Henry's big break came when he was watching the news.

After years of complete isolation, the citizens of Storybrooke had made the collective decision to be more aware of the outside world. Rumpelstiltskin, who had grown more friendly with the presence of his son, had managed to conjure up a modern communications tower (calling it the single most complicated piece of magic he'd ever done) and so the people of Storybrooke watched the news in all their free time.

One day, the news was telling the story of Carlos Gonzalez. He was doing his homework at the time, but then he heard a voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. He looked up to see none other than a video of his mother giving a statement to reporters in front of the Boston courthouse.

"It is a terrible thing to be accused of a crime you did not commit, to be accused of a crime by those who bear you no good will and would see you fail."

The joy at the serendipity was cut short by his mother's words. Although the words were ostensibly about the Gonzalez case, there was no doubt where raw emotion audible in her words was coming from. The media was calling her a true hero, a paragon of humanity, the type of person we should all aspire to be. And the guilt hit him like it had so many times in the past years.

…

"You're not my mom," were the last words Henry said to her before joining Emma back at the table. Henry decided not to inform Emma about his conversation, calculating that Regina wasn't going to go on a killing spree because of it. And so although the death of Archie was very fresh in his mind, he enjoyed his evening with his mother as Emma ordered pizza and told stories about her bounty hunting days.

It should have filled him with nothing but relief to see Archie stumble into the Diner the very next day, talking about being kidnapped by a one handed pirate and a witch who was Regina's mother. But faced with overwhelming evidence that Regina hadn't murdered Archie, his heart was filled with dread. Where had she been for the past day?

The mansion was empty when he got there. One Benz worth of clothes and supplies was missing from the closet, and one Benz was missing from the garage. A trip down to Rumple's shop confirmed his fear: his mother was no longer in Storybrooke.

…

Henry was no stranger to getting to Boston on a whim. He googled the Gonzalez case, finding out that Regina (or as she called herself, Gina Miller) ran a non-profit called the Miller Foundation, which specialized in acquitting people falsely accused of crimes. Shuffling more guilt to the back of his mind, he got an address off their website and planned his trip.

He arrived in Boston in the early afternoon of the next day, his parents and grandparents none the wiser. A taxi dropped him off in front of an unassuming office building with a sign that read 'Miller Foundation'. He didn't pay any attention to the police car parked in front at first.

Chaos would be the only way to describe the scene when he walked in. Phones ringing, people dashing back and forth, papers flying all over the place. Henry walked up to the front desk, behind which a clearly stressed out woman was sitting. The placard on the desk told him that her name was Linda.

"Oh hi! I didn't see you there, young man! Are you lost?"

"No, I'm looking for my m- I'm looking for Gina Miller?"

"Oh," replied Linda, shuffling uncomfortably. "You've come at a really, really bad time. Uh, what are you here for?"

"Uh, she and my parents go way, way back. What did you mean when you said it's a really bad time?"

Linda sighed, reaching over for a remote control that had slid off her desk. She turned on a television in the corner and switched on closed captions. The television was turned to a news channel, with a bottom banner dramatically proclaiming "MILLER FOUNDATION FOUNDER MISSING, FEARED DEAD". The cameraman was clearly trying to get into what was probably Regina's apartment. Henry caught a glimpse of a completely trashed interior before the cameraman was shoved away by a policeman. The closed captioning reported that the Alvarez family was being suspected for the crime.

Henry turned to Linda in shock. "Is she..."

"We don't know," was the reply. "I tried warning her last night, but then the phone call cut out. I called the police immediately, but by the time they got there, Gina was gone, and there was a known Alvarez hitman leaving the lobby. He claims that the apartment was already trashed by the time he got there, but the police obviously don't believe him."

…

'I should have believed her,' was the mantra Henry would tell himself every night as he went to bed. 'Everything would be different if she were still here.'

