The bell rang and the entire class of children stood immediately, almost in unison. There was a disorganized shuffle as they all filed through the door to exit out for recess. Their teacher, Miss Blanchard, calling out instructions to them over the shuffling of sneakers on linoleum tile. "Walk! No shoving! Alex I saw that!" she walked around to her desk and watched her grandson talking with two other students. "Henry may I see you before you go?" she asked sweetly.

He said a quick see you later to his friends and ran up to his grandmother. "So how is it being back at Regina's?"

He smiled widely. "It's great. I missed my room and it's quiet and I don't have to wait for the bathroom and I missed my bed!" he blurted out. She smiled sweetly and patted the boy's head, "Is she treating you well?" she inquired.

"My mom?" he asked and she nodded silently. "Of course. She has changed. She is letting me see Emma whenever I want."

"Emma is your mother Henry." She casually reminded him.

"Yeah, so is my mom. They are getting along really well." He wanted to put his grandmother's mind at ease. "They are letting me see my dad."

"Neal?" Snow was suddenly interested. "They are letting you go see Neal?"

"Well," he started, "They will be supervising the visit, but only until Ma feels like he isn't going to hurt me or whatever."

"Neal is your father! Of course he won't hurt you!" she remembered how the man had helped them save Henry in Neverland.

"I know that!" he said defensively.

"I'm sure Regina is behind this." She said with malice, no longer noticing the boy's hurt look. "She always needs to control everything. She'll see, when Neal and Emma get back together, they will be happy. They just need a chance to be alone." She was devising a plan in her head as she walked around to the back of her desk. "When will your visitation be Henry?"

"Tomorrow." He said cautiously.

"Do you think you could talk Neal and Emma into a family dinner with you after your visit?" she asked.

"Maybe…" he was worried, he didn't like lying and this felt sneaky.

"You want your mom and dad to be happy, don't you?" she asked simply.

"Yeah." He answered honestly.

"She just needs a chance to see how good it could be, Henry. To be a family!" her green eyes sparkled at the prospect of her daughter getting her happy ending.

"Yeah, but Emma said…" he remembered his blonde mother's conversation about Neal the other day.

"I know what Emma said." His grandmother said sharply. She didn't snap at him, but she cut off what he was going to say none the less. "She is just afraid of getting hurt Henry. Do you think your dad will hurt her?"

"No." he shook his head. He knew his dad loved his mom.

"Does your dad love her?" the pixie haired woman goaded.

"Yeah, but…" he started.

"It is true love Henry!" She cut him off once again. "The most powerful magic in all the lands! Emma will see, just you wait. Then you will be a family." He wanted to believe what his grandmother was saying to him. She knew all about true love, she was Snow White after all. He wanted to believe and so he did. His grandmother went over the details of how the boy could get his mom and dad together. She made him promise not to tell anyone, especially Regina. After their plan was set she allowed the boy to run off to play with his friends, a wide satisfied smile on her face as she thought about how wonderful her daughter would look in a wedding dress. Her daughter would be happy, she just needed a little help. Neal would take care of her and their son and they would live happily ever after.

Emma was coming out of Granny's after delivering some paper work about zoning permits to Ruby. She was on her way to go pick up Henry to bring him home to the manor. Regina had a late meeting and had requested Emma's assistance. As part of their new co-parenting agreement, Emma was more than happy to help the mayor out. She stepped out onto the sidewalk as she checked her phone's messages when she caught out of the corner of her eye two figures scuffling a little ways down the street. As the Sheriff, she felt the need to investigate, the exchange looked heated. As she got closer to the two she realized it was Hook and Neal pushing each other and shouting loudly at one another.

"What the hell are you two doing?" she demanded.

"Swan! There she is now!" the pirate slurred.

"Are you drunk?" she accused the pirate. Then looked back at Neal who was suddenly sombre in his stance. She looked at Neal and asked again. "What is going on?" Neal shrugged his shoulders but Hook was just drunk enough to think it okay to explain exactly what they had been doing. "Baelfire here seems to think I was a mere rebound for you Swan!" he got right in the blonde's face and gently stroked her cheek. This got a rise out Neal who instantly pulled his arm away. When he did Killian's hook pierced Emma's shoulder. The pain was instant and the blood that followed was abundant. "Son of a bitch!" the blonde cried out. "You see? Hook! You are going to do nothing but hurt her!" Neal egged on the drunken man. "If you hadn't have pulled me my fair swan here would be unscathed!" the pirate shot back.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the blonde was holding her shoulder where the puncture wound was, trying to stop the bleeding.

