CHAPTER 10

Regina tapped her foot anxiously as she waited outside the school for her children. Graham walked up beside her and was about to sit on the hood of her car when he noticed her glare. Regina was already wound up enough and he definitely didn't want to be anywhere around when she finally blew. He held up his hands in supplication and gave her an apologetic smile. "I was just coming for Henry. Unless you're taking him back with you?"

Regina shook her head, "No. I came for Luka. Henry's still better off with you for now," Regina said with a curious expression on her face. Henry was her baby boy and she loved him with all her heart. But she really didn't like him very much lately. She was more bothered by not being more bothered by that than anything else.

"He just needs some time Regina. It's a pretty huge mess he's found himself in the middle of." Graham knew that Henry's behavior tore Regina into shreds. But she had to understand that it was just a kid being a kid. He'd come around. Sooner or later.

Regina folded her arms across her chest. She nodded at Graham but said nothing.

"So Emma - ?" Graham started.

Regina held up her hand quickly. "Don't even! I'm still not okay with this little matchmaking scheme of Zelena's."

"It's only because there's obviously something there," Graham defended his wife. "Regina you know there's more than one way to break the curse."

Regina shook her head adamantly. "And every single one of them end badly for my children," her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "I just – I just can't," she thought bitterly.

"Not if - ," Graham tried again.

"I don't want to hear a damned thing about this true love crap! Daniel was my true love. And no one will ever replace him. Not even 'the savior'," Regina mocked as the children came streaming out. She spotted Luka and waved her over with a smile.

Henry trailed further behind her. He had his scheming face on that Graham unfortunately knew all too well. He walked over to him quickly before he could put whatever he was up to in action, "This conversation isn't over," he threw over his shoulder.

Henry frowned up at his Uncle as he saw Graham closing in on him quickly. He'd wanted to see Emma. He needed time alone with her so that he could make her understand what his Mom had done to their family. He could easily outrun Regina in those high heels. And though she 'd be close behind he'd at least have a headstart on her. He would be able to at least get Emma's attention so that they could come up with a plan together to save their family. But with Graham closing the gap between them fast he knew he was caught and there was no way he was getting out of this one. He dropped his head and sighed. The Evil Queen had won this battle too. But the war was far from over.

MF

Luka slowly walked up to her Mother. She was surprised to see her there. The one true thing about their Mother was that she was a stickler about their schedules. She said the only way to get everything they had to take care of done was by being super organized. That way they'd always know where they were and what was going to happen.

On weekends, Regina would get up really early as was her custom. She'd clean until they woke up on their own. Once everyone was awake they'd make breakfast together as a family. Afterward she'd go back to finishing cleaning the house from top to bottom. Henry would finish up his homework so that they'd have the entire rest of the weekend to do whatever the person whose turn it was to choose came up with. Luka, who was in Henry's grade would've already had her homework finished. So Zelena would come and take her to dance class. Then they'd spend the rest of the weekend having nonstop fun.

Their weekday schedule dictated that Luka and Henry go over to Zelena's once school and their extracurriculars were finished. Graham usually escorted them there. Partly because Regina said he really had nothing else to do in a town that had little to no crime. But Luka knew he also liked spending time with his wife. Even though they'd been together forever as far as she was concerned, they still seemed so caught up in one another. Luka hoped to one day find someone like that for herself.

But with Henry acting out lately everything had changed. Luka had to sit back and watch her Mom being ripped apart by a brother she'd spent her entire life looking up to. And worse, her Mom just kept taking it like there was nothing wrong with the situation.

Luka walked up to her Mom, "Hi Mom. What are you doing here?" Lately she'd taken to avoiding being home as much as possible. She'd started having more sleepovers and dinners out at friend's houses if it meant she could get a few hours of peace and normality in.

Regina threw her arms around her baby girl and pulled her in for a quick hug. "I wanted to spend some time with my baby girl," she smiled down at her.

Graham walked by with Henry and waved at them. Regina didn't even bother trying to address Henry since his burning glare told her all she needed to know about what was going on through his head. Luka had taken to ignoring him as much as possible. They waved back before they all headed to their respective cars and got inside.

