Regina's arrival goes about as well as Emma could expect. Henry runs to her, hitting her in the stomach like a tiny linebacker, but Regina doesn't flinch before wrapping her arms around him. Although Ruby is tensed up like she might jump Regina at any moment and Emma's parents remain behind the safety of the kitchen counter, conveniently still wielding knives, to Regina there's only one person in the room.

Emma's phone vibrates in her pocket, and she checks it discreetly. Neal's message is bleak but quickly read: it's done. Meet me for breakfast? Diner at 8.

She fires off a quick sure, adding an I'm sorry to soften it a little bit, before shoving the phone away again and clearing her throat to get the attention of the room.

"Uh, so we need to work out what's best for Henry," Emma begins, and Regina's instant frown needs to be headed off at the pass. "By that I mean, Regina and I will make the final decisions. But we want your advice and anything else you've ever heard about this dagger first."

"And Neal?" David asks.

"He doesn't want to see me until tomorrow," Emma replies. "And we're all going to respect that tonight. We're also going to respect Regina's loss, and try being considerate or whatever."

"Though by rights, I should kill you," Regina says to Mary Margaret, and there's a flexing of her fingers that has Emma ready to throw herself between the two women, but Regina looks away in disgust first.

"Please don't, Mom," Henry says, pulling away from her. "I don't want to be the Dark One, and I don't want you to be bad anymore, either."

"Henry has a point," Ruby interjects. "With respect, your Majesty, I'm not sure putting the Evil Queen in charge of the Dark One's power is anyone's idea of a good time."

"She's trying!" Henry argues back, face scrunching in defiance. Emma can't help but like him a little better now that he's standing up for the woman who raised him, whatever Emma's own difficulties with Regina. "And I don't think I have any powers."

"Regina, what's the safest way to test him?" Emma asks. "Nothing that hurts, nothing that's gonna get him hooked or whatever."

"You have magic too," Regina counters. "Why don't you test him?" She looks uneasy, and Emma can't really blame her when nobody trusts Regina to do magic for anything other than fucking up the lives of others. It has to get tiring, always being the bad guy.

"You know as well as I do that I have no idea what I'm doing," Emma replies, not backing down an inch. "So far I've watched a doggy dream, which turned out to be a lie. I've cast a protection spell that you took out with one fireball and a smirk. And I teleported myself back from the woods earlier. That's it."

"So you need to be trained, too," Regina muses, looking at Emma the way she might consider a new end table for her big, fancy house. "Unchecked magic around Henry is not an option, certainly not now."

"Emma, you are not learning magic from this woman," Mary Margaret interrupts, moving out of the kitchen without putting her chopping knife down. "I'm willing to overlook some things for Henry's sake, but she's not a safe teacher for him either."

"But you were happy for me to be schooled by the Dark One?" Emma asks, not thrilled at yet another interruption when it seemed she was getting somewhere with Regina. "You guys have a funny way of picking your allies and enemies. Besides, Regina's the only other magical person left."

"No, she's not," the Blue Fairy says, appearing in a flash of blue light over by the window, making Emma yelp in shock. "Although I have many responsibilities, I would be happy to educate you in harnessing and controlling your magic, Princess."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Regina snaps, pulling Henry behind her like a crazed gunman just entered the room. The tension in the air is thicker than ever, and Emma feels a headache developing at the base of her skull. On top of that the air is thick with the crackle of what has to be magic, humming at the same frequency as the blood swirling in Emma's veins. It feels like she's one blink from disappearing or blowing something up, and that can't be safe.

"I was invited," Blue replies coolly, running a hand over the skirt of her dark blue dress to smooth it out.

"I thought we weren't telling anyone," Emma accuses, looking at her parents in alarm.

"We assumed you meant-" Mary Margaret begins, but Emma holds up a hand to silence her.

"I'm not kidding around here," Emma insists, angered now. "You don't just go asking your old buddies, not when we agreed we weren't telling anyone else yet. How do you know we can trust her?"

"Because we know her. She helped us," David answers. "She got you to safety through Geppetto's wardrobe."

