A/N: I had to do this. I don't see much fics focusing on Henry's perspective of his mothers' crappy choices in partners. And considering that the major, out-of-left field, inconsistent, nonsense reveal that Emma made Hook into the Dark one? Puhlease. She needs to get called out on it and this is the fic for it. All mistakes are mine.
Henry stood on the staircase hidden and stunned at his blonde's mother revelation as she revealed her actions to everything she had been doing as the new Dark One to his brunette mother and grandmother. The tension for everyone in town has been palpable ever since Emma made the ultimate sacrificed for Regina.
They had that sort of tendency with each other, he thought fondly. One always saving the other. They had so much and common, both strong, magically powerful women that experienced hurt in their lives. Henry secretly held onto the belief his mothers are perfect for each other.
It has not escaped his attention that he feels since his mother's got into relationships with the "Hoos," as Henry called them in his mind, that they slowly lost a piece of themselves. And that he, who shared true love with both of them, have been pushed to the side because they were so focus on their boyfriends. But right now his focus is on his mother Emma.
Emma, who has now became the Dark One all in the name of his other mother's happiness, has embraced the darkness and pushed everyone away all…for Hook? She took Violet's heart and made his first crush reject him all in the process for Hook?
Bitterness, rage, and also disappointment filled his heart. For Emma to do all this underhanded crap which for a one-handed pirate. She jeopardized everyone for such an unimportant person that, if he died, no one would cry over it. It is downright insulting and he couldn't hold his tongue any longer.
"So that is why you did this?" His tone full with malice as all three women snapped their attention to the young teenager.
"Henry," Regina chided her him. She didn't want Henry to look any less at Emma. Yes she made an idiotic decision, typical Charming genes, but they all had to pull together to fix this. Just as she too have done wrong in the past.
"No Mom," he ignored her chastisement that eavesdropped on adults' conversations. His innocence has long ago been lost. He has been through and seen too much to be treated as a child.
He looked at Emma with so much malice. Even with her darken countenance; her heart broke at Henry's direct glare.
"So you did all of this for Hook? The useless freaking pirate that smells and now who is probably going to kill us all, you did this for him? You violated a young girl for him?!"
His fists were clenched, his voiced raised as all three women stood up to placate him.
Bile formed deep in Emma's heart, guilt festering in her heart.
"Henry…" she whispered.
"No!" He stomped his feet. Feelings that have been simmering for some time are spilling out now.
"When you asked me if I was alright with you dating Hook, I wasn't. But I just wanted you to be happy and I didn't want to stand in your way. He reminded me of jerks you mentioned in the past and maybe, if you dated him, you will come to your senses and dump him."
Regina's heart swelled in her chest, she was never a Hook fan herself. And seeing that her son saw how him as the dirtbag he actually is, it made her proud that Henry's keen sense of judgement.
Snow too was never fond of the pirate. She remembered the pirate calling her a slag, right in Emma's face. But his lack of respect she pushed to the side, all because she figured that it was just his personality, and they had too many magical crisis so she didn't have time to teach the over 300 year old man some manners.
Besides, what position did she have in her daughter's life to tell her who to be with? She didn't want to get in her daughter's way of happiness. She just wanted her daughter to have what she had. Though Hook is no prince or charming.
So both brunettes just stood as they looked at Henry continued to pour his heart out.
"I just felt like while dating him, you ignored me. Like, I didn't matter anymore."
Emma shook her indignation at Henry's accusation. "Henry. That is not true at all. You mean EVERYTHING to me! I would never choose Hook over you. You go to understand that adults need time to themselves, but you will always come first." She pleaded.
He understood that adults dated and their children can't hang around them 24/7, he doesn't even want that, but his sometimes he felt that he wasn't even in the orbit of Emma's thoughts. Henry chuckled because right now everything hurt too much as pieces of a puzzle came together.
"But you did. Did you know that Hook tried to kidnap me during the Snow Queen's curse?"
Regina snarled at that revelation. She be damned that the worthless turd ever laid hands on her child and had threatened him accordingly. She didn't even want the man to speak around Henry, with his crude language of bedding women.
"That filthy worm!" Henry looked at his brunette mother, pleading with her to calm down as his heart was racing.
Emma's eyes became wide as her son revealed what has been up to during the curse. He really wasn't a pressing issue in her mind. "Henry, why didn't you tell me this?"
Henry shrugged. "Rumple told me that he had Hook's heart at the time. But you see, it was like the second time your precious boyfriend tried to take me against my will."
"I told him off about that instance with Zelena. That wasn't his call to make. But Henry, I won't ever try to put you in harm's way." Again Emma was pleading her son.
"You keep saying that but you still with him! Mom, Hook has never been a good guy. I watch movies and shows you know." He looked at Regina with an apology. "Maybe movies that I shouldn't be watching."
