I don't own OUAT.
Several things:
A-Ravenclaw-Demigoddess: thanks for the tip! I am sorry, but I really am too freaking tired to look for the mistakes right now so I will do that tomorrow : ) I also really appreciate the 'oh my god. I love it'.
Danica-SQ: Thank you for your kind words, I hope I updated soon enough and that you still like it
Guest: Wow, thanks! And yes, I will : )
One – I have yet to properly reread and edit so sorry for any mistakes or whatever. It is just too late and I am really tired, so I will do that tomorrow.
Two- I actually wrote the last part of chapter one (so the part after Regina/Emma talked in the diner) in a hurry and I am not really satisfied. So I thought of rewriting that part, possibly turning them in slightly longer (but not very long) moments such as tiny signs of the unravelling of the curse, Henry/Regina learning how to deal with each other better and Emma/Regina slowly mending their differences. Good idea? Bad idea?
I don't want to use whole chapters to describe the six months, because the general plot is Regina admitting the curse is real (after six months where she/ Emma slowly became friends & her relationship with Henry improved) and Henry starting a new operation …. (I don't want to give too many spoilers, but he is not just trying to break the curse, he has more plans than that)
Three- I changed the summary slightly. I might change it again ( I am still not satisfied with it) but that will all happen tomorrow..
Enjoy!
For a moment, his bottom lip trembles in a way it has not since that time he accidentally took something from a store and thought that meant he was a criminal facing jail. He stares at her, shakes his head. Is he angry at her for lying, sad because it is actually true, happy that he is right and – no, her little boy would not think like that. He is too good for that.
He opens his mouth several times, she knows him well enough that he is going over sentences in his head, thinking carefully what is the best thing to say (she used to help him with it, when his mind was running with too many thoughts to properly articulate) " It is a trap" he finally settles on, that distrustful look that had slowly been fading returning with a vengeance. " As soon as you know whether I still believe, you will sent me back to Archie"
(he only meets Archie now to walk Pongo or just to ask how he is doing)
She is attempting to not sob her heart out, pull her son into her arms, break down like she has not for – gods, she doesn't even know. "I wish it was like that, that I had not the slightest idea of who I was or the curse was all a fabrication by a very ingenious boy" she swallows, shakes her head. " But it i-isn't" .
The silence between them makes it so easy to think about what she stands to lose – him, Emma, any semblance of control or autonomy, her life- if this curse breaks. It makes those impulses return, like a really bad itch and it is so difficult not to scratch. She has to remind herself- Henry and Emma won't forgive her ( she shuts down the voice that whispers 'even if you do not darken your heart any further, what makes you think they will accept the parts that are already dark')
Henry finally speaks again, voice choked. " So you don't love me".
She grabs his hands when angrily swipes at his tears, rubbing hard enough that his skin turns slightly red. " Henry " is all she gets out at first, thinking of how to tell him that he is the only thing that could ever fill the part of her heart that was ripped out when she cast the curse, that holding him in her arms was the first time in decades that everything in her just shut up and she felt truly happy. He is named after two people she tortured, killed and crossed realms for and how fitting that is.
He is staring down at the blanket, so she slowly reaches for his chin ( slowly, because these months she has learned that holding on to something too tightly does not make them love you more. Slowly, so he can tell her whether it's okay or not). She can feel a few tears slip as he lets her. She makes him look into her eyes, smiles tearfully at him. " Henry, why would I have fought so hard to keep you if I did not love you?".
" Because I am – " he hesitates and she just knows he is – well not lying exactly, but definitely keeping information to himself. She knows how to recognize half-truths and omissions in her son. " The villains never love".
She thinks of Maleficent's eyes when she started darkening her heart more and more- her face was always devoid of emotion, but she never could extend that same indifference to her eyes. She could tell him how wrong he is.
" I do love you" is all she stresses instead, fighting against every impulse that tells her to hide her tears (she and Henry have actually talked, talks that were like time bombs or mines but that made her understand how bad it is to hide her feeling from him)
He shakes his head. " Evil does not love".
Part of her wants to lash out again. "I have committed e- acts that were wrong , but I have also done things right".
