"Emma," Regina's tone was cautious as the brunette approached the blonde who was holding steady just a few feet below the water's surface, "we need to approach the next few things we do very carefully."

The sheriff rolled her eyes and gave a quick glance to their son before she replied. "You worried about Mary Margaret?" At the slight nod from other woman, she snorted. "Yeah, me, too."

"She's not going to like what happened," Henry offered without being asked. "Do you think we have to tell her? Maybe, if no one knows, everything will be okay?"

"Oh, I'm telling her." Emma scowled at him. "And, if anyone so much as suggests that Regina was in any shape or form responsible for Ursula's death, I expect both of you to set them straight. That was all me, and I take full responsibility for it."

"You don't have to." Regina started to reach her hand out but stopped just short of touching the blonde. "It would be perfectly acceptable if they thought I had been responsible for her death."

"No." Emma shook her head and her eyes moved between the two pairs of very concerned gazes looking back at her. "You're not taking the blame for this, and, honestly, I don't think there's any blame to be had. It's like you said. I did what had to be done." She glanced down at the sword still in her grasp and slowly sheathed it. "I'll just have to learn to live with it. Lying about it, and having our son lie about it will compound things."

"Ma," Henry's voice was small and confused, "will you be okay?"

"Eventually," she answered in a dark tone. "But that's not important right now. What we need to focus on is getting you back to normal." She turned her attention to Regina. "What do we need to do?"

"We'll have to get him out of the water and onto dry land. From there, I'll need a boost from your magic. That combined with mine and the enchanted items I have might be enough to counteract the spell he's under." The older woman's eyes narrowed in thought. "Ursula's magic couldn't have gotten stronger with age. There was no chance for her to enhance her magical abilities when she was in that trap. This should work."

"What if it doesn't?" Henry glanced down at his body with a wary eye.

"Well, we are in Maine. I guess we go into the lobster businesses," Emma answered with a smirk. At her companions' looks of disbelief, she shrugged. "What? Oh, come on! It was a joke!"

"Bad timing, Ms. Swan," Regina chastised under her breath. "Henry, are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Gracefully turning in the water, he began to swim toward the shore with his mothers trailing behind him.

The wind was cold and biting. As the two women found their footing on the rocky beach, they tried to regain a sense of balance now that the world no longer kept them afloat. Henry patiently waited for them to adjust, and watched with awe as their bodies emerged from the water completely dry.

"Kid, I'm going to pick you up and carry you the rest of the way, okay?" He nodded, and she scooped him up in her arms to carry him bridal style to the beach.

"Emma? Henry?" Mary Margaret's voice cut through the wind.

Emma winced but ignored her and kept walking to the dry shoreline. "You know, that tail doesn't look too bad on you," she said just quietly enough for only her son to hear her.

"Yeah?" He gave it a tiny flick. "It was kind of cool to be able to swim through the water like that."

"I bet." She grunted as she kneeled to set him on the grass. "Bet you'd rather be running around playing basketball, though. Right?"

A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth. "You know I'm not good at sports."

"He gets that from you," Regina said in a voice that held a hint of humor in it. "He inherited your clumsiness."

Emma gave Henry a regretful look. "Sorry, kid."

"Oh my God," Mary Margaret came to a skidding halt next to the trio with David following closely behind her. "What happened?"

"We've already told you what happened," Regina snapped back.

"Did you forget in the few hours we were gone or what?" Emma added in an acrid tone only to physically pull back from the hatefulness that laced her words. "Sorry." She glanced around. "Sorry, Mary Margaret."

Regina tried to ignore the exchange, but a small amount of concern passed over her features. It didn't go unnoticed by David, who said nothing; he only watched. Kneeling down next to Henry and Emma, Regina asked in an assured tone, "Ms. Swan, are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with." Reaching her hand out, the sheriff allowed Regina to take it. She placed her free hand on Henry and gave his shoulder a little squeeze. "You'll be back to normal in no time."

From their place a few feet away, Henry's grandparents watched. "I hope whatever they're about to do works," Mary Margaret said in a hushed voice.

"It'll work." David's jaw flexed, and his body stiffened. "It has to."

"This may hurt a little, Henry, and I'm very sorry." Regina placed her free hand on the boy's other shoulder. "I'll try to make this go as quickly as I can."

He nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."

A dark, rolling purple cloud emanated from the two women's hands where they touched Henry, and it ran over his body. He began to make little whining sounds in the back of his throat but remained as quiet and still as he could. Regina and Emma held their ground as Regina worked their combined magic over their son. Sweat began to appear around Emma's hairline, and the brunette's breathing accelerated as the seconds ticked away.

When the smoke cleared, both women were beyond exhausted, and Henry was clearly tired, but he was himself again. "I have legs!" He scrambled up to stand and then jump up and down. "You did it!" As he bounced around, his mothers slowly stood, helping each other remain upright. Once he noticed they were standing, he launched himself at them, wrapping them both in a hug. "Thank you!"

Emma let out a grunt. "Sure thing, kid."

