. . . . . ╰──╮✰ ✰ ✰ ╭──╯ . . . . .

‎‧₊˚✧ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ✧˚₊‧

‎‧₊˚✧ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴍᴏꜱᴛ✧˚₊‧

______

"Most Of Us Must Learn

To Love People And Use Things

Rather Than Loving Things

And Using People"

______

Angie woke up to Mary Margaret shaking her. "Whaaaat?" Angie complained. Mary Margaret started chuckling.

"Sorry Ange. You gotta get up."

Angie had her answer planned. "No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

Mary Margaret sighed. "Well I guess I'm not going to bake for you anymore."

Angie instantly sat up. "You wouldn't."

"Try me sister."

Angie blew a strand of her dark hair out of her eye. She then lowered her lip into a pout. "You're mean."

"Cry about it," Mary Margaret fired as she pulled the drapes open, letting rays of light zoom into the room, briefly blinding Angie.

"I will," Angie shot back, reluctantly climbing out of bed. "Attempting to ban food from me is low even for you."

Mary Margaret grabbed her schoolbags and coat. "Well, I strive to make sure you are up every morning. No matter the cost. Now, if you get ready quickly, I'll drop you off at Granny's before I go to work."

—

The bell of Granny's jingled as Angie walked inside. Ruby instantly looked up. "Hey Angie. Usual?"

"Yeah, that sounds great," Angie replied. She glanced across the diner and spotted Emma seated at the counter alone, reading the newspaper. Intrigued, Angie headed over to the counter. "Miss Swan."

Emma glanced up from the newspaper. "Oh, Angie. Hey."

Angie pulled out a stool next to Emma and sat down. Emma rolled the newspaper back up and placed it in her purse. Ruby came over and placed a small coffee with milk in front of her, to which Angie nodded in appreciation before she turned to Emma. "I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you went back to Boston after the...er incident with Regina."

"Yeah, I thought I'd stay for a little bit. Make sure Henry's alright."

Angie nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Do you need a place to stay? I'm sure Mary Margaret won't mind it if you stay with us."

"Oh no, that's alright," Emma replied. "I'm staying at Granny's."

Suddenly, Ruby walked over to them with a peanut butter stick and a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon. She handed the stick to Angie and the hot chocolate to Emma. "Here you go."

Angie instantly took a bite of the stick. "Thanks Ruby."

Emma peered curiously at the hot chocolate. "Thank you...but I didn't order that."

"Oh, I know," Ruby said with a smile. "You've got an admirer."

Emma and Angie turned around to see Graham seated in a booth towards the left. "Wow," Angie remarked. "A day in and you've already pulled. Lucky."

Emma sighed. "Don't get too excited. I'm gonna shut this down real quick." Emma got up with the hot chocolate and approached Graham. Angie was close enough that she could hear them.

"Ah, so you decided to stay," Graham remarked.

"Observant," Emma replied. "Important for a cop."

"That's good news for our tourist business, bad for our local signage." Graham swallowed sharply as Emma gave him a look. "It's–it's a joke...because you ran over our sign..."

"Look, the cocoa was a nice gesture, and I am impressed that you guessed that I like cinnamon in my chocolate, 'cause most people don't, but I am not here to flirt, so, thank you, but no thank you." Emma set the hot chocolate down on the table in front of him.

"I didn't send it," Graham replied, confused.

"I did!" Henry called from another booth. "I like cinnamon too!" Angie locked eyes with Emma, holding in a chuckle.

Emma sighed and then gave Henry a look. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Duh, I'm ten," Henry said matter of factly. "You guys should walk me."

Emma looked at Angie. She shrugged. Angie grabbed her purse, as well as Emma's, and the three headed out into the street. They traveled the first few minutes in silence before Emma spoke. "So, what's the deal with you and your mom?"

"It's not about us, it's about her curse. We have to break it," Henry replied. "Luckily, I have a plan. Step one: identification. I call it, 'Operation Cobra'."

"Cobra?" Angie questioned. "That has nothing to do with fairytales."

"Exactly.  It's a codename. It'll throw the Queen off the trail."

"So, everyone here is a fairytale character, they just don't know it?" Emma asked curiously. "Your mom's a fairy tale character, your teacher, Angie?"

"That's the curse. Time's been frozen...well, it was until you got here."

