A/N: Well, here it is. It took me forever, but I finished chapter one. For those of you that were reading the other version of this story, I hope you'll like this one better. I put a little more thought and effort into the writing, and I feel the story may make a little more sense now. The chapters are longer, and it's staying on the 'Henry senses something is up' track like it's supposed to. Please don't forget to let me know what you guys think - support keeps me motivated. You'd be really surprised. And thank ALL of you that have stuck with this story!
The shrill, piercing sound of garbled music cut through the still air, jolting a very tousled Emma Swan from her sleep. A rather unattractive noise, between a growling grunt and a groan, slipped into the disturbed silence as she twisted under her sheet to slide her hand clumsily across the mattress. Without opening her eyes, she knew it was still dark; her whole body was heavy, signifying waking before her usual six hours of sleep. As her hand connected with her cell phone, wedged under the unoccupied pillow next to her, she wrapped her fingers around the device and slid it out into a position she could see the screen in. The blinding light seared into her retinas, reminding her of said darkness that still presided outside and in the bedroom.
Emma was starting to wonder why she had thought that this Sheriff thing was a good idea. Woken by phone calls at all hours of the night by ridiculous things, or by Leroy and his usual drunken idiocy, was getting real old, real fast. She wanted to prove something to Henry, and she had; the bad guy didn't always have to come out on top, and Emma had very surprisingly crushed Regina and Sydney in that election. But really? What did she think she was accomplishing, being a stranger in a small town that everyone knew everyone in, stepping into a leadership role? She may as well be chopping off her own head and offering it to Regina herself.
"'Lo?" Emma mumbled into the phone, not even bothering to try to squint past the bright screen to see who the hell was waking her up at this random hour. The voice on the other end wasn't expected, yet it was; she would be calling to wake her up at this hour.
"What do you want, Regina?" Emma groaned, voice thick with sleep and lingering exhaustion. She wasn't awake enough to deal with this. Her brain usually snapped right into alert mode at so much as a prickle of Regina's presence, but the blonde just couldn't force herself into it. She had slept twelve hours all week, and all she wanted was to never have to get up again.
"Good morning to you, too, Sheriff Swan," Regina drawled into the phone. "Not a morning person, I see."
"Unless you have something to say, I'm going back to sleep," Emma all but snapped. She could hear Regina draw in a steady breath on the other line, but her sleep-addled brain didn't process that it probably meant Regina was about to lash out for Emma's attitude. Not like the blonde cared all that much.
"I was calling to inquire about coffee before our shifts, but if you'll take that attitude all morning, I will go alone."
Emma's eyes snapped back open from the fallen-shut position they had returned to. Was she seriously so tired that she had misheard? She wouldn't put it past Regina to mean something along the lines of Emma bringing her coffee, but if she really decided to go that far, she was just encouraging a whole different kind of war. Tired, half asleep mind or not, Emma wasn't going to lie down and take it.
"If you mean will I get out of bed at…" Her head turned to the side, squinting eyes searching out the bedside alarm she never used. "Six ten in the morning to go get you coffee because you think I owe you something, then no."
"Honestly, you cannot be this immature," Regina snapped with a huff. Emma could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "If you decide to grow up in the next forty five minutes, I will be at Granny's waiting for you. We need to talk." With that, the line went dead, and Emma pulled her phone from her ear to stare at it in slight confusion. She wasn't sure why Regina still managed to completely throw her off; it wasn't like the blonde wasn't used to this kind of behavior from the Mayor by now. But asking her to coffee so they could talk was definitely different. Regina could hardly stand being in the same room with her for work, let alone coffee.
Pretending she had absolutely no worry whatsoever about what they needed to talk about was surprisingly simple for Emma as she finally pulled herself from bed and looked around for her pants. She honestly couldn't remember where the heck she had thrown them the previous night when trying to get them free from her legs. All she had really been worried about was shutting her eyes before that less-than-six-hours-of-sleep mark caught up and passed her. Giving up, she crossed to the closet, pulling down yoga pants and a tank top from her top shelf. Well, at least she had showered yesterday, because it looked like Regina was yet again leaving her with very little time to do the important things. Forty-five minutes would be more than enough time for Emma to get to Granny's, but not if she got in the shower first.