" You have hurt and k-killed people" he accuses
It is so difficult to not deny it, but then she thinks of the look in Emma's eyes when she told about her birthparents and presses on. " I was hurting. I was hurting for a long time and- ".
" But I don't understand" he interrupts her, that lip still trembling. He inhales shakily. " I don't understand you- the evil queen. Why would she hurt Snow white when Snow is valiant and kind and good? ".
He is looking at her like this is a question as life-changing as 'what is the purpose of my life', like it an break or make something, but-
She doesn't know how to explain. How do you tell a ten-year-old boy of a shadow of a father, a life that is owned by someone else and things done to you that still make you flinch decades and temporarily memory loss later? How do you describe that you kept seeing and hearing things- a necklace cutting into Snow's neck, her gasps as it strangles her- without losing him forever? How do you describe being so hopeless that you might as well have ripped your own heart out along with your father's, or the desperate desire for any kind of happy ending. How do you understand both loathing and loving people?
(she fears Henry might know exactly what it feels like to love and loathe someone, if she is even fortunate enough to still have his love).
"Henry, I am not certain whether I should tell you- ".
" I knew it! You already taking it back- " she is not sure but it seems like he is hyperventilating. "You do not care that what we have with Emma works and you are going to force me to talk to Archie again and you are going take Emma f-from me".
It is remarkable how it almost does not hurt anymore that he loves Emma this much ( perhaps it is because she has grown fond of the idiot herself) . It actually hurts more that he looks panicked and in a lot of pain – and she is sure he would be begging her to not take Emma away if he had not inherited her stubbornness.
"No! I would not take miss Swan away from you-"
" You are calling her miss Swan again! I knew it, you a-are going back to being mean to Emma and you a-are going to send me back to Archie and- we are going to lose our family!".
He used to crawl into her arms after a nightmare and she hopes she can offer the same comfort now. He is tense for a moment in her arms. She whispers " Henry, I swear that that is not going to happen" and he slowly relaxes.
He pulls back a little, sniffs and swallows. " R-really?".
" Really. You know, miss- Emma has grown on me. She has become a .. confidante these past months, no matter how far-fetched the idea of it would have been all those months ago".
" P-please don't break her heart. Don't pull away or start the snide remarks again or call her miss Swan – it hurts her when you distance yourself".
(she knows. Emma had actually punched a wall once - in reply to the 'miss Swan's' and ice caused by Regina's panic over the realization that protecting Emma would feel as natural as protecting Henry by now)
There is just one thing that puzzles her.
"Henry.. why do you think I am capable of breaking her heart?" Hearts do not break, they only turn into dust when you are too rough with them.
He pulls back completely, her hands automatically reaching for him before she forces them to drop. He swallows, shrugs. " You take hearts".
But that is definitely a lie- not that she takes heart, but that it is what he meant by it. She knows it. Still, she is terrified of the anger returning so she steers the conversation away from something as riddled with mines like that.
" I do not wish any harm to come to Emma, my darling, I promise".
He hesitates, stares at her for a long moment. "I don't think you are lying, but- hurting people is all you do in the book".
She hesitates, then says " I read your book".
" I know, you asked for the missing pa- " he suddenly tenses and scoots away from her. " You want the pages. That is why you are telling me this and have pretended to be – ".
She cuts him off. She cannot bear hearing more of this. " Henry, it not about the missing pages. It is about how that books only shows me as a one-dimension villain ".
He blinks. "But that is- "
" Henry, it not like I loathed .. her from the moment I was born. I had dreams and hopes before I ever was as unfortunate as to meet her".
He stares at her with a thoughtful expression. There is silence for a while, slightly less tense than before.
" Will you tell me?".
Regina is already opening her mouth to tell him 'absolutely not' when she hesitates. She knows Henry is the kind of person who loves easily, who is kind to nearly everyone, who likes to help people. But he is also an angry ten-year-old who can only see her as a villain right now. And if there is even the slightest chance that hearing her story- without giving too much details, because she would die before ever telling him how exactly her mother forced her to obey- might change this, then it is something she wants to do.
