I'M ALIVEE! Did you miss me? I soooooo sorry about being gone. I was hitting serious writer's block for this chapter and at some point lost motivation. But thank you everyone for all the follows, favorites and reviews, it really helped with motivation again! I'm actually surprised and flattered so many people like this story! This chapter is not as long as I was hoping it'd be but I hope you all at least enjoy it!

Chapter 5: "Breakfast, Threats, and Apples"

"Hm?" Morgan mumbled sleepily. The ringing from the clock tower chimed loudly as it struck eight. She turned over on her back and threw her arm over her eyes, trying her best to ignore it. It seemed every chime was louder than the last. She eventually got up and slammed the window shut before going back to bed.

Morgan laid there for about ten seconds when there was a knock on her door. She groaned into her pillow before once again, forcing herself to stand up and walk to the door. When she opened it there wasn't anyone standing in her doorway, but she felt the wind knock out of her as something collided around her middle. "Whoa! Henry?" she breathed, looking down at the top of his head.

"The clock started again" he told her.

"Yeah, I noticed" she said, looking over her shoulder as the clock chimed for the last time.

"I knew you'd be here to save everyone!" he said, hugging her even tightly around her middle.

"Henry, what're you doing here? Don't you have school" she asked, gently pushing his shoulders away and knelt to his level.

"Yeah, but it doesn't start for another hour. So I decided to visit you" he said with a wide smile and then threw his arms around her neck, nearly knocking her backwards. "I'm so glad you guys decided to stay" he said.

"Uh...sure, Henry" she said guiltily, hugging him back.

He pulled away and beamed at her. "I was hoping we could have breakfast together. You have to try Granny's, they make the best waffles" he told her, hitching his hands around the straps of his backpack.

Morgan pushed away her tangled mess of hair and smiled at him. "You know what, I love waffles. Just give me two minutes to freshen up and I'll meet you downstairs"

Henry nodded brightly and turned to walk out of her room. "You know, you look a lot like her" Henry said, stopping just outside the doorway.

Morgan chuckled as she tied her black hair up in a ponytail. "Well, Emma and I are twins, Henry" she pointed out.

He shook his head. "No, not Emma. I'm talking about your mom" he said. Morgan raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Snow White" he replied simply. Before Morgan could say anything to him, he was already disappearing down the steps.

Morgan chewed on her lip as she stepped into the bathroom, debating with herself how to tell Henry she wasn't staying in Storybrooke or that there wasn't any way that she could be the child of a fictional character. She sighed and shook her head; it'd have to wait until after breakfast.

When she went downstairs, Henry was sitting in one of the armchairs waiting for her. He smiled when she came down and followed her out the door. People were bustling around outside, going about their morning routine. Across the street she saw that the clock was in fact working now. Henry grabbed her hand, taking her by surprise.

"You made time move again" he said, beaming.

Morgan squeezed his hand and smiled back. "Yeah, I guess I did" she replied, unsure if she should play along with his theory or not and making herself feel even guiltier. She and Henry took a seat in one of the empty booths and looked over the menus. The young woman from the inn last night approached their table with a little notepad and a pen between her teeth. "I'll have the omelet and a cup of coffee" she decided, handing her the menu as Henry asked for waffles.

"We have to talk about Operation Cobra" Henry told her.

"What's Operation Cobra?" she asked questioningly

Henry looked over his shoulder and then leaned closer over the table. "The plan to break the curse and defeat the evil queen" he said, dropping his voice.

"Oh Henry..." she started to say, but stopped when the young woman approached their table and placed the omelet in front of her and a plate of waffles in front of Henry.

"I have something for you" Henry said before she could finish her sentence. He unzipped his backpack and took out three sheets of ripped paper and handed it to her. "She took my book away, but I took out the parts with you in it"

She looked at the different pages but didn't read them. "Henry, I'm not—" she started to say but stopped herself when she saw his beaming round face. She knew he would already be upset after she tells him about going back to Boston. It wasn't worth upsetting him even more. She sighed and put aside the papers. "What makes you think everyone is a fairytale character?" she asked him slowly.

