A/N: Wow – blown away by the response to this first chapter. I have to be honest, I got the impression during my last fic that interest in this fandom was waning, a year after the show ended and two years after JMo left. Seems I was wrong and there is still appetite for these stories, so thank you! This chapter was written in a grump after my motorbike broke down but I feel like my dour mood probably helped writing Henry…

"Mom, I need to pee."

"Already? We only left an hour ago," Regina said, looking in the rear-view mirror at her son.

"Yeah but I didn't go before we left school and now I wanna pee."

"Ok, hold on. There's a gas station in a few miles."

The car fell quiet again. In fact, Henry had been unnaturally quiet since they drove out of Storybrooke. After Regina had reassured him that they weren't going to the dentist, he had tucked happily into his lunch and settled back with his iPad which had been switched to Flight Mode and disconnected from the family's iCloud, just in case.

After only a few more minutes, Regina steered the car off the freeway and pulled into the parking lot of a gas station. Getting out of the car, she let her son out and followed him towards the bathroom block.

"Mom, I can go on my own," Henry protested when she tried to get him to come with her into the ladies.

"Are you sure."

"I'm six and three quarters, Mom. I can pee on my own."

"Ok, I'll meet you out here. Don't forget to wash your hands."

Regina hurried into the ladies bathroom and peed as fast as possible. She hadn't needed to go but figured she should. The fewer stops they made the better. By the time she emerged, Henry was still not outside. She loitered outside, tapping her foot, glancing at her watch.

"Henry?" she called through the open door after almost a minute.

"Mom, I'm fine," Henry said, emerging as once. "I was just washing my hands like you said."

"Sorry," Regina said, pulling her son in for a quick hug.

The boy wriggled away. "Can we get candy?"

"There's a chocolate bar in the car."

"No, I ate that already," Henry said, looking up at her with wide pleading eyes.

Regina didn't usually allow her son to eat much junk food. Only on special occasions. She supposed driving five hundred miles was an occasion. "Ok," she agreed. Henry grinned and led the way into the small convenience store which was attached to the gas station. He stood in front of the colourful display, eyes scanning the range of treats, trying to make a choice. "Henry, come on," she chivvied eventually.

"Ok, ok," he said, grabbing an Apollo bar and handing it to Regina. "What do you want?"

"I'm not hungry," Regina said, moving to the counter to pay.

In truth, Regina hadn't been hungry for days, weeks, months, maybe even years. Her insides coiled with nerves from the moment she woke each morning, only calming during the hours when she was alone in the house and flickering back to life shortly before her husband was due home. It made enjoying food or even eating at all a challenge. So far that day, she had consumed only a cup of black coffee and an apple. As she received her change, she realised perhaps she needed a little more sustenance given the journey which lay ahead.

"So, where are we going?" Henry asked as they climbed back into the car.

"I told you," Regina said, twisting around to reach for a sandwich out of the cooler. "New York City."

"The capital?"

"Actually, New York City isn't the capital of anything. The capital of New York State is Albany and the capital of the United States is Washington D.C."

There was a pause as the six-year-old considered the information he had just been handed. "Whatever," he said eventually. "So, why are we going to New York?"

"Because it's a big and exciting new city and we're going to have a lot of fun there."

"Like a vacation?"

"Sort of."

"Is Dad joining us?"

Regina flinched. She wasn't sure why but she hadn't expected that conversation to happen so soon. "Um, it'll just be you and me for a while," she said eventually. Regina knew it was important not to lie to Henry but she also didn't think now was the right time to tell him everything. He was too young. They were too close to home. She needed time, space, a chance to process.

Turning the key, the car engine fired back to life. For once, Henry seemed content with the limited answers he had been given and as Regina glanced in the rear view to reverse out of the space, she saw her son had already put in his headphones and was absorbed in his tablet once more.

"Rubes, I'm heading out now," Emma informed her friend and employee. "Call if there's any problems."

