Chapter 22

The Other Coma Patient

(Regina's POV, 10 years later)

I set down Henry's dinner in front of him gently. He glanced at it but didn't smile. "Henry, sweetie what's wrong? I thought you loved spaghetti..."

Henry looked up at me with a strange expression and replied, "Nothing's wrong."

I frowned, standing up to put my hand on Henry's forehead. Hmm, he's not sick either. "Henry did something happen at school today?"

I watched my son shake his head. Maybe Henry's just upset over something from school. He'll open up to me...later. This was what I thought. After we had finished our dinner, I collected the plates and said, "Don't go up to your room just yet. I've made dessert."

I had made an apple turnover. It's the first time I've made them since the curse struck. I used the same recipe as to the ones I used to make in the Enchanted Forest...and yes. I baked, even when I was queen. I made apple turnovers with Daniella. She would collect the apples from my tree and after the servants have left the kitchens, we would go in and make ourselves dessert. We were caught once and that was the 'talk of the day' amongst the servants.

I sighed. Well, maybe I can teach Henry how to make these turnovers one day...but right now, the memories of me making them with Daniella is still too strong.

Seeing Henry's quiet mood, I decided to treat him to some ice cream. After putting a scoop into his bowl, I brought out the desserts to the dining table. I sat down and pushed his dessert towards him. "Maybe some ice cream will make you feel better hm?"

Henry had only finished half of his dessert when he stood up. "I'm done."

I peered into his bowl. He had avoided all of the apple turnover and simply eaten the ice cream. "Henry! Do you not like my apple turnover?"

"I don't really like apples."

"Just try it. You'll never know if you like it if you don't try it."

"I'm good."

Frowning, I quietly asked, "But you ate that apple crumble at Granny's didn't you?"

"I'm full."

I gave Henry a small smile to hide my disappointment. "Alright. You can go up now."

Immediately, Henry rushed upstairs. What has gotten into him?! He seems so...distant these past few days. He's only ten! He shouldn't be having mood swings yet...

After I had washed the dishes, I went up to Henry's room to see if he wanted to talk. When I pushed open his door, he quickly shuffled something beneath his bedsheets. I didn't have time to note what it was but it was rectangular and brown. Perhaps a book.

"Henry can I talk to you?"

Henry sat up cross legged on his bed and mumbled, "What do you want?"

"I wanna talk about you." I sat down beside Henry before continuing, "Something is up, and I'm worried about you. I don't want to see my little Prince sad...ok?"

Henry's response baffled me a little. "Why do you call me 'little prince'?"

I looked into his eyes and answered, "Because you are my little Prince...but also, you liked playing those games when you were younger. Remember? How you used to pretend to be a prince rescuing rescuing your Mama because she is trapped inside a castle by a nasty dragon?"

Henry gave no response. Instead, he looked down and asked, "Why did you adopt me?"

My breath hitched. I frowned, "You know why I adopted you, Henry-"

"I mean, why did you adopt me when you already have a daughter?"

My eyes widened. How did he find out?! "What did you say?"

Henry looked up nervously and muttered, "I'm just a replacement aren't I?"

I shuffled over to put my arms around Henry but he shrugged them away. Still surprised, I stammered, "Henry, you're my only child...and where did you get that idea, that I have a daughter?"

In a low voice, my son answered suspiciously, "I dunno."

I narrowed my eyes before plunging my hand beneath his bedsheets. Feeling around, I retrieved the hard rectangular object that Henry had hidden just as I walked in. I drew it out and frowned. In my hands, was a hard leather-bound storybook titled Once Upon A Time.

Why would Henry be reading fairytales? I looked up at Henry and saw a scared expression on his face. Before I could open his book, he quickly snatched it from my hands. Something's definitely not right here. Hastily, he said, "This has nothing to do with things."

"Then what, has to do with why you asked me that question?"

Henry didn't reply until a few seconds later when he spoke again. "You had a daughter right? Her name was Daniella wasn't it?"

I inhaled sharply. I closed my eyes, thinking whether or not I should confirm Henry's question. I gave in. I opened my eyes and said softly, "Yes. I did. I had a daughter and her name was Daniella."

"What happened to her?"

"Henry I don't want to talk about it-"

"Is she dead?"

"No!" My sudden change in tone made Henry recoil a bit. Softening, I repeated, "No, she isn't dead. She's just lost to me."

"How?"

"Henry- I, I don't really want to talk about it."

Henry looked at me with a strange expression. So, I continued, "Is this what has been bothering you? Are you scared that you're a replacement?"

I saw Henry's eyes well up in tears. Immediately, I reached around him and brought his tiny body against mine. "Henry- you're not a replacement. I love you. You're my son and I couldn't be happier that you're with me now."

