Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 11 - Operation Cobra

Regina stood in her garden, holding a basket of apples. She stood next to a beautiful, ripe apple tree with apples as red as blood.
She lifted her arm and picked an apple. A voice came from behind her.
"The Mirror stricks again." said the voice.
A man with dark skin, tight, curly, black, hair and dark eyes, holding up a news paper with Emma on the cover walked over to Regina.
"You're late." said Regina.
"Sorry. I wanted to bring you the latest edition..... I assure you, it's one of my better hatchet jobs."
Emma looked at the paper and took it. "That's not what I asked for." she said. She examined the paper. "What did you find oug about her?"
"Well, the truth be told, there wasn't much...... She spend a lot of time in foster homes....."
Regina huffed and walked away.
"She got into some trouble when she was a kid, bit the details are locked up pretty tight..... Since then, she's clean..... Bounced around all over." he said as she took another apple from the tree. "The only thing I learned was that she doesn't like to sit still."
"That appears to have changed." she said.
"Did you know that she had Henry while she was in Phoenix?" he said following her around the tree.
"How'd he wind up here in Maine?" he asked.
"So, if I'm understanding me correctly, you found nothing of value." she said holding up the paper. "Which means you have no value, Sidney. Do you know what I do with things that hold no value to me? I throw them away."
Sidney stammered. "I'll keep looking." and he walked away.
Regina took another look at the paper and started reading it.

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Emma sat in Granny's Diner, an apple in one hand and the Storybrook Mirror in the other. The heading reading: "Stranger Destroyed Historic Sign" and a picture of Emma and a caption "Alcohol Involved."
"Here you go." said the younger woman, from Granny's and she placed a mug of hot cocoa on the counter.
"Thank you, but I didn't order that." said Emma.
"Yeah, I know. You have an admirer." she said, smiling.
Emma put her hands down on the counter and turned around, to see Graham sitting accross the diner, alone.
Emma smiled to the woman and walked accross the diner to Graham with the mug of hot cocoa in her hand.
"Ah, so you dicided to stay?" said Graham when he saw Emma.
"Observant. Important for a cop." said Emma.
"It's good news for our tourist business..... It's bad for our local signage."
Emma looked at him, perplexed.
"It's a joke."he said.
Emma raised her eyebrows.
"Because you ran over our sign."
Emma interrupted. "Look. The cocoa was a nice gesture. And I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon on my chocolate cause most people don't, but I am not here to flirt. So thank you bit no thank you." she placed the mug on the table in front of him.
Graham raised his eyebrows and shook his head a little. "I didn't send it." he said.
"I did." said a kids voice from accross the diner.
Emma turned.
"I like cinnamon too." Henry said and he got up.
"Don't you have school?" said Emma.
"Duh, I'm ten." he said walking over to her. "Walk me."

"So what's the deal with you and your mom?" said Emma as they crossed the main street of Storybrook.
"It's not about us, it's her curse." Henry said. "We have to break it. Luckily I have a plan."
Emma listened to Henry as she threw one of Reginas apples between her hands.
"Step one, identification. I call it operation Cobra.
"Cobra? That had nothing to do with fairytales."
"Exactly, it's a code name. To throw the queen off the trail."
"So everyone here is a fairytale character, they just don't know it?"
"That's the curse. Time's been frozen. Until you got here."
They walked along the street and Emma was just about to take a bit from her apple when Henry interrupted.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Where'd you get that?" he asked.
Emma looked at the apple. "Your mom."
"Don't eat that." he said and took the apple from Emma's hand and he threw it behind him.
Emma followed the apple fly accross the footpath. "Okay." she said. "Uh, all right. What about their pasts?"
"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything and you'll see."
"So for decades people have been walking around in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a curse town that kept them oblivious?"
"I knew you'd get it. That's why we need you. You're the only one who can stop her curse."
"Because I am the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"
"Yes. And right now we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that." he got his rug-sack and took out a few torn pages. On the first page was Charming and the baby Emma. "I took out the end. The part with you in it."
Emma took the pages and examined them.
"See? Your mom is Snow White."
"Oh, kid."
"I know the hero never believes at first. If they did, it wouldn't be a very goof story."
Emma sighed and they continued walking.
"If you need proof, take them. Read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are...... It would be bad."
Emma rowled up the sheets as they neared the school.
"I gotta go." said Henry. "But I'll find you later and we can get started..... I knew you'd believe me." he said before he ran into the crowd.
"I never said I did." said Emma.
"Why else would you be here?"
Emma smiled as Henry ran inside.
Then Mary Margaret saw Emma and walked over.
"It's good to see his smile back." she said to Emma.
"I didn't do anything." asked Emma.
"You stayed..... So, does the Mayor know you're still here?"
"Oh, she knows." she nodded hee head. "What is her deal? She is not a great people person. How did she get elected?"
"She's been Mayor as long as I can remember. No one's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of, well, fear. I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book. Now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."
"Who does he think you are?"
Mary Margaret chuckled. "It's silly."
"I just got five minutes of silly. Lay it on me."
"Snow White." she said shaking her head.
Emma's smile faded away a little and she looked surprised.
Then the school bell rung.
"Who does he think you are?" asked Mary Margaret.
"I'm not in the book." Emma lied. "Can I ask you a favour? Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy. Do you know where I can find the doctor?"

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Sidney ~ The Man In The Mirror