Chapter 8
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"So, how is school?" Mary Margaret tried for what felt like the hundredth time to get Henry to talk to her. The boy was closed off and had said no more than a dozen words to her since they sat down to have brunch. She knew that this was going to be hard. She just hadn't realized how hard it was going to be.
"Good."
Great, she thought, make that a baker's dozen words.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Emma hopped over the white fence of Regina's property as if it weren't even there. She barely even flinched when she landed on her bad leg. Her adrenaline surged as she pushed herself to run faster.
David and Killian were several yards behind her with Mr. Smee and Leroy lagging behind them.
"Regina!" Emma yelled as she banged roughly on the door. She'd tried opening it but it was locked. "Regina, open the door. Regina!" Emma continued to yell, she was going to wait only a few more seconds before she went ahead and got the door open whether Regina was on the other side or not.
The men behind her made it to the gate just in time to see her knock over the potted plant and find a hide-a-key under it. She knew she'd need to replace the pottery but right now she didn't care. She used the key to open the door and rushed into Regina's house.
She sensed something the second she stepped over the threshold. There was someone here, and they weren't Regina.
Emma's hand moved to her waist, feeling the impression of her gun beneath her jacket.
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Mary Margaret sighed, deciding she was going to take a break from trying to get Henry to talk to her. He was as stubborn as his mother and grandfather. He was only going to open up about what was bothering him when he was ready and the more time she spent trying to force it out of him would only cause them both to become more frustrated.
"Well, things here have started to settle in again. Your mom is doing better. Much better."
That seemed to catch Henry's attention, although he tried to pretend that he wasn't interested. Mary Margaret knew otherwise. He was riveted on every word she said now. But he hadn't answered her or commented. He stared back down at his food and pushed it around his plate.
"Your mom explained what was happening with her, didn't she?" Henry just barely nodded his head in the affirmative. "I am sorry we had to keep you away Henry. It was…for the best."
"No. It wasn't." Henry mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Mary Margaret had heard him speak but couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Nothing." He mumbled again.
"Look at me when you're speaking, Henry." Mary Margaret chided, her frustration starting to get the best of her.
Henry begrudgingly looked up from his plate and met Mary Margaret's eyes defiantly. "No. It wasn't what was best. Not for me. And not for my mom. It was what was best for you." Henry's voice started to rise. "That doesn't mean that's what is best for everyone. That just means it's the easiest for you!"
"Henry…keep your voice down!" Mary Margaret's eyes shifted around the diner and noticed several eyes looking at them with renewed interest now.
"Why? So no one can hear that you were wrong?"
"Henry!" Mary Margaret's own voice deepened and became more authoritative.
But Henry didn't heed the warning bells that were ringing in his mind, "You're trying to act like everything's normal. Like you can come back into my life and just pick up where you left off."
Ruby came over to the table as fast as she could after noticing the raised voices at this table, "Henry, what's going on?"
Henry grabbed the edge of the table, "Well, you can't! I don't want you to! I hate you for what you've done. I hate you and grandpa! I hate you." Henry's voice lowered as he looked straight into Mary Margaret's eyes and let his anger and hatred show through for the woman who he used to respect and love.
"Henry! That's enough!" Ruby admonished, seeing the way Snow physically recoiled at Henry's distaste for her.
Henry looked at Ruby and then at Mary Margaret who was trying to keep her tears from falling. "I just wanted to eat my lunch and go back to the Inn and get away from her." He explained to Ruby. "But she wouldn't stop talking." He pressed his hand against his forehead. His migraine starting to bother him even more now that he was upset. "She wouldn't stop talking…" His voice was softer as he repeated himself.
"Ruby, I can handle it from here." Mary Margaret dismissed Ruby with a reassuring nod.
Ruby didn't want to walk away but she did, and picked up Mary Margaret's empty plate as she walked away.
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"Emma!" David called out as he jumped up the three porch steps. He was inches away from the doorway when the door slammed closed and locked, keeping him and Killian outside.
Emma turned to the door as it reverberated with the force of David and Killian both pounding on it. "Emma! Emma!" David screamed, leaning back to try and kick the door down. But it wouldn't budge.
