Elijah Mill's often enjoyed his own company from time to time. Whether he's sat in the study at home with a book in his lap and a cup of steaming earl grey tea cooling next to him, or like he was presently, sat in the local diner late evening with a stack of paperwork he had been meaning to catch up on with a glass of half- empty scotch next to him.
It also to comply with his sister's 'request' to gave her the space she required when she had a 'guest' keeping her company for the evening as his nephew slept down the hall.
That evening as he sat in one of the maroon booths towards the back of the restaurant where he wouldn't be disturbed with his drink and his word set out in front of him, he became distracted when he overheard one of his teacher's Mary-Margaret Blanchard on her table on what looks like a date with Storybrooke General's very own Dr. Whale.
"Um, where were we?" Whale started the conversation "Something about you wanting fifteen kids?" the doctor asked the teacher opposite him.
"No! Good lord, no" she quickly corrects him "I meant in my class where I teach. You'll meet them tomorrow. They're coming to the hospital as part of the volunteer Outreach Program".
"Oh, yeah. That is a great program" he replied, trying his best to sound interested in what the teacher had to say.
Instead of enjoying the sense of pride overhearing one of his teachers speaking about tomorrow's volunteer day with passion, it was pushed down by the anger he felt as he saw the way the good Doctor made it clear he hadn't been listening to a word she had said.
The Principle had to restrain himself from walking over to the man from behind to crack his skull against the bar as he blatantly watched as the young waitress as she worked around him, clearing a vacated table in a pair of short red shorts with matching heels that left very little to the imagination to everyone present.
"I mean, obviously I don't want fifteen kids of my own. Um, I mean, not that I don't want kids. I do. I want kids, marriage, true love – I want it all. But that of course is…" she trails off noticing the way he pretending to listen to her as he ogled Ruby "…Wildly inappropriate for me to discuss on a first date".
"Hm?" he mumbled to his date.
"Ruby!" Mary Margaret caught the waitress as she walked by their table in the middle of the diner.
"Yes, Mary Margaret?" the waitress replied having heard her, she turned to face the disappointed pixie haired teacher.
"Check, please".
Following the disappointed woman out of the diner, he stopped himself from punching the man in his nose as he stepped out into the chilled night out of the warmth of the diner to see Mary-Margaret walking down the small path to the sidewalk seemingly in her own world.
"Miss Blanchard!" he called after the pixie haired teacher as his long legs took him down the steps of the diner to "Miss Blanchard?" he called out again as he walked down the small pathway that led up to the diner only for his voice to fall on deaf ears as she reached the archway.
"Mary-Margaret!" his voice was finally heard as the smaller woman jumped at her name being called out to whirl around with her hand on her heart to see her Principle in front of her, still in the same suit he had been wearing that day, underneath an equally smart jacket that went down to his knees and his brown leather briefcase in his hand.
"Please, call me Elijah" he tells his friend as he joined her under the archway, his tall figure easily towering her smaller frame "We're not at school" adding a charming smile to his request that put the woman in front of him at ease "I was wondering if you would allow me to escort you home this evening" he offered.
"Oh you don't have to do that" she told the man shaking her head at him.
"I insist, especially after the way that poor excuse of a man treated you on your.. date" he said biting out the last word of the sentence.
"You, uh saw that" she stuttered in embarrassment. Mortified that her boss had seen her disaster of a date.
"I only heard the way you talked about your class before I started to imagine how I could make his injuries look like he fell" the woman's eye's widened in slight fear at how serious he meant."It's a joke Mary-Margaret I assure you". He'd just push him down a flight of stairs instead. But he would keep that thought to himself for now.
"Thank god" she breathed out with a small laugh that made her forget about her horrible date.
Turning, he held out his arm to the woman like a gentleman as he grinned down at her "Shall we?".
"Yes. Thank you" she answered threading her small hand into the crook of his arm as the stepped further into the near empty streets of Storybrooke towards the woman's apartment building.
