Author's Note: So please don't take this story too seriously in that it will have perfect grammar every time. Originally this didn't get much interest, but recently someone asked me to keep posting for it. So I think it's fair to note that I wrote this for my wife, and it just became a sort of endless story with no concrete plot. Even so I hope you just have fun getting lost with me in the story. I will try to reread chapters to catch mistakes or keeps thing consistent, but it's entirely possible I slipped up somewhere. So again please enjoy my not so perfect ramblings.
Chapter Four
Regina woke up around six in the morning. She lay in bed a minute remembering that she was in Paris and not at home. Groggily she gently moved Henry over when she realized he had joined her in bed and was cuddling with her and shuffled off to the bathroom. Graham was of course up and dressed for a morning run.
"Fuck you Graham," Regina muttered. "Today for Henry." She shuffled back into her room and closed the door. She crawled back into bed and kissed Henry's forehead before snuggling back up to him and dropping off to sleep. Regina had zero regrets about ditching her morning work out today, this was a three-day trip and despite Emma she was going to enjoy it. And part of that included a little sleeping in before she combated what could prove to be a difficult day. An hour later Regina was awoken by a loud shout and loud fighting as Henry played Space Paranoids.
"Uh seriously Henry it's seven in the morning," Regina said coming out groggily. Henry had already spilled milk and cereal all over the counter. "Henry why didn't you clean up after yourself?" Henry didn't answer as he just continued his game, a bowl where he had spilled the rest of his cereal milk clattered on the floor as he jumped again in the excitement of his game. Regina took five deep breaths and count to ten after trying to get his attention several times.
"Henry Daniel Mills!" Regina yelled as she turned off the television.
"Hey you killed me," Henry cried.
"Too bad young man, you need to pick up that bowl and clean up that milk. And when you're done with the floor, you can start on the counter you left a mess on. Now I don't want any lip, you know that kind of behavior doesn't fly."
"Emma doesn't follow the rules, so I don't see why I have too," Henry pouted as he crossed his arms. Regina counted silently inside her head to control her anger at Emma and remember to be patient with her son. He was a child and had been acting up a bit since after dinner to get Emma's attention and now he needed her attention.
"Yes, but Emma is an adult and she's made her choice to live that way as an adult. And that's very irresponsible of her," Regina told him bending down so she was more eye level with him. "But, you're a child and more importantly I'm your mother. So that means I've given us a set of rules to live by so you can stay clean. And if you stay clean you don't get sick. Or slip on the floor in milk and injure yourself."
"Stupid family time rules don't keep from being sick," Henry shot back.
"No, not physically sick, but it does keep you from being mentally sick." Henry looked at her confused. "Sometimes we get so sad that we get depressed. We stop doing things that we love or shut ourselves away from the people that we love. And sometimes we even take our own life and leave the people that we love behind."
"Just because you're sad?" Henry asked. Regina nodded.
"Yes, it's not a nice feeling I know when someone makes you sad, and even worse if you get very, very sad. So that's why I have our family time rules so you don't get sad and I don't get sad. We can always find a way to be happy together, because we're the most important thing in each other's lives."
"Well I'm depressed, I can't clean up." He kept his arms crossed. Regina nodded.
"I know honey," Regina sighed. "But you know what really helps during depression is to do things, like cleaning up." Henry frowned.
"No, rules are stupid and if Emma can work during family time than I'm not going to clean up!" He stood up and ran into his room and slammed the door. Regina sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment. The spot between her rock and a hard place was just getting tighter. She cleaned up the milk there would be no fighting with Henry about this, she would set him some other task to make up for her cleaning up his mess. In the meantime, she had to figure out this thing with Emma. On one hand Henry had formed an attachment to her based on his own fantasies. On another hand the reality was probably quite different. Emma seemed to only want him because he was her son, but had no game plan for what were to happen if she actually got him. She had no structure to give Henry who was in need of it to keep him secure and confident in the world. It had taken Regina until Henry started school to realize what infancy was for, it was for making plans. When all they required was a steady feeding schedule it gave you time to think about teaching them about life. Henry had always been a bit on the not the easy child side at first as he got use to her. Eventually she was traveling a lot and he saw less of her for a while and he had become unmanageable by the time he was four. But then she turned it all around, he went with her everywhere almost, she stayed off her phone whenever possible and in particular at dinner or events. They had both changed for the better, but now there was Emma.