Emma felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she turned slowly towards the open space of the foyer. Regina wasn't here. The person watching her wasn't her wif—the mother of her son.
"Show yourself." Emma challenged as she stepped further into the house fighting off the recognition of the house and its design. It was the house that she and Henry lived in with Regina in her fake memories. It was always here. It was always Storybrooke that held the answers to her questions. It would always be Storybrooke.
"Emma!" The worry in David's voice was growing.
"David…someone's here." Emma pressed her cheek against her shoulder, but kept her eyes peeled into the house, hoping to warn the man that someone was in the house with her. It would make his actions more frenzied and less controlled, but she needed back up in here. Not standing ten feet away outside the house.
There was a decidedly cold chill blowing through the house suddenly. Emma tried to stop herself from shivering at the feel of it. Goosebumps rose against her uncovered skin and she stepped further away from the door, clearing it so the cavalry outside could knock it in off its hinges.
"Find something to break it down!" Killian ordered of the people who were congregating outside the door.
"The windows." David waved Leroy and Little John towards the windows.
"They won't get in." The voice was low, distorted, like the voices in horror movies where the killer changed their voices to hide their identity.
"No, because you wanted me alone." And they were powerful; powerful enough to break into Regina's house. Emma knew for a fact that Regina kept her home guarded with protection spells. Those spells were obviously broken by the ominous voice taunting Emma.
There was a deep demon like laugh, it bounced off the walls and echoed around Emma. "Such arrogance."
Emma kept looking around, trying to keep her back towards a wall at all times as she scanned every nook and cranny of the hallway and shadows along the half circular stairwell. "Well, I figured out where you'd be didn't I?" Emma asked the empty air around her.
There was silence. Emma smirked. She stood just before the open doorway to the living room. "Not as smart as you think."
"Ever think that this was the plan all along? Distract the brave souls of Storybrooke while I sent others after what I really wanted?" Emma felt the warm breath of air against the side of her neck and her hand and body reacted on instinct.
She grabbed her gun and spun around to shoot the person that was standing behind her. Only they were gone and she fired her gun at nothing but smoke.
"Fuck…" Emma cursed as she stood, holding her gun, her eyes staring into the shattered mirror across the length of the living room.
"Damn it, Emma! Emma, are you alright!?" David screamed, his face red.
"Swan!?" Both Hook and David were a yelling mess as Emma allowed herself a moment to calm down, her heart racing in her chest.
The crash of the door being broken down had her jumping and turning around to see Charming wielding his sword, Hook his pistol and Leroy a pickax.
Emma blinked at them as she slowly lowered her gun. The mysterious enemies voice echoing in her ears.
"Distract the brave souls of Storybrooke while I sent others after what I really wanted."
"Emma, what happened? Where are they?"
Emma ignored David's question as the men of Storybrooke stepped into the room house and started sweeping it for any enemies.
Emma's eyes widened, "We have to go. Now. This was all a distraction."
"From what?"
Emma didn't know, but she was afraid that they were all going to find out very soon.
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"Gotten everything off your chest?" Snow asked as she stared at Henry and saw how his chest rose and fell rapidly with each ragged breath he took.
Henry ignored her again, staring off just to the right of her shoulder so he wouldn't have to look at her. He crossed his arms and leaned heavily into his seat. "Yeah."
"Good. Now finish your lunch and we can get you back to the Inn. You won't have to see more of me than you want."
Henry raised an eyebrow at how easy that was to get her to agree, "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why aren't you yelling back at me?"
"Is that something you remember me doing often?" Mary Margaret wondered aloud, hoping that his memories didn't have her character so untrue to who she was.
"I guess not." Henry thought it was weird that she'd phrase the question like that, but everything about his life was weird right now.
"I understand why you're angry. I know that you don't understand the reasons for what your grandfather and I have done. But what you have to know is that this hasn't been easy for us either. Regina was not the only one to lose you and your mother during all of this."
Henry felt his anger start to dissipate at a rapid rate as he realized how sad his grandmother looked. She had a point. But he was still mad. And he wasn't going to apologize. She was still lying about something. He just didn't know what. But she was. He had his own super power when it came to lie detecting just like Emma. And something had been bothering him about all of this from the moment they arrived at the Inn.
"She's my mom."