The days after Regina's departure had been quite eventful. With Cora having been revealed, the town had banded together to stop her. Eventually they used a cursed candle on Cora's heart and forced it inside her. Instead of hateful last words (as Regina's pseudo last words had been back in the Enchanted Forest), they were pleading. 'If you find Regina, please please tell her I'm so so sorry. She would have been enough. Please please tell her.'

And then Emma and Rumple had come back with Neal. His father and third parent, who Emma had told him was dead. It had taken a while for Henry to warm up with him, but Neal genuinely seemed to want to be in his life. It helped that Neal had tempered Rumple's more mischievous urges.

Neal was followed by Tamara, his fiance. For whatever reason, she had run off with Greg Mendell, the car crash patient. Greg had always seemed odd to him; Henry got the vibe that Greg was searching all around town for somebody who wasn't there.

Living life among fairy tale characters was hardly as eventful as he had pictured. After the initial drama, nothing of note had happened. Small town life was as idyllic as the term implied.

So the only thing to distract him from his guilt was their search for his mother. Emma used all her contacts from her bail bonds days, but they found nothing.

Somewhere out there, Regina still believed that they thought she was guilty.

…

"Hellooooo, earth to- well you haven't told me your name, actually." Henry flinched as Linda snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Oh hey. You kinda zoned out there. You OK? Do you need to sit down?"

Henry shook his head. "No, no... I'm good. Uh, my name's Henry."

Recognition came across Linda's face. When drunkenly mumbling about her son, the name Henry would stumble from Regina's lips. That meant...

"She's more than your parents' friend, isn't she?"

Henry nodded slowly. "Does she... does she talk about me?"

"Henry... I don't know how to say this... I don't know what she was like when she was with you. But she was so reluctant to share anything about her past when I knew her. And she was so reluctant to make friends with anybody. I only recognize your name because we managed to convince her to get drinks with us. It didn't take long for us to figure out why she was so dedicated to helping falsely accused people: because the one she cared about most didn't believe her."

So there it was. For all these years, without knowing Regina's side of the story, he had clung to the selfish belief that maybe, just maybe, it was Emma that was the last straw, not him. He couldn't any more.

He broke down crying.

Linda immediately embraced him in a hug, rocking back and forth. "There there," she whispered. "Everything's going to be okay," she said, knowing from experience that she was probably lying.

"Let's go sit over there, okay? Is there someone I should call to pick you up? They must be so worried about you!"

Henry gave her Emma's number, and for the hours that it took for Emma to arrive, Henry told Linda about his mom. How her real name was Regina Mills, how she spoiled him for his entire childhood. How even back then, she was secretive about her past and didn't make friends well. How he thought lowly enough of her to think she would murder her therapist (who wasn't even dead).

And Linda told Henry stories about Gina. How behind the frosty exterior, there was someone who felt passion like no one else she had ever met. About how Linda was drawn to the sheer force of will that Regina exuded, like so many of them were. How loyal Regina was to those she cared about, despite her initial reluctance to form any connections.

Linda was still sitting with Henry when Emma's signature yellow bug parked by the road. A frantic Emma sprinted out of the car, scanned the office which was much emptier, and found Henry. Thanking Linda profusely for taking care of her son, she herded Henry back to the bug.

"Henry... normally I would scold you for what you pulled, but I've gotta tell you something you probably don't want to hear. When you told us that Regina had been abducted, Rumple performed a locator spell. He called to tell me the results as I was driving down."

"Is it bad?" Henry asked nervously.

Emma nodded sadly. "Rumple told me that if she were living right now, the spell would have found her. Henry, I'm so sorry."

A/N:

So I wasn't expecting so many follows. Just for that, I decided to get this out super fast.

Updates: I don't know my update schedule. I didn't have anything to do for MLK day so I just decided to type start a story I've been thinking about for a while.

Story: This will be 4 chapters. What happened to Regina will be revealed in the 3rd chapter. This is not a story for which the MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH tag applies, to ease the worries of some of you.