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

Knowing it was important that she speak with someone about everything in her life, Regina readied herself for her appointment with Archie on Thursday. But that didn't mean she was completely comfortable with it. When she got to his office, she knocked hesitantly on the door and waited.

Archie smiled as he opened the door. "Regina, please, come in," he greeted, motioning inside. When the door was closed behind her and they were settled, he asked, "How are you?"

"Seeing as you saw Henry yesterday and you live in a town with the gossip queen, Snow White, I'm assuming you can guess how I am," she hissed, then calmed herself and looked at him apologetically. "I… I am just not certain I'm ready to discuss this."

"I won't force you to discuss anything you don't want to," Archie stated carefully. "But I think it may help."

"I know. Which is why I am here. I—I just… this is a unique experience and I'm uncertain of how to verbalize it."

"Why don't you tell me how it started?" Archie suggested.

Nodding, Regina thought how to begin. "It was a very intimate and personal moment, but mostly what started off as accidental touching turned into sex and Henry… he's so loyal and loving, and… and gentle," she admitted, thinking of when he asked to make love to her. It was one of the sweetest moments she'd ever experienced in her life.

"And this is an unusual experience for you?" Archie asked, taking note of the way she described Henry. "To have someone be loyal, loving, and gentle toward you?"

"Do you think I would have cast a curse to find my happy ending if it was something I'd had an abundance of?"

"The curse has been broken for seven years," Archie reminded.

"And have you seen me with anyone in a romantic capacity? Have you seen me spending my time with anyone beside the Charmings and Emma and Henry? No, and look how loyal they all were when this came out!" she growled, sitting back and folding her arms across her chest.

Nodding in understanding, Archie asked, "And how do you feel about this?" He left the 'this' to her interpretation.

"Them turning on me… on—on us? Or how do I feel that I'm in a relationshipwith my son?"

"Whichever you'd like to talk about."

Sighing, Regina turned her face and shook her head side to side. "I don't know. Them turning on me, I understand it, I really do. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. David actually hasn't been that terrible about it, probably has something to do with those charming genes of his. Snow had the audacity to think it was about her! About revenge! And Emma… I… that part is awful because she and I had finally come to terms and started becoming friends."

"And do you feel that you'll be unable to reclaim that?" Archie asked, shifting his notepad in his lap and jotting down a couple sentences.

"It's very unlikely that she'll be friends with me again. At least in the same manner."

"How does that make you feel?"

"It… it is saddening. I don't have friends, not many anyway, and I feel as though I've just lost all of the ones I have."

"And Henry?" Archie asked gently. "Where does he fit into all of this?"

"Henry is… Henry is everything. He has been since the day I brought him home."

Clearing his throat slightly, Archie prompted, "And this new relationship?"

"It's… different. And scary."

"How so?"

"Because I still see him, so much, as the little boy that I raised. Sometimes I look at Neal and I see so much of Henry at that age, and then I wonder what the hell I'm doing. But… other times," she whispered, pausing as a few tears slid down her cheeks. Attempting to compose herself, Regina cleared her throat and wiped away the stray tears. "Other times I see him as this incredible young man who is so sweet and caring, and as I told you already, loyal, loving and gentle. That kind of affection, that kind of devotion is hard to turn away."

"Do you want to turn it away?" Archie asked. "If someone came up to you, and saying it wouldn't hurt Henry, that there would be no repercussions, you were offered this love from a man who wasn't Henry… would you take it?"

Regina dropped her hands into her lap, pulling at the fingertips on her left hand nervously as she sat. Looking down, she inhaled sharply to breathe out slowly. "No," she whispered.

Nodding slightly, Archie wrote down a few more notes. "And may I ask why not?"

"My feelings for him are so hard to explain properly. I love him, and it's more than just a mother's affections, but I'm not quite in love with him. And I need him—I want him. I don't want to think of my life without him."

"Can you see yourself being in love with him?"

Nodding slowly and still looking at her hands, Regina spoke softly. "Yes."

Archie tilted his head, watching Regina closely. "Could you explain to me the difference between being able to see yourself in love with him, and being in love with him?"

"I… it has been many years since I have been in love. I was a child the last time I was, and it ended poorly, to put it mildly. I… I can see myself falling in love with him because he is so good and loving, and it depends largely upon him continuing to want me. However, I'm still guarded, I still worry that I'm not deserving of his love and that he'll leave. Everyone leaves me. That's why I'm not there yet, because I need to see it last longer before I let myself fall."

Remembering what Henry had said the day before about Daniel, Archie thought of how to phrase his question without giving away what his other patient had told him. "So you were in love before you married the king?"

"I was. He was the only person I've ever been in love with."