Mary Margaret sighed, "I know."
"I've missed her. She…she missed so much."
Mary Margaret felt her heart constrict, "I know, Henry. And I'm sorry."
Henry played with the material of his shirt sleeve. "Will she get better?"
"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that everything goes back to normal for you and your mom, okay?"
Henry didn't realize that she hadn't really answered his question. He just focused on her promise and felt hope blossom in his chest that things might just get back to normal soon.
The door behind them opened and the bell rang announcing new patrons' entrance.
"I do not see how you can consider coffee breakfast." Henry didn't recognize the voice behind him, but by the way that his grandmother's eyes widened and her breath hitched, he knew she did.
He turned around, leaning his arm on the back of the booth he was in. The diner around them got quiet very suddenly. The other conversations that had been taking place suddenly stopped and there wasn't even the sound of people eating their food.
"It has served me well in the past. I just…am unaccustomed to having breakfast alone." The voice was devoid of the mirth the other had carried with its statement. It was bitter and void of life in a way that tore at those who heard it and inferred why such a simple statement would hurt so much.
It had been a year. A long very stressful year for him, but he would know that voice in any crowded room.
"Mom…" He whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear it himself.
Henry's eyes widened and his heart pounded roughly against his chest twice before it seemingly stopped all together.
There, in the doorway with a tall gentleman touching her arm comfortingly was his mom. Henry could do nothing more than stare at her. She looked good. Her hair was a little longer than he last remembered. And she was wearing a blue shirt and black jacket. He'd gotten her the shirt for her birthday two years ago. He'd thought she didn't like it because she never seemed to wear it. But here she was, wearing it, and smiling softly at the man standing next to her.
The look in her eyes, he knew that look. It was the kind of look he saw his mom have on her face when she stared at Emma. That…well that didn't make sense. Why was she staring lovingly at the man beside her? Why was she touching him? And why the hell was he touching her? Didn't he know that she was married!?
"Well now, you have us." Robin smiled charmingly at Regina, turning to his left to stare down over his shoulder, "Doesn't she Roland?"
Henry watched as a little boy with black hair stepped up between his mom and the man she was touching. The boy smiled brightly up at who Henry assumed was his father. Suddenly his heart started beating again. Roughly.
Henry's eyes narrowed in at the way that his mom looked at Roland and took a hold of his hand before meeting the strange man's eyes. He moved on his own accord, his feet had him standing up and moving two steps closer to the group before he could recognize he had gotten up.
Mary Margaret was as quick as she could be and grabbed a hold of Henry's arm. "Henry…" She hissed, knowing that this was going to cause a lot of trouble with the young man. They hadn't been able to talk to Regina yet. She hadn't a clue as to what was about to happen and Snow felt sorry for her. Truly sorry for her. She had seen how devastated Regina was to realize that no one could cross the town line—including her. Thus making it impossible for her to go and find Henry when they'd first gotten back.
Regina had jumped in head first to finding the person responsible for the curse so that they could stop them and she could go find Henry—and Emma. Now, Snow wasn't sure how the woman was going to react to Henry's particular reaction to her having a boyfriend. Mary Margaret would like to think that normally he would have been happy for Regina. But with his memories, what he was now seeing was his mother cheating on his other mom. Drama was bound to unfold in the wake of it.
"Henry…wait, please." Mary Margaret was desperate for Henry to calm down. He had just begun to do so, and she didn't want him to say anything that would make everything fall apart around them.
The commotion must have finally caught Regina and Robin's attention because they were both looking towards them. Robin didn't recognize Henry, but Regina did. Immediately. And the way that her face slackened and her eyes filled with tears was enough to make Mary Margaret feel sick to her stomach.
"Get off me!" Henry didn't pull his arm away; he didn't want to jostle his grandma while she was pregnant.
"Henry, remember what your mom said!" Snow added desperately.
Henry turned to glare at his grandma. "Yeah, I remember. I also don't remember her saying anything about my mom having a new family!" He tugged his hand free when his grandma's grip loosened and she looked guilty at him. His eyes widened, "Forgot to mention that part to her didn't you?" He was back to being angry with her again. "Would have been nice to know that you'd let her replace us." Replace him. He didn't see another woman with his mom, no. He saw a man and a little boy.
