Chapter Seventeen
During breakfast the next morning, Henry discovered exactly how it was that the mother who would once rush him to Granny's before school was able to produce increasingly elaborate offerings each morning.
She mixed and cooked under the watchful instruction of her unlikely companion and the view from the table into the kitchen served to ignite the yearning that had kept Henry awake for most of the night.
The fact that his dead mother was in the next room with his biological one was enough to stave off thoughts of closing his eyes.
Based on their discussion, she wasn't planning on staying much longer so he had to try and come up with alternative ways to convince her.
Ultimately none of them held a candle to what he had already said, so he remained in bed until Emma called him for breakfast.
Seeing his parents in the kitchen should have made him happy, at the very least it could be a memory of what they could have had but instead, he felt only sadness as he noticed that Regina didn't try to grab any ingredients or utensils in a bid to show Emma a better way to do it.
To make it worse, when they sat down there were only two place settings.
It dashed any possibility he saw of suggesting that they still had a chance to be a normal family.
His parents were so obviously in love but couldn't so much as hold hands. Regina couldn't enjoy any of the living comforts that he and Emma took for granted, she couldn't even have time to herself.
She couldn't even hug her son, the type of hug that he knew would fix all of his problems.
Despite all of this, the three of them were sitting around a table for the first time (that he was aware of) so he made the executive decision that this would not be wasted on sadness.
It was for this reason that he opened his mouth to start on a tirade of nonsense, from his performance at school to discussing the latest issue of Young Avengers.
Regina listened intently, even joining in on a debate about a comic book that had come out a month after he'd moved out, which led to admitting to the saviour that she enjoyed them independently of their son.
Emma Swan appeared to be delighted by the revelation.
By the time the meal ended, Henry had forgotten about his mother not eating or the fact that Emma couldn't entwine their fingers like she so obviously wanted and he was smiling into his orange juice.
That was until Emma said, "Come on, kid. I need to get you to Snow and David."
Henry peered cautiously at Regina, who looked away from him.
"Why? What are you two doing today?" he asked suspiciously.
"We need to find out who Jefferson's accomplice was," Emma replied.
"But…" he breathed with no idea what argument he wanted to use.
"Whoever they are, they need to be punished, right?" Emma said.
"But if you don't find them…mom can stay?" he retorted, his eyes shimmering suddenly.
Emma and Regina shared a silent conversation that Henry could see getting annoying until Emma stepped over to ruffle his hair.
"This is your mom's choice, you don't want to force her to do something right?" Emma asked softly.
"Would it really be so bad to stay?" Henry begged, staring straight at Regina and seeing that she was a moment away from relenting.
Maybe they could go somewhere as a family instead? Even if he wasn't quite sure how he would go about talking to his invisible mother in public.
"Henry, we discussed this last night," Regina sighed.
Feeling his chin frustratingly starting to wobble, Henry replied, "But…I'm not ready…I don't get how you could be."
"Hey look, we haven't found the accomplice yet so your mom isn't going anywhere yet," Emma promised and Regina smiled gratefully at her…whatever they now were to each other, "We're just asking you to spend some time with your grandparents while I interrogate a perp, okay? We won't do anything drastic without telling you."
Henry took in a hard breath but nodded, going off in search of his bag.
S
As the two women waited for their son to return to the car with a school book he forgot, Emma stared at Regina (after making sure that there were no witnesses outside to see).
"Thank you, Emma," Regina sighed.
Emma tilted her head, "For what?"
"For what you said to Henry. I have grown so accustomed to thinking that he doesn't care that I may have forgotten how to get him to accept difficult things…"
"Well, Henry is a stubborn kid at the best of times and this is a little more than a difficult thing," Emma pointed out, though she was careful to keep her resentment out of her voice.
"And what is it that got you to accept my decision?" Regina asked, staring straight ahead so Emma had to wonder how she would look great with the morning light flickering across her visage.
Unfortunately, the light was not aware of her presence.
"Honestly Regina? I haven't accepted it, but I respect that it is your decision. I just want to give you what you want," Emma replied.
Regina sniffed in defeat, "You know that I don't want to leave either of you?"
"I know."
"But I have to…"
"I know," Emma repeated, "The kid only saw you again less than a day ago, he needs time okay? We'll take this one step at a time."
"That's oddly mature of you, sheriff," Regina said, lighting up slightly.
"Hey, are you suggesting that the saviour of Storybrooke isn't mature?" Emma gasped and Regina laughed as Henry approached.
He froze momentarily at the sound but then his own mouth peeled upwards as Emma got out to let him into the backseat.
The ride to the Charmings' loft was silent, which gave Emma the chance to see Henry glancing forlornly into the mirrors.
Having already experienced the shock herself, she was aware of how strange it was not to see Regina in the reflection.
