Author's note: I'm making up my own magical rules in this one… I hope you guys don't mind. Let me know what you think of this plot twist please!
I don't own anything. If I did, Regina's and Henry's relationship would have been at the center of every episode lol.
More than a week passed, and nobody had seen the queen anywhere around town. Most people were fine with it, but there was a surprisingly big group that was worried. At the top of that list was Granny. She had been trying to reach the younger woman every day since the fight at the diner. She was not able to talk to her at all, she even went to the mansion to cheek on her but she was not there, in fact, it looked like nobody was living in that building at all.
Henry felt terrible the first few days. But somehow, thankfully (or so he thought) Emma was distracting him any time he started to think about Regina. He was not proud to admit that he had even had times where he forgot about the fact that she was missing. In some level, he thought that what had happened wasn't that terrible, and that Regina would get over it at some point. For Emma, the whole thing had turned out to be quite helpful in revealing a new side of herself. She was happy to be spending all this time with Henry, she was loving every second of it. But at the same time, she found it a little disconcerting how easy it was for her to take Henry's mind out of the problems with his (in her eyes) former mother, and what was even worst was that she was totally ok with reminding him of the times where the queen had hurt him in whatever way she knew. The truth of the matter was, that Emma had unconsciously made up a whole lot of terrible scenarios where Regina was the worst mother in the face of the Earth. She honestly believed that Henry's childhood had been horrible, and that Regina was incapable of loving anyone. But life was about to prove her wrong…
Once again, everyone was having breakfast at Granny's. It was the second week after the disappearance of the queen, and things where pretty much normal, which annoy the old wolf to no end. But suddenly, the floor started to shake, and a bright light appeared in the middle of the restaurant. Almost everyone recognized the portal that opened in front of their eyes, but nobody knew what it would bring. When the light finally started to die down a little boy appeared, no more than 3 years of age, he was a little disoriented so he looked up, searching for somebody. Obviously, he couldn't find the person that he was looking for, because he started to tear up immediately. Granny was the first one to react, because she saw who the little boy was, she ran towards him and picked him up trying to calm him. After Granny moved, Emma spoke "What the hell was that?" and she looked at Gold that was sitting in one of the tables near the door. "That, dearie, was a portal. I thought it was obvious" he answered sarcastically. "I know that, but who opened it? and why?". The man looked up at her like she was asking the most boring question "Contrary to what you believe, portals are almost like a magical creature, yes, it's true that one can open a portal, but you never create one, you just use one that already exist and you change its course. There are a lot of 'wild' portals, if you may" he used air quotes on that one "that just open and close as they please" Emma was still unsatisfied with the answer "So, what do we do with that boy? And how do we return him to where he belongs?" at that Golds chuckles "Another portal will open when the time is right to take him back… but I'm afraid the problem is not WHERE he belongs, but WHEN…" and with that he turned around, completely removing himself from the problem at hand, and left the diner.
After the door closed, Emma turned to look at Granny and the little boy in her arms. He had stopped crying and was just looking terribly sad in the older woman's arm. "Does anybody know what he meant by the 'when' thing?" Granny snorted "If you had seen that boy grew up, you wouldn't have a problem recognizing him now" she said while pointing with her head at Henry. At that moment Snow looked at the little boy closer and gasped "Of course! That's our Henry! Look at him, so little and cute" at the mention of his name, the little toddler hid his face even further in the wolf's neck. So, the princess tried again "hey sweetie, do you know who I am?" "Yes" came a little whisper, "Great! And can you tell me the last thing you remember?" the little boy was too uncomfortable, so instead of answering, he shook his head and refused to look up from his 'hiding place'. When she saw this reaction, Granny said "We need to call Regina, she is the only family he knows" Emma immediately refused "No way, how do we even know this isn't one of her plans?" Granny coldly looks her in the eyes "Do you really think she would want to be reminded this much of a time when she was happy with her son?" that comment ended that part of the discussion. But Emma wasn't going to give up that easily "We don't need her, he will be just fine with me. I will take care of him, and when the other portal opens he will go back" she then reached for toddler Henry but when she tried to take him away from Granny he started to scream and cry as loud as his little lungs would let him. Granny couldn't even hide her smirk when he also screamed "NO! I want my mommy! Where is my mommy?!" with that all fight left Emma's body, but she just had to say one last thing "Ok fine, it would be easier with her here, but nobody even knows where she is right now" The old wolf didn't answer, she just took her cellphone out and texted the queen: 'Regina, I know you are in a bad place right now, but we really need you to come to the diner right now. Something happened, and it has to do with Henry' When Emma saw what she had done, she shrugged her shoulders "A simple text is not going to make her come out, she is too proud for that".
