Cora and Regina walked quietly hand in hand for a few blocks, neither one knowing quite where to start. Finally it was Regina who broke the silence.

"Mother?"

"Yes?"

"Are you feeling alright? It's been so long since your heart was in your chest, does it hurt?"

Cora squeezed her daughter's hand. "It doesn't hurt at all. It feels… like I'm complete for the first time in years. It's like all the things that used to matter to me have shifted to the back, and you've shifted to the front." Cora wrapped an arm around Regina's shoulders.

"When I was young," Cora said, "my focus was on raising my social status, and getting revenge on the people who'd hurt me. If I'd had my heart in when you were born, my focus would have shifted entirely to you and your happiness. As it was, my focus was still on myself, and how I could use you to further my own status and power. Now that I have my heart back, I'm have a lifetime of regrets."

Regina shook her head. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be queen."

"If it weren't for me, you would be happily married to Daniel."

"No," Regina scowled. "If Snow White had kept her promise to me, I'd be happily married to Daniel."

Shocked, Cora stopped walking and put both her hands on Regina's shoulders, so she could look her in the eye. "Are you honestly telling me that you still blame Snow White?"

"Of course I do! If it weren't for her…"

"Regina." Cora interrupted, "The only one to blame is me. Snow was a child. Would you hold it against Henry if he broke a confidence?"

Regina slowly shook her head, having never compared Henry at his current age to Snow when she had first met the girl. But now that it was pointed out to her, it was difficult for her to imagine treating her son the way she had treated Snow.

With regret in her voice, Cora said, "It wouldn't have mattered."

"What do you mean it wouldn't have matter?" Regina asked.

"I would have found you within one days time, and killed Daniel just the same."

Not wanting to believe that, Regina shook her head.

Cora smiled sadly, "I could have tracked you anywhere my dear, and I would have."

Refusing to think about her possibly misplaced hatred for Snow White any further, Regina said, "You would have let me marry Daniel if you'd had a heart?"

Cora pursed her lips. "Of course I wouldn't have let you marry him while he was a stable boy. But if I'd had a heart, I would have worked my magic to make him an acceptable match for you… if you'd convinced me that you were truly in love." Cora sipped her arm around Regina's arm, and set them walking towards Regina's house again.

Intrigued by this new idea, Regina said, "How would you have done that?"

"I would have had Daniel rescue Snow White that fateful day. Then I would have done a spell to make both Daniel and the King believe that Daniel was his illegitimate child."

"How could you have possibly done that, Mother?'

"I researched the king for years before setting up your first meeting. The king married late in life, and it's no secret that when he was a prince he had several mistresses in every village, too many to remember them all. If I'd had a heart, and you'd wanted to marry Daniel, I would have poisoned his mother, and…"

Regina gasped.

Cora glanced at her daughter without apology and continued, "…and then I'd have created a note in her handwriting telling Daniel that he was the King's son."

Rregina thought that over for a few seconds. Once they were on the walkway in front of Regina's house, Cora said softly with regret, "The king had no male children, so Daniel, though illegitimate, would become the prince, and eventually king, with you by his side as queen."

The unattainable idea of a perfect and happy past was too much to bear after so many years of loneliness and heartache. Feeling tears building in her eyes, Regina took her arm away from Cora's, kept her eyes on the house, and said, "I need to be alone, Mother."

"Regina…"

Without acknowledging her mother, Regina rushed into the house and up to her bedroom before breaking down into tears.

Cora watched her daughter go with a heavy heart, but a heart just the same. She put her hand over the beating organ in her chest, and whispered a vow to herself. "I'll never take you out again." She looked up the stairs towards her daughter's room and said, "And I'll spend the rest of my life trying to find you a new happily ever after, since I stole the one you should have had."

# # #

Rumple woke from a deep sleep when he felt someone shake his shoulder.

"Time to get up," Neal said. "We have to meet everyone at the diner in half an hour."

Rumple blinked a few times, and Neal said, "If you want to take a shower before we go, you should do it now."

Rumple nodded, rolled over, and sat up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He could tell that sitting for more than a couple of minutes at a time would be slightly uncomfortable today, and glared at his son.

With sympathy Neal said, "I'm sure you're still a little sore, and I'm sure I'm not your favorite person right now, but maybe being sore will keep you from putting yourself in danger again."

Scowling, Rumple got up and went to take a shower.

Half an hour later, Neal and Rumple walked into Granny's diner. As they came in from the side where the hotel rooms were, David, Snow, Emma, and Henry came in the front door. David asked Granny if they could push a couple of tables together while Neal gave Henry a quick hug, and asked him if he'd gotten any more sleep after the night's excitement.

