Regina nervously wiped down the table for the fourth time in the past ten minutes. Today was the day Henry was coming over and Regina was a nervous wreck. Whenever she was stressed or nervous she cleaned, it had been as nervous habit of hers for as long as she could remember. She still had two hours before Henry would arrive but she had cleaned every inch of the house. Well, almost every inch, she still had yet to clean the back room that hadn't been touched in what seemed like forever.
She grabbed supplies to go dust and headed to the back room. Upon entering the room Regina began taking down the decorations when she stumbled across one she thought she would never see again. She gasped as she spun the broken glass apple in her hand. It had been taped back together with scotch tape, there were pieces missing, and it wasn't put back together right at all, but to her it looked the best she had ever seen it. She put it aside to place on her nightstand later. She smiled at the thought of her considerate boy.
They had just finished dinner so Regina had decided to surprise Henry with his favorite dessert while he played in the back room with his stuffed horse, Gala. She was wiping down the table when the stove timer went off so she went to take the brownies out of the oven.
"Henry, I have a sur-" She was interrupted by the screams of a five year old child. Her could hear her heart beat faster in her chest. She started running as fast as she could towards the sound of the scream.
"Henry!" she yelled mindlessly. Her son could be hurt and that terrified her to the very core.
Regina rushed into the room as fast as she could, immediately lifting her distraught son into her arms. Upon glancing around the room she pieced together what must have happened, the glass apple was shattered into five big chunks and hundreds of tiny shards. "Baby are you okay? Are you hurt?" Regina questioned.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" Henry shouted between sobs. "I'm so sorry."
"Are you hurt?" Regina asked again, not caring about anything else other than making sure her son was okay. After she got no reply she began inspecting him to check if he had gotten hurt. After two extremely thorough inspections from head to toe she was finally convinced that he wasn't hurt. The entire time Henry had been shouting his apologies.
She took his chin gently in her hand to try to persuade him to look at her. "Baby, if you're not hurt then why are you crying?" She asked with concern.
"Are y-you mad at me?" Henry asked, not yet able to look his mother in the eye after what he'd done.
"Of course not sweetheart, why would you think that?" Regina asked, clearly confused.
"Cause I-I broke the apple, and th-then you yelled and s-so I thought you were mad." Henry explained, stuttering due to his intense sobbing. This was the first time he had ever done something wrong, that he could remember at least, and he was terrified his mother would think.
"Oh, no, sweetheart. I yelled because I was worried you had gotten hurt." Regina said as she put her arms around him. He gratefully returned the hug.
"So, you're not mad? ...But I broke the apple." Henry asked still a little confused.
"No, I'm not mad. The only thing that matters to me is that you're safe." Regina said as Henry wrapped himself tighter around her. "Okay, why don't I clean this up and you go choose a movie for us to watch while we eat brownies, okay?" Regina watched as her son's face lit up upon hearing the word 'brownies'.
"You made brownies?! Those are my favorite!" Henry excitedly squealed.
"I know, that's why I made them." Regina replied laughing at how cute he was when he got excited.
He ran off to go pick out the movie they would watch, and Regina, knowing her son, guessed it would more likely than not be "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves." She had absolutely hated that her son liked that movie until he told her why. He told her he thought the Evil Queen was misunderstood, that she must have had a reason to kill Snow White, while this made Regina happy she still knew that Henry tried to see the good in everyone. But what he said next melted her heart. He told her that the Evil Queen wore red lipstick just like his mommy. Regina had been thrilled that he liked the movie because it reminded him of her.
After she cleaned up every piece of glass, she threw in all in the trash and joined Henry to watch the movie. Just as she had suspected, he chose "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." So after finishing the movie she tucked Henry into bed and went to sleep herself. Little did she know her little prince was carefully digging through the trash to get the five chunks of glass that could be salvaged. He then went to her office to get the scotch tape and taped the pieces back together. When he was done it looked nothing like an apple but he wanted to do something to make up for what he'd done.
_
Regina opened the door to greet Emma and Henry. "Hello, Miss Swan." She greeted with her usual ice cold mask. "Hello, Henry." When Regina greeted Henry her entire demeanor changed, something that didn't go unnoticed by Emma.
"So, I brought some pizza. I tried making lasagna but I ended up burning it so I ordered a pizza instead." Emma told her while trying to give her a slight smile.
"Thank you, Miss Swan. Because nothing quite says family dinner like grease in a cardboard box." Regina sarcastically replied, and so Emma chose to believe it meant Regina was feeling back to normal. She was still in shock over the vulnerability Regina had shown her during their encounter a week ago. "Please, come in."
After they walked inside they proceeded to have probably the most awkward dinner in history. Other than a few inside jokes between Henry and Emma that made Regina feel worse, the entire dinner had been silent. So after seeing how loving Henry was to Emma, Regina excused herself to try and push her feelings deep down and put on her mask.
I'm fine. Henry is allowed to love his other mother... But it hurts so much.
She thought as she rested her head on the back of the bathroom door. She took a look at herself in the mirror.
He will never love you.
She told herself. She spent the next several minutes crying and trying to pull herself together.
After cleaning herself up she headed back downstairs. She was walking back into the kitchen when she overheard part of their conversation.
