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CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
AVOIDING AT ALL COSTS
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TERESA CLOSED AND LOCKED THE DOOR TO HER ROOM AT GRANNY'S INN, BEFORE MAKING HER WAY TOWARD THE DINER. When she emerged from the hall, she made a b-line for the counter. "Two cocoas, please Granny."
"I swear cocoa is all that boy drinks," Granny muttered as she left to make two cups for Teresa. As she did, Teresa leaned over Robin's shoulder — who was sitting at the counter — to see what he was looking at on his phone.
"What is that?" she asked in confusion.
"It's a picture of up inside Zelena, so you can see the baby."
Teresa scrunched her nose up in disgust, the thought of someone sticking something up there to get a picture just absolutely horrifying her. "Um, gross."
Robin chuckled. "Regina said it's call a sonogram. It doesn't exactly go up there, it's this little wand thing that they place on the stomach." He leaned over and showed the picture to the younger archer. "You see, that's the baby."
Teresa raised a brow as she stared at his cell phone screen, at the blurry black and gray picture. "How fascinating. This realm certainly has some wonderful things." Robin nodded in agreement. "Boy or girl?"
"Apparently it's too early for that."
Teresa hummed. "You got yourself into a sticky situation, my friend."
Robin sighed. "It seems I have. I-I feel bad before it's Regina's evil sister, but..."
"But it's still your child?" Robin nodded, heaving a heavy sigh. "Unfortunately, I'm only sixteen. I'm afraid I don't have much advice for your situation."
Robin smiled. "I didn't think you would."
Granny then placed the cocoas in front of her. Teresa handed over two of the tokens from in her pocket. With every hunt she gives to Granny, she earns a token, which she then uses to pay for her things at the diner. One token equals one free thing from the menu.
After wishing Robin luck with his situation, Teresa left the diner, only to, of course, run into Hook on the sidewalk.
He smirked upon seeing not only one cup of cocoa, but two. "Visitng the lad, I see."
Teresa rolled her eyes. "In fact, I am."
"Rumor has it, you shared a lovely evening last night."
"You're infuriating," she told him, before brushing past the smirking pirate.
She did in fact have a wonderful evening with Henry, and after learning from Regina that Henry was upset about something Emma did, she was hell bent on cheering him up. Hence the two cups of steaming hot cocoas in her hands.
It didn't take her long to reach Regina's large white house. She strolled up to the door, knocking with foot.
After a few moments, the door opened and Henry blinked in shock. His face was saddened, but when he seen her, his eyes filled with both guilt and happiness.
Teresa gave him smile. "Hi. Regina said you were down, so I, uh, brought you some cocoa?"
Henry smiled appreciatively at her. "Thanks." He then opened the door wider for her to enter.
Teresa stepped inside, and after he closed the door, she passed him his to-go cup of cocoa made by Granny. After taking a sip, Henry sighed.
"So, why exactly are you upset? Regina wouldn't tell me."
"My mom did something horrible," Henry began, but there was a long pause afterwards, which allowed Teresa to ask just what Emma had done to him.
Teresa nudged him gently with her elbow. "Do I need to kick the Dark Ones ass?"
Henry smirked, figuring she would have said something along those lines. He then shook his head, his face saddening.
"What?"
"She didn't just do something to me," he said.
"Who else then?"
"You."
Teresa's raised a brow. "Me?"
"It's...it's kind of confusing to me as well, to be honest."
Teresa was even more curious now. "Well, what'd she do?"
"Apparently while I was spending some time with my mom yesterday, my other mom — Regina — she, Robin, Hook and Belle snuck into her house. They found a dreamcatcher inside."
"A dreamcatcher?" Teresa sighed. "I'm not fully understanding what this has to do with me..."
"Dreamcatchers are magical objects, they can be used to keep memories in. Inside this dreamcatcher were Violet's memories."
Teresa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why would Emma have Violet's memories?"
"Well, after I dropped you off at Granny's last night, I came home and found my mom and Robin looking at them." Henry's gaze dropped to the floor. "While in Camelot, I ummm...I had set up this table at Granny's w-with candles a-and a dinner."
Teresa felt her heart drop; a frown formed on her face and all her happiness slipped away. "For Violet?"
Henry's eyes widened and he shook his head, his eyes shooting up to meet hers. "N-No, I had set it up for you."
Teresa's face flushed and her heart began to race. He set up a candlelight dinner for us?
"But my mom had ripped out Violet's heart, to break yours. She made Violet show up at Granny's so you would think I set it up for her."
When Teresa remained silent, Henry began to worry. He searched her face for any sign of emotion, but she was in complete shock after taking everything in. He couldn't blame her, as he was feeling the same way. Along with anger and hurt, both toward his dark mother.
He wanted to reach forward and take her hand or hug her, but he didn't want to upset her. "I-I'm sorry."
Finally Teresa showed some emotion. She looked up from the ground and gave him a weird look. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything to me."
"I-I made you think I was with Violet. I know neither of us remember what happened after that — but I-I wouldn't do that to you."
Teresa blushed, a smile tugging at her lips. And then she did something that surprised not only Henry, but herself as well. She stepped forward and kissed his cheek.
"Don't apologise for something you didn't do," she said, stepping back, her cheeks turning pink. His cheek had been warm against her lips. "This is Emma's fault, not yours, nor is it Violet's."