"Uh," Ruby says quietly, and Blue looks at her in alarm. "About that. The other day Geppetto stayed late at the diner, he had a few too many drinks, started crying about Pinocchio."

"He still hasn't found him?" David asks, hand moving to his hip instinctively, but the deputy's badge isn't hanging there.

"Well, the thing is, he's not looking for a little boy, is he?" Ruby replies, raising her eyebrows in question as she addresses Blue. "See, Geppetto is extra sad because now he has this guilt on his conscience. That wardrobe was built for two."

Regina is looking at David and Mary Margaret with that cruel smile, but even she looks just a little bit shocked along with it. Emma hears the roaring in her ears getting louder, and wills herself not to follow the thought through to the painful end.

"Is...is that true?" Mary Margaret stammers, staring at Blue like she's never seen her before. "I could have stayed with my daughter?"

"It was Geppetto's price for building the wardrobe," Blue confesses. "I tried to reason with him, but you have to understand how terrified everyone was about the incoming curse. And since that curse was only affecting them because of their loyalty to you, Snow White, well... can you blame anyone for wanting to spare their child as you did?"

"I didn't spare her!" Mary Margaret explodes. "She grew up alone, thinking no one wanted her! God knows what else she hasn't told us to protect our feelings, but-"

"Enough!" Emma shouts. "We're not doing this now." She feels the sweat on her palms, the taste of vomit rising in her throat. A hundred times since Henry walked back into her life, Emma has thought about the 'what if's and 'if only's. To find out that even more of them were so close and snatched away might just be the last straw, and she cannot afford to fall apart tonight.

She looks up, not at her parents or her friend, but at Henry. He peeks out from behind Regina's back with love and concern just radiating from him, and Emma feels her chest tighten in response. If that's an expected comfort, the sympathy she sees in looking at Regina's face is as fleeting as it is surprising. A moment later it's like Regina's permanent scowl never shifted, but Emma knows what she saw, and damned if it doesn't make the tight feeling pass, letting her take the necessary deep breath to keep going.

"Motherf...airy, or whatever," Emma says. "Thanks for the offer, but when it comes to Henry, I only trust Regina to do what's best for him. And we'd appreciate if you don't tell anyone about the change."

"People will speculate when Rumpelstiltskin's death is widely known," Blue warns.

"Can't we make a pact, now, to lie?" Regina suggests. "My mother told me that if Gold had died outside of Storybrooke, the magic would simply have boiled off into the ether. If we all agree to claim that happened, it will protect Henry from any power-grabbing, surely?"

"Why am I not surprised that deception is your first choice?" David mutters, throwing Regina a disgusted look. "Makes it easier for you to get your hands on the power, I suppose."

"You don't know the first thing about me, Charming," Regina spits. "Deception, like power, is only useful as a means to an end. It's not the goal."

"And I suppose you don't want power, either?" Ruby snorts.

"She doesn't," Mary Margaret answers in a terribly small voice. "What Regina wanted was vengeance. Power was only ever a way to get there."

A stunned silence settles over the room as Regina stares open-mouthed at Mary Margaret. Regina recovers quickly, but the tension in the room reduces, just a little.

Emma picks up the thread, before the fighting can start all over again.

"So, we lie? Tell everyone that Hook killed Gold, and nobody looks at Henry?"

"I don't like it," David grumbles. "Lies are always found out. Haven't we just proved that?"

"Isn't anybody going to ask me what I want?" Henry pipes up, stepping away from Regina and into the center of the room, roughly the same distance away from each adult. Emma feels for him in that moment, like an unfortunate reality show contestant, ready to be pulled one way or the other according to what other people want.

"Of course, Henry," Regina answers first, smiling at him as best she can, though Emma sees how weak the motion is. "But the fairy leaves. This is family business."

"Snow?" Blue asks, clearly annoyed at being put in her place by the Evil Queen.

"Regina's right," Mary Margaret replies, tilting her jaw upwards in that confident way she has now, the way that says she's used to speaking with absolute authority. "We'll let you know if we need anything else. But for now, just family."

"I'll go, too," Ruby offers, as Blue disappears from sight with a 'crack'. "I have a shift, anyway."