"Ugh," Regina grumbled throwing away a banana peel. She always thought they got decidedly sticky after you had eaten your banana. Once she was done, she made herself a pot of coffee as she thought about Emma. Regina didn't know what to think except she wasn't what she was expecting at all. It was clear she was smart and beautiful, but smart and beautiful did not a mother make. Regina had, had to learn and Emma was impulsive enough to think she could do it on the fly, that she could just go on as things were before. And what the entailed meant not really giving Henry her full attention just as she probably didn't give adults her full attention unless directly confronted. Emma was a girl use to being on her own quite literally. Surprisingly she wasn't quite as bitchy as her mother, that was a plus in her favor, but rather unfavorable if they suddenly showed up when she was near or saw a picture of her. But it also wasn't surprising Emma hadn't been welcomed home by her either. She had always called her father's experiments an embarrassment to high society or the world. And that she was glad he had other business ventures to talk about to people. Regina hadn't realized at the time the depth of his experiments or that he'd used his own beloved Mary Margaret as a guinea pig. That was rather surprising in itself considering his favorite words to her were, the world revolves around you, it's your job to let everyone know it.
"There I go thinking about myself again, but then if I go to jail that's also not good for him," Regina muttered as she poured coffee in her cup before taking out the yoghurt container and a bag of granola. As an afterthought she grabbed some blue berries as well, as her phone rang from the bedroom. She paused in making her breakfast and went into her bedroom and answered the phone. It was from an unknown number.
"Hello?" Regina answered. "Who's calling?"
"Thank God, I've been texting you for over an hour," Emma said on the other line. Regina rolled her eyes and returned to the kitchen with her phone in hand.
"I was asleep," Regina told her as if that were obvious, it was pretty early in the morning.
"Whatever," Emma said through the noise of shuffling papers and folders and the opening of drawers. She was obviously looking for something in the mess she probably called a desk.
"Ms. Swan, why are you calling?" Regina asked when she didn't go on.
"Oh, right, I thought you were going to tell him I had to work, he called me in the middle of an interrogation, and then yelled at me for making plans without him. He was upset that I didn't even think to bring him to work with me or that I didn't say so you could change the tickets for the circus. But I hate circuses and so yeah could you like talk to him, he's being unreasonable."
"Ms. Swan…."
"No, we're not talking to her today," Henry yelled from his room.
"Ms. Swan, I am not your go between," Regina told her. She hung up her phone and returned to making her breakfast when she heard something fall in Henry's room. She sighed and hurried in. She found him on the floor in a mess of clothes and blanket with a chair on top of him.
"I hurt myself," Henry said sadly.
"Oh Henry what were you doing?" Regina asked him as she pulled the chair off of him.
"Breaking the rules," He grunted. Regina sighed and shook her head at him as she untangled his feet. She lifted him up by his shoulders and set him on his feet. She sat back on his bed.
"Henry this can't go on just because she has to work," Regina told him. "I know it's disappointing, but sometimes things don't go our way. What have I always told you?" Henry frowned.
"That even though you can make a lot of time for me, the world doesn't revolve around me," He grumbled.
"Exactly, I spend a lot of time as a criminal which has enabled me to make my own rules in my own legitimate ventures Henry. My schedule has been so flexible that I can keep you safe and stay with you. But Emma she is not her own boss and police work is rarely forgiving towards the family. Yes, she could be better and I'll have a talk with her about that, but you can't expect to go to work with her, nor can I walk into an Interpol office. She might figure out I'm reluctant to do so and hold you there away from me."
