"Hi, Henry."
Ten year old Henry didn't look up from the TV as Regina walked into their lavishly decorated home from work and made her way into the living room.
"How was your day?" she asked the small boy as she kissed the top of his head.
Henry just shrugged, not turning to look at her. Regina raised her brow as she set her purse down on the end table.
"All your homework done?"
Another silent shrug.
"...I'll take that as a yes then..."
She waited for a response. For her little boy to say anything but he didn't even look at her.
Regina cleared her throat, sitting down beside him on the black leather couch. She could tell something was bothering him but she didn't have the foggiest idea what.
"How'd you do on your math test?" she asked, thinking that a failing grade was the cause for his sullen attitude.
Instead of replying he shoved the graded test towards her; a large '81' in the corner.
"Eighty one huh? We're gonna have to work on that little bit more," Regina told him as she looked over the test. "But I know how much you studied for this and how hard you worked, so I think an 81 is definitely worthy of some celebratory ice cream at Granny's after dinner."
She expected him to grin and cheerfully accept the reward or tell her he was too sick to go or to do anything apart from what he actually did.
"I don't wanna go anywhere with you," he spat rather darkly.
Her brown eyes went wide with shock as his words registered with her. He had NEVER talked to her like that before.
"Henry!" she chastised. "Since when do you talk to your mother like that?"
"Just leave me alone," he told her, once again stunning her with his harsh attitude and words.
Regina straightened out, her expression sharpening. "I'll give you one chance to apologize to me before I send you to your room."
Instead of apologizing, Henry wiped the tears that suddenly overfilled his eyes and she frowned at the ten year old.
What the hell was going on with him?
"Honey, what's going on?" she asked, putting her arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him. "You know can tell me anything right, my little prince?"
"Get off me!" he yelled, shoving her arm off her.
Very little could stun the usually composed sharp tongued Regina but her own son talking back to her and acting like that was definitely one of them.
After a moment of shocked silence she stood up from the couch, grabbed the remote from in front of him and turned off the TV.
"Get up to your room now," she told the young boy with a sharpness she rarely used in this realm. "When you're ready to apologize you can come back down."
Henry wiped more tears from his eyes before he got up from the couch and without another word stormed up the stairs, slamming his bedroom door shut behind him.
Regina took a deep breath, running a hand through her hair before she went over to her purse and pulled out her phone, dialing the number of the woman she hated most in this realm and every other.
"Hello," Snow Whites perfectly light voice answered and Regina rolled her eyes. She sounded so innocent, just like how Regina used to sound before Daniel was murdered.
"Ms. Blanchard, it's Regina Mills," she told the person on the other line, smirking when the terrified princess stammered out her next words.
God she loved how much that woman feared her.
"Oh Ma-Madame Mayor, what a surprisel How can I help you?"
"My son is incredibly upset after he came home form school, what did you do to him?"
"Nothing, I swear!"
"Then what is wrong with him?"
"I honestly don't know, Madame Mayor. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today, I promise."
Regina's face fell as she sank down into the couch. If nothing happened to him at school then what had happened to Henry to make him this upset?
"I'lI talk to him tomorrow," the teacher promised causing Regina's temper to flare.
"Are you insinuating that I don't know how to comfort my son?"
"No! No no no of- of course not, I only meant-!"
"Your intentions were perfectly clear, Ms. Blanchard," the mayor barked before hanging up the phone.
Regina took a deep breath before she got up and headed to the kitchen where she got started on dinner.
She had planned on making a more sophisticated dinner but she scrapped that idea and instead she put the pork chops back in the fridge to use tomorrow and ordered a small pizza for Henry with a kale salad for herself, the queen never quite growing accustomed to the greasy food that this world offered.
Thirty minutes later the food arrived and she took a deep breath and made her way up to Henry's room, knocking on the door.
"Henry?" She called through the door. "Can I come in? I got pizza for dinner."
No answer.