So she does. She tells him of being a young girl and growing up with a mother that constantly told her what and who she had to be, about being forced (how? My mother was a cruel woman , Henry. There was no price high enough to pay to get me on the throne. Please do not ask me to elaborate), about being so very lonely until she met Daniel (she glosses over this part, remembering how bright he used to smile at her makes her want to knock down 'Mary Margaret' s door and- well) , about being the bride of a man she did not love, of having to raise the girl that cost her so much, about the empty happiness of those eighteen years, about him and how she almost gave him away but knew she finally had her own happy ending.
"You forgot.. for me?" he whispers. He has moved closer during the story until he leaning against her.
"Yes" she forces the admission out: " I did not think I could be a mother if I did not".
" Why not?"
" I- " she thinks about that moment. "I would have seen Mar- " she is so used to never actually using Snow's name by now, her curse name leaving a slightly less bitter taste in her mouth. " Snow regularly and I would have been preoccupied with that familiar anger. If she had smiled, I would have spent time on discovering why and making sure it did not happen again. I would not have been able to completely dedicate myself to being your mother with an even-more-than- usual oblivious Snow constantly thrown into my face".
It is perhaps too honest, but she all these times the past months, even small lies have made Henry immediately distance himself again.
""Why did you even curse yourself along with them?".
" I did not curse myself".
"You technically did. I mean, the curse did not take your memories but it did bring you here. Where you had to be with your enemies, for like forever". He shrugs. " It is kind of a mediocre plot, really. I mean, could you not have cursed yourself to like Disneyland and left the rest of them here?".
" It was the dark curse to end all curses, sweetheart, not a golden ticket hidden in a chocolate bar".
" Uh that is Charlie and the chocolate factory. That has nothing to do with Disneyland".
He yawns. "You still have to finish your story".
She stares at him; he is not accusing her, telling her she is not 'his mom' or even looking especially angry. She could almost fool herself into believing it is just another night-time story, like they used to have.
"And she lived happily ever after with her son… until the day a blonde nuisance crashed her pile of rust into the town sign" she says the last few words with fondness that surprises herself. Henry glares for half a moment, then realizes it is just like when Emma trailed mud over his mother's floors and Regina kept calling her a " bad-mannered Neanderthal" as she made her scrub the floors. His mom does not really mean it when she uses insults and Emma seems to get that (mostly; there are some words she reacts to with slammed doors)
Still, he mutters a sleepy " She is not a nuisance. She does chores and makes both of us laugh and she is really good at getting rid of tension".
" I suppose that is true" .
" You don't have to pretend you only tolerate her, you are smiling".
She honestly did not notice. " I admit I more than tolerate her. Her presence is- .. surprisingly acceptable".
He gives her that look, the one that makes her feel like a live frog about to be dissected, but surprisingly just nods and says "okay". He bites his lip nervously , the sound of him inhaling sharply startling in the quiet. "Are you going to try to strengthen the curse again?".
He is tense now, obviously getting ready to pull (and probably run) away. He is talking faster. " I know it is breaking. Miss Mary Margaret actually stepped away when Delilah offered her an apple. Sheriff Graham said you had done 'something' to him, that it was your fault he felt 'nothing'. There are suddenly crickets and rain and people are getting a cold. I know. ".
" My smart boy" .
" I won't stop trying to break it" his voice is really small and he subtly moves away a little.
She stares at the comics he has strewn around the room despite her order to clean it. That has not changed. " No, darling, we are going to ensure it breaks".
" Wha- I don't believe you, you are playing me!" he accuses, leaping away from her. His hand is on the doorknob when she says " I will lose. But I will lose more if I attempt to keep the curse intact while I know I will only prolong it a little".
He turns around, very slowly. His hand is still on the doorknob. " That is why I came to you Henry. Partly because I needed to be honest- but also because you are the only one who can break this curse".
He grips the doorknob a little tighter. " Only the saviour can break the curse".
"and according to the book, everything can only end well if I perish".
He stumbles, turns deathly pale. " W-what?".
" the saviour will return… the curse will break… and the final battle will begin…" she quotes. She had immediately known what that meant. She had assumed Henry knew as well. " Henry- do you mean, all this time- ".
" I thought they would just take your magic and lock you up, no- they're good! Good guys do not kill" he insists, trembling.
