Disney's Tinker Bell in Storybrooke
Season 1, Episode 10, Chapter 9

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

That evening Emma caught up with the stranger. He was at Granny's having a warm drink to armor him against the cold and wet weather outdoors. The power had gone out around town. Granny and Ruby had placed candles on every table for any customers who came in to get out of the rain. Not that it mattered much since he was the only customer in the store.

The sheriff had a few questions for him, specifically his interest in Henry. She made it sound like it was against the law to visit Storybrooke. He replied quite defensively, but with word play that danced around what she was after. The stranger admitted that Henry approached him and that the boy was precocious and inquisitive. That was something Emma didn't know. Regina's statement made it sound as if this man was a predator.

Next Emma wanted to know his name and why he was in Storybrooke. "I'm not going to tell you," he replied with a smile. "Instead I'm going to make you wait." He intended to drive her nuts with frustration and let her imagination get the best of her until finally she would burst. Or he could reveal everything right now if she promised to have a drink with him sometime.

She agreed, hesitantly. The stranger opened the box and revealed… an old typewriter. He was a writer. And his name was August W. Booth. The W stood for Wayne. He had come to Storybrooke looking for inspiration. Emma began to wonder if this guy was pulling her leg. Maybe he's read too many Stephen King novels, she thought.

King was a famous author of horror and supernatural fiction. The author was a resident of Maine and set many of his stories there.

Then August closed his box and got up to leave the store. "What about that drink?" she asked him.

"I said sometime," he replied with a bit of smirk.

~O~

THE WINTER WOODS, NEVER LAND (The Late Victorian Era)

"How's it going?" Spike asked Periwinkle.

Peri sighed. Her favorite colorful things from the mainland were locked up tight in her room where no one could adore their splendor. Not even Periwinkle. What was the point in bringing them if no one was allowed to look upon their amazing colors, she asked herself repeatedly.

And the little frost fairy whose glow so startled the other denizens of the Winter Woods when she arrived still couldn't master complex shapes with her frost talent. "I'm beginning to feel depressed. Can't we go back to the mainland?"

"Not yet," Spike replied. "It's still too warm for us. When winter comes around again we can go."

"It's not enough," she sighed. "The warm fairies can visit three times a year. What do we get? Just once and always with the same lack of color. White, white and more white. Why couldn't I have been born a warm fairy?"

"Now don't say that," Spike admonished. "Being a winter fairy is a wonderful life. Remember all the fun the humans had during winter? Building snow men, the snow ball fights and skating on ice? That was us. We did that. We're the ones who made them happy."

The corners of Periwinkle's mouth began to pull upwards into a slight grin. "Yeah. I suppose you're right. I just… I just want more out of my life."

"Well, keep practicing your frost shapes. Once you get that down you can unleash your creativity and life will never seem dull again."

Peri sighed. "Okay. I'll keep trying."

~O~

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

Claire heard the doorbell ringing. Then someone pounding on the door. The rain was pouring and the lightning and thunder were just as harsh as they were an hour ago. Her girls were asleep, but she was just barely dozing off when she heard the noise downstairs. The person at the door was relentless as they kept pressing the doorbell, almost as if pleading to be let in from the pouring rain.

The mother of two gently slipped out of her warm and comfy bed, put on her house shoes and padded down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she heard someone crying to be let inside.

"Penny!" Mrs. Kensington threw open the front door and was greeted by the soaked and sobbing form of the little girl who had been, until just recently, Tina's best friend.

"Please, can I come inside?" she wept. Claire didn't even give her half a chance to finish. The girl was swept into the house along with her duffle bag, portable cooler and laptop bag which was wrapped in plastic to protect the sensitive electronics.

The poor girl was drenched to the bone. "Come upstairs, dear." Penny was shown the common bathroom at the top of the stairs where she could remove her water logged clothing and take a hot shower. Claire prepared some of Tina's clothing since the two girls were almost the same size. Tina being older was a tad bit more filled out than Penny, but the clothes fit just fine if slightly loose.

"Thank you, Mrs. Kensington. I'm sorry to bother you tonight. I probably should have gone to Mr. Winter's house, but…"

"You are always welcome here, sweetheart," Claire replied. "No matter what Tina says. Now come get some sleep."

It took some prodding to get Penny to accept, but Claire soon found herself surrounded in her own bed on one side by Tina and Valerie who were huddled up together and Penny on the other who insisted that she could sleep on the couch downstairs. "Nonsense," Claire replied. Penny obviously didn't want to be alone in this terrible thunderstorm. If Claire let the girl sleep downstairs or in any other room of the house she would still be isolated. Mrs. Kensington would have none of that. It was a bit of a tight fit, but soon all four women slept in the large bed even as the storm continued its ferocious assault on the seaside town.

~O~

THE MAINLAND (The Late Victorian Era)

When winter finally returned to the mainland Periwinkle was not quite so excited to go this time. She still had problems frosting shapes and seemed hopelessly depressed that any reminders of the magical world of the humans would be suppressed by Minister Snowflake or the ever dour Lord Milori.

Yet when she did return the cheerful colors of the Christmas holiday vastly improved her mood. That first evening she and her friends frosted everything they could and then retired to their temporary home so they could repeat the process until winter took firm hold.

On the way, Periwinkle spotted someone familiar in a café. Inside was Mrs. Perkins the woman who was helping that nice couple last year. During the long interval on Never Land Peri had completely forgotten about the Griffiths. One look through the window and the little frost fairy noticed that Mrs. Perkins looked rather despairing.

Periwinkle ducked inside the café through a mouse hole in the wall and sat high in the rafters as she listened in on the conversation. Mrs. Perkins was conversing with another woman who, by the context of their dialog, was also a governess. They prattled on about their work and their husbands before the other lady asked Mrs. Perkins about her employment.