Emma looked at Angie with a concerned look. Angie mouthed to Emma: Just go with it. Emma reached into her pocket and grabbed an apple. Henry suddenly got tense. "Hey! Where'd you get that?"

"Your mom," Emma replied.

"Don't eat that!" Henry shouted. He snatched the apple and threw it down the street.

Angie cringed. "Emma, if I were you, I wouldn't forgive him."

Emma just seemed confused by the whole situation. She turned back to Henry. "Okay...um, alright. What about their pasts?"

"They don't know. It's a haze to them. Ask anyone anything and you'll see."

Emma seemed eager to disprove the theory, turning to Angie almost instantly. "Ange?"

Angie thought about it for a second. She had a terrible memory, so she wasn't surprised to find that she couldn't remember anything from before Henry was born. "I can't. But my memory just sucks in general. I don't think that means anything."

"So...for decades, people have been walking around, in a haze, not aging, with screwed up memories, stuck in a cursed town that kept them oblivious," Emma repeated.

"I knew you'd get it!" Henry exclaimed. "That's why we need you, you're the only one who can stop her curse."

"Because I'm the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming?"

"Yes! And right now, we have the advantage. My mom doesn't know that." Henry reached into his backpack and pulled out his storybook. "I took out the end," Henry pulled out a few loose pages and handed them to Emma. Angie leaned over Emma's shoulder as she looked at a page containing an illustration of Prince Charming placing a baby in a wardrobe. The name 'Emma' was embroidered on the baby blanket.

"See?" Henry exclaimed. "Your mom is Snow White! And Angie, I'm not exactly sure who you are yet. There are some pages missing in the middle. But you are a fairy tale character!"

Angie wasn't convinced. She knew Henry had a big imagination, but this was a stretch even for him. "Kiddo-"

Henry cut her off. "I know the heroes never believe at first. If they did, it wouldn't be a very good story. If you need proof, take them, read them. But whatever you do, don't let her see these pages. They're dangerous. If she finds out who you are... then it would be bad."

The three arrived outside the school soon after. Henry put the book back in his bag. "I gotta go, but I'll find you later and we can get started. I knew you'd believe me!"

"We never said we did!" Emma hollered after him as he began to jog across the lawn.

"Why else would you be here?" Henry questioned as he ran inside. Angie could see the smile on his face as clearly as if it was on the back of his head. As crazy as his conspiracy theories were, Angie was glad to see that he was happy. Emma looked at Angie, about to say something, but Mary Margaret interrupted.

"Hey you two," Mary Margaret smiled at them. She looked in the direction that Henry went. "It's good to see his smile back."

"I didn't do anything," Emma said sheepishly.

"You stayed," Angie said with a smile. "Oh, I forgot to ask. Does the Mayor know you're still here?

"Oh, she knows," Emma said quickly. "What is her deal? She's not a great person, how did she get elected?"

"She's been Mayor for as long as I can remember," Mary Margaret explained. "No one's ever been brave enough to run against her. She inspires quite a bit of...well, fear. I'm afraid I only made that worse by giving Henry that book and now he thinks she's the Evil Queen."

"Who does he think you are?" Emma asked.

Mary Margaret scoffed. "It's silly..."

Angie giggled. "May, I'm gonna tell you the truth. We just got five minutes of silly. Lay it on us."

Mary Margaret took a second before answering. "Snow White." Angie glanced at Emma, who looked a little shocked. Angie quickly put the pieces together. If Henry thought that Mary Margaret was Snow White, that meant that he thought she was Emma's mom. "Who does he think you two are?" Mary Margaret questioned.

"We're not in the book," Emma answered quickly. "Can I ask you a favor? Regina mentioned the kid's in therapy...do you know where I can find the doctor?"

Angie turned quickly to Emma. "Emma, I'm not sure that's the best idea. We can't crush the kid's dreams."

"I don't want to either, Ange. But if it will help him, it might be for the best to figure out how serious he is about this." She turned back to Mary Margaret. "Do you know who his therapist is?"

—

A few hours later, Angie was seated on a chair in her living room. She was just about to start a new book that she had bought recently, City of Bones, when Mary Margaret came in with Henry. Angie quickly sat up. "Guys? What's going on?"

"Regina got Emma arrested," Mary Margaret stated. "Again."

"What?!"

"Are you going to just sit there, or help us?" Henry questioned.

"Geez, kid. I'm coming."

Sure enough, when the three arrived at the sheriff's station, Graham was in the middle of taking Emma's mugshots. Henry ran in first and stopped Graham.