Henry smiled. "Do you need to go anywhere?" Teresa shook her head. "Do you maybe want to watch some Netflix?"
Teresa's eyrbows furrowed in confusion. "What's Netflix?"
➳
SIX WEEKS AGO
CAMELOT
The next day could not have been more uncomfortable. All throughout breakfast, Teresa had avoided anyone who tried to speak with her, brushing away their words and questions as if they meant nothing. Eventually, they just left her alone to the piece and quiet she obviously wanted. She could even feel Henry's lingering gaze on her as well, which didn't help her heart at all.
She hated it; that they were soulmates.
Otherwise she wouldn't have let her feelings for Henry grow stronger, and she wouldn't have allowed herself to go to Granny's for only her heart to break on the spot.
She had thought things were going nicely between them, but alas, she was wrong. We may be soulmates, but perhaps that doesn't mean we get to be together?
The entire situation was infuriating. All she wanted now was to pull the darkness out of Emma so they could leave and she wouldn't have to see Violet's kind face anymore. There was no way in hell she was taking Violet hunting now, she didn't even want to go with Henry anymore.
Teresa was outside the kingdom of Camelot, laying flat on her back as she stared up at the blue sky. It was peaceful, quiet, something she desperately wanted — now needed right now.
Or at least it was quiet.
Suddenly, Henry was standing over her. She was quick to scramble to her feet and throw him a hurt look. "What do you want?"
"Why are you avoiding me?"
Teresa scoffed and began heading into the woods, hoping that would give Henry the hint that she wanted to be alone. However he didn't catch on, or he did and didn't care.
Teresa sighed when she could hear him following her. "Just go back to the castle, Henry."
"Not until you tell me why you've been avoiding me, and why you didn't show up last night."
Teresa whipped around, which caused Henry to skid to a stop so he wouldn't run into her. He gulped at the fire in her eyes.
"You asked me to come to Granny's, so I did."
Henry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as he didn't recall her coming in at all. And then it hit him. He briefly closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "You seen Violet."
Teresa nodded.
"It wasn't what you think. I had set that dinner up for us, b-but then Violet showed up; she was wanting to see Granny's. I gave her a quick tour and then I sent her away and waited for you, that's it."
Teresa's face turned pink. She was embarrassed to have made a wrong assumption, but also relieved to hear that Henry hadn't set the diner to for Violet, and instead for her. "Oh..."
"I wouldn't hurt you like that, Teresa." Teresa's heart began to race. He heaved a sigh, and brought his one of his hands up to rub the back of his neck. "I-I know we're soulmates, but I-I..."
There was a long pause as Henry stumbled for words. Teresa raised an eyebrow. "But what?"
It happened so fast. One second she was staring at Henry, who seemed to be searching for the right words to say, and the next, his lips were being pressed to hers. Teresa felt an electric spark shoot through her body as soon as his warm lips touched hers.
She was quick to pull away though — mainly because she was in shock — leaving the both of them blushing furiously.
"S-Sorry," Henry apologised, stepping away from him. "I shouldn't have don't that."
Teresa was unable to contain her smile, as her heart continued to ram against her rib cage. "I-It's okay."
Henry grinned, relief spreading throughout his body. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck before asking, "Do you maybe still want to go on that hunt?"
Teresa smirked. "I'd like that."
➳
PRESENT DAY
STORYBROOKE
Neither of them realised it until they received a text message from Regina, but they had spent hours watching Netflix and munching on snacks; Teresa even learned how to play some of Henry's video games, which she ended up being terrible at.
After receiving the urgent text message from Regina about needing their help with freeing Merlin, the pair had made their way toward her vault.
They arrived, and found Regina with Hook, Snow and David. All four of them were surrounding a contained fire in the center of the vault.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Regina asked, her question directed toward Henry.
"I'm fine, Mom."
"It's just I-I know you've been through a lot."
"I tried telling him I would just come and help, but he insisted," Teresa said.
"The person who ripped out Violet's heart and broke Teresa's isn't my mother." From next to him, Teresa blushed, and from across the room, Hook smirked. "But Emma is still in there somewhere, and I'll do anything it takes to get her back."
Hook stepped forward, patting his shoulder before handing him over the Crimson Crown, also known as a toadstool.
Henry glanced at Teresa before stepping forward and tossing the Crimson Crown into the flames. The flames sparked, before smoke began to rise from it.
In the smoke, a face appeared. It was a dark-skinned man, who's face was expressionless.
"Merlin?" Henry said.
"If you're receiving this message, then things are worse than I feared."
"I don't believe this. We're getting Merlin's voice-mail?"
"There is only one person who can help you defeat the Dark One now. Her name is Nimue."
"Who's Nimue?" David asked, to no one in particular.
"If you want to destroy the darkness, then you must..." Merlin's eyes suddenly widened and he glanced behind him as movement could be heard coming towards him. "No. The Dark One's found me already."
Suddenly, Merlin disappeared, and the message left by him was gone.
"What the hell did Emma do to him?"
A/N: Are you as happy as I am! THEY FINALLY KISSED!! 😆😆😆😆
I was thinking long and hard about when they should share their first kiss, and I finally decided one of those quick, nervous kisses provided by Henry needed to happen NOW!
Do you think it was rushed?