Walking arm in arm, Elijah and Mary-Margaret took their time walking in the middle of the wet road as dead autumn leaves swirled on the ground from the winds that came from the Maine coastline. He didn't mind. He wasn't in any hurry to catch the Sheriff sneaking out her sister's bedroom window.
He was rather enjoying the woman's company despite her cursed state of mind. If his mother had his way, he would've had to marry Snow White when she was old enough to wed. He'd like to think they would've made a good couple. But she wouldn't be happy with him, he knew that. It didn't matter anyway. Marriage was far from his mind when the arrangement was made.
He was always better off his own anyway.
"I hope I can assure you that not all men in the world are like Dr. Whale" he tells the woman that hung on his elbow as they slowly made their way up main street.
"How do you know that?" she asks him looking at the man she liked to call a friend.
"Because any man that know's his worth in the world, can see you as the strong, kind, caring, genuine woman I and everyone see's everyday".
She couldn't help by laugh at his description of her "I bet you say that to all the woman you meet".
"Not all of them" he says with an amused chuckle "Believe it or not, I was Dr. Whale a long time ago" he admitted to her, hoping it would make her feel better about her failed date.
"Really?" she didn't believe him. He was always so nice, attentive to everyone he met. A gentleman.
"Unfortunately yes" he sadly admits to the woman "I was actually engaged to be married a very long time ago too".
"You were?" she gasped in surprise making the man furrow his brows in a mix of hurt and confusion "I'm sorry, I just never imagined you with someone".
"It's fine" he chuckled at her words "I was young. My mother never approved, of course. But I was in love, it didn't matter. All that mattered was her".
"Who was she?" she curiously asks her wanting to know more about the woman that charmed the man that every woman in Storybrooke seemed to want. Not that she hadn't notice him as well, but she always reminded herself that he was still her boss.
"Her name was Sybil" she tells him as a fond smile grew on his lips "She was an actress. Theater work mainly, but she was mesmerizing when she got up on stage, like she was the only one up there".
"I-I'm sorry. Was?" she quires him at this use of the word.
"She died" his voice dropped.
"Oh Elijah" she breathed out as they came to stop in the middle of the street underneath the clock tower stood over them, turning to face the other "I'm so sorry I never knew. What happened?".
"I broke her heart" he told the pixie haired teacher as she saw the heartache he still felt as his head fell forward not wanting Mary-Margaret to see he pain in his eye's only for the dark haired woman to cup his jaw in her hand and make him look back at her as his dark brown eyes met her gentle green ones he had only wanted to survive his sister's wrath for something that wasn't actually her fault. But as she looked like she was about to kiss him, the man quickly pulled his head face out of her hand taking a step away from her as he tried to diffuse the tension between them.
He had to remember she was cursed. She didn't actually feel this way about him and that her heart actually belonged to another.
"I should get home" he said clearing his dry throat as straightened his posture so that he stood taller than her once again.
"Goodnight, Miss Blanchard" he didn't give the woman a chance to reply as he turned and walked down the street that would eventually take him home.
"Goodnight. Mr. Mill's" she sighed out watching the man walk away from her. Sighing the teacher couldn't' help feel stupid as she turned to continue her way home, alone this time before she saw a familiar blonde inside a yellow bug.
The Volunteer Outreach Program at the local hospital was one of program's the school had come up to serve the local community as he joined Miss Blanchard's Forth Grade at Storybrooke General to spread wishes of wellness to patients.
Joining his class on the trip, to oversee the volunteer day and help Miss Blanchard chaperone the class outside of school, the Principle couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when he saw the dark-haired woman after last night as she greeted him the usual way she did like the previous night hadn't happened.
With his suit jacket off his shoulders, the Principle walked around the ward in his dress shirt as he helped with the more physical tasks like hanging the large 'Get Well Soon' banner on the ceiling.