"YOU!" she pointed at Neal. "Go home!" she shouted.

"AND YOU!" she grabbed the pirate by the scruff of his jacket and led him away. He had a snarky smile as he looked over his shoulder at the little man and gave him a tiny victorious wave.

She marched him across the street and into the Sheriff's station. She tossed him into the empty cell and locked him in. "You! Sleep it off!"

"Oh Swan… come now! Bad form!" he called after her as she left him locked behind bars.

The next afternoon Emma showed up at the manor. She knocked on the door, as she usually did. Regina answered it a bit flustered. As if she was not expecting the blonde. "Did I not give you a key Emma?" she snarked.

"Yeah, but…" The blonde had no real excuse. She knew the invitation was open, that their relationship was changing, still she felt odd about barging into the woman's home. Especially when Henry wasn't there.

As if the brunette could see the reasons written on the blonde's face she raised her eyebrow in response. "I appreciate you not wanting to intrude on my personal space Miss Swan, but the offer was genuine." She pursed her lips together, uncomfortable with any sort of intimacy. "Shall we get this over with then?" she defaulted to the task that had brought the blonde to the manor to begin with. Emma nodded and swept her arm allowing the mayor to lead the way. The brunette automatically went to climb into her Benz. "I could drive…" Emma offered. "Not my baby you won't, and I refuse to get into your death trap on wheels." The brunette scoffed as she slipped into the driver's seat of her car.

They swung by and picked up Henry from school. Emma thought it odd her mother wasn't there waiting with him as she had been on most other occasions. She assumed the brunette was busy inside doing school-teachery stuff.

"Ready kid?" Emma asked as he got into the back of the car. "Am I!" They drove to the park where Emma told Neal they would meet. Henry ran ahead of the women crashing into his father who held a large radio controller in his hand. Neal had a huge smile as he held his son to him. It warmed Emma for a moment that he would have a chance to get to know her kid. Henry was such a fantastic boy. The fear the man would break the boy's heart was still there, but for that moment, she was pleased they had allowed this. She looked over at Regina who was standing next to her, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Hey, let's go sit on the bench over there." Emma pointed out where she meant. It was a little further away than Regina felt comfortable, but it wasn't like the man could dash away with her son under his arm. At least not and get very far. Both of Henry's mothers had magic. The man would be minced toad in seconds. She smiled wickedly at the thought as she followed the blonde to her choice of seating.

They sat and watched their son and Neal captain a motorized boat the man had brought for their time together. The boys were laughing and talking and getting along quite well.

"This isn't so bad." Regina finally said.

"Yeah." Emma agreed.

"Why exactly am I here again?" the brunette asked plainly.

"I made some mistakes in Neverland. I told Neal I loved him."

"Do you?" the brunette asked.

"I did. Once upon a time, but no. Now I definitely do not."

"What does that have to do with me?" Regina asked patiently.

"Like I said I made mistakes in Neverland, I told Neal I loved him, I kissed Hook, It seems like the only thing I did right was become friends with you!" the blonde palmed her hand in the brunette's general direction.

"You think we are friends?" the mayor asked.

"You don't?" the blonde worried her lip. Taking the woman's comment as immediate rejection.

"I don't know. I've never really had friends before." The mayor said honestly.

"What about Katherine?" Emma offered up.

Regina rolled her eyes. "You really think that counts? She was cursed! She didn't have a choice Emma."

"What about Maleficent?" Emma asked. She didn't have a long list of who was friendly to the mayor but she knew that witch was high up there.

"She was an ally, and almost a bedfellow, but not a friend." The brunette threw back.

"You slept with Maleficent?" Emma's eyes bulged with surprise.

"I said 'almost' Miss Swan; I used her desire for me in order to get her to teach me glamour magic." A red tinge colored the mayor's cheeks at the admission of her exploitation of the witch for her own gain.

"Oh. So you weren't attracted to her." Emma understood using people for personal gain. She could see the shame in the mayor's face, so much had changed she thought to herself.

