Pixie Dust Never Lies

Chapter 10

The noise was the first thing I noticed: the squeals of children, the shouting of the few adults, and the high-pitched sound effects of the games. Then I turned the corner, and I was shrouded in darkness for a split second before millions of colored lights seemed to surround me. It was chaos.

"At least it's not busy," Henry said.

I looked at him incredulously; this wasn't busy???

"Yeah, kid," Emma said. "I didn't even know we had an arcade in Storybrooke!"

"We didn't really in the first curse," Henry replied. "The machines were here, but they broke a lot and ate people's quarters a lot of the time. It was basically an excuse to hang out with friends after school without parents' permission."

That last statement surprised me. "Henry?"

He understood my concern. "I never went, Mom. I was too scared of getting punished." He smiled.

I smiled back, trying to hide the stab of guilt in my gut. I had been such a bad mother to him for so long: so cold, so unapproachable. No wonder he had thought I didn't love him.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I looked over and Emma was looking at me. She smiled, understanding, and squeezed my shoulder comfortingly. I smiled back. She always knew how to make me feel better.

"Here it is!" Henry said, running over to a machine with a picture of a short, fat, yellow man and multicolored ghosts. "I love this game!"

"Pac Man, huh, kid?" Emma said.

"You gotta love the classics," Henry replied.

Pac Man. I thought it an odd name for a video game. I watched as Henry controlled the little yellow circle, eating the little white circles and avoiding the colored ghosts. He was good. Just when I had started getting the rules, he ate a dot that was lager than the rest, and the entire game changed color. Suddenly, Henry was chasing the ghosts instead of running away!

"Henry, watch out!" I yelled, but I was too late; he'd run smack into a ghost. However, the game didn't end; another little yellow guy appeared back in the middle, and Henry kept going.

"It's okay, Mom," Henry mumbled. He was completely engrossed in the game. Henry made it to Level 3 before a ghost killed his last Pac Man.

"Not bad, kid," Emma said, nodding her approval.

"Thanks, Mom." Then Henry looked at both of us, speculating. Finally, his eyes rested on me. "Your turn, Mom."

"Oh, no no no no," I said. "I don't think that I..."

"Please, mom?" Henry asked with a pleading look.

I groaned. Why did he do this to me? "Alright." I conceded. Henry lit up and stepped out of the way. I approached the machine slowly, and placed my hand on the controller. There were two walls on either side of the screen and a a small overhang that barely came up to my head; It was almost as if I'd stepped into another world with just me and the screen.

Henry put a quarter in the machine, his hand hovering over the START button.
"Are you ready?" he asked.

I nodded. "Do it."

He pressed the button.

The screen froze and went blank for a moment. Then the maze, the ghosts, and the little yellow man appeared, and the game began. I played for approximately ten seconds before I ran right smack into a ghost. I groaned in exasperation. "I told you I couldn't do this," I said.

"Yes you can!" Henry insisted. I wasn't convinced, but I stayed at the machine for his sake. Suddenly, I felt a presence just behind me, and long hair brushing the back of my neck.

"I'll help you, Emma whispered in my ear, her lips barely touching my ear and making it tickle. She placed her left hand on my hip, and with her right hand she grasped my hand on the joystick; in order to reach, however, she had to take a step forward, pressing her body against mine. My breath caught, surprised by the sudden contact; we were literally cheek to cheek. I tried to concentrate on what Emma was doing, but she was also very distracting.

"Just stay focused," she said in a low voice. "All you have to do is focus on your goal, and don't get killed."

So I focused on the screen: the ghosts and the dots. Together we moved the Pac Man, weaving in and out and dodging the enemies and eating. After a while, I said, "Hey, you're pretty good!"

Then Emma chuckled, and said, "I'm not controlling it anymore, Regina." Her hand was still holding mine, but it was no longer moving the joystick.

I was shocked, and almost got trapped by the pink and blue ghosts. "What? When did you stop?"

"When you listened."

I made it to the end of Level 3 before Pinky took my last life. I was a little bit exhausted, so I decided to go sit on a bench while Emma took the boys to the hunting game. While they were walking away I pulled out my phone to check my messages. Noting demanding; just a few emails from work.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

I looked up, and Henry was standing in front of me. "Of course not, Henry," I said, "but...weren't you going with Emma and Roland?"

Henry shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not a fan of shooting games," he said. Plus, I think they'd fine over there."

I looked over and saw Roland standing on a chair and Emma briefly helping him adjust the gun before grabbing the other one herself. I chuckled a bit; it was adorable.

"So..." Henry started. I looked over at him, and he was staring at me with a knowing face. Oh, boy.

"Yes?"

"You and Mom, huh? You and Emma, I mean."

My heart skipped a beat; how could he know? "Wha...how...?" I stammered.

"I can tell, Mom," he said. "With the way you two look at each other, it's pretty obvious."

I nodded. "How long...?" I trailed off.

"Two weeks or so ago I noticed mom acting different. I noticed you a couple of nights ago."

"Oh." We sat in an awkward silences for a couple of seconds.

Suddenly he asked, "Do you love her?"

That took me by surprise. How was I supposed to respond to that?

"I...well, we...well, I don't know," I stammered. "There's definitely something there; I can't deny that."

He nodded. "And that's okay," he said. "It's new." Then his face became serious. "You might want to tell Robin, though."

I sighed. "I know. It just all happened so fast...Let me figure out some things before we tell him, okay?"

"Okay," said Henry, "but don't take too long."

I smiled at him. "What did I do to deserve you?" I said, stroking his hair. "You've grown up so fast."

"But not too fast!" And with a wink he dashed to the games again. I watched him run to Emma and challenge her to a one-on-one fighting game, while Roland played Whack-a-Mole. I shook my head and smiled; they were all such children, such grown-up children; and for now, they were all mine.