Regina held her tongue from correcting Henry that he shouldn't be watching things over PG-13. But her son's anguish needed to be verbalized, and her telling him off wasn't the right time.
"In some movies and stuff, they have guys, bad guys, that try to get the girl. And they pretend to be all sweet when with them, but as soon as the girl is gone or not in their presence, they do really bad things behind her back." He looked at his blonde mother intensely. "Mom, that is actually who Hook is."
"That is not fair Henry, Hook is trying to change, like others have," Snow responded. She always tried to look for the good in people. Yes, Hook can come off as vile, but if her daughter is with him, she should support her, right?"
Henry looked at his grandmother sympathetically. That is Snow White. Always looking for the best in people which his mom. Regina has been on the receiving end, even if that took time. But is not like Snow or Charming ever spoke fondly of Hook either.
"But that is not true, Rumple told me-"
Regina raised her hand to stop her son. "Where is all of this 'Rumple said' come from?" She has always had some reservations with Henry being around the former Dark One. And she is now even more skeptical since Henry revealed that the older man had took Hook's heart and commanded him to take Henry, probably to have him escape the Shattered Sight curse along with Belle. In a sick twisted way, the man was trying to save his grandson. But she is done keeping Henry from his other family members.
"Mom, Rumple has changed, as had you." He just his head. "But not Hook."
He looked back at Emma's frigid stance. Her eyes never left her son as he expressed his turmoil. "Rumple told me that Hook had his heart while he helped him 'hat' the Apprentice."
All three women gasped. But it was Snow that spoke. "Belle and…well everyone assume, that Hook was a victim throughout that whole ordeal."
Henry shook his head. "Not true, Rumple told me that Hook was full conscious when they went to hat the Apprentice together. And how tried to scheme him to give him back his hand. Hook is always willing to do horrible things behind my mom's back. And no one ever finds out, or calls him out on it. Plus, he only hangs out with me just to gain points with you."
Snow could admit that Hook isn't a man that should be around children, and never when think him father material.
It troubled Emma that Hook spending time with Henry was not truly genuine.
His eyes sought out his mother. "He only pretends to be a good guy when you are around. Why would you want to be with someone like that?"
Emma felt so little in that moment. Have there been signs that Hook wasn't as he seemed? Yes. Like that time she knew he was hiding something with his past with Ursula. She gave him all the opportunity to tell her the truth, but he wasn't willing to. And she, well, there been so many instances where she let things slide.
Her mind slowly started to put pieces together. There have been so many times that she just brushed off things he said, things he has done. She was even willing to forgive him his past. A past, in truth, she only knew bits and pieces about.
Here was a man that is solely devoted to her, someone who puts her first, seemingly. Who gave up his home for her, though he got the ship back anyway. So did she intently allow him a blank card to not tell her anything, if it is in the past? Did she intentionally allow him to only present his best front in her face?
Henry interrupted Emma's inner dialogue. Another thought came to him. "And when you first turned into the Dark One, he roped me into joining him to confront Zelena. Someone he held me at knife point."
Regina's ground her teeth at Hook's incompetence and audacity.
Henry scrunched his face in confusion. "Why would anyone rope a teenager in their schemes?" Not that Henry thinks lowly of himself, and he thinks he is valuable to any operation, but it didn't make sense.
Regina knew the only reason Hook recruited Henry was because her son did have a hero complex, and her young boy was naïve enough to follow the idiotic pirate. Her blood boiled how Hook's stupidity. Now as she thought about it, anytime there is a magical crisis, he has been largely useless or just straight up a liability and she always had to do the cleanup.
It is always Regina who she ultimately turned to. And to find out Hook put her son in danger, the thought didn't settle well with her. And now that she turned Hook into the Dark one…
Regina smiled at her son, who returned it, as their teamwork actually worked, whereas anything Hook does has failed.
Emma was steeped in thought. She doesn't know why after the darkness set, that she has been so fixated with Hook. Is it because her darkness was so fond of Hook's? And now because of her selfishness of not wanting another lover to die on her, she has turned Hook into something that he begged her not to. Now she felt guilt and wanted Henry to extend forgiveness to her as he had done with Regina and even Rumple. She has royally screwed up. But her mind wondered to the reforming pirate.
"Hook has made mistakes before, I know that and I'll talk to him, but he is trying to change and I think we need to-"
The boy looked at bewildered. "Did you not just hear me? How can you choose him over me?"
Snow looked between son and mother and tried to quell the tension between the two. "Henry, she is still your mother. You shouldn't be so harsh."
Henry snorted. "Some mom. She insists being with a douchebag and don't care about me in the process."
Emma broke at that admission. She stepped towards her son and held onto his shoulders gently, imploring him to hear her out.