Regina sighed, knocking again, trying not to let her well known temper get the better of her.
"Henry, please answer me… We need to talk."
More silence.
She huffed before she walked into the room, stopping when she saw Henry laying face down on the bed.
"I got extra pepperoni," she told him as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
"I'm not hungry."
Her heart shattered at the sound of the voice; like he was struggling to hold back tears that so desperately wanted to fall.
"Sweetie please talk to me," she begged her little boy, surprising herself when her own voice broke. "What's going on?"
When his only response was a muffled sob, she grabbed his face as gentle as she could and turned his tear stained face towards her. "Henry, I'm your mother. You can talk to me about anything."
"You're not my mom!" he shouted, once again shoving her hand from him.
Regina's eyes went wide with shock. Her entire world stopped spinning as the words she always feared he would one day hell at her rang in her ears.
She never, not once, told him he was adopted, and the rest of the town knew she would end their miserable lives if they breathed a word about his adoption to him.
Regina had even been blessed enough to have the same dark hair and similar pointed jaw as her son so that she could say he had her chin and hair.
The Queen took a shaky breath, trying her best to stay calm as she looked into the irate eyes of her son. Maybe he was just mad and that was the first insult that had crossed his mind to throw at her.
"What are you talking about, Henry?" she said, trying her best to play it off, "of course I am."
"No you aren't!"
Henry quickly got out of the bed and stormed over to his desk, grabbing some very familiar papers from inside the top drawer and throwing them at her feet.
Papers with the heading titled "City of Boston Official Adoption Papers."
Regina reached out with a shaking hand as she grabbed the papers she had hidden in the back of the filing cabinet in her study, her lip trembling as she looked at the face of the only person in all the realms who loved her.
"Where did you get these?" she asked, doing her best to delay the more heart wrenching conversation. "Why were you in the filing cabinet?"
"It doesn't matter! You lied to me!"
"Henry, listen to me." She walked over to him, kneeling in front of him so that they were eye level. "I love you. More than I've ever loved anything else. "These?" She held out the papers before she tossed them aside. "They don't mean anything, these papers don't change anything."
"You don't love me!"
"Yes I do!" Now both Henry and Regina were openly crying and neither one knew how to stop. "Henry, listen to me, I-."
"Shut up!" He yelled through his sobs. "You never loved me, you're not my mom, and I never want to see you again!"
Without another word he turned from her and ran from his room as fast as he feet would carry him.
"Henry, wait!" Regina shouted after him, racing to catch up with her son. She rounded the corner just as she watched him start to race down the steps, so blinded by tears and rage that he didn't see his sneaker on the stairs until it was too late.
"HENRY!" she screamed as she watched him trip and fall headfirst down the steps, landing at the bottom of then grand stair case with a sickening 'crack' as he slammed against the bottom wall.
She sprinted down after him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him closer to her, letting out a panicked cry as her little boy sobbed while he held his wrist which was now bent at an unusual angle.
"Mom, it hurts!" Henry sobbed as Regina held him, not understanding why she waved her hand over his pained wrist.
"Work, damn it!" Regina yelled, waving her hand once more, not understanding why she couldn't heal him before she remembered there was no magic in this land.
"Hang on, my little prince," she whispered to him before she gently set him down before she raced to the phone and dialed 911, praying to the God of this world and the Gods of her world that he would be okay.
…
"This could have been a lot worse," Dr. Whale told Regina and Henry as he finished setting his cast. "You got incredibly lucky, Henry."
After he had calmed down after the initial shock, Henry had said nothing to Regina the whole ambulance ride over, nor anything as they took the XRays and did another exam to make sure there was no head trauma.
She had tried talking to him, tried comforting him but
after the third time he pulled away from her, her heart couldn't stand the rejection anymore.
"He has a broken wrist," Regina snapped at the blonde doctor. "Exactly how is that lucky?"
"Because it's not a broken neck or a skull fracture or a brain injury," the doctor told her casually. "He'll be out of here today and the wrist should be healed in a matter of weeks."