"Thanks, Ruby," Emma says, before anyone starts falling over themselves to start redefining family or whatever. "I'll be by in the morning to see Neal. See you then."

"What do you want, Henry?" Regina asks when the door closes behind Ruby.

"I want to know if I have magic or not," Henry answers after a moment. "Mom, I'm scared. If it's in me, like it's in you..."

"And in me, Henry," Emma reminds him, crossing the space to ruffle his hair. "You don't have to be scared, okay? Let's all take a seat. Regina?"

"I'm not sure how to do this, exactly," Regina admits. "But Henry, if anything hurts or doesn't feel right, just tell me. Right away, do you understand?"

He nods, and Regina sits on the sofa too, on Henry's opposite side. She takes his left hand, and Emma instinctively takes his right. David and Mary Margaret watch breathlessly from the armchairs, and Emma closes her eyes to block them out for the moment.

"Concentrate," Regina says softly, and Emma feels such a sudden sense of comfort that relaxes the tensed muscles in her shoulders and back. This voice, this care and tangible love, is what she wanted for the baby plucked from her arms by an impatient nurse all those years ago. This is better than any fairy, than anyone else who might possibly offer help to Henry; this is the only person who loves Henry more than Emma herself is learning to.

"Magic is about emotion," Regina continues, and Emma frowns at hearing those familiar words again. Henry wriggles a little on the sofa between them, though whether it's nerves or excitement Emma can't tell. "Henry, I want you to picture something that makes you feel safe. One of your favorite toys, or something you have with you here, whatever you first thought of when you heard the word 'safe', okay?"

"Okay," Henry murmurs, concentrating so hard Emma can hear him straining.

"You too, Emma," Regina mutters. "You need to be tested."

Emma starts at being addressed directly, and she feels her brain scrambling for anything that makes her think of safe. She skims through mental images of her gun, but dismisses it. Her car, for a second, because of all the freedom it offers, but neither feels right on a gut level. Eventually, as Henry sighs beside her, Emma seizes on the thought of her baby blanket, purple ribbon and all.

"You feel the tingling in your hands?" Regina whispers. "Like someone is tickling you, very gently?"

"Yeah," Emma and Henry whisper back.

"Now imagine your hands touching the thing you've thought of. Picture yourself reaching out, taking hold of it and pulling it close to you. Don't think of anything but that. Picture. It."

Emma feels the burning in her cheeks, the familiar embarrassment like she's being asked to write the answer on the board in front of the whole class, and she's pretty sure she doesn't know it. To fail in front of her parents is one thing, and Henry will understand if he can't do it either, but something about Regina's scrutiny puts the real chill down Emma's spine. She has to do this, she just has to.

Blanket. Blanket. Blanket she says to herself like a mantra, picturing the box in the bottom of her closet where it's not-so-neatly folded away. She knows seeing it again will provoke discussions she still doesn't feel ready for, especially with her father who hasn't had the benefit of giving her an Enchanted Forest 101 field trip like Mary Margaret has, but when it comes to safety it's not like Emma has much else to choose from.

Just as she's giving up, Emma feels the magic charge inside her, feels it as clearly as watching the battery meter on her phone suddenly climbing to full. She opens her eyes knowing she'll see the blanket there on the battered coffee table, and sure enough it is, wisps of purple smoke fading around it as she stares; she's aware of her parents looking on with silent pride, holding hands in the knowledge that their daughter can now perform the magic equivalent of 2+2.

Just as she turns to Henry there's a godalmighty crash and suddenly a twin bed has landed on top of the table, narrowly missing their shins in the process.

"What the-" Emma blurts, but Regina cuts off any storm of cursing.

"Henry!" Regina exclaims. "You did it!"

"You teleported your bed?" Emma asks.

"It's somewhere I feel safe," Henry says with a shrug. "I kind of miss it, really. I used to make the coolest blanket fort you've ever seen, Emma. See, you have to use-"

"That's enough, Henry," Regina says, patting him gently on the shoulder now that she's released his hand. She looks over his head at Emma, worry written all over her face. "We've confirmed you definitely do have magic ability now."

