Chapter 1:
"Goodnight Henry." Regina Mills whispered to her son as she pulled his Superman covers over his body and gently kissed his forehead.
"Night Mommy." The small boy mumbled back with sleepy eyes, resting his head against his pillow. Forcing a smile, Regina Mills stood from her son's bedside and turned out his light before quietly exiting his room.
As the door slipped shut behind her and she started down the hallway to her much larger bedroom, the normally well-composed woman felt her resolve quickly slipping away. With slightly cloudy eyes, she stepped into her large master bathroom and began stripping her clothes off for a shower. The next day, July 12, would bring the two-year anniversary of her husband's death. When the brunette stepped into the shower and felt the water run over her body, the memories flooded back as if it happened only yesterday.
"Henry! Let's pick up these toys. Daddy will be home any minute and we need to have dinner." Regina called to her three-year-old son, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the couch surrounded by toy dinosaurs. Knowing he would unlikely start the process on his own, the boy's mother moved over and kneeled down in front of him.
"Mama!" the toddler grinned when he saw her and reached out for his mother to hold him.
"Oh, you're so lucky you're cute." Unable to resist, Regina picked up her son and cradled him to her chest. "I love you so much, my handsome prince." she whispered into his hair and carried him to the kitchen. The twenty-nine-year-old got her son a cup of juice and took a seat at the table with him in her lap, perfectly content to bond for a few minutes until his father returned.
The minutes ticked by and slowly turned to an hour. Regina grew worried. Her husband was never late. After making quick work of feeding her now extremely cranky son, she called her husband… several times. "What the hell?" the brunette mumbled to herself, her son now nearly asleep on her shoulder. As if on cue, there was a knock on her door.
Knowing her husband would never knock before entering his own home, Regina warily approached the door. On the other side stood two police officers and the woman's heart quickly dropped. She clutched her son closer.
"Excuse me, ma'am. Are you the wife of Mr. Nicholas Walsh?" the taller of the two spoke. Although the big-time lawyer had never legally changed her last name, everyone who knew her personally called her by that of her husband's.
"Yes, officer. Is something wrong?"
"There's been an accident. You might want to come with us."
The tears fell at full force as the grieving woman shut off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. She decided against drying her hair and instead slipped her pajamas on and crawled into bed. Lifting an old family photo off of her nightstand, Regina sighed deeply. "I miss you every day." she whispered, looking into the deep brown eyes of the man she undeniably still loved. Cradling the small frame against her chest, the beautiful brunette eventually fell into a restless sleep.
"MOMMY!" Loud words drew Regina from her sleep the following morning. "You're here!" her bed dipped with the weight of her son and she soon felt him crawl on top of her.
Groaning as she sat up, the widow couldn't help but smile at her son, who was now sitting on her chest. "Surprise, little prince. Mommy is home all day." She spoke softly to her son. Henry was used to waking up to his babysitter on Friday mornings, but due to the date Regina decided to take the day off. Although she did not want to discuss this in detail with her young son, she also didn't want to let the day pass without paying her former love a visit. "What do you say we go see Daddy later?" Her words were soft, nervous almost.
"Okay." Henry nodded, still not old enough to understand much about his father except for the fact he was not alive. "We can take Daddy a flower… and then you can take me to soccer practice." the boy grinned.
Regina smiled. Her son had recently started playing on a recreational soccer team and had fallen in love immediately. "That sounds perfect my love."
Later that afternoon, after their visit to the cemetery and then Granny's diner to see Henry's Aunt Ruby, it was finally time for Regina to take her son to practice. As his mother drove him across town, Henry rambled on about his coach. "I'll have to meet this woman." the brunette made a mental note to herself; only then realizing this would be the first time she dropped her son off at practice. Not that she hadn't wanted to, four o'clock on Friday afternoons just wasn't a great time for her. After all, they had only been practicing for a few weeks and Regina had already promised herself never to miss an actual game.
When they arrived at the soccer field, Regina barely had time to blink before her son was out of the car, ball in hand. She quickly pulled her keys from the ignition and hurried out of her black Mercedes to catch up to him. "Henry! Get back here, young man." she said in a rather stern voice and closed her door. She was just rounding the front of her car when she heard a stranger's voice.
"Woah there, bud, I think someone is calling you." a blonde woman spoke, stopping Henry in his tracks.
"EMMA!" the young boy exclaimed, a 1000-watt smile covering his face. The woman placed her hand on Henry's shoulder.
"Hi, little man. I'm glad to see you! You better listen to your mama when she calls you though. She's the boss."
Finally reaching the spot where her son stood with the woman Regina assumed was his coach, she let out an exasperated sigh. Deciding not to argue with Henry at that moment, she gave him a simple warning. "Please be more careful next time, baby boy."
Henry nodded in agreement before turning to the blonde woman again. "Emma, this is my mommy." he explained proudly.
"I see, buddy." The woman spoke as Regina gave her a quick once over. She was tall, at least four or five inches taller than Regina herself. She was also quite skinny and had very long legs, clad in the same protective gear that her son was wearing. Long blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore simple black athletic shorts underneath what the older woman assumed was an old high school soccer t-shirt. "Why don't you go shoot some practice goals with the other boys and let me talk to your mama for a second?" The young boy quickly nodded and was off again.
"Hi, I'm Emma Swan." The leggy blonde started. "You must be the kid's mom." She flashed Regina what could only be described as a flirty smile and slyly looked over the woman in front of her over. Having taken full advantage of her day off, the lawyer was sporting black yoga pants, sneakers, and a red t-shirt; a very rare occurrence even though the blonde wasn't aware of it yet. Her dark hair framed her face and she had on minimal makeup, even foregoing her usual bright red lipstick.
"Regina Mills." The very confident older woman spoke, offering Henry's coach her hand. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name. My son can't seem to stop talking about you." In all honesty, she could see why.
"All good things, I hope." The blonde joked as she returned the handshake. "The kid talks about his mom all the time too… however, he did fail to mention that she's a supermodel." The coach flashed a toothy smile as a slight blush crept onto Regina's cheeks.
"Far from it, Ms. Swan. Do you mind if I stay and watch my son practice?" The brunette asked hopefully, brown eyes wide as they looked into blue ones.
"Well, most of the time I like parents to wait until a little later in the season to watch practice. Makes for less distraction." Emma started, but the sad look that crossed the other woman's face was enough to make her throw that thought out the window. "… but I think I can make an exception just this once."