"I'd run away," Henry told her. "She can't take you away from me." He hugged her one armed and held his other arm weird hoping she wouldn't notice.
"Henry why are you holding your arm weird?" Regina asked him. He grinned sheepishly.
"It doesn't hurt really," Henry said. Regina looked at his arm, it was swelling by the second.
"Henry Daniel Mills." She hurried out and got some ice for his arm before she picked his clothes up off the floor and found a clean t-shirt and jeans. She got him dressed as she ranted in Spanish about telling her whenever he hurt himself. She got dressed herself rather casually before they left for the hospital. They were seen fairly slow in Regina's opinion and an x-ray was taken. They got to sit in a room afterwards because Regina had to have words with the radiologist who managed to manipulate Henry's arm roughly to the point of him crying.
"I think he put a bruise there," Henry sniffed. Regina rubbed his back and kissed the bruise.
"What do you say we go home, I'll make us some lamb stew for dinner tonight and coconut pudding. And in the meantime we'll play space paranoids and eat a delicious fruit salad." Henry made a face.
"I'd rather have French fries." Regina chuckled and kissed his head.
"Yeah we can have French fries if you eat some vegetables for me, obviously you need more vitamins so you can have strong bones." Henry nodded.
"I'm sorry I wasn't nice this morning." Regina rubbed his back.
"It's okay, sometimes we just need to be upset and get it all out before we can go on with our day." Henry nodded. "Now I'm thinking tomorrow we leave go home, home. I think you need to go back to your life for a little while. Including attending school with the others and not just your home study." Henry nodded.
"Will we see Emma again?" Henry asked. Regina was about to answer that it depended on a few things she needed to work out with Emma first as an adult when the door burst open.
"Get away from him," Emma yelled at Regina. Regina looked at her taken aback but didn't move.
"Ms. Swan what is your problem?" Regina asked her.
"You, broke his arm, I had my suspicions, but somehow I gave you the benefit of the doubt but then I got a call that you'd come in for a broken arm."
"Are you saying that you illegally stalked me?" Regina asked her.
"No, I just put out a list to every hospital to notify me when a Henry Mills entered the hospital just in case something like this happened." Regina frowned.
"Ms. Swan are you seriously accusing me of physically harming Henry?" Regina asked her hands on her hips.
"He's here with a broken arm," Emma told her. "And the way you talk to him sometimes, it's like you want to do more, but don't because I'm around." Regina sighed.
"Reminding myself to not talk down to my son or to have patience because he has his own point of view is not a crime, it's a good parenting technique."
"I don't believe you, so Henry will be coming with me until you've been fully investigated."
"NO!" Henry yelled. They both turned towards him. "I just fell because of you; you're not taking my mom to jail."
"Me, I wasn't even there, Henry, I know you like her but when she hurts you that's not okay," Emma told him.
"No, I was angry at you and I messed up my room and was jumping on my bed. My arm hit the ceiling fan and I got tangled in my bedsheets and fell off the bed."
"You mean Regina came in and pushed you off the bed."
"No, mom was on the phone with you," Henry told her. Regina didn't even correct him that it'd been a matter of seconds after hanging up since Emma would simply run with that.
"I didn't hear any scream over the phone," Emma told him.
"I didn't scream," Henry told her. "I was surprised." In that moment the doctor walked in smiling.
"Ms. Mills, Henry?" They nodded as Emma backed up to hear what the doctor said.
"How bad is it?" Emma asked him as he shook Regina's hand and Henry's good one. He shook Emma's hand next. "I'm his mother." He looked confused for a moment before grinning. "Forgive my English, Mrs. Mills." Regina's eyes went wide, the last person she could imagine as her wife at this moment was Emma. Emma's eyes went similarly wide at the thought of being married to Regina.
"No, no, no," They said at the same time. "We're not married." The doctor looked more confused but just went and pulled up Henry's radiograph.
"He has a hairline fracture, very lucky, very common. You be surprised," He said.
"Doctor was this caused by abuse?" Emma asked. She held up her Interpol badge. He glanced at it and back it at the Radiograph.