His mom had replaced him. There was a new little boy that she was smiling at and holding hands with and about to have breakfast with. She wouldn't be having breakfast with him anymore or holding his hand. Not that he really enjoyed her holding his hand anymore. He was thirteen after all. But that didn't mean he wouldn't have breakfast with her. He loved having breakfast with her and talking to her about school and when she'd help him with homework that was too difficult for him. He missed that. He missed her. And here she was. She didn't miss him. She'd found a new family and a new baby boy to make love her.
He wondered bitterly if she'd leave this new family too. Or was it just him and Emma that were the 'lucky' ones?
"Mary Margaret…" Henry turned around and saw that his mom was now standing a foot away from him, looking at Henry and her mom.
He thought it was weird for his mom to call her mother by her name and not mom, but he didn't focus on it. "Regina…" Mary Margaret smiled nervously. "Have you seen David today?"
Regina swallowed thickly, as she tried her best not to look at Henry. "No, I can't say that I have."
"Ah, uhm, Regina this is…"
Henry turned fully to his mom, arms crossed, "Henry."
Mary Margaret sighed exasperated. There was nothing she could really do about Henry's attitude. She was trying to do her best not to blame him for it. She really was. But her patience was wearing thin.
"Henry…" Regina breathed her son's name like it was a prayer. She cleared her throat and had to stop herself from pulling him into her arms. She recognized the scowl on his face. He was angry. Very angry. She wondered what it was that Mary Margaret had done to get him this angry and why he was alone with her to begin with. When had they come back? Where was Emma? How long were they in town? Why hadn't she been called immediately? How could they not tell her that Henry was back in town. How could Emma do that to her? How could Snow, after everything! Regina's hand fisted at her side as she controlled the angry onslaught of magic.
"His mother was just looking to speak with you." Mary Margaret supplied, without saying Emma's name, hoping that if she played this off the right way she could fix whatever problems this was going to arise.
Regina turned her eyes away from Henry, though it was a difficult task. "Was she?" It made her feel a little better knowing that they had at least tried to get in touch with her about Henry and Emma's arrival back in town.
"Yes, her and David left to see you nearly a half an hour ago. She and Henry only just arrived very early this morning from New York."
"I've been out for most of the morning." Regina explained, just barely glancing over her shoulder at Robin and Roland. Robin was speaking with one of his merry men who was at the counter, looking like he was going to come over to her any second.
Henry scuffed as he realized who his mom was looking at.
Regina snapped her eyes back at him and raised an eyebrow at his haughtiness. "I'm sorry that I missed them." Regina realized, slowly, that Henry's anger was not directed merely at Mary Margaret but at her as well. Though that had to be a mistake, didn't it? How could he be angry with her when he didn't remember her?
"As if." Henry looked away from Regina, trying not to stare at the little boy sitting next to someone at the counter chatting with them as the man his mom had come in with stepped up to stand beside her. He stared darkly at the hand that rested on his mom's shoulder.
"Mary Margaret…." Regina said Snow's Storybrooke name with such hope and sudden distress that it tore through the hearts of many of those watching the scene.
"Is everything okay, here?" Robin offered a nervous smile, looking between the adults to see if they could catch him up quickly.
Henry couldn't stand the sight of him standing so close to his mom. Or the way she unconsciously seemed to lean into him for comfort. He snarled a little as his teeth ground together, trying to convince himself to stay quiet. That it was for the best. It'd been explained to him. He couldn't say what he wanted to because anything he said could put his mom's health at risk. And as angry as he was at her right now he loved her and wanted her to get better so that she realized she wasn't supposed to be with this tall dark and handsome nobody, but with him and Emma.
"Everything's fine darling. Why don't you see to, Roland and get a table?"
Darling…Henry felt sick suddenly as the weight of the situation finally caved in on him. He needed to stay quiet. He needed to stay quiet. But then he saw how Robin's hand trailed down Regina's arm and he squeezed her hand softly and smiled at her with his big doe eyes. And everything he was trying to do was gone. The pain in his head was searing through him as his dull nails cut into his palm.
