Beautiful Lily

Monday

...3:23 p.m. in Storybrooke...

"That was the deal Swan! Henry is your responsibility on the weekends. If it wasn't for the principal calling me earlier this afternoon about Henry's absence today, you would have never known he was gone," Regina accused Emma as they both walked over to Gold's pawnshop.

"Excuse me, but I have a text from our son stating that he was staying with you this weekend. This isn't anyone's fault. Henry tricked us both," claimed Emma as she opened the door to the pawnshop. The bell rung violently as the two mothers entered the shop.

Gold came out from the back of his shop to greet the hostile mothers. Despite their oncoming aggression, he remained calm and collected as he said, "Swan... one day you're going to owe me a new bell." Upon seeing that none of the mothers were in the playful mood, he continued getting straight to the point, "To what do I owe the pleasure of being in this family meeting?"

"Henry," stated Regina, "He's missing."

"Missing? Now that doesn't sound like our Henry at all," Gold stated almost sarcastically. Henry's history of disappearing without parental consent was not an unknown fact. "What did you both say to prompt such an uninformed departure?"

"Cut the crap, Gold. We both know you have that globe-tracker-thingy. I can't locate him. I have tried tracking his cell phone through GPS, but his cell must either be turned off or missing. In either case, that's never a good sign."

Gold immediately walked toward the back of his shop and pulled out the globe-tracker. He brought the item back out to the front and sat it down on the display case in front of the worried mothers. He used it before to find Henry in Neverland and was confident that it would work again, but he wanted to use it as a last resort. The globe required blood magic. "You must be losing your touch in magic to be coming to me for help," Gold said jousting Regina.

"Believe me, I've exhausted every tracking spell you've ever taught me. This is the... last place..." Regina retorted, when she noticed a few items in Gold's shop that belonged to Henry. She noticed a boy's jacket, not kin to Gold's style of wardrobe, along with a couple of school books that had to belong to Henry as well. "How often has Henry been in your shop and why?"

Emma noticed Henry's items in the shop as well and asked, "What's he even doing in your shop to begin with?"

"Is it really so odd for a grandson to spend time with his grandfather? Oh, and uh," Gold chuckled to himself as he pricked his finger and a few droplets of blood fell onto the globe. He explained, "Learning magic... from me."

"What?!" exclaimed both Regina and Emma simultaneously.

"Henry can use magic?" Emma said disbelievingly.

"Are you really all that surprised?" Gold asked, waiting on the swirling bloodstains to finally take shape. "He's actually quite good. Better than you Miss Swan."

"Why are we hearing about this from you?" Regina asked with genuinely perplexed. "Why didn't he come to either one of us about this? I think we're both equally adept at using magic."

"I would beg to differ. He never came to you," Gold said pointing at Emma, "because... well, you don't really like magic and avoid it like it's the plague. And he really wanted to avoid talking to you about it," he said pointing to Regina, "because magic has always complicated your relationship with him."

"You knew all along and you refused to help us?" Emma questioned, irritation ebbed at her words.

"I didn't refuse to help you, I refused to tell you," corrected Gold. He looked down at the globe and it gave inconclusive results. His face furrowed with confusion. He never had that kind of result come from the globe before. He looked back up at the mothers who were eyeing him suspiciously, watching his every move. "I made a deal with him. He promised to come to my shop every day after school so long as I was the one that trained him properly, in exchange I promised to not tell either of you about it. He usually shows up to my shop about this time after school, but since he didn't show... naturally the deal broke, which is why I'm telling you now."