Henry jangled his keys as he opened the door to the loft. Upon entering, he immediately scanned the room. He didn't see either of his grandparents, or his uncle for that matter, but he did see Emma perched on a stool at the kitchen island.

"Hi, Mom," Henry called. When he got no response he called out to her again. When Emma didn't acknowledge a second time, Henry furrowed his brow and walked over to her and waved his hand in front of her face. "Mom?"

"Henry!" Emma's eyes snapped to him and her hand found her heart. She had clearly been deep in thought. "You startled me, when did you get here? You're getting stealthier."

Henry looked at her oddly and then glanced down at the uneaten cereal in front of her that now appeared to be soggy. "Just now. You didn't hear me? I called your name pretty loud. Twice."

Emma frowned at her moment of motherly neglect and reached over to give him a quick squeeze. She smiled up at him and once again was struck by how tall he'd grown. Her little boy was no longer so little. "Sorry, kid. A lot on my mind, I guess."

Henry studied her and then asked eagerly, "Like what? The evil Snow Queen you met yesterday."

Emma's eyes went wide and then she quickly nodded as if he'd guessed correctly. However, he was not correct; the Snow Queen had not been what was on her mind when he walked in the room. Unbeknownst to her, her cheeks reddened as she replied. "Sure… she's been on my mind..."

"But that's not what was just distracting you?" Henry asked shrewdly.

Emma blushed and bit her lip. Her 'distraction' was not necessarily something she wanted to discuss with her son. She certainly couldn't tell him about her 'distraction' promising to survive and then kissing her senseless in the middle of the street last night. She looked up at him, about to disclaim and then realized maybe her 'distraction' should be a topic of conversation between them, especially if he got even more… distracting than he already was, if that was even possible. After all any decision she made affected Henry too.

"I was thinking..." Emma began and then trailed off, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"You were thinking," Henry prompted taking the seat next to her at the counter.

She twisted on her stool so she was turned towards him. "I was thinking about Killian."

"Oh," Henry's eyes widened, suddenly not sure where the conversation was going.

"You like him, right?"

"Surrrrrrrrre..." Henry drew out the word, eyeing his mother as if he was sizing up her motives for their current conversation.

"You spent all that time with him before you got your memories back. Back then you wanted to spend time with him."

"I remember." Henry chuckled ruefully before he continued speaking. "It was only a week ago. What are you getting at, Mom? Are you trying to pawn me off on him again? 'Cause I know the truth now, I don't need babysitting anymore."

Emma cringed at his characterization of her behavior. "I wasn't pawning you off, things were happening. I needed to make sure you were safe and..."

"You trusted I'd be safe with Captain Hook?" Henry's voice had taken on a teasing quality now.

"Well, yes, actually, I trusted him." She paused a moment before amending, "I trust him."

"Yes, mom, I liked hanging out with Killian. Do you want me to go sailing with him or something while you look for the Snow Queen? If that's what you're getting at, sure, that's fine with me."

Emma winced since that wasn't what she was getting at and now she had to not only rescind a dangled hang-out with a cool pirate, and instead tell him she wanted to hang out with said cool pirate by herself. "I'm sure he'd like to hang out with you anytime you'd like, but that's not what I was getting at."

"Okay, then what are you getting at?"

"How would you feel if I spent time with him...?" Emma trailed off, hoping her son would fill in the blanks.

Henry raised his brow at her in mock confusion. "You spend practically all your time with him already."

Emma felt a little jolt of embarrassment at that statement. Mostly because she realized exactly how true it was.

"We do get... thrown together... a lot... there's a lot of crisis situations in Storybrooke and he's good... in a crisis." Emma shook her head as if to clear it. "But we're getting off track here. I don't want to talk about our many crises."

"Okaaaay," Henry replied while reaching across the counter to grab a banana.

Emma thought for a minute about how she wanted to proceed. Perhaps she needed to reframe the argument. "You know how you're okay with Regina's relationship with Robin? Or how you were okay with it… last week when they were an item?"

"Ah," Henry said as he concentrated on peeling his banana. "So you want Killian to be your boyfriend."

Emma waved her hand and immediately started to disclaim. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Nobody said anything about boyfriend. I was thinking we might start... I don't know..." Emma searched for the word, "...dating. I guess, or whatever they do here in Storybrooke."

"Mom, I'm teasing. Are you forgetting I was here the other night after you almost froze to death and he wouldn't leave your side? I'm not a kid, I'm 13."

"So you're okay with it?" Emma asked, feeling relief flood her chest. "I don't want to do anything that would make you uncomfortable."

"Sure," Henry replied lightly, but Emma didn't miss his too-neutral tone or the almost imperceptible wince that now crossed his face.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Emma peered over at him imploringly, feeling some of the relief she'd felt a moment earlier disappear. "You can tell me if it bothers you. We can talk about it."