Henry turned a pout towards his mother and said, "Yeah, but I could have fallen asleep better if mom had told me what was going on."

Emma sighed, and went to help her father move a table.

Neal patted Henry's shoulder and said, "We promised Regina she could tell you. You wouldn't want us to go back on that would you?"

"I guess not," Henry said, still pouting.

Snow went to Rumple and asked, "How are you doing this morning?"

"Fine," the boy said in a defensive tone.

The tables were ready, so Neal waved Rumple over and pointed to the seat next to his. "You're here."

"You're telling me where to sit now?" Rumple asked with a hateful glare as he stalked towards the indicated chair.

With a small sigh, Neal said, "It's the furthest chair from where Cora will be sitting."

"Oh…" Rumple's glare faltered, and he sat. Henry sat on the other side of Neal, and then Emma sat next to Henry. Snow sat down on the other side of Rumple with David sitting beside her, leaving two empty chairs between David and Emma to complete the circle.

As soon as Ruby came to take their order, Cora and Regina walked in. The small noises in the diner died down, as the other patrons watched the two 'evil' women sit next to their leaders David and Snow.

David broke the silence. "Regina. Cora," He said in greeting, and then turned to Ruby. "I'll have scrambled eggs and toast."

A couple of minutes later, everyone had ordered their breakfast, and the other people in the diner had started talking again, though it was in hushed tones.

As soon as Ruby walked to the kitchen, Henry couldn't take the wait any longer. "Tell me what happened, Mom."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "Good morning to you too, Henry."

Sighing, he said, "No one would tell me anything last night. Please tell me what happened?"

Wanting to touch Henry while she told him, Regina waved him to her. "Come here."

Henry slipped out from between his biological parents and went to stand next to his adoptive parent. Regina wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and said quietly, "This may be hard to hear, I know it's hard for me to say, so please don't interrupt until I get it all out."

"Okay."

"Last night I broke my promise to you. Cora and I found Rumplestiltskin alone in the street, so we took that opportunity to capture him."

Henry's eyes opened wide, and he glanced over at Rumple, who was glaring at the table, and blushing with shame. Henry glared back at Regina and waited.

"We took him to the tomb, and we… used magic to try and persuade him to tell us where he kept the Dark One's dagger."

"You tortured him!" Neal whispered fiercely, trying to keep his voice down.

"No she didn't," Cora said loud enough for everyone to hear, "I did. I ripped his heart out, and squeezed it until he screamed, and I enjoyed doing it." She kept her eyes on Rumple's head, waiting for a response.

Henry gasped, and shuffled closer to Regina, using her to block his view of Cora. Regina hugged him and murmured into his ear, "It's okay. My mother has her own heart back now, she won't hurt you."

While Regina was whispering to Henry, Rumple looked up at Cora with a glare and hissed, "Bitch!"

"Hey!" Emma jerked a thumb towards Henry and said, "Actual kids in the room here."

Cora smiled at Rumple and said, "Isn't that why you loved me?"

His eyes opened wide for a second, before scrunching into a scowl. "No!"

"Liar," she said with a knowing smile.

"Mother!" Regina said, exasperated with the woman.

Cora turned her attention towards her daughter, and patted the younger woman's shoulder. "Sorry, Sweetheart, I just wanted it to make it clear that you were not the one doing any of the torturing."

Regina hugged Henry close and whispered, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, and pushed away from her. "No you're not." A couple of tears slid down his face. "If you were sorry, you'd stop lying, and you'd stop hurting people."

Regina shook her head, and reached a hand out to brush Henry's tears away, but Henry ducked, and moved back to stand between Emma and Neal.

"Henry, please try to understand…" Regina said.

"No!" Henry yelled, and buried his face in Emma's shoulder.

Emma wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him into her lap. She turned to Regina and said, "Maybe we can revisit this conversation after we eat."

With a curt nod, Regina forced herself to look away from her son soaking up comfort from another woman.

Clearing his throat, Rumple said, "Good, on to more pressing matters." He sent Regina a death glare and said, "Give me a potion to reverse the one you gave me."

Regina shrugged. "I can't."

Rumple banged a fist onto the table and said, "You can and you will if you know what's good for you!"

"Hey!" Neal put a hand over Rumple's to keep him from banging it again, and said, "No threats."

The boy turned his glare to Neal, who raised one eyebrow, as if daring Rumple to disobey him.

"Fine," Rumple hissed. With effort, he turned back to Regina and said, "I'm sure it would help redeem you in Henry's eyes if you would reverse the potion for me."

