This is an idea I had of another way things could have played out between Regina and Henry in season 4 when Robin leaves Regina because Marian "comes back." I am a proud RegalBeliever and I love their relationship and how far it's come. I wish we could see more of them having "moments" on the show. I wrote this to satisfy my need for the feels! Anyways, this is another way things could've played out between them after Regina tells him she needs space.
(Regina is bringing Henry a bag of his things to the Charming's after telling him that she needed space the night before)
Regina picked up her purse and keys, then walked towards the door. Emma and Mary Margaret said goodbye, and told her to call them if she needed anything. Regina nodded and cleared her throat, "So I guess I'll see you all later." Regina looked to the side trying not to wear her emotions as visible as her makeup.
Then, before things got awkward, she turned on her high heel and headed towards the door.
Henry watched her as she went to walk out the door then called out, "Mom, wait!" He turned and ran up the stairs. Regina, Emma, and her parents all looked at each other in confusion but remained silent.
Meanwhile Henry was in his room grabbing the bag of things his mom had just brought him. He understood she was depressed over Robin's "dead wife" coming back but he didn't want to stay with Emma right now, he wanted to be with his mom. Even though Regina said she wanted to be alone, he wasn't going to let her push him away.
Henry ran down the stairs and up to Regina, putting his hand in hers, looking at her smiling. Regina looked over towards the others then back at Henry. She looked into his eyes, slightly smiling back at him asking, "Sweetie, what are you doing?"
Henry looked back to her replying enthusiastically, "I'm coming home with you mom!"
Regina put her head down and rubbed her temple with the hand that wasn't holding Henry's. "Henry…" She started, now grabbing both of his hands. She paused just looking into his soft eyes. She rubbed his arm and said, "Come outside with me Henry."
Henry followed his mother out the door still holding her hand. When she shut the door he let go of her hand. He was confused so he asked, "What's the matter mom?"
Regina looked up and sighed. "Henry, I know things are confusing right now but I need you to understand. I need some time to figure things out." Regina looked away to hide her eyes becoming glassy with tears.
"But I wanna come home with you! Please mommy?" Henry said in a voice she hadn't heard since before he believed she was the evil queen.
She looked away holding back an ocean of tears, "Henry, sweetheart, please. You know I love you and to bring you home with me is what I want more than anything in the world but .." She was saying but was abruptly interrupted by Henry
"Then why can't you? If that's what you want then why can't you?" He looked back at her, she could see his eyes holding back tears. This was breaking her heart.
"Henry. Please don't make this any harder than it already is. I need some time to figure things out. You have been staying with Emma for quite some time now, and now I need you to continue staying with her for just a while longer until I can sort things out." She followed his eyes trying to get him to look at her. "Can you do that for me?" She asked.
He didn't answer. He looked off to the side, avoiding her eyes. Receiving no response, she put her hand on his cheek saying, "Just please try and understand. And always remember that I love you. Always. Keep being my good boy, I need you to be patient with me. Can you do that for me?"
Henry just stared at her. Regina finally let out a sigh and said, "Okay, I love you and I'll see you soon." She kissed him on the forehead then started to walk down the porch stairs to her car.
Henry re-positioned his bag on his shoulder and started to follow her to the car. She turned to walk to her side of the car and saw Henry. "Henry, what are you doing? You have to stay here."
Ignoring her, Henry opened the backseat door and put his bag in the seat. "Henry!" Regina said in a firmer voice. But he closed the back door and then headed to get in the front seat, still ignoring her.
The front doors were locked. "Unlock my door." Henry said looking up at Regina becoming frustrated that she was still trying to make him stay. Regina walked around to the passenger side of the car. She opened the back door and grabbed Henry's bag out then shut the door. She started to walk towards Henry to give it back to him. He pushed the backpack towards her.
"Stop it mom! I'm coming with you!" Henry's voice began to get louder.
"Henry, I'm sorry, but you have to stay here." Regina said becoming louder too as tears threatened to leave her eyes. She grabbed both of his arms, forcing him to look at her. "I know this is hard and like I told you, this is hard for me too but I need some time to-"
"I don't care!" Henry interrupted, yelling at her, as he pulled his arms away from her grasp. Regina stood there wide eyed. Her son had never yelled before. At least not at her.
"I don't care if you need time to sort things out, and I don't care if you don't want me to come with you! I'm not gonna stay just because you told me to. It's my house too! You can't keep me here! I wanna go home, I miss my room!" Henry let out a soft sob, "And I miss you. I miss my mom." Henry's voice was faltering now. He was desperately trying not to sob.
Regina's heart broke at her son's words. He missed her. She couldn't believe he actually missed her. She tried so hard to get to this place with her son and now she ruined it again. She needed to fix this.
"Oh Henry." Regina said as she took a step towards Henry, putting her arms out, but he backed away.
"No, you don't get to do that!" Henry snapped. "You don't get to just hug me and make yourself feel better by comforting me." He continued.
"Henry, I don't understand." Regina said as her lips began to quiver. She knew she couldn't hold the tears back any longer. Then Henry continued.
"You try to push everyone away, and now you were trying to push me away. It was easy for you and then I start to cry and you feel bad, so now you wanna stay. That's not fair!" Henry yelled through tears.
"Henry this isn't easy for me!" Regina replied as her voice was breaking. Regina continued to try and talk to him but she could see something was building up inside of him. Something he needed to let out. She felt he was about to.
