Chapter Two

Henry's Birthmother

Past

The Evil Queen reluctantly strutted out of her heart vault and into the bedroom of her large palace, slightly unsure of what to make of what had occurred just a moment before between her and her mother. Not an hour ago, she had believed her mother to be dead. And now she wasn't. Instead, she was now helping her to enact her revenge against Snow White.

Regina could barely believe any of this was happening.

Loosening her shawl and slipping it off, Cora followed behind her, looking around at her familiar settings. The dark palace looked much as it did the last time she had seen it, gloomy and formal, with stone everywhere. Hopefully, this time, things between Cora and Regina would go a little more smoothly than the last time.

She could still hear the echo of Regina's last words to her… "I don't need you."

Out of the corner of her eye, Cora could see a small, blading man with white hair standing at the roaring fireplace. She immediately recognized her husband, Henry.

"Have you made peace with your mother's death, my love?" Henry asked, turning around towards his daughter, unaware that Cora was with her. His face turned pale white and his eyes widened when he finally noticed her. "C-Cora?"

"Yes, Henry, it is me. I am not dead," she brushed him off. He had been of no use to her when they were married, and even so now he was probably useless to Regina. Her husband always was a weakling. He never had the ambition or skill that his father, King Xavier, did, Cora thought, as much as she didn't like him. Cora was confident that Henry would do nothing but get in the way.

"B-but how?" He trembled, terrified. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. Years of torment and abuse from Cora while they were married had caused him that. Cora had been brutal to him, and it certainly showed.

Regina sympathized for her father. He truly was scared of her.

"I am afraid there is no time to explain it. You wouldn't understand." Cora looked away from him, acting as if he was an unknowing young child, "If you don't mind, we have work to do." She signaled for him to depart from the room.

He did so, without question. They both watched him leave.

"Mother," Regina said, turning towards Cora, "you should really be more nice to him." She was afraid to protest too much. She didn't want to ruin her reunion with her mother.

"I am sorry, my dear, if you disapprove of the way I treat your father. I don't see him the way you do. Him and I, we have a different kind of relationship." Cora smiled at her daughter and stepped forward. She ran her fingers through Regina's silken hair and looked into her eyes. "There is something you should understand, my love. Men, well, they are good for a time. They're easily manipulated - easily used by a strong woman. You're father is weak. He needs a strong, dominate woman in his life like you and I to use him. But I am sure you already know that."

Unfortunately, Regina was well aware of how weak her father was. She often used him and mistreated him, as much as she didn't like to admit it. She was ashamed of it because she knew that's just what her mother had done to him.

In fact, she was ashamed of how she had treated both her parents. The last time she had seen her mother, she had told her to get the hell out of her life. To go away and never come back, even after she had tried to help her. When her mother did leave, and go back to Wonderland, she had realized how much she had missed her. It had proved to her that she loved her mother, even after everything, and that she needed her.

"Mother…" Regina uttered as Cora walked over to the balcony of the room, to survey the kingdom.

"Yes?" she replied, turning around towards her daughter, "What is it?"

Regina stepped towards her, with her head down.

"I am sorry the way I spoke to you the last time you were here. When you visited on the anniversary of Daniel's death. I.. I…" she stuttered to Cora. She really did feel terrible about it.

Cora stepped forward and interrupted her daughter. "There is no need to say anymore," she reassured, "It's alright, love. We all say things we don't mean." She took her daughter by her shoulders, "I don't blame you. I should never have made you marry the king, I should never have killed Daniel, and I never should've lied to you about that man. For that I am so sorry."

Regina smiled at her mother's words.

She desperately wanted to believe they were true.