I felt Henry nod slightly but I still couldn't shake off the strange feeling that came from this embrace. Then, it hit me. Henry wasn't returning the hug...but why?

...

*The next day

"Graham, I can't calm down! My son is missing and you expect me to just stand here and watch as the time ticks by?! I've already lost a daughter and I'm not going to lose my son too!"

"Regina-"

Before Graham could reply, he was cut off by some loud voices outside. I ran towards the door and flung it open. The first thing I saw was Henry, walking along the pathway. "Henry? Henry!"

I ran out and hugged him. "Are you ok? Where have you been? What happened?"

Henry shrugged my arms away and spat, "I found my real mom!" I was too dumbstruck to follow his steps as he ran away.

What?! Then, I looked up and surveyed the blond haired woman who was standing beside Henry. She was young, perhaps twenty-eight years old. Guessing by her clothes, she wasn't particularly wealthy. "You're Henry's birth mother?"

The woman meekly replied, "Hi."

Behind me, Graham said, "I'll just go check on the lad, make sure he's ok."

I nodded slightly before turning back to the woman and composing myself. Then, I gave her a fake smile and asked, "How'd you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?"

"Got anything stronger?"

After that, I lead the woman into the house. When we got to the foyer, I gestured for her to wait there. I went into the kitchen and retrieved two glasses and the cider. When I returned, the woman asked, "How did he find me?"

I poured out the drink as I replied, "No idea. When I adopted him, he was only three weeks old. Records were sealed and I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact."

"You were told right."

"And the father?"

"There was one."

Graham came down just as I was about to reply. "Madam Mayor, you can relax. Other than being a tired little boy, Henry's fine."

"Thank you, Sherrif." He exited the house after that. Then, I lead the Henry's birth mother into the sitting room and continued, "I'm sorry he dragged you out of your life, Miss-"

"Swan. Emma Swan."

"Miss Swan. I really don't know what's gotten into him. You have to understand, ever since I became mayor, balancing things has been tricky. Imagine having another job on top of it. That's being a single mom. So I push forward. Am I strict? I suppose. But I do it for his own good. I want Henry to excel in life... I don't think that makes me evil, do you?"

Miss Swan replied, "I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairytale thing."

I frowned and my heart stopped beating. "What fairytale thing?"

"Oh you know, his book. He thinks everyone's a character from it."

My breath hitched. The book! The book that he tried to hide from me yesterday! Keeping a blank expression on my face, I lied, "I'm sorry. I really have no idea what you're talking about..."

To my relief, Miss Swan replied, "You know what, it's none of my business. He's your kid and I really should be heading back."

"Of course." I smiled.

After she left, I had a gut wrenching feeling that this woman was going to bring trouble. I sighed and pushed these thoughts out of my mind and went upstairs to check on Henry. When I went into his room, he had just gotten into bed.

I sat down beside him and quietly asked, "Henry, dear, why did you go to find your birth mother? Was it because of what we talked about yesterday?"

Henry didn't reply. In fact, he shuffled his body to face away from me. "Henry...don't do that to me ever again alright? I was so worried when you went missing. You have no idea how scared it made me feel. I love you Henry-"

"No you don't."

I got up from my side of the bed and padded over to face Henry. As I crouched down, I whispered, "I'm your mother Henry and I love you."

Henry closed his eyes. I sighed and rubbed his back. "I'll talk to you tomorrow then. Good night, my little Prince."

Just when I was about to walk out of his room, I remembered the conversation that I had with Miss Swan. I scanned the room and frowned. "Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you get that book of fairytales?"

"Miss Blanchard gave it to me...why do you ask?"

I suppressed a growl at the mention of Snow White. "Your birth mother mentioned it."

There was a pause before Henry muttered, "The only reason why you care about it is because you're the Evil Queen."

My heart dropped. What? How- I walked back around to face Henry. "Dear, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing."

My voice dropped to a lower tone as I asked carefully, "What do you mean by...the Evil Queen."

Henry looked straight into me with eyes that I've never seen possess his face as he replied, "The saviour has come and she's going to break your curse whether you like it or not. You're going to lose."

Surprisingly, I was able to resist putting any emotions on my face. I clamped my jaw tightly together as I put my hand on Henry's forehead. Then, I took a step back. "Henry, we're seeing Doctor Hopper tomorrow."

As I padded to my bedroom, I thought about Henry's book. I need to get my hands on those stories. Henry wasn't supposed to know all these things! And the saviour...Snow and her Prince's daughter...wait a second. Their daughter's name was Emma. Emma. Emma Swan?! Henry's birth mother is the Snow's daughter?! What the hell.