She slowly stands. " Henry- I know you think of these people as " she curls her lips and nearly spits out the word "heroes, but that means very little. There have been benevolent monarchs that still murdered, especially if it were threats to their kingdom and their security that were in front of them".
" They c-can't, you c-can't – "
He struggles to pull himself together, clenches his fists, grits his teeth. " No. They're heroes. Heroes don't – heroes don't do that".
She takes a slow step towards him, hyper-aware of how terribly wrong this all can go. " Henry-".
" No! "he half-shouts. He stumbles over his words- " you- they, it isn't " then accuses 'you're lying. You must be. You are attempting to make me take your side".
" Henry, I promise-" she starts to say, reaches for him. It is easy to believe there's magic in this world when her heart feels like it is being crushed: he pulls away, throws open the door and slips downstairs.
She starts to go after him, then is caught off guard by sobs. She takes a moment to compose herself, pressing her face into Henry's pillow as she cannot stop the tears from sleeping. She wants to start the Mercedes and make another forgetting potion- but the ingredients are gone and whatever care Henry has left for her would forever perish.
When she has managed to make it seem less like she had been helplessly crying , she walks downstairs- only to find him under the blanket she threw over Emma after she fell asleep on the couch. He watches her move with distrustful eyes- thankfully the anger has faded- and approaches the two of them.
She ignores- no, that is not right. This thing she has been doing is not ignoring, not at all. It is recognizing a catastrophe, a mistake of the worst kind. It is pushing down, pushing down that feeling she used to get at the idea of her life with Daniel, how she would plan and think and dream.
She pushes it so deep down she can almost convince herself that it was never there in the first place.
" Henry- we still need to finish our talk" she says.
He throws his arm protectively over Emma, shakes his head. "I am not going to listen to your lies" .
Six months ago, she would have scolded him and tried to do things her ways anyways. Now, she sighs and says " they are not lies Henry. I am not manipulating you into anything".
He wavers. She almost wishes Emma believed, so she could talk about this with her ( but then again, would anything positive exist between them if Emma believed) . " You are the qu- the evil queen" he whispers.
Next to him, Emma stirs like she does have another superpower that consists of knowing when Regina is hurt.
Henry and she both look at Emma for a while, both of them silent and still until she stops wriggling around and mumbling. Regina looks at Henry. " I should not have spoken so freely- I" it seems ridiculous now, that her sweet boy could have ever been capable of letting anyone be murdered.
" You thought I knew?".
" I assumed you got to the same conclusion as anyone who reads 'and then the final battle will become' " she smiles before he can speak any of the things that are obviously on the tip of his tongue. " I should have known you would never consent to murder. You are too good for that".
"Snow white and prince Charming wouldn't do something like that" he insists. She notes but chooses not to comment on the tiniest note of doubt in his voice.
" There are more than heroes or characters in a book, Henry" is all she says, even though she could say so much more. She could talk about executions and the need for self-preservation( how easy it is to hurt others to save or help yourself, even accidentally).
" they are not the ones who are wrong here" he stubbornly insists, voice rising before he glances at Emma and lowers it again.
She has been starting to wonder about that too lately. But really, when something continues for as long as the feud between her and Snow.. both sides will make mistakes. (and she has always wondered how good Snow white can truly be when she continues running and fighting while she knows that as long as she is alive, entire towns suffer)
" Even if that is the case, it does not mean that they are the virtuous, heroic leaders they present themselves as. They are not without flaws Henry".
" that is what Emma says too. That it is bullshit to –"
"Henry!" she admonishes.
"That is how Emma phrased it. And you have to be angry at me quietly because she is still sleeping".
Regina narrows her eyes. It could be just Emma forgetting she is not supposed to swear- maybe she was too impassioned, which is possible as the whole hero-villain-white-black thing annoys her to no end but- " She still claims.. that word is not an expletive… does she?"
" I am not a tattletale "
" Anyways, Emma says that it is kind of misleading to see people as fairy characters because they're one-dimensional according to her. And people are never one-dimensional, there is always more going on. Things are not that simple or all the bad people would be locked up and all the good people would be treated well".
