Another update for you! I'm pretty proud of myself, I've never stuck with a story this long and I'm determined to complete this! In this chapter you get quite a lot of back story of what happened in the 7 years that Henry missed, I wasn't planning on giving it that much thought but I started writing and I wanted to explain everything properly, I hope I'm telling the story well

I really really hope you review - I would love to know what you think! I'm grateful for the 100+ followers but it would be wonderful if some more of you give me your opinion :) Thank you and enjoy!


Henry lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He simply just couldn't understand, he had so many questions he didn't know where to start. One question in particular was really puzzling him – how could Snow White let her daughter be with the Evil Queen? So to get his answer he used one of his old tricks and sneaked out of the house through his bedroom window by making a makeshift rope with his bed sheets.

He quickly made his way to Snow and Charming's house which August directed him to earlier that day and knocked on the door. Snow opened the door with a 3 year old on her hips.

"Hen Hen!" the girl squealed and reached out to Henry and he smiled hesitantly at the girl he learned to be Elsie earlier that day. Snow had gushed about her baby girl and said that Archie was babysitting while they were at the diner and he could meet his aunty (talk about a complicated family tree) the next day, but here Henry stood, looking lost on his grandparent's doorway.

"Henry! Come in! What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" Henry just sighed and allowed himself to be lead inside the house and onto a couch in the living room where James sat.

"Henry, are you okay?" both the Charming's were concerned at Henrys silence and posture and so joined Henry on the couch and waited for him to explain.

"My Ma and m-m" he stuttered to a stop and his grandparents instantly knew that he had just found out about his parents and their...relationship. "You can't be okay with that!" he directed this at Snow, his arms waving around widely as if trying to get them to understand the scale of the problem.

"I wasn't. I...wasn't the most supportive of them...I'm still not exactly thrilled that my daughter is in love with Regina but...I've learned to accept it, for Emma and for you. Even for little Elsie, here" Snow lightly tickled the toddler in her arms, causing Elsie to squirm and giggle.

Henry stayed silent for a moment, actually hearing from someone else, especially from Snow, that his Ma was in love...with the Evil Queen - or former Evil Queen as everyone is so sure of it these days. "...Why for Elsie?"

"Well...your Mother was quite...taken to Elsie the moment she met her, the same with Elsie, the constant fighting had to stop as it was upsetting Elsie...she loves her Aunty Regina" instantly the toddler perked up and clapped her hands "GiGi!" Snow smiled slightly at her daughter before looking up to her grandson. "She loves her"

Henry remembered the times when he was young, before the book and Emma happened, he had a really good relationship with his Mom, and he wondered if that is how she acts with Elsie now. A strange feeling of jealously ran through him as he thought that.

"How...how long have they..." he can't seem to finish the sentence, still not quite believing it.

"Since you were 12. They kept it secret from everyone - well except Ruby, she found out almost immediately - don't ask me how, please. It was a secret for about 8 months until..." She trailed off and shared a look with her husband.

"Until what?" Henry wasn't entirely sure he wanted the answer.

"Well..." Snow started

Everybody attended the monthly town meeting, and this month was no different. Snow and James sat at the head table, joined by Emma and The Blue Fairy, facing the towns' citizens. Regina stood at the back of the town hall, along with Rumple and a few other 'villains' that the majority of Storybrooke do not trust.

After Cora had been defeated, some of Storybrooke wanted to return to their homeland and so that had been the next move to make, many failed attempts followed, and only when they made another vial of True Love potion (Snow and Charming happily surrendered a strand of their hair) did something happen. When the potion was poured down the well, everyone looked in suspense, waiting for an indication that a portal has opened.

The silence lasted for minutes and just as people started to murmur, a set of hands appeared from inside the well, and out climbed a woman, clearly a warrior, with long dark hair pulled into a ponytail. She didn't acknowledge the large group of people gawking at her, instead she reached inside the well to help another woman climb out, and only when she was safe on the ground did the warrior turn to the people and said in a clear, authoritative tone "Expect more of us. That land is baron, and infested with Ogres and other beasts. It is not safe there anymore" she nodded at them and then turned back to the slightly shorter woman, grasping her shoulders "You did well. I wouldn't have been able to save everyone if it wasn't for you, Aurora. You are a true warrior"

The people of Storybrooke were still staring slack jawed at the women when slowly but surely more people climbed out of the well and joined this new world...their world now. Charming took the lead and calmed the new additions, and then told everyone that no one is going back to their old world. It was slowly accepted after that, hearing your homeland is baron is devastating, but this world is a fresh start.

Back at the town meeting, the argument started again. It always started with a random person in the crowd shouting something out, which got everyone started and it was always about the same thing.

"So when are we going to kill the Evil Queen?!" a random person shouted out, followed by a few others agreeing, the noise quickly building in the large town hall. Emma pounded her fist on the table in front of her and stood up.

