A/N so my only excuse for the wait is procrastination.

This (and Searching for the Lyon) are two SQ fics I really want to finish so I promise it is not abandoned but I know interest may wane with the long waits and I can only apologise

Chapter twelve

Emma paced back and forth outside the room that she had been barred from entering.

Archie agreed to speak with Grace since Emma was hardly the best option to get a lead (she may have shouted at her right after Regina's funeral when she was trying to find Jefferson).

Emma insisted to Regina that they should give Grace some more time, that she would be more likely to talk to her once she'd had time to process everything, unfortunately, Regina suggested that Archie may be able to help her with making the girl feel comfortable.

Apparently, the spirit was having none of Emma's stalling tactics anymore.

"You're not very patient are you?"

Emma's eyes shot to the corner of the school counselling waiting area where Regina was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and an intentionally disinterested look on her face.

Emma did a quick look around the area to make sure that no one would hear her reply before she said, "of course, I'm not patient Regina, do you have any idea how long I've wanted to kill Jefferson for?"

"I would estimate roughly two weeks," Regina suggested.

Emma nodded and continued pacing, which made Regina roll her eyes.

The former queen decided that there was very little else to say. There had been little to say since they'd found that passage in the book.

Now Emma seemed to be anxious at all times and there was always something on the tip of her tongue that she was choosing not to say, at great personal discomfort.

Regina was tempted to demand to know what it was that was bothering the saviour.

She wasn't sure if she decided against asking right now because it wasn't the place for a heart-to-heart or because she was afraid that Emma would admit that she didn't want her to 'move on'.

It was for this reason that the pair remained in silence as they continued to wait.

Regina watched Emma pace for a good ten minutes and was about to suggest that their time would be better spent in the vault finishing up the translation of the potion that they needed to make but the door to the counsellor's room opened before Regina could open her mouth.

Archie closed the door behind him and leaned against it, looking straight at Emma.

Emma blew out a breath and turned her eyes to the therapist, giving him a very expectant look.

Archie tilted his head in a way that Regina was very familiar with, she knew that the saviour was currently being psychoanalysed.

Dr Hopper was probably wondering why Emma was so anxious to get this information after not looking at the case for days.

Emma cleared her throat, which seemed to get Archie's attention away from figuring out another psychological puzzle.

"Did she tell you anything?"

Archie nodded and replied, "it has become very clear that she doesn't want her father to come back to Storybrooke which is likely why she was reluctant to talk to you before. Grace believes that there is a particular cottage in Wonderland he wanted to take her to. She's never been there but these are the directions he often explained to her."

He ripped the page from his pad and handed it to Emma.

She pinched her eyebrows together at the collection of words that made no sense to her, but Regina stepped up to glance at it in the annoyingly helpful way she'd been doing lately.

Before Emma could claim that it was utter nonsense, Regina announced, "this should help us find him. Do you expect directions in Wonderland to make sense?"

Emma made a conscious effort not to glance at Regina, Archie was the person least likely to shrug that off.

"Okay that's great, thanks Archie," she replied and shoved the page into her pocket.

Dr Hopper nodded and was about to turn to go back to Grace (based on their conversations, she could do with more sessions) but he thought better of it and said, "Sheriff Swan?"

Emma turned back from her attempt to walk away and she replied, "yeah?"

"If you do bring Jefferson to Storybrooke…Grace asked for some reassurance that he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. Can I give her this reassurance on your behalf?" Archie asked.

The fact that Grace was afraid of him was yet another reason to hate Jefferson.

Emma's eyes fell onto Regina for just a second since she was the one that Jefferson had hurt, and she tried desperately not to focus on the gunshot ringing in her mind.

Regina tilted her head trying to figure out what the saviour was thinking, but Emma turned away from her and said to Archie, "of course."

Archie inclined his head and opened the door to go back to Grace, at the same time the bell rang.

