Established SQ, Emma has trouble dealing with Henry, Henry has trouble dealing with life. Drama and fluff.
AN: This was just floating around in my head so I decided to write it out. It's most likely a one-shot.
Legal: I don't own anything, very sad for me.
She will always be Henry's other mother. That fact is never more evident than when her now 17-year-old son has a teenage "outburst" (calling it a tantrum didn't go over very well the one time she did). Despite having spent the last 7 years trying to make it up to him, he still manages to use the first 10 years of his life as an excuse to get his way when she has to put her foot down.
"Henry, that's quite enough," a voice next to her, always calmer than her own, says before he goes too far, "go to your room."
And even though he mutters under his breath and drags his feet the entire way, he complies, because she is his mother. She always has been.
A deflated sigh escapes her chest as soon as he leaves the study. A pair of strong arms wrap around her and she concedes to the contact, allowing herself to be held for a moment.
"He hates me," she's defeated.
"He hates being disciplined," she's corrected, "he loves you very much. It's time for bed."
She knows not to argue, so she nods in agreement as the arms unwrap. Seconds later, her hand is in another and she's being led to her bedroom. Although she's in a pretty bad mood after this last argument, she can't help but revel in the presence of the woman now standing in front of her. It's times like these that she sincerely wonders if she's really the savior. She has to question it because she doesn't understand how the woman she's looking at, looking back with such love and such promise, could have ever been responsible for the things she was accused of in the past. If anything, Emma reasons, Regina has been her personal savior for a lot more than anyone else could ever know. She's glad that other people are finally seeing the things in Regina that she had seen almost all along.
When they're both changed for bed, her hand is seized again. Even though she's mad at her son and mad at her self for never knowing how to handle him anymore, her annoyed expression softens in the sympathetic gaze. They've done this enough now that Emma doesn't need to wait to be asked to know that the look Regina is giving her is an invitation to let all of her emotions out.
"I don't understand him. I don't understand him at all and that makes me furious. How can he be so hot and cold with me? It's like one minute I'm good old Ma, savior of all things fairytale, and then the next I'm Emma, wicked stepmother extraordinaire."
A laugh is all that comes out of Regina and Emma has to roll her eyes and amend:
"No offense intended."
"Of course," is the response.
Regina squeezes Emma's hand in her own as she gathers her thoughts carefully.
"You know that I completely understand how you're feeling right now," she reminds sadly, "I was the bad guy in his story once upon a time, too."
This time it's Emma who squeezes before she asks, "What did you do?"
"I fell in love with the savior," she jokes, "for some reason that seems to diminish the collective hatred of the Evil Queen persona quite a bit."
"You were never evil," Emma is quick to add.
"I was never nice, not before you."
They sit in the silence a moment before Regina speaks again.
"He's acting out at you because he knows that he can. Before, when you were new to town, he didn't have the luxury. Unlike some of us, he feared that fighting with you would be a reason for you to go. Back then, you weren't exactly the disciplinarian either."
She lets her wife's words sink in.
"You think that's true? He's taking it out on me because my whole "bad cop" routine means I'm not going anywhere?"
"I do."
She's happier about the situation than she ever thought she could be. It was one thing when she thought that Henry was angry with her for no reason, but now that she knows that he's really just testing the limits, she thinks she can do the whole parenting a rebellious teenager thing. She smirks to herself at the thought, thankful on Mary-Margaret and David's behalf that they hadn't been her parents when she was her son's age.
"I love you," she declares.
"And I you," she is affirmed, "Why don't you go check on Henry while I get the rest of the house?"
She takes a deep breath before kneeling, "Wish me luck, Bump," she says to her wife's nearly 6-month pregnant stomach. This earns her a laugh as she stands. She lingers in the hall for a minute while she watches Regina sneak into their 4-year-old daughter's room. When she realizes she has no other distractions or excuses, she gives a light knock, to which she gets a mumbled invitation in, or so she assumes.
"Hey, Kid," she says.
He looks up from his laptop and greets her with an annoyed, "Emma," before quickly looking back down at the screen.
"I need to talk to you about something important."
He reluctantly closes the lid and looks at her expectantly.
"I know what it's like to be a teenager, Henry," she states, "When I was your age, I was on my own. Hell, Kid, when I was your age, I got pregnant with you."
He sits up a little straighter but doesn't say anything. She sits on the end of his bed and he doesn't react poorly, so she decides to go on.
"What I mean is, I didn't have anybody to worry about me back then. I didn't know what that was until I came to Storybrooke. The first time I ever really worried about someone besides my self, it was this little 10-year-old kid that I barely even knew."
He laughs a little, as much as a teenage boy is willing to laugh at his mother.
"Anyway, Henry, I didn't really know how to be a part of a family. You were the one to teach me that."
He rolls his eyes at her and she totally feels like his mom, even if she didn't before. She sighs and playfully shoves his shoulder.
"My parents never went through this with me," she admits, "this is all new territory. I don't always know the right thing to do, but I always try to do what I think is best for you."
