Disclaimers: Characters/show/etc not owned, just borrowed.

A/N: First story I've written in a loooooong time. Eventual Swan Queen. The title's a work in progress.

Henry had thought in the beginning that breaking the curse would be as simple as getting Snow White and her Charming to share a kiss. It was a logical conclusion; If true love's kiss could break any curse and theirs was the truest of loves, then surely that was the answer.

Unfortunately, his perfect plan seemed to have failed. Prince Charming, now David Nolan, had been out of his coma for weeks now and while he hadn't actually seen it for himself Henry was pretty sure he and Miss Blanchard had probably kissed at this point. The adults weren't anywhere near as discreet as they thought they were and he was ten, not blind.

As there had been no grand final battles or curse shattering, clearly their kisses weren't the ones required.

Which set the wheels in his brain turning once more. It was as he lay in bed one night, having indulged a softly planted kiss to the forehead from his mother and muttered a terse goodnight that the seed of an idea began to blossom. The Evil Queen had cast the curse. What if, maybe, just maybe, the required kiss had to be hers?

This latest theory opened up a whole new can of worms that he wasn't entirely prepared to deal with. He had initially assumed that at some point the Evil Queen would have to die. But killing was evil and that wasn't how good was supposed to win, right? Emma had proved that.

So maybe his adopted mother didn't have to die. Maybe the way to bring back the happy endings was to help her find hers. That sounded more like the sort of thing a good person would do.

The notion had relieved a weight in his chest that he hadn't even realized had been present.

The problem, however, was that he didn't have the slightest clue how one was supposed to go about finding an Evil Queen's true love and on this point his book didn't offer up any answers.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Henry started, jerking away from the cinnamon embellished cocoa whose depths he'd been studying so intently to find that he was no longer sitting alone at Granny's stool lined bar.

Mr. Gold's dark eyes weren't unkind and the smile was genuine enough but Henry felt a shiver crawl down his spine none the less. He hadn't figured out who the pawn shop owner's Fairytale persona was just yet but he couldn't shake the feeling that it probably wasn't one of the good guys. What sort of hero tried to buy babies, after all? In any case it unnerved him that he hadn't even heard the tap tap tap of the man's cane as he approached.

"Just thinking."

"Must be pretty deep thoughts. Surely cocoa isn't so puzzling?"

Henry watched a smiling Ruby slide a steaming to-go cup across the counter to Mr. Gold and accept the crisp dollar bills offered in payment, gnawing on his bottom lip in thought. It was a habit he had noticed he shared with Emma and so he relished doing it at any given opportunity.

"Just... Trying to solve a problem."

Mr. Gold took his change as the waitress returned from the till and placed the handful of coins in a dapper suit pocket, but made no move to leave the diner as Henry had been hoping he would. Fortunately he didn't sit either, so with any luck he wouldn't hover much longer.

"Anything I might assist with?"

Henry sighed, dipping a finger into his mug's drooping, mostly melted whipped topping and stirring listlessly. "Not unless you know how to get someone to love pure evil."

Mr. Gold raised an eyebrow at that, taking up his coffee in one hand while the other curled more securely around his cane. "I have often found, young Henry, that the line between hate and love is thin and easily becomes twisted. Perhaps the solution you're looking for is simpler than you think."

The bell over the diner's door clanged as a clearly flustered Sheriff Swan backed into it.

"Yeah? Well... Well...Shut up!"

Henry felt a smile tug at his lips. There were times when his birth mother's behavior made him wonder if he wasn't the more mature between the two of them. Of course, he didn't even need to to lean back and peer out the window to know who had Emma angry enough to be reduced to playground insults. Everyone else in Storybrooke, everyone but her, loved their new sheriff.

Evidently the dragon had left work for the day. Probably time for him to be heading home then, but not before a few stolen moments with his hero. "Emma!"

The sheriff whirled, deflated as she apparently realized for the first time that she had a fairly public audience. "Oh. Hey kid."

A snickering Ruby placed a fresh mug of cocoa on the counter next to Henry's. "Here, Sheriff. Sounds like you need this." She flashed a toothy smile at Henry that he returned bashfully before whisking back to the kitchen in a flash of red and Emma took up the stool on Henry's far side. The boy was immediately engulfed in the comforting smell of leather and the blond's sweet perfume and his heart felt just a little bit warmer.

"Well then." Mr. Gold spoke up and Henry spun back around precariously on his stool, having almost forgotten him. "Good luck with that problem of yours, Henry. I hope you find what you're looking for."

He patted Henry's shoulder in a way that wasn't the least bit reassuring before departing the diner and the boy couldn't help but frown. He returned his focus to Emma with a shake of his head, prepared to ask what horrible thing she was meant to have been responsible for now when suddenly it hit him.

The saviour. Emma was the saviour. Destined to break the curse. If the curse was to broken by the queen finding true love's kiss...

Emma ruffled his hair affectionately, asking how his day at school was and Henry launched into a story about his latest science project, all the while his brain churning with this newest revelation.

Operation Cobra was going to be even more difficult than he'd thought.