Regina tried to keep her grunt from bubbling up but didn't succeed. "Anything for you, Henry."

David stepped forward, face pinched in concern. "Are you two alright?"

"No," Emma answered too quickly to allow Regina a word in. "We've been through more stuff in a week than most people experience in a lifetime, I'm starving, and, honestly, I'm about ready to pass out."

Mary Margaret reached out to place a hand on her grandson's shoulder. "Will Henry be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Regina answered in a much drained voice.

David was still considering the situation. "It didn't take very long. We thought you'd be down there for lot longer."

"Things happened kind of quick. It only took us half an hour to swim down to the cave we thought she might be hiding in, and we lucked out that it was the right cave." The blonde shrugged. "I think took about that long to get the kid, too. We've been gone, what?" She glanced at her watch. "About three hours, give or take?"

"What about Ursula?" The pixie brunette tilted her head to the side in thought. "What did you do with her? Will she be able to get to Henry again?"

"No," Emma said in a way that gave the distinct impression there was more to the answer that she didn't want to say. Taking in a deep breath, she pushed on. "She won't be a problem anymore. She's dead."

"Dead? What happened? Is everyone okay?" Her mother's eyes showed honest concern for returned party of three.

"Yeah, we're fine." Running a hand through her surprisingly dry hair, Emma forced herself to look her mother in the eyes. "I killed her."

"You what?" Mary Margaret gave a slow blinked. "Emma, no."

Her daughter shrugged, eyes glancing down to the ground between them. "She was about to take out Regina."

"Surely there had to be another way?" Frowning deepening, Mary Margaret's eyes pleaded to say there was some mistake.

Emma sighed and forced her eyes back up again. "Maybe, but it doesn't matter. If I hadn't taken her out, she would have continued to be a threat to my family. She was dangerous, unstable, and - right at that moment - she was standing between us and our son, and she was about two seconds from killing Regina. It had to be done."

The smaller woman huffed. "But…"

"I think these two need some rest," David broke in, gently taking his wife's hand as he looked over his daughter. "Maybe some alone time, too?"

"Yeah, that'd be good." Emma gave him a grateful look. "Just a few days? I need… I need to sort a few things out."

"How about a week and we go from there?" He gave a feeble smile before turning to his grandson. "Come on, Henry, let's go back to our place and give your," he paused for just the briefest of moments, "moms some downtime to rest."

Henry looked between the two pairs of adults, eyes saying he really didn't want to leave his mothers' side again. It was Emma that grasped his shoulder and maneuvered him toward her parents, and it was the sheriff who said in a harsh voice, "Go on, kid."

His little face showed a touch of hurt, but he nodded and allowed Mary Margaret to take his hand and lead him away. She glanced over her shoulder to her daughter, eyes filled with fear and concern, but she didn't say a word more within earshot of Emma or Regina.

"You shouldn't be so harsh on Henry," the brunette stated in a quiet voice. "He's only a child. He doesn't understand everything that's happened over the past year as we understand it. His mind is still very black and white."

"Yeah, I know." Emma watched her foot kick a rock. "I just can't pull it in right now." She looked up, finding Regina's eyes and holding them with a look of frustration that Regina could feel through their connection. "Is this what it's always going to be like now?"

"I honestly don't know." The older woman wrapped an arm through the sheriff's and began to lead her toward their home. "Let's try to get some rest, and, after that, we'll see if there's any damage control we may be able to do."

Emma's voice was whiny when she finally spoke. "I can't decide if I'm more hungry than tired or more tired than hungry."

"Well," Regina tilted her head in thought, "perhaps, after a nap, you'll simply be hungry? I'll cook something after we get some sleep. How does that sound?"

"Crazy domestic," the blonde answered with a dark chuckle. "We went from zero to married in, like, a week."

The older woman nodded sagely. "U-haul lesbians."

"What?" Emma whipped her head around to look at her companion.

"I believe the term is U-haul lesbian, dear. You know," Regina gave her best arrogant smirk, "it's the term for lesbians who move in with each other after the first date."

Emma blinked at her. "How do you even know that?"

"Just because we couldn't leave the town doesn't mean we were completely cut off from the outside world. I used to watch a lot of VH1 and MTV back in the 80s and early 90s, and, before you arrived, I'd moved on to Logo." The brunette's smirk turned into a goofy little smile. "Watching bad TV is one of my guilty little pleasures."

"I would never have guessed that." The sheriff's voice held a note of awe at this brand new piece of information.

Regina shrugged. "What can I say, Ms. Swan? I'm a woman of many mysteries."

Despite herself, the sheriff chuckled. Taking in a deep breath as they walked on, she considered something for a bit before she broke the silence again. "I don't think we had a first date, did we? I'm thinking not. Maybe, at some point this week, we could do that? The date thing?"

"Perhaps, but," they stopped walking to allow Regina to really look at younger woman, "I want us to address the darkness first. I'm very concerned, Emma."

"Yeah," the blonde nodded in a self-depreciating way, "so am I."