Consensual parent/child incest. Don't like it, don't read it.

Henry sat at the table at the school nurse's station, tissue stuffed up his nose to stem the bleeding, holding ice packs to his face with each hand. His shirt, bloody and torn, was draped across the table next to him as the nurse efficiently wrapped his aching ribs. The principal stood next to the table, his arms crossed over his chest as they waited for Henry's moms to show up.

Emma ran into Regina outside of the school as she was approaching the front door. Regina beat her to it, pulling the door open quickly and rushing into the building.

"Of course they called you, too," Emma muttered, disgruntled.

"Yes, of course they did. I'm still... I don't know what else you expected!" Regina scowled.

"Did they tell you what happened?"

"Not details, just that he was hurt." She finished speaking as she pulled the door open to the nurse's station, her eyes falling to Henry's face and her stomach lurching. She hurried to him and fell to her knees on the floor in front of him, gently taking his face in her hands.

"Kid... what happened?" Emma asked, standing just behind Regina, her face twisted in sorrow at his obvious pain.

"Nothi'g," Henry mumbled, his voice nasal from the tissues blocking his nostrils.

The principal, Mr. Ferguson, supplied, "There was a fight during lunch hour. When Henry didn't show up to class, a teacher's aide went looking for him and found him like this."

"I'b fide," Henry insisted.

"Sweetheart, you are anything but fine," Regina breathed, sorrow filling her voice. "You... what happened? Tell me, please?"

"Kid, you gonna be okay? Do you want any aspirin? I think we need to get you to see Dr. Whale," Emma added awkwardly. She knew this was more Regina's area of expertise, the whole dealing with pain and sickness thing, but she hated seeing her kid's face the way it looked in that moment.

The nurse spoke up as she secured the bandages around Henry's ribs. "He has a broken nose, and I suspect his ribs are bruised, but I'm certain nothing else is broken."

"Loog, id does'ed madder." Putting the ice down, Henry tentatively pulled the tissues from his nose, sniffling cautiously, then breathing a sigh of relief when blood didn't continue to pour down his face. "Jerks were jerks, they didn't like that I ignored their idiot asses, so they kicked my ass, okay? I'll be fine."

Fighting to hold back tears, Regina blamed herself, and gently touched the bridge of his nose, watching as he winced. "Obviously it does matter. Have you seen yourself? We will need to get to Dr. Whale and get your nose set and taped."

Emma looked at the principal. "Do you know what kids did this? Are any of them eighteen?" she asked, fuming. If any of them were, she didn't care what kind of scene it would make, she'd march into their class and haul their ass to jail right then.

Mr. Ferguson shifted uncomfortably. "Henry has given the names of the students he claims are responsible," he replied slowly.

"I'm okay, Regina," Henry said in a low voice, taking her hand in his. And, seeing the look on her face, he added, "It's not your fault."

"Are any of them eighteen?" Emma gritted out, the principal's hesitant tone pissing her off.

"It is," Regina sighed. "You're too good to deserve this."

"I'm afraid the students in question claim they were not involved," Mr. Ferguson squirmed a little under the sheriff's glare. "And their classmates corroborate that. It's Henry's word against theirs."

"It's not," Henry insisted quietly. "You're not responsible for idiot teenagers' actions."

"Let me see them. I'd love to look at their knuckles, I'm sure their word won't hold up if there's physical evidence. Also, I'm certain there were security cameras put inwhen we had all the trouble with hazing a couple years back. Or am I wrong?" Emma argued.

Regina looked up at Emma a moment, wondering if she should step in, but decided against it. "I'm responsible for why they're acting this way, though. They beat you up because of us, right?" she asked, dropping her voice at the last two words.

"Look, Sheriff, I don't want there to be a problem here..." Mr. Ferguson held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"Yeah," Henry answered nearly soundlessly. "But in that case, I'm just as responsible as you are. And nobody made them do this, that was their choice." Looking at her with imploring eyes, he whispered, "Don't take even more onto your shoulders."

"You don't want problems... you don't want problems so you're willing to let a perfectly innocent student get his ass kicked and not be willing to let it be dealt with properly? If any of them is over eighteen, which I'm guessing is pretty likely since you're so hesitant to give me names, it becomes legal. And you're involving yourself in protecting a criminal. Keep it up," Emma spat.

Eyes filling with tears again, Regina blinked them away and nodded slowly. "Ok, but I'm not backing down happily, just so you know." She moved to stand next to Emma, keeping one hand in Henry's. "Principal Ferguson, I suggest you cooperate with Sheriff Swan, lest we look into replacing you."

