Author's Note: Hi all. So I've really had the urge to write some more precious Regina and Henry moments due to the lack of them we've been having on the show lately. Gosh, I miss them so much. Soooo, here is a cute little oneshot I put together about Henry's first day of school. Really cute if I do say so myself. Please enjoy and review if you like!
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or OUAT. Those rights belong to ABC.
"Mom, Mom, Mom!" Regina could hear the heavy clomps of a child running down the hallway and into her bedroom. "Mommy!" She suddenly felt a large force pummel into the bed and climb on top of her. Regina rolled to her stomach and buried her face into the pillows with a grunt. She opened a single eye to peer over at the clock and noticed that it was only 6am. Henry straddled his legs over his mother and sat on top of her. While gently patting her back he repeated out of breath from the running, "First day of school. First day of school."
"Henry…" Regina said with her voice muffled in the pillow.
"Yeah, Mom?" He asked excitedly.
"Go back to sleep. We still have an hour before we have to wake up."
"No," the five-year-old whined. "Too too excited!" He yelled out as he collapsed fully on top of her back. "Let's get up now!"
"Henry," Regina grumbled.
"Mommy," Henry replied trying to mimic his mother. "Wake up, sleepy." The young boy giggled as he poked at Regina's cheek.
She couldn't help but smirk. "I'm awake," she whispered with a yawn. She repeated even quieter, "I'm awake."
"But your eyes is closed," Henry squeaked as he pulled up one of her eyelids and then let it close again. Henry slid off of his mother's back and lied down beside her on his stomach, his head resting on the left pillow while hers was on the right. He stared at her tired face and relaxed form. Reaching over and brushing his little hand through her mangled hair, he whispered, "Don't go back asleep, Mommy. Stay awake with me." He poked her cheek a few more times before he noticed her eyelashes flutter and two big brown eyes staring directly at him.
Regina took his hand in hers and smiled at the giddy boy beside her. She felt the bed bounce slightly as he kicked his feet a few times. She asked him, "You excited for today?"
"Yes!" The "s" sound lingered as he smiled and kicked his feet even more.
She giggled deeply and replied, "Alright then. I'll get up with you. What should we do first?"
"Scrambled eggs and toast and juice," Henry lisped with excitement.
"Breakfast," She grinned as she rolled over and sat up. "Sounds good to me." She watched as her son jumped up quickly and squirmed off of the bed. He ran out of the bedroom as if to race Regina to the kitchen giggling the whole way down the stairs.
0-0-0
Regina set down two small plates of eggs and toast for her and her son. Giving him a stern look she warned him to be careful considering the plate was hot and also told him to eat slow so that he would not get sick. She listened to the light sounds of Henry kicking his chair excitedly as he nodded to her.
As he picked up his cup of orange juice, sipped it slowly and then set it down, Regina leaned forward on the island counter and asked him, "So, what do you think you are going to do on your first day today?"
Henry shrugged his shoulders as he picked up his fork and began to dig into his scrambled eggs. After taking a big mouthful, he began to talk, "Maybe we read stories or color or play with toys."
Regina raised her brow at her son, "Sweetie, don't talk with your mouth full."
"Sorry," he replied after swallowing. His mind quickly shifted back to his mother's question and he continued to talk. "I hope we play on the play ground outside. And my teacher has to be nice."
"I'm sure he or she will be very nice, Henry." Regina replied after taking a bit of eggs from her plate.
"Mommy," Henry, lifted his brow with a smirk, "you don't talk with your mouth full." Regina smiled and nodded to her son apologetically before taking a bite of toast.
After finishing their breakfast, it was time for step three of their day; getting dressed. Regina rolled her eyes at the thought as she watched Henry scoot down from the tall chair and run back up to his room with the same excitement he had been showing all morning. Picking out clothes would be an adventure and a rather stubborn one at that.