"What else can I do?" Henry asks, springing out of his seat and grabbing a scented candle from the windowsill once he pushes past his abandoned bed. Regina makes it disappear with a lazy flick of her wrist, smiling fondly as she does. No doubt it's back where it belongs.

"Henry, fire is too dangerous," Emma warns, but he screws up his face and stares at the wick until pop, the damn candle is lit. He blows it out and grins at his family.

"This is so cool!" He yelps, dashing back and forth in the living room, clutching at his hair as he tries to think of what to do next. Emma looks to Regina for instruction, finding her halfway out of her seat, biting her bottom lip as her eyes track Henry.

"Henry!" David snaps as Henry runs halfway up the stairs, only to throw himself back down. His eyes are tightly closed, and just as all four adults move towards his falling form, he hangs in the air a few inches off the ground, laughing when he realizes he can levitate.

Emma knows she should be in angry mom mode, but she can't help but smile at the joy on Henry's face, and for the first time since finding out she could, apparently blast magic portals into existence, Emma feels a little bit of hope about her own abilities. Is this, with Cora and Gold dead, and Regina seemingly calmed into behaving for Henry's sake, the peace they've all been desperately seeking since the curse broke?

One look at Regina suggests that no, unfortunately it isn't. She's practically vibrating with what has to be anger as she marches across the room and takes Henry's arm to put him back in a standing position, feet firmly on the floor. That's why Emma's so surprised to hear the same patient tone as before.

"Tell me, Henry," Regina says, crouching to address him face to face. "That book of yours, what would you say are the most common words, repeated in almost every story?"

"Uh, 'I will always find you'?" Henry replies, scratching his head for a moment. Regina looks away from him just long enough to glare at David and Mary Margaret.

"Try again," Regina urges.

"Oh," Henry realizes, because he's nothing if not a smart kid. "Is it 'magic always comes with a price'?"

"Maybe we can lighten up?" Emma suggests. "I mean, he is just a kid, Regina."

"Henry," Regina pleads, ignoring Emma. "Those words are very, very true. Every time you do magic, even the smallest or simplest spell, there's a cost. And that cost might not even be paid by you, but it will be collected."

"But how?" Henry asks. "Who's going to make me pay?"

"The world will," Regina explains. "It always does."

"It didn't stop you doing magic," Henry accuses. "You still do it now. What if it's only good magic? Or just things that are fun?"

"Sweetheart," Regina says, taking his hands in hers. "I promised you I would try to give up. And I'm still trying, every day. You don't ever want to end up like this, do you?"

"I guess not?" Henry answers. "But it's not exactly cool to suddenly have superpowers and then not be able to use them."

"Kid," Emma says, leaning over the couch to get a bit closer. "If there's one thing I've learned since the curse broke? There's gonna be chances to use magic. For good, or whatever. And in the meantime, just like getting your license or learning to swim, you have to find out how to be safe first."

"So basically we're gonna take something fun and make it really boring?" Henry sighs the question, and his grandparents laugh at the melodrama of it.

"That's life, Henry," David tells him. "It can't all be adventures all the time."

"And besides," Mary Margaret warns, lifting the dagger from the sofa in mock warning. "Any misbehavior and we can make you clean up after yourself."

Henry rolls his eyes, but Regina throws herself at Mary Margaret's raised arm, knocking the dagger flying across the floor.

"Don't. You. Dare," Regina spits, and her hand seems to act on autopilot when it grips Mary Margaret's throat. Emma freezes at the unexpected attack, but a few moments later as David attempts to pull Regina off his wife, Emma snaps back into action. It's just as well because it takes two of them, strong as they both are, to get Regina all the way off Mary Margaret.

"Mom?" Henry whimpers, his expression one of pure shock. Emma guesses from his horrified expression that it's one thing to read about the Evil Queen and another to see her in action.

"You will not threaten my son," Regina snaps, struggling against Emma and David's grip on each of her arms. "I won't let you control him with magic, I won't!"

"Jesus, Regina," Emma grunts. "Calm down!"