As quietly as she could, Emma slipped from her room and made her way towards the staircase that led to the main floor of the apartment she shared with her roommate. It was way too early to be waking the teacher up; which was why she was shocked to find her already in the kitchen, leaned on the kitchen counter and sipping on a cup of coffee as she read over a piece of paper in her hand.
"Do you ever sleep?" Emma asked, making her way around the counter to pick up her coat from the back of the chair. "Sorry," she added, waving the jacket in her hand. "Meant to take this upstairs with me."
"It's alright," Mary Margaret Blanchard said kindly as she glanced up from her paper. "You hardly leave a mess around here, Emma. It's just a jacket." It was always surprising how understanding the woman could be, especially since Emma was so used to roommates that flipped the hell out when her jacket was laying around forgotten. Then again, this was a totally different ballpark now. Mary Margaret was nothing like any of her previous roommates. "You're up early," Mary Margaret notes, returning to her piece of paper and letting her eyes skim.
"Regina apparently wants to talk," Emma said with a slight eye roll. "Asked me to coffee and everything. Not sure if I should be expecting a promotion or an ambush."
"Oh honestly, she wouldn't ambush you," Mary Margaret said with an amused look on her face. Emma gave her a look, one she could apparently feel, because she glanced up from her paper to see it and hid a slight smile. "Okay, maybe she would."
"Yeah, exactly," Emma said as she pulled her jacket on. "Because you and I both know it's that before it's a promotion." Making sure she had everything, she headed for the door. "See you tonight," she called over her shoulder. "Dinner, right?" She waited for the hum of confirmation and the softly spoken 'Have a nice day' before exiting the apartment and heading down towards her car.
xxxx
The drive over was a lot less calm than she had expected it to be. Most of the time, Emma had no issue with seeing Regina, because she knew she could handle anything the woman threw at her. Regina liked to think she always had the upper hand, but Emma knew how to play her game better than the Mayor understood. She had grown up in circumstances that required her to be able to read people, and work around their bullshit. She was alert at all times. So why was she suddenly feeling this stupid pit in her stomach? It couldn't have been anything serious. Then again, she was willing to bet that Regina wouldn't have any interest in her presence if it weren't.
Damnit, she thought to herself. This is probably some new scheme of hers to keep me away from Henry. She's going to sit me down and rip into me until I agree to just get the hell out of Storybrooke.
Emma was not amused with this new case of self-doubt. Like she was going to let Regina Mills run her out of town over a few ridiculous threats.
Emma parked her car in front of Granny's diner and shut the engine down, taking a deep breath and running a hand through her hair. Regina was already inside; her black Mercedes was parked a few spots away from Emma. So much for trying to be early. Regina would always have that one up on her, it seemed. Granny's opened at six, so Regina was probably already present when she even called Emma in the first place. A weird tickle in Emma's throat distracted her briefly, and she cleared her throat to rid herself of the discomfort. Maybe it was just her nerves playing with her, or the fact that she hadn't had anything to drink yet that morning.
With a heavy sigh and another deep breath, Emma got out of her car and locked it behind her. As she was heading for the door of the diner, she deduced that her entire feeling about this situation was just a lack of desire for a fight today. Emma could hold her own against Regina, but she didn't exactly go out of her way looking for a reason to provoke her. Not anymore, at least. There was a point there for a minute that the blonde was trying to make it quite clear to the Mayor where she stood, and when things had only gotten worse, Emma had been the one with enough maturity to back off. For Henry's sake. She really didn't want any trouble today. Opening the door, she stepped inside, coughing slightly at the change in air; it was surprisingly cold outside that day, but the room she was in was nice and warm.
As Emma slid into the booth across from Regina, the brunette didn't even look up from the open newspaper she had spread across the table in front of her. It was a full minute before Emma even decided to announce her presence. "You wanted coffee at some ungodly hour in the morning," she said. "So what's up?"