"Why did you make me come here? She-" Henry stopped mid sentence when he realized Regina was standing in the kitchen, frozen dead in her tracks at his words with her mouth left hanging open. "Sorry I just-" His sentence was cut short by Regina.
"It's fine, Henry. You don't have to apologize. If you don't want to be here you may leave." Regina answered, pretending her world hadn't just come crashing down. She knew the tears were falling down her face but she couldn't bring herself to stop them. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could. As soon as she got to her room she sat down on the bed, letting the sobs take total control of her body. She felt like she was being pulled to the bottom of the deepest ocean, the water slowly taking away her ability to breath, taking away her reason to live. She wasn't even sure if she had walked to the right room but she didn't bother opening her eyes to check.
_
Downstairs
Henry got up from his seat and started following his mom when Emma grabbed his arm.
"Kid, I don't think that's a good idea. We should just give her some space." Emma told Henry, not wanting Regina to hurt him worse by lashing out at him because she was in pain.
"Trust me, I've only seen her cry twice in my life. Once out of happiness, and once because she was sad. Trust me, she needs me." Henry stated.
"Henry! Don't hurt him!" Regina yelled with all the fury of an angered mother. She looked at the scene before her. Some guy had gotten angry at her because she refused to do him a favor that would have been impossible to fulfill, so he had decided to take it out on the mayor's precious child.
"Beg." The man told her.
"Please don't hurt him! I'll do anything, just please let him go!" She desperately shouted on the verge of tears.
"I'll let him go, but you own me that favor. Deal?" Regina hadn't been paying attention to anything but her son and didn't reply. "Deal?!" He repeated.
"Deal! Now let him go!" Regina commanded. The man pushed Henry forward but before he could fall Regina rushed forward to catch him. She wrapped her arms tightly around him as he cried onto her jacket.
That night she tucked Henry into bed but not without making sure every door and window in the house was locked. She then went to bed. She stared out the window while the tears came crashing down. Henry had gotten hurt and it had been her fault. She tried to keep her crying as quiet as possible so she wouldn't wake up Henry, but he had never gone to sleep. She quickly wiped away her tears when she heard the door creak open. But it was too late, he had already seen her tears. He ran onto the bed as quickly as he could.
"Mom, are you hurt?" He asked, scared the man had hurt his mother.
"No, I'm not hurt." Regina said, holding him close just for reassurance that he really was okay. They stayed like that for minutes, just content in each other's embrace.
Henry soon broke the silence, "Mom, why were you crying then?" He curiously asked.
Regina took a deep breath and closed her eyes before answering. "I'm scared," Regina now looked at Henry. "I'm scared that people will hurt you, because of me." She couldn't look Henry in the eyes when she said the last part.
"Mom," Henry said looking fearfully at her. "will you protect me?"
"Baby, I will always protect you. No matter what." Regina replied, looking Henry straight in the eyes to prove to him she was telling the truth.
"Mom, I'll protect you too." Henry told her.
"I know you will, my little prince." She kissed his forehead as she let the tears of happiness wash over her.
Henry ran up the stairs, arriving outside his mother's door. He peaked in the open door and saw Regina sitting on the bed, sobbing louder than he had ever heard her before. The door creaked as he walked in but Regina didn't hear it over the sound of her sobs.
"Mo...Regina, I'm sorry." Henry said while standing in the doorway to her room.
Regina quickly wiped away her tears when she realized Henry was in the room. She stood up to face him. "Henry, you don't need to apologize. I'm fine." Regina lied and Henry saw right through it. Regina tried to give him a reassuring smile but it just looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Then why were you crying?" Henry questioned, at some level knowing Regina needed him now, but he wasn't willing to admit it to himself.
"I'm fine Henry." Regina said not wanting Henry to think he was responsible for her tears. She took deep breath and bent down to Henry's level. "If you don't want to come here, then you don't have to. Only come if you want to, okay? I just want you to be happy." Regina told her son but the words killed her to say out loud. She wanted, no, needed to see him.
"Really?" Henry asked, slightly surprised.
"Really." Regina said, swallowing the lump in her throat.
"Thank you." Henry said turning to leave.
"And Henry?" Regina asked causing Henry to turn back around. "I truly am sorry for everything I've done."
Henry studied her for a moment but only found sincerity in her eyes. Regina was slightly trembling, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it if Henry rejected her again.
Henry looked down as he mumbled out his reply, "It's fine." After turning around to leave he added, "Oh, and thank you for the lunch."
"What?" Regina said not knowing what Henry was talking about.
"The lunch you made for me a week ago. Emma wouldn't have known how I like it." Henry replied before turning and leaving.
Regina smiled upon realizing what he was talking about. She thought back to what he had first said when entering the room, he had almost called her mom. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought, she had been aching to hear Henry say that word.
_
Regina headed downstairs with a box for Emma, right as they were getting ready to leave. Henry was in the restroom at the moment.
"Miss Swan, I want you to have these." Regina said handing Emma the box.
"What are they?" Emma asked, looking down at the box.
"They are old videos of Henry from when he was younger." Regina replied, never taking her eyes off the box.
"Regina I can't-" Emma was interrupted.
"I want Henry's mother to know a little about Henry's childhood." Regina said.
"Er, Thank you." Emma awkwardly replied.
A/N: I promise next chapter you will get to see what the videos are about! Please review, all are appreciated!