The next morning, Henry woke up from a restless night. He spent nearly the entire time thinking about how there may not be any way to repair his family. Doing what his Ma did is one of the worst things, and one of the hardest to get through, this may be the end of everything.

For most of the school day, he did nothing but think about what his life might be like having to stay at two different homes a week. If it wasn't for Grace he might not have gotten any notes from his classes; if it wasn't for her he wouldn't have gotten through a lot of things this school year, she's been nothing but helpful and understanding while the most stressful year comes down on Henry. This was all Henry could think about on his way home from school not to mention how bad he felt for not speaking to her for nearly the past two weeks. He's been so busy trying to figure out his parents, he completely forgot about the rest of the world, but now he wants to make it up to her… if only he knew how.

Of course the days following were the same for his parents, but every time Henry looked at his Ma he didn't know if he should be mad at her or feel sorry for her. What she did was one of the most unforgivable acts, but he can tell that she felt terrible about it and she looked just as bad as she felt. If Henry knew anything about his Ma, he knew that she was punishing herself for it enough to last for the rest of her life. Even with all of that he knew his Mom still wouldn't forgive her, at least not any time soon. Only a few weeks of apologizing wasn't enough to get over something this big, but if he inherited anything from his Ma, it was to never give up.

It was Friday, which means Henry will be packing his bags to stay at his Ma's house. Both if his parents actually suggested he leave some of his clothes there since he goes back and forth so often, but Henry declines every time. He felt that him leaving anything there was him accepting their separation, and that was the last thing he was going to do.

Henry was walking towards his locker not really paying attention to anything in particular, he was only thinking about his weekend and how worse his Ma was likely going to get. He knew he had to do something, but nothing seemed to work.

"...Henry… Heeenry… Anyone there?" Grace playfully taps Henry's head as she waves her hands around trying to get his attention.

"…What?…I'm sorry Grace. What's up?" Henry opens his locker putting his books away.

"I just wanted to see if you are all right. We haven't talked much since you came back from your suspension."

"I'm sorry, I've just been having a lot on my mind since then and thank you for the notes. They really saved my life."

"Anything to help, but you never told me how you are. I was starting to think you were avoiding me." Grace gave Henry a shy laugh.

Henry never realized just how much he's been out of touch with everyone, but the look on Grace's face says that he's doing a terrible job at keeping up. If Henry didn't do something soon everything in his life was going to come crashing down, and fast.

"Oh no, Grace, I wasn't avoiding you, I swear. I've just been needing time to think to myself… I have a project I'm working on that really needs my attention right now." I mean, that isn't technically a lie… right?

Grace hesitated before answering, looking at Henry more closely than before as if she's trying to get the truth out of him.

"What kind of project, I'd love to help." Henry starts to panic.

"NO!…I mean, it's a small project, I should be done by the end of the weekend." Now it was Henry's turn to give a shy smile, but from the look on her face Henry knew that if he didn't get out of there fast Grace would see straight through his lie. "I'm sorry Grace, I gotta go. I promised my Mom I would help her cook dinner tonight." Before Grace even had time to wave good-bye Henry had slammed his locker shut and ran towards the door, but knowing that he didn't want to leave things the way they were, he turned back around and said, "I promise to tell you all about it when it's done." And now I have to make up a whole project by the end of the weekend… I never think anything through.

Back home, Henry went straight upstairs and began to pack. He only packed the necessities: his tooth brush, extra clothes, and a few comic books. Henry knew it was going to be many hours of his Ma getting work done instead of them spending time together, but he was still hopeful for a fun weekend.

As suspected, Emma focused so much on her work that weekend that they hardly said a word to one another other than outside of dinner time. The most they talked about had been about the weather, neither of them wanting to talk about the depressing happenings of work or school. Henry could tell that Emma was not ready to tell him about what he had overheard, but why? Wouldn't things be better once everything was out in the open? Even still, Henry knew not to push his Ma when she wasn't ready. If he wanted to get his parents living back in the same house he knew he had to have patience, but how much time did he really have before things stayed the way they were.

After dinner and Henry had showered, he went to go sit with his Ma as he read one of his comics and she continued to work on what seemed to be the exact same report from that morning.

"Are you hard at work, or hardly working?" Henry said jokingly, just trying to make conversation, but it seems like Emma was in her own thoughts still. "Hey, Ma, you alright?" Henry looked at her with more concern.

"… Oh, yeah, Henry. I was just thinking about this report I'm working on."

Henry looks down at the report and he was right, it's the same report she's been working on since Emma brought him over yesterday. Whatever was on her mind, Henry could tell that it was really eating at her, but he also knew that she likely wasn't going to talk about it. Henry placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled tenderly up at his Ma, Emma smiled back, although the warmth of it didn't quite reach her eyes

Walking into the house and straight into his room, he heard his parents talking like usual, and this time he decided not to listen in; he's learned his lesson about eavesdropping. Going to his bed, he tried to think of a way to get his Ma to talk to him about what he heard. He knew how she had a tendency to push away from very uncomfortable situations, but he also knew that whatever it was, his parents wanted to tell him.