Present

Henry had been missing the entire day. After going outside to wait for the bus, Regina hadn't seen him again and apparently no one else had either. Neither Regina or Cora had suspected anything was wrong until Henry didn't show up at the mayor's office for the weekly dinner he had with the two them after his therapy session. And after furiously calling up both Dr. Hopper and Ms. Blanchard, it was revealed that Henry had skipped both school and his therapy appointment telling both that he wouldn't be able to make it because he was sick. Regina quickly called the sheriff and demanded that a missing persons report be filed - despite it not being 24 hours since the last time anyone had seen. Since she was the mayor, however, she was able to use her position to have one filed.

And so, Regina and Cora waited for any news of Henry in the living room of their home. Regina had wanted to go search Storybrooke herself - it was her town, after all - though Cora had convinced her it would be best to wait in case he came home.

"You want to be here in case he comes back to the house, don't you love?"

They were interrupted by the ring of the doorbell, followed by a knock from the entrance hall. Suddenly, the front door of the great house clicked open and boots tapped against the ground.

"Henry?"

Regina rushed from the living room followed by her mother, though stopped dead in her tracks when it was revealed to only be Sheriff Graham.

"I have good news," the handsome man said, walking towards the two ladies, "Dr. Hopper just called. Henry's been found and he's with some blonde woman he claims to be his birth mother."

Regina let out a relieved "Oh, thank god!" before her face turned blank. Henry's birth mother?

How could this be? How could she have found him? The records were sealed per her request. That meant no contact whatsoever for both parties. It was a law-binding agreement. Why would she want to find him now?

Cora, on the other hand, was thinking something entirely different. As much as she was glad to have found her grandson, she couldn't have been less happier that his birth mother was in town because it meant one thing: the savior who was destined to break the curse was here. Snow White and Prince Charming's baby, just as Rumplestiltskin had said after 28 years, was in town to break the curse.

Regina, however, did not know this. When she had first adopted Henry, she had had the birth mother's background investigated, at Cora's suggestion, and discovered that Henry's birth mother had been found as a baby, abandoned, in the woods, not far from where Storybrooke was. Henry's mother was the savior who was supposed to break the curse. Regina, insisting that her love for the child was so great she could not give him up, had drank a forgetting potion and had also given Cora one as well, though she hadn't drank it.

She was glad she hadn't now, for she never would've been able to see this coming.

They were interrupted again by the sound of a car parking in front of the house. They could see a yellow bug parked outside from the windows, and Henry Mills walking up the driveway, followed by a blonde woman in a red jacket. Regina, Graham and Cora hurried outside to greet them.

"Henry!" Regina called as she ran down the driveway, open arms, towards her son.

"Get away from me! I found my real mother!" Henry spat as he quickly unraveled himself from his mother's hug and ran up to the house, passing by Cora and Graham who remained behind on the porch.

A sad expression fell over Regina's face at the words of her son. Her heart sank at what he said. He didn't realize how much it hurt her…

She looked up at the blonde woman standing on her driveway. She was a pretty woman, with luscious blonde locks of hair that flowed over her shoulders and a beautiful face. She wore a red, leather jacket, jeans and a plain shirt. Her hands were in her pockets.

She gave off a very unmannered impression to Regina.

"Thank you," Regina managed, offering a weak smile.

"Don't mention it."

"So you're Henry's birthmother?" the brunette asked.

"Hi…" the blonde girl responded, attempting to avoid the already present awkwardness of the situation, "my name's Emma… Emma Swan."

Regina ran her fingers through her dark hair. "Regina Mills."

Cora had eyed this delicate situation quietly from her position with the sheriff on the porch, trying to make what she could of Henry's birth mother, the savior. She didn't look like much of a savior, with her cheap clothes and yellow bug. However, Cora needed to get a better reading of the girl.

"Miss Swan," the elder woman called out to the girl, "Why don't you come inside and have a glass of my daughter's famous apple cider." She smiled warmly at the girl. What better way to find out just who this person was than by asking her. And as the famous saying goes: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

"And you're Henry's grandmother?" Emma Swan asked as she sat down on a plush, cream colored couch.

