Hi, so here is the penultimate chapter of Season 1! I hope you all enjoy it and I will have the final published in a few days hopefully.

This chapter does deal with the discussion of adoption and the debate between adopted parents and biological. I have Jack take Regina's side because he understands what it is to love an adopted child like it's your own and also because as Archie said the way Henry's been acting can be linked to Emma. Also taking into account the law I find it difficult to believe Emma would have gotten the adoption vacated so that's what the row is about.

Disclaimer-Nothing Is mine.

Please Read and Review.

Who Is He (And What Is He To You?)

Chapter 10-Pick Your Poison

Jack and Emma have a massive row about their roles in each other's (and Henry's ) life. Regina makes a last ditch effort to get rid of Emma—even if it means losing Jack forever, and Henry steps up putting his life and his belief at risk in order to prove to his mother that the curse is real.

It was Henry that told him. Jack was out walking and trying to think up an excuse to go and see Regina that might be plausible to anyone with eyes only to run into his grandson as he was walking up the road.

"Hey Grandpa" he said beaming. "Did you come to see me?"

Well the answer to that was a resounding no but Henry was a smart lad and a kind one and there was no reason to hurt the boys feelings by explaining something that he wasn't sure whether or not Henry would understand.

"Yeah I did" he said finally.

"Oh cool. Is Mom still mad at me for last night?"

"Last night?"

"Yeah, the curse is the most important thing and I want us to live together but not just yet. I don't want to run away with her, I want to break the curse…to do that I gotta be here"

"Wait" Jack said with a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going. Slowly but surely he was feeling rage build up inside of him as well. If his daughter had done this, if she had done the one thing that he had told her not to do, if she had done the one thing that he had been afraid she would do then he was going to kill her. Because this would be the second time she had gotten too close to someone and put into motion events that he knew would end badly.

The last time had ended up with his kid in prison.

Chances are the second time was going to end the same way.

And the irony was, the second time involved the son of the man who had been responsible for Emma's impulsiveness the first time.

"Are you trying to tell me that Emma took you out of Storybrooke and intended to go on the run with you?" he asked finally through slightly gritted teeth.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I grabbed the steering wheel of her and propelled us of the road so now she has to stay"

And the kid was grinning while he said that too.

"Do you get how stupid that was? You could have killed her, hell you could have killed yourself or if you had both been taken to the hospital your mother would have found out what you were doing and probably had Emma arrested?"

God what was it with the Cassidy gene pool? That they never thought about consequences to their actions.

"Did you tell Regina this?" he said after trying to calm himself down.

"No why would i? Look Grandpa the curse is more important than anything and you have to get her to believe. August won't do it, Graham's dead, Mary Margaret and David are falling apart and Gold won't do it and there's nobody else would do it. It has to come from you, you have to tell her that she has to break it, you have to get her to believe in happy endings again so she can be reunited with her real family."

For a second he was so angry at the kid that he couldn't speak. How dare he even if he was ten, imply that he was anything less than Emma's real family. He had been there for that girl since she was five. He had to remind himself sharply that Henry was ten and angry at his adoptive mother and Jack slowly forced a smile on his face and didn't mind so much when it caused Henry to look as if someone died. Good because right now that was the way that Jack was feeling.

"Henry. Go to school. I will talk to Emma" he said through teeth so clenched that it was amazing that the words even came out at all.

He needed to speak to his daughter.

Mary Margaret was just putting on her coat when there was the knock on the door. Emma closed her eyes, this could either be two people and she had been expecting a confrontation with both. Regina she could handle. Jack on the other hand.

Her friend opened the door and Emma heard him rather than saw him come in. Mary Margaret took one look between them and then excused herself and Emma forced herself to stand so she could take the row that she was heading into straight on.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jack said finally.

"He cannot stay with Regina" she protested though it sounded weak to her ears. "He cannot Jack you know it. I know she had something to do with this whole murder debacle and the kid hates her. Either way if I leave he's going to come after me or try and get me to come back and I don't have the energy for the fight anymore."

"The kid needs help" Jack said bluntly. "I've been ten, Emma, I've been alone and I've hated my parents—and let me tell you I've had better reasons to hate them but that kid needs help, this had gone beyond over active imagination he tried to force you off the road, you could have been killed and all he could do was smile and talk about this curse. The kid needs therapy and a long term therapist at that because he aint getting in this shithole"

"He's not crazy" she defended but Jack looked at her with those eyes that made her feel five again and she knew the argument was weak and pathetic and wouldn't hold up. She didn't believe in anything either.

"Emma, the kid thinks Regina is an Evil Queen who rips out hearts! That's not normal and yes she runs this town like a dictator, yes she can be cold and yes she hates your friend but she's not an evil monster! She loves Henry, everyone says she wouldn't hurt him even Gold and she's took more crap from that kid than I ever would have allowed from you"

Emma nodded. All of this was making sense but still…

"I'm his mother" she said finally.

"No" Jack said finally his voice cold. "No Emma your not his mother."

It was so to the point and so blunt and from the one person that she never thought she would hear it from that she gasped and took a step back. For the first time in her life the fight that she had depended on went out. She knew what Jack was going to say, she knew it and she knew he was right but she couldn't stand the idea of hearing it.

