Sorry for the delay, here's quite a long chapter to make up for it. Enjoy!
Emma and Regina stood in the hallway confused about what to do about Henry's outburst. It was obvious he was upset about his mother's condition and the fact that Emma was coping with it. When adults weren't coping with things it always made him more nervous as they were the ones known to be in control and holding it together.
"Regina I think you should be the one to talk to Henry. He's worried about you and I just think it's best."
"But I look dreadful at the moment." Regina crossed her arms over herself, looking uncomfortable.
"You look beautiful, as always." Emma gave her a soft smile.
Regina smiled and shook her head. "I'll go and see to him. My stomach feels significantly better anyway. I was a little worried for a moment there."
"So was I. Please tell me when you're not okay, either physically or otherwise. I don't want any more surprises. I've had enough for a long time."
"I will try to be more honest. But I hope you understand I find it rather difficult. I'm not so big on trusting people or speaking about my feelings. It's never been a strong point of mine."
"I know, but you can trust me." Emma watched as the dark pools of her eyes swirled and softened like smooth chocolate. "Your eyes are amazing." Emma commented aloud.
Regina looked at her through her eyelashes and smiled, suddenly feeling a lot younger again. "Now I'm going to go and speak to Henry, I'll be with you shortly." She leaned forward and gave Emma a peck on the cheek before starting to turn around.
Emma nodded and headed back towards the kitchen. She was starving, she would eat the whole pot of pasta by herself if she could.
Regina knocked on the door of the bedroom Henry had made his own. It was a lovely room, one that looked to have belonged to a boy of a similar age to him. With no response from him, she pushed the door open slowly.
"Henry?"
Henry was lying on his bed with his back facing the door, he hadn't bothered to change his clothes and he had a striped blue duvet was over him.
Regina sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and looked at her. His eyes were wet.
"Oh, dear, what's the matter?" Regina asked him with concern.
"I don't wanna talk about it. Especially not with you." He scowled and to face away from her again.
The words got Regina in the chest. She tried to block any pain from getting to her heart, but Henry always broke through instantly.
"Well maybe you could talk to Emma." Regina suggested a little sadly. Henry pushed himself up with his elbows until he was sitting up in the bed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mean to you just then. I just- I don't know what to say to you."
"Why? Did I do something to upset you?" Regina asked with even more concern, she placed her hand on his forearm.
"No, I'm just scared. Mary Margaret's panicking and you passed out today. Someone hurt you. Emma's freaking out and she's getting really upset. I'm really, really scared that you're not going to be okay." He couldn't suppress the tears that escaped from his full eyes.
Regina's eyes watered with emotion. "You don't have to be scared for me sweetheart." She shook her head but she couldn't even suppress herself from crying. "I'm going to be okay, my darling. I love you very much and you're safe here. There are an extraordinary amount of people who love you who are just under this roof alone."
"But it doesn't mean I would be okay if you died. If you died I wouldn't just instantly live with them and not miss you. I know I've been mean to you in the past and I upset you when I decided to stay with Emma. I didn't realise it at the time but I do now and I want both of you. Not just one. I love both of you."
"Well you have both of us, sweetheart."
"Not if you're dying right now." Henry's hand scrunched up the sheets. Regina stood up and made Henry shuffle to the side a little more so that there was room for her to sit down next to him.
"I don't think I am dying Henry, I just have some tummy trouble and Mary Margaret got a little worried by it. As for Emma, things are a bit different at the moment so everyone is over emotional, especially Emma and I for some reason."
"Is Emma you're true love?"
Regina chocked a little. She was taken aback by his question. "I don't know how much I believe in the term true love. Personally I think it should be called 'true life.'"
"And what does true life mean?"
"It means the life you desire with the people you love. If Emma's one of them then she is my true life. The concept seems to make sense to me. I can't imagine it catching on though." Regina chuckled quietly.
"You're very different here you know."
"Am I now?" Regina smiled to him. "How so?"
"You're a lot less powerful and a lot more affectionate than normal with everybody. That's partly what worries me."
Regina smiled and ruffled his short hair. "I know everyone's been stressed at the moment and mostly about me but they're just very caring people and they worry a lot, just like you."
"I don't want you to die."
"It's very unlikely that I will, dear. I have great medication now that is really helping; I'll be back to normal in no time." Regina leaned and nudged him with her side. "Where's that smile gone?"
He looked at her and softly smiled. "I love you mom."
"I love you too Henry, very much." She looked at him and then leaned down and kissed a spot in his hair. "Emma and I haven't been very good parents this past couple of days and I'm sorry, we'll try much harder to do better from now."
"You haven't been a bad parent, you've just needed to look after yourself more so than me and I want you to do that. You should use your strength to get better rather than trying to take care of me as well. Emma, Mary Margaret and David can do that. Think of it as: Operation Lizard."