Then he snapped. "You promised!" Regina looked at him confused as more tears flowed and inhabited her cheeks. "How could you lie to me? I thought you'd changed!" Henry continued hysterically.
Regina had never seen her son this way and she hated it. What was he talking about? She wanted to fix it, she had to get to the bottom of it, so she tried again, "Henry, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you?" He spat back. Regina was confused but just tried to maintain eye contact with him without engulfing him in her arms, for he had refused it the first time. She just wanted to hold her son. But She could see he wasn't finished.
"When you kissed me and broke the curse, you promised me you'd never leave me again!" Henry yelled as he tried to stifle the sobs threatening to exit him. "You lied." This last part was barley loud enough to hear, but Regina heard it.
"Oh Henry. I'm not leaving you." Regina said as she was trying to meet Henry's eyes which were looking away to the side. "I would never leave you. I'm just trying to figure things out and I need time." She continued trying to convince him but Henry riled back up.
"But that's just it! There are things I need to figure out too! There's so much going on right now that doesn't make sense to me and I don't understand a lot of things, and yes, I too need time to figure it all out, but I'm tired of doing it alone! I don't want to do it alone anymore. I don't want to figure things out all by myself, because I never get anywhere. I just end up sad and depressed like you are now. I need you! And You need me too. You'll see!"
"Of course I need you sweetie, I'm just trying to do what's best for you." Regina interjected trying to maintain composure for her son's sake. She wasn't sure how much she could handle before she lost it.
"But this isn't what's best for me!
I should know what's best for me better than anyone else and what's best for me is not to take me away from you. You're my mom, and I need you. More than anything else, I need you. I know Emma is the savior and she came to save us and break the curse but mom, you saved me. You found me. You took care of me. You helped me." Henry kept emphasizing 'you'.
"You loved me. You, are my savior." Henry looked into Regina's eyes. "And I don't want to let you go. Please don't make me. Please, I know I can help you get through this if you'll just let me! Please just try! I'll do anything! Anything you want just please, please don't leave me!" Henry started to bend over he was crying so hard.
Regina let out a sob. She reached forward and grabbed Henry, engulfing him in her arms. "Oh sweetheart. My baby." Regina whispered, her mouth close to his ear. "I'm not going anywhere." Henry pulled away just enough to look her in the eyes. Regina cupped his face in her hands, "You hear me?" Regina asked.
Henry looked down then back to her eyes. "You promise?" He asked through irregular breaths from crying so hard.
"I promise." Regina said in an almost whisper. They just stared into each other's eyes until Henry wrapped his arms around his mother's waist as tight as he could. His head rested in the crook of Regina's neck as he continued to cry softly. He took a deep breath, taking in his mothers familiar, comforting smell. He missed this. In his heart he was vowing to never let go.
They stood there holding each other for what felt like hours but in all reality was only a few minutes.
Regina pulled back and held Henry's hands. "Sweetie listen to me. I'm sorry I haven't heard you. You're saying you're going through things and I realize how much I haven't been there for you in the way you need me to. With everything that's going on, I kinda got caught up in my own world of pain and just reverted back to my old ways and tried to do it all alone. But that's my fault. No matter what's going on with me directly, you're more important. You trump everything else that's going on. You are my number one priority. And I'm so, so sorry that during all this stuff going on with me, things have gotten in the way of that. But I am making a new promise to never let that happen again. I was stupid to think running away from everyone and being alone would help. All I need is you. You are all I need to be happy. You are my happiness. Nothing can take you away from me. I will not let anything or anyone stand in the way of that. Not even me."
They both smiled at this and then Henry reached up and touched Regina's face wiping away the tears under her eyes. Regina grabbed his hand and laughed over a sob, "I don't deserve you." She kissed his hand she was holding. "You saved me Henry. You never gave up hope for me and never stopped fighting for me. You always believed I could be good. You are the good in me. You're the only part of me that is good. I don't know where I'd be without my savior."
"I love you mom." Henry said squeezing her tighter.
"I love you more sweetheart." Regina replied returning the squeeze.
Then at the same time they both said, "I love you most!" They both started giggling.
"I said it first!" Henry protested.
"No technically I did." Regina said in a playful voice. This was something they used to do all the time. Fight to say it first. Regina loved that.
Regina then stood up walked over to the car. She picked up Henry's bag off the floor, then put it back in the car. She turned around facing Henry and he asked widely smiling, "Wait, you're letting me come with you?"
Regina walked closer to him and said, "That's what I want. Is that what you still want?"
Henry barely let her finish her sentence jumping in saying, "More than anything mom!"
"Okay then, wait out here." Regina said kissing his forehead.
Regina walked back up to the house and went inside. Henry stood outside anxious, hoping and praying it would work out. He loved both of his moms more than he could explain but he had spent most of his time with Emma since she came to StoryBrook. He missed Regina. He missed his mom. He needed his mother. He knew their relationship had been bumpy ever since he got the story book, but everything aside, Regina raised him. He had something with Regina he didn't quite have with Emma. Right now he needed Regina. He hoped Emma would understand.
Regina stepped back out a few minutes later, pulling Henry's suitcase behind her. Henry ran up to her and grabbed her hand. He looked at her asking, "Where are we going mom?"
Regina replied and smiled. "Home."
So, this is my first fanfic.. I would love to know your thoughts about it and if you liked it!
Mwah xo -Anna