0-0-0
As Regina stepped into her little boy's room, she looked around and noticed he was nowhere to be found. "Henry?" She asked with some confusion. She had only taken a little extra time to wash the dishes. How was it that he could simply disappear that quickly? "Honey?" She called out again.
Suddenly, the brunette was startled as her son burst out of his walk-in closet and jumped onto his bed wearing his old Batman Halloween costume.
Regina's eyes widened in surprise as Henry stood up on the bed with a wide grin and began to bounce up and down. "Henry, sweetie-" Regina was about to explain that he couldn't wear a costume to his first day of school, but Henry quickly interrupted.
"I'm not Henry!" He let out in his high-pitched voice. "I'm Batman! I protect Storybrooke from lots of bad guys!"
"Is that so?" Regina began to laugh as she reached her arms out and allowed the child to jump into her arms.
"Yeah," he replied enthusiastically.
"Well, Batman," she proceeded to play along, "Do you happen to know where my son Henry is? He needs to get dressed for his first day of school. I just can't seem to find him."
"Mommy," Henry whispered into her ear, "it's me. I'm just in disguise. See," he pulled off his mask to show the woman that he was right there. It was rather funny how concerned he had been when Regina pretended she didn't know where he was. The look in his eyes was of sheer worry when he took the mask off for her.
"Oh there you are," Regina continued with a laugh. "I thought I had lost you." The boy shook his head with a bright smile. "Well, now that you are here, why don't we get dressed for school?"
"I wanna wear this," he let out a little squeak with his response.
"Honey, you can't wear a costume to school," Regina admitted apologetically.
"Why?" The boy proceeded to ask, giving his mother a set of sad puppy-dog eyes and a little pout.
"Well," she paused for a moment trying to think of something to say to him, "what about the other children in your class? Don't you think that if you come to school as a super hero, they will feel left out? The other children won't have costumes like you."
"Oh," the boy said as he began to realize. "I don't want to make others feel sad."
"How about we dig out your batman tee-shirt? That way you can still be a super hero without the costume. Do you want to do that?"
"Mmm," Henry hummed for a short while before instantly changing his mind. "No, I want my dinosaur shirt." He wiggled his way out of her arms and scurried to his drawers. Opening the second one, he then pulled out a yellow dinosaur shirt and threw it onto his bed.
Lifting the shirt up, Regina noticed how parts of the color in the dinosaurs were fading from the shirt and were worn out. She also spotted a few small holes in it. It was one Henry's favorite shirts after all and was usually the one he wore on important occasions. Staring at it though, she could tell that it had a lot of important memories for both of them. She was kind of glad he chose it.
After finally getting his clothes on, combing his hair and brushing his teeth, they were finally ready to get into the car then head to the school. Throughout the drive, Regina continued to glance in the rearview mirror at the little boy in the back seat. She noticed the way he curiously stared out the window all through the drive, kicking his feet on the passenger's side seat and humming along loudly with the radio. She was happy to see that he was so excited about this and could only hope it'd remain that way when it finally came time for him to go into the school.
0-0-0
"Alright, sweetie," Regina said as she knelt down to button his coat up a little higher and fix the winter cap on his head. She gave him a sweet smile as she placed her hands to his hips. "You ready?" She asked.
The little boy grinned widely as he nodded. He noticed the way his mother sighed; it almost looked as if her eyes were tearing up. "What's wrong, Mommy?" He asked while reaching forward and wiping a single tear from her cheek.
"I'm sorry," she let out a breathless laugh. "It's just the first time you and I are going to be apart for a while. I'm going to miss you. That's all."
Henry's expression suddenly changed when he heard what his mother had just said. Tilting his head, giving her a look of confusion, he asked, "You're not coming with me?"
Regina shook her head at the confused little boy. "No, sweetie." Her voice sounded so apologetic. Now looking at her son's expression, she wished that she had clarified that with him before.