"The book is proof, but my mom took it away" he told her.

"Okay, so you say that everyone one here is a fairytale character" she said, to which Henry nodded vigorously. "Okay then..." she said, and looked around the diner. "Who's she supposed to be?" she asked, pointing her fork in the direction of the woman behind the counter.

Henry looked in the direction she was pointing and smiled. "Red Riding Hood. But in this world her name is Ruby" he explained.

Morgan raised an eyebrow and looked back at the waitress. "So if she's Red Riding Hood, which would make her..." she trailed, pointing her fork in the direction of the elderly woman who seemed to be the owner of the diner.

"Her grandma" Henry answered for her, putting a piece of waffle in his mouth. "Anyway, it's not that hard to guess who they are" he said, looking at Ruby.

"Henry, just because someone prefers to wear red all the time doesn't necessarily mean they're…" but she stopped when Henry looked at her over his glass of milk. She sighed. "Never mind" she said, cutting off a piece of omelet with her fork.

"I know it's hard to believe at first, but you're destined to break the curse. That's why you stayed" he pointed out.

Morgan kept the fork in between her teeth and chewed slowly. "Henry, there's actually something I have to talk to you about..." she said, sliding her plate to the side. He eyed her curiously. "I'm not staying. I'm going back to Boston tonight"

He blinked. There was no other way for her to say it. "What?" he said in innocent disbelief. "I don't get it, then why did you stay?"

Morgan took a sip of her coffee. "Henry, I'm sorry, I—" she said, but didn't have a chance to finish her sentence because Henry had ran out the diner with a hurt look on his face. "Henry!" Morgan called. She threw a twenty on the table and ran after him. "Keep the change" she told Ruby as she passed by the counter. "Henry!" she yelled, but the boy nowhere in sight. "Damn it" she muttered.

O-0-o

Morgan raised her head to the ceiling and groaned. She can't believe she was here. After knocking for a third time, the door finally creaked open enough for Emma to stick her head out. "Morgan? What're you doing here?"

"I'm here about Henry. Can I come in?" she stated shortly. Emma shut her mouth and opened the door wide enough for Morgan to step inside. She turned around and held out the ripped pages out to her. "Henry gave these to me. He's really serious about this whole fairytale thing, okay. I don't know what you're planning to do while you're here, but be careful about it" she explained, as Emma took the pages.

"What, you worried about me?" Emma chuckled.

"No. I'm worried about Henry" Morgan corrected, folding her arms over her chest and glanced at her watch. "Anyway, I better get going"

"I thought you'd be back in Boston by now" Emma said, following her to the door.

"Apparently taxi service ends around midnight here. I've leaving tonight" Morgan explained.

Emma glanced down at the papers and put them aside on a table. "You don't have to, you know" she said casually. "I'm not trying to change your mind, I'm just saying. We're already here. Maybe we could, I don't know, start a clean slate" Emma said with a shrug, putting her hands on her hips. But Morgan's mouth didn't even twitch.

"I don't see that happening, Emma. Sorry" she said bluntly, opening the door and nearly ran into the mayor.

The mayor herself jumped slightly, startled but then smiled sweetly at both of them. "Did you ladies know the honey crisp tree is the vigorous of all apple trees?" she said, earning herself a confused look from both twins, but that only seemed to make her smile even more. "It can survive the coldest temperatures. I've taken care of one since I was little and I have yet to taste anything more delicious" she added, holding out two apple with a sickly sweet smile.

Emma cautiously took one first, not taking her eyes off Regina and her sister followed. "Wow" Morgan spoke up. "You must've went through a lot of trouble to threaten us like that"

"Since when were apples a threat?" she asked.