With his dress shirt sleeve rolled up to his elbows and his tie tucked in between the fastened buttons at the front, the Principle caught his teacher's eye from the top of the ladder he was stood on top of. Giving the woman a flash of a smile she mirrored it before he climbed down to join his students showing patients the posters they had made for the visit.
This was his happy place he decided. Away from his sister's theatrics or scheme's being planned against Emma Swan. He loved his job, even if it took a Dark Curse to find his true calling. And as an added bonus he was able to spend some quality time with Henry.
As his students greeted and spoke to patients he made his rounds meeting each person with a firm handshake and smile as he kept in mind his sister's request to keep her 'voters' informed of the many improvement she has made for the hospital over the years and her future plans for it's running while she is kept as Mayor.
As he listened to a patient he was speaking to he spotted his nephew venture into the private room at the end of the ward were one very special patient was being kept.
Prince Charming.
Here, he was a coma patient only known as John Doe. He deliberately kept his distance with the man he had nearly killed as the curse raged above them, but he and his sister kept an eye on his condition in case he ever woke up, not sure on how the curse may have affected him as he lied dying on the floor of the nursery after he stabbed him.
Giving Mary- Margaret a friendly smile as she walked by the bed of the patient he was speaking to, she placed a small vase and flower on his table, seeing Henry in the somewhat private room staring at the coma patient.
"Henry" his teacher called out to him as she stepped into the from , stopping him from touching the sleeping coma patient "We could really use your help with the decorations" she suggested to the ten-year old.
"Is Mr. Doe going to be okay, Miss Blanchard?" he asked worried for the 'stranger'.
"His name's not John Doe, honey. That's just what they call people when they don't know who they are" she answered him.
"Do you know who he is?" he asked curiously as Elijah kept his focus on the patient as he listened closely to his nephew and his teacher.
"No. Just bring him flowers on my rounds" she tells him.
"What's wrong with him?".
"I don't know. He's been like this as long as I've been volunteering".
"Does he have any family or friends?".
"No one's claimed him".
"So, he's all alone?".
"Yeah…its quite sad" she trailed off.
"You sure you don't know him?" Henry tried once more.
"I'm sure. Come on. You shouldn't be in here" at that Henry rounded John Doe's bed to leave the room, giving the man one last look before his teacher led him out of the room to re-join his class.
Finding John Doe aka Prince Charming at the hospital Henry set out the afternoon to go over the next step of Operation Cobra with his blonde mother was to wake up Prince Charming. Sat next to his birth mother, the ten-year old found a page in his storybook that illustrated the same man that was in a coma at the hospital, sporting the same scar on his jaw from where Snow White had hit him in the Enchanted Forest.
"I found your father – Prince Charming" he excitedly tells her.
"Henry…" she trailed off
"He's in the hospital, in a coma. See the scar?" he points out to her "He has one, too".
"So? Lots of people have scars" she tried to reason with him.
"In the same place? Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart with the coma. Now they're stuck without each other. We have to tell Miss Blanchard we found her Prince Charming".
"Okay, kid. Telling someone their...soulmate is in a coma is probably not helpful. Not having a happy ending is painful enough, but giving someone unrealistic hope is far worse".
"But what if I'm right?" he argues "We know who they are. Now they have to know".
"And how do you intend to make that happen?".
"By reminding him" he tells her "We have to get her to read their story to John Doe. Then, maybe, he'll remember who he is".
"Okay" she reluctantly agree's to his plan
"Okay?"
"Yeah, we'll do it. But we'll do it my way. Let me ask her" she tells him as they hear a car pull up on the stony beach where the castle .
Looking towards the sound they saw a sleek black car come to a stop near the castle before Elijah climbed out of the drivers seat to find his nephew in his castle with Emma.
The blonde instantly mad eye contact with the man in the suit and long dark coat as he stuffed his hands into the deep pockets as he waited for the
"Time's up kid" Emma tells the ten-year old as the move to climb off the wooden frame as the man saw his nephew give his birth mother the storybook he had been obsessed with for months before making his way towards his Uncle's car with the blonde following him.
