extreme. Love, he told her, was the most powerful magic of all and could cause the greatest pain. The antidote thus had to be just as extreme.

She knew from Red that Rumple didn't work for free. He always wanted something in return for his services. Yet she was surprised and baffled when all he asked for was her strand of hair.

"Why do you need that?" she asked.

"What do you care now that it's been plucked from your head?" he replied with his toothy smile and sinister laugh. Snow agreed to his terms and took the flask with her. She now had the means to live without the pain of separation. The fact that she would not remember one thing about Prince James ever again gave her pause, though. It was indeed a most extreme solution.

~O~

THE MAINLAND (The Late Victorian Era)

The second visit to the mainland didn't have the same newness as the first, but Periwinkle was still excited about bringing winter. Once again the city streets were decorated for the holidays and they looked twice as nice after the winter fairies dropped their cargo upon the city. Snowflakes fell throughout the mainland covering everything in a lovely white blanket which glistened in the moonlight or from the glow when a fairy drew near.

Periwinkle and her friends frosted the lawns, trees, shrubs and anything else they could find. The glacier fairies turned the streets to ice, made icicles hang from eaves, overhangs and branches and froze the local ponds, brooks and streams. When morning came, the human children all dressed in their warmest clothes darted out into the cold winter air and proceeded to enjoy the snowy environment. Snowball fights, building snowmen and skating on the frozen ponds were daily rituals performed by the humans, much to Periwinkle's delight.

Winter Fairies lived in a world that was blanketed in white year round. Their clothing was usually limited to a palette of pale blues, greys, whites and blacks. The most common color outside of white and blue was the green of the evergreen trees and what little grass and shrubbery grew there. This was why Periwinkle was so fascinated with the warm seasons. They had so many wonderful colors. Hues they didn't have on their side of the border.

It was also a reason she so loved the human world. She was enthralled by the glorious reds, silver, golds, yellows, purples and oranges that played a major role in the celebration of Christmas. These brilliant colors, along with the greens of the holly strung on the street corners and the pine trees used as Christmas decorations, were a welcome departure from the stale blankness of her home. Sometimes, she wished she could stay here all year long.

Of course, that was not to be. Once their task was done it was time to return to their blank, white world. Periwinkle had enlivened it with fun, but there was still very little color. She was almost heartbroken when the day came that the winter fairies gathered for the return trip to Never Land. She was desperate to bring back anything she could with her as a reminder. Like last time Peri went off on her own to look for any scraps of colorful paper or ornament she could take with her. It didn't take long before her arms were full.

She called on her friends, Spike and Gliss to help. Gliss was excited to assist, but Spike, as usual, had to point out the problem with this plan. "Uh, what is Lord Milori going to say when he sees all of this?"

"He's not," Peri replied. "As soon as we get home I'm taking it to my place."

"And what do you intend to do with it?" Spike asked.

"Decorate my home," said Periwinkle. "So it won't look so drab."

"Oh oh oh! Can I bring some for me, too?" Gliss asked, quite enthusiastically. "I want to live with color, too."

Spike quite properly pointed out that as soon as someone saw what was on their walls, it would become gossip. Once it became gossip, everyone would know about it. Once everyone knew about it, Lord Milori would know about it. "So tell me again how you're going to keep this a secret?"

Periwinkle sighed. She knew Spike was correct. Putting these things up for display would only invite others to talk about it in public. If Lord Milori wasn't very happy about her new ice skating, then how would he react to all these colorful trinkets she wanted to bring back?

Then Spike dropped the other shoe. "Y'know, I'm sure everyone will want their own wall of color. Then what? Are you going to give them everything you have? What if everyone brought stuff back from the mainland and asked you to make something for them? We would never get any work done. Winter would never come on time. This is a bad idea, Peri. I know how you feel, but we have to look at what might happen after you bring these things back to the Winter Woods."

The little frost talent sighed as she dropped her pile of trinkets. They glittered gloriously in the gaslight of the street lamp. Tears welled up in her eyes and her face turned a shade of red. "I just… I just want to stop looking at four white walls," Peri said. "I want to live with the same colors that the warm fairies do. What's so wrong with that?"

Periwinkle knelt down at her cache of colorful goods. She picked up one piece of broken ornament and looked at it. Her sad face appeared in the reflective, red surface. She moved it around in her hands and it gleamed whenever the light hit it just right. Next to it was a smaller piece of yellow ornament atop of an orange one. She had a strand of silver tinsel and small piece of purple wrapping paper. They were all so beautiful, so eye catching, so different.

Gliss turned to look at Spike. She had a heartfelt look on her face. Periwinkle was a close friend and she sympathized with her sadness. "What if she took a few small pieces and kept them in her drawers? Then she could look at them whenever she wanted to see colors?"

Spike grumbled and hemmed and hawed. This was still a bad idea. Maybe. Or not. "Okay, but nothing too big."

Periwinkle launched herself into the air, excited beyond belief. "Oh thank you, Spike." The little frost fairy gave her friend a huge hug of gratitude before gathering up all her pieces and selecting what she wanted. Spike figured out how to carefully break the larger pieces of the ornaments into small ones so they could be easily hidden in Peri's clothing. Gliss wrapped two strands of tinsel around her waist like a belt and Spike stuck the wrapping paper into her boots.

"Okay. Everyone ready?" she asked. Periwinkle and Gliss nodded. Everything was hidden in their clothing. "When morning comes, we act natural going home. As soon as we're clear we go to Periwinkle's house and drop off everything. Peri, keep everything you've taken and hide it from view. No one can ever see this. Is that understood?"

"Yes. I understand." Peri sighed. She was going to bring home the colors she loved so dearly, but she wouldn't be able to display them like she wanted. It was a necessary, but somewhat unpleasant compromise. She hoped that one day it would be possible to decorate her walls with all the colors she wanted. She hoped that day would soon.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this next chapter. Please leave a review.

Author's note: Sled's comment about Hartley being a Jedi is a reference to Matt Lanter. Lanter, who voiced Sled in The Secret of the Wings, was also the voice of Anakin Skywalker in the CGI television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.