Emma sighed and turned towards the hallway, she didn't need to talk to Regina to know that she wanted her to go to the vault so she just started walking.

Regina shook her head.

She was beginning to hate the silent treatment.

It was becoming clear to her why Emma got so irritable when she refused to discuss Henry with her.

With a small huff, she started following the saviour knowing that she would much rather stay here if it were physically possible.

She was a few steps behind Emma when Henry passed them, clutching the straps of his backpack.

"Hey kid," Emma said, plastering on a smile despite the frustration that she wouldn't discuss.

Henry ignored her and just continued walking to his class.

Emma scowled at his back and the scowl moved over to Regina for just a second before she turned towards the exit.

The former queen scoffed, was Emma blaming her for the fact that Henry was stubborn?

Surely there was a genetic component.

She didn't consider this any further though as she focused on weaving her way through the students in the hallway. She was keen to keep her record of not having someone walk straight through her again.

S

Henry couldn't quite figure out what it was but he was sure that Dr Hopper had been acting strangely in their last few sessions.

He appeared to often be considering whether or not he wanted to say something.

Instead, he seemed to just force himself to focus on the matter at hand which in his latest session, had been that of Emma Swan.

Since the day in the mansion, he hadn't said much of anything to anyone other than Archie and apparently that wasn't a very healthy response to grief.

Something about it being yet another attempt at denial or it was possibly a manifestation of the anger he was trying to keep in.

Archie set him the homework of at least trying to have a conversation with Emma. It didn't have to be anything deep or insightful, or even long, he just had to try and engage with her.

Henry was reluctant.

Maybe it was because there didn't feel like there was anything to talk about other than Regina and he was not ready for a long, protracted conversation on that topic with the woman he had once proudly called his 'real mom'.

But Archie pointed out that he already had enough experience losing someone he had been ignoring and it was very much a persuasive argument.

It was this that was consuming his mind as he violently pierced pieces of pasta.

A part of him was also thinking about how the food was alright but Emma's cooking was hardly on Regina's level. That led him to think about the fact that it was his fault that he hadn't tasted Regina's cooking since the curse broke. He had very little doubt that if he had pulled his head out of his ass sooner and gone to the mansion when he had a chance, she would have let him come in for dinner, it would have been the perfect opportunity to start bonding again.

He couldn't do that now but he was currently sitting across from a parent he could try to bond with. Maybe 'bond' was a strong word for this situation?

At the very least, it would get his 'homework' out of the way, what could it hurt to have a simple conversation?

He finally resolved to do it as he swallowed the piece of pasta and he looked up to Emma who was staring adamantly at the plate.

It did look like she wanted to turn her gaze somewhere else but was making a conscious effort not to move her eyes.

Of course, Henry didn't know that Regina was sitting on the couch waiting to go to the vault to instruct Emma on how to use Grace's directions but that she wanted to have dinner with Henry first (like it would somehow change Regina's mind about everything that she decided to do?).

He ran his tongue over his lips to moisten them before he asked the only thing that he could think of.

"How was work?"

The sheriff glanced up and looked at her son like a plate had smashed or something similarly dramatic.

She wanted to look over at Regina to make sure that she was as shocked as she felt, but she'd been learning not to look at Regina when there were other people in the room.

Emma opened and closed her mouth as she tried to figure out whether it was some kind of trick question.

It was the first full sentence Henry had said to her in what felt like a long time.

She would have expected the first thing he said to be far less mundane.

She chewed the chicken in her mouth a few more times than was strictly necessary before she swallowed. The saviour was desperately trying to think of anything eventful that happened at work before David showed up to take over so that she could pick up Henry from school.

However, literally, all she did was study the spell she needed to get Jefferson into Storybrooke and make sure that the hat was ready for the endeavour. Henry would definitely ask what that was for and though it would probably start a real conversation, she was sure that it wouldn't be received well.

It was for this reason that she shrugged and said, "work was fine." Emma could practically feel Regina rolling her eyes on the couch, so she added, "how was school?"