Opening the back door for the ten-year old, the Principle watched his nephew run the last few feet towards the car as he called out to the blonde behind him.
"Bye Emma!" he called out as he climbed into the back seat of the expensive car.
"Bye Kid" she replied with a hint of a smile on her lips as the door was closed behind him to face his birth mother.
"Miss Swan" the principle greets the woman seeing the brown leather book in her arms "You read?" he asks her in almost a teasing manner.
"Uh, no. Just something with Henry" she tells the man.
"Well whatever it is you and Henry are doing, I'm sure it will somehow aggravate my dear sister" he says with a tight smile on his lips "I would find it entertaining if I wasn't the one she complains to about your mere presence in town".
"Sorry" she shrugged at the man.
"You're forgiven. It's a burden I'm willing to bare as long as my nephew remains happy. Goodnight Miss Swan" at that the man climbed into the drivers seat to take him home leaving the woman to walk back into town to ask for Mary Margaret's help in Henry's plan to break the 'curse'.
Sat with his sister later that night in her office the Mill's siblings quietly worked on opposite sides of her desk as the younger sibling informed his sister of how the volunteer day went at the hospital. Omitting her son's curiosity with the coma patient the younger Mill's informed his sister of what she wanted to truly know. That she had guaranteed voters for the next election. Not that she needed them anyway, she had run unopposed for the last twenty-eight years.
The silence of the office was quickly disturbed as the phone in her office making her younger brother glance up from his work before she quickly answered it.
"Yes?" she answered it, as her brother kept his eye's on his work "What?" she asked the other person on line as she suddenly stood from her chair to pace around her desk as he sat up in his chair in curiosity and concern "And who was this volunteer?" she questioned the person on phone.
Whatever the answered made his sister take the phone away from her ear as she suddenly stiffened and gripped the phone tightly in her hand.
"Regina?" he asked his sister in concern seeing the murderous twitch in her eye, one he knew very well standing from his seat
"He's waking up".
"How?" he lowly asks her as his eye's darken at the news.
"Her" she growled out knowing exactly who she was talking about. That was a problem.
He wasn't sure what was worse at the moment, that John Doe had woken up from his coma or now that he was missing from his hospital bed. After dropping Henry off at the arcade, the Mayor's brother made his way to the hospital to find his sister and Sheriff already there.
Standing either side of the empty bed, the siblings did their best to listen to explain what happened as Graham question a hospital porter outside when he heard his nephew's voice come though the open door.
"You're right – he's waking up!" he yelled out in excitement as he ran the last few feet towards the room as his Uncle looked to see him accompanied by his birth mother and Mary Margaret only to be stopped by the Sheriff.
"Henry, you should stay back" he quickly told the boy holding out his hands to stop him going any further.
Excusing himself from his sister and the doctor, he slowly made his way out of the room
"Excuse me" he told his sister as he slowly made his way out of the room to join the Sheriff, narrowing his eye's at the blonde woman as he recognized that she was wearing his sister's shirt.
"What's going on? Is it John Doe? Is he okay?" Mary Margaret hastily asked the Sheriff as Elijah stepped out from behind him to address
"He's missing" they suddenly heard a voice tell them from behind the lawman making the Sheriff whirl around in fright to see Elijah Mill's stood right behind him in his usual suit and long coat as the trio saw his sister in the room gripping the rail of the bed as she saw who had joined them.
And here he thought he would have a peaceful weekend.
Walking out of the hospital room where John Doe had been sleeping, the Mayor of Storybrooke met
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked the blonde woman before finding er son "And you" she said snatching up her son's arm that made her bother's grimace at her harsh touch, reminding him of the way his mother all too well when she was upset with him for something or another "I thought you were at the arcade".