Regina smiled at that. "Why a lizard?"
"Because when lizards lose a limb they grow it back and that's what you're doing, repairing yourself."
Regina's eyes welled up at the statement. "When did you get so wise?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.
Henry smiled modestly and looked at her a little shyly.
The former mayor smiled. "You still have that cute spark in your eye that you used to have when you were very little." She stated. Henry beamed at her.
Regina looked at him fondly. "I think you, Emma and I should definitely allocate some time to spend together every day."
"Yes. I'd like that."
"What about evenings? We could see if that old TV works and watch a movie together. I think I saw some lying around earlier."
"Sure." Henry smiled. "That sounds great. But mom, please just tell the truth to me about what you said before. I'm not a little kid anymore."
"Henry, I don't know what to say. I don't know if I'm going to be okay. I don't know what to say to you." She couldn't stop the words before they left her mouth. At least she'd finally said what she was thinking.
Henry looked at her with shock and sadness. "But you can't die- you're- you're my mom and I'd miss you a lot."
Emotion was overwhelming her and Regina placed her thumb and her forefinger on the bridge of her nose. Tears were threatening to escape from her eyes. "Henry, I'm doing my best, I promise you."
Henry picked up Regina's arm and she watched as he put it over his shoulder. He then shuffled and leaned into her side. "I really do love you mom. I love you both."
"I know you do honey, we love you too." She wiped away a tear and bit her lip to stop it trembling.
They were both startled by a light tap on the door. They watched as Emma peeked around the door at them. "Are you guys okay?" She asked with a furrowed brow. "I've been doing chores around and about and I heard crying."
"Come and sit with us." Henry addressed Emma. The saviour looked at Regina and she nodded with a loving smile.
"Okay. As long as I'm not interrupting a serious conversation."
"Well you were, but it doesn't matter if you hear." Henry responded to her open question.
Emma nodded and sat down half on top of both of their legs. There was no more room at the top but she was quite comfy there.
"Why are you both upset?" Emma asked, looking at their shared wet cheeks.
"Henry believes I'm going to die soon." Regina went right out with it.
"Henry I'm sure she'll be-"
"Don't! Emma I've seen you crying, I've seen you getting upset, I've seen you panicking about her condition. Please don't lie to me too."
"I'm sorry kid." Emma looked at him guiltily. "It's just better to be positive about this. Even if we're not one thousand percent sure."
"I haven't done my best at that in the past few minutes." Regina looked at Emma sadly. "I'm afraid I got overwhelmed and developed my own doubts." She shrugged and she looked down. "I told him, and asked myself, that maybe I wouldn't be okay." She said in a fairly calm manor for what she was actually implying.
"Regina." Emma replied sadly. "Maybe this isn't the right place to talk about that right now. Come and talk to me for a minute." Emma stood up and outstretched her hand to Regina.
"I'm sorry, I'll be back in a moment Henry. She's right." Regina shuffled away from him and stood up.
They both stopped in the hall. Emma put a hand on her shoulder. "What's going on with you right now?" She asked sadly.
Regina bit down on her own lip and released it. "What-what if I'm not okay. What if I die today, or tomorrow?" She asked with a childlike look of fear in her eyes.
Emma put her hand on her other shoulder. "Where did this come from?" She asked worriedly.
"Henry was upset. He believes I'm going to die soon." She choked out.
Emma shook her head. "No, no." She pulled Regina into a hug and held her tight. Regina rested her head on her shoulder. "You'll be okay, sweetheart." Emma tried to say confidently. If nobody was being positive about this then it was her time to step up.
She pulled Regina away at arms length, still holding each other, and kissed her. It surprising deepened; likely with the emotion behind it. She sucked Regina bottom lip between hers and ran her tongue over it. Regina arms came up around her neck.
Once they were finished, their heads rested together. Regina thought back to when Emma had said that she loved her. In any way that she wanted. So it felt right to say what she then did. "I love you too Emma."
Emma's eyes opened and she looked at Regina with a rather stunned expression. "Don't say it if you're not ready y-"
She was cut off by another kiss from Regina, thus answering her question.
Henry opened his bedroom door slowly. Wondering why his mothers had taken so long. His eyebrows raised at the sight before him. He grinned for a moment and then went back into his room. He sat down on his bed and crossed his legs, his smile hadn't left yet.
"This is so great." He said quietly to himself. A moment later, Emma and Regina walked back into his room. He beamed at them.
"Why are you so smiley now?" Emma smirked at the cute sight before her.
"No reason." He shrugged. "I just love you guys a lot."
Regina smiled. "Well that's good because we love you a lot too." She nodded at Emma and seconds later they both attacked Henry with hugs and kisses. He laughed underneath them and tried to squirm away. He had no such luck.
