While she packed her final bag into the back of her yellow bug, Emma licked her lower lip. She could feel Henry's stare, glaring through the rear view mirror, burning her inside and out. He didn't want to leave; she didn't want to leave either. But she DID want to leave... or did she?
Now with Zelena's magic gone, it was again safe to wander out of the town; it wasn't like she was moving to Bora Bora, was it? What was the big deal? Anyone of them could go visit her any day! Why was everyone so mad at her? So sad?
Why was she so sad?
"Come on Kid, help your mom with these..." She smiled kindly at her son.
Henry shot his eyes up at her. "No." He shook his head.
Emma returned a wide eyed stare of disbelief. "What do you mean, 'no'?"
"No means no, mom, in ANY language! It's not rocket science, you know!... and I said NO." He spoke harshly. "I don't want to do this! I don't want to be a part of this!"
Emma huffed and her shoulders fell as she walked around the car to her son, looking at him through the window. "Henry, we talked about this..."
"No, YOU talked about this and then said 'I'm your mom and I know best', and that was about all." He shrugged. "Since you're so good and making up for both our minds, I guess you can pretty much load your own luggage into the car without my help."
Emma stared at him in shock. "Now that's pretty rude!"
He shrugged, staring blankly ahead. "I learned from the best."
The blonde woman stood straight and ran a hand through her hair. "Look, I don't have time for this, I..."
"Yeah, it's 'I, I, I', mom, it's all you care about!" He finally shouted, breaking down. "You never asked ME! How do I feel about this?"
"I'm doing this for you!" Emma shouted back. "Not two weeks ago you were trying to run away back to New York!"
"Yeah..." he nodded at her. "Because I had no clue who I was or who my family was. But I know now! I remember!" He sniffed. "You are breaking us all apart mom, because you can't handle being in a place where you know you will be cared for! It's always been about you! It's not about anyone else, it's you and you and..."
"STOP IT!" She shouted back at her son. "You stop that, right now! I know what's best for you!"
"Really? One year being my mom qualifies you enough to know what's best for me?"
"Henry!"
"It's true!" He spat back. "Those years were fake, mom! They were not real! The truth remains! You gave me up and I looked for you two years ago! No hard feelings about that, but really, don't even try to base your argument on you knowing what's best for me, because you are obviously not doing very well right now..."
"We had a great life in New York!" She pleaded. "You had friends! You were doing great in school and we were ok! No flying monsters, no witches, no weird magic crap and no... no..."
"No pirates?" Henry huffed.
"Yeah, no pirates and princes and princesses and..."
Henry shook his head and cried. "You worked so hard mom... so hard to get to find where you belong... Now that you finally have it you want to run away again?"
Emma sighed deep and turned a saddened stare at her son. "This is about you, Henry, not about me."
"No, no, no, don't you dare!" He shook his head at her. "Don't pin this on me! I'm not afraid to give up on New York to be who I really am, who I was all along, no matter how cool New York was!" He jumped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him. "If you want to go back to being Emma Swan the loner, the miserable lonely woman looking for nothing, be my guest! I wanted my mom here, to be with me HERE! You whole family loves you and wants you here! But you just... " He shook his head and wiped his tears off with his sleeve. "You know what? I'm not coming."
Emma stared back at her son with disbelief and pain. "What?"
"You heard!" He looked at her, tears in his eyes still welling. "Regina's legally my mom and you are also breaking her heart with this, and it's not fair. It's not fair! She gave you those fake memories that you want to go to out of selflessness, but all you can think of is your own fear and your own wishes... You're breaking everyone's hearts, Including mine. So, you know what?" He pulled his back pack from the car. "You go ahead, back to New York, back to video game nights and flying monkey dates. I'm staying with the Evil Queen who is probably crying on my bed by now..." He stared at his dumbstruck mother. "I hope you'll change your mind... Emma. Because I can't stand you breaking us up after all we've gone through... especially not because of your particular reasons for leaving." He shook his head and wept. "I believed in you..."
Emma stared with tears in her eyes as Henry walked away down the road to the bus stop that would lead him to Regina's. She wanted to stop him, but for all practical purposes, he was right: He was legally Regina's son. The dream was over: She had given up and relinquished all her rearing rights to Regina and her past year in New York had been nothing but a kind gesture from her. Nothing more.
She slammed herself on the side of the car. She had to leave, but now she couldn't do it without Henry. She hated the thought of being manipulated by a twelve year old, but even so she also detested the thought of putting him through hell if he was miserable with the idea.
Maybe she was being selfish.
She jumped back into her car and drove over to the bus stop, where Henry sat, miserably sobbing. She lowered the window. " Come on kid, hop in."
"No, I told you, I'm not leaving." He shook his head.
"I was going to Granny's." She smiled, her eyes also reddened from tears. "We could talk about it."
"There's nothing to talk about..."
"Henry, please?" She begged. "We'll work something out, I promise, just... please?"
The boy looked up at his mom and huffed as he stood and walked to the car, peering through the window. "You... won't take off suddenly and speed to the highway to New York holding me hostage?"
Emma chuckled through a smile; sometimes Neal's unnerving wit shone through Henry like the sunshine. "I promise, kiddo, come on. We'll talk, that's all."
Henry nodded and let himself back into the car. They remained silent, although Emma was quietly relieved to be back in control of the otherwise extremely awkward situation.
They pulled up and left the car to the diner that had hosted so many meetings and celebrations. As they pushed the door, the bell announced their presence, and a tableful of people turned to look at them. Emma swallowed hard; There, some crying, some sulking, sat David, Mary Margaret with baby Leo and Regina. One seat was empty and Emma wondered if perhaps HE had just taken his leave.
He...
This was going to be a doozy.