"He was" Elijah added as he looked down at his nephew making his siter look up at her brother to see a flash of hurt in his eyes as he felt a pinch of betrayal of his trust. He freely allowed the boy spend time with his birth mother even encouraged it and yet he here was, taking advantage of his trust.
"Now you're lying to us?" she asks the ten-year old.
"What happen to John Doe?" Mary-Margaret interrupted the Mayor scolding her son "Did someone take him?".
"We don't know yet" Graham answered "His IV's were ripped out but there's no sign for sure there's a struggle".
"What did you two do?" Henry accused his mother and Uncle for doing something.
"Henry!" Elijah scolded the boy for speaking to his mother and himself like that.
"You think we had something to do with this?" Regina asked her son in disbelief that he would accuse them of hurting someone.
"It is curious that the Mayor and her brother are here" Emma asked suspiciously with her arms crossed over her chest as she eyed the siblings stood side by side.
"We're here because I'm his emergency contact" she answered the woman.
"You know him?" Mary Margaret asked the Mayor.
"I found him" she tells the teacher "On the side of the road years ago, with no I.D. Elijah and I brought him here" she told the teacher as Dr Whale joined the group.
"Mayor Mills and Principle Mill's saved his life" Dr Whale defended the Mayor and Principle's presence there.
"Will he be okay?" Mary Margaret asked the Doctor.
"Okay?" Whale scoffed "The man's been on feeding tubes for years on constant supervision. He needs to get back here right away or, quite honestly, 'okay' might be a pipe-dream".
"Well then, let quit yapping and start looking" Emma told the group as she turned to leave ready to lead the way to find out what happened to John Doe.
"That's what we're doing" the Mayor reminds the blonde "Just stay out of this, dear and since I clearly can't keep you away from my son, I guess I'm just going to have to keep my son away from you" she tells the woman snatching Henry's hand into her's to lead him out of the ward only to stop as she reached the blonde.
"Enjoy my shirt because that all your getting" Regina she tells the woman before turning to look at the Sheriff "Sheriff, find John Doe. You heard Dr Whale. Time is precious".
At that the Mayor left to be followed behind by her brother as he avoid to meet Emma's searching gaze as she watched the grown man walking after his sister yet again as he pulled the collar of his jacket over his neck.
He hated the woods. He preferred open fields of grass to..this. It reminded him of a time he's rather forget as he followed the tracks the other's had left to find John Doe, but he wouldn't usually be tracking the smaller footsteps that followed the lager ones if he hadn't noticed his nephew absence the house as soon as his sister had left him in it.
The sun had started to set as Graham led Emma and Mary-Margaret through the forest where the patient had wondered into in his confused state. The man closely scanned the forest floor as he searched for anything sign of John Doe as he suddenly came to a stop as he knelt down on the ground as the two women behind him catch up.
"What is it?" Mary- Margaret asks the man as Emma catches her breath besides her not used to trekking through the woods.
"The trail runs out here" he tells her not finding any more tracks.
"You sure?" Emma asks him "'Cause I thought tracking was one of your skills" she reminds him.
Graham: Just give me a second" he insists he standing back up from the ground "This is my world. I got it" he adds stepping away to continued his search to track down the coma patient.
"Right. Sorry" the blonde mumbled out the apology
"What does he mean, 'His world'?" Mary-Margaret asked the bails bond person "Isn't finding people your thing, too?".
"Sure. Just, people I find usually run places like Vegas. Not a lot hit the woods".
"That's an interesting job – finding people. How'd you fall into it?".
"Looking for people is just what I've done. As long as I can remember".
"What made you start? Your parents? the teacher asks her curiously taking the blonde by surprise that she knew about her own past "Henry told me that your… Th-that you were from a similar situation to his own. Did you ever find them?".
"Depends who you ask" she replies looking at the woman Henry said was her real mother. Hearing a crack behind them they turn to see the boy himself running down a hill with a flashlight in his hand unaware that his uncle was tracking his own footprints.
"Henry!" his teacher gasped in surprise seeing the young boy there.