"I didn't say I wouldn't," Regina said with an edge of irritation, "I said I couldn't. I made sure the potion would keep you at your current age forever. The only thing that could possibly break it is true love's kiss."

Rumple's shoulders slumped. "So I'm stuck like this until Jefferson can make a new hat."

"You don't have to be," Henry said.

Rumple turned to look at his grandson, who was still currently sitting on his mother's lap, and wiping tears off his face. He felt like cutting down whatever ridiculous notion the boy might have before he'd even said it, but Henry had been kind to him when he'd been mentally thirteen, so he held his tongue.

"You could find a way for Belle to get her memories back."

Scowling, Rumple said, "Don't you think I've tried?"

"By yourself, sure." Henry looked over at Regina and said, "But you and my mom haven't tried working together."

"With good reason!" Rumple said.

Henry shrugged. "If you, Regina, and Emma worked together with the Blue Fairy, you might even be able to find a way for everyone to keep their memories when they cross the line out of Storybrook."

"We could never trust each other long enough to accomplish that," Rumple said with certainty.

Henry huffed in irritation, and then said, "Well Belle doesn't have to remember who you are to love you."

With a sigh, Rumple said, "That may be true, but I can't very well make her fall in love with me while I'm in the body of a child."

"No, not in love with you." Henry rolled his eyes. "True love's kiss doesn't have to be boyfriend and girlfriend." He pointed to Emma and said, "It can be parent and child like when Emma broke the curse by kissing me."

There was a short pause while everyone at the table realized that was true. Emma kissed Henry's forehead, just like she had that fateful day, and said, "You're pretty smart." Henry smiled, and moved back to his own chair.

Rumple shook his head again, "Yes, but Belle isn't my mother, nor do I want her to think of me that way. And even if I could get past how uncomfortable that would make me, it would take years for her to love me like a son. She doesn't even know me right now."

"I wouldn't be so quick to pass up on that idea if I were you," David said. "If it really is true love like you say it is, your souls will recognize each other." He turned to Snow and put a hand over hers. "If Snow was turned into a child, I'd still love her. My feelings for her would shift to become more protective and paternal, but our souls would find each other, and I'd love her as a parent would within days, even if I didn't remember who she was." Snow gave him a peck on the cheek, and then he turned back to Rumple. "Belle might be the quickest and easiest solution."

Rumple shook his head and muttered, "Anyone would love Snow no matter her age, she has all the virtues of a hero. I'm no hero."

"That doesn't matter," Emma said. "Henry read your story to me. Belle doesn't love you because you're heroic. She loves you because you struggle to do the right thing when she's around."

"I think it's worth trying," Neal said, and turned to David. "You and I can talk to Dr. Whale about releasing Belle. If I offer her a job as a full time nanny, she'd have a place to stay."

"Nanny? My body is thirteen, not five!" Rumple said, clearly offended.

Neal's eyes snapped to Rumple's. "I know how old you are, and that's exactly why you don't get a vote." Neal could tell that his words had incensed his father, and quickly added, "Think about Belle for a minute, instead of your own pride. Don't you think she'd be happy to get out of the hospital? Don't you think it might help her to have someone else to focus on, instead of spending every day wondering why she can't remember anything?"

Any arguments Rumple might have had withered away. He frowned, considering it, and after a short pause, nodded. "You're right."

Neal turned back to David and said, "What do you think?"

"We can go talk to Dr. Whale after breakfast."

As David was speaking, Ruby came to set the first two plates of food down. There were a few short minutes of silence in the group, while everyone got their food and started eating.

Cora was the first to break the silence. "Now that Henry is calm, I want to discuss custody."

"Custody?" Regina asked, not quite sure where her mother was going with this.

"There's nothing to discuss," David said with finality. "He's staying with Emma."

Continuing as if David hadn't spoken, Cora said, "I propose joint custody between Emma and Regina."

"No!" Henry said.

"Legally Regina is your mother," Cora said.

"She's not my real mother!" Henry yelled.

"You ungrateful brat!" Cora hissed.

"Hey!" Emma said, not liking the woman's tone.

"For eleven years Regina took care of you," Cora said, glaring at Henry. "She made sure you had food, clothes, toys, and a nice place to live. She gave you love and affection. She loves you still, and you've turned your back on her."

"She lied to me!" Henry said with fresh tears on his face. "She lied all the time."

"And you feel justified in hating her for that?" Cora said. "What about all the times you've lied to her about where you were and what you were doing?"

Henry's face turned pink with shame, and anger. "She lied first!"

"I see," Cora said, "And Emma has never lied to you?"

Henry's eyes darted over to Emma's, and then back to Cora without answering.

