chapter 19

"just like that?" Ryan grumbled getting slightly shocked faces from Ryan as how he could be so blunt. It was almost as if he didn't care that this was someone's lives, something that actually happened to people. "well. There was a lot to it. My dad, he set Emma up for a crime she didn't commit, he made her take the fall. And she was sent to jail, and she was pregnant with me" he said, holding his mother's hand under the table. Emma tried to push past the awkwardness, sure she might be the saviour, but the past still hurt. "in my defense, I couldn't look after you. I was in jail. And I would have had nothing to help you grow into who you are now" she said.

Graham shifted a little in the seats, the booths in granny's were too big. "and you were alright with that, eh son?" Graham asked the teenage Henry. Henry nodded "it hurt having the evil queen for a mom, especially when I knew it was real, and everyone around me made me sound... Crazy. But." he looked at his mom.

~Flashback ~

Emma walks behind Henry who was sat on his wooden playground castle. His place to go to calm down. Emma has the storybook in her hand

Emma sits next to him and puts the book on her lap " You left this in my car. " She gives Henry the book " Still hasn't moved, huh?" she asks noticing him staring at the clocktower.  The hands still saying 8:15.

Henry looks down upset. He had really been brought down. No one believed him." I was hoping that when I brought you back, things would change here. That the final battle will begin."  Emma smiles softly and holds her hands together in her lap. " I'm not fighting any battles, kid."

Henry looks up at her being consistent "Yes, you are. You're here because it's your destiny. You're going to bring back the happy endings." he says.

Emma was really fed up now. She didn't know who or what to believe. " Can you cut it with the book crap?"

Henry looks down and places the book by his side. "You don't have to be hostile. I know you like me, I can tell. You're just—pushing me away because I make you feel guilty. It's okay; I know why you gave me away. You wanted to give me my best chance." he says facing Emma. Emma looks at the floor. She knew he was right.  Emma pauses "How do you know that?" Henry smiles and goes back to the book. "The same reason Snow White gave you away." he says in his usual tone. Emma faces him. She was getting slightly angry. "Listen to me, kid. I am not in any book. I'm a real person. And I'm no savior. You were right about one thing, though. I wanted you to have your best chance. But it's not with me. C'mon, let's go." she says in a plain voice. She was just bored and had had enough for today.

Henry whines." Please don't take me back there! Just stay with me for one week, that's all I ask! One week, and you'll see I'm not crazy." he says.

Emma shakes her head and offers him her hand "I have to get you back to your mom."

Henry stands up by himself. " You don't know what it's likewith her. My life sucks!" he whines,  he pleads. His voice high pitched and desperate.

Emma turns around to him. "Oh, you wanna know what sucking is? Being left abandoned on the side of a freeway; my parents didn't even bother to drop me off at a hospital! " she begins to break down. Her voice faltering and her lip quivering. "I ended up in a foster system and I had a family until I was three but then they had their own kid so they sent me back..." she stops and collects herslef. She couldnt crying front of this random kid. "Look. Your mom is trying her best. I know it's hard. And I know sometimes you think she doesn't love you. But at least she wants you!" she says trying to persuade him that his life wasn't that bad.

~ End of flashback ~

Henry smiled, slurping his hot chocolate with lots of added cinnamon." she did it to give me my best chance " Henry said nodding, answering graham's question. The doctor nodded, this was a lot to process, everything seemed to happen in a different order, which was highly inconvenient. "how did you know he was telling the truth. About being your son?" yaz asked, the doctor grinned, secretly adding up yaz's score in her head.

Henry and Emma smiled, no words needed to be passed between them. She remembered all too clearly what she had ssit to henry, when he had tried to outsmart her after he forced his way into her apartment and drank her orange juice.

" You're pretty good, but here's the thing. There's not a lot I'm great at in life, but I have one skill. It's called a "superpower." I can tell when anyone is lying, and you, kid, are."