Henry shrugged in much the same way as she had and speared some chicken.

Emma opened her mouth to ask some more probing questions but she closed her mouth when nothing came to mind.

She looked back down at her plate and also continued focusing on eating.

The pair then ate in silence for about fifteen minutes before Emma swallowed her last bite and looked up to see that Henry had also finished.

She cleared her throat and said, "Snow is coming over to watch you, okay? I just need to go and do…something…I'll clean up when I get back."

Henry drew his eyebrows together and asked, "what are you going to do? You already went to work today…"

Emma frowned, he didn't usually care where she was going lately.

She couldn't think of a single good lie so she decided to go for the truth with some missing details, "Grace told Archie where Jefferson would most likely be. I think I have a way to get him back so I can…arrest him…"

Not too long ago, she would have expected Henry to argue that there was no reason to bring Jefferson back to Storybrooke, but judging by the clench in her jaw, he wanted to see the Mad Hatter in handcuffs as much as she did. However, he still looked a little confused, maybe a little apprehensive?

"Why do you have to do that now?" Henry asked.

"He'll be in custody, Henry, you'll be safe…"

"I don't care about that," the boy replied, "you stopped looking for him for weeks so why is this so important to do this tonight?"

Emma swallowed hard and finally looked over to Regina who was mildly alarmed, though she wasn't sure whether this was because she knew that Emma was a terrible liar or it was because she knew what Henry's stance on being lied to was.

Before she could silently agree on what the best course of action was, Henry finally asked, "what are you looking at?"

Emma's eyes went wide. She had begun to think that no one noticed the staring 'into space'.

If she really tried, she probably could have thought of some lie and was sure that Regina wanted her to.

But she didn't want to break the tether and she figured that Henry could help with that.

There was also the fact that it would surely be worse to tell him after Regina was gone? Besides she would need to talk to someone about it at some point.

So with Regina, who was now standing, giving her a death glare, she gripped the edge of the table and replied, "I don't think that you will believe me…"

Henry was more confused than ever, but he still tilted his head and replied, "try me."

"Emma…" Regina said warningly, but the saviour didn't turn around to look at her.

Probably because she knew that the look of disapproval would make her change her mind.

Emma took a moment to decide she was going to do this before she began to explain, "a week after…after the funeral…your mom appeared in the station and since then we've been…tethered together so she has to go where I go…"

Henry stared at her blankly before he looked over to where Emma had just been looking.

Unbeknownst to Henry, Regina let out a little gasp at the closest thing to eye contact she had received from her son in over half a year.

"She…she's right over there?" he asked, disbelief clear in his voice.

Emma just nodded, resisting checking what expression Regina was wearing as she looked at Henry. Whatever it was, she was sure that it would break her heart.

Henry turned his eyes back to Emma's worried eyes and replied, "prove it."

Emma was now sure that she had reached the point of no return but she had no idea how she would go about doing that.

"How?" she asked.

Henry thought about this for a moment before he replied, "what did mom get me for my seventh birthday?"

Emma looked over to Regina, who shook her head.

This was absolutely the last thing that she wanted.

If anything could convince her not to break the tether, it was Henry.

But logically, it wasn't like this arrangement could replace what they could have had while she was alive.

Herny needed to be able to look to the future.

It was for this reason that she remained silent with her arms crossed over her chest.

She was hoping that Emma could see how annoyed she was right now.

Emma rolled her eyes and rose to her feet and said with an exasperated sigh she said, "come on Regina, don't make me look crazy here."

"I made myself very clear, Miss Swan, I did not want him to know."

"Well it's too late now, and you know that he deserves to know."

Regina let out a huff.

There was no choice here, if Henry thought that Emma was lying, there was no way that their relationship would recover.

She opened her mouth to give Emma her answer.

Henry's eyes bounced between Emma and the space that was supposedly 'Regina' and was about to say that she didn't need to pretend but Emma turned around to look at her son again.

