25

Chapter 24: Books, Moms, and Harry

Henry Mills had no idea what the commotion was about at Granny's and why his mom was mad at him. He had been trying to help out a friend.

Or at least he hoped Harry looked at him as a friend. The boy had seemed so freaked out when they first met. Which Henry regretted deeply.

Imagine to his surprise when he saw Harry at his grandparents house sipping cocoa without cinnamon.

Blasphemous.

And turns out, Harry ate dinner with them as well. After Henry talked to him.

He really didn't get why Belle and Gold hadn't told him. Why he was completely clueless. That was just wrong.

But apparently, Henry was not an adult and he didn't know better.

As his mother kept telling him.

Admittedly, he put his foot in his mouth a lot that night. Starting with Harry. He felt so bad about being the one to drop the fairytale bomb and he could tell it was eating Harry up. He tried asking him about it, but the boy shook his head and said. "It doesn't matter, Henry. I should thank you for telling me the truth, no one else was willing to."

Yeah, he felt really bad after that remark.

Henry sighed. "Still, I should've let Belle explain it."

Harry shrugged. "I doubt she was going to say anything. Not with Gold…"

Henry shook his head. He really felt bad for the boy. Growing up with Mr. Gold as a quasi father that had to be weird. "Did she ever talk about your dad?"

"My dad?" Harry said.

"Gaston." Henry said, "I guess not. Hey, I could show you the book. It's probably going to take them awhile to get the fajitas ready anyway."

"What book?"

"Oh, do you have a lot to learn."

He showed Harry the book. He was surprised that everyone in town had let him hold onto it, since it was essentially the equivalent to the town's bible. But he guessed he was the chosen one when it came to being the bookkeeper.

Henry flipped through the book trying to find any mention of Gaston when he finally found the book's version of "Beauty and the Beast". It was odd how Gaston only appeared in that one story. And to be honest, the book's account of "Beauty and the Beast" was pretty weak. Henry had not even known it was Gold who starred in the Beast's role until after the curse had broke and Belle just turned up at the library one day.

"Afraid it's mostly about Belle and Gold." He told Harry.

"That's fine." Harry said starring at one the illustrations. "Is this how Gold used to look?"

"I suppose so." Henry said, "Honestly, I don't know. And it really doesn't matter, since I don't see us going back to the Enchanted Forest anytime soon."

"True." Harry said. "I just find it weird. Do you think…do you think if Be…Mum and Gold ever have a kid it would end up looking like that."

"Who knows?" Henry said. "I really doubt it though. Gold's cursed, so I doubt the Dark One's appearance is genetic. Or for that matter, I don't even know if the Dark One can reproduce."

Harry looked down at this part embarrassed.

"What? Is your mom pregnant?"

"No." Harry said, "I know that, I know that she and Gold probably want a baby at some point. I just worry about my future sibling."

Henry shrugged. "I get you there. You've never heard of any of this before?"

Harry shook his head. "Never. Do you mind if I borrow the book?"

Did Henry mind? No, not really. Something felt right, actually, about giving the book to Harry. He felt bad for the kid and it wasn't because there was something about those soulful gold eyes of his.

Yeah, he had been spending way too much time looking at Mary Margret's romance novels—he got bored.

But seriously, he couldn't help but feel for the kid. And he had the whole British appeal which made giving the book to him easier.

God, he really was Emma's kid.

Regina would kill him if she knew how easily wooed he was.

However, Henry would argue that British accents make being wooed a lot easier. And he adored Harry's accent.

Harry then proceeded to ask him about the book.

Henry sighed. "I really don't know much about it, other than that it's a pretty accurate representation of what happened in the past before my mom cast the curse."

"How can you stand it?" Harry asked.

"Stand what?"

"Regina." Harry said, "After everything's she's done. I mean, I don't know how I feel about Gold now. It's just so weird. Especially after all those Disney movies."

Yeah, the Disney movies made everything even weirder than it was. When Henry first found out about the curse, he wanted to cry thinking his mother was the duplicate of the Evil Queen he saw in that classic movie. Or even worse the Grimm's fairytale where she tried to kill Snow multiple times and ended up dying when Snow White tricked her into wearing those iron hot shoes.

However, Henry was starting to find out. That his mom was still his mom. Her past was, well, her past. And that's what he told Harry.

"Then why do you live with them?" Harry asked.

Good point indeed.

Henry had to really think about it. "I don't know. I want to get to know them, I guess. Plus, I sort of wanted to get back about the turnover thing. Emma is my birthmother, I didn't want her to die. And Mom can be sort of scary."

"But you still love her?"

Henry nodded.

He did still love Regina and admittedly he missed her. He was sort of happy tonight that he was going to get to stay at her place. He loved the Charmings and Emma, but there was just something stilted about being there. Plus, the lack of structure in that house sort of made him crazy. Even though, it wasn't near as bad as Regina made it seem. Sure, Emma let him have a cookie when he wasn't suppose to or might forget he needed to go to bed at a decent hour, but the things that mattered she got them right.

He felt loved. And sometimes, well, as much as she tried, sometimes he didn't feel loved by his mother.

But the way Regina was acting right now at the diner, sort of made his reconsider his decision. She seemed almost mad at him, but she didn't say she was mad at him. Instead, she was more or less worried about Harry and seemed annoyed with Emma.

That was something Henry was still confused about her connection to Harry. He didn't get a chance to ask the boy about it either since they had to eat fajitas pretty soon after Henry gave him the book. And after dinner, David had to take him to the diner and Harry wanted to talk to Snow about her cookies.

Like he didn't want to talk about Regina or Belle or Gold anymore.

Not that Henry could blame him. He was sort of tired of talking about them too, and it was sort of nice to talk about normal things at dinner like David's upcoming fishing trip.

