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Regina awoke to the weight of a small arm wrapped around her body. She opened her eyes and was confused to find she wasn't in her bed and when she shifted to see the owner of the arm draped across her she was surprised to find her son curled up next to her. Her heart melted at the sight of him and she found herself wanting to hold on to him and never let go.

How did she get here?

The last thing she remembered was climbing into James' truck. The memories of the night before came crashing down around her and she felt as if her heart was breaking all over again. She had killed Daniel.

Her eyes began to tear again and she blinked rapidly to keep herself from crying more. She didn't want Henry to see her upset. She looked back down to her beautiful little boy and her heart swelled with love for him. She shifted and after some maneuvering she was able to put her arms around him. He grunted a little at the movement, but settled back down and laid his head on her chest. It had been so long since he had let her hold him and it felt so good to have him in her arms again.

She had always wanted children. Her and Daniel had planned for a houseful. She had dreamed of a happy home full of love and laughter. It would be different then how she had grown up. She would show her kids everyday how much she loved them and she would always let them know she was proud of them.

She never wanted her children to feel desperate for her approval the way she had always felt with her mother.

She stroked her sons hair as she asked herself if she had been the kind of mother she had wanted to be to him.

If she was honest with herself the answer was no. She was always pushing him to do better, be better. Had she ever just told him how proud she was that he was her son? Did she tell him often enough that she loved him more then anything in this world? How often did she just sit down and laugh with him? She had wanted a houseful of fun and laughter for her kids, but had she given that to Henry?

Had she become her mother?

Of course they had their fun times, Christmases and birthdays. The board games they would play together and their weekly movie nights, but when was the last time she had done something spontaneous with him or just talked to him about his life and listen to him tell her about the things that were important to him.

She felt a small pang of regret. She wanted to change all of that and hoped that he would let her. She wanted him to have the mom she had always wanted to be to him and not the closed off woman that she had become. She had reasoned that she should never let people see the person she really was on the inside because no one ever loved that person. Except Daniel.

She pushed the thought of him out of her mind. She wanted to enjoy this moment with her little boy.

She felt her heart drop a little as the boy started to stir. She wasn't ready to let go of him. Instead of pulling away like she thought he would he just shifted his head to look up at her.

She smiled down at him. "Good morning sweetheart" she said it brightly.

"Hi Mom" his voice was still rough from sleep.

He rubbed his eyes to clear them and that was when he once again saw the bruising on her neck. The sight still scared him. He didn't like to thing about how close he may have come to loosing his mother.

He thought maybe he should get up. Wasn't he a little old to be held by his mommy? The need to be a grown up and the need to feel his mom's arms around him had a small war going on inside him. In the end he decided to stay where he was….for her. She had a rough night and probably needed to hold him for a while. The fact that the sound of her heart had such a calming affect on him and that her arms felt so good around him were just side benefits.

Regina watched him while he seemed to be deep in thought and wondered what he was thinking about. She smiled a little as he snuggled closer and she pulled her arms tighter around him. Regina was thrilled he didn't want to get up right away. They laid in silence for a while before Henry finally spoke again.

"Mom"

"Hmm"

"Who was that man last night?" He asked as he looked back up at her.

She looked down at him a little sadly and told him, "His name was Daniel."

"How did you know him?" He asked.

Regina began to stroke his hair and smiled sadly when she said "He was my true love. He died several years ago, but was brought back by a form of magic used by Dr Whale."

Henry's eyes widened a bit. The Evil Queen had a true love? His book had never said anything about that.

Henry's eyes narrowed and he brought his hand up to gently touch her neck. "If he was your true love then why did he do this?"

Regina sighed, she should have known her inquisitive son would want an explanation for last night. "When he was brought back he wasn't himself anymore but had been turned into a monster. He was in a lot of pain and didn't recognize me at first."

"Did he ever realize who you were?"

A tear rolled down her cheek. "He did, for a moment. There was one moment I thought he might come back to me, but he was in so much pain, he begged me to end it." She started to rub Henry's back. "There is something else I have to tell you Henry…I….I used magic last night. Daniel needed my help and it was the only way I knew to help him. I'm sorry."

Henry lightly shook his head while continuing to rest his chin on her chest. "It's ok. At least you used it to help him." He turned to lay his head back down to where she could no longer see his face.

They continued to lay in silence for a moment before she heard a muffled sob come from her son.

"Henry, what is it?"

"I was just so scared last night. First when he showed up at the stables and grabbed me and then when James walked out of there without you. I was so mad at him for leaving you alone, but he just kept saying he wanted me away from there and that he was coming back for you." Henry said through another sob. "All I could think about were all the mean things I said to you about being the Evil Queen and I couldn't even remember the last time I told you that I love you. I'm so sorry mom! Can you ever forgive me?"

