The Author

Happy birthday

7 years ago...

Henry stared at the wall calendar in his room, frowning.

"Henry!" called out Regina from downstairs. "Today's the day. They're moving. Are you ready to go?"

"I'll be down in a minute!" shouted Henry from the depths of his room. They had practiced this before, Henry and his grandfather, Rumplestiltskin. He wasn't nervous. If anything, Henry felt depressed. He didn't want to see his new baby Aunt Lily, Belle or his grandfather move away.

At the border they worked on magically turning off Storybrooke's magic and then cloaking the town, which Henry mastered in just two days. The goal was to turn magic off so that when they left they would still have their memories. He could still remember the conversation he had with his grandfather while at the town line:

"Grandpa, are you sure want to move?"

"Yes, Henry. This is our happy ending. Besides, I'm sure nobody will miss us."

"That's not true... I'll miss you guys."

"That's very kind of you Henry, but I think this will be the best... for all of us."

Henry quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs to meet his mother. They got into the car and drove to the town line where they would be meeting the rest of his family along with a few other people from town. As much as Belle and Gold wanted their moving away to be discreet, it wasn't. So naturally, all of Storybrooke knew. It was a small town after all. However, only the closest of friends and family came to see that they were sent off properly.

Regina parked behind Emma's Volkswagen and were greeted by a slew of other people. Gold's Cadillac was parked in the middle of the street right in front of the red line. All the rest of the cars parked accordingly off on the side of the road. Regina and Henry both got out of the car and saw that Belle and Gold were already saying their goodbyes. Gold held his daughter and was talking to Emma while Belle hugged and kissed her father. Regina and Henry walked straight towards Gold. As if announcing her arrival to them, Regina spoke, "You pack light."

"Everything we need is already over there. The condo is fully furnished and as far as clothes, we'll just get more when we arrive there. Other than the few essentials we would need for ourselves and for Lily, I would say we're all set," said Gold.

"Not completely," stated Henry. Henry waved his hand and red smoke appeared. When the cloud disappeared a cane magically appeared in his hand and he handed it to his grandfather.

Gold scoffed and then humbly took the cane from him, "Thank you Henry. I almost forgot about that."

After saying her goodbyes to Dr. Hopper and Ruby, Belle came over to Henry and pulled out a set of keys. "I think it's us who should be doing the gifting," Belle said as she handed the keys to her car to Henry. "It's all yours. With all the subways and public transportation, I won't really need it in New York."

Henry's eyes lit up as he gratefully took the keys from her. "Wow! Belle! Thank you!" Henry said while smiling. The keys were barely in his hands for three seconds before Regina snatched them away from him. Henry looked to his mother disappointedly, to which she replied, "When you are old enough... and with a license."

Emma had the look of relief on her face as she leaned over to Regina and whispered, "Thank you."

"And I have a gift to you," Gold said as he gently handed Lily off to Belle. "When you reach of age, I'm giving my house and the shop to you."

"What?!" cried the family.

"Henry is my grandson, I would think it's only appropriate. Besides, it's protected under blood magic and other protective enchantments," Gold continued while pulling out a set of keys from his pocket and placing them into Henry's hands. "The residences will only open to you, but only when you're ready to receive them. The properties are yours."