Looking between the two most powerful women in town, Ferguson knew when to give up, and he nodded slowly, reaching into his pocket for a notepad and flipping it open to a list of eight names and handed it to the sheriff. "I'll get you the security footage," he mumbled and left the room.

"Kid..." Emma sighed, her voice dropping all hardness she had been using on the principal. "Are you okay? I know that's a stupid question because you look not okay, but..." she trailed off, not sure how to phrase what she wanted to ask exactly.

"I'm fine," Henry said again. "I'm gonna hurt for a while, but I'm fine. Principal Ferguson agreed to let me challenge my finals, so I have two weeks for that, and if I don't pass, he said I can study from home. I mean, when I asked him this morning before class, he said no, but after this..." He shrugged, immediately wincing from the action, which only made him hiss at the pain in his face.

Regina looked at Emma, "I don't care what your rules are, I'm coming over to help him study, everyday. He needs to pass those exams. This," she said, waving her hand over him, "cannot happen again. And I'm healing the worst of it after Dr. Whale takes care of his bones."

"No, you're not. Coming over, I mean. You can heal him, that's fine... I don't want him in this pain anymore than you do, but he doesn't need your help studying."

"And just who is supposed to help him and make sure he passes? You?"

"I will hire him a tutor."

"Ma, you know that so far Ruby's the only person who's okay with... everything? I really don't wanna spend every day with someone who thinks I'm some kind of deviant," Henry pointed out.

"Henry... I'm not okay with it."

"I know, Ma," Henry sighed. "And if you spend every day looking at me like I'm a deviant and make you nauseous like you been over the weekend, I'm not gonna wanna stay with you. But I will, because that's the deal. I just don't want to get it from both sides at the same time."

"Fine," she gave in, shifting her gaze between Henry and Regina. "Regina can come help you study. But only when I'm home, an hour each night, and I swear to god if I see any touching, you will be getting a different tutor. And I don't care if it means having to drive you out of town for it. Deal?"

Regina was the first to answer, offering a quick nod. She didn't care that she wouldn't be able to touch him; she would see him and be able to help him. It was a much better agreement than not seeing him at all for the entire week.

"Deal," Henry added. "Um... can we go now? Kinda coveting painkillers right now..."

"Yeah, uh, Henry... I want to come to the hospital with you, but I need to get a look at the surveillance tape. I can do it later if you want me to come."

Henry hesitated, thinking about it. "Honestly, Ma? I'd rather you go haul their asses to the station. The longer you wait, the longer they get to gloat." He grimaced.

"Okay, kid. Call me if you need me, and I'll give you a call when I'm done. Regina... take care of him," she said heavily.

"Always," Regina answered. Emma headed to the principal's office as Regina helped Henry stand, asking him if he'd rather she poof them to the hospital or if he was ok to ride in the car.

"Oh god, poof me," Henry groaned, sagging a little after Emma left. He felt, perhaps oddly, that he needed to be stronger around his blonde mother, and now that she'd left, he let himself truly show how badly he felt.

Regina did as he asked, taking them directly to the emergency room, helping him sit in a chair and walking to the registration desk to fill out paperwork. She looked up often from what she was doing, to look him over and make sure he wasn't going to be sick from the pain. Once everything was signed and dated, she sat down next to him to wait, pulling one of his hands between her own.

"Can't believe he was gonna let them get away with it," Henry muttered, his eyes closed and head tilted back, brow creased with pain. "This town sucks."

Glancing around quickly and making sure no one was watching too closely, Regina leaned over and pressed a kiss to Henry's jaw. "Yes it does. Lucky for you, between Emma and me, he wasn't going to get away with letting them off."

Henry smiled a little. "You're the best. Ma's not so bad, either. I just really hope she comes around soon."

"Between the two of us, I think she will. Completely? No. But the pain I felt when I saw you... I know she felt it, too, and I can't imagine her being okay with it. She'll come around, if only for the fact that she doesn't want to let people think it's okay to hurt others just because they disagree with how they live their lives."

"I wonder why Ruby was so cool about it," Henry mused aloud. "That was kinda unexpected."

"I was curious, as well. Perhaps you should ask her. If Emma isn't done before we are, I'll take you there for dinner. I'm not dropping you off at Emma's alone and I doubt she'd be pleased with us being alone somewhere private."

"We're never gonna get done here if we don't get started," Henry groaned, cracking an eye open to scan the waiting room. "Seriously, this town can't be that busy."

Regina sighed, looking around. Standing, she walked to the registration desk and asked the administrator how much longer it would be. After being given an arguable answer and raising her voice, she was told it wouldn't be more than a few minutes longer.