After accepting their offer to come inside, Emma had followed Cora and Regina through the entrance hall of the Mills residence and to the adjoining library, where the promised liquid rested. Sheriff Graham, deciding to leave the ladies to it, had gone upstairs to check in on Henry.

"That I am," Cora grinned at the young girl as she walked over to a large, wooden buffet that stood against a patterned wall, where a tall glass bottle and several small cup sat. She reached for a glass and poured the liquid from the bottle into it.

"He's a pretty special kid," Emma thought aloud.

"Indeed, he is," the elder lady agreed as she offered a glass of apple cider to the lady. Emma Swan eagerly accepted.

"How exactly did you find my son, Miss Swan," Regina questioned. She had taken a seat directly across from Emma in a leather armchair near the roaring fireplace. She looked at the blonde girl suspiciously.

"Uh, I didn't…" the blonde responded, much to the confusion of the other women, "he found me. I heard a knock at my apartment door, and then BOOM, there he was at my front door. He walked right in and told me that I was his mother, and that I needed to come back with him to town." She took a sip of her drink. "How did he find me?"

The two other women looked at one another, and then back at the blonde sitting across from them.

"No idea," Regina started, "the records were sealed away. I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact."

"You were told right," Emma said, gently nodding her head.

"And the father?" Regina interrupted, "Do we need to be worried about him?" She looked at the blonde sternly, her eyes staring into the girl's.

She already didn't like this girl.

"Nope. Doesn't even know he has a kid."

"Good… And what about you, Ms. Swan? Do I need to worry about you?" Regina asked bluntly, as if a soldier ready to attack. Her mother interrupted her from her stance near the fireplace.

"Regina," Cora said heartily, laying her hand reassuringly on her daughter's shoulder, "I am sure Miss Swan has had a long night. We should let her go." She looked at the blonde, who nodded with approval - her mouth full of the delicious apple cider.

"Yes!" Emma said, standing up, "I really should be off. It's about a two hour drive back to Boston."

"Other than being a tired little boy, Henry is fine," Sheriff Graham reassured as he walked down the steps of the staircase towards the two Mills ladies.

Emma Swan had just pulled away in her yellow bug when he did so, much to the relief of Regina.

"Thank you, Sheriff," Regina said, going up to kiss him on the cheek, however she suddenly refrained and instead awkwardly hugged him. She walked him to the door and let him out.

She turned to the sight of her mother, arms-crossed, one of her finely penciled eyebrows arched liked a boomerang. "Still having an affair with that man, I see."

"That's none of your business, mother," Regina said as she walked past Cora and into the dining room, where she poured herself a glass of scotch. She took a gulp, and let out a sigh. "I don't need your approval of who I am with."

Her son had just been found after having secretly traveled to Boston to find a complete stranger, yet her mother still found now an appropriate time to criticize her.

"I didn't say I disapproved," she said, stepping calmly towards her daughter, "It's a smart move, my dear, having the sheriff under your influence. You always want them eating out of the palm of your hands. That's how you really dominate them, my dear, and then you can have them doing whatever you want." She smiled at her daughter approvingly.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, mother."

The elder lady stared silently at her daughter for a moment, watching her drink the glass of liquid. Cora eyed her closely. She could see the worry in Regina's face. It was a look of concern. Concerned that she might lose her child, Henry. Her daughter was clearly worried that Emma Swan was going to try and take her child away.

It was the same look Cora had had when she had first had Regina, after breaking her deal with Rumplestiltskin. She had been in a fear-like state for many months, worried that the Dark One would take her child from her. Regina looked so very much like the elder woman's younger self.

People had always said that Regina resembled a young Cora.

In that moment, Cora came very close to telling her daughter about who Emma Swan really was: the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Telling her that Emma was the savior, who it had been said would break the curse in 28 years. That she could destroy everything they had built.

But Cora didn't. She decided to spare her child that horror. Cora Mills would deal with Emma Swan, and her daughter wouldn't need to know a thing.