"And do you feel that this loss is holding you back, or are there other reasons why you're hesitant to fully commit to being in love with Henry?"

"I don't want to rush it. I don't think my losing Daniel is holding me back, aside from the fact that it ended in tragedy. I just… I want for things to progress naturally and to not be forced. Henry had years to fall in love with me, he's been feeling this way much longer than I have. For me… this all only started a month ago. That's such a short time when you've guarded yourself from the world for over 40 years."

Archie nodded understandingly and asked, "Do you feel as though Henry is pressuring you?"

"No. No, Henry is… not by any means. That's how I know he loves me. His patience is outstanding and he's… no, he would never pressure me," she answered, though her thoughts were scattered.

"That's good to hear," Archie smiled. "Do you believe Henry understands the… complexity of your feelings for him?"

"I…" she started, furrowing her brow in thought. "I think he understands that I love him and that I enjoy our relationship. But he knows I'm not in love with him, yet, so I suppose it's possible he doesn't understand."

"Perhaps you need to think about it and decide whether you are 'all in' or not," he suggested gently. "Henry is only going to grow more attached and if this is something you decide you cannot continue… Well, I believe it would be best for all involved if that happened sooner rather than later."

Nodding, Regina sighed. She didn't want to have this conversation with Henry, she didn't want to explain her issues anymore than she'd already had to. "Yes, yes I suppose you're right. Might I…might I ask you a question?"

"Of course," Archie smiled encouragingly.

"Why are you being so fair? I… what I mean is, why don't you seem to be as disgusted as everyone else? I know you're here to do therapy, not judge, but you still have to have your own thoughts on the situation."

Archie couldn't hold back a quiet chuckle, thinking how alike mother and son were. "Regina, even if I did think this was unhealthy — which I don't, necessarily — it wouldn't help anyone, least of all you and Henry, to treat you badly."

She nodded, accepting that answer. "Fair enough."

Emma burst into Archie's office, nearly knocking the man down. "Archie! Fuck, you've gotta help me, I can't deal with this shit."

"Emma?" Archie said, stepping back and then waiting until she was moved so he could shut the door. "What can't you deal with?"

"Henry! And…" she shuddered visibly, "Regina! It's so… ugh, I can't believe… Ugh!"

"Okay. I can understand your difficulty understanding the situation, what brings you to me now?"

Flopping down on the couch, Emma rested her forearms on her knees, letting her hands hang between them. "Okay, Henry's trying to challenge his finals, so he can be done with school. I mean, either way he's not going back, not after what those fuckers did to him. But he needs a tutor to help when he gets stuck. I said I'd hire one, he said he didn't want to be stuck with someone who looks at him like he's a pervert, Regina offered. I said no, no way. The rule is they don't see each other on my weeks. But they wore me down and I said yes. Strictly school-work related, no touching, no gross talk, nothing. But… they keeplooking at each other. Like… like…"

"Like what?"

"Like he should be looking at some girl his own age, not his own mother," Emma snapped, glaring at him.

"And her being one of the two people who raised him, what about it bothers you so much?" he asked, trying to drag more out of her.

Emma stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious? She raised him! That's… it's… Oh my god, Archie, is it every level of wrong!"

"I understand you believe that, and I understand why. But, do you realize this is much more common than you think?"

Emma growled. "I know how common it is, Archie. I grew up in the system. I saw a lot of fucked up parents fucking their own kids."

"I'm talking about willing relationships, Emma. I understand that the way you grew up would make something like this, willing as it may be, look absolutely horrifying. But Henry… this seems like something he really wants," Archie said, leaning back.

"He's a kid!" Emma protested. "He doesn't know what he wants, but he knows he's getting laid, so what does he care if it's sick?"

Tilting his head slightly to the side in contemplation, Archie waited a moment before speaking. "Emma, I truly don't think it's about the sex for Henry… for either of them. Have you actually stopped and given either of them a chance to explain how they're feeling? Henry's your son and… Regina's your friend, isn't she?"

"I thought she was," Emma muttered. "Until I found out she started fucking our kid. Look, I know Henry thinks he's… in love with her," she forced the words out, "but he's seventeen, what does he know about love? And Regina! She should fucking know better. It doesn't matter what she feels, what she's doingis wrong."

"But they look at each other like they are? In love, I mean," Archie asked, to clarify.

"Eugh." Emma shuddered again. "It's all… bedroom eyes and when Henry finally gets something he's been stuck on, Regina gets all… it's so fucked up. It's like this mix of proud mom and happy girlfriend and it's just… sickening."

"Why do you feel it's your place to tell them who they can or cannot love?"

Gaping at him, Emma exclaimed, "I'm his mother! I may not always know what's best for him, but I know it isn't this!"

