"You've been awfully quiet since we got home, sweetheart," she whispered, her hand running soothingly through his damp hair, mentally noting that he would soon be in need of a haircut as she brought the long strands away from his head with her fingers before letting them fall back to cover his forehead naturally and he wasn't asleep for he was still playing with the fingers of her free hand, bending the digits before straightening them out slowly. Just the contact made her heart sing but the way he sighed heavily against her chest, allowed his head to fall a little heavier into her did nothing to soothe her worry. He'd been nothing but happy since he'd come home with Robin the previous night and during their breakfast but Ruby had asked to speak with him just before they'd left, had wrapped him in a tight hug before sending him back to say goodbye to Robin and it was as though his emotions had flipped around completely.

"I thought she wanted me…" he replied softly, his voice so small as he nuzzled a little further under her chin, the legs he had over hers on the bed curling a little tighter, bringing her a closer to him even with her practically wrapped around his body already, soothing him in the only way she could in that moment.

"Oh Henry…" her heart stuttered painfully within her chest, her own eyes pricking with tears as she felt him begin to shake against her, making her wonder just how long he'd held this within him. She extracted her hand from his hold only to bring it around his waist, shifting herself onto her side in order to allow him to bury his face against her chest as he cried, the angle a little awkward with the legs he still had tucked over hers but she held him tightly to her just the same, pressing tender kisses to every part of him that she could reach as she allowed him to take all that he needed from her. Her precious little boy - she wouldn't make fake promises, wouldn't tell him that someday Emma would miraculously get her act together and sort her life out, Regina didn't know if his birth mother ever could, she hoped, for Henry's sake, that it was possible but she wouldn't give him false hope, not ever.

He remained so very tight against her even long moments later when his tears had subsided, when his frame had stilled once more and he sucked in hiccupped breaths, rubbing the silken material of her shirt between his thumb and index finger for nothing other than comfort as mother and son breathed against one another.

"You used to do that when you were a little boy," she commented after a long moment of basking in the memory, smiling against the top of his head as she rested her cheek there, one hand holding his head in place with a thumb arching a soothing line from his temple and into his hair as the other remained around his waist. "Really?" he asked and she couldn't help but laugh at his curiosity, his throat still a little tight with his anguish and that won't do, so she shifted a little further down the bed, laying her head on his pillow and encouraging him to do the same with gentle hands on his arms pulling him up, helping him as he moved and running her eyes over his face with an affectionate smile when he settled opposite her, rubbing his head into his pillow with red-rimmed eyes that had her heart clenching and her smile growing sad. "You had your own special shirt ready for any time I couldn't be with you to sing you to sleep at night". She was glad when he let out a little breath of laughter, encouraging her to continue with crinkled eyes as she asked him "and do you know what you said when I asked why you liked it so much? Why you couldn't possibly sleep without it?"

He raised his eyebrows a little in an expression of thought, eyes glazed and unfocused as he disappeared into his mind, attempting to form some sort of recollection whilst she watched him, her smile never fading and her patience never dwindling. After a long moment, he shook his head and asked her "what did I say?" recognising the way her features tightened, the way she rolled her lips into her mouth for a moment and her eyes grew glossy as she exhaled a shaky breath and inhaled one just as shuddered, she was trying not to cry and though he hated to see his mother cry, he knew that there was no sadness in it.

"You told me," her throat had grown thick with the emotions that came when she allowed herself to feel the absolute strength of love and fierce affection she held for her boy, "that it smelled like me and that you liked the way I smell," and a tear slipped free then, had his brow furrowing as he brought a hand up to her cheek to wipe it away just as she always would for him, remembering somewhat as he finished for her "because that's what Mama's smell like."