A minute later, one of the nurses stepped into the waiting room and called, "Henry Swan-Mills?" Henry groaned and, with Regina's help, managed to stand and hobble after the nurse as she led them to an exam room. "Dr. Whale will be right with you."

Regina made Henry lay down on the table, taking off her blazer and folding it into a makeshift pillow for him, raising his head on the tilted bed. "Baby," she breathed, now that they were finally really alone for a moment. She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, then pushed her nose into his hair, nuzzling against him gently.

Forcing a smile, Henry swallowed hard, his stomach churning at the movement that had caused the pain he was in to increase. He reached out, fumbling for Regina's hand and holding it tightly.

"I promise you, if he isn't in here soon, I'll hunt him down and force him to come look at you, sweetheart," she joked, running her fingers through his hair.

"That won't be necessary," Dr. Whale said, knocking on the propped open door and entering the room. "Looks like you took a pretty rough beating, Henry, want to tell me about it?" He pulled out his pen light, lifting each of Henry's eyelids and checking his pupils.

"Fight at school," Henry mumbled tightly. "School nurse said my nose is broken, prob'ly got bruised ribs, and..." hesitating, he glanced at Regina. "Um... they kinda did a number on my... junk."

"Oh? What exactly did they do, and how long has it been since it happened? It still hurts, I'm assuming, since you brought it up."

Regina looked at him, horrified at how cruel teenagers could be. Her heart sunk, still feeling responsible, and after hearing they went after his private area, even more so.

"Um, I dunno like an hour?" Henry squeezed Regina's fingers. "They, um... that's kinda what they focused on. Face, ribs, that was... extra. Some punching, but mostly kicking once I was down," he admitted miserably.

"Usually if it is just standard pain, it would be gone within an hour." Dr. Whale looked at Regina, asking, "Would you mind leaving us so I can check him?"

"She doesn't have to leave," Henry immediately protested, looking at Regina and gripping her hand tighter. "Not unless you want to."

"Of course I don't want to leave, sweetheart," Regina answered.

"Very well. I will need you to stand and drop your pants and underwear," Dr. Whale answered, causing Regina to cringe at his crass description.

"Oh god, I have to get up again?" Henry groaned, slowly maneuvering himself off the exam table.

After Henry pushed his pants and boxers down, Regina looked away, not wanting to see the damage, but when Dr. Whale gasped, she couldn't help but look. Her heart clenched when she saw him. He was bruised, blood red and purple all over his penis and one of his balls was swollen and bruised.

Gasping, she pressed her face into the side of his shoulder, holding his hand.

"Yeah Henry, we're going to need to do an ultrasound. I'll go get the machine; you're going to have to undress yourself. You might as well take your shirt off, too, just so I can get a better look at your ribs, too. I'll leave you to it," he moved to a cupboard, pulling out a hospital gown. "Go ahead and put this on, opening in the front, please. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"It'll be okay," Henry said quietly as he carefully worked his clothes off and shrugged into the gown. Once he was ready, he cupped Regina's face in his hands and pressed his lips against her lightly. "Even knowing that this would happen, I wouldn't change anything."

"You shouldn't be comforting me, baby," she whispered, holding his hands against her face. "I should be the one comforting you. I'm so sorry you have to be in this kind of pain."

Dr. Whale knocked, entering before permission was given and saw Regina pulling away from Henry quickly. "You don't really have to pretend anything here," he stated. "It isn't going to bother me." Pausing, he pulled the ultrasound machine next to the bed, prompting Henry to get back up onto it.

"Well, make that two people who are chill about it," Henry half-joked, even as he grimaced at the ultrasound machine. "This is gonna hurt even more, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry, it is." Squeezing gel onto Henry's testicle, he pressed the wand to it, looking over the screen. Regina took Henry's hand into her own again, squeezing it to reassure him. "All right, do you see this?" Dr. Whale prompted, showing the darkness in the image surrounding a lighter spot. "You have a ruptured testicle. This is blood."

"How do you repair it?" Regina asked softly.

"It usually takes surgery. A couple of days in the hospital, a lot of resting after, and no sexual activity for a month."

"Seriously?" Henry's voice bordered on a whine. "There's gotta be another way... right?"

"Not medically," Dr. Whale answered, looking at Regina. "Maybe magically?"

"Oh," Regina whispered. She looked at Henry and tried to force a smile. "I can try to heal you, but I can't make any promises. And... I won't be able to heal anything else."

