A/N: Hi everyone! I just want to say thank you for taking your time out to read this. I was watching a film that had a similar story line, and I thought this would be a great story to involve Swan Queen and the Swan Mills family in! Please comment on the first chapter. I have an outline of more to write, but I have only completed this one chapter. If you guys like it, I will be sure to write more! Thanks again!

- Sarah

Chapter One

As she closed her eyes, Regina Mills felt the sharp pain enter her back. The pain was hardly bearable, as she bit her lip and breathed through her nose. The anesthesia did little to help the sting and pressure of the hollow needle. The hospital bed was the least bit comfortable, and she felt vulnerable in the thinly-layered gown she was forced to wear. As she tried to tune out the pain she was experiencing from the bone marrow biopsy, she began to reflect on this long and ongoing journey herself and her son Henry were undertaking.

It all started with a fever. Little 5-year-old Henry had a temperature that scared Regina enough to go to their town's hospital in Storybrooke, Maine. The doctor merely believed it to be an infection, and prescribed Henry some antibiotics and that was the end of it. Days after taking the medication, the infection was still persisted, along with her son's fever. Accompanied by his increasing fatigue and pale skin, she insisted Dr. Whale do some more tests to discover the causes of Henry's symptoms. Her instincts are never wrong when it comes to her son, she reminded herself.

Regina remembered the first time that Henry had to take a blood test to see what they could find. She stood right in front of him as the doctor inserted the needle into his vein, on his left arm. She looked right into his eyes and told him he was the strongest boy she ever knew, and that her little prince would come out of this victorious with a scoop of ice cream. Their concentration on each other is what allowed Henry to get through the test quite well, and produced little fussing or tears. As Regina pictured this one moment clearly, she thought of how that first test would become the start of many, and that more pain and tribulations were still to come in the young boy's life.

The tests that Dr. Whale took allowed for some more specific areas of conclusion to what Henry really become sick by. The increase in white blood cells, and the low amount of red blood cells led him to believe that Henry had leukemia, a form of cancer within the bone marrow. It was because of the minimal resources that Storybrooke's hospital had in terms of childhood cancer, that Henry and Regina were referred to the Boston Children's Hospital in Boston.

Regina and Henry's first trip down was quite a strenuous one, as the boy began getting rashes and swelling on certain parts of his skin, making the drive not as smooth as Regina had planned. These extra ailments led them right to the hospital with no time to sight-see, and went straight to the referred pediatric oncologist, Dr. Alma Brice. This began many tests on Henry, including more blood tests, a bone marrow biopsy, and too many physical exams to count. When Dr. Brice did confirm that Henry had acute myelogenous leukemia, Regina felt completely overwhelmed. Here she was, staring at her son a few feet away playing with a toy in waiting room with a female nurse, realizing that her son may not be with her forever. Her whole life was Henry, and to not have him be a part of it was a devastating thought. Being the mayor of her town of Storybrooke, she tried to keep a brave face in front of the doctor.

The first thing that came to Regina's mind after that was how to treat the cancer, and what steps needed to be taken to help Henry get through this. With the combination of chemotherapy and other drugs, it was an extremely grueling treatment process for Henry. It was then that she decided to rent a place within Boston for the time being, so that Henry could get all the best treatment at the hospital, without the difficulty of commuting from Storybrooke. Their place was small, but quaint, and perfect for the time being. For the long road of treatment ahead, some solid ground in Boston was needed for Regina to keep a level head, and stay strong for her son.

As Henry began treatment, which was about two weeks ago now, Regina still wanted to help as much as possible in order for Henry to beat the cancer that was raging inside him. The doctor said not much could be done with the little family history of Henry's biological family, since Regina had received Henry through a closed adoption. This has still irritated Regina to this moment, as her search for his biological parents has continued throughout Henry's treatment. Nonetheless, Regina recommended to the doctor that she get tested for her stem cell tissue to discover if by chance, it matched Henry's. She knew this was a far-fetched possibility, but she couldn't just stand by and watch Henry be bumped with chemicals, lose his hair, and vomit all day.

It is what has lead her to this moment now. As the test finished, Regina finally felt a sense of relief as she was no longer being poked and prodded by those large hollow needles. As she sat up from the hospital bed, she felt the sensations of her back return as the local anesthesia wore off. Regina got herself bandaged up, and sent on her way from the examination room. Her daze finally began to subside as she returned her thoughts to the real world, and began to focus on her next move to help Henry, rather than focus on her emotionally draining journey that led to now.

Regina headed to bathroom to clean herself up from the few tears that slid down her cheek during the test, both from the pain and her emotional tour through the past few weeks. As Regina stared into the mirror, her chocolate brown eyes were surrounded by red eyelids, bright from her earlier tears, and her raven-coloured hair was a messy from laying on her side. She reached into her purse for some concealer and mascara to fix her eyes up, as this was a frequent task these past few weeks. No matter how much she could put on a brave face for her son and the doctors, she hid in the bathroom stall daily to release her feelings.