"Miss Swan," Regina greeted flatly, though her eyes still didn't lift from the newspaper. Emma only coughed in response, placing her arm over her mouth as her eyes rolled. Formalities weren't even worth anything to her anymore, and yet Regina still insisted on them.
"Seriously, Regina, what do you want?" Emma asked after a few stretched moments of silence between them. "Now that I'm up, I may as well be getting things done, and I can't exactly do that if you're sitting there not telling me what you wanted me here for." Of course, Emma could just get up and walk out as long as Regina was going to be difficult, but she didn't actually add that part in. The no fighting, no drama rule was still at the forefront of her mind.
Finally, Regina flipped the newspaper shut and folded her hands over it as she lifted her gaze to meet Emma's. Her usual stony expression was there, but the blonde was surprised to see a faint touch of concern within the brown of her eyes. It was something Emma only ever saw directed at, or about, one person, and suddenly Emma had a feeling she knew why she was here. And her abdomen exploded with her own wave of concern at the thought.
"Has Henry been acting odd to you?" Regina asked bluntly. Clearly she was in no mood to beat around that issue. Emma just looked at her for a long moment, brow slowly furrowing as she thought about it. She barely got to see the kid, thanks to Regina's absolute loathing of her, so she wasn't sure what Regina was expecting her to say. It was a little difficult to sneak around with him when Regina was often parked across the street from his school, making sure Henry didn't get in Emma's car when the final bell rang.
"From what I've gotten to see of him, no," Emma said finally. "He's seemed fine to me." A pause as she choked back another cough; that damn tickle in her throat was refusing to go away. "Why? What's going on?" She was already aware of Henry's flat out refusal to even give Regina the time of day most of the time, and Emma wasn't sure how Regina would be able to detect strange behavior if the boy wouldn't even let her in. But she had raised him all his life, so she supposed it came with being a mother. Emma honestly wouldn't know.
Freeing one hand from the clasped position, Regina reached for her coffee cup, taking a slow drink. In that time, Ruby finally showed up at their table, offering Emma a hot chocolate with cinnamon she hadn't ordered, but took gratefully anyway, if only to get rid of the damn tickle in her throat. She took a long drink from her mug as Regina took one from hers; Regina's cup was first back on the table, as Emma was practically chugging her drink. Regina's brow lifted slightly, her nose wrinkling just so, but she didn't comment.
"His grades have shot down from their usual standards," Regina answered, hand still wrapped around her cup so her fingers could tap thoughtfully against it. "And as much as I wanted to blame you for it, I've made certain he stayed away from you in an attempt to gauge whether or not that really was the reason. They still haven't improved."
"Maybe he's just in some new material he doesn't understand now," Emma said with a shrug after lowering her mug. "He's not going to ask for help if he doesn't think he'll get it."
Regina snorted softly, shaking her head. She went to speak again, but another small cough from Emma cut her off. She waited a moment, gazing at the blonde, waiting for another interruption, but one didn't come. So she spoke again. "He's always been very educated, very good grades, and knows when to ask for help," she said. "I don't see why he would choose now to just stop seeking out assistance if he knows he needs it."
The blonde could see plenty of reasons, but she kept her mouth shut. No fighting, no drama. "Is it just his grades?" Emma asked. Regina shook her head.
"Despite his refusal to speak to me anyway, it seems to have gotten worse," Regina said. "He doesn't even want to eat anything I cook him, and he's constantly locked in his room. When I check on him to offer him time for video games, he claims to not feel like it. He's always felt like playing video games." Regina scowled at the amused glint that had entered Emma's eyes. "What?"
"Nothing," Emma said with a smirk. "It's just, you know he's a growing boy, right? He could have, uh…discovered something. And that might be why he doesn't want to come out of his room."
The horror on Regina's face was so comical, Emma actually laughed out loud. It ended in a coughing fit, but oh, was it so worth it. "I'm just saying," Emma rushed to add before Regina could speak, still amused. "He's going to discover it eventually. Some of them discover it younger than others, and they don't understand what it means, other than that it feels good."