"I'll be fine," Ruby assured her, not even looking up from the laptop where she was logging some data from a recent new entrant to the shelter. She doubted all of the information was true but that didn't matter. They never forced any of the women to disclose more than they were comfortable with. Over time, the truth tended to come out as they became more comfortable and felt safe in the shelter. The first few days, however, tended to be laced with suspicion. Unsurprising, given may of the situations these women had escaped from.

"Well, I'll be in tomorrow morning at eight. See you then."

"Yep, say hi to your parents for me."

"Foster parents," Emma corrected automatically. She loved Mary Margaret and David very much, but they weren't her biological parents. Labels were important to Emma. Her parents had abandoned her when she was a baby. Her adoptive parents gave her back to the system when it became obvious Emma was 'different' to other children. And her foster parents were the two people who agreed to take on this 'difficult' child, as Emma had been labelled by the time she was six. "And I will. Have a good night."

With that, she pressed the door release button and stepped out of the non-descript building. Glancing left and right, not looking for anyone in particular, she set off at a brisk walk towards her apartment which was located just a few blocks away. The streets were busy with commuters, crowds spilling from the subway stations, erupting from the earth like swarms of suited ants. Emma always picked her route to avoid the caverns which led to the transport system. She avoided the system all together.

Everyone thought it was crazy to have a car in New York City but for Emma it was a necessity. Crowded places, cramped spaces from which she couldn't easily remove herself made her uncomfortable. The subway was a no go. She also hated small talk and after a few attempts at using cabs, she realised that wasn't an option either. When Uber had exploded onto the transport scene, she gave them a shot too, at Ruby's insistence that it would revolutionise her life. The drivers were worse than yellow cabs; chattier! So the few times Emma needed to go somewhere outside of walking distance, she drove.

Another resident of her building was leaving just as Emma arrived at the door. She nodded and smiled at him as he held the door from her. Mary Margaret had told her it was polite to do that. The man opened his mouth as if to say something but Emma scuttled past before he could begin. She didn't want to talk to him. Meeting new people was hard work and she need time to prepare.

Except for at work. For some reason, Emma was comfortable standing behind the desk, being the face of Swan's Shelter. She would welcome anyone and everyone who appeared outside the door and pressed the intercom. Regardless of who it was, what they had experienced, why they had turned up at a women's shelter, Emma was warm and welcoming and did her best to make them feel calm and safe.

"I don't get it," Ruby had mused one day as she leaned against the doorjamb to the office.

"Don't get what?" Emma asked as she handed a young woman a locker key where she could store the small rucksack which held all her worldly possessions.

"You're so … normal here," Ruby said eventually, knowing it was the wrong word to use but unable to find a better one.

"There's no such thing as normal," Emma replied simply, watching the girl fumble to enter the code which granted her access to the back area where she had already been given a tour and allocated a room.

"No, but you know what I mean," Ruby protested as Emma turned to look at her. "I mean you're fine with me and people you know outside of work but you do say and do some weird shit in social situations when we're with strangers. And then you walk in here and you're perfectly calm and you know exactly what to say to make these women feel safe and … yeah, I don't get it!"

"Well, nor do I," Emma admitted.

Yes, women in the shelter Emma could talk to. But a man she'd seen a handful of times in the vestibule of her building, with his gentle hazel eyes and his floppy hair, no. Her stomach did a flip just thinking about talking to him, even now as she was stood alone in the elevator, waiting for the upwards journey to finish. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. The illuminated seven on the screen told her she'd reached her destination. The elevator doors slid open and she hurried out, fumbling for her keys in her handbag.

As soon as she was inside the apartment, she slammed the door and slid the deadbolt across. Then she slid it back. And across again. Finally, she slid it back and left it there, forehead resting on the cool wood. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause.

Turning around, she placed her handbag carefully on the side table. Her keys tinkled into the dish beside it and she connected her cell to the phone charger which lay waiting. The screen illuminated, confirming the power source. 5:17pm. She had forty-three minutes until she had to leave to meet her parents. She had timed the drive to the restaurant. It would take twenty-one minutes. She had to meet them at 6:30pm. That gave her a nine-minute buffer in case something unexpected happened. Emma hated being late.

