Collaboration between Ghost Shadow as Henry Carlyle, Mason, and Mark Dufresne, YoshiSkittlez as Red and Granny, and I as Dr. Faye Stevenson

*~*~*

The lines at the dunk tank seemed to thin out as time progressed as people either were running out of spending money, or had their fill dunking the not-so-newcomer. Henry slowly climbed out of the booth for what was (hopefully) the last time. To say he was soaked would be an understatement, as water seemed to *constantly* be dripping off him. His crisp white shirt, unfortunately, couldn't handle the ordeal, and had shrunk almost to a ridiculous point. 

"Have your laugh while you will, doctor." Henry warned Faye, "I'm changing as [i]soon[/i] as possible." He said through chittering teeth. 

Faye was holding back her laughter by covering her mouth with a hand, but a few chuckles got out as Henry warned. She soon calmed down enough to answer Henry, "I would say 'I told you so', but at this point, it would be redundant,"

Granny, who had been quite jovial watching Henry's unofficial punishment, piped up from her own bakery stand: "You look drenched, dear. Might be safer just to take your shirt off here." 

Henry could only give the old woman a look that practically shouted "Really?" followed by Ruby jabbing the older woman in the ribs...again. Faye also looked at Granny, but with a look mixed between 'Really?' and a hesitant, awkward look.

"Dr. Stevenson, would you kindly help me...waddle back to my car?" Henry asked, looking down at his rather-tight clothing that gave him an awkward gait. "I've got some spare clothes in my suitcase..." He added, pushing a bit of hair out of his face. 

Faye nodded and chuckled "Yeah, I'll help," She held onto Henry's arm, in order to make sure that he didn't fall over from the awkward gait, and she led him to his car. As she led him to the car, she asked "Well...that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Nah, not terribly bad." Henry agreed, undoing the first few buttons of his shirt to give him more mobility as he began searching through his suitcase. "Ah, here we are!" He exclaimed after a few moments, drawing a few pieces of clothing from the case with a gleeful smile on his face. 

"Where do I..." he stopped mid-sentence, looking around him with slight concern. "Where do I change?" He asked Faye, somewhat awkwardly; scratching the back of his head. He had [i]no[/i] qualms changing in front of her, and might have even suggested it - but he was on the sidewalk, and with his luck, both Regina and Robert would spot him. 

Faye blushed as she looked around and as she did, she answered, "Um...you could use the bathroom in the convenient store over there," 

Henry looked over at the direction of the convenience store, nodding subtly at her suggestion. "Yes, that would work excellently! Thank you!" He commended, gathering the dry, clean clothes in his arms. "You can just wait out here...I shouldn't be long." He said with a small smile, his eyes seeming to study her intently. 

Faye nodded and said "Alright. I'll wait here," When he seemed to just stand there, she asked in a joking tone, "Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?"

"Oh! Sorry!" He exclaimed before rather hurriedly fast-walking to the store. A silence seemed to fall on the street for about six minutes until he emerged once again in his smart looking longcoat and suit. 

"Ah, good! Much better than my other outfit, don't you think?" He asked with a grin, letting his hands go to his coat pockets by habit. 

Faye answered as she looked at him, "Yeah, it is. You look very dapper," 

Henry's smile only widened, obviously pleased by her compliment. "No time to waste then, we best be heading back to the town square; I think I've had enough water to last me the day." He quipped with a small smirk, resisting the urge to offer his hand for her to take - a visible look of conflict on his face for a split-second before turning jovial once again. 

The doctor noticed the brief look of conflict on his face, but she ignored it as she answered "OK. Let's go then," She led the way to the town square as she joked, "I'm sure Granny would say otherwise though,"

"Ah, well, I can't blame her." He said in a tone that was both serious and amused at the same time. "I..." He abruptly stopped, clearing his throat as he expected her to do the same. "I enjoyed working with you--" [i]'Heather'[/i] he thought, "--Faye." He said warmly, a sincere smile on his lips. 

She stopped when he did and she turned to look at him. When he made his comment, she smiled and answered in kind, "So did I, Henry," She looked around at the people around her and she said "And I think...the rest of Storybrooke enjoyed our work," She easily noticed that the cruel words were gone along with the cold shoulders. 

"Yes, I agree!" He said cheerily, though his eyes didn't leave her to look around. "I don't think I ever told you -- thank you...for believing in me when no one else did." He said sincerly, if not somewhat uncomfortably; not at the words, but the subject matter. 

Faye looked back to him when he thanked her and she couldn't help but remember her questions about why she trusted him. Her smile faded a bit at the thoughts, but they were replaced by a smile as she pushed those thought at the back of her mind, and she said to him "Oh, it's really no trouble at all," 

Henry nodded, smiling slightly in return before turning to walk again; looking back over his shoulder to see if Faye was keeping up. The two of them eventually made it back to the stand; Henry forced to deal with the sour looks that Granny kept on giving him, seeming to be pestering Ruby about something who made a point to ignore her granddmother by going out of her way to bring in people to buying their cookies.

Henry smirked at the both of them, reaching into his pocket for his gloves when he felt someone clip his shoulder while walking past. 

Both Henry, and the person who bumped into him turned around at once, revealing a rather-agitated looking Mark who was rubbing his shoulder and staring daggers into Henry; as thought the latter had personally attacked him. 

"Oh! Sorry, mate." Henry bid with a forgiving smile, his blue eyes looking from the shorter man to Mason, who's smaller hand was clinging on tightly to Mark's own. 

