Disclaimer: Still own nothing you recognize.
A/N: Thank you so very much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter or followed this story. I'm so happy to have new readers, even though the story is almost done. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
This chapter is shorter than the last few have been, but the next one will be long to make up for it. Also, feels ahead. You've been warned.
Thanks to Melissa for betaing, even though she has no heart.
Henry woke to the sound of coughing. Alarmed, he sat up and looked around the dark hospital room. Regina was hunched forward, her chest heaving. Henry swung his legs over the side of the uncomfortable hospital cot and rushed to her side.
"Mom?" Henry said, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Mom, what is it? What's wrong? Should I get a doctor?"
Regina shook her head. "No," she rasped. "Stay here."
Henry sat down on the edge of her bed uncertainly. Thankfully, the coughing fit was brief, and a few moments later, Regina sat back, sucking in deep breaths. Henry reached over and touched her forehead.
"I think you have a fever," he said worriedly.
"It's just the infection."
"But shouldn't the drugs be working?" Henry tilted his head. "They are – they are working, right?"
"I hope so," Regina replied.
Henry frowned. He hadn't inherited Emma's superpower to detect lies (if that really was a superpower; Henry had his doubts) but he was still sure that Regina was lying to him now. "You're going to be okay, right?" he asked quietly.
Regina smiled, but Henry thought it looked forced. "Of course."
"You wouldn't lie to me, right?" Henry asked, quieter still.
Regina opened her mouth, but didn't reply. Henry felt his heart sink. He knew it was a futile question; of course Regina would lie to him, just as she had done so many times before.
"Please don't lie to me now."
Regina opened her arms. "Come here." Henry obliged, feeling the heat radiating from her body as she pulled him close to her chest. "I'm going to be okay, Henry," she began. "Whatever happens, it'll be okay. I'll be okay, and you'll be okay, and-" Henry looked up when she hesitated. "Your family will be okay."
"You're my family," Henry reminded her.
Henry could see how much those words meant to her. That he hadn't rejected her for his savior birth mother and exalted grandparents. That somewhere, deep down, he still knew that blood wasn't the only bond that formed a family. Regina kissed his head. "I love you, Henry."
"I love you, too," he whispered. "So, please, don't lie to me." He met her eyes, challenging her to deny him the truth again. Finally, Regina blinked and looked away.
"I'm not sure how much time I have."
Henry felt his blood run cold. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that the doctors don't think I'll be able to fight off the infection."
Henry's lower lip trembled. "What? They think – they think you're going to-" He couldn't get the words out. His eyes burned with tears, but he didn't want his mom to see him cry. He wanted to be brave for her; he wanted to be strong. But he blinked and the tears began to slide down his cheeks.
"Oh, Henry," Regina murmured as she pulled him close again.
Henry felt paralyzed, lying in his mother's arms. His brain refused to believe what he knew in his heart to be true. He had seen it earlier, in David's expression, when he'd emerged from Regina's room and told Ruby he wouldn't be going with her just yet. Now Henry knew why David had stayed. He was waiting for Regina to die.
"It's not fair," Henry muttered. He knew it was childish, ridiculous to complain about fairness when he had learned long ago that nothing in the world was fair. It wasn't fair that Emma had been raised in foster care. It wasn't fair that her parents had missed her grow up. It wasn't fair that Regina had cast the curse in the first place, or that she had created the failsafe that had destroyed Storybrooke. But it still wasn't fair that she was dying.
"What about magic?" Henry asked suddenly. "Can't you heal yourself with magic?"
Regina shook her head. "There's no magic in this world anymore, not now that Storybrooke is gone."
"But Emma can do magic!" Henry exclaimed. "She brought magic into this world."
"Emma already tried to heal me," Regina explained. "And it didn't work. I don't think she can do magic here, either."
"But you can't give up," Henry insisted. "You can't just die. I – I need you."
Regina smiled sadly. "You won't be alone. You have Emma. You have David and Mary Margaret. You don't need me."
"Yes, I-"
"Henry." Henry met his mother's eyes. "You are going to be raised by the fairest people in the world. And I know this because I spent years hating them for it." Henry swallowed hard. He had never heard Regina talk about his grandparents this way, acknowledge the fact that she had tried to kill them on several different occasions. That history was constantly swept under the rug, a truth too ugly to recognize.
"They will raise you to be good, and kind, and brave. They will take good care of you, I promise. You don't need me."
"But I want you," Henry whispered. He had surprised himself by saying it aloud, but he knew it was true. Ever since Emma had returned to Storybrooke, Henry had known that he couldn't choose. Emma and her parents stood for everything good and moral, Regina was supposed to be the Evil Queen, and even that knowledge wasn't enough to make him turn on Regina. He had even called her the Evil Queen more than once in his head, and he still loved her. Especially now that she was trying to be good.
"I'm so sorry, Henry."
Henry saw that his mother's eyes were full of tears. "For dying?"
"For everything," Regina replied. "For dying, for leaving you. But also for how I treated you, how I made you feel like you were crazy. For all the lies I told you." Regina paused to collect herself. "For trying to keep Emma from you."
Henry bit his bottom lip, unsure what to say. These were apologies that he had longed to hear, reassurances that his mother really did love him enough to acknowledge that she had been wrong to do these things to him. These were signs that she really was – or maybe, could be – good.
"What about-?" Henry broke off, trying to figure out the right way to ask what he'd wanted to know for so long. "What about the other things?"
He didn't want to specify. She knew what he was talking about. If she didn't, if she couldn't even imagine there were other things she'd done worth apologizing for, then he had his answer already.
The curse.
The failsafe.
The countless years spent pursuing Snow White.
The numerous times she'd tried to hurt someone he loved.
Or hurt anyone at all.
Regina was silent for a long time. Henry watched her carefully, but her expression was inscrutable. Just when the wait was becoming unbearable, Regina answered his question.
"Yes, I am sorry for other things, too," she said. "But those apologies aren't owed to you." Regina hesitated, and then added, "And I hope to stay alive long enough to give them to the people they belong to."
Henry smiled, despite the ominous sound of his mother's words. At last he had his answer. He tightened his embrace around her, pressing his head into her chest, trying to say without words how proud he was of her for finally choosing good.
A/N: I'll be posting again on Saturday. Have a nice rest of the week! Also, if anyone is interested in Rizzoli and Isles stories, my other twinsoul starophie and I have started writing one. It's available on her author page (or my favorite stories list).