𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 || Once Upon a Time

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎 - 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅...

"Did you give him your credit card so he can find her?" she asked accusingly, gesturing to Emma who stood awkwardly at the back of the room.

Mary Margaret shifted her glance over to the unfamiliar face in the room. "I'm sorry, who are you?

"I'm his...I'm his..." Emma stuttered, shortly cut off by Regina.

"The woman who gave him up for adoption."

Mary Margaret sighed, moving to grab her purse from her bag. Emma deducted, "You don't know anything about this do you?"

"No, unfortunately not."

Opening her purse up she looked defeated at the empty spot where her credit card usually resides, saying to herself, "Clever boy...I should have never given him that book."

"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" Regina snapped.

"Just some old stories I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy. So smart, so creative and as you might be aware, lonely," she said forcefully. "He needed it."

"What he needs is a dose of reality. This is a waste of time," Regina said, turning on her heel purposely knocking over a stack of books with her bag. "Have a nice trip back to Boston."

The group watched her leave, Freya decided to stay behind mainly because Henry was still missing and she didn't particularly want to be around Regina at the moment. She had learnt just how short the Mayor's temper was at times and to give her space.

Swiftly, the two moved to help pick up the books scattered around the table. "Sorry to bother you," Emma apologised.

Mary Margaret shook her head. "No it's...it's okay. I hear this is partially my fault."

"No, Mary Margaret. Henry made his decisions," Freya said, throwing the teacher a smile as they finished picking the books up and placed them back on the desk. Mary Margaret stood up returning a grateful glance.

"How's a book supposed to help?" Emma asked, the group making their way out of the classroom.

"What do you think stories are for?" Mary Margaret said rhetorically. "These stories are classics. There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense. See Henry hasn't had the easiest life."

"Yeah, she's kind of a hard-ass," Emma said, causing Freya to let out a snort of laughter disguised as a cough.

"No, it's more than her," she said, briefly looking at the younger woman in amusement catching her slip-up. "He's like any adopted child. He wrestles with the most basic question they all inevitably face, why would anyone give me away?"

Realising what she said in front of the very woman who had given him up for adoption, her eyes widened. Abruptly stopping, she swung around apologetic. "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean in any way to judge you."

Emma shrugged tightlipped. "It's okay."

The teacher sighed as she stopped in the hall to face the blonde woman. "Look, I gave the book to him because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have. Hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing."

"You know where he is, don't you?" Emma asked.

"You might want to check his castle." Mary Margaret smiled, "Freya knows the way."

She gestured to the girl who had been silently following along with their conversation, bidding the two goodbye as the bell rung signalling the end of recess.