"Yeah, why don't you get the hell out of here and find someone else to touch why you're at it?!" He snapped and bore his eyes into Robin with deadly intent. "Because you better get your filthy stealing hands off my mom before I do it for you!" Henry took a step towards Robin and Regina as if he was going to go through on his threat.
Mary Margaret wasn't going to test just how willing Henry was to fight a man twice his size for his mother's honor. She grabbed him by both shoulders and held him back which gave Regina enough time to realize exactly what her son had just said, and how he'd said it. She'd recognize that tone anywhere. It was hers. It was often how she spoke when addressing someone beneath her while the Evil Queen or as Mayor.
Mom. He'd called her his mom.
Regina felt like her world was spinning on its axis far too fast. She swallowed convulsively afraid that the spinning was going to make her sick. Henry remembered. Henry remembered and was trying to defend her honor against Robin. Her son remembered who she was. The tears that she had been fighting off since she saw Henry standing over here with Snow fell freely.
Henry remembered who she was. He remembered.
Oh god…Regina covered her mouth to keep from sobbing.
"Henry…" Regina tried to speak, to say something to him. But she was so overwhelmed that her voice broke around his name as she stared at him.
Henry looked away from Mary Margaret, and looked into her eyes, his own filled with tears that he was trying to keep from falling. His chin quivered and he shook his head violently from side to side.
She wasn't supposed to remember him. She was someone else. She didn't know who she was or what she was doing to him. What she would end up doing to Emma's already broken heart. She didn't know…but that didn't make him feel any better. It didn't make it any less real to remember how he'd cried himself to sleep at night after she'd left them. Or how sad and broken Emma had become when she'd left. Or how he'd treated Emma, blaming her for his mother's disappearance and abandonment. It didn't change anything. Not if she remembered or she didn't. She still hadn't been there and she still had a new family. She'd still replaced him. It would just hurt more if she'd done so knowingly.
"Henry…" Regina tried again, her voice soft and consoling. Her hands itched at her side to touch him. To hold him to her. But she recalled how angry he was, and knew that if she tried to hug him and he pulled away from her, that she'd break. She couldn't break now. She'd made it this far. She needed to make it farther. Just a little farther and she could have her son back and finally be happy.
"Have fun with your new family." Henry spat, his tears finally broke over his eye lashes and he pushed his way past Regina and Robin and ran out the door.
Regina stared after Henry in shock. What had just happened? She took a step forward only to be pulled back by a hand on her shoulder.
"Let him go."
"You cannot ask me to do that again." Regina growled, how could Mary Margaret ask her to do that again?
The school teacher bowed her head, "There's something you need to know about Henry's memories, before you go after him."
"What about them must I know?" This was becoming ridiculous. "He remembers me. Isn't that enough?"
Mary Margaret smiled sadly at her, "It's not that simple."
"Then simplify if for me." Regina growled, the longer she spent talking to Mary Margaret in riddles the farther and farther away her son got from her…again.
Just as Snow opened her mouth to explain the situation, the bell above the door jingled and pulled their attention towards it.
"Mary Margaret," Emma called as she walked into the diner, her eyes looking out the windows down the street she'd just sent David down to run after Henry. "What happened? Why'd David have to go running after Henr…" Emma finally faced forward and noticed the woman standing beside Mary Margaret with widening eyes. She swallowed as she felt like all the air in her lungs had just been pulled from her by an unknown force.
'God, she's gorgeous.' Emma found herself thinking as she took stock of how Regina had changed in their year apart. She looked good. Very good, considering the situation they found themselves in.
"Regina…" Emma felt her heart skip a beat as her eyes locked with Regina's for the first time in over a year. She felt like she was going to fall. That her legs were going to give out beneath her and leave her sprawled out on the floor looking like an idiot.
She had been looking for Regina for a year. She hadn't stopped. Every free moment of her time she spent trying to find the allusive wife that left her and Henry. Except, Regina wasn't her wife. But really, that didn't matter. Not right now. Not when she could look into Regina's eyes and feel like she was finally home. All her hard work had finally amounted to the end goal.
She found Regina. Regina was right in front of her and…
"Emma." Regina greeted, hardly showing any break in her irritation at all at seeing Emma for the first time in twelve months.
…And Regina didn't even care.
End Chapter Eight