"Little boys love jumping on beds, and I suspect he jumped off not just on," He told her in French seriously. "He was taken away and they were asked separately what happened. Both stories match up more or less. It was not rehearsed." Regina didn't even comment that her French was better than she let on. Emma frowned but nodded.
"Do I get a cast?" Henry asked. The doctor nodded.
"Come, we pick out a color and let moms talk." Henry nodded and Regina helped him down and watched him go.
"Regina…" Emma started.
"You have some nerve," Regina told her upset. "You're like an impulsive child, you don't think!" Emma took a step back not prepared again for Regina yelling at her. "I'm going to give you some sort of lee way because it's Henry and it's scary when your child ends up in the hospital, but do not ever accuse me of something like that again without real proof. Now get out and leave us alone." Emma was about to speak when Henry and the doctor came in. He had chosen a green cast to start. A nurse followed in with stuff for his cast. Emma didn't leave though, she tried to hug Henry but he pushed her away. Emma realized for the first time that by being at odds with Regina, she was hurting herself. She had to turn it around make Regina look bad and her look good.
"I can be as gentle as possible," The doctor told Henry with a smile. He was a trooper through most of it, but then Emma realized he'd already been given pain meds. Once they were done and Regina signed some forms, they left. Emma followed them to the pharmacy and back to their French apartment.
"Of course," Emma muttered seeing the neighborhood. She couldn't go into the garage, but she could get buzzed in. She gave them a few minutes to get upstairs as she had a friend look up which apartment they had leased for her stay, but it wasn't listed. She managed to slip in with a neighbor and look up their apartment by mailbox, which was unmarked. She went up to the third floor and knocked on the door. Regina opened it and wasn't surprised to see Emma at the door. She had noticed her trailing them, but she had nothing to hide in this instance. Graham had also saw her park across the street from his place on the roof.
"He doesn't want to see you, Ms. Swan, besides he's sleeping off his medications now."
"Can I just see him please?" Emma asked she was feeling like an utter fool, she had jumped the gun assuming Regina had hurt him when that had not been the case. She was so desperate to find one thing wrong with Regina. Not only because she didn't trust people, but because it would get her Henry back. But it had done nothing to endear her to Henry and she had to blame herself for that, but she had a new game plan now.
"Five minutes, the door stays open, and you do not wake him," Regina said taking pity on her. She wasn't in the habit of taking pity on people, but she understood this was Henry they were talking about. Emma nodded. Regina took a step back and allowed her in. She looked around of course, but the place was clearly a rented out apartment for vacationers. Regina looked in on Henry first and saw he was sleeping. She let Emma in and motioned for her to stay quiet. She watched her for only a minute as she sat on the edge of Henry's bed. She noticed it was a look of longing. But Regina saw what she had always known that Emma had in some small part of her brain always hoped he'd survived all those years ago. Regina's phone rang and she went back into the kitchen where she was cutting up ingredients for her stew.
"Regina Mills speaking," Regina answered. She sighed as it was her mother. "Hi mom."
"Regina darling, where are you dear?" She asked. "I came to visit and found you weren't home."
"Mother stop rifling through my jewelry," Regina told her as she heard her mother gasp over some particular thing she had.
"But it's so beautiful on me, dear," Cora told her.
"Mother, put it down, and just tell me how much money you need this time?"
"Oh, you know it's just that the ladies invited me to hang with the who is who of English Society and I didn't have enough to keep up with them. So I told them, I'd have to come a day late as I had to visit you and young Henry."
"How much money mother?" Regina asked her again without feeling.
"Oh about twenty million dear you know keep up all appearances and all." Regina sighed and was silent for a moment.
"Fine mother I'll take care of it, just get out of my home now." Regina hung up and immediately called her security team to escort her mother out of her home. Most people wouldn't dare enter her home, so security was lack when she wasn't home, but unfortunately that meant her mother walked in and took Jewelry from her or whatever else she thought she could get off the island with and sell. She heard a security report before she hung up promising to call back later. She was just finished transferring money to her mother when she noticed Emma coming out of Henry's room and shutting the door quietly. Regina glanced at the clock. Emma was over her five minutes, but Regina didn't say anything as she returned to cooking.