Once they'd stopped, Regina sat there smiling. "I've not laughed that much in a long time." She said with an elated expression.
Emma smiled and rolled so she was at Regina's side. She placed one of her hands on top of Regina's stomach and her head on her collarbone. Regina smiled at the embrace and kissed her forehead. Despite their unknown whereabouts, Regina could not have been happier.
"What are we doing tomorrow?" Henry asked them both.
Regina twisted her neck and looked at him. "I don't know, dear. What would you like to do?"
"Could I go and see the town with you two?"
Regina looked at Emma and nodded.
Emma nodded again to herself. "Yes, we could try and do some investigating as to our where we are and was that woman's name Erin?" Emma asked Regina.
Regina nodded. "Lady Liberty." She grimaced slightly.
"Well maybe we could pay Lady Liberty a visit." Emma smirked at her dismay. "Maybe you'd want to talk to her."
"That doesn't sound as unpleasant as expected. I just might."
"Great." Emma responded. She knew that Regina desperately needed someone to talk to about the apparent war zone inside of her head and maybe someone actually trained in the topic would be better suited than herself. She still wanted Regina to talk to her but maybe Lady Liberty would do a better job at making her feel better rather than just kissing her because she felt like it. Emma suddenly looked at Regina with a confused expression.
"What?" Regina smiled. "What are you thinking about."
Emma smiled and just shook her head. "So what does Erin look like?"
Regina thought back to when they'd bumped into her with Mary Margaret. "Average height, medium build. I believe she was wearing a pantsuit. Brown hair, I think."
"Age?"
Henry looked up and gave Emma a confused expression.
"I'm not sure, forties maybe, fifties? She looked fairly youthful though."
"Is she attractive?"
"Emma!" Regina sat up and looked at her, resting on her elbows.
"Someone's jealous." Henry smirked. Emma narrowed her eyes at her son.
"Well is she?" She asked Regina.
"I don't know why you're being so paranoid. I have what I want here. And no, I don't believe she is. She is also too kind, I dislike that very much."
"Oh, so I'm just right. Not too kind at all."
"Precisely." Regina smirked and received a friendly shove from Emma.
There was a light knock on the door and they all looked up to see Mary Margaret peek her head in.
She smiled at the sight. She looked like she was about to say something but then she stopped and just looked at them with an adoring expression.
"What?" Emma smiled. She could feel Regina's heart beating beneath her ear. Henry was propped up on his elbows next to Emma, looking at her also.
"You two are very sweet." She smiled.
Emma raised her eyebrows. Was this approval? She thought. It sounded like it. Emma felt Regina's hand gently playing with her hair. She looked at Regina's expression and saw that she was looking kindly at Mary Margaret, possibly even fondly? Had those two finally buried their demons?
Mary Margaret gave Regina a slight nod and a smile. "Henry, why don't you and I go do something. We could make a cake if you'd like?"
Henry got the message. "Sure." He stood up and climbed around his mothers and off the bed. He was just about to leave when he turned back to face them, a slightly worried look on his face. "Please, please not in my bed, anywhere but there." He pleaded with a light smirk.
"Henry!" They outraged. Regina stood up and walked over to him. Mary Margaret standing closely beside. "Henry we were not- stop saying such suggestive and inappropriate things. We do not appreciate it!" The former queen scolded him.
Mary Margaret looked at them with a confused expression. "What just happened?"
Emma joined them and looked at Henry with an unimpressed expression. She crossed her arms. "Henry's been making comments about the nature of our relationship and we don't appreciate what he's been saying."
"What kind of comments?"
"Inappropriate ones." Regina said sternly whilst looking at Henry with and unimpressed raised eyebrow.
"Oh, I see. I'll have a word with him if you like." Mary Margaret assured her.
"Thanks. Maybe he'll listen to you." She smiled.
Mary Margaret nodded and guided Henry to go downstairs with him.
Emma was left with Regina. They were still standing in the doorway. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Emma asked, looking at Regina's tired face.
Regina smiled at her sleepily. "I'm okay Emma." She said simply. She was feeling a little better now the medicine had kicked in.
"That's what I like to hear." She leaned forward and gave a Regina a simple chaste kiss.
Regina smiled, raised her hand and ran her fingertips through Emma's hair. Emma smiled softly and leaned against her hand. She took a step forward and slowly just wrapped her arms around Regina's waist. Regina smiled at the unexpected hug. She wrapped her arms around Emma's neck and Emma pulled her close.
"I love you." Emma said, her voice muffled into Regina's shoulder.
Regina kissed her exposed collar bone as it was the only place she could reach. "I love you too. I don't really know why this happened between us but I'm glad it did."
"So am I." Emma smiled.