He'd fallen asleep not too long after their conversation, his face buried in the warmth of her chest and arms so tight around her that she'd worried she'd never break free without waking him, not that she particularly wanted to, in reality she believed that she could quite easily remain in her child's embrace for the remainder of her life so long as he didn't grow up and out of cuddles from his mother. She had moved, eventually, after taking a few long moments to just stroke gentle fingers through his hair and watch him inhaling and exhaling, his eyelids flickering subtly as he dreamed and she'd enjoyed the very sight of him in his bed, safe, sound and warm in both his bed and the perimeter of her love.

She made her way downstairs, padding across the cold marble floor of the hallway to the kitchen to pour herself a small glass of rioja before padding her way over to the fridge, standing in the light of the refrigerator, shifting her weight onto one foot as she leaned tiredly against the open door and perused the contents without looking at anything in particular. Her mind was elsewhere, the only elsewhere it had really been since the previous night when those two lights had blinked through the darkness of night and that car had pulled up outside of her house, his car.

She'd barely been able to move from the couch Graham had practically forced her onto for fear that she was going to wear a hole in her own floor with her pacing, "the right people have been told Regina," he'd attempted to comfort her, "they'll find him." It had done nothing to calm her, not one single thing that he'd tried had, the only thing that could and did was having Henry back in her arms.

In her relief at having her son back within her embrace, at knowing that he was safe and hadn't been running away from her, she'd practically ignored Robin until the moment she'd sent her son inside to get warm and into his pyjamas. When she had noticed him though, had pulled herself up to full height and actually looked at him, well, then she'd most certainly noticed him.

She'd watched him as he'd stepped into her home, his arms swinging aimlessly by his side as he'd remained only in the foyer, intimidated by the place it seemed and it was one of the things she both loved and hated about the mansion. It gave her almost as much power as her title within the town, it helped when dealing with the more difficult members of the town council, the likes of Albert Spencer and Adrian Gold but in times like these, with a man such as Robin in her home looking so very apprehensive and somewhat afraid of the place, of her possibly, these were the times in which she hated it, wished she was nothing more than the restaurant owner she'd wanted to be as a young girl.

He'd accepted a drink easily enough though, had toed off his boots by the door sheepishly even with her insisting he didn't have to, manners had him still removing them as she chuckled and asked him to follow her through to the living room.

She'd settled him on one of the couches, and had asked, flushing gently as she did, if he would mind terribly if she just ran and changed out of her dress quickly, having been in it for the better part of a day and in need of relaxation after all that had gone on. He'd laughed at her expression of guilt at having to leave him for the few minutes it would take for her to change, had told her to go ahead, that he'd be happy to wait for her. She hadn't been long, just long enough to change, give herself a little freshen up (because the man in her living room was rather attractive…more than rather but she'd only just met him!) and checked in with Henry, telling him that he was free to join them for a little while if he wished. She'd been relieved when he'd nodded without hesitance and told her he'd be down shortly.

She'd returned to find Robin looking over her collection of DVD's with great interest, most of them Henry's, his whiskey tumbler held firmly in his grip, resting just above his stomach as his lips quirked at what he found. She cleared her throat after watching him for a moment, glad when her appearance didn't have him floundering to sit as though he'd never moved. "A fair bit of Disney I see," he'd deduced with a smile, moving to settle back on the couch opposite hers with a quirk of his head as she laughed softly.

"Now I could lie at this point and blame the collection on my son," she'd revelled in his chuckle, warm and rich with the dim light of the room dancing in the baby blues focused completely on hers, "but I have to hold my hands up and admit that I do love a good classic."

"Your favourite?" he'd asked with genuine interest that both surprised and pleased her, there were very few she allowed into her private life for the very reason that the person she became, the mother and woman she truly was, that was saved for her son and, apparently now, Robin. To others she was the hard-faced Mayor, fiercely protective mother and somewhat emotionally cold when it came to friendships or anything more. There had been many speculations that she and Graham were something of an item but she'd studiously ignored those claims and encouraged the Sheriff to do the same.

Her answer was almost instant, her smile wide as she'd told him "The Little Mermaid."

