A/N Thanks for the reviews! Hope everyone is enjoying so far. I'm getting pretty excited for this Sunday's episode!
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Regina hummed to herself as she fixed breakfast. She had decided on home made cinnamon rolls this morning and had gotten up extra early to get started. Being in the kitchen always soothed her. It was one of the things in this world that she had truly come to enjoy, and anyone who tried her cooking had to admit she was pretty damn good at it.
Once she had the rolls in the oven she walked to the coffee pot where she poured herself a fresh cup. It was her normal morning routine to sit down with a cup of coffee and read the paper although this morning she was a bit distracted.
Today could be the day that they came back and Regina was terrified. She couldn't help but wonder how things were going to go once Emma and Snow were home. What if James went back to Snow? What if Henry forgot about her as soon as Emma was back. She tried to tell herself she was being ridiculous but anytime in her life she had ever felt this level of happiness it had always been ripped away from her.
She loved James so much more then she had ever thought possible. She always thought that she would never again be able to love someone the way she loved Daniel but here she was. How did this happen? She tried to think back in her mind to the exact moment she fell in love with him but it was all a blur. It had happened so quickly, but strangely enough even though their love was a completely new thing it felt almost as if she had loved him forever. How is that even possible?
Then there was Henry, her son, her sweet little boy that she loved more then life itself. He was her baby. She thought back to the day she adopted him, the day he had become hers. It had been the most wonderful day of her life. She had been so happy and terrified all at the same time. She wanted so much to be a good mother to him. To show him the love she had always been deprived. She stayed up all night just watching him. She had only been able to lay him down for a few minutes at a time before she was picking him back up again and placing soft kisses on his head. She held him close to her, singing and telling him stories all night long.
The thought that she could loose him to Emma had fear clawing its way into her stomach. If she lost Henry her heart would break. It would be like loosing a piece of her soul and she wasn't sure she would be able to survive it.
She was overcome with an overwhelming wave of nausea at the thought. She laid her head down on her arms and took some deep breaths attempting to calm herself.
By the time she heard foot steps on the stairs she had managed to compose herself although she still felt a bit nauseous she had at least managed to squelch most of the panic attack that had tried to take over. She got up to move to the oven to check on her cinnamon rolls as James walked in.
"Something smells amazing!" He walked up behind her and gave her a light kiss on the hair as he wrapped his arms around her. "You're spoiling me with all of your wonderful cooking."
She grinned as she leaned back into him and turned her face up for a kiss. "Well after last night I think you deserve some spoiling."
David grinned back as he kissed her lips. "Mmm I did keep you pretty busy last night. I'm surprised your up so early this morning."
Regina gave a husky laugh "I'm surprised I'm able to walk this morning." she grinned as he laughed out loud.
She bent back over take her rolls out of the oven as he walked to the coffee pot. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He certainly was easy to look at. She could get used to this comfortable routine with him every morning.
"Would you mind to go get Henry up for school?" She asked as she began mixing ingredients for the sticky white icing.
She laughed when James let out a childish "Do I have to?" Henry was notoriously hard to get out of bed and an attempt to wake him usually turned out to be unpleasant for all involved.
She gave him the sweetest smile she had. "Please?"
He rolled his eyes "Ok, but I want this to be recorded as a testament to how much I love you, that I would take my own life into my hands to complete this mission for you."
She batted her eyes "You are so brave my prince. How ever did I make it this long without you?"
He leaned in giving her a firm kiss on her sassy mouth. "I have no idea."
She smiled at him as he walked out. "Tell him I've made cinnamon rolls. It's one of his favorites. It could help a little."
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Regina was jolted awake by the sound of her phone ringing. She looked around confused for a moment before realizing that she was laying on her couch cuddled up against James's chest. After she had come home from dropping Henry off she had found him napping on the couch and had been unable to resist curling up with him.
She reached for her phone that was laying on the end table as James stirred.
"Hello?" her voice was still husky from sleep.
"Hello Ms. Mills? This is Mrs. Thomas the principle at Henry's school."
Regina shot up off the couch waking James in the process. "What's wrong? Has something happened?"
"Well Ms. Mills, Henry has been in a fight. As per school policy we are going to have to suspend him for 2 days. We have already contacted the other children's parents as well, but we need for you to come and pick Henry up."
"I'll be right there." She hung up the phone as James moved to sit up.
"What's going on?" He asked sleepily.
"Henry was in a fight. I have to go pick him up." she said it quickly as she walked to the door to get her coat.
"I'll come with you." he said as he got up off the couch.
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The ride to the school had been quiet. The longer Regina stewed over it the more fury she felt. It wasn't like Henry to fight. Whatever had happened it had to be this other child's fault! She was furious that some kid would pick on her baby.