"Everything okay?" Emma asked. She had noticed that Henry's bag was packed and not even laying open on the floor, which meant they were preparing to leave earlier than they said. She was going to lose her son and not hear anything for months before she had a chance to turn things around. Regina nodded wishing she would head out of the door. She had to cook and handle a fuck up and assess their risk.
"Don't you have to get back to work?" Regina asked out loud.
"If you wanna talk about it, I can make you feel better about your mother in a heartbeat," Emma told her. Regina looked up at her and made a face. Emma was trying to be nice, that was normally a sign someone wanted something especially when they were at odds with you.
"Ms. Swan, an hour ago, you were accusing me of child abuse, and now you're trying to be my friend, so say what it is you want or leave," Regina told her as Henry quietly stood at his door watching them. Emma sighed and her shoulders slumped.
"I don't know what I'm doing." Regina scoffed and Emma's mouth set in a thin line for a second as she looked at the floor. "I deserve that I suppose." Regina nodded. "I've been putting Henry at arm's length because I keep waiting for him to hurt me. But I'm old enough now to know that I do that because I don't wanna be hurt. No one in my life has really stuck around except one person, and she doesn't even want kids. To gain Henry I might have to lose her and that's hard. But I need to have a relationship with him so please just tell me what to do to make it right with him."
"Why should I help you, you only want to take him away from me," Regina pointed out.
"Because you're right I'm impulsive, I want him even with all the things I'm unsure about even though I have issues to work out within myself and personal life. I just saw a chance and I grabbed it. I was wrong to accuse you without all the facts. Forgive me, it's hard for me to compete with Smart and Beautiful. Everything that kid says ends with Mom can do it better. Given my life right now, best case scenario is that we all work this out together as a family." Henry made eye contact with Regina and nodded. She kept her face neutral, she had hoped he'd stay mad at her, but that was not the case.
"You can come back for dinner at seven, I think Henry would really like that, but know this Ms. Swan it's got to be on our terms now. You imposing yours led to a very rough morning of breaking the rules because you thought ours were stupid. But like I told you last night our rules they work for us, they were made through trial and error."
"I'm really sorry your rules aren't stupid," Emma told her with a frown. Did Regina's rules really make that much difference in Henry's life?
"No, they aren't, so with that said try to respect ours that involve us maximizing our family time. I get that you never had a family and I pity you for having no one in your life to show you what family means, but Henry knows and if you let him he'll show you. And if you don't, you'll destroy his, not because I'll go anywhere, but because he'll stop believing and I never want to see him stop believing." Emma looked down. She had started off a little bit insincere, but the last bit about what Regina had said had rang true. Lily didn't know what family was like either, she came in and out of Emma's life constantly like a hurricane. She also hadn't expected Regina to relent and be so nice. She had woken Henry up a little bit as she apologized and then left out in the hopes he would hear her be sincere and Regina be an asshole.
"I will be better, I promise," Emma told her. Regina nodded.
"Good, then we'll see you at seven, I have work to do and finish making dinner for him before he wakes up."
"I can stay and care for him if he wakes, so you can work." Regina shook her head, she was not budging, since every minute counted.
"No, besides I have to have a talk with him about you first and what he wants, while I do believe for once you're being sincere, I respect my son enough to hear him out about how he's feeling about you. I also need to have a conversation about constructive ways to handle his frustrations against you." Emma nodded. She needed to leave, but for the millionth time she wondered what Regina really did for a living at Evil Regal Corporation. She left and Regina locked the door. Once Graham came down and swept the apartment for listening devices she handled her business while she made dinner. Graham played space paranoids with Henry. Eventually she joined them.