"At least Regina never abandoned you."

"That's enough!" David's voice boomed out over the diner drowning out the protests Regina, Neal, and Snow had all voiced at the same time. David took a deep breath, and said again, "Henry stays with Emma."

Cora stood up, putting everyone on edge. "You've all told Regina that she has to change, but you've taken away the only reason she might want to change." Cora looked directly at Snow White and said, "Wasn't it bad enough that you ruined her one chance of true love? Now you've taken her child from her, too. How much suffering can one person endure before they break?"

Upset by her mother's words, and confused about her intent, Regina pulled at Cora's hand and said, "Mother! Stop! You're making things worse for everyone, including me and Henry."

"No Regina, she's right," Snow said. Though it had been spoken softly, everyone turned to her. A stunned silence filled the table for several seconds, and Cora sat back down.

"She not right," David whispered urgently to his wife.

Snow gently put a hand on the side of David's face, and said, "Yes David, she is."

Snow turned to Emma and said, "Without hope, there's no reason for Regina to try. I don't think any of us are ready for joint custody at this point, but we could start off with an hour every other day, and see how it goes."

Emma looked around the room, gauging everyone's expressions. The barely registered hope on Regina's face was the deciding factor. She patted Henry's back and said, "What do you say kid? You're the one who wanted us to give her a chance in the first place."

Henry glanced over at Regina and said, "I guess an hour would be okay."

Emma turned to Regina as well and said, "Without Cora."

Nodding, Regina said, "Okay."

Cora sipped at her tea to hide a smirk. She'd known they would never agree to joint custody, but broaching the subject had gotten Regina an hour every other day to spend with her son. She'd push to get Regina more time with Henry next week if everything went well.

Emma said, "If you wanted to, you could pick Henry up from school tomorrow, spend your hour with him, and then drop him off at the Sheriff's office when you're done."

"I'd like that," Regina said, still amazed that they would agree to it. "Thank you."

A short silence fell over the table while people ate. Cora noticed that her daughter had barely touched her food and said, "Are you ready to go darling?"

After giving her mother a short nod, Regina asked, "Is there anything else we need to discuss?" After seeing both David and Emma shaking their heads no, Regina stood up and said, "I'll see you tomorrow after school, Henry."

"Bye Mom."

As soon as Cora and Regina were out the door, everyone could feel the tension leave the diner along with them.

"Cora's not very nice, even with a heart," Henry said.

"She was never nice," Rumple said.

"She may not be nice," Snow said, "But now that she has a heart, we can always count on her love for Regina. That means she won't hurt Henry, because that would hurt Regina."

"We just can't forget that everyone else is fair game," David said.

After a short pause, Neal turned to Emma and said, "Now that Regina and Cora are gone, I wanted to ask you for a favor." He looked around the table, and added, "All of you really."

"Okay, shoot," Emma said.

"After last night, I've decided that my father can't be trusted, so I'm not leaving him alone for any amount of time over the next few days, and that includes while he's sleeping," Neal said.

Humiliated, Rumple slouched in his chair, clenched his fists, and refused to look at anything other than the plate in front of him.

"Probably a wise decision." David said.

"The only problem is, that I need to get some sleep too, so I was hoping to arrange for my father to start training Emma to use her magic early in the mornings. I could sleep for three or four hours while you train."

"I thought we could do that all together," Henry said, clearly disappointed by this new idea.

Neal smiled at his son. "Well if things work out with Belle, then we won't need to worry about it, because she'll be around to watch him in the mornings. Then you and I could watch them training in the afternoon."

Emma said, "I'm free all day. I'd be happy to keep an eye on Rumple while you get some sleep."

Rumple couldn't take it. He banged his fist on the table, glared at Neal and said, "This is ridiculous, Bae! I don't need watching!"

"We've been over this, Papa. I'm sorry you're not happy about it, but it's happening whether you like it or not, and you planned to train Emma anyway." Neal turned to Emma and said, "I'd like Rumple to come with me to see Dr. Whale and Belle, but if you could watch him once we're done there, that would be perfect."

"Sure, call me when you're done," Emma said. She noticed that Rumple's glare was aimed at her now, and said sincerely, "The circumstances may suck, but I honestly do need help learning how to use my magic."

"I'm well aware of that fact, Miss. Swan," Rumple snapped.

"Aw, come on, it could be fun if you'd give it a chance."

"Fun?" Rumple's tone was incredulous.

Henry shrugged. "Sure, you'd get to spend time with your family."

Pursing his lips at the simplistic explanation, Rumple muttered, "As a child."

Neal patted his shoulder and said, 'Hopefully not for too long."