Chapter Twenty Five

Regina stared at the man in front of her until her eye sockets burned with her complete consternation. If her mind was a room, it would be an empty dead space with only the words "he's my son" echoing through it and bouncing off its walls. She could not move, could not reply and could not process what was seemed to be occurring in that moment. She just stared at him as his lips moved but his words dissipated in the January air. He looked at her expectantly. She was supposed to respond. Say something, Regina. But the only thing that reverberated against those bare walls in her mind was:

This could not possibly be happening again. There could not be another person standing at her door and claiming her son as if he were a runaway puppy in the pound simply waiting to be reunited with its owner. This was not happening again.

She mentally assessed him. This vagabond could not possibly be the great love of Emma's life. There was nothing in his countenance or aura that even closely resembled Henry. This was not the man who had the power to reduce everything she had fought so hard for to dust. She had a plan: she would get Henry back under her roof; despite her concerns, she would figure out her relationship with Emma and, God willing, she would force some semblance of a happy ending if it killed her. She did not care about better judgement or the premonitory feelings she had about this dream of hers going to shit. It would all work. This man would be the random element that derailed everything.

"Move your arm," Regina barely found her voice again.

"Didn't you hear what I just said," Neal asked.

"I don't care for what you just said. You move your arm, you get off my property and I never see your face again," Regina warned in a dangerously low tone of voice.

"But I'm Henry's fa-"

"Stop it," Regina yelled. "Don't you ever say that again. I'm telling you one more time- leave."

"I have rights," Neal insisted.

Regina laughed. No, she cackled. She had not done that in years. She could feel her face, and posture and voice contort and revert into the guise of her former self. Without a moment's hesitation, she pushed the edge of the door firmly into his arm so hard that he cried out in pain through his layers of clothing. The brutality was unrelenting. The strength of this magical woman was too much for the man to fight. She stopped just short of crushing his arm completely and when she opened the door, he collapsed to the floor. She stared him down with her hands on her hips.

"How dare you come to my door and tell me about your rights," Regina spat. "Do you have a birth certificate? DNA evidence? Am I supposed to just take your word for it like an idiot?"

"I… have-" he stuttered.

"What?!"

"A letter," his uninjured hand reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. His hand shook as he held it out to her.

Regina snatched the letter and looked at the front of the envelope. She instantly recognised Henry's slightly sloped handwriting in its address to Mr Neal Cassidy and the return address being her home.

"Read it," Neal growled.

"There's no point in that," Regina replied.

"Then give it back."

Regina chuckled. "Why on earth would I do that, dear? So you can parade it about as some kind of proof of your… wait, is it a delusion or an extortion attempt?"

"You're a crazy bitch," yelled Neal.

Regina stepped on his injured arm and he screamed in pain. She leaned closer to him and flashed one of her unfalteringly polite mayoral smiles.

"My dear, you have no idea." With that, Regina stepped back and, a second later, to bright purple fireballs materialised in the palms of her hands. Neal looked back at her in disbelief and horror. This was against the rules. She was not supposed to use magic- especially not in front of an ordinary human from this world. But she had vowed that she would never let anything come between her and her son again. She did not care whether he truly was Emma's Neal. She would not lose Henry again. With a quick swish of her hands, Neal went flying down the pathway to the mansion. He hit the ground with a loud thud.

And that was when she saw her.

Emma.

When Emma looked back on that morning, she wished she hadn't missed Regina. If she had not missed Regina, she would have stayed home and enjoyed breakfast with her family. She would not have lied about having to go to the station to pick up a file she needed. She would not have bought cream donuts from Granny's diner with the mischievous intention of force feeding them to Regina (preferably off Emma's bare stomach as they lay in bed). She would have never seen the woman she loved send a man hurtling through the air and landing hard like a ton of bricks. She would have never helped that man up and seen his face. The face she once adored above anything else in the world.

How different their lives would have been if she just… hadn't… missed… Regina.

But being the love struck fool she was, she had. She saw him. Neal. And it was like a kick in the gut. It left her breathless and frozen as if any movement would only increase the pain. She just stared at him.

"Emma," he breathed her name. Once upon a time, just the sound of her name falling from his lips would mean she would grant him anything. He owned her with that sound.

"Why are you here," Emma asked struggling against the sudden lump in her throat.

"He told me you were here, too."

"Who told you?"

"Our son," Neal explained. "Emma, why didn't you tell me we had a son?"

Emma's eyes widened in dread and she took a measured step back. She shook her head. This was not real. He was not standing in front of her in Storybrooke. He had no idea Henry existed. How could this happen just as she as finally stitched her heart back together again? Emma gazed up at Regina and could see the terror in the other woman's eyes.

"He wrote to me," Neal continued.

"That's impossible," Emma refuted. "He doesn't know it's you. I never told him that it's you."

"Well somebody did."

"I wanna see it."

"She's got it," Neal turned back to Regina.

Emma sighed heavily and made her way up to the bottom of the stairs outside the door where Regina stood. She did not notice Neal walking behind her. She held her hand out to Regina who shook her head.

