Title: Henry's Family
Author: Kat Lee
Fandom: Once Upon A Time
Character/Pairing: Henry, Regina, Emma
Rating: G/K
Challenge/Prompt: fan_flashworks #138: Relative
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 1,337
Date Written: 29 November, 2015
Summary:
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.



There are times when he doesn't feel like he belongs no matter where he is, even though he's lived practically his entire life in this small town. There are times when he questions his place in this life, despite his young age. Such times even happen at his own home, but it hasn't happened as often since his mother started trying to be good. He's so proud of her. Henry's heart swells with pride for Regina every time he thinks about the changes she's making; so much of what she's doing is for him.

And yet, still, he wonders. Still, sometimes, he feels like he'll never belong anywhere. But that never really happens here. Here, Henry thinks, pausing with broom in hand and looking around the small shop, here he never wonders about those things. He thinks about the times he spends wondering rather or not he'll ever belong, but here, right here in this shop, among so many cool and magical items from lands in which he's never set foot, he never wonders. Here, he belongs.

Maybe it's because of who he is, Henry thinks. He's the grandson of Snow White and Prince Charming, and oddly enough, of the Dark One who owns this shop, but he's also a kid of the modern day. He's rarely held an actual sword in his hands, and he loves video games. But unlike most children in the world today, he doesn't just believe in magic. He knows it's real.

Maybe that's why he feels so at home here. This shop has modern touches. It was built in this town, much as he's grown up here. But it's full of things that belong in the world where Henry knows he should have been born. It's full of magical things and wonderful things and dangerous things. It's full of things that just don't belong in the modern world, but yet, here they are, much like Henry himself.

And it speaks to him of his relatives. The store doesn't actually talk to him, but there are so many things here that makes him wonder about their creation. There's the chipped cup that his grandfather, Rumplestiltskin, and the woman Henry knows he's going to one day get to call his grandmother, Belle, cherish so much. There's a unicorn mobile that Henry's often thought might have once hung over his mother's, Emma's, crib. There are books that he knows his mother, Regina, also possesses and books from which he knows Rumplestiltskin taught her spells. He's spied the lock of Snow's hair that his grandfather still keeps squirreled away.

There are other gems from his family hidden here, too, such as the items that Henry knows must have belonged to his father. There are baby clothes, a rattle, and toys carved from wood hidden somewhere here. Every time he finds them, Rumplestiltskin moves them again, but he knows they must have belonged to Neal. They had to have belonged to him, and Henry wishes quite often that they could talk. If he knew magic, he could probably cast a spell on them to make them talk to him and tell them of their adventures with his father and what he was like when he was Henry's age.

But he doesn't know magic yet. He just wants to learn, and this, he thinks, looking around at the store and its wonders again, has got to be the best place to learn. He doesn't want Rumplestiltskin to teach him, not that his grandfather would ever offer. He'd much rather his mother teach him, but Regina needs to stay away from magic. It darkens her soul and heart too much. It changes her. He knows it's dangerous, but he still wants to learn just a little, just enough that he can maybe somehow piece together today and yesterday and finally really feel at home, just enough so he can help more often and better when they're all being attacked again, just enough so he can really understand where he's come from and where he's going . . .

Henry places the broom against a wall and edges toward a book. He's seen the thick, dark book before. He's seen copies of it held in both his grandfather's and his mother's hands. Rumplestiltskin's told him many times not to touch anything here, but that hasn't stopped him yet and they both know it won't. He knows Rumplestiltskin wants him to get into trouble that he can't handle and from which his mothers can't save him in time. That's never going to happen, but there is so much here from whence he can learn.

His hands are inches away from the book's cover when his mother's voice suddenly calls to him from the front of the store. "Henry, are you done? I thought we could have some apple turnovers for dinner tonight."

"I'm almost done, Mom," he calls back, but still, his hands inch for that book which he knows contains powerful magic.

"Hey, kid," Emma suddenly speaks, somehow coming from the back of the store, "wanna go get some ice cream?"

Regina enters the room. "We are going home for dinner, Miss Swan, and for some of my famous apple turnovers."

"Don't me why they're so famous," Emma retorts dryly with a roll of her eyes.

"That was in the past, Miss Swan, and besides, that particular poison is difficult to find in this era."

Henry's already snatched his hands away from the book and grabbed the broom. He pauses in pretending to resume sweeping to look at them both. "Moms!"

Emma shrugs. Regina's lips open to say, Henry thinks, that Emma started it, but wisely, she shuts her mouth and smiles. She doesn't apologize to him or to his other mother, but she does give him the look that he knows means she'll do her best to behave. He sighs and wonders again why sometimes he feels so much older than he really is. Maybe it's not just because he's hundreds of years ahead of where he should be.

"Let me finish," he says, taking charge of them both. "It'll only take me a few minutes, and then we can go pick up some ice cream and go home for dinner. Emma can come, can't she, Mom? Then we can have ice cream with your delicious apple turnovers."

"That's not exactly what I had in mind, kid," grumbles Emma, but Regina's already speaking, too, and agreeing to make her son happy.

"Sure, Henry," she says but casts Emma a dark glower when Henry isn't looking. She'll cook enough for three tonight, but that doesn't mean she'll ever actually welcome the other mother of her child into her home.

Henry stifles another sigh and pretends not to notice the anger shooting between the two adults. Sometimes, it's really tiring being an adult when you're only twelve years old. He grins with sudden realization. Maybe that's the real reason why he doesn't fit in in school or pretty much anywhere else. He's years before his actual age, but looking at his mothers waiting as patiently as they can for him to finish, much like two spoiled little girls though he'll never tell them that, he knows he wouldn't have them any other way. He'd like for all of his family to be good, for his mom and Rumplestiltskin both to put their evil ways behind them and for his father to still be alive, but other than that, he wouldn't change a thing about any of his family. He loves them just the way they are.

He finishes sweeping and puts the broom and dust pan away before turning again to face his mothers. "Okay," he says, "let's go home." And as they walk out together, Henry between the two adults, he knows this is where he belongs. It's where he'll always belong, and it's not a time or a place, really. It's with these two women. It's with his mothers, and with his family, good or bad, every last one of them.

The End