"Mom, I'm bored, can we stop now?"

"We're nearly there," Regina promised. It was true. She could see the glow of the city on the horizon. The night sky lighter where New York stood, its millions of inhabitants just living their lives.

"We've been driving forever!" Henry sighed.

It was true. Well, seven hours. Henry had slept for several of them, drifting off soon after they passed Portland. Regina was exhausted but she knew they couldn't stop. Not until she reached her destination, not until they were safe. Or at least hidden. A glance at the satellite navigation system told her she had barely twenty miles to go.

"We'll stop soon, I promise, my little prince."

"And then can we have food? I'm hungry."

"Have another sandwich," Regina offered.

"There aren't any. I ate them all. Can we stop and buy something?"

Regina glanced at the time on the dashboard. He would have returned home over two hours ago. He would have realised by now that they were not there, that something was wrong. Her car was in the garage, her phone was on the bed. Sooner or later he would think to look in the drawer in his desk where their passports were kept and realise two were missing. Sooner or later he'd be looking for them. They had to be unfindable.

"We're about half an hour away," Regina promised her son. "What are you watching on your iPad?"

"It died. Do you have a charger?"

"Yes but nowhere to plug it in."

"Your real car has chargers in it. This car is stupid."

"Henry," Regina admonished.

"What? It is. It's a stupid car which smells funny and I'm hungry and I don't want to go to New York. I want to go home. I want to see Dad."

The tears started before the sentence finished. Regina looked in the rear-view mirror and saw her son's face crinkle. Oh great, she thought to herself. The tantrum was about to start. She had two options; drive through the screams which were due to erupt or pull over and try to contain it. While every fibre of her being wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and Maine, her maternal instinct overrode that. Indicating, she pulled off the highway and stopped on the side of the road, traffic continuing to thunder past.

"Henry," Regina said, twisting around in her seat, ignoring the twinge from her ribs and reaching out to pat her son's knee. He wriggled away as far as his car seat would allow. "Henry, I'm sorry. I will explain everything to you, I promise. But we can't go home right now. We're going to have an amazing time in New York together though. It's a really fun city. We can go to the park and there's a zoo and -"

"I want Dad," Henry shouted. "Why isn't Dad with us?"

Regina sighed. "Dad couldn't come with us today, sweetheart."

"Why not?" he bawled. "Why couldn't Dad take me, not you? I hate you!"

Even though Regina didn't believe the words, they stung. Her heart clenched at the mere thought of her husband taking Henry anywhere without her. She didn't trust him one bit. He had proven just a week earlier that he wasn't to be trusted with their son. But Henry, optimistic and naive, couldn't see the danger the man posed, to her and himself. The incident which had been the final straw for Regina was long forgotten by the six-year-old even though it had occurred only eight days earlier.

Regina didn't want to be the one to shatter the boy's illusion of his father. And it wasn't right to discuss such as subject while parked on the side of the freeway. There would be time to explain everything later.

"Henry, I love you very much and -"

"No, you don't. You hate me."

"Henry, I love you more than anything else in the world," Regina said, tears now sparkling in her eyes, the pain and anguish she had been keeping in all day finally showing. "I'm sorry I can't explain everything right now, but you have to trust me that what I'm doing is for your own good and mine."

There was nothing more she could do so Regina turned around in her seat, fastened her belt once more and restarted the car's engine. Gliding smoothly back onto the freeway, she checked the fuel gauge. There was enough to get them to their destination. No more stops. Henry whimpered in the back seat, no longer screaming but sniffling instead. Regina didn't respond. She wasn't ignoring him; as a mother, ignoring her child's pain was impossible. But she was focused. Focused on the road ahead. On getting where they needed to go. On reaching safety.

Emma scanned the menu, trying to work out what she was going to eat. Not linguini and shrimp. She didn't like shrimp. Not the lasagne. It came with a side order of garlic bread and she didn't like garlic.

"I think I'll have the ravioli," Mary Margaret said, smiling up at the waiter who had arrived to take their order.