"I don't care about my nose or ribs, but I'd kinda like to not pee blood or whatever. Walk without wanting to cut it off and all that." Lowering his voice a little, even though he knew Whale could likely still hear him, he added, "It's not totally about sex, but I also don't want to go a month without that, either."

Rolling her eyes teasingly, Regina nodded and moved her hands to hover over his private area. She concentrated on using all of her good magic to heal him, the power rolling off her in waves. Relieved when the coloring returned to normal, Regina smiled and brought her hands back to her sides.

"Look at that. Looks like you won't be going a month without sex after all," Dr. Whale joked easily.

Henry sighed in relief and relaxed as the worst of the pain faded. "Thanks," he said gratefully, smiling at Regina and taking her hand again. Looking back at Dr. Whale, he asked, "So what about my nose and ribs?"

"I'll do scans, but I can tell your nose is broken; the x-ray picture will tell me how to reset your nose, and if I need to re-break it first. Your ribs," he said, opening the top of Henry's gown to examine his ribs. "They look fine, but we'll get a couple pictures of them to be certain."

"How long should that take?" Regina asked.

"No more than another hour."

"Nothing like getting your ass kicked to take up your whole day," Henry muttered wryly. "Regina, do you think you could call Ma and let her know I'm okay and see if she's arrested the guys yet?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I'll be right back," she answered, leaving the room because the service would be terrible. Selecting Emma's name from her contacts, she waited until she got an answer.

"Hey Regina, how's it going?" Emma asked as her greeting.

"He's getting ready for x-rays, he wanted me to call and see what the progress was on the situation on your end."

"Well, there were eight boys, two of them I can't arrest because they aren't eighteen, but I'll be damned if they aren't punished by the school. The other six are eighteen, and I can only bring three at a time, so three are in one cell at the station, and one is in the back of the cruiser. I have to go get the other two. I'll probably be a few hours booking them."

"I... I don't want to leave him alone at your place if you aren't home yet. I told him I'd see if you were fine with me taking him to Granny's for dinner. He shouldn't be alone," Regina hesitated.

"Yeah, that's fine. If I get done and you're still there, I'll drop by."

"Very well, I'll see you later." She hung up and headed back to the room.

Once Regina had left the room, Henry looked at the doctor, tentatively asking, "Not that I doubt how well magic works and all, but... can you just quickly check and make sure everything's all good?"

"Of course," he answered, doing as Henry asked. "So, mind my asking how that started?"

"What, the fight?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "No. You and Regina."

"Oh." Henry's brow furrowed, trying to figure out what to say. "Um, well it's kind of personal for her, but on my side... I've thought about it since the second curse. We fell asleep in the same bed one night - accidentally - and when I woke up, I was kind of groping her. And just kind of didn't stop."

"Nice," he said with a nod. "All respect given, nice job. She's... yeah, I can see her being worth the shit you're getting."

Henry blinked at the doctor. "You're... giving me kudos for getting together with my mom?"

"I'm not going to judge your relationship. And... if it makes her happy, I think she finally deserves that, don't you?"

Smiling, Henry nodded. "Yeah. She definitely does. I just wish everybody else thought so. You and Ruby are the only ones who are okay with it. Ma's making me go see Archie and not letting me see Regina on my weeks at her place, and Grandma seems to have taken it upon herself to be the world's biggest cockblock. Like nobody cares that this what both of us want." He tilted his head, asking curiously, "Why do you care? I didn't know you guys were friends."

"We're not, but we've come to what I like to think is mutual respect," he answered easily, then thought back to his first meeting with her. "If you could have seen her when she wasn't much older than you... you'd be amazed. She was a vision, not just in looks, she was the kindest person I had ever met. It makes me even more sorry for everything that happened. You could tell, even with the pain she was in, she had this hatred for seeing others suffer."

"I wish none of that had happened," Henry sighed. "Even if it meant I'd have never been born... if she hadn't had to go through the pain she did, that'd be worth anything."

"Good man," Dr. Whale said, stuck in his hand out for Henry to shake. "But she would never want that, so no point in wishing for it."

Henry shook the doctor's hand, a little amused. "Yeah, I know. I guess I'll just have to do everything in my power to make and keep her happy. Thanks, Dr. Whale."

"Congrats to you on-" he answered, cutting off when Regina re-entered the room.

"Congrats on what?" she asked, looking at Henry.

Henry shrugged slightly. "Well we were talking about you, so I'm guessing it's congrats on our relationship." At least he hoped that's what it was, and not something crass like 'congrats on bagging your mom.'

"I was going to say congrats on being the one to make Regina happy," he answered.

"Thank you, doctor."

"No problem, let's get those scans done."