Regina might be kind of petite, but at the moment she's fighting like a caged tiger. Emma knows if she uses magic now there's no way they can hold on to her, and just as she thinks that, a surge of white light comes out of her fingers where she's clinging on to Regina's arm. Maybe it's the distraction, or something about Emma's magic is actually soothing, but Regina stares at the glow of it for a moment before relaxing.

"We can't do that to him," Regina says, her tone murderous but she's no longer trying to wriggle out of their hold on her. "He's just a little boy." Suddenly there's a choking sound, and Emma is stunned to see Regina dissolve into sobs.

"Oh, Regina," Mary Margaret is the first to react, and Emma looks at her now in open-mouthed shock. What kind of person responds to being choked with sympathy? "I didn't think."

"What didn't you think about?" David demands, letting go of Regina which allows Emma in turn to steer her back towards the sofa and let her sit down. Regina covers her face with her hands and continues to sob. Emma watches, hands hanging awkwardly at her side, until Henry comes over and kneels next to his mother, rubbing circles on her back like he's clearly comforted her before.

"Can I...?" Mary Margaret asks, but Regina only shrugs in between gasping sobs.

"What?" David insists, crossing his arms over his chest, stretching out his t-shirt a little more with the movement. He's the picture of distrust right now, and Emma thinks she might finally see the family resemblance.

"Regina's mother," Mary Margaret begins. "I didn't get to know her that well, really. But when Regina came to stay at the palace in preparation for the wedding... I guess I saw some things I wasn't supposed to see. I loved to sneak into Regina's rooms, you see. She had such beautiful, grown-up things and I wanted... anyway."

"You always did..." Regina's words are interrupted by a hiccuping sort of sob, her face still hidden and the sound of her voice muffled. "Like telling my," another sob. "Secrets," she finishes, and Mary Margaret flushes in shame.

"I thought all mothers loved their daughters," Mary Margaret continues. "So when I saw Cora doing magic on Regina, I just told myself it must be to help her. I thought... a mother has to love her daughter."

"She did!" Regina howls, wiping her tears and looking up at Mary Margaret in defiance. "She loved me. And she wanted what was best for me."

"We know now she didn't have her heart," Mary Margaret reminds her. "It wasn't your fault, Regina. She could never love you the way you deserved."

Emma sees the lunge coming this time, and gets in the way to hold Regina down. This time it only takes a firm hand on Regina's shoulder, and the fight in her just evaporates. It has been an especially long day.

"Nobody uses the dagger to control Henry," Emma says, her voice quiet but firm. She's kind of surprised at how sure she sounds, how adult. "But kid, no screwing around on us, okay? You're going to have to be the good kid we all know you are. We have to be able to trust you."

"Okay," Henry says, nodding sincerely before fighting back a yawn. Emma checks the clock on the wall and sees that it's already approaching nine. "I'm tired."

"I bet you are," Emma says, and Regina reacts to their conversation at last, reaching for Henry and pulling him into a hug. "You want to go to bed?"

"Can he come home?" Regina asks, voice cracking. Emma looks to her parents, at a loss for what the hell is best. She doesn't think a volatile Regina being left alone is particularly smart, that's for sure.

"Maybe not tonight," Mary Margaret suggest. "But if you wanted to stay here tonight, we'd have no objection."

"No objection?" Regina repeats with a sneer. But she looks down at Henry in her arms and relents, sighing so deeply it comes right from her toes. "I can just go home."

"Please stay, Mom," Henry insists, his voice muffled. "We can go home tomorrow."

Emma hears the words, but the stab of betrayal in them comes a moment later. She's not quite clutching at her chest like a bad actor might, but she suddenly understands the impulse.

What was she expecting? For Henry to be happy forever living on cereal and crashing in a shaky double bed with her? To put up with awkward shuffling around in search of privacy after ten years of living in an honest-to-God mansion? Emma is starting to get her head around this family thing, but she knows on a gut level which would win out for her, after years of crashing in horrible places just to have a bed for the night. And after everything that's happened in the past few days, Emma feels less qualified to be a mom than ever; why not give it up and let the one person who's actually qualified take the strain?

"You take my room, with Henry," Emma offers, moving towards the kitchen and grabbing the mini fire extinguisher from the wall. "Although you might want to take this up with you."