"I didn't say that." The mayor looked uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation and Emma took the hint. "What about when you were a kid? Didn't you have school mates or something?" Emma asked innocently. The mayor sighed deeply as she watched her son laugh and point at the ship in the lake as he steered it towards the geese floating nearby. "Mother began training me to be Queen from birth. I was educated by way of tutors within our home, so I didn't have the opportunity to socialize with children my own age. Even if I had, Mother wouldn't have allowed other people's children in her home. So I never had friends as a child." She paused and stayed silent for a moment. Emma thought she was done sharing and was surprised when the woman continued. "Like I said, Mother began training me to be Queen from birth. I was taught that everyone beneath me was just that. Beneath me. I was to be Queen."

It was so plainly said, just a fact. The sadness and the horror in the blonde's green eyes confused Regina. "I suppose, you, Miss Swan, are the closest thing I ever had to a friend." She relented, feeling a bit more comfortable with the idea than when it was first presented. As if the idea had been her own.

Emma grabbed the brunette's hand, twisted their fingers together and simply said, "I like you too Regina." They sat like that in silence for some time, watching their son play with his overgrown teen aged father, when Regina's phone rang.

"My work line." She stood and walked behind the bench composing herself as the mayor to answer the call. When she returned to Emma her face was pulled tight, she explained there was an emergency that needed her immediate attention. Emma looked panicked. She mumbled about how they can cut short the visit and called Henry over. She started to explain to the boy Regina had to go and Henry started to whine. Regina pulled the blonde aside, just out of their son's ear shot. "Buck up Emma. You got this. He has two hours left. You can sit and play on your phone for two hours, you do it all day long at the Sheriff's station, this should be a breeze."

"Regina…" the blonde whined, sounding exactly like their son.

"No. You can do this for two hours. Suck it up Princess. Now I really need to go." She put a hand on her friend's shoulder to convey her belief in the blonde's ability to handle two hours with two children. "Two hours then take Henry back to the house and make dinner, please? I don't know how long this will take." She waved at Henry as her phone sounded off again, then she was strutting away to go save the town from some dire mayoral situation. Emma watched the woman for a few moments before turning back to her expectant son and his father. "You guys have two hours, so go on!" The boys high fived each other which got an exaggerated eye roll from the blonde. After the boys went back to their seaworthy craft Emma took out her phone and answered some texts she had from Ruby about how to fill out the papers she left her yesterday.

Shortly thereafter Henry bounded up to his mother pulling her attention away from her little screen. "Mom! May we all go to dinner at Granny's?" she saw the hopefulness in the boy's eyes, but really didn't want to. It felt like a date. A family date, and she was completely uncomfortable with it. "Uh, I don't think that is a good idea, kid." She started shaking her head. "Please mom? Dad has an hour left and I'm hungry for something other than Kraft Dinner." He heard his adoptive mother ask the blonde to feed the boy and although he had intended on Granny's because it was part of the plan, he also knew Emma would default to one of the three things she knew how to cook. Eggs, cereal or Kraft dinner.

"Please?" he begged. Neal put his hand on the boys shoulder and smiled, the smile he used when he thinks he is being so fucking cute. "We have an hour;" he said, "I want to take him to get something to eat. Since you are supervising us, you'll need to come. Eat or not, it's my hour." Emma rolled her eyes as Henry smiled widely. "Fine." She relented as she stood from the bench and followed the children back to Neal's car. "Swing by the manor first, I want the"bug." She said as she climbed into the back seat of Neil's car.

Regina's "Emergency" wasn't really an emergency. The dwarves were picketing the mayor's office, at Snow White's request, unbeknownst to the mayor herself. They held a variety of signs as they shouted and chanted "Not Our Price To Pay!"

Several town folk held signage that stated:

"EQUAL RIGHTS FOR DWARVES"

"WE ARE NOT SLAVES!"

"DWARF'S LIVES MATTER!"

"DOWN WITH ROYALS!"

"MY LIFE'S NOT WORTH YOUR WISHES!"

Regina got there and fought her way through the picket line. Other residents had gathered to either support the dwarves or just see what the commotion was about and there was a sizeable crowd by the time Regina had gotten there. She stood on the steps to city hall and put her hands up; she commanded their silence in the most diplomatic way possible, which turned out to be just short of a booming "QUIET!" She addressed the dwarf known as Grumpy. "What exactly is this about half pint?" she stared him down. "Us Dwarves pay the price for the fairy's magic and we won't stand for it anymore!" he yelled the last part of the sentence and as if on queue they started to chant once again.