"Did you find him yet?" he asks them.
"No, not yet. You shouldn't be here" Emma tells him knowing his mother and Uncle wouldn't be happy to know he out in the middle of the woods with them.
"I can help. I know where he's going" he stressed to the pain.
"And where's that?" his teacher asks him.
"He's looking for you" he tells the pixie haired teacher "You're the one who woke him up. You're the last one he saw. He wants to find you!".
"Henry, it's not about me. I just… I think he's lost and confused. He's been in a coma a long time".
"But he loves you!" he argued to the teacher "You need to stop chasing him, and let him find you".
"Kid. You need to go home" Emma tells him "Where's your mom or Elijah? They're going to kill me, and then you…and then me again".
"She dropped me at the house. Then, went right out" he tells her.
"Well, we need to get you back immediately".
"No!" he protested as they heard.
"Henry Daniel Mills!" Elijah Mill's voice boomed in the open space as the blonde woman froze in place and her eye's bugged seeing the man in the suit storm towards them with his eye's firmly on his nephew's figure with a flashlight in his hand.
Uncaring of the dirt on his trousers the man knelt on the forest floor as he took hold of the ten-year old's shoulders in a tight grip.
"What the hell do you think you're playing at" he started to scold his nephew as his fear for the boy clouded his mind.
"Hey, come on-" Emma tried to reason with the man only to flinch back in fright as he turned his anger towards her.
"Be Quiet!" he snapped at the blonde woman from the ground holding a stern finger up to her as his other hand gripped the boy's shoulder "You lost your privilege to speak reason when Henry went behind my back after everything I've done to make sure you spend time with him. So spare me Miss Swan".
"Guys!" they all heard Sheriff Graham called after the other's. Standing from the ground the Principle and the other's rushed to catch up to the Sheriff with their flashlights to find the man knelt by a bush. Shining a light on what the Sheriff had found they saw the man's discarded hospital bracelet with blood smeared on it.
"Is that…" Mary-Margaret trailed off.
"Blood" the principle stated to the group.
With the discovery of the blood smeared medial bracelet, the group now including Elijah hastened their search as they followed the Sheriff with only their flashlights to lead them through the dark forest. Henry kept his distance from his Uncle as Graham took them to the Toll Bridge, and the stony shore line of the river that ran through the forest.
"Where is he? Can you see him?" Mary-Margaret asks the Sheriff as they came to a stop on the stony shoreline were the shallow ran through the wet rocks that lined the shoreline.
"The trail dies at the water line" Graham tell the groups as they all search for any sign of the man as Mary-Margaret find him lying unconscious on the shallow water in his hospital gown.
"Oh my god!" she exclaims gaining Elijah's and the other's attention as she dropped her flashlight to head straight into the shallow water to get to him "Oh my god! Oh my god!".
"Mary-Margaret!" Elijah calls after the woman as he follows her into the water as Emma and Graham followed as the Sheriff call for additional help on his radio.
"I need an ambulance! At the old Toll Bridge, as soon as possible.
With Graham's help, the men took an arm each as they picked up the dead-weight out of the water as Mary-Margaret and Emma help keep his legs and feet
"Keep going!" Henry encouraged the adults to get the man out of the water as he watched from the shoreline.
"No, no, no, no, no! No, no, no! I found you!" the teacher told the unconscious man as they set him down on the dry-land.
"It's going to be okay" Elijah tried to reassure his friend as he stood up trying to figure out what to do to help, but there was nothing.
"Help's coming" Graham informed them as they heard a small voice all out to the adults.
"Is he okay?" hearing Henry both Elijah and Emma look up to see him stood there watching them try and help the unresponsive man. hearing the helplessness in his voice the Principle left the his friend as he and Emma rushed to the boy only for the man to reach him first taking his shoulder to turn him away from the scene as he knelt in front of his young nephew as the ten-year old allowed his Uncle to grasp the back of his head with his hand to gently push his face into his shoulder.
"Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?" he asked his Uncle as he wrapped his arm around his neck.
"Don't look. Okay? Don't look" he whispered into his ear as he forgot how angry he was with the boy as the man's life hung in the balance in front of him. Leaving his blonde mother to see how much Henry truly meant to him behind the gentleness of his voice compare to the one they had heard earlier.
Holding him as tight as he could the Principle watched his teacher and friend start chest compression's on his chest before placing her mouth over his, pushing much needed air into his lungs before pulling away. A beat later unconscious man wakes up coughing up water before he looks up to the woman that saved his life.
"You saved me" he breathed up to her as Henry pulls himself out of his Uncle's arms to see John Doe alive and awake.
"She did it" Henry excitedly beamed "She did it! She woke him up".
"Yeah, kid. She did" Emma echoes Henry's words as Elijah saw Snow White reunite with her Prince, even if they didn't know who they really were to the other.
Following John Doe as he was wheeled back into his room by the ambulanceman crew. Dr. Whale quickly took over with nurses around him as they set out to treat the man who had just woken up from his near thirty year coma and venture into the wild.
The glass doors were shut on the five that found him as he was treated before a blonde woman none of them knew let herself into the room to find the amnesic man being treated by Dr. Whale.
"David! David, is that you?" they heard the blonde calls out.
Excuse me, ma'am?" tries to catch the woman's attention only for his word to go ignored "Ma'am, you can't be in here. Please, you can't be here right now" he tells her gently encouraging her away from the bed so that they could continue their work undisturbed.
Stood away from the group Elijah saw his sister join them as she saw the dried dirt that covered his suit and coat knowing he had gone after his nephew.
"Who is that?" Mary-Margaret asks the others.
"His wife" Regina tell them making them turn to see her stood behind them with a smug look on her face.
"His name is David Nolan" the Mayor informs the group as they continued to watch Mr. Nolan get being looked over as his wife watched in relief and joy that her husband had been found after so long
"-And that's his wife, Kathryn. And the joy on her face, well, it's put me in quite the forgiving mood" she says looking over to her son in a green visitors' chair "We'll talk about your insubordination later. Do you know what insubordination means?" he shakes his head at her "It means you're grounded" as Kathryn stepped out of her husbands room to find the people who had found her husband.
"Thank you. Thank you for finding my David" she tells Mary-Margaret as she teacher turns to face the blonde woman.
"Um, I-I don't understand. You didn't… You didn't know that he was here in a coma?" she asked the woman.
"A few years ago, David and I were not getting along" Kathryn tells them "It was my fault, I know that now. I was difficult and un-supportive. I told him if he didn't like things, he could leave. And he did. And I didn't stop him. It was the worst mistake I ever made".
"You didn't go look for him?" Emma asks from her seat having heard what she said, not buying that this woman had just forgotten about the man on the other side of the glass door.
"I assumed he'd left town all this time. And now I know why I never heard from him. Now I get to do what I've wanted to do forever – say I'm sorry. Now we get a second chance.
"That's wonderful" Mary-Margaret makes herself say as Dr. Whale leaves David's room to find Kathryn.
"Well, it's something of a miracle" he begins gaining everyone's attention.
"He's okay?" David's wife asks the Doctor.
"Ah, physically, he's on the mend, um, his memory is another issue. It may take time, if at all" Dr. Whale reported to the group.
"What brought him back?" the teacher asked the doctor.
"That's the thing. There's no explanation. Something just clicked in him".
"He just got up and decided to go for a stroll?" Emma quires with the man.
"He woke up and he was delirious and his first instinct was to go find something, I guess".
"Someone" Henry corrected him from his seat.
"Can I see him?" Kathryn asks the doctor.
"Yeah, of course" he tells her holding the door open for her as he follows her into the room to see her husband.
"Henry, let's go" Regina tells her son as she and her brother start walking down the hallway to leave. The ten-year-old stands up from his seat to follow his mother and Uncle.
