*******A/N: This story is starting to evolve differently than my original vision for it. Oh well, it still has the same premise and Swan Queen is still endgame. These last few chapters have begun to have blood spilled over from My Tourniquet. I still like the way it's going so I'm going to keep on with it. Hope you continue the journey along with me. Understand if you don't.********

CHAPTER 25

Archie, Henry, and Emma sat in uncomfortable silence. Archie had asked his customary what's been going on question and Emma was searching for a way to answer without hurting Henry's feelings.

Finally, she gave up. She sighed and turned to Henry. "I need for you to wait for me outside. I need some time to talk to Archie alone please."

Henry looked at her suspiciously. He didn't like not knowing everything that was going on. "Why?"

Emma sighed her disapproval. Regina was right. He did demand answers to questions he wasn't ready for. Regina was always right. "Henry, I asked you to go up front. I need you to do as I asked. Now."

"If it's about me then I should - ," Henry started.

"Go up front and wait there for me! Now! And don't go anywhere else until I come and get you!" When he still hadn't made a move except to glare at her she pointed and shouted, "March NOW!"

He took his time leaving while leaving the door open behind him. Emma rose and shut it behind him then moved over to the sofa directly across from Archie's chair. She put her head in her hands, "God, Regina was right. Why is Regina always right?"

"Well she's a pretty brilliant woman. She's had a hard life and had to rely on survival instincts a lot so she's good at assessing her environment quickly. What exactly though are you referring to?"

Emma let out a small breath. Then another just to get her heart rate down. She hated having to get tough with Henry but he wasn't good at listening to nor following directions. She was sure that was obviously all her fault. "Well we were having breakfast at the diner before I took Henry to school. When we got there, Ruby informs us that Regina and her girls are leaving. She never said a word to any of us," Emma's voice becomes thicker and she clears her throat a couple of times. "Sorry," she looks sheepishly at Archie. "Then, Henry gets suspended for telling the teacher to leave him alone and stop talking to him. And when I get to the Principal's office, we're waiting on Regina like normal. Then she tells us that Regina asked to be taken off of all of his paperwork and that if there's a problem with Henry to contact me," Emma rubbed at her eyes trying to keep the tears at bay. She crossed her legs and began swinging her foot back and forth hard.

"I went by to talk to Regina about the situation and she was packing up her house. Before I left, she came back with two boxes. She said she thought that Henry and I might like to have them. I picked up Henry and we hung out for a while. Then we opened the boxes later that night. It was full of everything that parent's keep for their kids. Things like photographs, old report cards, cards and crafts that Henry did over the years. It was like she just decided to completely get rid of us," Emma's voice broke. "When we see her somewhere she just passes by us with a quick hi and goodbye like we're nothing at all to her," Archie handed Emma over the Kleenex to wipe her nose and tears.

Archie wasn't sure if this conversation was about Emma or Henry. She seemed to lump the two of them in together. He gave Emma a few minutes to compose herself. When it looked like she had herself under control, he began talking through what she'd just told him.

"And how did all that make you feel?"

Emma moistened her lips and wiped her eyes again. "How do you think it makes me feel? I feel awful. I looked through those pictures and they were so happy." Emma looked over at Archie, "My parents had told me that it was a good thing for me to take Henry. That he was miserable and he was the most depressed child they'd ever seen. But that's not what those pictures showed. And when I asked Snow about it, she said that he became depressed after Regina told him that he was adopted. But before then he had been happy."

Her eyes were filled with pain and Archie could tell that this was personal with her. He understood Emma had grown up in the foster care system and she had a lot of issues relating to that entire situation.

She had been led by her parents to believe that taking a child from a loving home was the right thing to do because they were connected by DNA. Except these things weren't that easy. Henry had been adopted from birth. He had only ever known Regina as his Mother. DNA doesn't make a family. Love does. And that was the reality that Emma was only just beginning to understand.

He knew more than anyone how much Regina loved her son. She had confessed to him that she had taken a memory loss potion to purposely forget that he was the key to breaking her curse because she didn't want to be a bad mother and subconsciously mistreat him because of it. And he had seen the toll that this entire situation from breaking the curse until now had had on Regina and Henry. And that apparently also included Emma now.

Because she had put herself in the middle of a battle between Regina and her parents that she knew little about. And she had dragged Henry along with her.

Archie knew that Emma loved Henry. But she hadn't raised him. And those first almost 11 years of his life, would always belong to Regina. Not her.

Emma barely knew him and was only just learning how to even be a parent. It was all great to want to form a relationship but the ways in which the ties with Regina had been severed then haphazardly pushed together then stretched when they hadn't even healed would obviously have a breaking point. It didn't surprise him that Regina had chosen to not put herself nor her children through this anymore. It's what any loving Mother would do.

As much as he understood this situation distressed Emma, he actually knew it was a good thing for Regina. She was no longer clutching on with both hands tightly. She was learning to let go.

"How has Henry been handling the situation? Has he spoken about it at all? Have the two of you sat down and talked about what your family is now going to look like now?"

Emma sniffled and began to play with a thread on her sleeve. "No. I mean, last night he cried himself to sleep. And today all he's done is sleep the entire day." She wiped her nose with her tissue and tossed it in the wastebasket. "I need to know how to talk to Regina and make this right. She doesn't understand - ," she just abruptly stopped from there.

Archie raised his eyebrows, "What? What doesn't she understand?"

Emma's eyes turned red again. The tears came falling after. She cried so hard her shoulders shook. After her sobs quieted, she began again, "She doesn't understand what it's like to feel unloved or unwanted. I'd hoped with everything inside me that Henry would never have to know that. That he would get a good home, with people who loved him. I knew that him being a baby and not an older child, he'd have a better chance. That's why I gave him up. I wanted him to know all the things I never did. A nice home, a loving Mom, a family where he never needed or wanted for anything."