"Henry!... Henry, I know you can hear me, come here…Why is my vase under the rug in pieces?... Henry, answer me."

"It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Henry, what have we told you about lying. Now tell me the truth. What happened?"

"…ime for bed."

Henry is startled by his Mother's words as he's brought back from his thoughts. "Huh?"

"I said, it's time to get ready for bed." Regina enters into his room and looks at him closer than she has in a while. "Are you doing all right, Sweetie?"

Henry wonders if he should be asking his mom the same thing. He's noticed how she's been working more as of late, same with his Ma, and its's been taking a toll on her. Her eyes aren't, as his Ma would put it, "Hot Chocolately-Brown" as they used to be, and her hair no longer had the bounce his Ma used to be so jealous about. It seems that everything is changing, whether Henry wanted them to or not, and he was slowly starting to believe that he could do nothing about it.

He put on as much of a convincing smile as he could gather as he bounced up off of his bed.

"Yeah! I'm just a little tired from the weekend." Henry leaves his room and goes to get ready for bed.

"How did your project turn out?"

Henry was at his locker getting the books he would need before heading to his Home Room. The moment Grace's question registered, Henry realized that he had completely forgot to come up with a fake project to tell her about. "Uhh, yeah, it went pretty well. I think I made some pretty good progress." Henry refused to turn around in fear that his face gave himself away.

Grace stood there silently for just a moment, but what felt far too long for Henry to bare anymore. He spun around to gage Grace's face and all he saw was a static look with no real expression. They stood face to face to one another for a little while longer until Grace finally spoke.

"Come on, let's go before Mrs. Byrd has a fit." Grace's expression then changes to a beaming smile, almost like the Cheshire Cat. Henry turns back around and closes his locker a little dumbfounded by what just happened, but he doesn't question it, he didn't want to have another strained relationship to deal with.

The rest of the school year had gone by with the same routine: Henry comes home after school, homework, dinner, bed. On Fridays Henry would pack up some clothes for the weekend, still refusing to leave anything at his Ma's, stay with her, come home, and do the exact same thing the following week. Nothing new had come up in the past month and a half, Henry's parents were still living apart, and he still had no clue about the details on Emma being unfaithful. The only good thing that had come about was that Peter hadn't said a word to Henry since their suspension, in fact, Henry hasn't seen Peter at all. It wasn't a miracle, Peter was always in and out of school, but it was still greatly appreciated.

On the last day of school Henry had come home with a little more hope for something good to turn up. With school being out, that means he gets to spend more time at home and hopefully get somewhere in all of this mess… and even more so, get to spend more time with Grace. Henry noticed how Grace is more patient with him, never calling him out when she knew he was lying when he couldn't hang out with her. No doubt he knew it was because of his parents, it wasn't lost on him that the whole town knew about their separation; it's one of the smallest towns in Maine, it was bound to happen. Every time Henry would go to Granny's without his parents, or even when he took a walk around town, everyone would always give him the same look, the one that just showed how much pity they had for him, it was starting to irritate him. It was made Henry feel more outside the loop of what was happening than he already did, but with school over, he had more time to focus on things that would hopefully distract him from his life being turned upside down.

Henry walked through the front door, running straight upstairs to start packing, but as soon as his foot touched the stairs his Mother called him into the kitchen.

"Henry! Could you come here."

Henry jogs into the kitchen and sees both of his parents standing by the island. Henry could see how uncomfortable his Ma was.

"Yeah, what's up?"

His Mother starts speaking first. "Henry, we thought it would be a good idea if you visited your grandparents for the summer. It's been a while since you last seen them and I know they would love to see you." Regina's facial expressions change dramatically from neutral, to worried, but quickly back to confident, as if she was fighting with herself about something. She looks to Emma to continue.

"Right. I know my parents would love to spend some time with you, it's been almost a year since the last time we all visited." Emma brings her hand up to the back of her neck, something she only does when she's been backed into an awkward corner.

Henry saw no harm in what they were suggesting, but the looks on their faces made him suspicious. "That sounds cool. How long do I need to pack for?" Henry starts going over the amount of comic books and pairs of underwear he will need to bring in his head when his parents finally answer him.

"It'll be for the whole summer." Emma's face indicated that she knew what those words would mean, and she was just waiting for impact as Henry opened his mouth to protest, but Regina beat him to it, raising her hand for him to stop.

"No negotiations. We already talked with Emma's parents and they will be expecting you. You need to spend time with them, they miss you, and with school out, you'll be free to do just that."

Henry had a million and one reasons as to why he should be able to stay home, but he knew his parents would not accept any of them. He just kept opening and closing his mouth, stopping himself from getting in deeper, in the end Henry just walks off and begins packing.

"Grandma, how did you and Grandpa meet?

"Oh dear, you want to hear that long story again…well ok, let's see…"