"I do not choose him over you. You are the person I love the most."
Henry shook out of his embrace. Is she not listening? He looked at Snow for support. "How could you allow your daughter, a princess technically, to be with scum? How could you all not see what a jerk he is?"
Snow grasped her chest at the accusation. She struggled in feeling that she continues to fail in being a mother to Emma. Their relationship has been on the fence for a while since her daughter have learned about the kidnapping of Lily. Well, even earlier than that, they haven't been the same since the curse broke.
"I can't believe you. You know what, you have no idea how to be a mother. Who the hell dates a guy that kidnaps her son on the regular basis? I wish I never found in you Boston. I bet you would have never tried to find me anyway."
He saw the flash of hurt in her eyes, he knew his words stung. He knew Emma always felt guilty at giving him up. But he understood that she was giving him his best chance. But they barely spent time together after New York, and he felt like she forgot that she had a son in the first place.
He was tired of coddling his mother, and needed to get his frustration off his chest. The truest believer stomped back into his room. Despite his hurt, he believed that Emma would see the error of her ways.
Regina and Snow stood stunned at Henry's angered outburst.
Emma collapsed her knees on that wooden floor, her head in her hands in shame, with guilt. Tears flowed from her eyes.
"Henry hates me, and it is all my fault. He is right, I'm a horrible mother and have such low esteem, that I'm with a greaseball that doesn't respect my family or me in that matter."
She is now understanding that she has always just been a thing to Hook. A thing to be happy that her heart was broken. A thing to win its heart. A thing to break down its walls. A thing to be his happy ending. It's sad that her teenaged son had to point at something that should have been so obvious. She couldn't even necessarily blame the darkness. Emma went into the relationship eyes wide shut.
Regina and Snow bent down, trying to comfort the heartbroken Dark One. Regina knew firsthand the sting her son's rejection. Emma never had to experience it.
"I know Henry hurt you but he has the biggest hurt, and he loves you and only wants the best for you. He will come around and forgive you."
Snow looked at Regina, mentally communicating that they will get Emma through this. Because now they are family. And family always stick together. And Snow knows that Hook would never understand that concept. Considering that as soon as Emma wasn't in the picture after escaping Pan's curse, he just left them in the Enchanted Forest She pulled Emma's body into hers, rubbing circles into the small of her back. As Snow spoke, Emma looked at matching green eyes.
"Emma, I know I failed you in so many ways. You deserve the best, but, as I see you with Hook, I saw the Emma I first met slowly disappearing. You are not this emo teenager that forgets that she has people that love her, unconditionally."
Images flashed in Emma's mind, with all of them returning to Storybrooke. And how Hook was the only one to reject her outright as the Dark One. As he told her he "loved her" and only seem to appreciate her because he loved being the one to "break her walls." Like she is some object to mold into his image. And since she is no longer the fragile pure princess but now the Dark One, he no longer desired or needed her. They hypocrite he is, she thought indignantly. Have she not been patient with his own struggle with darkness when they first started to date?
But Regina, her parents, and Henry never looked at her differently. They were always there for her, fighting for her, but she pushed them away. How foolish was she?
Snow continued on. "You are not this woman that forgets her son for a man that says a few nice words to you. You are Emma Swan. You are loyal, always fighting for what is right. And now we need you to fight. Fight for your family. Fight to make things right. Fight for your own dignity. Fight for you son. You are better than this. You are better than Hook."
Emma unspoken voice echoed that maybe her happy ending all along, was right there in front of her as she looked at Regina.
The former queen internally rolled her eyes at Snow's hope speech, but boy do they all need it in this moment. But as Regina returned Emma's determined glare, she can't help but wonder if she can be the better option for Emma. She cleared her throat, trying to push away her own undisclosed desires should be swept aside. Emma is who they need to focus on.
Emma ungracefully wiped the snot from her nose, sniffling away her tears and looked at Regina with hope. The older brunette grimaced at her uncouth mannerisms. She couldn't help but smile a how Regina always chide her how much of a child she is. Now she is feeling like herself.
It is amazing that Henry had to be her voice of reason. To see that Hook is not the man he is. She will hug her son and thanked him for his honesty. She needed it. She has listened. And now that got an egotistical maniac to stop, and she wouldn't want to do it with anyone else but Regina by her side. She looked at her mother as well. They need to talk more too. But she has an amazingly strong family behind her. They are stronger, together.
"Let's do this."
A/N: I hope this fic came across in articulating how I viewed that Emma has not considered Henry's feelings at all in regards to Hook's toxic presence in all of their lives. Please review, discuss your own feelings on the topic. Happy to hear from ya with what you liked or didn't like.
And don't worry I'm working on No Ordinary Love for those that are reading it. I have been such a slacker.
