Parent/Child incest. Don't like it, don't read it.
Neal's breath came in hiccupping gasps as he looked at the place where the older boy had stood. "H-Henry?" he stammered, peeking out of the bathroom to look around the corner. "Henry? Where did you go?" Silence greeted him, and his chin quivered. Slowly, he shuffled to the sink and brushed his teeth, then went to his room and changed into his pajamas, crawling into bed. "Henry?" he called again, his eyes welling up. "Henry, I brushed my teeth! I'll go to sleep like a good boy. Can you come back now?" At the continued stillness in the room, he wrapped his arms around his pillow and began to cry.
David pushed the door open when they got home, expecting to see Henry in the living room, but there was no sign of him. He looked at Snow quizzically, wondering if maybe he'd gotten tired and took to their room to sleep.
Hearing the door open, Neal called in a wavering, teary voice, "Henry?"
Snow shrugged curiously, about to speak when Neal's call reached her ears. Instantly concerned, she hurried up the stairs to her son's room. "Neal? What's the matter?"
Neal launched himself at his mother, sobbing into her chest, his words hopelessly garbled.
David was quick behind Snow. Kneeling down to look his son in the eyes, he gripped his arm. "Neal? What's wrong?"
Beginning to calm down at his parents' presence, and his mother's soothing touch, rubbing his back, Neal managed to gasp out, "He-Henry dis-sap-peared."
Snow's eyes widened in alarm as she looked at David.
"Kiddo, what do you mean he disappeared?" David asked, worried.
Neal looked down, biting his lip guiltily.
"Sweetheart, you need to tell us what happened," Snow gently urged.
"I-I got mad a-and I told him t-to go away," Neal admitted. "Then it was smoky and Henry was gone."
Looking between Snow and Neal, David said, "We need to get Gold or Regina here, now."
"Regina," Snow said, nodding, still rubbing Neal's back. "And Emma. Quickly."
Calling both his daughter and Regina, he didn't bother informing them of exactly what happened, needing them there quickly. Regina arrived first, by magic, of course.
"What happened?" she asked, her tone angry and scared.
"Neal got mad at Henry and told him to go away, and apparently, he did. With magic."
Regina followed David into Neal's room, needing to ask Neal questions.
Snow and Neal both looked up at their entrance, and the boy immediately started whimpering again. "I'm sorry, Aunty Regina, I didn't mean to!"
"Sweetie, I know. Things happen," she answered automatically, kneeling down to level her gaze to his. "Do you remember what you were thinking when you told him to go away?"
"I didn't wanna go to bed," Neal admitted softly. "I-I just wanted him to go away and let me watch cartoons. I don't remember anything else."
"Okay, sweetie. We'll find Henry," Regina reassured, pulling the young boy against her. "But... we'll need to get you working on your magic so things like this don't happen, again. Okay?"
Neal nodded quickly, hugging Regina tighter and whimpering, "I was scared. I was all alone."
"I know you were, sweetheart. But I'll figure it out, I promise. Nobody is mad at you, okay?" she said softly, reassuring Neal.
David pulled Neal from Regina's arms. "Let's let Aunty Regina go see if she can find out where Henry went to."
Neal nodded and cuddled up to his father, not caring that he was being passed from family member to family member, as he felt safe with all of them. "Okay," he said in a small voice.
Snow looked at Regina worriedly, asking, "Can you do that?"
"I'm going to try," Regina admitted. The doorbell interrupted them, and Regina assumed it was Emma. Still, she moved to the bathroom, trying to sense magic. Shutting her eyes, she relaxed and tried to reach out with her magic to find Henry, or something to connect with about him. She felt a pull from within herself, and that confused her. Anything that she had learned would be telling her to check her home for him, since what she was feeling was drawing her to herself, but she knew Henry wasn't home.
Emma stood in the doorway of the bathroom quietly, so as not to disturb Regina's concentration. When the other woman opened her eyes, she asked, "Anything?" David had filled her in on the situation, and she shifted anxiously on her feet.