Less than 10 minutes after the text was sent, a breathless looking Regina opened the diner's door. "What happened? Is he ok? Where is he?" but Regina looked right at her son and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, in fact he wasn't even looking her in the eyes, as per usual. She then looked at Granny, a little hurt because she thought that she had been tricked by the older woman, but then she saw the little toddler in her arms. It had to be a joke, her mind must be playing with her, it was simply not possible for her son, her 3-years-old son, to be here. But as she came closer, he looked up at her and smiled the biggest and brightest smile "MOMMY YOU CAME!" he screamed as he hugged her. The entire diner was looking at the queen, with tears running down her face hugging the little toddler as if her life depended on it. After a while she pulled back a little to look him in the eyes "Of course I came honey" and looking at the people around her she got the answer to her unspoken question when Snow said, "A portal suddenly opened and he just appeared in here. We were trying to get him to tell as something about his surroundings at the time he fell through it but he wouldn't speak". Regina then saw how distressed her son looked, she immediately grabbed a cookie from the counter and sat in a chair with the toddler on her lap "Honey, do you mind telling mommy the last thing you remember?" Toddler Henry then started to whisper, still a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting "I was playing at the sand box at school, and then there was a bright light on the floor, and I fell! " Regina couldn't believe that even something as terrible as her son falling through a portal could be related to Snow White, for Christ's sake, the woman was supposed to look after the kids in kinder garden! She didn't get time to think much about it before Emma started to talk "I guess I will have a chance to take care of my son at a young age after all!" she was beyond happy "I know it will only be until the other portal opens but still is better than nothing, right?" she looked at the 11-year-old Henry and smiled, he then smiled back at her "Yes! I may even get some memories of you from early on! Awesome" Regina didn't know how much more heartbreak she could take, she was still felling worthless after the last time she had seen Henry, and now she sees that he was not only trying to replace her, but if it was up to him he wouldn't even have memories of her at all. She started to shake, if they kept talking there was no way she would have made it through without falling apart in front of everyone, but thankfully Granny noticed it and came to her rescue "Are you two forgetting this little's boy reaction to Emma?! He doesn't know you girl, he will not be ok with living with you!" feeling the tension in the air, little Henry just hid his face in his mother's neck, and she immediately reacted by rubbing his back and singing softly to him. It was her second nature, caring for him, making sure that, no matter what, he was comfortable. This did not go unnoticed by Grumpy, of all people, so he said to Emma, "Look sister, we know you are cool and everything, but the kid has no idea of what is going on right now, let him go with Regina otherwise he will be miserable and, honestly, so will you" Henry had refused to look at the queen since she entered the diner, but when he finally looked, he saw the tears that were still falling down her face, the protective way in which she was holding the toddler and could see her whispering, and, even if he couldn't hear her, he knew exactly witch song she was singing. The full force of the memories of those times with her hit him and he couldn't help the lump that formed in his throat, he then turned to Emma "Maybe he is right, let him go with my m… I mean, with Regina" Emma was not giving up on knowing little Henry, but guessed it was better to pick her fights "Ok, he can go with her tonight" she looked at the queen when she said this "but tomorrow we will figure out a better solution". She tried to intimidated the other woman with her words but the truth was that Regina wasn't paying attention to anyone but the little toddler, so much so, that Granny had to gently grab her by the arm, and soothingly say "Go home child, spend time with this little boy and we will see how tomorrow goes" Regina didn't need to be told twice, she got up and still in shock, left the restaurant.