"She brought you Hulk hands and you only answered to 'The Hulk' for two days straight," Emma announced, wearing a relieved expression.

Henry's look of incredulity fell away and he rose from his chair so that he could move towards the space.

There was no way that Emma would know that.

It wasn't like she and Regina were friends who talked about his childhood before 'the school incident'.

Plus, he couldn't think of a reason for her to lie.

From Emma's perspective, both Regina and Henry were looking at each other.

It was indeed a heartbreaking sight.

Frankly, it was weird to see two people standing in the same room who were so far from each other.

Something seemed to occur to Henry though as his eyes widened and he turned back to Emma, and asked, "She's been here since after the funeral?"

Emma nodded solemnly.

Obviously, he had become aware that Regina would have been privy to his attempts at not caring while he was still trying to deny that he cared that she was gone.

He was currently thinking of every time that Emma was in the room with him over the last few weeks.

On one hand, the way she had been acting made a lot more sense, but on the other hand, Henry had to wonder how he would have acted if he knew that Regina was in the room.

His first thought was that it was Emma's fault that Regina had to see things that a deceased person shouldn't have to. But his mind quickly moved to the fact that it was his fault for acting like a jackass in the first place.

His eyes moved back to the space and he managed to say, "I…I'm sorry, mom."

Regina closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

She had imagined that apology for a while now.

She would apologise for all that she did and they would hug.

But they physically couldn't hug anymore.

She opened her mouth to say something for Emma to relay, but nothing seemed adequate.

Frankly, she'd given up on ever possibly being in this situation when she found out that she was a ghost.

Emma looked at her, waiting for her to say something, but it was becoming clear that she was incapable of forming words.

Henry was waiting for some kind of response as he stared at the space for a full ten seconds before he turned to Emma with pleading eyes.

"She forgives you, Henry," Emma said softly and Regina actually gave her a grateful smile in return.

Henry let out a breath of relief.

He wanted to hug Regina but couldn't, so he decided to just move on to his question. After all, he had a feeling that he would need to process that Regina had kind of been around lately.

"Why does that mean that you have to get Jefferson back tonight?" he asked.

Emma looked over to Regina for any sign that she was changing her mind on the urgency.

However, the former queen still looked adamant.

She still didn't want to stay.

"We…we've been looking for a way to break the tether and we need Jefferson to do it," Emma explained reluctantly.

Henry's eyes shot over to Emma and he shook his head as he asked, "why?"

Emma hesitated as she checked one more time on Regina, silently begging her to change her mind right now, but again the woman remained frustratingly unmoved.

Emma sighed and said, "because…we're pretty sure that she can move on when the tether is broken."

"No!" Henry shouted, balling his fists, "you can't do that! I can't…"

Emma took a step towards him but he moved backwards. Obviously, she wasn't the mother that he wanted to place a hand on his shoulder.

"It isn't our choice," Emma said softly while Regina refused to look at the scene.

Henry was about to argue that he couldn't lose her again, but he was cut off, this time by the sound of a key in a lock.

He clamped his mouth shut just as his grandmother rounded the corner.

"Hey," Snow called with her usual sympathetic smile, but this fell away when she saw the odd scene of Henry with his fists clenched across from Emma, "Is everything okay?" she asked.

Henry didn't hesitate before he turned on his heels and ran towards his bedroom.

Emma visibly winced when his door slammed shut.

"What happened?" Snow asked.

The saviour replied, "nothing, he just needs some space. Archie said I should leave him alone when he wants me to…so just leave him alone unless he comes out, okay?"

Snow nodded but Emma was too busy grabbing her jacket to look at her mother's response.

She muttered something like 'see you later' a few seconds before the front door slammed behind the sheriff.

Snow blinked a couple of times before her eyes fell onto the table cluttered with unfinished food.

"They need some space," she muttered to herself and moved forward to start cleaning up.