"He's ten!" Regina exclaimed, a little louder than she meant to. She took a moment to reel herself in before continuing, voice more controlled and a lot less loud this time. "I've never even come close to exposing him to anything that could give him the idea that he could do that."
It really blew Emma away sometimes how Regina thought that she had full influence over Henry's life. It was like the woman didn't believe in outside sources at all. Taking a slow breath, Emma closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and looked at Regina seriously. "What about Graham?" she asked quietly.
It had the expected result. The air got tense, Regina's whole body went rigid, and her eyes completely glossed over with the armor Emma was so used to seeing. Any and all concern was gone. "What about Graham?" Regina asked shortly, tone hard. Emma shrugged weakly.
"Did they talk?" Emma asked, voice quiet. "Do you think maybe Henry found out about it and asked Graham, and maybe Graham explained it to him?"
Regina seemed to be thinking for a moment, though her hard gaze bore into Emma's bright green eyes threateningly. Emma and Regina didn't get along, but there had been a bit of a silent agreement that the mention of Graham wouldn't be an accepted topic. But what else could Emma do in this situation?
"We don't even know if that's what is even going on," Regina said finally. "And if it is, and Graham spoke to him about it, I suppose there's nothing to do about it now." Not like there would have been something to do about it anyway. And Regina had a point; that was just one of the many possibilities of what could be going on, and neither of them had enough evidence to determine what exactly Henry was doing or feeling.
When it came down to it, none of their logic really mattered. What did matter was that they needed to figure out if Henry was alright, and Emma wasn't sure if Regina even realized that she was basically asking the blonde for help, but Emma was volunteering her services anyway. "How about I pick him up from school today?" she offered, and quickly cut in when it looked like Regina was about to protest. "No offense, but he won't talk to you. I can at least try to get him to talk to me. And if that doesn't work, we'll think of a new plan. Okay?" Henry was theirs, whether Regina liked it or not. Both of theirs. She was going to have to suck it up and let Emma help if she wanted to figure things out.
"Fine," Regina said after a short sigh of frustration. "But you will have him home before dinner, and you will call me if something happens."
Emma had no idea what Regina expected to happen, but Emma nodded anyway in agreement. Another cough, this time into her napkin, and then Emma reached into her pocket for money for her hot chocolate.
"You may want to get that cough taken care of," Regina said nonchalantly as she paid for her own coffee. "I will not have my son waking up ill." With that, she stood, and was out the door within seconds of getting her jacket on. Emma just glared after her; it didn't last long, because she was coughing again almost immediately.
xxxx
"You look horrible," Henry noted as he climbed into Emma's bug at the end of the school day, dropping his backpack at his feet and turning to look at her. Emma honestly wasn't surprised by the comment; the tickle in her throat had escalated to a full on hoarse cough, and she was starting to feel a little under the weather. Her lips were swollen from the amount of times Emma had pressed a napkin over them, and her face was forever red with the effort it took to cough. She had decided that she wasn't going to keep Henry long; she didn't want him to get sick, if that was what was happening to her, and she had a feeling it was. They would talk for a while, she would take him for ice cream, and she would take him home so Regina didn't have a total and complete meltdown. Emma knew she wasn't feeling up to one of those now, even less than she was feeling up to drama this morning.
"I'll be okay, just a little cold, I think," Emma said as she started the car. "Ice cream?" She looked over at him, and he nodded enthusiastically with a smile. Emma wasn't noticing anything off yet; this was pretty much the way he always acted around her. So maybe whatever it was, it was directed at Regina specifically. Or it really was his discovery of some of the simple body pleasures.
With the town being so small, it didn't take long for them to get to the ice cream parlor. Emma parked and shut the car off, and Henry was out the door before she even got her seatbelt unbuckled. Whether it was because he was hyperactive, or she was just having slow reactions that day, she had no idea, but she was soon following him into the shop anyway. When they were settled with their ice cream, Emma reached across the table to mess up Henry's hair a little.