"Wait, my backpack" he tells the pair before double backing on himself to quietly speak to Mary-Margaret as he grabs his bag.
"Don't believe them" the young boy tells her "You're the one he was looking for".
"Henry…" she tried to stop him only for him to continue.
"He was going to the Troll Bridge. It's like the end of the story".
"Henry, he was going there because it's the last thing I read to him".
"No, it's because you belong together" he insisted to her.
"Henry" Elijah's stern voice echoed in the hallway to hurry up his nephew so he could have a well earned shower after a very long day.
Retreating to his room for the evening and making sure his nephew was fast asleep in his bed, the youngest Mill's sibling sat on the edge of his bed with a tin of polish by his side and a brush in his hand brushing the mud and dirt that had collected on his shoes from his hike in the woods in the middle of the night.
On his night stand sat a crystal glass half-full of amber liquid next to a stack of books piled on top of the other as a knock comes from his closed door.
"Enter" he told the person on the other side, not taking his eyes off his work he rigorously brushing the polish into the leather material as his door was opened and closed to hear his sister walk over to him in her
"Sister, whatever it is, it can wait until the morning" he tells her not wanting to deal with her melodrama until he had a decent nights sleep. His older sister stood in front of him still in his dress shirt and trousers from that day, with
"I need to ask you about Miss Swan" she addresses her baby brother as he continues to buff his shoes, ignoring the mess he kept his bedroom in. Is room was the same back home. Nothing new. In the end he had told the palace servants to touch nothing but his bed.
"What about her?" he asks her continuing his work. Huffing in annoyance the older woman snatched the brush out of his hand to place it away from him as he looked up at his sister to her his full attention.
"I'm worried Elijah" she started as she took a seat next to her brother "I understand that you want to help Henry with..her, I'm just wondering if there is another reason behind it".
"Like what?" he curiously asks her.
"Well...Ms. Vane comes to mind" she carefully broaches the subject of Sybil Vane to her brother. Sybil Vane was the only person in his life he cared for other than family. She even called him Prince Charming during their courtship.
Standing from the bed her brother put as much space as he could between his sister and himself "I am not having this conversation with you" he tells her, snatching his phone from the nightstand.
"Elijah-".
"Miss Swan is not Sybil" he sternly tells her "For the simple fact is that I never loved her" he admitted to her "At least not the same way you loved Daniel" he adds crossing the room to find his suit jacket draped on the back of a brown leather chair that furnished the room also full of stack of paper and books.
"So you can be rest assured that any affection I shall ever hold for Miss Swan will only be strictly platonic for the sake of Henry's happiness" he finishes pulling his jacket over his shoulders.
"Where are you going?" questioned her brother as he looked like he as about to leave at this time of night.
"I need some air. I'll see you in the morning" opening his door the youngest Mill's sibling wrenching his bedroom door open to leave his sister, before a thud coming from his closet make the woman jump as she look towards the source of the noise to see that something big and heavy had fallen onto the wooden floor.
Venturing towards the item, she saw it was a large canvas frame that had fallen, but on closer inspection she recognized the frame as she lifted it up to see the painting that had haunted her brother's life since he commissioned it.
The picture still churned her stomach to this day as she looked at the older hideous version of her baby brother looking back at her as he posed with an elbow resting on a fireplace mantelpiece standing tall and proud displaying all the abuse he had done to his body and soul in the pursuit of looking young forever.
She had studied every spell and incantation in their mother's book to find a way to reverse the curse that had been set upon it only to continue to come up short as he darkened his heart. The Dark Curse was the answer. But it seemed to only remind. him of the monster he became as she became the Evil Queen.
Reaching out with her hand, her finger barely brushed the paint that made up his aged cheek before quickly snatching it away and turning the large painting around so that the picture faced the wall. Hidden away until she could figure out how to set her brother free from the curse that had plagued him for years.
AN: Hello! Another Chapter!
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