Whale gently placed Henry's arm in the sling, giving him a warm smile. Warm for Dr. Frankenstein anyway.
"I wrote you a prescription for some pain pills but the most important medicine is your mom getting you a few CCs of Ice Cream after you leave here."
"She's not my mom," Henry muttered without looking at the heart broken brunette.
"Henry, don't say that!" Regina pleaded, doing her best not to show tears in front of the doctor.
Whale pursed his lips as he looked between mother and son. "Well this sounds awkward and like a private conversation I shouldn't be subjected too. Um, so Henry you are free to go and have a good rest of the day."
With a curt nod the blonde doctor turned and left the exam room.
Regina took a deep breath, brushing away the tears that had formed. "Come on, Henry, let's get going."
When he made no move to get up off the exam table the Queen straightened out, making her voice more sharp. "Henry, I said let's go."
Still nothing.
"Henry Daniel Mills!"
"Is everything alright in here? Oh Henry, what happened to your arm?"
Regina closed her eyes as that insipid voice reached her ears, one she would never be able to forget no matter how hard she tried.
"Everything is fine, Miss Blanchard and this is a private conversation so I suggest you see your way out," Regina snapped without turning to look at her.
Snow swallowed hard and was about to turn and walk out when Henry finally spoke up.
"Miss Blanchard can I stay with you tonight?"
"EXCUSE ME?" Regina demanded, whipping towards the girl with the pixie cut as if she had suggested it.
Snow began stammering so nervously that she couldn't even get out an answer to the question Henry had posed.
"I wanna stay with you tonight," Henry asked once more, setting such a fire inside the Queen she felt herself burning alive. "Please?"
"Out of the question!" Regina told him, such a fury and feorisity in her voice that Snow actually flinched. "You're not going anywhere with her!"
After a moment of sheer terror Snow forced herself to speak. "Henry, you- your mo- your mother said-."
"She's not my mother," Henry argued. "I don't have a mother. I wanna spend the night with you."
"No!"
The entire world was crumbling around Regina. Her son not only found out he wasn't actually Reginas but he was turning to Snow White of all people to comfort.
Regina would rather die before she let her take her son from her.
Snow looked between Henry's casted arm and Regina, the fear of upsetting Regina replaced by something akin to suspicion.
"Henry, did… did something happen at home?"
"How dare you," Regina spat, her hands curling into a fist. "How DARE you even think that I would hurt my son!"
"Regina, why don't you go get a coffee so I can talk to Henry alone," Snow told her, surprising the Queen with the challenge in her voice.
"I didn't hurt him!" Regina roared. "I would NEVER hurt my son!"
"Henry, lets go," Snow said, ignoring the mayors wrath for the first time since the curse.
Regina stood in front of Henry, her body shaking she was so irate. "You're not taking him anywhere! You are NOT ruining my life again, you traitorous little bitch!"
Snow narrowed her eyes in confusion and Regina's face fell when the Queen realized what she had said.
"She didn't hurt me," Henry finally spoke up. As angry as he was at Regina, he wouldn't let her be accused of something she didn't do. "I fell down the stairs when I was running away."
"Why were you running away?"
"Because she's not my mom. I'm adopted."
Snow's face fell as she looked between mother and son.
She, like everyone else in town, knew that Henry was adopted but she also knew what Regina would do if they made Henry aware of that fact.
"... Oh."
"I just don't wanna be around her right now," he continued, further breaking Regina's heart.
Snow was silent for a moment before she cleared her throat, the Mary Margaret in her making a comeback. "Why don't I just take him for the night?"
"No."
"I think it might be good for him. Just for one night."
Reginas face hardened into stone as she looked between Snow and Henry, straightening out so it at least appeared she was handling this well.
"This is what you really want, Henry?"
He nodded.
"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow after school then. And Miss Blanchard?"
"Yes, Madame Mayor?"
