I WANT TO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING FEEBACK, ESPECIALLY MARCIE GORE! I APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY IN UPDATING. LIFE HAS BEEN PRETTY HECTIC.

DON'T OWN IT.

James crept into Emma and Graham's room, finding them sitting up and their guns drawn.

"It's me." He announced so he wouldn't get shot.

"Is Henry okay?" Emma asked. At the moment, her anger at him had been forgotten.

"Snow's checking on him." James replied.

"What caused it?" Graham questioned.

"Either the Evil Queen or a power outage. Emma, I told you candles work better." James said.

"We can argue about that later, let's all get to Henry's room." Emma got up, and pushed past her father. James and Graham sighed, then followed. When the three rounded the corner to the boy's room, they were met with a sight they didn't want to see. Snow was lying on the ground, motionless, and Henry was held in front of her, knife to his throat.

"All it takes is one twitch, and he's dead." Regina sneered.

"Same here." Emma pointed her gun at the brunette, and Graham followed suit. Where's my assassin? James thought. Then he realized they were unprepared for this.

"You wouldn't kill me. I mean too much to Henry." Regina's lips turned upwards in a smirk.

"You sound confident." Graham said, hoping to buy some time until one of them came up with an actual plan.

"I am." She replied.

"That's your first mistake." Emma said, and looked Graham in the eye. He understood what she wanted to do. Emma leveled her gun at Regina, and Graham moved his ever-so-slightly, so that both the Queen and Henry were out of range, and fired. Regina flinched, thinking she was being shot at. Her grip loosened just enough so that Henry could escape. He hurtled himself to James.

"As I said before, you're nothing but an evil witch." Snow smirked.

"I knew I should've saved your heart to squish at a later date!" Regina remarked. Suddenly, Graham collapsed.

"Not again." Emma muttered. Regina turned to her, holding out her hand, presumably trying to work magic on her.

"Sorry." Emma smiled. "I'm allergic to magic." With that, a single bullet made its way through Regina's heart.

"Mom!" Henry screamed, but it was too hard to tell which one he was talking to. The world seemed to go into slow motion for Emma; maternal instincts took Snow over and she dragged Henry out of the room, kicking and screaming. Doc came running in, and felt for a pulse.

"I feel a weak one." He said. Emma wasn't paying attention to any of that, though. All she could focus on was Henry's frantic yells. Graham came over and took the gun out of her wavering hand for the second time.

"It was a silver bullet." Emma said, her voice devoid of all emotion from the shock. "It might as well be a flesh wound." With that, she stomped out of the room.

"As long as it stays in there, she should be in a coma." James said.

"I'll have to go in and repair the structural damage, but I'll leave the bullet in." Doc looked up at him. James nodded his consent.

Emma flew past Henry's room, where she could hear muffled sobs and words of comfort. She put all of her energy into breathing. In, out, in, out she repeated to herself. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might stop. She took the steps two at a time, yanking the door to the castle opened and closed. She ran all the way to the meadow where she and James had talked, and finally collapsed on the grass, wet from the storm that had subsided. After what seemed like hours, a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. Emma buried her had into Graham's shoulder, and unsuccessfully tried to stifle a sob.

"Henry doesn't hate you, Emma." He said, rubbing circles into her back.

"H-how do you know?" She choked out.

"I talked to him. I explained that Regina isn't dead. But he is mad at you."

"How mad?" She asked.

"On a scale of 1-10? 8." Graham answered.

"Oh God." Emma muttered, and broke into more sobs.

"It's going to be okay, just give it time." The wind blew, stealing all the warmth from them. "We should get back to the castle before we catch a cold."

"I can't face Henry yet." She said, looking up at him.

"I told you, he doesn't hate you."

"But he won't talk to me." Her green eyes searched his almond ones for some kind of hope. Graham pressed his lips together.

"Just give it time." He repeated. He got up and held his hand out to her. She grasped it and hauled herself up, as well. They walked to the castle in silence. When they got there, Emma didn't talk to anyone. She headed straight for her and Graham's room. The brunette looked at James, and shrugged. "She needs a break." He said.

"I know." James agreed. "I know."

Snow held Henry as he wept, his body shuddering every few moments.

"She's not gone forever, Henry." She whispered, stroking his head in an effort to comfort him.

"I know." He said. "But that doesn't change the fact that my m-mom sho-shot her." Henry broke back into sobs, his body heaving.

"Emma did what she had to do to save you. You don't think that was one of the hardest decisions she's had to made, second to giving you up?" Snow asked.

"I thought she was a good person." Henry squirmed out of Snow's embrace. Sighing, she climbed out of the bed and walked to the door. She stood on the threshold.

"I know you can't understand it now, Henry, but parents always do what's best for their children, even if there's collateral damage to the child." She said softly, the pain in her voice filling in the blanks, giving meaning to the unvoiced words.

I'M SO SORRY ABOUT NOT UPDATING SOONER. THE SITE WOULDN'T LET ME LOG ON FOR 4 DAYS, SO THAT'S PART OF MY EXCUSE. I'LL TRY TO GET THE NEXT ONE UP FASTER!