"They're burning cargo ship number five, thankfully the deliveries were made, but we're going to be fishing seventy thousand bottles of stolen beer and cola off the ocean floor. His brilliant idea was to drop the containers in the ocean against our conservation code. The whaler will pick them up five miles away, they had to burn it, close to a coast and are already attracting the wrong people. They will most likely steal another boat or make the swim. Either way they must scatter until it's clear there's no connection to them or us." Graham nodded.
"I told him not to steal anything in the cargo ships ever. I told him to leave the stealing to the Jolly Roger." Regina nodded.
"Manning has screwed up way too many times, Henry and I will be fine here, but I'd like you to go oversee the cleanup, make sure it was done right."
"I don't want to leave you unguarded," Graham said.
"Then send for Red, she'll guard us just as well, she was with Maleficent last I heard she was chasing after that crazy bitch who fancied herself to be Cruella Deville, she was a nurse or something somewhere, I don't know, she didn't really say. Just made me promise not to call her back until the task was complete." Graham nodded. "But Red is at our disposal if we need her to keep an eye out, Maleficent can handle herself in the meantime." Graham nodded.
"I'll make the call and depart immediately." Regina nodded. Graham was leaving just as Emma was arriving.
"Oh you aren't staying?" Emma asked seeing his bags, she desperately hoped Regina hadn't tried to leave or already left and she was catching the tail in. She hadn't even realized that Graham was also staying with them, she had thought he'd only been visiting in Florida or something. But obviously he was more than that when she put together Regina's job and Graham's training. Regina wasn't just some low level player.
"Yeah unfortunately," Graham told her excuse me. He left and Emma went in where Regina was setting the dining room table. Henry was helping set the table by setting the silverware and already in his space paranoid pajamas on which the sleeve on his one arm had been cut and resewn to make room for his cast.
"Henry, how are you feeling?" Emma asked immediately. Henry didn't answer her as he continued his work.
"Ms. Swan, Henry and I have talked and…" Regina started.
"Really you're going to go back on your word?" Emma asked upset.
"No, shut up and listen for once," Regina told her. "Now, we talked and Henry has agreed you can still stay for dinner tonight and he'll forgive you if you make a special effort and most importantly he would like an apology for your behavior as well." Emma let her body physically relax.
"Henry, I'm sorry I pushed you away, I've never really let people get close to me and it was always supposed to be different with you, but in some ways I'm meeting a stranger and it's hard for me to express myself like normal families do. Can you accept my apology and have mercy on me with the understanding that I never had a mother to show me the way?" Henry pretended to think about before he hugged her.
"I forgive you because that's what we do in this family, we accept each other's apologies." Emma smiled and nodded. Her life was really going to be so much better with Henry in it. Regina smiled at Henry before she placed a bowl of French fries, and a larger bowl of fruit on the table. Followed by the pot of lamb stew that was cooked to perfection in her opinion. "Come on Emma, let's go wash our hands, and you can take your jacket off. Regina washed her own hands before grabbing a pitcher of a juice she'd made out of kale and acai berries. She grabbed a bottle of water for Emma though, she didn't think, she would drink it.
"What's that?" Emma asked pointing to the juice as she poured it in Henry's cup and then her own.
"Kale and Acai berry juice, don't tell me you're willing?" Regina asked jokingly.
"I think I can handle it, you did feed me bugs." Henry and Regina chuckled before she gave her some. Regina put a nice portion of stew in everyone's bowl as Henry grabbed some French fries, he had thought Regina had completely forgotten about her promise to let him have some that day.
"Henry we agreed, you'd eat some fruit too," Regina reminded. He grinned and served him some fruit.
"Fruit, Ms. Swan?" Regina asked her taking the spoon from Henry.
"Sure," Emma said wishing she could just take the fries because she was weary of the stew. Regina served her a big helping to match Henry's and took an equal portion. "Oh that's too much."
"We lead by example, after that, eat at your own discretion," Regina told her simply. "Leading by example in this case is to eat what you are given, all of it. Henry has to have a good amount, so we'll also benefit from a good amount." Emma nodded, she just had to play along.