Regina stalked over towards her, making the teacher take several steps back from her.
"If you ever incinuate that I physically abuse my son again…" She got within an inch of her face, relishing in the look of fear on her step daughter's face. "I WILL destroy you if it is the last thing I do."
Without a single look back towards Henry, Regina stormed out, hoping that neither her son or her enemy saw the tears in her eyes.
…
Regina cried herself to sleep as she slept in his bed that night, hugging his Star Wars pillow to her chest.
This was the second night he had ever spent away from her in her life, the first being a birthday sleepover in his kindergarten class and he had been invited by default.
She missed him. So much. She had read in parenting magizines when she first brought him home that she should tell him as soon as possible, to let him know he was adopted as soon as he could comprehended what adoption meant and so that he wouldn't found out in a similar manner like how he had.
But she had scoffed at that advice. Henry was her son, she wouldn't treat him any different then her own child. There was no reason for him to know that some woman had thrown him away.
When he was old enough to know what a father was, he had asked about his dad and she told him that his father, Daniel, had frozen to death because he had stayed out in the cold too long one night while he was out helping someone who needed rescuing.
Regina told him that snow had killed Daniel.
He had accepted that and had dropped the talks about his father except on Father's Day when she told Henry stories about her first love.
The next day everything seemed to go in slow motion. From getting up and getting dressed to actually working, time seemed to move so slow.
The whole time she was in an actual counsel meeting her mind drifted to Henry. She had to do something. She had to make him understand that she still loved him, that just because she hadn't given birth didn't mean he wasn't still her son.
At first she thought about a Star Wars marathon, while she disliked the space series Henry had fallen headfirst in love with the movies.
Then again, she wasn't quite sure that she wanted to watch a series where the biological father ended up saving the day…
The second thought she had was a dungeons and dragons game. Once again she found it boring beyond anything but her little prince had been so taken with elves and dwarves and heroes and knights, she couldn't say no when he asked if he wanted to play.
But she had always played his mother in his campaigns. He wasn't sure he would be ready to play that with her just now.
Her heart sank when she finally came to the realization of what would make him love her again, make him see she cared about him…
She would have to show him she loved him enough to trust him with the truth.
So that was why she headed home two hours earlier than usual to beat him home from school.
When Henry finally walked in he immediately started to hightail it to his room when Regina called out to him.
"Please come here," she begged him when he ignored her first plea.
Henry hesitated for a second, half debating on just ignoring her and going up to his room to start on that thick leatherback bound book Ms. Blanchard had given him earlier that day, 'Happily Ever After'? No that wasn't it...
But in the end he ended up walking into the living room, stopping at the sight that was in front of him. On the coffee table in front of the couch there were official looking papers laid out, covering every inch of the majestic black and white table.
Upon closer inspection he saw that they were all the paperwork involved in his adoption. Applications, references, home study reports where the signature at the bottom looked strangely like Mr. Golds...
Regina stood up and took a deep breath before she spoke. "I'm sorry that I didn't trust you with the truth, Henry. I shouldn't have kept this all a secret from you."
He said nothing but he didn't run away so she continued. "I was just scared that you would react… well exactly like how you did react."
He shifted guiltily from one foot to the other and Regina bit back a sigh of relief.
At least he appeared bad for what he had said to her the other night.
"So I um… I'm not going to hide this part of your life from you anymore, Henry. I will answer whatever you want answered about your… about how I was lucky enough to get you."
Henry looked between the papers on the table and Regina and she could practically hear the gears in his head turning.
Finally he walked into the living room and sat on the furthest chair from her.
It's a start she thought to herself as she motioned to the table. "Where do you wanna start, Henry?"
As Henry eyed the papers in front of him he thought long and hard about what he would ask her first. He knew what he wanted to ask, the question that had plagued him since Mr. Gold had called him up to look in his mother's filing cabinet for papers relating to the Panwshop but he wasn't ready for the answer just yet.