Faye looked at Mark and Mason after the large fireman bumped into Henry. She looked around to see if Regina was nearby. But she knew that was unlikely because everyone saw her storm off earlier. 

"Mason?" Henry started, confused. "Where's Regina at?" He asked, perplexed. 

Before Mason could answer, however, Mark butted in: "We don't know, so we're trying to find her - now if you would excuse us." Without another word, Mark had already turned to leave, the young boy in tow. 

"Wait just a second." Henry objected, successfully resulting in Mark stopping to look back at him. 

"You were the one working the candle stall, weren't you?" Henry asked with an almost-mischievous smile crossing his lips. 

"Yes, what of it?" Mark returned, sounding quite impatient. 

"Well, I noticed things weren't going so well for you there - so I'm offering you my services!" Henry offered, pointing to himself with a single gloved hand. 

"No." Mark responded bluntly before turning to leave again. 

"You're making a mistake, friend--" Henry began, letting both hands go to his pockets. "Think about it: you now have an extra hand selling those candles, and an extra set of eyes to find the boy's..." he stopped for a moment, as if trying to figure out how Mason and Regina referred to each other these days. 

"Mom." Mason finally finished, looking quite confused as it seemed his teacher didn't know what a mother was. 

"Oh! Yes, quite right. Sorry! Got tongue-tied for a moment, it seems. Thank you, Mason." Heny commended, clasping the boy's shoulder with an approving nod. 

Mark, too, seemed to think over Henry's offer with a conflicted look on his face. "Alright, fine, if you think you can sell those candles then I'll take all the help I can get." He finally agreed, though his tone still remained unfriendly and distant. 

"Good show! I knew you had brains in you, Tin Man." Henry joked with a cheeky grin. 

"My name is Mark." Mark replied curtly, obviously finding no amusement in the nickname that seemed to be spreading no thanks to Leroy and his fellow firemen. 

"Come now, lighten up! You're not going to sell candles looking like your dog just died." Henry said, trying to goad Mark into a more pleasant expression. 

"Don't joke about that." Mark warned before turning to leave once more, but this time looking back on occasion to see if Henry was following. 

Faye listened to the conversation, and before he could leave, she called to him politely, "Mr. Dufresne. Would you mind if I helped out as well?"

Mark stopped once more as another voice called his name. He was about to turn and sternly silence the person speaking when he saw it was Faye Stevenson. "Oh...Doctor, good afternoon." He greeted politely, (earning a strange look from Henry at the man's sudden courtesy). 

Faye nodded and she greeted in kind, "Good afternoon, Mr. Dufresne," She held back a laugh at Henry's comically strange look directed at Mark.

"Yes, I could most certainly use your help...we need to sell one thousand candles by tonight...I'm not going to lie, it's going to be an extremely difficult task. But if you could take a few dozen to the hospital and see if anyone's interested, I'd be much obliged. I'll take the creep and go local" He said, motioning to Henry as he said the word 'creep'. 

The doctor was shocked to hear that they needed to sell a thousand candles by tonight. It seemed as though 'dificult' would be an understatement. She answered his request to take the candles to the hospital, she aswered, "I'll do that," 

"Oi! I'm trying to help you! No need to call me names, [i]Tin Man[/i]." Henry objected with a slight sneer, earning another glare from Mark. 

When the two started fighting, she broke up the fight, using her tone that she would normally use when giving directions in the hospital, "Henry, Mark. This is no time to be fighting," She then looked to Mark and she asked, her tone slowly going back to normal. "Now, how many candles have you sold thus far?"

Henry and Mark shared one last glare after Faye reprimanded them, acting more like young children than adults. But Mark quickly switched gears back to the matter at hand, still keeping a tight hold onto the growingly-impatient Mason, who was [i]not[/i] in the mood to be standing around. 

"Um...none." He finally confessed sheepishly, looking back at the candle stall with the giant stack of boxes. 

Faye nodded at his answer, biting at her bottom lip in thought, and remained silent for a few seconds before she said with an optimistic tone, "Alright. Then what are we standing here for? Let's get to work," 

Mark nodded sharply before taking Mason to the stall where the seemingly-impenetrable wall of boxes cast an almost intimidating light. 

"Mr. Carlyle, you and I will take a few boxes and go door-to-door locally. Dr. Stevenson will take a few more to the hospital to see if anyone's interested. Then when we've run out...hopefully...we'll meet back here to get more--"

"What about my mom?" Mason objected in a somewhat agitated tone. 

"And to find Regina." Mark added in an almost hopeful tone. "Now then, let's move out, shall we?" He asked. 

Without waiting for an answer, he headed over to the box wall and began pulling a few boxes down onto the ground for easier access. 

The doctor nodded in response to Mark's question as she headed over and picked up a box full of candles. The box felt heavy in her arms, but she was able to lift it without complaint.

Mark wordlessly stacked two boxes atop another, lifting the small stack up with relative ease; wincing as his shoulder cried in protest...he hadn't taken his medication in a few hours and was suffering because of it. 

Henry lifted one, himself, looking slightly struggled - he was never one for heavy lifting, himself. Mark had Mason carry the metal money box as the boy wanted to be of [i]some[/i] use to the small party (which Mark was more than happy to oblige). 

"We'll be seeing you back here," Mark began to Faye. "Good luck, doctor!" He said confidentally before turning to walk towards the more residential part of Storybrooke, Henry and Mason following closely at his heels.