Teresa wasn't sure how long she wept, but eventually she found herself walking home. Her body was physically exhausted and now a knot had formed in her shoulder from the awkward position she had been laying in on the park bench. The moon was still shining amoungst the stars, so she knew she hadn't been there until dawn. That's a plus, she thought, kicking a nearby stone. Although the teenager was sad, all she felt now was disgust. Disgust for herself.

Before she met Henry, she had never felt an ounce of jealousy and rarely ever cried; she was strong-willed, had her walls always standing strong, and never faltered. But now it seems she has changed. Perhaps for the better, or perhaps not. She wasn't sure what to think anymore.

When she finally got home, she was surpised to find none other than Henry Mills himself sitting on the porch steps. The porch light was off, suggesting that Henry had been inside and spoke with Snow and David before waiting for her to return home. His knee was bouncing up and down and his expression was one of immense worry and impatience. She bit her lip and ducked her head as she began walking towards him. However, before she could even touch a step, he noticed her.

Rising up, Henry began showing just how concerned he had been for her. "Where have you been?" Is his first question. When she remained silent and simply kept walking pass him, Henry reached out and grabbed her arm. Her head turns at his touch and her eyes meet his. In them, she can see determination, but most of all, worry. She feels a twinge of guilt for making him worry so much, and her eyes even soften for a moment, until she remembers the way she cried over him.

She rips her arm from his grasp and turns away. "I don't want to talk to you right now," she mumbles, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Teresa, please," he says, walking around her to block her path. She sighs, impatient, and takes a step back, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Henry, I'm not in the mood right now, okay? Just please go home," Teresa tells him.

"I'm not going anywhere," Henry tells her, his features going from worry to frustration. Teresa raises a brow. "I thought we were having fun, the three of us. When we turned around to find you gone..." Henry pauses to lick his lips, and he shakes his head. "I thought something happened to you, Teri. I've been searching for you for hours! I called you countless times! I thought...I thought Hyde had..."

"That's just it Henry." She shook her head. "You think everything is perfectly fine, but it's not. I'm not even sure it has ever been fine."

"What are you talking about?"

Teresa laughs in disbelief. "Just forget it. Henry, I'm very exhausted right now, alright? I've laying on a park bench for God knows how long and now ─ "

"Why were you laying on a park bench?"

"Good night Henry," Teresa says, walking around him to go inside. But Henry, again, jumps in front of her. She sighs, beginning to lose her patience with him. "Henry..."

"I'm not leaving," he insists, "not until you tell me what's going on."

Teresa crosses her arms over her chest as she shifts her weight onto one foot. "You really want to know?"

"No, I've just been running around, calling you endlessly and sitting on your porch steps for fun," Henry replies with a bitter tone.

"I went to the park to cry because I hate you," Teresa reveals rather quickly. Her eyes then widen when she realizes what she has said.

Henry feels as though his heart has been split into two. He stumbles back a step, a dull pain making his chest begin to throb. A crestfallen expression twists onto his features; he feels as though he can die right then and there.

"You..." He swallows the lump that had formed in his throat, but before he can speak, she does.

"That's not how I meant it," Teresa mutters, bringing her eyes up to meet his heartbroken ones. She suddenly feels terrible for saying something so horrible when she didn't actually mean it in the way it sounded. "You know I care for you, Henry, and I always will, it's just...it's just..."

"Just what? Are you jealous of me and Violet? I've told you before, we're only friends, nothing more. I am literally incapable of loving somebody other than you."

"I know, that's ─ that's not how I intended for that to come out," Teresa explains. "I've just been thinking about us a lot recently."

He remained silent, urging her to continue. Teresa turned and sat down on the steps, and after a moment, Henry joins her.

She avoids eye contact as she continues. "I hate you in a sense that you make me feel emotions completely foreign to myself. I've never felt this much concern for someone before. Or jealousy, for that matter. I mean, sure I've been jealous of some village kids because they had things I didn't, but this sort of jealousy is different. I seen you with her tonight. You looked so happy together, and I...I felt out of place."

"Teri ─ "

"Please let me finish," she pleads. When he remains silent, she continues. "You have to understand that I didn't grow up with a mother. I never got birthday presents or celebrated other holidays. I was abandoned because my mother was afraid to love me. It was just me and the woods for as long as I can remember. I was lucky enough to have met Robin. For a couple years I actually thought he could be the father I never had, but even that didn't last very long. Everyone I have ever love dies, Henry, and afraid you'll be one of them."

A frown pulls his lips downward, and he scoots closer to her so that he can wrap an arm around her shoulders. However, she pulls away and stands, walking down the steps to stand on the pathway. His heart clenches, face dipping down in rejection as he watches her begin to pace, his worry only further intensifying. How could she not tell me any of this before?

She soon pauses in her step to look at him. "Henry, what are we? Because as far as I'm concerned, although we have the titles of a relationship, it doesn't seem like one. We kiss, we laugh, we talk for what seems like hours, but that's it. The only things we seem to do are have movie nights and get an occasional lunch and cocoa at Granny's. That's not much of a date."

"Are you saying that you're unhappy with me?" Henry frowns. His chocolate eyes pore into hers, as if looking into her soul.

"I have beyond happy when I'm with you. It's just come to my recent attention that you don't want to take our relationship to the next step. Are you afraid that I won't go on a date with you or something?"

Henry shook his head. "That's not what I'm afraid of," he admits.

"Than what are you afraid of? Please tell me, Henry, because I can't take this anymore. Ever since David said that the other night, I feel like we aren't even in a relationship."

"I'm afraid to hurt you," he reveals, much to her surpise. She blinks, shocked, then opens her mouth to speak, but finds herself to he speechless. "I don't want to remind your of the pain you felt in Camelot. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get the expression on your face from that day out of my head. I hurt you, Teri, and even I haven't forgiven myself for it."

A frown pulled at her lips, forcing them downward as she walked towards him. "I have forgiven both you and Violet for that a long time ago." She sat down beside him. "I thought we were past that? It wasn't your fault, nor was it Violent's. It was Emma's. She was the one who ripped out Violet's heart to break mine, not you."

"I've tried, I really have, but I can't seem to shake the image of your face from my mind."

Teresa reaches forward and tilts his face over to meet hers. Quickly, she closes the space between them in a sweet kiss that leaves their lips tingling. When they part, she leaves their foreheads touching.

"What was that for?" He breathlessly asks.

"We both needed one of those."

"Does that mean you want to?" Henry asks with hopeful eyes, as he draws back to meet her gaze.

"Are you finally asking me out on a date, Mills?"

"If I was, would you say yes?"

Teresa bit her lip to contain her grin. "Yes."

Henry grins and leans forward, closing the space between them once again. This time, he allows his thumb to softly stroke her cheek as their lips move in perfect synchronization. "I love you," he mutters against her lips.

Teresa's eyes widen and she pulls back, lips parting in shock. She always knew that she was in love with Henry, and he was in love with her, but this was their first declaration of the shared love between them. She grinned, unable to contain her happiness.

"I love you, too."

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