Furrowing her brow in confusion, Regina shook her head. "I don't know. I feel... myself. I don't understand how, since he's obviously not at home. But somehow the only connection I'm drawing is leading me to... me."
"You mind if I try?" Emma asked, not sure what good it would do - she'd gained a lot of control over her magic over the years, but she still wasn't Regina-caliber.
Looking at her doubtfully, Regina shrugged. "Why not, it can't hurt." She stepped out of the bathroom to let Emma try her hand at attempting to find Henry.
Emma took a deep breath, closing her eyes and willing herself to feel the magic, feel where her son was. She automatically turned toward Regina, reaching out one hand. When her fingers brushed the other woman's, she gasped, rearing back and opened her eyes. "Oh my god!"
"What?" Regina asked, startled at Emma's tone. "What did you feel?"
"Not feel... saw," Emma corrected, grimacing. "I think... I think Henry's in the Enchanted Forest... before the curse."
"What? Why do you think that? What did you feel?" Regina fired the questions off quickly, needing to know exactly what Emma saw.
Emma bit her lip, looking past the other woman to where Snow, David, and Neal stood watching. Grabbing Regina's arm, she pulled the other woman into the bathroom and closed the door, lowering her voice. "Okay, here's the thing. I saw Henry... with you. Like, Evil Queen you."
Shaking her head, Regina's heart clenched. "No."
"You were having sex," Emma whispered, wincing.
Her body heaved, stomach clenching as she pushed Emma out of the way so she could sit on the edge of the tub near the toilet in case she did need to vomit. "I was... no...I wouldn't..." Regina couldn't finish her sentence; she knew that, as the Evil Queen, she would have gladly taken a consort Henry's age. A pet, as she had liked to call them.
"There was something about a pet?" Emma offered, hoping against hope that the word referred to a dog or a cat.
Emma's words had her bent over the toilet, emptying everything from her stomach into the bowl. When she was finished she sat up, tears pouring down her face. "I... we need to get him back here. Now," Regina said. "Right now."
Emma winced, and grabbed one of the colorful plastic cups by the sink, filling it with water and handing it to the other woman. "How?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the tub next to Regina and rubbing her back, not unlike the way Snow had with Neal.
Shaking her head, Regina confessed, "I don't know. But... that word, pet, that's probably as pleasant as you can imagine when being applied to a person. Please... please tell me he didn't agree? How much did you see?"
"I only saw the sex... the pet thing was more of an impression. Just a word that came to mind, you know?" Emma sighed deeply. "Wouldn't you remember this?"
"I'm sure... If it changes the course of things, the memories will show up, but there's too much going on right now. There's too much filling my head," she said. Taking a drink of water, Regina then set the cup down. She dropped her face into her hands, rubbing roughly at her forehead with her fingertips. "I... Emma, please don't tell your parents about this."
"I won't," Emma promised easily. It definitely wasn't something she'd want anyone else knowing if their positions were reversed. "And… if memories do show up... I won't judge you, okay? So if you need to talk..."
Nodding, Regina whispered, "I... how am I going to deal with memories of sleeping with our son. Emma, as... her, I took submissives, I trained them to be utterly subservient to me, dependent on my pleasure as if they needed it more than air. I made them mine, in every sense of the word. And, when I was done with them what I did with them after depended on how much I liked each one in particular."
Emma's eyes widened, and she hesitantly asked, "Best and worst case scenarios?"
"Best case... he'd be given a position within my castle and occasionally I would summon him to be a bed warmer. Worst?" Regina paused, biting her lip and grimacing. "Death."
"Okay. Yeah, let's get our son back," Emma nodded. "You gonna be okay?"
"Depends," she answered, shrugging. "We'll see how long it takes until I begin having memories of dominating Henry."
"Eugh," Emma cringed. "Let's... yeah, let's get working. Um... any idea how to start?"
Sighing, Regina twisted her lips to the side. "Research. We need to figure out time travel."
