Beautiful Lily

The return

Belle was making tea when Rumplestiltskin, who was still holding Henry, suddenly appeared right next to her in the kitchen of their home. Belle jumped away out of fright, startled by their sudden appearance, and clutched her fast beating heart.

"Rumple!" shouted Belle in alarm.

"I'm so sorry Belle. Henry... was in a very unpleasant place and needed to get picked up."

"Where were you two?" questioned Belle. Rumple released Henry from his bear-tight hug and Henry immediately proceeded to exit the house.

"Henry, where are you going?" asked Rumplestiltskin following after Henry.

"I'm going to go help Hercules. I left him to fight off that monster by himself," justified Henry.

"Stop! Stop," said Rumple racing to place himself between Henry and the front door. "Slow down. Nobody is fighting any monster. We're all going to stay safe here. I'm pretty sure one or both of your mothers are already taking care of the situation as we speak."

Just then a knock came from the front door.

"Now who on Earth could that be?" said Rumple. He turned and opened the door and discovered Regina waiting anxiously. "Regina," Rumple said with surprise. "I guess this one belongs to you," he said turning his body to Henry.

Rumple stepped further back, granting passage for Regina inside his home and she ran directly for Henry giving him a hug. "Henry!" Regina exclaimed, "Where have you been?"

Belle approached the reunion and added, "I was wondering the very same thing."

"I'm sorry," Henry said guiltily, "Operation Golden Retriever was a complete disaster."

"Honey, what are you talking about?" his mother asked, pulling away from her embrace.

"This is all my fault. I brought that monster into town. I should have never gone off."

"Where did you go? And why didn't you tell me you could do magic?"

"I borrowed a few books from the library. In one of the book's I borrowed, the story contained spells. Spells that... I thought... I could try out... for pretend. Only, when I used one of the spells, it actually worked."

"You know, I did think it was odd for a person to check out the same book for eight months. But now that we know why, I suppose that makes sense," deduced Belle.

"The other book," Henry continued, "was about the story of Hercules. His story spoke of heroism so I had to check it out. In it, he battles a god, Hades. Hades is king of the Underworld. In the end of the book Hercules defeats Hades by becoming a god himself. And since he had already dealt with him before in the book I wanted to know more about Hades before talking with him."

"And why did you want to talk to Hades, Henry?" Rumple asked.

Henry hesitated before responding, "I... I wanted to bring my father back."

"Neal?" Belle asked in disbelief. "How were you even able to get there? There aren't any magical beans left in this world."

"In the first book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, there's a Traveling Spell. In the story, the witch enchants a bedknob to travel around. I enchanted an old pocket-watch."

"Henry, why did you want to bring back your father?" Regina asked still confused.

"Why? Because I love him! I love my family. I told you that before. I thought you would understand! All of you!" Henry exclaimed, frustrated and insulted that his family wasn't understanding him.