"What's in the stew?" Emma asked her suspiciously.
"Oh Lamb, root vegetables like celeriac, carrots, red potatoes, onions, garlic, turnips, cassava, and lastly Jicama. I was surprised Graham managed to get a few of those here, but when Henry is ill I like to make stew because I can stew a bunch of vegetables he won't eat otherwise or are hard to juice. He really loves it and when it's been cooking several hours, it is absolute perfection." Regina dipped her bread in her Stew as she started eating. Henry had already gotten started. Emma tasted her stew and was really surprised at how good it was, the vegetables practically melted in her mouth and tasted like the lamb because they had been sitting for so long.
"It's really good Regina," Emma told her. "I think I will have a second go." Regina nodded and served her. Henry limited himself to one and ate the rest of his French fries.
"Can I go back to playing space paranoids again?" Henry asked. Regina nodded.
"Another thirty minutes and then you can pleasure read, I let you play all day." Henry nodded and ran off from the table.
"What no clearing his plate to the dishwasher?" Emma asked her seriously.
"He's excused for today," Regina told her seriously as she ate some more fruit. "He gets his favorite food, plays his favorite game, pleasure reads his favorite book or current reading book if I think he's had enough television. And wears his favorite space paranoids pajamas." Regina's phone rang.
"Excuse me, that one I have to take." Regina knew the emergency ring when she heard it. She picked up her phone and Bluetooth and went into the bedroom. She wished she hadn't picked up the phone though. It was Graham, he had to travel to off the coast of Africa but before he got there his spy already told him that they were fucked. The boat hadn't burned all the way and they now had a map to their last known coordinates. Regina sighed.
"Call everyone back to base under charter twenty-two," Regina told him.
"What about you?" Graham asked.
"As soon as Red gets in we'll be fine," Regina told him. "Don't worry she'll be here soon."
"All right I'll do what needs to be done." They hung up and Regina took the battery out of her phone and smashed it all. She hid the remainder and went back out.
"Everything okay with the troops, I heard you needed to pull them back to base."
"You speak Spanish now?" Regina asked her.
"A little bit, I know you're waiting for someone, but Henry told me that some troops were in trouble." Regina nodded.
"They're just moving camp that's all, the area is unsecure," Regina told her. "What else do you speak?" Emma shrugged.
"French and English, I guess," She told her. Regina nodded. Regina realized that she needed Emma to go, so they could go. If she went rushing out Emma would want an address and such. She needed to disappear. Emma however missed or ignored all of Henry's fake yawns she played space paranoids with him. Eventually he was actually falling asleep for real and Regina allowed her to put him to bed.
"Maybe we can go to the circus tomorrow?" Emma suggested while Henry was still awake. He shook his head.
"No, I wanna see the Louvre," Henry told her seriously as someone came into the house.
"The person you're expecting has a key?" Emma asked. Regina shook her head. Emma pulled out her gun from her pant leg. Henry looked worried.
"Regina?" Red called as she appeared near the door dressed in a black skirt, white shirt, and a red hood that obscured her eyes. She also carried a sword and in each hand she had the leash of two wolves she had raised from pups. They were runts of a wolf pack she had saved.
"Put your gun down it's my friend," Regina told her. She pushed Emma's hand down.
"Your friend is an assassin," Emma told her. "She's the Red Assassin."
"Seriously I've just come from doing cosplay, there's an amazing new comic book out of her," Red told them. "Now I came to spend time with my best friend, but I see he's already ready for bed." Henry grinned.
"No, no I'm up." Red let the wolves go and they ran and jumped on Henry licking his face lovingly. Regina gave him a moment before she ordered the well behaved dogs out. They went into the living room and settled down by couch as Red provided food for them. Regina and Emma kissed Henry goodnight before leaving his room. Regina didn't expect him to sleep, he wasn't going to sleep anyway.
"I've never heard of this comic." Red stood up and pulled it out of her bag. She had started the comic herself.
"Three issues in and it's a big hit," Red told her. "You can have my issue number one copy, I'm sure it will be worth millions one day."
