The Author

Take me to church...on time

...5 Years Ago...

Two years later and still the questioning of Henry's pocket-watch lingered around town. Have you found it yet? Are you able to enter Gold's shop yet? Can we go back? Each time and to everyone's disappointment, Henry would shake his head and shrug his shoulders replying with a 'no'.

After a couple years of living under the same roof as her parents Emma moved out and found an apartment close by in a development at the end of town. Much to Henry's disgust, it was so that she and Killian could have some more privacy to themselves. However much Henry didn't like Killian, he definitely appreciated and respected how much he made his mother happy. So for the time being, Henry learned to settle with simply tolerating the once one-handed pirate.

The other major perk to Emma having her own apartment was Henry having a second bedroom, which is where Henry stood staring into the mirror. He huffed a frustrated sigh as he struggled aligning the two pieces to straighten his bowtie. "Mom!" called out Henry from his bedroom for Emma. Dressed in a tuxedo, he yanked the bow tie off and started over again.

"Yeah?" called back Emma as she entered his room in a pale light colored dress of her own. "What's up?"

"I can't figure out... this... darn thing!" Henry said as he twisted and folded the now wrinkled tie into a strange knot. Emma chuckled to herself as she conjured another bowtie in her hand.

"Let me help," said Emma as Henry tossed the crumpled tie onto his dresser. He looked at the bowtie in her hand and noticed the already assembled bow and clip.

"Oh," smiled Henry as she took the easy clip-on tie and wrapped it around his neck, "Well, I suppose that's much easier."

"To be fair, I don't even know how to tie a bowtie. Regular long ties, yes... bowties, no. Though, there is always YouTube."

"Ah, yes," agreed Henry, "The magic and wonders of YouTube."

Henry went to his bed and threw on a black vest. Emma took a step back and couldn't help but admire her son. "Well don't you look handsome?" she remarked with a smile.

"Mom..." Henry blushed as he went to his closet for his tuxedo jacket.

"You know... a suit looks great on you. It's very dashing." Henry silently slipped his arms through the sleeves as Emma seemed hesitant with her next statement. Not sure how to broach the subject, she simply blurted out, "So... are there any girls at school I should be aware of?"

"Mom..." said Henry, rolling his eyes.

"Boys?"

"Mom!"

"I'm just saying! As a proud mother, you look very handsome." Emma came closer to Henry and started affectionately brushing off the non-existent lint from the shoulder of his tuxedo jacket. "I'm just surprised you're not dating anybody. Isn't the school prom sometime soon?"

"It's later this spring and no, I... haven't asked anybody to prom yet. I've just been really focused on school and magic stuff."

"How have your lessons with Regina been going lately, by the way?"

"Good. Challenging. We've been working on potions, which by the way, I can now make a phenomenal wart remover."

Emma giggled, "That's good to know."

"or... a poison that renders you unconscious for about thirty-two hours," finished Henry. "Either way, I think it's an improvement."

Emma nodded her head hesitantly, "Sure?" She wanted to show her approval of his progress, but was also a little shocked by what he had created in the lessons. "I suppose there are worse things."