"Where was I born?" he asked, deciding on a relatively safe question for the first one.
"Phoenix," she told him, leaving out the details that he had been born in a jail. "You made your way to an agency in Boston and that's where Mr. Gold found you."
"Mr. Gold?"
Regina nodded. "I went to him when I decided I wanted a child. He has a way with cutting through red tape and making things happen. What should have taken about two years took about three weeks."
"How old was I when you found me?"
"Just shy of three months."
Another nod followed by another bout of silence. Regina waited patiently for him to ask something else.
"My real mom." That phrase stung her more than any other insult anyone had ever thrown at her. "Do… do you knew why she gave me away? Why she didn't want me?"
Regina shook her head. "It was a closed adoption, I don't even know her name or your father's name. But they probably wanted to give you your best chance, they knew they couldn't take care of you."
"My father… So… everything you told me. About Daniel… was he even real?"
She swallowed hard, nodding. "Daniel was real. All the stories I told you about him were real, our love was real, our engagement was real…" She bit her lips as tears flooded her eyes. "His death was real. He would have been a good father, Henry, he would have loved you and adored you. He deserved to be a father. He deserved to be YOUR father."
Henry looked down at the floor, feeling guilt at the mention of his mothe- Regina's old lover. Whenever he asked about Daniel in the past, without fail tears would spring to his mother's usually strong eyes.
Whatever else she lied about, she was always honest about her fiancée, and he knew if she had the choice that this Daniel would have been his father.
When Henry saw Regina wiping tears from her eyes the ten year old wanted to reach out and protect her, make her feel better, comfort her… The same way she comforted him when he had a nightmare or when he was younger and thought there were monsters under his bed, or even yesterday when they waited for the ambulance and she hugged him and stroked his hair while she told him over and over that he was going to be alright.
The boy looked down at the ground, his own eyes filling up with tears.
"Henry?"
Reginas cracked voice made the tears fall even faster.
"Henry, what's wrong? Talk to me, sweetie, please."
"Do- do you love me?" he choked out. "Like really love me, as much as you would if you gave birth to me?"
"... Look at me, Henry."
More tears flooded his eyes as he shook his head, refusing to look at the face of the woman who had endured his childhood tantrums, stayed awake at his bedside all night when he was burning with fever, pretended to be as invested in comic books as he was just so he didn't feel as dorky…
Henry wanted to hate her so bad. But he couldn't.
When he made no move to raise his head Regina placed a finger under his chin and lifted it so that she was looking into his eyes.
"I love you more than my own life, Henry Daniel Mills. The reason I survived everything life threw at me, the reason I fought so hard to stay alive? Was for you. And I hadn't even met you yet."
Both of them now had tears streaming down their face. Regina placed a warm hand on Henry's cheek, gently wiping away his tears with her thumb as she rested her forehead against his.
"I'm your mother, Henry. I will always be your mother."
Unable to control himself he let out a sob before he wrapped his arms around her, crying into her shoulder and she quickly wrapped her arms around him, gently rubbing his back and whispering to him that everything was gonna be okay.
"I'm sorry!" Henry cried. "Mom, I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright," she breathed. "It's alright, my little prince. Everything's gonna be alright."
They spent the rest of the day together; her answering his questions, explaining the process, showing him the photos of their short time in Boston she she first adopted him.
Afterwards the Pizza she had ordered him yesterday was eaten and they had played several rousing rounds of Magic the Gathering it was time for him to sleep.
"How about you stay home tomorrow?" Regina offered as she tucked him in for the night. "Me and you can go down to the beach and feed the seagulls, we can bring a picnic, I can make one of my world famous apple pies… sound good?"
Henry looked up at her, confused at her kindness. "I was so mean and horrible to you… How… why are you being so nice to me? How can you forgive me that easy?"
"Because I'm your mother, Henry. Loving and forgiving their children? Well…" Regina smiled, planting a light kiss on his forehead. "That's just what mothers do best."