"Is Dr. Griffiths still the same way?" the governess asked.

"Oh he's worse now," Mrs. Perkins replied.

"No! Truly?"

"Yes. Ever since the missus passed away the good doctor has been so unhappy," she admitted. "The baby seems to be all that keeps him sane these days."

As Periwinkle listened she learned that the lovely lady who was expecting a child died shortly after giving birth. She contracted an infection and passed away days later. It took a huge toll on the husband and left him in a terrible way.

"You didn't hear it from me, but the man's lost his faith," Mrs. Perkins confided to her friend.

"Oh the poor thing," the other woman gasped.

"When the missus took ill he spent every day at the church praying for a miracle, but alas Elizabeth was taken from him. Now the good doctor refuses to believe in anything he can't see or examine." Mrs. Perkins then added, "He won't even let me read fairy tales to the baby. He calls them infantile nonsense."

"How terrible for him and the baby," the other woman gasped. "What can you do?"

"Hope and pray he can find a willingness to believe again," Mrs. Perkins replied with a touch of despair in her voice.

Periwinkle was crushed by this news. She immediately flew to the house where she and her friends were hold up last year when the peregrine falcon scattered her kind into hiding. From the same pinhole in the ceiling she peered into the bedroom. The man was there holding his child and trying to comfort her. The baby was crying.

"There, there, Lizzy. I wish your mother was here as much as you," he said. Then he began to hum a tune his own mother used to sing to him when he was a tyke.

Periwinkle used this moment to dive into the house and look around. It was as Mrs. Perkins had said. Every bit of ornamentation which decorated this house last winter for the holiday was absent. No pretty colored garland, no holly on the tree or wreath on the door. The only tree was a small one. It sat in a dark corner on a table where the Nativity stood last year. This tree was a pale, puny thing and seemed to exist more out of respect for tradition than any celebratory desire.

Then she noticed something else missing. All the religious trappings that Spike had pointed out to her last winter season were missing from the walls. No crosses, or portraits or icons. Every religious painting that adorned each and every room last year were gone. Even the picture of the Bishop of Canterbury was not on its hanger.

In their places were portraits of scientists; diagrams of butterflies, drawings of different species of plants and sketches of rocks native to Great Britain. And among these were many, many portraits of Elizabeth. Martin's beloved wife which he had lost so recently. They seemed to permeate the house now as if Dr. Griffiths were clinging to the past. That was what defined the man today. His pain and suffering.

And his baby girl, Lizzy.

~O~

STORYBROOKE, MAINE

David Nolan put a warm blanket around Mary Margaret's shoulders. She was still cold from being drenched by the downpour. She threw it off explaining that she didn't want him tagging along because it was too painful to be around him. Even after all this time she still had feelings for him even though he was married. Mary Margaret told David that she went to Granny's every morning at 7:15 just so she could see him.

David smiled explaining that he went to Granny's at 7:15 just so he could see Mary Margaret. The schoolteacher was shocked by this revelation. Realizing that each still has feelings for the other both lean in close to kiss each other. To give greater expression to their love for each other.

Then Mary Margaret stopped. She couldn't go through with this, not with Kathryn possibly expecting a baby. This caught David completely off guard. He didn't know.

David admitted that the feelings he had for Kathryn were just memories, the feelings he had for Mary Margaret were very real. Mary Margaret, however, couldn't go on with this and told him they had to forget each other.

~O~

THE ENCHANTED FOREST

King George was not going to let Snow White interrupt James' wedding to Princess Abigail. He ordered her to go into his chambers and tell him she didn't love him. When she refused, Snow taunted him, "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"No! I'll kill him," George replied defiantly. "If I kill you he will only love you more. If I kill him he'll become a martyr. He'll be lauded as a hero and King Midas will be moved fulfill his end of the agreement."

"You would do this to your own son?" she asked him, horrified by his response. Snow was confident he was bluffing and called it out.

"He is not my son." Upon learning James' true background Snow knew the king wasn't bluffing. He would indeed kill James to get his way. She had no other options now. Snow loved James too much to let him die. Snow White approached James who was overjoyed at her presence until she rejected him.

"I don't love you," she told him. "I never did. The best thing is for us to forget each other."

It was the most painful thing she had ever had to do. James was equally crushed. The women he loved most did not love him in return. Both were left despondent and heartbroken.

With the deed done Snow left the castle feeling destroyed inside. Soon she is joined by Grumpy and the other dwarfs. When asked what happened with her prince, she replied, "I've lost him forever." Snow White contemplated drinking the forgetting potion Rumpelstiltskin provided to her. She didn't want to bear this pain any longer.

"We are seven now," Grumpy told her as he and the others are clearly mourning the loss of their brother. His pain was now part of who he was and her pain should be part of her, too. It wasn't especially comforting, but if Grumpy could manage Snow might be able to, as well. Left with no place to go, the dwarfs invited Snow to live with them. Together they could comfort and support each other.

The change in attitude for Martin Griffiths was inspired by the character Captain Malcolm Reynolds from the television series Firefly. I thought that this development could go a long way to explain his attitudes in The Great Fairy Rescue. Thus, when he learns to believe thanks to Lizzy, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends it serves to finally bring him closure and help him move on and perhaps acts as the start of a kind of redemptive period of his life. (Again, not unlike Malcolm Reynolds in the Firefly follow up movie Serenity.) (When I say redemptive, it does not necessarily have to be religious in nature. Perhaps it is just making up for lost time with Lizzy and learning to live life to its fullest.)

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to everyone who has left a review, or made this story a favorite or is following it. Your feedback and loyalty is always appreciated.