Once Upon Some Other Time
 

Tina was lounging out on the tiny balcony that came with their apartment when she heard the knock at the door. She blinked, craning her head around to look at the door.

"Rache? You expecting anyone?" she called back inside.

Rachel looked up from the book she was reading, blinking a bit.

"No?" she replied, just as confused. Getting up, she set the book down and went to the door.

Tina stood as well, moving inside and watching the door warily.

Henry waited patiently on the other side. It had taken a while to get here, but it would be worth it.

Rachel opened it and blinked when she saw a kid.

"Hello...?" she greeted uncertainly. "Can I help you?"

"Hi," Henry said, looking at her. "Uh, sorry to bother you, but my phone died, and my mom is going to kill me if I don't call her. Can I borrow one of yours? For a minute?"

"Um, sure," Rachel said, nodding a bit and stepping aside. "Yeah, come on in." She glanced at Tina even as she let the kid inside.

Tina shrugged but held out her cell phone. "Here," she offered.

"Thanks." Henry took the phone and dialed Emma's number from memory, glancing around the apartment as he walked in.

It rang once, and then Emma picked up.

"Hello?" The number was unfamiliar, but not a whole lot of people had her personal number to begin with.

"Hi mom," Henry said. "Just wanted to let you know I'm fine." He braced himself for the inevitable onslaught of questions.

"Henry?" Emma asked. "Henry, where are you? I've been trying to call you, everyone is worried sick."

"I know, my phone died," Henry told her. "I'm fine. I'll give you the address, if you want to come get me." Which she would, he knew. He was rather counting on that.

"You're damn right I'm coming to get you," Emma said. "Stay right there and don't move." She grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote down the address he gave her.

"Yes mom," Henry agreed somewhat meekly. "Not moving. Staying put." He made sure she had the address right before he hung up and handed the phone back to Tina. "Thanks."

"No problem," Tina murmured, her eyebrows almost in her hair.

"Someone coming to get you?" Rachel asked once he hung up the phone.

"Yeah, my mom," Henry said. "She wants me to stay put, though."

"Did she give you an ETA?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow. Not that she intended to just throw the kid out, but she kind of wanted to know how long he'd be in their apartment.

"Not too long," Henry told her. "Less than an hour, definitely, knowing her."

Rachel glanced at Tina, silently asking for her thoughts on the matter.

Henry caught the glance.

"You're not going to throw me out... are you?" he asked. He hoped not, because that would be counterproductive to his plans.

"If your mom isn't here in an hour, you can just as easily wait in the lobby," Tina pointed out. "But for now you're okay." She moved into the kitchen to make some tea.

"Thanks!" Henry chirped.

"So... what are you doing here?" Rachel asked as she watched Henry start to poke around.

"Bit of exploring," Henry told her. "Trying to find some things from a book."

"Like, a scavenger hunt kind of thing?" Rachel asked. "Or looking for places that appear in the book or something? Trying to match the setting?"

"More like a scavenger hunt," Henry said after a moment of internal debate. "So far it's going okay."

"Fun," Rachel said. "Let me know if I can help with any of it. I mean, at least until your mom gets here to pick you up."

Henry blinked and then smiled. "Well, if you want to take a look..." he said, trailing off hopefully, even as he set his backpack down so he could get the book out.