"Okay Okay!" she managed to quiet them once more before speaking to the crowd, "Look, you guys aren't forced to mine like you were in the Enchanted Forest, I couldn't care less if there is fairy magic or fairy dust! Disperse immediately!" she commanded forcefully.

"Aren't you even going to listen to our demands? This is a peaceful protest, but it doesn't have to be!" one of the other dwarves asked, she thought it was Whiney, or Annoyey or whatever his name was. She rolled her eyes and said, "Fine. Since you've pulled me back into the office, let's sit down and hear your complaints." The crowd in its entirety lunged forward, "ONLY THE HALF MEN!" she shouted warningly.

"We are full men in this world, sister!" Grumpy defended.

"You were hatched; I use the term "men" loosely." The queen sneered.

Once they got up to the office she directed them to the board room. She watched them file down the hall towards the room she indicated, then headed to her office to get a pen and paper to take their demands seriously. Truth be told, she did take their concerns seriously. She had heard the talk of breeding more dwarves to aid in getting people who wanted to return to the Enchanted Forest back there. More dwarves meant faster production of fairy dust, but she also knew that the men suffered within the mines. There was a new proposition that was being called to get council support on the matter shortly, which was what most likely spurred this little uprising, she surmised.

She passed her secretary and gave her a glare as she strode by. The woman gave her an apologetic look and shrugged her shoulders. The girl had made it sound life or death on the phone; Now that the mayor was here, well she would handle it of course, but she was still irritated, and the young woman who manned the phones was as good as any to direct her hostility.

After a couple hours of hashing out dwarf rights Regina asked, "Will that be all? It is a lengthy list, but I don't see a problem with getting these talking points added to the next town meeting."

Bashful asks grumpy "Is that all the time she needed?"

"Who needed?" The queen demanded.

Grumpy cut in and said "No one." at the same time Bashful said, "Snow."

"What!? Explain yourselves immediately!" The queen felt the tension in the room.

Doc covered Bashful's mouth as he started to explain. The queen lifted and quieted six of the seven dwarves, tree branches reaching out from the woodland feel of the wall paper snatched them up and gagged them securely. Grumpy shook his head and used his eyes to glare at Bashful who didn't quite understand what was going on. He was frightened though.

Regina put on her 'it's okay' persona she used to soothe children, and said in her Mommy voice, "Bashful is it?" The dwarf nodded, "What exactly was Snow White's plan? Why was she keeping me here exactly?"

Bashful looked over at his brothers, afraid to speak.

She turned him and knelt down to look at him and rubbed his shoulders like a mother would for her child.

"It's okay sweetheart you can tell me." she cooed with a sweet smile.

She stored her rage down so very deep, not even an inkling of the storm that was brooding within her showed in her eyes. She was the epitome of calm and serenity to this little man before her.

He cleared his throat, "Snow said we needed to keep you busy so her daughter could get her happy ending with true love."

When he said true love his cheeks got all rosy as he blushed and plastered a dumb look on his face.

"So Snow is trying to set up Emma and Neal." She questioned.

Bashful nodded excitedly. "Then they will get married and Henry will be safe with his mommy and daddy!" He exclaimed proudly. Not quite understanding what he was saying.

That was it, the queen's rage erupted.

She ripped up the notes she had painstakingly taken and released the dwarves. "Get out!" She grabbed Leroy by the lapel, "If you ever pull a stunt like this again, I'll let those nuns work you to death!"

Leroy believed her and nodded, fright evident on his hard features.

"We do want equal rights your majesty! Just because Snow wanted us to keep you here doesn't mean what we talked about wasn't real! Please?" The man even begged in a grumpy manner.

She stood her full height and let go of the man. "Very well dwarves," she said, her regal tone thick in the air.

"I agree with you. All magic comes with a price. The fairies have been pushing that price off onto you for far too long. I'll make you a deal; I'll consider your talking points, and when you report back to Snow White, you fail to tell her of Bashful's indiscretion. Tell her everything went as planned and I was none the wiser. Then..." She paused for dramatic theatrics...