"Regina," Emma pleaded.

"No," Regina responded vehemently.

"Regina you have to-"

"I don't have to do anything. It doesn't prove anything. It doesn't mean he's his father and it doesn't mean Henry knows anything."

Regina's irrationality concerned Emma. The situation was bad enough for the blonde but it was the worst case scenario for Regina. Emma placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on the older woman's arm.

"We can't change the facts. We can't pretend this isn't happening," said Emma knowing full well she was lying both to herself and Regina. All the blonde wanted to do was run from this particular major fact.

"Why not," Regina's voice cracked just a little. "Haven't we been pretending for months?"

That was the second blow to the gut and it hurt even more.

"Henry was right about her," Neal spoke up from behind Emma. "She's evil."

"Hey," Emma swung around and jabbed an indignant finger in his face. "Unless you want another flying lesson, you'll never say that again."

"You saw what she did to me," he demanded.

"I'll explain it to you later," Emma turned back to Regina. "Let's just all go inside and talk."

"That man is not stepping a foot in my house," Regina insisted.

"Regina, I get that you're pissed off but you need to let us in before anyone else sees what's going on here," Emma reasoned.

Regina gave a slight shake of her head and walked into her house. Emma and Neal followed. Emma could not look back at Neal. She was doing her best to remain calm but internally her emotions were like a whirlwind. She had worked so hard to put her past behind her and now it was standing in Regina's living room threatening to ruin the present she had constructed and the future she dreamed of.

When she was finally forced to really look at him, it amazed her how much he hadn't changed. He looked older- a little frayed around the edges. She guessed she looked no better. But other than that, he was still the same Neal. She wondered if he still sucked the jam out of his donuts or still had the same glint in his eyes every time he pulled off a con. She wondered if he still ran cons.

"I don't understand any of this," Emma voiced her confusion.

"It's all in the letter," Neal gestured over to Regina who seemed to retreat further and further into the corner of the room.

Emma turned to face Regina. She slowly walked over to her afraid that the brunette would blow her up into bloody bits if she made any sudden moves. She stopped in front of Regina. The older woman simply shook her head again. Emma sighed at the woman's staggering stubbornness. How could she possibly not want to know what was in the letter? Emma was desperate to know the truth and she would not let Regina stop her. What she did know was that she could not do this in front of Neal. She was about to cajole Regina as her girlfriend- as her son's other parent- and having Neal witness that felt wrong in every way imaginable. And she knew Regina would hate her for it. She would think it showed a sign of weakness. The blind fear vibrating through Regina was enough. Emma would not crush her pride as well.

Emma turned back to Neal and barked, "You! Stay!"

She grabbed Regina by the arm and led her to the kitchen. The kitchen where Regina had once made her and Henry pancakes. Emma held out her hand to Regina expectantly for a second time.

"I can incinerate this envelope in less than a second. He won't be able to prove anything," suggested Regina.

"Henry knows he's his father," Emma argued.

"But does he know what he looks like? If you and I say this Neal person's crazy then he's crazy. No one will question it. Nothing has to change," Regina reasoned.

"It's already changed. It changed the second Henry wrote that letter. Don't you want to know why?"

Emma could see Regina battle with herself. She gradually held the envelope out to Emma who quickly took it and practically ripped the envelope open to get to its contents. Her eyes drifted over the words. As fast as she read it, every word still had a profound effect on her. She gasped slightly at the sadness expressed in each line and it broke her heart.

"What does it say," Regina anxiously shifted from one foot to the other.

"It doesn't say how Henry found out the truth," Emma revealed.

Regina snatched the letter back from Emma and read it. She stumbled back at the force of the words and leaned against the counter as a means of support.

"He hates us," Regina's voice trembled. "He said we aren't his family- that he doesn't want us. That Neal was the only one who could save him. Why would he say that?"

Emma looked down at the envelope in her hands. She noticed something that made her look closer at the slightly browned paper.

"Regina, you need to see this," Emma handed Regina the envelope. Regina took it and stared at it. She then looked up at Emma in shock.

"It's a New York address," Regina observed.

Emma nodded. "That's where Henry was running to. His father. He said it himself in those sessions with Archie. We ruined his happy ending and so he was going to New York for another chance at finally getting it."

"How could you let this happen," Regina accused quietly.

"Are you shitting me?"

"How else could he have known," Regina pushed. "Henry probably found your secret love stash with that man's pictures or love letters. You were a bounty hunter. For all I know, you've been keeping tabs on him all this time."

"I have had nothing to do with Neal in twelve years. I have done every fucking thing I can to erase that man from my life so, trust me, Henry doesn't know it from me."

"You should have let me burn this letter. Better yet, you should have let me kill him," said Regina.

"You're not that person anymore," replied Emma.

"How many times do I have to tell you? When it comes to protecting my family, I am absolutely that person."

Regina charged past Emma and marched back into the living room. Emma ran after her desperate to stop her new lover from murdering her old one. But when they burst into the living room, they found it empty.

"Neal," Emma called. "Neal!"

"Shit," Regina breathed.

"He's gone."