„Mom?"
She's sitting on the couch in the living room, his mom. His strong mom who always puts on a smile for him whenever he's around because she doesn't want him to see the real Regina, but Henry knows the real Regina, he knows her kind heart, her strong heart. Now she's sitting there, hands gripping something, staring blankly in front of her.
He came to the mansion as soon as he heard the terrible news. Zelena opened the door for him, a crying infant in her arms. She told him everything about this dreadful evening, choking back tears, two true loves lost today, two true loves that were so very different from each other.
„She hasn't moved since we got back from the morgue."
They brought Robin there, arranged the funeral for the very next day. He can only imagine how hard it must've been for his mother. He wants to be there for her.
„Mom?" he tries again.
Regina's not reacting, still staring at the space in front of her, still gripping that object in her hand tightly.
It's Robin's scarf.
He moves to sit next to her and lays a hand over hers.
She finally looks at him. Bloodshot brown eyes are staring right into his hazel ones. It takes her a while to recognize who's sitting next to her.
„Henry." His name comes out like a whisper, barely there, only for him to hear.
He's fidgeting with the scarf in her hands now because he doesn't know what else to do.
She's looking down and takes a deep breath.
„I'm sorry, mom," he says, because he doesn't know what else to say. No words seem to be the right choice at this moment.
She grips the scarf even harder, new tears dreading to fall.
„I…wh-…what can I do?" he asks cautiously. He already knows what the answer will be. Nothing. That's what she'll say. Because that's the only thing that comes to his mind as well. But he wants to do something. He wants to help her, nothing doesn't seem good enough, nothing at all.
She surprises him by speaking in a low voice.
„We need to honor him. The fu- the funeral doesn't seem to be good enough." He waits for her, he knows she isn't finished yet. „I wanted to use those arrows I gave him so long ago." New tears are gathering in her eyes and it breaks Henry's heart even further. „Those gold-tipped ones."
He knows that story, he heard Robin teasing her with it once. ‚I'd never got payment for breaking into something. You must've liked me already, milady.'
„But I can't find them," she whispers. „I can't find them." She chokes on her last words and starts sobbing.
Henry gathers his mom quickly into his arms. She's suddenly so small, his strong mom.
„I'll ask the Merry Men, maybe they know where they are."
She's buried her face in his neck and he can feel the slight nod. „And if we don't find them, we'll take the ones he always used," Henry says.
He can hear the muffled „okay." And he knows she's going to be exactly that, okay. Not right now, not in the near future, but eventually.
So he tightens his arms around her silently sobbing form. Because he'll be there for her, always.