As she began fixing her makeup, the sound of a closing stall door surprised her, causing a bit of mascara to land on her brow bone. She looked in the mirror to see a blonde nurse behind her. Regina smirked at her choice of scrubs, as they had a pattern of apples of them. She never saw many nurses with very colourful sets of attire, but this nurse seemed to be an exception. It seemed that as she smirked, the blonde noticed what her appearance caused on the brunette's blackened brow. "Oh I am so sorry, did I scare you? These sneakers lost their squeak so my presence is sometimes more sneaky then I intend it to be," the blonde joked.

"It's quite alright dear, my mascara isn't waterproof so it's easy to clean off. Although water-proof mascara does sound like a good purchase recently."

"I hear ya, sometimes I can tear up, and sometimes it's getting some juice in the face by a kid. There are many positives to water-proof makeup."

Regina chuckled at the remark. She quite appreciated the nurse not prying into her situation, as she let her own comment slip from her mouth by accident.

"Well it sounds like you have your hands full, nurse. I shall let you get back to your duties. I will most likely see you around the hospital."

"Sure thing, miss. See you around."

And with that, Regina left the bathroom to go see her son, not considering that the last exchange between herself and the nurse would be true much sooner then they both thought.

"Mommy!" Henry exclaimed as Regina entered the hospital room Henry was staying at for the duration of his stay.

"Hello sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Good. No more tummy aches but I'm pretty tired."

"Well I would say so, it's almost your bedtime! Would you like a story?"

"Mhmm! I got all these new books today from the nurses!" Henry said excitedly despite his fatigue.

"Well that was just wonderful of them. I will read you one and send you off to sleep. Mommy will head to the apartment, and be here bright and early in the morning for when you wake up."

"Okie dokie! Let's read that one," Henry said as he pointed to the top of the stack of new books.

"Okay, I will go grab it."

As Regina walked over to the heap of books, Regina saw her phone light up. She peeked at it briefly, seeing that it was a call from Sidney, her right-hand man when it comes to getting things done. Without him, she wouldn't have found her living situation here in Boston. Although he seemed quite the doe-eyed admirer, he had some uses that came to her advantage. She quickly told Henry to wait a moment as she answered your phone.

"Ms. Mills?"

"Yes, Sidney. Make it quick, I have some stories to read my son before his bedtime."

"Yes, of course. I went digging into the adoption services database for the files on Henry's birth-mother. After quite a bit of searching, I finally found her. There are no specific medical records pertaining to her family history, but I thought you might want to find her to get that information yourself. I would if I was in Boston..."

"I get Sidney," she interrupted. "Just send me her contact information or address, whatever you have. I want to get to the bottom of Henry's cancer, and if I become more acquainted with his birth-mother, maybe I can convince her to give a stem cell sample to see if she's a match with Henry, or any of her family for that matter. Give me the information, I'll write it down."

"Yes, of course. Her name is Emma Swan..."

After Regina read a story to her son, he quickly fell asleep by her side. She notified the nurse of her departure, lectured the lady on Henry's needs, and began to leave the hospital.

It was only 7:30 in the evening, and Regina wanted to meet this birth-mother of Henry's to see how she could help in his treatment. It wasn't that late out, and it was only a weekday, so a little trip to her address wouldn't hurt. The faster she knew about this woman's medical history, the faster she can find the best way to treat Henry. The drive from the hospital to this woman's residence was a few minutes at best. She couldn't believe the luck that Henry's birth mother was only this far from the hospital, let alone still in Boston since she gave him up.

She arrived to an apartment building that looked quite exceptional. The apartment was constructed of fine red brick, with large, industrial windows. Regina read her notepad over again to make sure she was at her destination, and indeed she was. Maybe this meeting may not be as difficult as she expected. Sure, Henry's mother could have been a drug abuser or a miscreant, but ideas began to alter as she entered this prime residence. Regina knew never to judge a book by its cover, but a pretty cover certainly does help.

As she ascended in the elevator to the 5th floor of the building, her hands began to moisten as her nerves started to get to her. There were so many possibilities of how this meeting could work out, and she was only hoping for the best when it came to Henry. She approached the door, figuring there was no going back now. She had to meet this woman, this had to happen in order for Henry to get better. She knocked on the door. From inside she heard a television, which was quickly turned off after she acknowledged the noise coming from outside her door. Regina focused, put on her mayoral smile, and waited for the door to open. That smile quickly turned into an astonished expression, as a familiar looking blonde opened the door.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" the blonde said with the same puzzled look.