"The squid ink pasta for me, please," David said, "and a beer," he added, passing over the menu.

"And for you?"

Emma's eyes snapped up at the waiter who was looking directly at her. She dropped her gaze. "I don't know," she mumbled.

"Give us a few minutes," Mary Margaret suggested quietly to the waiter who nodded and disappeared without a word.

Her foster parents were used to this. Emma struggled to make decisions when it came to eating out. Her tastes were particular and restaurant dishes often put together food in a way that one ingredient in every single dish meant Emma wouldn't like it. This caused the blonde some distress as she disliked being awkward and asking for dishes to be prepared differently to how the menu stated they came.

"What about the carbonara?" David suggested, knowing it was a favourite of his foster daughter's.

"It might have a raw egg on the top which I have to mix in," Emma pointed out. Raw egg was definitely on Emma's list of food which was not to be consumed.

"We can just ask them not to add that," David pointed out. "It's the last ingredient so it would be easy for them to add it in earlier and cook it for you or leave it out."

Emma shook her head.

"Ok, what about a pizza?" Mary Margaret suggested. "Pepperoni?"

"I'm not hungry enough to eat a whole pizza," Emma mused.

"We could ask for anything you don't eat to be put in a takeout box. You could eat it for breakfast."

At David's suggestion, Emma's nose wrinkled. "Pizza for breakfast? No, that's wrong. Breakfast is toast and blueberry jam and one coffee."

"Ok, then you could take it to work for your lunch tomorrow."

Emma thought about that. Tomorrow was Friday. On Friday she and Ruby went to the deli on the corner and she ordered a meatball sub with no cheese. But tomorrow Ruby wouldn't be working because she pulled a double shift. So Emma would be on her own. That meant she could change her lunch plans and eat cold pizza and it wouldn't affect anyone else. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. Friday's lunch was going to be cold pepperoni pizza.

"Ok," she nodded eventually.

Mary Margaret smiled and waved their waiter back over. Emma ordered and asked for a soda water. The waiter repeated their list back to them before disappearing to the kitchen.

"So," David asked. "How's work?"

"Good," Emma smiled. "We got that grant."

"Fantastic," Mary Margaret beamed. "Does that mean you can expand?"

"Yep," Emma nodded. "We're planning to build three more rooms out the back. That's three more women we can help at any one time. It means we'll lose some of our outdoor space but no one really uses it anyway and we'll still have a small area if the women want to go out and smoke or the kids want to play. And we're improving our security system too. There are going to be better locks on the entrances as well as inside. Just in case."

David and Mary Margaret had visited the shelter only a handful of times. In fact, David hadn't been inside beyond the foyer. It was a women-only space in the rear, a rule Emma refused to break for anyone, even the man who raised her. She promised the women that no men would be allowed and Emma wasn't someone to go back on her word.

"And how's Lily?" Mary Margaret asked halfway through their main meal after they had exhausted talk of Emma's work.

"Mom, I told you, we broke up," Emma sighed, placing the half-eaten piece of pizza back onto her plate.

"Yes, but I thought that maybe you two would get back together," Mary Margaret said. "Lily is such a lovely young woman."

Emma shook her head. "No, that's not going to happen. Lily told me she didn't see a future with me. If there is no future, then the relationship should stop. I told her that. She agreed. It's over."

"But you love her."

One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause. Talking about feelings, especially painful ones, was hard for Emma. Emotions were complex and unpredictable which made them hard to control. Emma didn't like elements of her life which she couldn't control. Emma didn't really like having feelings at all which was why she had only had two relationships in her life. The first had been at college, an awkward and confusing yet gentle and slow introduction to love. She and Becky had split shortly after graduation. It was amicable.

Emma had been single for close to five years before she met Lily and those pesky emotions resurfaced. They had been together for almost three years before Lily had admitted that she didn't see herself spending the rest of her life with the blonde. They had broken up that night. It had been two months and Emma was starting to move on. She wasn't ready to date again but the pain was receding. Talking about it was still difficult though. One, two, three, four, five, pause. One, two, three, four, five, pause.