"No, it's fine." He turned to face her and shrugged. "I like him; you should do whatever you want."

"But it bothers you…" Emma replied slowly, feeling her heart sink. She wouldn't let her son dictate her romantic life, but it would sure be nice if he was on board. "You were all for me marrying Walsh, so is this about Killian specifically?"

Henry shook his head. "Mom, its fine." He looked thoughtful for a moment and then sighed. "It's just that things are very different than when we were in New York. Then we had no other family. Now, I have grandparents and step-grandparents and two moms and... everything is complicated."

"Well, yes it is and there's no arguing that your family tree is convoluted." She nudged him with her elbow and tried to tease. "Is it because he's a pirate? Because you seem okay with your other mom dating a thief?"

"That's different."

"How so?" Emma asked with very honest curiosity.

"Because... because with mom, other mom," he clarified, I'm always worried about her... turning back... to her old self and right now she's teetering on the verge because Robin broke her heart. I don't want that to happen to you."

She wrapped her arm around her shoulders and gave a squeeze. "You're a good kid. I certainly don't want that to happen to me. But if it does, I promise not to turn evil."

At that he laughed. But then he turned serious and said quietly, "I already have one mom with a broken heart, I don't know if I can handle two."

"You think Killian is going to break my heart?" Emma felt a wave of nervousness hit her gut and she looked at him intently, putting more stock into how he was going to answer the question than she would have admitted.

"No… actually, but things… happen in Storybrooke."

"That they do," Emma replied apologetically. It was much the same concern she'd been having herself. "Is that it? Your only concern?"

"Yeah, I don't know, I just... I've had you all to myself for the last year, or longer depending on which set of memories we go by, so… I know I have to share now."

"Yeah, I know the feeling, kid. Now we have a much bigger family and I share parenting duties with Regina." She reached over and gently tilted his chin so he was looking at her. "But you know if Killian and I start something, that doesn't leave you out in the cold, right? We're a team no matter what."

Henry fidgeted in his seat, and Emma sat back and watched him carefully. Finally, he said, "I do know it, but it's nice to hear." He paused a beat and then, sounding much more cheerful said, "So how're you going to do it?"

"Do what?" Emma shifted nervously, a bit of alarm could be heard in her voice.

"I may only be 13, but even I know that you have to actually go on a date to be dating someone. As I understand from TV and movies one person asks the other out."

"You think..." Emma cleared her throat nervously. "I should ask him on a date?"

"Why not? Girls do that, right? You've always said men and women are equals."

"Yes, sure, of course girls do that. But… do I do that?"

"What are you worried about, that he's gonna say no?" Henry emitted a snort of laughter as he took a bite of his banana.

"Well..." Emma's eyes went wide as she contemplated the different scenarios, her life-long relationship with abandonment and rejection suddenly crippling her thought process.

Henry noticed the bit of self-doubt coloring her face and exclaimed, "Mom, seriously!"

"What?" she asked defensively.

"You can't think he's going to say no."

Feeling unreasonably unsure, Emma shrugged noncommittally, "Well…"

"If you think that, you must be the only person in Storybrooke not to know that Captain Hook has a huge crush on you."

Emma had no argument for that. "No, no, I know that he... that, you know, has whatever... some feelings..."

"Okay, so you know he's going to say yes. Then what's the problem?" Henry asked matter-of-factly.

"Asking out someone you like is hard?" Her statement came out as a question.

"I wouldn't know, but I hope to some day."

"Oh, no, no, no," Emma shook her head quickly as the reality that he was now a teenage hit her full force, possibly for the first time. "No, you are not old enough to date!" Then Emma looked at him appraisingly "Are you? I don't think kids in Storybrooke date this young..."

"Mom," Henry chuckled as he said her name. "This is not about me dating. It's about you having the courage to go after what you want. Didn't you always say that's what you wanted for me? Remember when I was deciding whether or not to try out for the debate team in New York?"

Emma relaxed her shoulder, and smirked at her son. "Right. So in order to set a good example for you, I have to go ask Captain Hook on a date."

Henry laughed so hard he almost fell off his stool. "Well I wouldn't go that far, but if that's what you need courage to do." He stood up suddenly and looked expectantly at his mother.

"What?" Her eyebrows arched so high, they almost hit the ceiling. "Now, as in right now? You want me to go..."

"Ask Killian out. Yes, I bet at this time of day we'll find him at Granny's. I'll go with you... just to make sure you get there," he smirked at her, "and then I can walk to the library from there, I'm doing some research to try and help mom."

"Am I really doing this?" Emma asked as she shrugged into her leather jacket.

Henry didn't answer. Instead he walked to the door and held it open for his mother. Emma smiled at him and then, with a deep courage-giving breath and a stomach full of nervous butterflies, she headed out the door in order to ask her 'distraction' on a date.

The End.