I suddenly felt faint as blood drained from my face. The saviour has indeed come. And not only will she find a way to break the curse, she'll take Henry from me.

I got up early in the morning...not that I could sleep anyway. Emma is here, and Henry will try to get her to break the curse. What baffled me the most was Henry's book. What does it really contain? I sighed and quickly put on my dressing gown before making my way to Henry's room. He had already gotten up and was putting on his school uniform when I walked in. I scanned his room once more and spotting the book nestled on his desk, I went over and retrieved it. Henry looked at me with an annoyed expression so I answered, "I'll be holding on to this for now."

"Why do you even care 'bout the book? It tells the stories of heroes, not villains."

I bent down to Henry's level and whispered, "I care because you think I'm some evil queen...and it hurts me, Henry. I'm your mother."

As I reached to touch Henry's cheek, he moved away and answered, "No you're not."

I stood up again and huffed, "Well then who is? That woman you brought here? I don't like what she or this book is doing to you-"

I was cut off by the chime of...the clock tower?!

I padded to the window and breathed, "What?" as I looked out. Behind me, I heard Henry say, "It's time. It's started moving again which means that the curse will break."

I threw my head around but before I could say anything to Henry, he had disappeared out of the room.

...

I dropped Henry off to school before going to the florists to buy a bouquet for Daniella's bedside table. When I entered the hospital room, I exhaled and approached Daniella. Sitting down, I kissed her on the forehead. As usual, nothing happened.

I took her hand and started to murmur, "Mama loves you, little firefly. I'm not sure how your day was but I've certainly had an interesting one. You know how Snowflake was pregnant before the curse? Well, her child, Emma has come to Storybrooke. Actually, Henry has brought her here because she's his birth mother. I know, it's disturbingly ironic. I wonder if that Imp has anything to do with this."

I sighed as I reached into my handbag and fished out Henry's storybook. "Henry shouldn't have found out about the curse but for some reason, Snow was able to give this to him. I don't even know where this book came from...I mean, no one knows about the curse except I."

I opened the book and skimmed through it for the first time. I caught an illustration of Daniella and I, when we declared war on Snow. "Look, firefly. There you are," I whispered.

As I read through the book's pages I began to understand why Henry had such insightful knowledge on the curse. The pages literally told the story of us, of Snow rather.

I flicked through the stories, trying to find my own. However, all I could find was other people's stories with me written into them as a villain. I fumed at the words that depicted me. In Snow's story, they've painted her as a saint and I, as the devil. I was about to close the book when I realised that some pages were missing. Those pages came right before the story of Snow White. I gasped. Were these my pages? Were they Daniella's? What if it contained information about how to strengthen the curse, or how to wake Daniella from her coma?!

I slammed the book shut and looked at my daughter. Whispering, I began, "I need you little firefly. I need you because my own son has turned away from me... But, I will use Henry to wake you up. I think he has the missing pages."

I took a breath before seething, "It's that Swan too. I need to get rid of her. After I accomplish all this, I will wake you up."

I bent down to kiss Daniella again. "Goodbye, little firefly. I'll see you tomorrow."

...

I sat opposite to Miss Swan in my office. My mind was running. I've planned this meeting and hopefully it'll go well; because if it does, then I'll have Henry back.

"I'd like to start by apologizing, Miss Swan."

"What?"

I shrugged, "I just have to accept the reality that you want to be here and have the intention to take my son away from me."

Emma frowned and replied "Okay, let's be clear: I have no intention of taking him from anyone."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Well then what are you doing here?"

"I know I'm not a mother, I think that's pretty self-evident...but I did have him, and I can't help it...ok look. He's in my head and I want to make sure he's ok. The more you try to push me out, the more I want to be here; especially after seeing how troubled he is. He's in therapy and he thinks everyone in this town is a fairytale character."

I prompted, "And you don't?"

As Emma replied, I saw a shadow pad slowly towards the doorway. I grinned when Swan began, "How can I? The poor kid can't even tell the difference between fantasy and reality and it's only getting worse. It's crazy."

Henry suddenly appeared in the doorway. I smirked. He cried out, "You think I'm crazy?"

Emma whipped her head around before turning back towards me and demanded, "How long was he there?"

I growled, "Long enough, dear."

"You knew he would be here."

My heart was thumping at the success of this plan. "Did I know that my son comes to my office every Thursday at precisely five pm so that I can take him for dinner before his therapy session? Of course I did. I'm his mother."

I paused for the dramatic effect before seething, "Your move."

As Emma stood up, she commented rather rudely, "You have no soul. How the hell did you get like this?" Then, she walked out of the doorway.

After clearing my desk, I left my office to see Henry waiting by the car with tears on his face. "Henry I'm sorry that woman called you crazy."