Emma Swan is truly full of surprises. And of course Regina has heard Emma talk about things like this and of course she knows Emma is actually quite intelligent but still. It sometimes baffles her how – even if Emma is not the most articulate person- she gets a point across quite effectively. And how she is constantly making sure Henry knows that 'he is a lucky little shit, that is sure' ( Emma had justified calling Henry a little shit by saying "Regina he threatened to call the police like two minutes after I had met him. He is a great kid- but only a little shit would steal someone's credit card so he can threaten someone into bringing him into a crazy town")
She did not let the woman get away unscathed after calling her son a 'little shit', of course, but it does not change the fact that Regina gets all these annoying feelings whenever Emma 'comes to her rescue'.
In fact, she gets the same feelings now; it starts at her stomach, where she can practically feel the butterfly wings, to her heart that reacts like she has suddenly burst into a sprint, to her disobedient mouth that starts to smile and finally there is this incredible glowing feeling like her body is filling with fireflies.
It is really quite bothersome.
" Why are you smiling like that?" Henry suddenly asks, vaguely suspicious. If she did not know Emma lacked the discipline for it, she might have accused her of researching potions and slipping it into Regina's drinks: she never spaces out like this.
" Miss Swan is quite right ".
" It's really odd when you revert to calling her miss Swan".
"Emma is quite right".
" Is that truly Regina Mills admitting I am right?" an amused voice says, causing both Henry and Regina to glance at a now- barely- awake Emma Swan.
Regina rolls her eyes. " I am going to prepare breakfast"
" NO REALLY WERE YOU ADMITTING THAT I AM RIGHT? ".
She smiles as she can hear Henry say " You just insulted your own intelligence". He is using the exact tone she frequently uses when dealing with complaining townsfolk.
" How did I insult my own intelligence kid? It is pretty normal for me to think I am still dreaming when such a special thing as your mom admitting I am right happens".
" Like, you needed validation that you were right. So you are insinuating that you are almost never right".
" I am right often enough, your mother just never admits I am".
The sounds slowly fade away as she enters the kitchen and turns on the stereo she keeps there. Listening to classical music makes cooking easier somehow, she is more focused and enjoys every small act more. Besides, music like 'Carmina Burana' has always been one of the closest things this world has to offer to magic (it can prompt feelings as intense as magic would cause, with less of the heart-darkening consequences)
She is sliding the third pancake on a plate when Emma enters the kitchen and tries to take a piece of it. She slaps the hand away with the first item she can get her hands on. Emma glares at the spoon, then tries to reach for the golden-brown pancake again. Thuk!
" Regina, will you stop that already jeez".
She brandishes the spoon threateningly " You will wait until we are seated".
" I am a grown woman, I think I will decide for my- ouch! Regina".
" It is a spoon , my dear, not a Taser. As soon as I deliver 1200 volts to your body, you are allowed to whine this much".
Emma throws her a look . " Your sass is not appreciated this early".
She smirks. " So it is appreciated at other times".
"Lady, do you think I would still be here if I got really annoyed by sass? You and the kid are- Regina stop the hitting seriously".
She is getting ready to softly hit Emma on her shoulder when she is suddenly grabbed and pulled against a very warm, nice-smelling body. There is a muscular arm keeping her in this position and another grabbing for the spoon. There is a moment of – not this again – as she can immediately feel her heart- the appropriate word might be flutter, how mortifying. Then she realizes what Emma is doing. Oh no, you don't.
"Miss-" she wriggles, uselessly. " Swan- " she stands on her toes and tries to push/pull herself free" If you not release me this instant- ".
" Give me the weapon first" Emma laughs.
The laugh changes into stunned silence when Regina changes tactics after another minute of altogether too distracting wriggling- she leans forward and grabs the spoon with her teeth then yanks. She is quite certain that it is only surprise that has Emma yield, the spoon now clutched between her teeth.
She recovers admirably quickly. She is wildly reaching for the one spoon with her only free hand, which is when Regina lurches and pulls herself free. She is thinking she has won when her pulse jumps beneath Emma's hand on her wrist and she is pulled back to that body.