"We know how to read to between the lines, Madame Mayor" Emma replied. "And that you've threaten us twice in less than twenty four hours, makes us want to stay even more. I just want to make sure Henry's doing okay"

"He's doing better than okay, dear" the mayor said calmly, but it was a threatening sort of calm. "And he's in therapy so any problems he has are being taken care of, he doesn't need you two confusing him"

"We're not trying to confuse him" Morgan explained, earning herself an icy look from the mayor. "We only have his best interest at heart"

"Only one of us knows what's best for him, dear. And believe me, it's not you" the mayor told her, then looked to Emma and back to her. "Don't underestimate me. You don't have a clue of what I'm capable of"

The mayor turned on her heel and walked away and the two women watched her go. "Still think Henry's fine?" Emma said quietly.

Morgan chewed on her bottom lip. "No," she responded. Her mind was at odds between staying for Henry and going back to Boston like this was all nothing but a bad dream. Being one room away from Emma made her feel uncomfortable to no end. She didn't want to be near Emma. Morgan wanted to go back to Boston and forget all of this. But if she couldn't forget it, there was the guilt of leaving Henry behind with a possibly abusive mother.

"Fine. I'll stay" Morgan said reluctantly. Emma raised both her eyebrows, looking down at her. "But let's be clear, I'm staying here only for Henry. There's no 'we', okay? Not unless I can help it. I'm not here to make amends with you"

Emma nodded. "I can respect that" she said.

"Good," Morgan said slowly with a nod. "Ugh, I wonder if this town has a bar" she added, rubbing her forehead.

O-0-o

She didn't end up going to a bar. Instead she found herself wandering around the town trying to find out more about this mayor. She decided to start with the inn owner. The little old woman was sitting behind the counter reading the newspaper.

"Excuse me?"

She looked up. "Oh good morning. May I help you with something?" she asked, smiling.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you a question about your mayor" she said and old woman's smile vanished. Interesting how just mentioning the mayor made people react negatively. "I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm just here to look out for my nephew" Morgan clarified.

"Oh yes, I heard about that" the woman replied. Morgan stole a glance at the newspaper and saw Emma's drunk mugshot on the cover. Of course she already knew.

"Alright, this mayor obviously strikes a lot of fear into people's hearts and not everyone seems to like her. So how was she elected?" Morgan questioned.

She fidgeted with her hands. "She's been mayor for as long as I can remember. No one's had the courage to run against her" the granny explained.

Morgan raised an eyebrow. Well that wasn't something you hear every day. "This town must've been in pretty bad shape if she was elected mayor" she replied coolly. "What's her story?" Morgan asked to which she pursed her lips and looked away. She sighed. "Okay you don't want to run her name through the mud, I understand. But do you know anyone that does know anything about her? Like this…Sidney Glass?" she asked, reading the name of the head newspaper writer upside down.

"No, the mayor has her hand in the newspaper too. Sidney won't tell you anything. And you would do well to stop trying to dig up dirt on her too" she said a little coldly.

Morgan wasn't fazed though. "I don't like this mayor any more than the rest of the town seems to. Please understand I'm not looking to spread gossip. I just want to know what kind of woman my nephew is living with" she said, to which the grandmother blinked in surprise. If there was one thing Morgan was good at, it was people. It was kind of like her own superpower, but she never called it that. "I apologize if I've upset you" Moran finished and was about to walk out the inn when the grandmother called her back.

"Wait, I think I might know someone who can help you" she spoke. Morgan turned around and faced her again, a split second of silence passing between them. The grandmother hesitated, fidgeting with her fingers again. "But if anything he's probably worse"

"I'll just have to just for myself" Morgan replied. "Who is he?"

"His name is Gold. He was actually here last night"

"Gold? Alright, where can I find him?" she asked.

"He owns the pawn shop at the edge of town. You'll find him there" she said, scribbling an address down for her. Morgan thanked her and headed towards the door. "Miss. Swan, you'll want to be careful around him. He can be just as bad as the mayor if not worse"

Morgan looked over her shoulder at her and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind" she said and walked out the inn. Morgan stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked down at the piece of paper with the scribbled address. "Gold, huh?" she said, reading the scrawled handwriting.