"You mean without the infant sacrifice? I thought there wasn't any other way?"
"Clearly there is!" she snapped. "Otherwise, how would Neal have gotten Henry there?"
Chewing on her lip and thinking about it, Emma suddenly asked, "Hey, do you think he could just... wish Henry back? David said he told Henry to go away and he poofed. Think it would work in reverse?"
"It's worth a shot. But I imagine he tried that," Regina answered, pushing her hair back away from her face. "He was here alone after he wished Henry away, I think in that time he would have wished him back. But we can go ask."
"Yeah..." Emma agreed slowly, frowning. She opened the bathroom door again, grimacing at the anxious faces looking back at her. "Hey, Neal," she forced herself to smile at her little brother. "Do you think you can answer some questions for me and Aunty Regina?"
Neal bit his lip, looking worried, but nodded, quietly replying, "Okay..."
Snow moved one hand to Neal's shoulder protectively, asking, "Emma, do you really think-"
The blonde cut her off with a harsh whisper. "We don't have a lot of options here. Neal is our best chance."
Regina ran her hand down Neal's arm, looking into his eyes. "Sweetheart... did you try to wish Henry back at all? Did you..." she grimaced, not wanting to show him just how bad things could be if Henry didn't get back to the future, and quickly. "Did you want him to come back?"
Neal's chin wobbled and tears filled his eyes as he nodded. "I promise I did, Aunty Regina. I-I was a good boy and got ready for bed like he wanted me to and I told him he could come back but he didn't and I tried to be brave, but I was scared and I really, really wanted Henry to come back, I promise!"
Emma winced in sympathy, knowing from experience how scary it was to a small child when they were alone at night.
"Neal, darling, don't cry. No one is upset with you; we're just trying to understand what happened, okay? Henry is somewhere really far away, and we need to get him back home. But we don't blame you, okay?" Regina reassured, running her fingers through the boy's hair.
Sniffling, Neal threw himself out of his father's arms, clinging to his favorite aunt and crying into her neck, more than an hour of fear and stress finding its way out of his trembling body.
Regina held Neal tightly, her heart breaking for him in his breakdown. She let herself lean against the wall and slide to the floor, uncharacteristic behavior for her usual appearance, but she didn't care to keep up appearances with him. "It'll be okay, darling. We'll get him back, okay?" she whispered to him, not knowing whom the words were meant to comfort.
"P-Promise?" Neal whimpered.
"I promise. I always keep my promises, right?" she asked, pulling him away slightly and touching the tip of his nose with her fingertip. "He'll be okay, we'll all be just fine."
Neal nodded, sniffling back his tears. "Okay."
Watching them, Snow leaned into David's side, wrapping her arms around him. She was scared for her grandson, of course, but watching Regina and Neal interact always warmed her heart.
Regina slid Neal out of her lap, pushing herself to stand and looking at the other adults around her. "I... I need to go and figure this out. I need to... I'll see you guys later." Regina said, running her fingers through Neal's hair again. Sighing softly and shaking her head, she turned and began to make her way out of their house.
"Regina!" Emma called, hurrying after her. "Hey... you okay?"
Regina turned and looked at the blonde, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head. With another heavy sigh, she said, "Why would I be okay? I'm... Henry..." Letting her words trail of, Regina's eyes brimmed with tears, but she wouldn't let them fall.
Emma stood helplessly for a moment. Battling dragons and ogres and crazy witches (both reformed and not) did not prepare her for a situation like this. Finally she just stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the other woman, hugging her tightly.
Regina stiffened for a moment, but allowed herself to relax, bringing her arms up and awkwardly hugging Emma back. Breaking the hug quickly, she stepped away and offered a tight smile. "I should go."
"Okay," Emma agreed softly. "But seriously, Regina, call me if you need anything. Like I said, I won't judge."
"If I need anything, I will call you," she assured the blonde, nodding curtly and walking away. All she wanted to do was go home, sleep and wake up to find out this was a nightmare.