"If he sets anything on fire, I can put it out with magic," Regina reminds her, and Emma lowers the extinguisher to the ground, trying not to flush with embarrassment.

"Well, we did say safety first," Emma attempts to cover. "Let me grab some PJs and a pillow for the sofa first, okay?"

She leads them up the stairs, aware that her parents are already muttering between themselves, meaning Emma no doubt has another unpleasant talk awaiting her. She heads straight for her dresser, pulling sweatpants and a baseball shirt out to combat the chill that settles over the downstairs at night.

"The bathroom is there," Henry explains to Regina, pointing to the tiny ensuite in the corner. "Well, the real one is downstairs, sort of the opposite of our house."

"Thank you," Regina says, and Emma expects her to be talking to Henry, but when she looks up Regina's gaze is levelled at her.

"Need something to sleep in?" Emma offers, but Regina clicks her fingers and she's in dark blue silk, her clothes neatly folded on the room's solitary chair. "Okay, you're teaching me that one so I can sleep in later in the mornings."

"Just picture it," Regina reminds her. Emma closes her eyes, and this time the tingling happens instantly; when she opens her eyes she's wearing the pajamas that were in her hand. "The hard stuff comes later."

"Nice," Emma murmurs.

"Seductive, isn't it?" Regina asks, an eyebrow raised in what might be warning. "Henry, these things are fine while we're learning skills, and practicing control. But it's important to learn to only use magic when there's no other option."

"I'm gonna get my Hulk pajamas!" Henry whoops before either of them can say 'no'. Sure enough he summons the clothing from Regina's house with a simple closing of his eyes and a dramatic wiggling of his fingers. Regina just about manages to stop rolling her eyes as Emma catches her in the act.

"Goodnight," Emma says firmly, moving towards the door as Henry scoots under the blankets. Regina's joining him as Emma turns out the light, but all she can see is the expression that flickers over Henry's face. One moment he's her sweet and freakishly smart little boy, and the next there's a glimmer of... something. Something like metal and the shiver down the spine after a horror movie watched too late at night.

Emma shakes her head and closes the door behind her. She's letting all this magic stuff get into her head and that's not going to help anyone. Walking downstairs in careful strides, she reminds herself that the worst is probably already over.

She picks up the dagger from where Regina knocked it across the bare floorboards, and without anything more than a nod to David and Mary Margaret, who are mostly hiding their impatience, Emma crosses the room and locks it in the mini-safe she keeps in a cupboard above the refrigerator. She sets a new combination, and despite the love and assurances her parents have given her ever since the curse shattered, Emma puts her body in their line of sight to ensure she's the only one who knows it.

"Right," she sighs, pulling the orange juice out of the fridge and taking a healthy mouthful straight from the carton. "Let's have it."

"This isn't a permanent solution," Mary Margaret speaks up first. "And if there's any trouble at all with Regina, we will call in Blue again. I think it's important we agree on that now."

"Call her if you like," Emma says, accepting defeat. "But she couldn't do a damn thing to Regina the last time we jumped her with magic, so forgive me if I don't bet the house on the fairy, okay?"

"It's late," David groans, rubbing his big hands over his face, suddenly sounding like someone's dad. "Why don't we start this all over again in the morning? After Emma's seen Neal."

"Nobody called while I was upstairs?" Emma checks, as she makes her way to the sofa and drops her pillow on it. "The town hasn't developed, I don't know, sinkholes or something because of all the magic-doing?"

"All quiet," David assures her. "But we should take the rest while we can."

"Good idea," Emma says, pulling a blanket from the trunk in the corner. "Guys, this is going to be okay, isn't it?"

"Of course," Mary Margaret says, pulling Emma into a surprisingly strong hug. It hides Mary Margaret's face, but not soon enough to avoid Emma catching the hint of a lie.


It's come up in comments and PMs that Emma could just take Henry out of Storybrooke to negate any magic powers. Don't worry, this is a potential outcome our characters will have to deal with in coming chapters. Give Regina a break for noticing just yet, she just buried her mother!

As always, I really value your thoughts, questions and comments. It really inspires me to keep going and this story has a lot of telling still to be done!