Archie nodded, "And he had all of that with Regina."

Emma began swinging her foot again, "But he's my son. And she wouldn't even let me see him. I just wanted to spend time with him. And then when he fell into that sleeping curse, I just wanted to rip her to shreds. I wanted to rip her apart limb from limb. I wanted her to hurt so bad."

"And I think taking Henry accomplished that. But that doesn't erase that she and Henry have had a relationship for 10 years before you showed up. And it never will. Regardless of how you go forward into the future that mark will always be there on him and her."

Archie watched while conflicting emotions played across Emma's face before she closed herself up again. He thought they had come a long way though. Emma at least understood that Henry had all the things that she had wanted for him. And now they were all dealing with the consequences of their actions.

"You mentioned that Henry has been sleeping all day today. Is he coming down with something?"

Emma shook her head. "I don't think so. He doesn't seem sick. He hasn't been eating for a while either. I'm starting to worry about him."

"Henry's shown a predilection for depression before. This time there's no magical storybook to snap him out of it. I do suggest keeping an eye on him." Archie sensed that this was the end of talking with Emma. "Do you think Henry and I could spend some time together? I'd like to check in with him before Friday."

"Yeah, sure," Emma rose and walked out. Henry walked in a few seconds later.

Archie smiled. "Hi Henry. How are you?"

"Tired."

Archie cocked his head and frowned, "Your Mom told me that you'd been sleeping all day long already. Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"How are things going at home? I heard you got suspended again. Did you want to talk about that?"

"No."

Before Archie could open his mouth, Henry stood and headed for the door. "I'm tired. I just really need to get home."

Emma stood in the open doorway as she watched Henry walk past her. She turned to Archie.

Archie stood and walked over to her. He had his head down contemplating something and was running his finger absently across his cheek. Finally he turned to her and said, "I want you to do me a favor and keep an eye on him," at the unasked question in her eyes, he continued, "As I've said before, Henry has a predilection for depression. All this sleeping and not eating are huge warning signs."

"Do you think we should be worried?"

"No, no. We're not to that stage yet. I just want you to keep an eye on him." Archie smiled again and ran his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing. I'll see you back here on Friday."

Emma got into the car beside Henry who was already there. She turned to him and asked, "Hey kid. How about we check out that arcade you like to go to?"

Henry shook his head which was resting on the headrest. "No. I'm still tired. I just want to go to bed."

Emma frowned but let it go for now. She'd just make sure and bring it up with Archie on Friday. She put the car in drive and took them home.

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Emma circled the block twice. She had been out on patrol and had spotted Regina and the girls at the park. Regina had a book with her but she was ignoring it. She was beaming away happily with a huge smile on her face watching the girls play. She seemed to Emma to be glowing.

That just made Emma angry. She nor Henry were happy. Henry hadn't wanted to get out of bed for the past couple of days. He had been home sleeping almost nonstop. It was starting to get scary. She was waiting until next week for their session with Archie to ask him about drastic measures.

When she'd wake him for school he'd just turn his back on her. If she persisted, then he'd get angry and yell at her. She had never had to deal with that side of Henry. She had witnessed his cruelty to Regina before. But with her he had always been so sweet.

This was the side of him that Jana and the principal had been telling her about but she had never had to be at the end of any of Henry's anger before. He used to just worship the ground she walked on. Now it seemed just asking him if he was hungry would set him off.

She circled slowly for the third time before deciding to stop. She parked and made her way to the bench. Then she hesitated, then she'd walk up again, then she'd pause again.

"Are you still exercising Ms. Swan?"

Emma looked at her puzzled, "How did you - ,"

Regina turned now and looked at her. "You've been circling around me and my girls like a vulture. Of course I'd take notice."

Emma sat on the bench beside her without asking for an invitation and frowned over at Regina. Regina's gaze had returned to her girls.

Emma waited for her to speak but when she remained silent, Emma got ticked off. "How can you just sit there like nothing's wrong? You just abandoned your own son."

Regina rose and began walking over to the girls. Emma jumped in her path to block her. "I mean, how do you even live with yourself?" she sneered.

Regina checked over her shoulder to make sure that her girls were still engaged. Then she walked into Emma's space until they were practically nose to nose. "I will not stoop to parlaying with the likes of you," she stabbed Emma with her pointer finger. "I don't want anything to do with any of your family. I ask for the same courtesy. You stay with your family and I'll stay with mine." Regina pushed her and walked over to her girls. They got bundled up and then began to leave.

Emma just stood dumbfounded watching them go. She knew she was hitting low. But Regina didn't seem to care at all about the wounds she and Henry were going to be left with.

"I don't know what your problem is but you'd better leave my Mom alone. She's done nothing to you."

"Well she did try to kill my parents. And she's the reason I was thrown into a wardrobe without them for years. And she's the reason this entire town was cursed for 28 years. I'd say she's done a lot," Emma bit her tongue and hated herself for speaking to an 8 year old about her mother but she couldn't take any of it back.

"Your parents are still alive. And from what I remember of the stories about her, I've never liked Snow White and wouldn't see it as a loss if anything happened to her. Even in fairy tale world her selfishness was legendary. Your parents were the ones who put an infant into a wardrobe so that THEY could be saved without a care about what that would mean for you in the meantime. And you broke the curse. These people were idiots before and they're idiots now. And she's been raising your horrible son without one thank you but a whole lot of misery and ungratefulness from you and from him. She's a great Mom. There's something seriously wrong with your son," Emma stood there with her mouth hanging open as she watched Jana sweep past her and sashayed after her Mom in true Regina Mills fashion.