Long Lost | Once Upon a Time (REWRITING)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Tower

Storybrooke
Present

Granny's Diner was lively today, what with customers coming in and out of the building every few minutes. One of those customers was Grace, along with her mother and father. They were here to meet Emma and Henry to kind of 'introduce' them to the boy. It was a pretty awkward situation to deal with, but Grace knew they'd manage. After all, this family's been through a lot more than someone with missing memories.

The moment the three of them stepped into the diner, Emma flagged them down, her quickly standing from the booth she had been sitting at with her son before walking over towards them all. She gave them a pointed look that told them that they couldn't afford to screw this up before finally gesturing towards their table. "Henry, this is David, Mary Margaret, and their daughter." She said hesitantly.

Henry looked up at them all and right away, Grace noticed one thing--puberty. "Are you helping my mom with the case?" He asked, his voice having dropped an entire octave since she last saw him. It was weird to see the kid like this, even if it had just been a year. Though it certainly didn't feel like a year to the rest of the town. "...Or are they the ones who skipped bail?" He muttered to his mother, causing Emma to flush.

"No, they're--they're just old friends." Emma quickly answered as she went to sit in the booth beside him.

"Friends?" Henry asked in confusion. Grace almost laughed at that, as she, too, understood that Emma having friends could be a bit unbelievable. "From where?"

Snow looked at Emma for a moment before answering, "Phoenix."

"Here." She said in unison with her mother. Emma quickly went to covering up her mistake, "Well, Phoenix and then here."

"But I thought you were only in Phoenix for... being in that place." Henry muttered to his mother, though they could all hear him loud and clear.

"Right." Snow let out as she gave him a nod. "We were cell mates." If Grace had been drinking anything at that time, she would've spat it all over Emma because she was struggling greatly to contain her laughter. The way Emma shrunk back in embarrassment only made this even more humorous.

Henry looked shocked to hear her say that, possibly because of the fact that Emma never mentioned having a cell mate--at least, they didn't think she did. "Really? What were you in for?"

Snow hesitated before giving him a sad look. "Banditry." Finally, they all made their way into the booth, Grace sitting beside Emma and across from Henry as Snow and David sat beside the boy. "People make mistakes. The important thing is to find a way to keep moving on." Her mother told him, and it was clear that she was hoping it would end there. Unfortunately for her, it didn't.

"Did... Did you know my dad?" Henry asked. David visibly gulped.

"Should we order? Let's order." He chuckled nervously when suddenly, the sound of glass shattering caused all of their heads to turn. Regina stood in the middle of the diner with a shocked look on her face, her eyes locked onto Henry as he looked right through her. This day just couldn't get any better.

"Oh, uh, I'm--I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." She finally said after she snapped out of her trance. She smiled at the boy, though it was clear that she was doing all she could not to breakdown then and there.

Henry only shrugged. "Oh, that's okay."

Emma quickly realized that she would have to explain the situation to the woman and so she somehow wormed her way out of the booth. At some point, her ass was in Grace's face and so she quickly directed a glare up at the blonde. Emma didn't seem to notice however, as her eyes were on Regina. Finally, she got out of the booth and gave her a solemn look. "Regina."