Henry turned his head and looked around. He noticed all of the other children kissing and hugging their parents goodbye before heading into the school alone. He turned back to Regina with a new look of nervousness in his eyes. "I don't wanna go by myself," he replied softly almost about to cry. Leaning in and wrapping his arms around his mother's neck, he continued letting out a small lisp as he talked, "Not wifout you."
"Oh, honey," Regina whispered sadly as she cupped the boy's head in her hand and hugged him tightly. "You have to go to school." As they parted, she glanced into the boy's dark eyes and smiled as she wiped the few tears running down his cheek. "You're my big boy, remember?" He nodded, still pouting. "And big boys go to school by themselves." She smiled, brushing back bits of hair from his forehead. "You'll have fun, make new friends and learn new things. And hey," she smiled, "when school is all done, I'll be right here waiting for you. You can tell me all about your day. How does that sound?"
Looking straight into her dark eyes, he nodded; however, the look he had was still that of disappointment. He asked her softly, "But you really promise?"
"Yes," she promised him, "I'll be right in this very spot waiting for you." She pulled him into another tight hug. "Try to have fun, Henry. And be a good boy. Okay?"
"Otay," he whispered back and he squeezed his arms around her neck one last time before the school bell started to ring.
"I love you, baby," she said before letting him go.
"Love you too." He smiled.
She then picked up his tin lunch box that had been set on the ground and handed it to him with the best smile she could manage. As she stood, she watched her little boy run to the top of the steps before turning around and waving one last time. As he headed inside on his own, she couldn't seem to control those few small tears that rolled down her cheek. All day she had been fine, but now that she was actually watching him go all by himself, her emotions finally hit her. He really was growing up, really was her big boy and not her little baby anymore.
She forced herself to turn away and head back to the car. Only a few hours, she kept reminding herself. Only a few hours and she would be there to pick him up.
0-0-0
She stood there on the sidewalk, the same place she had promised him, her jacket and scarf keeping her warm from the cold air. She waited for the sound of the bell to go off. Finally hearing it, she looked carefully for the doors to open. Before she knew it, a flood of young children were running out of the school.
She continued to watch and wait. She had a feeling he would be one of last of the children to leave because he would be talking to someone like a teacher or a new friend; he was always such a chatterbox from the moment he could talk.
When she finally saw him, her lips widened to a grin. She watched him quickly go down the steps and begin to run towards her with his usual sweet and bright smile. As he approached, she leaned down and braced herself for him to crash into her arms in a warm embrace.
She wrapped her arms around him and placed her left hand on his head as she kept him close to her. "Hey, sweetheart," she whispered as she rested her cheek on his soft hair.
"I missed you, Mommy," the five-year-old replied in his little high-pitched voice.
"I missed you too, baby," She replied with a smile. "How was your first day?"
"Good!" He exclaimed, staring up at his mother with those wide light-brown eyes.
"Want to tell me all about it?" She asked him as she knelt down and buttoned up his jacket.
Taking her hand as she stood, the boy replied with a smile, "Yeah!" The two walked together, hand and hand, as the little boy talked to his mother with complete excitement about his day. "First, we met our teacher. She's really nice and I like her," he began to ramble breathlessly. "Then we played a game on the circle rug so we could get to know everyone. I had to say my name, and how old I am and something I love to do very much."
"Oh," Regina laughed as her son finally took a breath. She asked, "What did you say?"
He recited it word-for-word for her, "My name is Henry Mills. I am five-years-old and the thing I love to do most is spend time with my mom." He looked up at her and noticed the large smile growing on her lips. "I told them about how we like to do pretend adventures, and we go to Granny's for ice cream sundaes, and you tell me stories every night before bedtime…."
She looked down at him as he continued to speak about his day: recess, learning some new words, finger painting and how he made some new friends. She couldn't help but smile at this beautiful, smart and kind little boy. She could finally say it. After all of this time, she had finally done something right. With Henry, she had finally done something right.