But he ploughed on. To do anything else would mean being less than then man he was and Emma knew the kind of man her father was and she knew that him telling her the truth was the build up of months worth of fears.

"Regina is his mother, I stood by your bedside in that prison and I gave you a choice. I told you I would take that boy and raise him until you were out and you told me that you didn't want him and I gave him away. You had your chance to be his mother then and you didn't take it and you cannot come into his life and take him away from the only home he's ever known because you have regrets"

"He doesn't want to live with her!" she yelled.

"Yes!" Jack yelled back. "Because he thinks if he lives with you this curse will be broken! Because with you it's been codenames and adventures and sneaking out after dark and eating candy. Emma you have spoilt the kid and he wants to spend time with you because he thinks you will listen but he could have killed you last night. This fantasy of his has become to dangerous and you know it. Look at what he's done, skipped school, gotten himself stuck in a mine shaft, ran around after dark, nearly gotten himself killed time and time again and quite frankly behaved like his father, selfish and spoilt. You have done nothing but encourage this Emma and you know it because a part of you was pleased it was Regina taking the flack. And if you love him so much, if you want him so much why did it take him coming to find you rather than you going to find him?"

Emma was trembling. She had never in her life seen him this angry, and yet what he was saying was terribly true.

"Jack" she said finally.

"Emma that kid looked me in the eye today and as good as told me I would never be your real family and that he wanted you to forget me and go with them when the curse broke"

Emma sucked in a gasp.

"Jack…Dad you know that is never going to happen…i…"

"Emma I emphasise with Regina so much because you could have been your biological mother. You could have been Henry don't you understand? Of course she's going to cling on, of course she's going to want you out of the way, of course she's going to be a bitch about it. I would have murdered to keep you, there were days when you were the only thing that got me out of bed for the morning. I love you and I always will but I cannot follow you in this. That kid needs someone that's not you and if you love him then you have to leave him alone"

Emma was about to deny that she would ever do that but there was something about him that made her stop. He didn't look like her strong dependable father. He didn't look like he was a Marine, he looked so terribly defeated and alone and she recognised it as him once looking at a photo of two men in uniform and then shoving it in a draw when she came in from school one day.

He looked…old…for the first time in her life she could see age creeping in her dependable, human father.

She swallowed.

"Dad. If I leave him he's gonna follow, he's gonna…I don't know what he's going to do that's the point, he might do something to get me back here. If I stay then at least he doesn't hurt himself"

"Staying here and allowing him to believe in this fantasy Emma is hurting him" he said finally. "There is more than one way to hurt a child. You should know that better than anyone. Regina is his mother it's as simple as that and no court is going to nullify that adoption especially considering how the kid has behaved since you have arrived. You don't have a hope in winning this. Try and wrangle visitation rights from Regina if you want to. You might find she'll give them to you, she knows the kid's gonna want to see you. But for your own sanity Emma, for mine, for the future you want Henry to have you cannot be in Storybrooke because that kid is never gonna give up this curse thing if he thinks that you believe him"

"Your asking me to hurt him" Emma said finally wiping the tears from her face.

"No Emma" Jack said looking as broken as she felt. "I am asking you to think about what is best for him in the long run. Like any parent would."

And with that he walked out of the room and Emma waited until she could hear his footsteps going down the stairs until she climbed her own and burst into tears.

Jack took a deep sigh as he came out of that apartment. The message had sunk in it seemed even if he had to be brutal about it. But this was an evil that was needed for both his daughter and her son. This…this…couldn't go on.

"Tough love" said the voice in his head that he attributed to his brother.

"How very Dad like of you"

Jack pushed himself of the wall and decided he had to go for a walk to calm down even if Reggie wasn't with him. And he resolutely told the dead ghosts cluttering up his head to shut the hell up.

Regina stared at the apple turnover. She could smell the apple and the cinnamon and she could feel the magic swelling around the small pastry. She paused. If she did this then there was no going back and it had been a long road to get here.

Daniel.

She had lost Daniel again.

And in doing this she was going to lose Jack.

But it was better than losing Henry for sure.

There was a knock at the door and Regina took of her apron. There was only two people in this town right now that would knock on her door like that. She took a deep breath breathing in and then letting it go and told herself that she was ultimately justified in what she was doing.

And then she went out, smile in place, face a mask of polite interest to go and make a deal with her devil that she knew she was never going to keep.

Jack was sat in the house that he had rented Reggie's head on his lap still smarting. He had been right that he did know. Had it been Emma's mother and father coming back into her life and trying to upstage it when he had been raising her he would have played as dirty as Regina. Regina was that boy's mother in the same way he was Emma's father. Henry…Henry had the great joy of time on his side to get used to it. Henry had not had the life that Emma had had. Henry did get his best chance.

And yet he knew this was the right thing to do. For the kid, for Emma, for Regina and he still couldn't shake that feeling deep in his gut that there was something terrible going to happen just around the corner.

His phone rang and he reached for it without looking at the ID. Realistically he knew who it was going to be and what they were going to talk about.

"Yeah"

"Dad it's Emma. Henry's collapsed. I…I need your help"

Next Chapter-Emma and Jack's worlds are rocked to the core, Henry is fighting for his life, a curse is broken and the world will never again be the same.

And there you go, hope you enjoy.