"Emma, just think for a moment without considering that Regina is his mother. What else would you reason for why they shouldn't be together?" Archie asked calmly.

"She's like a hundred years older than he is; she's his step-great-grandmother, for fuck's sake!"

"So you consider her your step-grandmother?"

Emma blanched slightly.

"Well, that's what you're saying," Archie continued. "So you consider her to be your family in that way?"

"Well… no," Emma admitted slowly.

"And physically she's…twenty-three, twenty-four years older? You'll have to excuse me, I don't know her exact physical age," Archie argued. "And Neal, wasn't he a couple hundred years older than you?"

"And I was seventeen," Emma agreed, nodding. "And look how that turned out."

"Do you think Regina would leave Henry to get sent to jail?" Archie asked plainly.

"Of course not," Emma grumbled. "I'm not saying the exact same thing is going to happen, I'm saying it didn't work out."

"But had August not interfered, it could have, or am I wrong?"

Emma's mouth opened to reply before she snapped it shut. "Look, this isn't about me, it's about Regina and Henry and the fact that they're mother and son and having sex."

"I understand why it bothers you. Let me use you and Snow as an example, if I may," Archie began. "She didn't raise you, but she's your mother and when you moved to town, you didn't know her as your mother and she became your best friend, and so she became your family because she was your friend. To Henry, he has memories of Regina raising him, but they're no stronger than those of you raising him. When he came back to town, he got to know Regina as a person, not his mother. And so she became someone he saw that way and he couldn't change it."

"Yeah, but there's a giant flaw in your example," Emma pointed out. "I'm not sleeping with Snow. Plus, Henry does still remember Regina raising him! Just because he also remembers me raising him — and knows that they're fake memories — doesn't make a difference! And Regina remembers raising him! Like… how can she even consider him like… that?"

"But you don't look at Snow as your mother. He looks at Regina as his mother from when he was young, but he sees her now more as a woman that he finds beautiful and charming. His outlook of her hasn't been the same since the second curse."

"Oh my god," Emma whined, dropping her head into her hands. "I knew I should've gone back to New York… or at least taken him to see you at the time."

"I doubt that would have helped the situation, Emma. Henry still wouldn't be happy," Archie added.

"He's not happy now!" Emma pointed out. "Did you see him on Monday? He had the shit beat out of him! Bruised ribs, busted face… and that was the minor stuff! He's been fucking miserable!"

"Would you mind telling me what else has been different since Monday? Different from an ordinary week that he would spend with you?" Archie countered.

"He hasn't been to school," Emma started. "And he's only seeing Regina for tutoring. One hour a day, when I'm there, that's it. No calls, but he can text her. But he was miserable over the weekend, too, and that was when he was staying with her, so it's not that he's not allowed to see her."

"You don't think he was miserable over the weekend because your mother was with them all weekend? I saw you all at the park. I do think it's because his loss of contact with her, Emma. I'm sorry, but I do," Archie hesitated, leaning forward slightly.

"Okay, he can go a week without getting laid," Emma rolled her eyes. "It's notthat difficult."

"Emma," Archie sighed, tired of going around in circles. "I already explained that I don't think it's about sex for Henry. You can ask him why, but I think it's more the loss of their relationship in general, the talking, and other types if affection. He loves her, even if you don't believe it, he does, so to him the loss of personal contact is a big deal."

"I'm not going to condone what they're doing," Emma protested. "I have two months left before he can do whatever the hell he wants. I'd like him to have some distance from her in that time. Maybe he's just confused, you know?"

"Maybe he is, I don't know, but I think that forcing them to be apart is just going to make him want to be with her even more. The more you tell someone they can't do something, the more they seem to want to do it, don't you think?"

Sighing deeply, Emma reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I guess. But the thought of him… and her… just… it's wrong. It's so wrong, and I can make it stop, at least for a week at a time."

"If that's what you feel you need to do, so be it, but I think Henry's just going to keep giving you a hard time and becoming more miserable."

Emma huffed out a breath, throwing her hands up. "Forget it. I don't know why I came here, this is useless."

"Emma, I'm sorry I can't agree with you, I don't take sides in situations such as this. But I will say that I think you should discuss this further with both of them," Archie sighed, holding his hands out in surrender.

"How can you be so calm about this? You're a doctor, you have to know that what they're doing isn't natural."

"It's actually a common circumstance, and they aren't biologically related. I'm not saying that the fact that she helped raise him means nothing, but if it is a fact they don't care to worry about, that's their business, not mine."

Emma made a face as she stood up. "Yeah, okay, whatever. Thanks for listening, I guess. I'm gonna go now."

"Please, talk to them… for Henry. Have a good night, Emma."

"Night, Archie." Emma left the office with another deep sigh, wondering when the hell her life got so complicated.