By the time they got to the school Regina was seething. James noted that she had on her ruthless Mayor look and felt sorry for whoever ended up on the other side of her rage.
She marched into the school office and immediately spotted Henry sitting in one of the chairs that sat outside the principal's office. He was looking down with his arms crossed.
"Henry" His head snapped up when his mother said his name. That was when she saw the blackened eye and bloodied lip.
"Sweetheart are you ok? What happened? Who did this to you?" She gave him no time to answer any of her questions as she took him gently by the shoulders.
"I don't wanna talk about it." He huffed out pulling himself back from her.
Regina turned to the secretary and said "I would like to talk with Ms. Thomas please."
The secretary buzzed the principal.
"Mom, can't we just go?" Henry whined.
"We most certainly will not go until someone tells me what is going on and why my son has a black eye!" Regina huffed out a breath as she stood up straight.
"Ms Mills, Ms Thomas said to come on in." The secretary called from her desk.
Regina walked into the office closing the door behind her and took the seat opposite the principal.
"Hello Ms Mills" the principal seemed a little nervous 'I'm terribly sorry about all of this but the suspension is after all school policy."
"I'm not in here about the suspension. Mrs. Thomas I would like for someone to please explain to me what happened and who did this to my son!" she was having a hard time keeping her voice down.
"Ms. Mills, perhaps you should speak with Henry…"
"Henry doesn't want to talk about it" Regina interrupted "and I am asking you Mrs. Thomas and you will tell me what happened."
Mrs. Thomas swallowed terrified of making the Evil Queen even more angry then she already was but understanding that the woman was not going to give up until she had her answer.
"Well, Ms. Mills, it's my understanding that the fight was about…well…you." The woman finished quickly.
Regina simply stared at the woman. "What?"
The principal cleared her throat. "Apparently a few boys were teasing Henry about you being…well um…The Evil Queen and Henry defended you. The boys continued on and then the fight broke out."
Regina's look had gone from suppressed fury, to shock to what looked like complete devastation. She only continued to stare at the woman.
"We have already had several talks with these particular students about their behavior towards Henry and their hurtful comments. You can rest assured Ms Mills that their parents were contacted and they have each been suspended for a week. We wouldn't have suspended Henry at all, but he threw the fist punch and we have a no tolerance policy." The woman folded her hands together on the desk.
"Wait" Regina held up a hand. "You have had SEVERAL talks with these boys? This has happened before?"
The principal nodded "Yes, the boys were given detention in the past."
Regina felt fury rise up again. "My son has been being bullied continuously by these children and no one has bothered to TELL ME?"
"We were attempting to handle the situation before parents were brought in." the woman finished not wanting to admit they had been afraid of contacting her.
"Allow me to get something straight with you Mrs. Thomas anytime anything happens that could affect my son negatively I am to be informed immediately. Do you understand?" The woman nodded. "If I ever hear of something like this happening again and I am not informed I can promise you that you will be sorry. Are we clear Mrs. Thomas?"
"Yes Ms Mills, I'm terribly sorry, I…"
"We're done" Regina interrupted holding up a hand as she walked out of the office.
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The drive home had been silent. Neither Henry or Regina had seemed to want to discuss what had happened at the school. All James knew was when Regina had walked out of that office she had looked half furious and half devastated and Henry refused to talk to either one of them.
After they arrived back at Regina's Henry ran upstairs to his room and Regina headed straight to the kitchen. James wasn't sure who he should try to talk to first but felt helpless standing there doing nothing. After hearing a loud crash from the kitchen he decided his better bet a that moment would be Henry.
After knocking gently James pushed Henry's door open to find the boy laying on his bed reading one of his comic books. He ignored James as he walked into the room and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Do you wanna tell me what happened today?" He asked softly.
"Not really." Henry mumbled.
James took the comic book out of his hands so Henry would look at him. "Sometimes talking about it helps."
Henry looked up at James and sighed. "These jerks were saying bad things about mom. They do it all the time and I always stand up for her but today they wouldn't stop. I keep trying to tell them that she has changed but no one wants to hear that. Anyway one of them called her a really bad name so I punched him."
James nodded now understanding why Regina had looked so upset when she walked out of the principals office today.
Henry shook his head as he continued. "I just wish that other people could see what I see. She may have been the Evil Queen once but she isn't anymore. She may not have always been great to everyone in this town but she was always a good mom to me. Why can't people understand that The Evil Queen isn't who she really is?"
James sighed "Sometimes when someone has hurt a person or has done bad things in their past it can be really hard for some people to get past that Henry. I think if we just give people in the town some time they will come to see how great your mom is. Everyone just needs to see her as she is now instead of how she used to be."
