Poor Unfortunate Soul (An OUAT Fanfiction)

4: Save Our Shoals

Storybrooke

Henry stepped out of the school building and saw his mom's yellow Bug waiting for him at the curb.

"Hey, kiddo," she said as he climbed in. "How was school?"

"Oh," he bobbed his head, "y'know."

Emma chuckled, "Yeah, unfortunately, I do."

They drove past Marine Garage. Behind it, Hilary Anderson was busy cleaning the most recent catch of fish.
Henry saw his mom watching. "Do you know her?" he asked abruptly.

"I talked to her this morning," Emma answered, watching fish after fish drop into the ice chest next to the table.

His point became clear with his next question.
"You know who she is, right?"

Emma rolled her eyes. The fairytale thing again!
"Umm..." No one came to mind, so she said, "No, Henry, I have no idea."

"Seriously?" he asked. "It's Ariel!"

Emma pulled to a stop and watched carefully.
"No," she answered quickly, "No way! The Little Mermaid? I'd expect her to be something like a marine biologist, or a pet store owner or something." She nodded to where Hilary lifted another bucket of fish onto the table. "Hilary seems pretty handy at gutting the fish."

"That's not the point!" Henry retorted.

Emma watched as a man in a black trench coat approached the young woman. She immediately backed away from the table, the knife forgotten in her hand. He said something to her, pulling a sheaf of papers out of his jacket pocket as he did so. Hilary responded and tried to read the papers, but he folded them of her sight before she could do so. He shook his finger at her, gestured to the garage and the harbor. Hilary appeared distraught, defeated by something he said. He stepped forward, still talking heatedly, and when she backed away, he snatched the hand that held the knife by the wrist. 

Emma jumped out of the car.

"Hey!" she yelled, holding up her badge, "What do you think you're doing?"

The man gave Hilary's arm a violent yank and strode away as Emma approached.

"Hilary!" Emma reached the girl's side.

Tears coursed down the redhead's face as she sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Sheriff!" she sniffed.

"Don't be sorry," Emma said, putting an arm around her. "Who was that guy, and what did he want?"

Hilary wiped her face on her sleeve. "That is one of the union bosses in charge of the trawling company that collects fish in the harbor," she explained. "He comes every few days to threaten my dad with official forms and financial reports."

"Why is he harassing you?" Emma asked. "If he has some complaint to make, why doesn't he go to court?"

Hilary sighed and went about cleaning up her mess. "It's not really complaints or anything like that; more like he thinks he can convince us to let his company just take over the area completely, by making it impossible for us to keep the garage if we don't. And," she smirked sheepishly, "I'm the weakest link in the chain, so to speak. Those guys freak me out, and they know it."

Emma frowned, "Sounds like illegal harassment to me."

Hilary shrugged. "He hasn't physically done anything yet; even if we did take it to court, it's his word against mine—and not many people believe me when I say I've been hurt." A shadow passed over Hilary's face, but she set her jaw and continued. "Anyway, we've tried getting the mayor involved, but the commercial boats have all their permits and pay all their fees, so the town bylaws allow them to fish right around our buoys." Hilary gazed out over the water and sighed, "We just have to keep working hard, and either we get enough money to pay off the commercial fishers, or I end up saving enough to go to Julliard—however long that takes."

Emma searched hard for something hopeful to cheer the woebegone girl. "With a voice like yours," she began, "I don't wonder if you shouldn't carry a tip jar for people to put money in, see how far you get."

A voice erupted by her elbow. "What about a benefit concert?"

Emma looked down at Henry, who had climbed out of the car and now stood staring in awe at the girl he was convinced had to be a mermaid in a past life.

"Whoa, there, buster," Emma quelled her eager son. "A benefit concert?"

"Yeah! Then Hilary could be earning money toward a cause for her talent, and not just begging money for herself."

"What cause, though?" Emma shook her head, "Stop commercialism?"

"Naw," Henry shook his head, "It needs something catchy, something that tells people that the small fishermen will harvest fish with respect for the environment and concern for the quality and health of the fish and marine life, instead of sweeping up whole shoals in their big nets and shipping it out to other parts of the country." He grinned at Hilary, "Am I right?"

She gnawed her lip and nodded. His excitement was making her nervous. "Pretty much; it's the Anderson Guarantee."

Henry snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" he cried, "Save Our Shoals!"

"And just where exactly would you hold a Save Our Shoals concert?" Emma challenged him.

Henry was ready, "The Castle Theater. It has a nice stage and plenty of room. It's perfect!"

"I don't know," Hilary hedged. "No offense, Henry, but I really don't think a concert would work." She glanced furtively toward the Garage. "I have to go now. Talk to you later! And—" she made eye contact with Emma. "Thanks," she said.

Once they were back in the Beetle, Emma looked suspiciously at her son. He avoided her gaze.

"The Castle Theater?" she needled him. "What gave you that idea?"

Henry shrugged and pulled a brochure out of his backpack. "I saw the guy who came after Hilary last week, and so I looked all over town to find out where Prince Eric ended up."

"Prince? Oh, right," Emma rolled her eyes as they pulled up to the apartment. "The mermaid thing."

"It's true! And the owner of the Castle Theater is the right guy!"

Emma had to laugh as she climbed out of the car. "Rick Royal is a prince? Well—" she paused as the likelihood occurred to her. "He acts so much like a diva that I guess it wouldn't be too much of a stretch."

Henry grinned, "Now you're getting it. Rick and Hilary have to be together, because he's her true love!"

"Didn't the prince end up dumping the mermaid for some other chick because she couldn't talk, so she got depressed and killed herself?"

"Only in some versions of the story," Henry defended his beloved storybook, "the ones that don't have all the facts!"

"And your book does?" Emma eyed him carefully from the bottom of the front steps.

Henry nodded. "Have I been wrong yet, Mom?"

Emma sighed and opened the door. "There's always a first time, bucko," she muttered. If what he said was true, Hilary and Rick had a long way to go, since at this point neither knew the other existed!