His eyebrows raised at that as he asked "not Snow White then?"

And she'd scoffed at that, looked practically affronted as she'd told him "God no!" and when he laughed, she continued "that girl was an absolute idiot! The poster child for stranger danger," and when his laughter only grew louder, his attention turning to Henry as he walked into the room, his own smile in place, before he was looking back to Regina, still laughing when she herself looked to her son and asked, "would you accept food off of a perfect stranger?" giving a smug smile at his answer of "no," his face a perfect expression that read duh!? "You see," she'd looked back to Robin, shifting as Henry climbed into her lap with arms wrapping loosely around her neck, his temple coming to rest against the top of her head with the way he was situated on her leg and there was something that flashed in Robin's eyes at that, something like longing that she noted though did not ask about, only allowing him the moment to look without judgement before he was smiling once more.

"I see you've been raised well lad," he'd commented, his smile widening at the look of adoration on Regina's face when Henry nodded with a wide grin.

They'd made small talk after that until she'd been sending Henry up and off to bed, whispering her plan for a Granny's breakfast the next morning in his ear and revelling in his excitement before sending him off with a kiss that he returned to her cheek. They'd continued talking after that, talking and drinking and laughing. Something Regina hadn't really done (except with her son) for a very long time. It was nice, it was refreshing and, she thought as she leaned over the kitchen island with her thumb swiping at the screen of her phone, scrolling through her contact list, all business numbers save for Henry's school teacher, his Doctor, his babysitter (and her friend, Kathryn) and, now, Robin.

"Just in case Granny's is closed…"she'd told him when he'd made a move to leave, both of them a little buzzed from the cider she'd pulled out for them to soothe the burn of the whiskey, a poor excuse to have him give her his number in return but he had with ease and with a warm smile that had made her tingle, those dimples something of a weakness that she'd never known she had.

She lingered over the number, hesitating for just a moment before throwing caution to the wind (because she never did that) and tapping the speech icon, typing out a quick message attempting to sound at least a little indifferent to the answer (knowing he'd see straight through it):

Have you given any more thought to the job? – R

She allowed herself to feel only a small amount of shame in the fact that she spent 5 more minutes deliberating whether or not to type a kiss at the end, just one simple x that held so much weight in her mind. She left it off though as she pressed send, nerves churning within her stomach as she placed the phone back upon the granite countertop and waited like some kind of schoolgirl awaiting a response from her crush. I've only just met the man!

She heaved a deep sigh and grabbed at the phone still blank, taking her wine glass into the other hand and padding her way into the living room once more, so very set on succumbing to one of her guilty pleasures on the sofa and letting her day just drift away from her.

Opening the door and stepping into the living room, she shivered a little, a chill in the room that had her frowning gently and setting her phone down onto the coffee table before moving to light a fire. She loved nights like these, when she could kick off her heels and just allow her Mayoral mask to fall away from her. Often she'd allow Henry to stay up a little later to watch a movie with her, knowing full well that he'd be heavy and sleepy against her long before the credits rolled. She'd wrap an arm around him, allow him to fall asleep with his head in her lap and her gentle fingers in his hair before she'd carefully extract herself from him and lift him into her arms. She loved the way he'd lay his head on her shoulder and arms around her neck, keep himself in place with legs wrapped around her waist and mumble sleep talk in her ear as she'd carry him up to bed. He was getting a little too big for that now though, had her groaning quietly on those nights when she'd lift him, an ache settling in her heart when she realised that soon she'd be unable to lift him at all.

She shook away such thoughts though as she stoked at the flames, smiling at the warmth of the fire as she straightened out and moved over to her DVD collection, fingers skimming across the titles before falling upon just what she needed right now – a romantic comedy and an old one at that. It was one of the very few that Henry refused to watch with her. "It's boring Mom!" he'd complain when she'd dare to suggest it and she'd tell him that some things didn't have to be filled with slap stick falls and obvious humour, that sometimes the subtle, plot driven movies were the best. He'd disagreed.