"So you don't always know the right thing to do," he tests, "is this you telling me that you changed your mind about the party?"
She has to laugh. He, in perfect Regina fashion, was trying to negotiate her heart-to-heart.
"Not a chance," she says sternly, "we've already discussed it."
"But everybody else is going and it's just at Grace's!" he yells.
"Keep your voice down, Kid, your sister is trying to sleep."
"This is so unfair!"
"Henry," she tries again, "I came in here to explain to you why you can't go, not to give you permission."
"I can't believe you, you said I could go last week and now this week you're saying I can't. It's like you're messing with me on purpose," he accuses.
"Hey, I know you think it sucks. If I were you I'd think it sucked, too. But if I were you, I'd also be glad that I had parents that cared about me. You know that I didn't have that and your mom, even on the best days, didn't have a piece of what you have. We said you could go last week because it wasn't until this week that Ruby told us that Grace was trying to get her to sell a keg for the party."
"Like you never went to a keg party when you were my age."
"I did Henry, which is why I am a thousand percent sure that I'm not letting you go. I care too much about what happens to you to let you repeat my mistakes."
"Like me?" he asks softly and she feels her own heart break.
"No, Henry. You were never a mistake. You were the best thing to ever happen to me. Why would you ever think otherwise?"
He isn't speaking up and his eyes are downcast so all she gets is 'true love' and 'magic babies'. Even though she hasn't had as much experience in the parent area as her wife has, she knows enough about feeling unwanted to reassure her son.
"Hen, look at me" she grabs his hands in hers and even though he's reluctant, she fights him until he lets her, "you've got it all wrong, Kid. Without you, I wouldn't have any of the things I love so much now. Neither would your mom. I meant it when I said that you were the best thing to ever happen to me. You brought me to my parents. You introduced me to your mom. You taught me how to love again, Henry. You brought me home."
They both sniffle a little bit. Henry pretends that he doesn't notice the tear running down his cheek, but Emma does. She wipes it away before taking care of her own dripping eyes, a move she barely thinks about anymore after 7 years of mothering.
"Your mom and I are each other's true loves," she starts again, "and we would have never have known it if we didn't both love you. Your sister and the little bump wouldn't have had a chance if you didn't make it happen. Without you, nobody would even know who they really are! I think that's pretty magical, don't you?"
He smiles and shakes his head 'yes', something he definitely got from her.
"I guess I did do a lot of important stuff, huh?" he questions.
She hugs him with one arm and agrees, "You sure did, Kid, and everybody loves you for it."
They sit there in the quiet, half-hugging for a while before he speaks,
"I think it's a boy."
"Hmm?"
"Little Bump," he clarifies.
"Ah, and how do you feel about that?"
"Happy, then mad, now I guess happy again. I always wanted a little brother," he reveals.
"But…?" she prods.
"It's stupid. I just thought that since you and mom are true loves, you'd love him more. Plus, I'm practically grown up, so…"
"Not possible," she says, "it's something you'll learn when you have your own kids, a very long time from now. When you have a kid, every part of you loves him, then you have another kid and you don't have to split up your love because you just double it somehow. And even after you have kids, Henry Swan-Mills, you'll still be my kid. Even after your kids have kids. Oh gosh, I'll be old but you'll still be my kid."
She looks at the clock and gives him a squeeze before she gets up.
"Wow it's later than I thought, it's probably time for bed."
She turns to leave when he says,
"I love you, Ma, thanks for caring."
She smiles because she knows that he's sincere.
"I love you too, Kid, and I'm not going anywhere. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he responds, "goodnight to you too, Mom, I know you're out there."
Emma chuckles as she throws open the door to expose her wife standing in the doorframe.
"How did you know?" she asks stumped.
"When you put your ear to the door, your bump opened it a crack," he confesses, "goodnight, I love you guys."
"Goodnight Henry," Regina says, "everything your mother said is true, we love you more than you can ever know. Understand?"
"I think I'm starting to," he says.
They close the door and head back to their own bedroom, happy to settle in for the night.
"I wasn't listening the whole time," is the first thing said when the door closes.
"It's okay even if you were," Emma says.
"It's just that after I checked all of the locks and I checked on our daughter twice, she sleeps exactly like Henry does by the way, I got a little bit curious. I didn't want him to bully you into changing your mind after you stood your ground so well."
"Well, he was surprisingly receptive to what I had to say…eventually. As it turns out, he had a lot more going on than I knew. I think he'll be okay though."
"Well, you've certainly made leaps and bounds in the ways of parenting, Miss Swan."
"That's Mrs. Swan-Mills," she teases, "and how could I not when I learned from the best?"
As they lay down, Emma thinks about her day. Of all the possible scenarios, she guesses that the one she had was better than it could have been, at least she and Henry came out of it with a better understanding of one another. She sighs contentedly and she snuggles closer to Regina. She may always be Henry's other mother, but she knows wholeheartedly that there's nobody else she'd rather be.