House Arrest

The phone in his pocket suddenly chimed with a text message alert. Making sure the two women were still occupied—Regina hated phones at the table—he snuck it out and checked it. There was one new message from Nic.

Hey dude, got any plans tonight? The guys wanna know if we're still on for our WOW session.

An idea began forming in Henry's mind. There was no way Regina was going to let him stay up all night playing World of Warcraft with his friends, especially now that she was upset about the news of his pranking the band teacher. Emma would of course, but she would be more of a distraction. One that he didn't need, as this would be the most important mission they played yet.

But there was another way. One that could allow him to play WOW all night and make week day breakfasts more tolerable. He quickly sent back a message.

We're still on for tonight, but I'll need your guys' help with something.

The school bus showed up a minute later and Henry gathered his things, leaving his mothers alone to fight things out. They barely even noticed him leave they were so invested in tearing each other apart. And hopefully after this weekend that would change. He was confident it would—none of his plans had failed him yet.

XXXX

"You what?!" Regina yelled into the phone. "This better be a sick joke. Please tell me this isn't true!"

Henry grinned and quickly put the phone on speaker so his friends could hear. "Expelled, Mom. Two whole days. Luckily, Grandma pulled some strings and she said I will be serving my time at the loft. She's got worksheets and lesson plans all ready for me." He cleared his throat, attempting to sound apologetic. "I'm really sorry, Mom. I didn't know Mrs. McNulty would get so mad."

"Do you realize how this reflects on me? The residents of this town are going to think I'm raising some hooligan!" Regina stewed. "Miss Swan is going to hear a word or two! And you, Henry, you are grounded for a month. Do you understand? No gaming, no comics, no friends!"

Henry handed the phone over to Snow, who was gesturing for it. He headed across the room where David was setting up a brand-new desktop for his gaming needs. The whole spiel about getting expelled was a lie of course—this was all a part of his plan. And lucky for him, his grandparents were more than willing to help him out.

"Yes Regina, I promise the weekend Henry will spend here will not be fun for him. He has makeup assignments and projects and lots of work to catch up on. I am more than happy to do it over here to give you the opportunity to relax. I understand. Okay. Bye." Snow hung up the phone with a rueful grin and shook her head. "Poor Emma. She's not going to know what hit her."

"It's okay, Grandma," Henry reassured her. "This will all work out in the end, trust me."

XXXX

An early day off work was in the works for Emma. Her father had come into the station and announced that he was taking over, no questions. He'd even brought her a fresh bear claw drizzled in chocolate sauce—just the way she liked it. It was mildly suspicious, but not unlike him. She had thought the rest of her day was going to be great and relaxing, until her phone began to blow up.

The tip off was the five missed calls and ten text messages from the Evil Queen herself. Emma groaned inwardly and delayed starting her car as Regina's name flashed across her screen again. She couldn't ignore it if it had something to do with Henry.

"Yes?" Emma answered.

"This is your fault, Miss Swan! Come over to the house now before I decide to curse your ass. Again!" Regina barked.