"You were able to forgive her." Henry pointed out.
"That's true but that's only because I got to know her. Everyone in this town has not had the opportunity to spend time with her they way we have. Once people get that chance and see how great she is they will come around. I know it." James offered Henry a smile.
"I guess mom's pretty upset about all of this." Henry looked up at him.
James ruffled his hair. "I don't think she's mad at you but more at herself. The last thing in the world your mom would ever want to do is hurt you Henry and I think the idea of you being teased about her past upsets her."
"That's why I didn't want her to know!" Henry huffed. "I knew she would feel guilty and I didn't want her to! She's trying so hard to change and be better."
"I know she is and you know she is. It's going to take a while for everyone in this town to know that too and in the mean time keeping things like this secret from us isn't going to help things. I know you were trying to protect your mom Henry but not telling us what's going on isn't the answer. We both love you and want to help you."
Henry nodded. "I think I'm gonna go talk to mom."
James ruffled his hair as he got up. "I think that's a good idea."
"James?" James stopped just outside the doorway and turned back to Henry.
"Yeah?"
Henry threw his arms around James's waist and looked up at him. "Thanks!"
James smiled as he hugged him back. "You're welcome."
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Regina had never been more angry with herself. She had never even thought of the possibility that Henry would have to pay for her past. How could she not have anticipated this? She tried busying her hands with doing the dishes so she didn't end up blowing something up.
She stiffened when she heard foot steps on the stairs. Probably James coming down from talking with Henry. She didn't turn when she heard him come in the kitchen but jolted when it was Henry's voice instead of James's that she heard.
"Mom?"
She turned from the sink to look at her son but couldn't seem to find words. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, that she never wanted him to pay for her mistakes, that she loved him more then anything in this world. At this moment she wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to see her again. None of this was fair to him.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about what was going on." Henry told her.
Regina only shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about sweetheart." He cleared her throat. "I'm the one who's sorry Henry. I'm sorry that my past is causing you to suffer."
Henry walked around to his mother and wrapped his arms around her waist resting his head on her chest. Regina held on tight as she rested her head on his. They were jolted out of their moment by a loud banging on the door.
James made it to the door first and opened it as Regina and Henry were walking into the room. They were immediately bombarded by Red and the dwarves.
"The fairy dust from the mines is missing!" Ruby barreled into the house. "Some one stole it!"
Regina furrowed her brow. "How much is gone?"
Ruby looked from James to Regina "All of it."
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Regina tried to catch her breath after being thrown on the ground. She must have been out of her mind deciding to take all that magic in herself and noting the look of devastation on Henry's face it hadn't worked anyway.
"I'm sorry Henry." She sobbed it as James ran to her to make sure she was ok.
The last several minutes had happened in a blur. After Ruby told them the fairy dust was missing from the mines it hadn't taken long to figure out that it had been Gold who had taken it.
They had then rushed to the well which is where they had figured out the portal to the Enchanted Forest would be. That is where they had found Gold and his magic death trap. He had apparently convinced himself through the night that Cora would somehow defeat Emma and Snow and would be the one to come through the portal instead. He had almost convinced Regina that he was right once they had arrived using the fear he knew she felt for her mother, but hearing James yelling as he had been thrown against a tree and listening to her sons pleas had been to much for her. Against her own better judgment she had walked up to the well and pulled the deadly magic into herself.
She was still on her hands and knees when she heard Henry shout.
"Mom!"
Regina turned to try to offer him some comfort but felt her heart hitch a bit when she realized he hadn't been talking to her. She turned her head just in time to see him launch himself into Emma's arms.
James hadn't seen what was happening at the well because he was to preoccupied with Regina. Watching her bring all that magic into herself had been the most terrifying thing he had ever witnessed. He had been held against the tree by Rumple's magic and had stood helplessly watching as her body had convulsed as she placed her hands over the well. When she had been thrown backwards he had thought the worst. The sound of her sharp intake of breath had been the sweetest sound he had ever heard. He had taken her hand in his pulling her to her feet. That was when he realized what was going on. He looked up at the well and couldn't help the smile that came across his face as he saw them.
He still had Regina's hand and hadn't moved. He stood in shock as he stared at his wife and daughter for the first time since they had gotten sucked into the hat. When Snow looked up from hugging Henry she spotted him.
"Charming!" she ran at him full out. He released Regina's hand as he caught her in his arms. She laughed joyfully as she pulled back and pressed a kiss to his lips.
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Ok I struggled a little with this chapter so hopefully it wasn't to bad. Please review and let me know what you think.
