Author's note: This is going to get Jossed soon, but I wanted to write a scene between Emma and Regina that addresses a certain spoiler about Henry.
The thing that breaks Regina's heart isn't that he's grown taller (so much taller) or that his voice has dropped (her little boy) or even that he says he doesn't remember her (you're my mom), although each one makes her hurt even though she expected the pain. What breaks her heart is the way he lets her hug him, the way he lets her hand stroke over his shaggy hair—and the look in his eyes afterward. Like he wishes so much for her sake that he did remember.
"I'm sorry," he says.
She gives him a watery smile. "It's not your fault."
The Charmings' chatter is so much white noise when Henry is within arms' reach. Still, she keeps her hands to herself after that hug. She just looks. She can't get enough of looking at him. But she excuses herself after an interval, after she's caught his eye more than a few times. She doesn't want to make her son uncomfortable.
"Regina," Emma says behind her in the hallway. "Where are you going?"
"I don't want to intrude."
"Hey. It's going to be okay." Emma's voice is soft. Regina wants to hate it. The thought of gentleness from this woman to whom she's voluntarily given everything, this woman whom she's somehow become incapable of resenting even now—she's cut to pieces in its path.
Regina rounds on Emma, pushes at her shoulders like time's regressed. "How can you say that? You brought him home and he saw me and I hugged him and it didn't—he—don't you promise me, don't you dare promise me that things will be okay when my son might never—" Emma stares, flattened against the wall, and Regina backs up and presses a fist against her mouth. Her breath comes in short gasps. She shakes her head once, sharply, and turns away, stumbling forward a few steps. She stops because Emma's hand is on her arm and Emma is saying her name and Emma is turning Regina to face her.
"Regina," Emma says again. "I know because he's our son and you'll always be his mother. And yeah, you're right. It's not okay now. It fucking sucks right now. But I can promise you that it's going to be okay, because we are going to figure it out."
"How can you be so sure?" Regina whispers. Her eyes are brimming with tears. Emma's free hand comes up to wipe them away and cup her cheek.
"Because we're a team, all three of us. We're in this together." Emma presses her forehead to Regina's. "Give us a chance."
Regina chokes on a sob, nods, and then Emma's pulling her into her arms and holding her tightly. She hurts so much, still. But Emma sets her mouth against Regina's hair and her heart beats steady and true under Regina's ear, and Regina leans into the Savior's certainty like it's the only thing that matters.