My son glared at me as he replied, "You're not sorry. You set this whole thing up!"

I unlocked the car doors. "Henry, I did no such thing."

"Yes you did...because that's what the Evil Queen does best; scheme and plot things."

I didn't reply. Instead, I got into the car and after making sure that Henry had also put on his seat belt, I started driving towards Doctor Hopper's office. When Henry had been dropped off, I sped back home. I had an hour to find those missing pages.

Kicking off my heels, I immediately made my way to Henry's bedroom. I looked through his things; his bed sheets, his clothes, every nook and cranny. To my disappointment, I could not find those pages anywhere. He wouldn't have burned them, will he?

I growled in frustration. Those pages must have had something vital in them...or otherwise, Henry wouldn't have ripped them out of the book!

(3rd Person POV, the next day)

Henry was helping his teacher, Miss Blanchard, with the volunteer work at the hospital. It was a Friday afternoon and Regina always worked until late so Henry was put into the after school care program. He was supposed to stay there until 5:30 pm but he tagged along to the hospital with his teacher. He wanted to reunite Snow and her Prince together but he wasn't sure where exactly the Prince was. Maybe the hospital would be a good place to start, he thought.

"Is Mr Doe going to be ok, Miss Blanchard?"

Mary Margaret turned around and smiled as she replied, "His name's not John Doe, honey. That's just what they call people when they don't know who they are."

"Do you know who he is?"

"Nope. I just bring him flowers on my rounds."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. He's been like this as long as I've been volunteering."

Henry surveyed the face of the man before gasping. Setting down the decorations that he was helping his teacher with, he reached into his backpack and retrieved his book. Yesterday at night, Regina had given back the book to him whilst apologising for being too harsh on him. Henry had scoffed at Regina's words but he was grateful that the book was back in his possession. He quickly flicked through the pages until he came to an illustration of Snow and her Prince. Henry looked up at the man and glanced back down at the book. It is him! It's Prince Charming!

Before leaving the ward, Henry noticed that there was another patient in the same room as the Prince. He walked over to the bed opposite John Doe and saw a young girl lying on the bed. She had dark brown hair, a pale complexion and a beautiful face. Henry couldn't shake the feeling off that he's seen this girl before. She looked awfully familiar.

"Miss Blanchard, do you know who this is?"

Henry's teacher turned around and walked over to the girl. She shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I have no idea...all I know is that this girl's relatives must love her very much. They bring new flowers to her bedside every day."

Henry looked up at the vase that stood beside the girl's head. "So you know who the girl's relatives are...then?"

"No I don't. I haven't actually seen them but the hospital staff say that the girl's mother comes every morning."

Henry nodded slowly. His mind was full of thoughts, some that made him sceptical yet excited.

(Later that day, in Mary Margaret's apartment)

Mary Margaret gaped at Emma. "You want me to read to a coma patient?!"

Emma walked around to pour some juice as she replied, "Henry thinks it'll help him remember who he was...Prince Charming."

Mary Margaret frowned, "So if I'm Snow White, he thinks me and...him..."

Emma smiled with a closed mouth before speaking, "He has a very active imagination. I can't talk him out of his beliefs, so we need to show him. Play along, do what he says and then maybe, just maybe..."

"He'll see that fairy tales are fake...and that there's no such thing as love at first sight or first kiss, or whatever. He'll see reality."

Emma nodded as Mary Margaret continued, "Well I have to agree. This plan is genius. We'll give him the truth without hurting him."

After Emma and Mary Margaret had dinner together, they decided that it was time to read the book to John Doe. Emma gave the book to Mary Margaret before she started making her way to the hospital.

When Mary Margaret arrived, she quietly slid into the ICU ward and approached the man. She grabbed a chair and sat down beside him. She glanced around awkwardly and began, "Look, I know this is odd, but I'm doing it for... a friend. So please, just bear with me."

Taking a deep breath, Henry's teacher began, "As the Prince chased the thief on horseback, through the treacherous forest, his betrothed crossed her arms and pouted, wondering how many dreadful, boring minutes it would take until they could resume their journey again. The thief vaulted over a fallen tree..."

Mary Margaret read for a long time. After a while, she looked at the clock above her and was startled that so much time had passed. She quickly flicked through the story and saw that the tale of Snow and her Prince was to end in a couple of pages. So, she hastily continued, "They didn't need words to express what they felt in their hearts, for it was here, in the shadow of the troll bridge, that their love was born; where they knew, no matter how they were separated, they would always-"

John Doe's hand shot out and grabbed Mary Margaret's hand. Shocked, she looked at him with a hammering heart. Immediately, she stood up and went to find a doctor. However, she was too focused on the man to realise that the girl opposite to him had stirred as well.