They drove over to Granny's and Regina allowed her to order whatever she wanted. They shared fries while Luka sipped at her strawberry milkshake and Regina sipped at her chocolate one. They'd chatted about school and some of Luka's friends.

Regina cleared her throat and looked over at her daughter. The stress of Henry was taking a toll on all of them. Regina didn't mind paying the price for her sins. But her children shouldn't have to. Even if it was from the other child. She realized she was angry at Henry for the callous way he'd treated their family.

Luka looked up and saw sadness cross her Mom's face. She sighed and dropped her straw back into her shake, "what are you really doing here Mom?" In all her life, the one thing about Regina Mill's rules was that they weren't to be broken. Not even by Regina Mills herself. And yet here she sat on a weekday across from Luka as if this was a normal occurrence.

Regina took a deep breath, "I did have an ulterior motive for bringing you here today. I wanted to give us some time together. Away from – well – Henry. And everything that's been happening lately. I know it's been hard on you. And I wanted to say that I'm sorry," Regina reached across the table and put her hand on top of her daughter's.

Luka stared down at the table. She wanted to say it was okay. But it wasn't. Henry had been doing nothing lately but causing heartache for everyone. But the worse – the absolute worse was watching her Mom being torn down by his insults and out of control behavior. And her doing nothing to defend herself.

As long as Luka could remember, she'd always looked up to her Mom. She was the most important person in her life. And watching someone as strong and proud as she was being trashed just ripped her to pieces. Even if it was by her own brother. "Why?" she asked quietly.

Regina looked at her daughter closely, "Why what honey?"

"Why do you let him talk to you that way?" Luka could already see her Mother forming another round of excuses so she went on. "When you do that," tears began to pool in her eyes and her throat became choked. "It's like letting him do that to all of us. It's saying you're not good enough. But you are. You're too good. And you shouldn't do it." The tears that were pooling in her eyes began to flow over. She shook her head at her Mom, "I can't stand watching it go on."

Regina's breath hitched in her throat as she looked at the raw pain in her daughter's eyes. She didn't know how to answer her. She knew Henry was really out of control. She knew a part of the problem was her guilt and remorse over the curse. And her feeling that she deserved to be punished for it. She just held out hope that it would blow over and they could get back to the way things used to be.

But now, looking at her daughter in pain, Regina realized this was something she couldn't let stand any longer. Regina stood and walked to the other side of the booth. She scooted in beside her daughter and pulled her into her chest. "My baby," she kissed her head. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea this was affecting you so much. I'm so so sorry." Regina continued kissing her daughter as she smoothed her hair down.

Luka clung to her Mother and just let go. It felt good. It felt right.

As Regina held her daughter she vowed things would be different. She couldn't let this tear apart her family. She'd worked too hard, come too far, and paid too high a price already for that to happen. One way or another, this had to end.

XXX

"You know you can't keep me locked up forever," Henry glared over at his uncle. He'd loved his family once. But now he knew the truth. And he couldn't be that way with them ever again. They were keeping him hostage from his real family. And he would do whatever it took to help save them and this entire town from the Evil Queen.

Graham glanced back at Henry in the rearview mirror. "Henry, when you realize how wrong you've been you're just going to hate yourself. For the time being how about we play by the Golden Rule? If you can't say something nice then don't say anything at all," Graham countered as he snapped his seatbelt into place and put the car in drive. He headed back toward the station where he'd give Henry a snack and let him get started on his homework before his appointment with Archie.

"You're the ones who're going to be sorry. My Mom is going to break this curse. And then she's going to destroy all you bad guys. She's the savior. And she's pure true love. Nothing can beat that."

Graham rolled his eyes as they took the short drive down to the station in the patrol car. He got out but kept his eyes closely trained on Henry as they made their way to the door. He opened the station and held the door for Henry to pass.

"Emma," Henry's eyes bulged when he saw her. "What are you doing here?"

Emma was sitting at the desk across from where Graham usually sat. She squeezed her eyes shut as she mentally prepared herself to dealing with Henry's company. She opened them slowly and turned around, "I work here?"