When they got out of the bug, Henry hugged his school books close and walked slowly at Regina's side until they made it to the landing outside his grandparents' home where he faltered and rounded on the two women.
"No tether breaking without telling me," he warned, "You both promise, right?"
"We promise," Regina replied softly.
Henry blew out a breath just as the door opened and Emma pulled him around from the 'empty space' in time to face his grandmother.
"Good morning, Henry," she greeted, "I thought I heard something out here."
"Hey," Henry grumbled as Emma tightened her grip to prevent him from looking back at Regina.
Apparently, he was beginning to recognise some of the complications of being haunted.
Snow frowned at her daughter as Henry escaped her hands and ran into the loft.
"Is he…"
"I told him that I'm trying to find Jefferson's accomplice, I think the whole thing just has him rattled," Emma lied.
Snow sighed but nodded, "Well, whoever they are, they need to pay for what they have done to our family."
Emma could practically feel Regina raising her eyebrows behind them but tried not to look too surprised on her part.
It wasn't like Snow ever claimed to be unaffected by all of this, she was the first to try and stop her former stepmother from bleeding out.
"They will pay," Emma assured.
"And Henry…Did you talk to him about the mausoleum?" Snow asked.
"I did," Emma lied again, "I think he's starting to see things from another…perspective."
Snow hummed as Emma made to go back to the stairs but seemed to gather the courage to ask, "And you?"
"Me?" Emma frowned.
Snow scratched at her pixie cut nervously and said, "I know it took everyone else a while to get to where you are, but I can see how you've been struggling since Regina's funeral."
Emma stood bolt upright, she really thought that her outward grief was appropriate, especially since the object of said grief re-appeared.
Making sure not to look into the hazel that might change her mind, Emma closed the distance to her mother and shoved her hands into her pockets.
She still wasn't accustomed to having parents, but if she couldn't tell the woman in front of her, then how could she claim that her feelings were true?
She felt it strongly enough to tell Snow White that she was in love with the Evil Queen, so it had to mean something.
Shifting from foot to foot, Emma said, "Would you still be worried if…if I told you that…I'm in love with Regina?"
"Emma…" breathed behind her but the saviour had to keep her gaze trained on the flurry of emotion from Snow.
It went from blank to shock to a hint of anger until it settled on a sort of sad acceptance.
"Oh Emma," Snow breathed and pulled her daughter into a tight hug, "I had no idea, I'm so sorry."
Emma pulled her closer which gave her a moment to check that Regina was as surprised as she was until Snow released her.
The weight of acceptance had Emma swallow hard and ask, "You're okay with it?"
"I'm sure that I could have learned to be as long as you were happy," Snow replied.
Though it wasn't on the same level as the vault, Emma found herself close to crying again.
So if she had just gone for it, her parents would have accepted her and Regina? It took away so many of her objections and reminded her of all of the time that they'd wasted.
She went rigid as Snow ran the pad of her thumb over a tear that must have escaped but then relaxed into the touch and said, "Thanks…mom."
Snow smiled sadly and pulled her daughter forward to kiss her forehead.
"If you ever need to talk, you know where we are," she said.
"I know…I think I'll start with finding the accomplice first though," Emma sighed, "I'll call you if Henry needs to stay longer?"
"He can stay as long as you need," Snow replied, finally retreating into the apartment.
As soon as the door closed, Emma turned expecting disapproval from Regina but it was quickly apparent that the spirit had no idea how she felt about what she'd just said.
Emma rubbed her cheeks to make sure they were dry and then said jokingly, "Well that went well."
"Emma, you…didn't have to do that," Regina replied, doing a poor job of hiding how much it really meant to her.
"Trust me, I couldn't have done that alone," Emma said, passing to the stairs.
Her hand brushed barely a millimetre from where Regina's would be and for a moment she allowed herself to believe that she felt something other than cold.
Once that moment ended, she placed the hand back into her pocket.
S
In the hours that followed, Emma threw everything that she had at Jefferson, but there was one major issue that was becoming clear to both her and her invisible companion.
They were literally dealing with the Mad Hatter.
No matter how much she promised or threatened, there was only one thing that he wanted and Emma had already promised the girl that she would never have to see him again.
Around lunchtime, Emma sat in her office nursing a bear claw and looked vulnerably up at the woman watching her failed attempt to eat.
Pressing her fingertips into her temple, Emma abandoned the pastry and asked, "Is there such a thing as a truth serum?"
Regina blew a breath and shook her head, "Do you not think I would have suggested that this morning?"
"Right," Emma grumbled, "I guess we need to talk to Grace?"
"Perhaps…it would be better coming from a peer?" Regina suggested.
"I think that Henry has made it clear that he doesn't want to help with this," Emma pointed out.
"I suppose I will need to talk to him again."