"I loved her," Emma corrected her foster mother. "I don't love her now."

Mary Margaret opened her mouth to say something, but David laid a hand on his wife's arm. He knew no good would come of pursuing this conversation. Instead, he started to tell Emma about the new project he had started for their Scarsdale home. After a few minutes, Emma picked up the discarded piece of pizza and continued to eat.

Ruby's eyes scanned the black and white security feeds, checking everything was ok. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The corridors were quiet, with just a few women and children wandering back from the dining hall towards their rooms. The common room was fairly busy, the television holding most people's attention but a few of the children were gathered around the foosball table, making their own entertainment.

Everything was quiet. She picked up her cell and checked the time. Almost eight. She yawned. The day had been long already and now she was facing a night on call. She wasn't required to be awake behind the desk. The building was secure, so she didn't need to be on guard. But she was expected to be available if anyone arrived at the centre of if anyone already inside needed her. There was a small bed set up in the office which she'd retreat to when she was ready for sleep. Often, the nights were quiet anyway but being woken once or twice was not unusual.

She returned to reading an article Emma had forwarded to her based on some new studies of domestic abuse victims. Emma was always encouraging her staff to ensure their knowledge was up to date and in line with the latest research. She was barely halfway through the paper when the buzzer for the front door rang. Turning to look at the security feed, she saw two people standing outside the front door. A woman and a small child. The rest of the street was deserted.

Pressing the intercom, she answered the request. "Hello?"

There was a pause. There always was. "Hello, is this Swan's Shelter?"

"Yes, it is," Ruby replied. "Are you looking for somewhere to stay?"

"Yes please."

"Ok, how many of you are there?"

"Just me and my son."

"Come on in."

She pressed the door release and stood up, ready to greet the new arrival. After only a few seconds, the heavy wooden door in front of her swung open and a small boy appeared, closely followed by a woman. Dark hair, cut into a stylish bob, framed her striking features but her brown eyes darted nervously around as she took in the new space.

"Good evening," Ruby smiled. "Welcome."

"Hi," the woman said, moving further into the room, chivvying her son forwards. "Um, we're looking for somewhere to stay."

"You've come to the right place," Ruby smiled. "I'm Ruby."

"Hi," the brunette said again. "I'm Regina. This is Henry."

"Hi Regina, Henry. Welcome to Swan's. There are just a few bits of paper I need you to fill in." She reached for a fresh set of intake forms and clipped them to a board, sliding them over the desk towards the brunette. "Anything you want to leave blank, you can. We don't ask you to disclose anything you aren't comfortable with, including your name."

"Could have told me that thirty seconds ago," Regina laughed dryly.

"Everything here is completely confidential. We're not going to share the information you give us with anyone. You're safe here."

"Safe?" Henry asked, eyes barely able to see over the top of the desk where Ruby sat. "Safe from what?"

"Just safe to sleep here," Regina jumped in quickly. "We need somewhere to sleep after our long drive, don't we?"

"Is this a hotel?" Henry frowned. It didn't look like the hotels he had been to with him mom and dad on vacation. Where was the pool?

"Yes, I guess you could say that," Regina nodded, picking up the clipboard and pen and moving to take a seat. Henry followed, climbing up beside his mother and looking around.

"I'm hungry. Can we eat now?"

"We've got a canteen inside. I'm sure you'll be able to eat something there," Ruby offered when Regina looked up questioningly.

"Are there burgers?" the boy asked, face lighting up at the possibility. He got to eat burgers on special occasions and surely a vacation was special enough.

"I'm not sure what's on the menu today," Ruby admitted. "But once your mom has finished the forms, I'll take you through and we can find out."

"Mom, I want my iPad," Henry said, tugging on Regina's sleeve.

"It's in the car," Regina replied. "We'll get it in a minute."

"You have a car?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, we drove here."

"From Maine," Henry piped up.

Well, Regina thought, between she and Henry, there was no willingness to play their cards close to their chests.