"Never. That's when. You all full well know that she has saved your asses quite a few times now, so if you would kindly shut the fu-" Emma was cut off my her Mother, who held an arm in front of her daughter, stern eyes telling her to calm down. Emma slowly sat down, still furious, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"There will be a punishment for her crimes, we are not sure if it will be by execution-"

"WHAT? Are you being serious? She is not dying. End of discussion"

"Emma, it is our way, she has done some unspeakable things-" Blue started, looking annoyingly smug sitting at the head table talking of Regina's death.

"I don't care for 'your way', you are in my world now and here you get a second chance and Regina has proved that she is worthy time and time again" Emma stood once again, towering over Blue, who kept her smug expression.

"Why do you care so much?" came a shout from within the crowd. Normally Emma would just play the Henry card, but she was sick of this argument and she was sick of keeping this secret.

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER! OKAY? I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER AND I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL HER, SHE IS THE MOTHER OF MY SON AND...and I love her" Silence. Never had such a large group of people had been that quiet. After a moment hurried footsteps could be heard and a soft "Henry..." the door then slammed shut, followed by quieter footsteps and the soft click of the door opening and closing.

"Emma?" Snow looked at her daughter who was breathing heavily, looking at the door. Emma shook her head and started for the door.

"Not now. I need to help my family" Snows mouth clamped shut, stopping herself from saying 'but we are family' and watched her daughter run to the back of the room, swinging the door open. People then started to murmur, which turned into louder voices and soon the town hall was full of noise again.

James took the gavel and slammed it on the table repeatedly until the room was relatively quiet again. "Thank you. Now, we will sort whatever this is out, I'm sure there is a good reason for all of this" Ruby sighed to herself and pushed through the crowd to the front and faced everyone.

"The reason is they love each other" Snow gaped at her friend, as did the majority of the room "I've known for a while now, Emma asked me to keep it to myself and I did because damn it I've never seen Emma this happy. Come on, think about it, Emma has been happier in the past 7 or so months and you know why? It's because of Regina. I know it's hard for some of you to believe, but Regina has changed and Henry and Emma are responsible for that, actually, I have helped too, and so has Archie. We helped by believing that she can change. And she has"

"Then, your grandfather and I went somewhere more private to talk to Ruby. There was…a lot of shouting. We didn't see you, Emma or Regina for a couple of weeks, during that time your Mothers talked to you and calmed you down about it. You had forgiven your Mom a while before that but obviously it was a lot to accept, but after the two weeks you were…more accepting than most" James broke his silence and continued from where his wife left off.

"The first time we saw you all again was in the Diner, it was quite crowded, but you three just walked in and sat in a booth towards the back. No one actually talked to any of you, except Ruby who was obviously fine with it all. It took a long time before Snow and I had a talk with Emma that didn't end in fights. It was a hard few months" Henry breathed and took it all in. wow, talk about drama He thought, running a hand down his face. Just as he was opening his mouth to speak, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it" James walked to the front and opened it to be faced with two worried women. "He's here" he said, knowing exactly why they had come here.

"Kid, thank god, we were worried sick!" They had went to his room after calming down and panicked when they found it empty as he could be anywhere and not know where he was, thankfully they agreed to check Snow and James' house first. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, I just…got angry, I'm sorry" Henry stood up and walked to Emma, pulling her into a hug "'m sorry too Ma" when he pulled away, he faced Regina and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, he felt Regina relax into his hug and tighten her arms around him "I'm…sorry Mom" Regina pulled back and gave Henry a watery smile.

"GiGi!" Elsie made herself heard, and reached her little arms out towards Regina. She released her hold of Henry and took the little girl into her arms, peppering kisses over her face. "and how's my El doing?" she cooed, looking completely natural and content. Elsie answered by laughing and played with Regina's necklace. Kissing her head once more, Regina sat on the armchair with Elsie on her lap.

"Are you…okay?" Emma asked Henry, hoping that her parents have succeeded in calming Henry down. Henry looked down at his feet, swallowing before facing his Ma "I guess so, not…not completely" he wanted to make his Ma happy but at the same time he knew he had to be honest.

"That's okay kid, I understand. Just…don't talk like that to me or your Mom again" When Henry nodded Emma ruffled his hair and gave him a quick one-sided hug. He was far from okay about all of this but he now understands it more, and he is starting to believe that his Mom has changed for the better. He can deal with that at the moment.

His Mother's in a relationship though, well he thought, watching Emma sit on the arm of the chair Regina and Elsie were sitting and tuck some hair behind Regina's ear and quickly stroke her cheek, that is going to be much harder to deal with.


I've always felt that Regina loves children - their innocence and unconditonal love - so I wanted to show that here, also there is more story to Regina and Elsie that I want to explore

Hope you enjoyed!