"So how've you been, kid?" Emma asked. "I barely get to see you anymore."
"Yeah, cause Mom's been worse than ever," Henry muttered, rolling his eyes and taking a bite of his banana split. "I failed a couple of tests, and now she's punishing me."
"From what she told me, it sounds like you're failing more than a couple of tests," Emma said gently. Henry looked away guiltily, though he was certainly very defensive about it.
"She talked to you? What, so you're on her side?"
"Hey, I'm not on anyone's side," Emma said, lifting her hands. Now she was beginning to see where the odd behavior was coming in. He definitely had a little bit more of an attitude than he usually did. She had to wonder if someone was messing with him. "Is everything okay at school? No one's bothering you or anything?"
"Everything's fine," Henry said. "Just like I told her. I'm fine."
Jackpot. He wasn't fine. He wasn't looking at her, and his voice was quiet, which meant he was trying to cover up a lie. Taking a slow drink of her milkshake, Emma let the cold soothe her throat in an attempt to chase away any incoming coughs before she spoke again. "What do you mean when you say your Mom's being worse than ever?" she tried. Maybe she could get some answers about how things were at home, at least. Henry didn't seem real enthused to answer, but he did after another couple of bites of his split.
"She just won't leave me alone," Henry said finally. "And I keep…" Trailing off, he shook his head. "Nothing."
"Henry, you keep what?" Emma asked, leaning across the table. "You can talk to me, remember?" He still looked reluctant, but again, he gave in and spoke.
"She's up to something," he said. "I don't know what. But I don't want to be around whatever it is, so I lock myself in my room, and she still doesn't leave me alone. I just want her to leave me alone until she's done doing whatever she's doing. But I don't want her to hurt anyone."
So they were back to this. Emma had actually started seeing a little progress between him and Regina lately, but now he was reverting right back to thinking she was evil and hurting people. Which, yeah, Regina technically was hurting people, just not in the way Henry believed she was. Emma was pretty sure they would have caught Regina in the act of actual magic by now if it really were the case.
"Kid, I doubt she's going to hurt anyone," Emma said soothingly. She didn't get much further before she was coughing again, picking up a napkin to cover her lips with. Damnit. This was getting really tedious. Emma hadn't been sick in ages. She needed a cough drop or something.
"She's probably just doing her usual Mayor crap and digging into people's business she shouldn't be," Emma said once she was finished coughing, her voice hoarse and her throat sore. "If she's sneaking around or something, I can guarantee that's why. It's what she does." Sure, it didn't put Regina in a great light, but it put her in a better one than Henry was trying to. Not like Emma thought her to be the most innocent person in the world, but she at least tried to get Henry to like her a little more than he did.
Henry didn't respond for a long time. He looked completely dejected, and not entirely convinced by Emma's words. When he did speak, it was to change the subject entirely. "You're sick," he said. "You should go home. Mom's going to freak if you miss work." He sounded so much older than his age, and it made Emma's chest hurt a little.
"She is, isn't she?" Emma asked with a soft sigh. That sigh brought on another cough, and it took all of the energy left in her – which wasn't much – not to start cursing in front of Henry. He was right; she really needed to go home, get herself some tea, and maybe pop a few Benadryl. She would be better when she woke up; these things never lasted more than a day or so for her. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Henry finished his split, and Emma opted to take her milkshake with her, despite it being a little chilly outside. It was quickly approaching Winter air, and that was surely why Emma was suddenly getting sick. Change in season never did agree with her, though it had been a while since she had escalated to feeling like this. When Emma pulled up in front of Regina's mansion, Henry leaned over to hug her, but Emma leaned away.
"Nuh uh," Emma warned. "Next time. If you get sick, your mother's going to kill me, and I really don't feel like being blamed for that." Thankfully, Henry wasn't offended; he seemed more amused than anything. With a quick wave, he was out of the car and hurrying into the house, no doubt to lock himself in his room once more.