She can see Emma's eyes now, feel it every times she breathes (and possibly when her heart flutters like those long eyelashes, or is she imagining that?). She is startled by this , just long enough that she doesn't react as quickly as usually when Emma lets her go and snatches the spoon from her.
She grimaces as Emma grins before racing away.
Regina glares at the spoon next to Emma's plate. After placing the towering pile of pancakes on the table- and refusing Emma's help- she holds up her hand. " Spoon, now" she orders.
Emma gives a mischievous smile and holds up the spoon. " I earned this fair and square, so you are not getting it back".
Regina arches an eyebrow. " I will give you a choice , Emma" she slowly starts to smirk, which makes Emma narrow her eyes and clutch her spoon tighter. " The spoon or the pancakes. Which do you want most?".
Emma rolls her eyes. "You are not going to starve me just because I took one of your spoons".
" Starve would imply a long period without eating, my dear, and I am quite certain that you are capable of ordering greasy food at Granny's".
Emma stares her down for a moment, then offers her the spoon and sighs " Just give me the pancakes" she grumbles
She accepts the reluctantly offered spoon, then saunters towards the kitchen. By the time she returns with the rest of the food, Emma and Henry have put pancakes on their plates and drowned them in syrup but aren't eating yet. It took forever before Emma learned that particular trick.
As soon as she sits down, they are gobbling on their pancakes. She grimaces a little- Emma's eating habits have improved, but she still has a tendency to say things like 'it is so good' with her mouth full- but focuses on her own food. By the time she has actually finished her small waffle, Henry and Emma have moved on to waffles as well.
As soon as she has eaten the fruit and yoghurt that is the rest of her meal, she dabs at her mouth with the napkin and sits back. Emma and Henry are still attacking their food like it will walk away if they wait for too long.
She tries to engage Henry in conversation, but he keeps rebuking it, asking Emma questions instead or just stuffing his face. Her thoughts are only kept away from dangerous territory- like whether Snow would completely snap if she just started hiding apples around town for Snow to stumble on- when there is a silver objects with a golden-brown mashup on it.
Regina glares at it, then at the smiling woman offering it to her. " I am not polluting my body by eating that'.
Emma rolls her eyes. " I know you actually do like greasy food Regina, just open your mouth".
" Fine, I am opening my mouth- "
" To eat. Not to scold or give me all these facts about the health dangerous of 'copious amounts of salt, carbs and sugars'. Honestly, I have seen you eat greasy food so it is also hypocritical".
" I occasionally enjoy greasy food. While you seemed to have turned bearclaws into a new food group".
" I am only offering you one bite, so you can definitely eat that".
Regina rolls her eyes, but starts to lean forward. On an impulse , she suddenly gently reaches for Emma's wrists and pulls the hand towards her. She keeps holding on to it even after she is already chewing on the bits of syrup-and-pancake. She licks her lips, then remarks " Thank you for offering me some of my own cooking, along with too much syrup that ruins it".
" There is no such thing as too much syrup".
Henry, his mouth full of pancake, nods enthusiastically. She sighs. " I do not remember my son having a habit of drowning his pancakes in syrup before your arrival".
Emma offers Regina another bite. She stares at it with contempt for a moment before accepting it. " I have done a good thing, then" she remarks, smiling.
" That is debatable. If he gets heart issues, I will know what caused it".
Regina only realizes what she has said when Emma's easy smile disappears. A little more than a month after Emma's arrival, Regina had a weak moment and came very close to crushing Graham's heart. Somehow, she found it in herself not to but he was still rushed to the hospital for inspection. Emma had already become somewhat friends with him by then, so she had been understandably distressed when the sheriff had suddenly stumbled and started to sweat mid-conversation.
" My apologies" she stiffly offers.
Emma smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes. " It is okay" she quickly eats the last bite, then stands. " I probably should go anyways, I can hardly let my deputy do all the work" .
Regina stands as well. " Yes indeed. Playing darts is obviously something that requires two people" she teases.
" You caught me playing darts one time".
" One time too many. That is not what the town pays you for".
" I don't think the town pays you to threaten newcomers either".
" I was protecting the town".
Emma snorts. " Bullshit".
" Do not curse in front-".
" It is hardly a curse word. It is literally- I don't have time for this. Are we still on for tonight?".