"This looks just like you," Emma commented.
"It should, she's the author and model for the artists," Regina told her. Emma looked at the name it said Claire Lukas.
"How did you get in here, you have to be buzzed in and Regina said you didn't have a key," Emma grilled her.
"A neighbor let me up as he was coming in, he thought he'd get some attention. And the door wasn't locked." Red showed her that it was easy enough to get in. Emma let it go.
"Are you going to take your hood off?" Emma asked.
"Yes, as soon as I get ready for bed, I pinned it on so it wouldn't fall off today. Regina I'll let you say goodbye to your friend, while I shower." Red had a very suggestive tone that maybe Regina would come in before her shower was over. Regina hid a grin since Emma seemed to realize what kind of friends she and Red were. The grin did nothing but cement that feeling as Red disappeared into the bathroom.
"What time are we meeting at the Louvre?" Emma asked her.
"Twelve pm sharp," Regina lied. "I get the feeling we're going to be sleeping in." Emma's face went red as she put her jacket on quickly. Soon she was out the door, but not empty handed and she hoped Regina didn't notice what she had taken.
Once she was gone, Regina started packing up as they dumped the food, bleached all the sheets and vacuumed thoroughly. They didn't leave a trace of DNA anywhere or any sign that they had ever been.
"Please tell me you hacked his phone," Emma said walking in to the computer lab.
"No, this kid had so many safeguards on his phone, I don't even know where to begin. I tried to at least track where the phone has travelled and it fried itself, just self-destructed on me. And by the time I even managed to hack the first line of defense which admittedly led me to believe that I would be in rather quick even set up a fake phone as soon as I cracked it. And then around five this morning the thing seems to glitch and just unlocks."
"So you did do it Neal?" Emma asked confused. Neal shook his head.
"No, the phone was completely wiped as if I just opened it. I tried to get the past info back, but there was absolutely nothing. I think she wiped it from afar, there was something on here, but it's not here now." Emma groaned.
"What about hers, she tried to smash it for some reason, but maybe we can get something off of it." He nodded.
"Did you already lift prints?" She nodded.
"Tried the phone was wiped clean before she smashed it." He nodded and tried to work on the phone. He used Henry's battery.
"This is a high tech burner phone, tracking for Henry's cell just a program, she wiped it clean, never saved the password. Some photos of you and Henry, but nothing pass this trip to France.
"Hit redial, maybe we can get her last call or the phone company." Service was linked to a Paris office. Emma had to wait but when they finally faxed it over.
"Fuck me, ninety percent of these calls are to me, from me, or Henry, but I saw her take other calls.
"Who said she took them on this phone, "Neal pointed out. "You only found one cell phone." Emma nodded.
"I'm sure she only had one phone, because I would bet anything if I didn't have his cell it would be broken too."
"Wait, wait there's a few numbers here that not yours or to Henry's number. It's also a Paris number."
"Well rule that one out, it's the restaurant we went too, I made reservations for dinner tonight," Emma told him. He nodded. He checked two more numbers.
"Okay so this number is disconnected but it's the second to last call she got. Maybe the company tracks their coordinates as well." Emma nodded. She called the companies.
"Well?" Neal asked.
"Regina and Henry's cellphones never left Paris according to the company, and the third number didn't leave Paris either, until it was in Italy and it disappeared. I bet anything that call came from Graham. "
"Okay, so that's his Uncle, from what you told me that's not unusual. We've already kind of over stepped their privacy already," Neal told her.
"I don't care she disappeared with my son!" Emma yelled at him.
"Our son, and technically her son, she has no legal obligation to let you see him. But given what happened last time, I wouldn't be surprised if Henry pops up again, this seems to be her MO, and one thing is for sure he's not in any danger from her." Emma sighed and nodded. Neal had been a professional thief when she first met him, small time. He led her down a bad road, but when she finally got caught he was a lab geek with Interpol and she was still no one.
"Thanks," She muttered before she left again.
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