CHAPTER 3

Henry stuck his head out his bedroom door gingerly. He hoped his Mom was still sleep because he knew he didn't want the hassle of having to deal with her. Either she was crying and begging him to listen to her or else she pretending that everything was fine when it obviously wasn't.

He crept down the stairs and into the kitchen. He grabbed himself some fruit and a few juice boxes and snacks. He shoved it all into his backpack and was on the way out when he ran into his little sister.

She was leaning against the doorjamb with her arms crossed glaring at him. "I had to miss my recital because of you."

Henry felt bad for a moment. He knew his sister loved dancing. But she was the Evil queen's child. Not his sister. He had a real Mom. And he needed to get to her and ensure that the Evil Queen hadn't poisoned her or run her out of town. "Who cares? Your Mother's the Evil Queen. That makes you her Evil offspring. My Mom's going to make you all pay for what she's done." He swept past her and ran out the door.

Tears shone in Luka's eyes. Henry's cruelty was making life difficult for all of them. She felt bad her Mom had to put up with him. She was also mad at her for forcing her to put up with him.

Her Mom had explained that learning you were adopted is a shock and an adjustment. And that they should be more understanding of him and his feelings right now since he was so sensitive. But that's not what Luka thought.

Henry was willfully cruel. He did and said things that he knew would hurt them and her mom just kept letting him get away with it. He made home and school difficult for her. Why should she keep bending to him when he made zero concessions for anyone else?

She went upstairs and was on her way to getting dressed for the day. Instead she stopped off in her Mom's room. She watched her Mom sleeping and felt bad. She was tossing and turning. Even in sleep, it seemed she could get no peace. Luka climbed into bed next to her and put her arm around her. She ended up falling back to sleep.

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It seemed Luka had just closed her eyes when her Mom began shaking her. "Luka, Luka, wake up!"

Luka opened her eyes and then closed them really tight. The offending sunlight was too bright. "Mom, I'm sleeping," she grumbled.

"Luka, wake up!" Regina sounded frantic. Luka sat up quickly and began rubbing at her eyes. "Have you seen your brother? He's missing."

"He's always missing. He runs away every single day. And then my life gets ruined. There's nothing new about that."

Regina sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt bad. Her daughter was right. Henry had taken to running off almost daily. Still, he was her son and she couldn't leave him out there to run around alone. If anything happened to either of her kids she had no idea what she'd do.

She sat on the bed beside her daughter and pulled her close. She kissed the top of her head, "I know sweetie. And I'm so sorry." She smiled when her daughter curled into her side. "But I can't just leave him out there alone. If it were you then the same thing would go. Do not let this be you," she said sternly but softened it with another kiss to her head. She tickled her tummy causing her to erupt in giggles.

Luka gasped through her giggles, "I'm the good one Mom. You can save your lectures for Henry."

"We still have to get up and go and find him. Come on moppet. Off with you," Regina watched as her daughter trod off to get ready for the day. She went into her bathroom and did the same.

She had no idea what was going on. Henry turned from the sweetest little boy in the world to this angry, hateful, moody stranger. It had practically happened overnight. She knew him learning that he was adopted was a shock but she'd never expected this.

She hadn't hidden his adoption from him. It was just – he was her son. There was nothing more for her to consider about the situation. She didn't realize he'd take it this hard though.

Regina hated to admit it, but Henry's behavior was taxing on all of them. She loved her son and always would, but he was causing nothing but stress and chaos with everyone. She knew Luka felt she was being ignored for Henry. But that just wasn't true. Regina would behave the same if it was her out there. Her kids were just babies. They weren't ready to be out in the big world by themselves.

Finding out that Henry had taken off and spent an entire day in another city had practically sent her blood pressure to the roof. She had spent the entire afternoon with scenario after scenario of horrible things that could happen to a little boy alone in a strange city.

She had hated to tell Luka that her recital had to be put on the back burner. Maybe she could've let Zelena take her. She really should've. But with one child already missing she just couldn't bear to have her other child out of her sight.

Regina vowed to make it up to her. But first, she needed to get her son back. She finished dressing and went into Luka's room so that she could take care of her hair. They would just have to get breakfast at Granny's later.

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"Henry? What are you doing here?" Emma blinked rapidly trying to get the fog of sleep cleared from her eyes. She looked over at the boy who'd announced he was her son only yesterday.

Henry walked into the room as if he hadn't a care in the world. "I came to see you. I wanted to make sure you were still here. And that the Evil Queen hadn't hurt you."