" As long as you do not suddenly have plans with your snivel-".
" Hey, I told you. You don't need to like MM, but you can't say shitty things about her".
" Fine. If you do not have plans with that.. woman , then yes we are still 'on' for tonight"
" Cool" she walsk over to Henry to ruffle his hair, then squeezes Regina's arm briefly. " Don't terrorize the townspeople, I have to deal with their complains".
" Has anyone ever actually complained about me?".
Emma just throws her jacket on and smiles. Regina has no idea what that smile means. She can already hear the door shut before she can ask however, so instead she turns back to Henry.
Like usually, he is cleaning the table. It is one of the chores he has been doing again and she is relieved to see he is not immediately starting his rebellious behaviour again. This is going better than I expected. She doesn't know what she expected, although she knows what she feared. Silence or angry words, coming home to find her son gone again, hearing him plead to live at Emma's… Loathing, basically. And it doesn't even bear to think on what Henry might do after the curse breaks, even when her mind seems to take great delight in torturing her with the possibilities.
Now, however, her son might not be smiling at her or laughing as he was with Emma but at least he is not glaring at her with outright suspicion and loathing. It gives her just enough hope to follow him to the kitchen and call his name.
" I have to go to school" he immediately says as he rinses the plates before pushing them in the dishwasher. " And don't you have work?".
" I- " she does, but this is far more important. " do, but we need to discuss this Henry".
" Maybe. I have a lot to think about"
It is difficult not to push. " Fine. But at least promise me we will talk about- " she does not endorse skipping school, but these are special circumstances. " Are you certain that you do not want me to call your school?".
" I am certain" he looks at her before she can push. " It's weird that you admitted it, but I have known about the c- "he hesitates, then steels his resolve. " the curse forever. I will be fine".
" All right, sweetheart" she automatically bends to kiss him on his head. He cringes, but does not pull away. " I am going to brush my teeth and will walk you to the school bus afterwards".
" That is really not necessary" he says.
"Do you not want me to?".
He shrugs. " I guess it is okay." He opens his mouth looking like he wants to ask something, then closes it again. " Are you going to change again?".
She stops at the kitchen door. " What are you talking about , darling?".
" After Emma came to town, you changed. Are you going to again now that the curse is breaking"
She knows what he is really asking. Are you going to hurt anyone. " I am changing Henry. I am trying very hard to be the person you need me to be".
There is a short hesitation, then a nod. " I like it. How things have been these past months I mean".
She doesn't hesitate at all. "Me too".
She is just reading a report that is only extraordinary because of how tedious it is – why is it necessary to document every piteous crime in this town again? Perhaps I should craft a law that prohibits the sheriff department to write a report on anything that is too ridiculous or dull – when he pushes in.
" Henry!" she exclaims.
" Hi … mom. Do you have some time?".
She glances at the report, that really is of no consequence, then nods. She opens the drawer and lays the report in it with a little vindictive glee, then gestures at the chair in front of her desk. " I can ring my secretary if you want anything, dar-".
He grins as he shows her the kale salad. " Granny's" he shoves the kale salad towards her, then places something else on the desk. " I got myself a chicken wrap. That's okay, right?".
"It is fine dear. How long does your break last?".
He tears off a bit of wrap first, then says "forty minutes. But miss Blanchard did not feel well, so she is going to see the doctor. She thinks it will take about an hour, so almost everyone went home".
They eat in silence for a while, before Henry places three more things on the table. A cup of coffee for her, a coke for him and …
" You brought your book" she says, staring down at the familiar 'once upon a time' written down on it. Inwardly, her heart is pouncing. Outwardly, she looks mildly curious. " Why?".
He places his hands on the book. " You said you were going to help break the curse, right?".
She hesitates – is she truly ready to destroy a lifetime of work? Then nods after thinking of comic books and horrid table manners and laughter during movie nights. " Yes- " she clears her throat. " Yes, that is true".
He beams. " Perfect. So- ".
He opens the book; there are pages attached to the first ones with paperclips. " I have identified several stages, with their own purpose. Operation name is red, code names are black and the stages are blue".
He turns the book towards her, so she can read the bold, red letters:
Operation Out