It was as she'd slid the disc into the DVD machine and lowered herself onto her couch, sinking into her cushions with a long hum, ready to skip through annoying trailers and just get to the movie, that her phone screen lit up on the table. Typical. She couldn't complain too much, however, when she found it to be from Robin.

I'm definitely going to stay for a little while,and that had her smile growing at the thought of him remaining in town even only temporarily, and then I'll make a decision but I am certainly grateful for the offer. How is your night shaping up so far? R x

Her eyes honed in on the x instantly, and she wanted to scold herself for being so idiotic over a damn letter but still, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. It was only natural, right? For a woman so very alone in the aspect of friendships and…more (though this was far too new to be seen as even a friendship let alone anything more), she was allowed to get excited over this? (It was times like these that she wished she was able to open up a little more when Kathryn attempted something resembling 'girl talk', times that her schoolgirl flutters could be validated by someone who'd been through this before. (It saddened Regina sometimes to see just how sour Kathryn's marriage had turned, how she and David could barely remain in the same room as one another anymore and how the woman just had to know of the heady glances verging-on-affair thing going on with her husband and that nitwitted school teacher whom Regina hardly ever spoke of with the history between them).

She bit at her lip as she considered her reply and since when was Regina Mills left with nothing to say? It was ridiculous, she was ridiculous.

Well, after a particularly lovely snuggle with my little man,and she wouldn't divulge Henry's earlier distress to Robin because, although he had brought her son back to her, he was not privy to their private moments, I am about to watch one of my very favourite movies. and, after another long moment of deliberating, she finished it off with her own x.

She rolled her eyes at herself, about to place the phone back down and start her movie when it buzzed in her hand, her eyes instantly drawn to it.

And which would that be? The Little Mermaid? Or something of the same wonderful calibre? x

She laughed at that, a warm chuckle of a thing so foreign when rumbling from her own throat and it had her pausing for a moment, enjoying the feeling before she was typing back a response, smiling at her phone like an absolute idiot the entire time.

Nothing quite as special tonight I'm afraid, just a littleWhile You Were Sleeping to wind down to with a glass of rioja, how is your night so far? x

That sounds like absolute heaven, mine is not so exciting I'm afraid. My television appears to have broken quite some time ago and so I have spent the last half hour or so counting the patterned tiles on my ceiling xx

Two…there were two now…did that mean something?

That B&B is in need of a good renovation, perhaps I should add it to the weekly agenda as something to discuss…that truly does sound dire though xx

She could imagine him, spread across his bed, staring up at the ceiling…and would he be shirtless or in some sort of a pajama set, in sweats or in boxer shorts? The light on her phone distracted her from a path her mind should most certainly not be going down.

It truly is,and was he mocking her? She chuckled softly as she continued to read, and it's so very lonely xx

Was he flirting now? Her brow furrowed as she looked over his text, completely unsure of what to do in this instance because if she invited him over, which she truly wanted to do in this moment, would that come across as eager or as desperate? If she brushed him off, didn't invite him over, would that come off as her being uninterested, something she most certainly wasn't…it was something that had her biting at her lip once more as she moved her thumbs aimlessly above the glass of the screen. "If ever we were to lose one another," Daniel had whispered to her one night when they'd lain bare and sated in one another's arms, limbs tangled and noses brushing as they'd breathed one another in, "I'd want you to go on Regina," and before she'd been able to stop him, to tell him to stop being so foolish, he'd pressed a tender kiss to her swollen lips and told her "I'd want you to love again." It was those words ringing through her head, the same words she'd gone over and over since his death, that had her typing out her reply with nothing but butterflies in her stomach.

You are more than welcome here, I have the fire burning and more than enough wine for us both xx

His reply only doubled her giddy nerves.

I'll be right there xxx