"You'll have your freedom."

Leroy nodded but even with his trademark glare she saw the gratefulness in his eyes.

Once the talk started to circulate that the fairies had worked out a plan to get people home, most of Storybrooke couldn't care less how they achieved that goal. Regina found it reprehensible, but mostly because she didn't believe in slavery. She had done many horrible things as her time as ruler of the known world, but there were lines even she didn't cross.

Regina also didn't care to go back to the Enchanted Forest. However she knew this proposition for new dwarves was David Nolan's idea. She didn't think he knew the ramifications of it completely. Not everyone understood the balance of power between dwarves and fairies. Fairies were always considered good, even though their magical price tag filtered through the lives, and consequently deaths of the dwarves they bred and used. Used not only as slaves in the mines, but their lives were cut short thru overuse of magic, wishes granted, new fairies being made, etc. Regina made the decision then she would help these men as best she could.

Emma did not eat with Neal and Henry. She sat at the counter and played on her phone and ignored Ruby's nudging to go spend time with her 'family' when Neal's time was up Emma rose from the counter and went over to the boys who were laughing in the booth. They had finished their meal some time ago and Emma was eager to go.

"We were going to have ice cream, want to join us?" Neal smiled and put his arm up across the back of the booth flirtatiously.

"No. Time's up. Let's go kid you've got homework."

"Please mom?" Henry pleaded.

"Please Emma?" Neal mimicked the kid.

She bent down close to Neal and said in a low voice, "Can I see you outside?" she was clearly angry and he missed the cues completely. He nodded his head at Henry who gave him a covert thumbs up and went out to talk to his true love, his hands deep in his pockets and a wild grin that quickly faded, "Seriously? You're pulling this shit on day one Neal? We've given you an allotted time! And that's not good enough? And you wonder why we are supervising your visitation? Don't undermine my authority in front of my son!" She bellowed.

"I didn't—" He was shocked and tried to defend himself as she raged.

"You DID! This isn't a game Neal! Try and act like a goddamn adult for once in your life! What are you 200? It is overdue!"

"I just thought we—" He had that pretty boy smile he used on Emma when they dated.

"You thought WRONG!" She yelled at him.

He got defensive, "So this is about Hook?"

She threw her hands up in the air. "Your time is up. We are leaving."

She opened the door to Granny's, Henry was sitting talking to Ruby at the booth where she left him.

"Henry! Let's go!" She called to him shortly.

"But mom?" he whined and tried one last effort to get his parents together.

"NOW!" she bellowed into the diner.

She grabbed his hand and marched past her ex; she whipped around and pointed a finger at him

"This isn't about Hook. This is about YOU! I messed up and said things that I shouldn't have because I was glad you were alive. Not for me, but for Henry. If you keep this juvenile crap up, you won't have any part in my sons life Neal! And if you are willing to risk a relationship with your kid for an OFF chance, and let me be clear as glass, no chance in hell, at a relationship with me, then you are exactly the man I think you are and I will make sure Regina never lets you see Henry ever again!" She grabbed Henry's hand and stormed off towards the bug. She expected Neal to call after her, to chase her. To try to smooth things over, but he stood there dumbfounded as he let her words soak in.

Henry sat in the passenger's side of bug silently brooding on their way back to the manor. She could tell he was mad, but she was livid and couldn't talk to him about it. They arrived home and he got out of the car and slammed the door with unnecessary force. "Hey!" She shouted at him.

"I just wanted you to spend some time with him!" He shouted back at her. "He is your true love!"

"NO HE ISN'T!" She shouted back at him.

They were standing in front of the manor yelling at each other when Regina pulled into the driveway. She got out and yelled at both of them, "What the hell are you two doing?" They both started to talk to her at the same time and she couldn't hear either of them. She put her hands up to silence them both. "ENOUGH! Henry, you first."

"Emma won't give my dad a break! She won't even admit he is her true love!" Emma threw her hands up and stomped away to pace by the brunette's Benz. "I just wanted them to spend some time together so she could see that he could make her happy!" He was all but tearing up at the admission. Regina said "You know you can't make Emma love Neal. She has told you she doesn't. What makes you think spending time together would change that?"

"You two spent time together in Neverland and you guys changed and you used to hate each other!"