"We have an underground parking lot you can use," Ruby said. "I wouldn't leave it on the street. This neighbourhood is safe but you never know."

"Thank you," Regina replied.

The three of them fell silent as Regina finished up the forms. She kept the details as vague as possible for the questions which asked her reasons for coming to Swan's Shelter. In the address section, she just put as Maine. She left her surname blank too. Once done, she stood up and handed the forms over.

"Thanks," Ruby smiled. "So, do you have any luggage you want to bring in from the car?"

"Yeah, a case and a few bags," Regina said.

Ruby glanced at the internal and external security cameras once more and then came out from around the desk. "I'll help you," she said, leading the way back out of the building and onto the street.

It was dark outside but the sidewalk was well lit. The street's ambiance was one of the reasons Emma had chosen this particular location for the shelter. Regina pointed to the car and together they unloaded the large case, the now empty food cooler and Henry's school bag.

"I can take these inside with Henry if you want to park the car," Ruby offered.

"Is that ok?" Regina asked. Her energy levels were fading fast and she was desperate to get settled. In fact, she wanted nothing more to collapse into a bed, curl her arms around her son and sleep for hours.

"Sure. So the parking lot is that entrance just on the right there. The code for the gate is 5291. Our bays have SS painted on the floor. There should be plenty free. Not many of our guests bring cars. Buzz the front door when you come back. I'll issue you with your pass once I've given you the tour and gone through the house rules, so you can come and go whenever you wish."

"Thanks," Regina said. "Henry," she crouched down so she was eye level with her son, "can you go inside with Ruby and wait for me?"

"Ok," Henry said, stifling a yawn. His tantrum, while over now, had worn him out.

Ruby offered Regina a reassuring smile before leading her small son back into the building.

"Do you live here?" Henry asked as Ruby stacked their case and bags beside a door which led to the rear part of the building.

"No, I live near here. But this is where I work, so I spend a lot of time here."

"I live in Maine with Mom and Dad. Mom said we're coming to New York for vacation. Is this New York?"

"Yes, this is a part of New York called The Bronx. The famous bit of New York is called Manhattan and we're not too far from there. Maybe one day your mom will take you to see the Empire State Building."

"A building? That's boring. She told me there was a zoo."

"There is a zoo," Ruby smiled. "It's in Central Park."

"Does the park have swings?"

"It sure does," Ruby nodded. "There are lots of different things to do in the park. It's really big."

"Like a soccer field?"

"Bigger."

Henry's eyes widened. "Cool. I wanna go play soccer there with Dad when he comes."

Ruby said nothing in response to that. She had met countless children in the centre who had not yet been told about or come to terms with where they were and why they were there. Henry, at the age of six, was surely too young to understand anyway. Similarly, Ruby had no information of what had driven Regina to Swan's Shelter although she had her suspicions. It wasn't her place to speculate, however. But before she needed to find a new, safe subject, the buzzer sounded.

Circling the desk, Ruby checked it was indeed Regina outside before pressing the door release button. The woman entered quickly, scanning for Henry at once.

"Right, do you want the tour?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, I suppose so," Regina nodded, holding out her hand for Henry. "And then food. Is that ok, my little prince?"

"Food," Henry nodded. "Yes."

Ruby smiled. "Let's go."

She entered the code which permitted access into the back area and, with the help of Regina, shuffled through their case and bags into the back of Swan's Shelter. The door swung shut behind them. Regina turned around and looked at it.

"You're safe here," Ruby murmured, seeing the look of apprehension on the woman's face. "I promise."

A/N: and now for some information followed by shameless self-promotion. Firstly, this story will be updated every Wednesday and Sunday, as is my habit. Secondly, you can follow me on Twitter and IG for updates and sneak peeks: my handles are swanqueenukff and swanqueenuk respectively. Thirdly, if you're enjoying this story and want to read some of my other finished work, here's a list of my full length (40+ chapters) fics:

Always Alone

Behind Bars

Crazy Changes

Dangerous Desires

Held Hostage

Kitchen Kisses

Medical Mystery

Political Passions

Troubled Teachers