Regina had begun to cry with her son, and she finally moved to sit up and brought him with her. She adjusted him so he was on her lap and she took his face in her hands. "Henry, of course I forgive you, but you really have nothing to be sorry for. You were angry with me because I had lied to you for so long. I wasn't the mother I wanted to be to you and I'm sorry for that. Can you forgive me?"

Henry nodded and buried his face in his mother's neck. She hugged him tight both of them softly crying in each other's arms.

Henry pulled back and looked at her face again. "You weren't a bad mom you know, actually you're a pretty good one except for the whole curse thing . I've missed you so much." Regina sobbed at that and pulled him back to her. He kissed her cheek and whispered "I love you mom."

Regina thought her heart would simply burst with love for him. "I love you too my sweet baby boy."

Henry pulled back and now had a lopsided grin on his face. "You know I'm not a baby anymore right?"

Regina grinned back through her tears as she told him "You will always be my baby."

"Yeah, yeah" He rolled his eyes and Regina gave a genuine laugh. His face went serious again as he looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry about Daniel."

Regina kissed his cheek as she said "Me too."

"Maybe sometime you can tell me about him….like how you guys fell in love and everything." He looked at her a little unsure if might be to painful for her to ever talk about, but she just smiled at him.

"I would like that." She found herself looking forward to it. She had never had anyone she could tell about him and found that she wanted to share that part of herself with her son.

"Mom?" Regina looked up not sure how many more serious questions she could take this early in the morning.

"Yes Henry."

"I'm starving! Do you think you could fix me breakfast? Cooking is not one of Gramps' strengths and I'm getting tired of burnt eggs."

As if on queue they heard a loud crash from the kitchen which sent them both into fits of laughter.

Regina kissed her son on the forehead and said with a wide smile "I'll do what I can."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Regina and Henry came out of the bedroom hand in hand. She was amused to find James standing in the kitchen looking very much out of his element.

Henry ran to the counter and happily announced his mom was making breakfast.

James looked up at her then. He could see she had been crying but she looked much lighter. Like some of the weight had been lifted off her shoulders. He was glad to see it.

"You don't have to do that Regina, I was just going to fry up some eggs." he said lightly.

She smirked at him "On the contrary James it's my understanding that the last time you cooked you nearly burnt the place down. I think I will make breakfast this morning just to avoid any hazards."

He eyed Henry and grabbed the boy up in a head lock. "You weren't supposed to tell anybody about that!" He said referring to the small grease fire he had stared a few days before.

Henry just laughed and said "I wanted to actually be able to eat my breakfast this morning and I knew telling her would convince her to cook for us."

Henry laughed even harder when James picked him up and turned him upside down holding him by his legs. James turned to face Regina who realized she had been grinning like a fool and said "Let us get out of your way."

Regina moved into the kitchen to see what they had in the cabinets that she could make and asked "How about pancakes and bacon?" which was met with cheers from both Henry and James.

She hated to admit that she liked the way they were together. Their playful banter and just all around easiness they seemed to have with one another was refreshing. She found herself wondering what Daniel would have been like with Henry.

She pushed the thought away again. She didn't want to interrupt Henry's happy giggles by becoming a sobbing mess on the floor again.

She finished breakfast quickly and called them both back to the kitchen. As they sat down at the table James said "This looks great. I gotta admit I was starting to get a little tired of my cooking."

"Me too!" Henry groaned loudly causing both James and Regina to laugh. "Mom makes the best pancakes in the world! They are even better then the ones at Granny's."

James took a large bite and nodded in a agreement.

They ate in companionable silence for a while. James and Henry making quick work of theirs.

Henry looked up at Regina, "Mom, can I stay with you today?" Regina's face lit up that he would want to spend more time with her and she looked at James for confirmation that it was ok with him. He simply nodded his agreement and Regina answered "Of course."

"I could pick him up after dinner if that works for you." James told her.

Regina looked at him for a moment remembering how kind he had been to her the night before and she answered. "You could, or you could come for dinner if you like, since you have grown tired of your own cooking."

He looked at her for a moment understanding this was her offer of a treaty of sorts then smiled and accepted her invitation.

She looked back at Henry and told him he needed to go get dressed if he was going to come with her. He jumped up and ran from the table.

She sat in silence for a few moments before she finally spoke. "James, I want to thank you for what you did for me last night. It was very sweet especially considering how you feel about me."

"You're welcome" he searched her face for a moment and she found herself feeling self conscious under his intense gaze. "How are you?"

She gave a small smile "Better, especially after waking up with my son this morning. It was exactly what I needed."

"I thought it might be." He grabbed another pancake off the stack and she wondered how on earth one person could possibly put away so much food. As if in answer to her thought he said "Thanks for breakfast. Henry was right, best pancakes I've ever had." He grinned at her "So what's for dinner?"

Hope you all enjoyed! Please review and I'm open to suggestions on what you would like to see happen :)