AN. I am on Tumblr! I have been inspired to write but please be nice? I want this to be a multiple chapter fic but alas, I am a full time nursing student. I posted on my tumblr that I was writing a swan queen fic and gained followers (and ANON hate! for the first time.) Like maybe 2 followers. haha but I hate to disappoint! here's the first chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 1
Emma Swan didn't tell anyone she was leaving, except for Henry. She took him for a walk to the playground before school started. She sat him down and explained that she needed a break and she was leaving Storybrooke for awhile. His face looked hurt for a moment, and Emma knew that he thought she was abandoning him.
"It's not like that, kid. You know you mean the world to me." She wrapped him a hug and held him close. "What the snow queen revealed, that was pretty big news to me. I need time to think."
She sometimes forgets that Henry is a young child still. "Think about what?"
Emma is at a loss for words as to how to explain to her son about her past. Where and how she was raised. That was a conversation that Emma wasn't ready for. "The snow queen told me that she almost adopted me, and then she gave me back my memories." She shuts her eyes as she remembers the overwhelming burden that came over her in a matter of minutes. All those happy memories and of laughter. She loved Ingrid and Ingrid loved her but but then she had hurt Ingrid because she couldn't understand what the older woman was telling her. Young Emma ran away. "I'll be back, I'm just getting away to clear my head and when I get back, I'll get back to doing some Sheriff-ing."
He gave her a small smile at her attempt to lighten the mood. "Are you going to tell everyone?"
"No, but that doesn't mean I expect you to do that for me." She took out her phone to look at the time. The mail should be delivered at about 10:30. "I've left a letter for Snow and she has been given an explanation to tell people if they ask."
Henry raised his eyebrows. It sounded to him as if Emma believed no one would wonder why she disappeared from town. Yeah right. Everyone is going to be pacing, wondering where their Savior went off to and if she's going to come back. But he knew if his mom said she was coming back, then she would be back. "And where am I staying?" He had been mostly under Emma's custody for the most part of the year and had been living in Snow's apartment.
She smiled at him. "That's the good news. You'll be staying with your other mom." Emma had written Regina a letter but she kept going back and forth between the letter or telling the older woman face to face. To Emma, she realized that there is a lot of tension between them and Regina might not appreciate Emma just leaving their son so suddenly. There could be a confrontation, one Emma did not want. "Unless you don't want to, which is fine. You can stay with your grandpa-"
"No, no that's fine! I'll stay with my mom while you are gone." He stopped her quickly and gave her a tight hug. He mumbled against her pea coat, "I've been wanting to ask if I can stay with her sometimes." He had worried he might hurt her. She smiled and gave him a light kiss on top his head.
"That's okay kid," She reassured him and moved away to look at him in the eyes, "When I get back, we'll work something out where you can spend more time with your mom."
He smiled brightly at her, overjoyed about that. "I got to get to school!" He jumped off the playground set and started running towards town.
"Hey kid!" She yelled after him and he stopped and turned around. "Your mom will be picking you up after school. I already packed your bag and Snow is going to drop it off."
She noticed him starting walking towards her again and she raised her eyes in question. He opened his arms as he got closer and enveloped her in a hug. "Ok mom. I'll miss you."
She smiled softly and looked down at her son. Her heart clenches in her chest as the worry settles in her stomach. Emma didn't want to leave him, she loves him more than anything but she felt that if she didn't deal with the mess that's going on in her head, she'll explode. There's only so much she can handle. And she wouldn't want Henry to see that part of her. "I'll miss you too Henry. Remember I'm coming back." Her arms were wrapped around him and she tightened her grip. "I love you kid."
"I love you too." He mumbled and pulled away. "I'm going to be late!"
"Have fun with your mom. Try not to drive her too crazy, okay?" She teased him as he ran off, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She's not too sure how long she's going to be gone. She hates to do that to him, but Emma knows herself well enough to know that if she didn't clear her son out of the damage zone, he could get hurt.
The demons in her past were difficult to run from and to forget. And now, she finds out about Ingrid and what that implies. Emma's life could have turned out a whole lot different. She wouldn't have done the horrible things in her teenager years, events that happened that makes her still cringe.
But first, she needs to deal with the she-demon of the present. Regina. Don't get her wrong, they had been getting along, co-parenting will do that to former arch-nemesis, but ever since Robin left there has been a unacknowledged tension underneath the surface. Emma sometimes feels the older woman's glare towards her and it feels like she's planning her demise. Emma leaving might tip that precarious iceberg and there might be drama.
She made sure the envelope was in her pocket and went to the parked beetle. The moment of truth. She left the area and made her way to Regina Mill's house.