"Henry, what are you doing here?" Graham questioned.

"His mother told him what happened," Mary Margaret explained to Graham.

"Of course she did," Emma muttered.

"Henry told May, who told me," Angie continued. "And now we're here."

"You're a genius!" Henry exclaimed.

Emma raised her eyebrows. "I am?"

"I know what you were up to. You were gathering intel. For Operation Cobra."

"Am I the only one who is confused here?" Graham wondered quietly.

Henry quickly took charge of the situation. "It's classified. All you need to know is that Ms. Blanchard is going to bail Emma out."

Emma raised her eyebrows again. "You are?" she asked, looking directly at Mary Margaret. "Why?"

"I, uh, trust you," Mary Margaret replied.

Emma smiled. "Well, if you uncuff me, there is something I need to do. Does anyone have a chainsaw?"

Graham, Mary Margaret, and Henry looked concerned. Angie simply smiled. "Now you're speaking my language."

—

Angie waited in her car as the chainsaw noises stopped. A few minutes later, Emma returned and put the chainsaw in the backseat. Angie removed her sunglasses and returned them to the glove box. "Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how good did that feel?"

"Is eleven an option?" Emma wondered.

Angie held her hand up for a high five, which Emma quickly returned. Angie started the car and began to back out. "The important question is: how many limbs did you cut off?"

"One."

"Emma!"

"She caught me before I could do more!"

Angie sighed. "I got excited. You only cut down one limb of her precious apple tree. Oh, what am I saying? It's impressive that you cut down even one limb. What did she frame you for, anyway?"

Emma leaned back into the seat. "Well, I went to see Henry's therapist, Archie. He told me about Henry and then gave me his file. I think he was coerced into reporting the file stolen by Regina. I forgive him, though. It's not his fault Regina used him."

Angie pulled up in front of Granny's. "This is you. What are you gonna do now?"

"Get a drink. Maybe two. Figure it out from there."

"Sounds good," Angie remarked. "If you need anything, here's my address." She pulled a blue pen out of her pocket, as well as a small purple sticky note, and jotted down her apartment. Emma took the note and stuck it on her phone case.

"Thank you, Angie. For everything."

Angie smiled. "It's no problem." Emma climbed out of the passenger's seat and headed into Granny's. Angie's smile faded as Emma went inside. If only Emma knew what Regina was capable of. If she did, she may not be so eager to make a move against her.

—

Angie had only been home for a few hours when there was a knock at the apartment door. Mary Margaret got up first. "I'll go get it."

Angie took another sip of her coffee but paused when she heard Emma's voice.

"Hey. Just wanted to say thank you and, um, pay you back the bail money."

Mary Margaret looked Emma up and down. "You look like you need to talk."

Within seconds, Emma came inside the apartment. Angie noticed that Emma looked beaten. "What did Regina do this time?" Angie questioned.

"Other than making my kid think that I don't believe him and therefore crushing his spirit, nothing." Angie sucked in a breath as Mary Margaret placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of Emma. 

 "Cinnamon?" Emma questioned.

Mary Margaret retrieved a plate of cookies for the table "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have asked. It's a little quirk of mine. Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Emma replied. Mary Margaret held out a cookie for Emma, but she shook her head. "No, thanks."

Angie took the cookie for herself. "You don't know what you're missing, Swan."

Emma chuckled before turning back to Mary Margaret. "When you bailed me out, you said...that you trusted me. Why?"

"It's strange...ever since you arrived here, I've had the oddest feeling, like we've met before,"  Mary Margaret admitted. "I mean, I know it's crazy."

"I'm starting to re-evaluate my definition of crazy," Emma stated.

"For what it's worth, I think you're innocent," Mary Margaret said quickly.

Angie nodded. "I do as well."

"Of breaking and entering, or just in general?" Emma wondered.

"Whichever makes you feel better," Mary Margaret said with a laugh.

Emma sighed and took a sip of hot chocolate. "Doesn't really matter what anyone thinks I did or didn't do. I'm leaving. Thank you both for everything, but I think it's for the best. If I stay, Henry's only gonna keep getting hurt."

"What happens if you go?" Mary Margaret questioned. Emma stayed silent, so Angie elaborated.

"What she means is that, I think the very fact that you want to leave is why you have to stay. You care about him. Who will protect Henry if you won't?"