"That's true Henry—" Regina started but the blonde cut in, "But Neal hurt me." Emma said. "He hurt me so bad it broke me. It changed who I was. After him, I couldn't trust people." She looked at Regina. "Now, it takes a life and death situation for me to even consider it."

"She hurt you!" The boy cried pointing at Regina. "She cast the curse that separated you from your family! Why forgive her and not dad?"

"She didn't separate me from Mary Margaret and David, Henry. That was their choice. I don't blame Regina for that."

"You don't?" both mother and child asked in unison.

"No." She turned to Regina, "You didn't stick your hours-old infant daughter into a magical wardrobe that led to who knows where in the care of a 6 year old and hope for the best. That was their decision." Emma said honestly.

"No, but I cast the curse that made it so they felt they had to." Regina rebutted.

"The curse that gave me our son Regina. I can't hate you for that."

"But you can hate dad?" Henry spat.

She turned her attention back to the boy, "Yes. What he did Henry, broke me so badly that I gave you up."

"Then perhaps I should be the one to thank Mr. Cassidy." Regina mumbled aloud.

Emma lolled her head and rolled her eyes then looked back at the boy who was still visibly angry.

"You need to stop this Henry. I thought you understood after the talk we had." His blonde mother pleaded for his understanding. "I did." He looked down at his feet his cheeks reddened and Regina caught a clue.

"Henry? Who put you up to this?" his adoptive mother asked.

Emma looked confused when she opened her mouth to speak. Regina put her finger up to the blonde silently telling her to hold on.

"Henry?" the brunette asked again.

He wrapped his arms around himself in a defiant pout. Emma saw this and knew Regina was onto something. This was a ploy. And it hadn't been Henry's idea. "Answer your mother young man!" The blonde said authoritatively, surprising the mayor and startling her son into speaking.

"Grandma said if you could go on a date with dad, we could be a family, you'd see he loves you and true love is magic mom!" He started to cry, feeling like he was betraying his grandmother and feeling the anger roll off both of his mother's; he knew he was in trouble. "She said you'd see he loves you and what you were missing - we could be a family!" Emma was stunned for a moment as she took in this information. It was completely unexpected. She honestly didn't think Snow White would go this far to manipulate her. She staggered as the realization hit home and Regina rushed to her side putting her arm around her to keep her upright.

"And did she tell you that you'd go live with them? Away from me Henry?" She held her breath hoping beyond reason his desire to stay with her had been real. That he still loved her as he had claimed.

He shook his head no.

"Well at least Snow knew enough of the boy's wishes to only tell him part of the plan." Regina said dryly.

"Part of the plan?" Emma looked at her quizzically. She was shaking visibly.

"Henry you need to apologize to your mother this instant for being sneaky, lying and manipulating her! That is not how I raised you! You are grounded this weekend, no TV, videogames OR comics! And you will be raking the entire yard Saturday! Do you understand me?" Her words were strong and clear. "Yes ma'am." He said sheepishly "I'm sorry mom." His words directed at his blonde mother.

Emma couldn't speak she just nodded. Regina finished by telling him to go to his room.

After the boy left Emma found her voice. "P-part of the plan?"

"Yes. Seems Snow orchestrated the little (pun intended) dwarven demonstration to occupy me away from her little love connection between you and Mr. Cassidy. So you two would fall in love get married move in and take full custody of Henry."

Emma staggered back once again. "Even if I got together with Neal, Regina, I would never do that to you. Not again!" she was horrified. The blonde started to tear up at the remembrance of her own heartache at losing her son, just a few days ago on this very spot.

Regina stepped closer and wiped the fresh tears from the apples of her cheeks. "I believe you Emma. This was your mother's plan, I am aware of that."

"I need to go straighten her out." The blonde started to march towards her vehicle when the mayor's arm caught her mid stride. "No." Regina said suddenly.

"No?" Emma questioned.

"Not tonight. We need a plan of our own. And I could use a drinking buddy tonight." she smiled sweetly "and you look like you could use a friend dear." Emma relented. She was emotionally drained after blowing up at Neal, then Henry's admission about her own mother. She hooked her arm through Regina's and let herself be led into the mansion. Once they got inside she blankly asked, "Could I rent your spare room?"

"No."

"Oh…" The savior was clearly hurt by the rejection.

"But..." The brunette said, "But you may have it as long as you like dear."