Emma let her head fall back as she inwardly groaned. Not the fairy tale book again. "Look kid, I told you I'd meet your Mom and I did. And I'm sorry to have to repeat to you once again, but your fairy tale book is nothing but a fairy tale book."

She ignored his look of pure shock. She walked over to the nightstand and picked up his book bag. She handed it back to him.

Henry grabbed the book from her hands and held it close to him as if I was his baby blankie. "But you have to see!" he insisted. "The book is real. And you're in here. You're the Savior. And you have to save everyone."

Emma had just become aware that she was standing in front of a strange child with no clothing on. Her jeans were laid spread across the floor where she had put dropped them before crawling into bed. She picked them up and headed for the bathroom, "Does your Mom even know that you're here? Because she didn't seem too happy yesterday about all that went down."

"You're my Mom," Henry told her. He stared at her with an intensity that left Emma a little winded.

Emma nodded then walked into her bathroom and shut the door. She sat on the edge of the bathtub. She still hadn't really processed all that had gone on yesterday. One minute she was singing happy birthday to me and the next a little boy claiming to be her son was standing at the door.

She'd offered to drive him home so that she could check out the situation. But aside from Henry's intensity she'd found nothing out of the ordinary. She'd spent the entire 3 hour drive listening to his story of her destiny as a savior, whatever the hell that meant.

But she could tell immediately that the worry that had been etched across the woman who was supposed to be the Evil Queen's face, as Henry had dubbed her, was genuine. She'd really been worried about her son. The woman was the Mayor of an entire town. She seemed a little young for a position that Emma normally associated with older men. The woman had to be smart and strong. Not to mention drop dead gorgeous.

Emma rose and splashed water onto her face. Then she took a spit bath in the sink. She'd get herself a full shower a little bit later. She dressed and went through the rest of her morning routine.

She had just exited the bathroom when there was a knock on the door. She looked over at Henry who was busy thumbing through his book at the little desk in the room. She walked over and opened it. She wasn't surprised by what she saw.

Regina looked past her and stomped over to Henry. "I figured you'd be here. Come on, let's go. You're in a lot of trouble for this," she shook her head at him.

Henry jumped up from his seat at the desk. "I hate you! You're the Evil Queen and you stole everyone's happiness! And now you want to try and steal mine too! I won't let you! Emma's the Savior. And she's going to save us all. I'm staying with her. She's my real Mom," Henry sneered at Regina. He was breathing heavily and his face was twisted into the ugliest expression that Regina had ever seen.

It took her a moment to rebound. What Henry said was painful as ever but she needed to keep her focus on the situation. She needed to reign in her emotions. She took a deep breath then opened her mouth and began to speak but Emma got there first.

She'd seen the pain cross Regina's face as Henry began his rant. She had to say Regina was definitely handling the situation better than she would. She stepped up, "Henry," she shook her head sadly at the boy. "Things don't work that way."

Henry looked at her like he'd been betrayed. "I'm your son."

Emma nodded, "that may be. But this isn't how this situation works out. Even if it turns out that I did give birth to you, Regina's your Mom. That's not going to stop just because I brought you home."

Emma turned away and addressed the rest to Regina, "I'm really sorry for all that's gone on. I had no idea my being here would cause this many problems." Emma looked over at Henry's crestfallen face. He was clutching tighter at his fairy tale book. She felt bad that he was so upset. But he had really put all of them in terrible positions. "I just wanted to help. I'm sorry," she looked hopefully at Regina.

Regina had been shocked at the woman's humility. She still didn't trust her but this was definitely a good start. "I know this isn't your fault. Henry's pretty stubborn. And once he latches onto something he doesn't stop. I – I don't know what to say about this situation. I need some time to think and sort it out."

Emma nodded. "I'll be here."

Regina gave her a small smile. "Come on Henry. Your sister's waiting for us at Granny's. We'll have breakfast and then you're going to school. Afterward, we're going to have a discussion about all of this."

Henry threw Emma a death glare before pushing past his Mom to run downstairs.

Emma handed Regina Henry's book bag.

Regina took it then gave Emma another small smile. She went to leave before turning back. "Have you had breakfast yet? We were just going to grab something at Granny's. You're welcome to join us if you want."

Emma grinned, "Sounds great." She glanced around, "Mind if I meet you there in like 5?"

"We'll be waiting," Regina turned and left.

Emma threw her arms in the air and bounced on her toes. "Yeah!" she cheered.