Henry was going to make sure that Harry got invited. He seemed utterly fascinated about the whole thing.

It was almost as if he hadn't been fishing before. He was the same way about fajitas. How could someone not taste fajitas?

Henry's thoughts about Harry's lack of fajita experience were halted though with what Grandpa said about Harry leaving the house.

And the hit and run.

Harry couldn't have gotten hit. It had to be a coincidence. But Belle hadn't heard from him, reminded Regina and David.

"Maybe he didn't go home." Henry said.

"Yeah," Emma said. "He could've gone for ice cream."

"I want to see the pool of blood." His mother said. She looked determined and focused.

"I thought you wanted no part in the investigation."

"Swan, do not test me." She snapped. "Tell the pirate you'll see him later. I want to see if that blood match's Harry."

"A DNA test takes a long time Regina I…"

"I have CSI magic." She snapped. "Now tell lover boy adios."

How could Henry not have noticed Hook? But he was there fawning all over Emma. He didn't even know what to think about that. He thought he was dating his Grandma Cora. Oh, the headache of interfamily relations.

Should he be grossed out?

It wasn't important, he told himself. They needed to find Harry.

"Perhaps, I can help find the boy." Hook said not taking a hint.

"Would you?" Emma asked thinking this was some big romantic gesture.

By the way his mom was rolling her eyes, it didn't seem like she thought much about Hook's offer.

Honestly, neither did Henry.

The guy might've looked hot in leather, but he was still the bad guy in Peter Pan. And he wore way too much eyeliner to be classy.

"I don't think Harry's mother would appreciate your involvement." Regina spit out.

"Regina, I'm sure Belle would appreciate the help." David said.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Are you forgetting who this is? This is Captain Hook, he and Gold have a vendetta and he's been giving Belle dagger looks at Granny's."

"When did you become Belle's advocate, Regina?" Emma asked. "After all, weren't you're the one to lock her up in the dungeon?"

"This has gotten ridiculous." His mom said before disappearing in a poof of purple smoke.

"What was that all about?" Grandpa asked.

Henry was wondering the same thing.

Henry got to see just how bad of a police officer Emma was. It took them about fifteen minutes to come up with a suitable plan. Which meant leaving Granny's and driving the Bug to the accident site.

Hook came along. In his own car, which Henry wondered how he even got, but still. He came along.

Which was something Henry really wasn't that happy with either. Was Hook going to become some sort of a stepdad to him?

Okay, probably way too early to even think about such a thing, but Henry had to wonder. He wanted Emma to have some fun, but Hook?

"The accident site was reported right here." Emma said after parking her car.

Someone was already there.

Or someones to be precise. His mother and Gold.

"Well, well, well, the welcoming committee is here." Gold spat out glaring at all of them.

"Gold," Emma said, "This is police business."

"Yes, if the police were competent." His mother spit out. "I'm afraid you're no longer needed, Ms. Swan. Mr. Gold and I are taking care of the situation."

"That's…that's not in your jurisdiction!" Emma exclaimed.

Henry noticed Gold rolling his eyes.

"I don't get what's so funny," Emma said. " You're obstructing justice."

"I believe it would be called being a Good Samaritan." Gold said. "There's an accident scene here, dearie. I was only doing my help to preserve the scene of the crime."

"Yeah, and not have the authorities handle it." Emma spit out. "Have you two done your Magic CSI?"

"Magic CSI?" Gold said, "I don't think there is a need, don't you agree, Regina."

"Quite." His mother said. "A deer was hit. Nothing more."

"I don't believe you." Emma said. "There's a lot of blood on the ground."

"Deer bleed." Gold said before he disappeared.

"That is so annoying." Emma said pointing to the spot where Gold was. "And I know you two are in cahoots with each other, Regina. I'll prove it."

"You can relax, Swan." His mother said. "It really was a deer."

"Uh, huh."

"Why would I lie about it? Seriously?"

"I don't know but I'll find out."

His mother rolled her eyes. "Yeah, let me know when you figure out why I'd lie about a dead deer. I'm going home."

Then she was gone.

And then, Henry knew she really was lying. Something was wrong. He looked at Emma, "I think you should check the cameras. They probably didn't magic the footage away."

"You really don't think it was a deer?" Emma asked.

"I'll check them." Grandpa said—a voice of reason.

"Yeah," Emma said. "I guess we should check the blood to make sure it's really deer blood."

"There's no blood left." Henry pointed out, it seemed like either Regina had caused the blood to disappear as she left.

"Damn," Emma murmured. "I think I'm going to have to pull an all nighter. But I think I need to get you home first, be responsible."

Henry rolled his eyes at this, but what happened next made him even sicker. "I can give Henry a lift back to your place, Swan."

Was she really buying this? Apparently, she was since she was cooing over what a good idea it was. He tried to look for David for support, but David was occupied with actually being a police officer.

Which was how he ended up in a car with Hook. He still couldn't believe Hook could drive. He didn't think that was something that you learned in the Enchanted Forest.

And he was trying to make conversation with Henry.

"So, what do young lads like yourself do here?" He asked.

Henry decided to go right for it. "What do you want with Emma?"

"Want with Emma?" Hook—Just Call Me Killian—said. "She's just helping me out, I'm returning the favor."

Henry shook his head. "I'm not stupid. You like her."

"That I do, lad." The pirate admitted.

"How much?"

"Giving me a lecture about treating her right then?" Hook asked.

Henry rolled his eyes.

"Well, I don't plan on hurting Emma, lad."

What else was he suppose to say?

"Hey! You missed our exit." Henry said.

Hook looked bemused. "I don't think I did, lad."

Henry groaned. This was not good.