****Important Note: I know that in the past I have written flashbacks in italics, but this chapter will be all flashback and reading large text in italics (well for me) can get annoying. So just in case someone else is like me I will be writing this flashback in regular text for this chapter, just wanted to clear that up in case there is any confusion.

/One Week After Final Battle/

Regina didn't think there is even a word strong enough to describe this past week, ever since Emma died everything has been out of control, like the glue holding them together has worn out. The whole town has been distant, out of touch. But nothing was left seeming more broken and distant than this family.

She hadn't realized how important the Savior was to the town, to their messed up family, to her. She would never admit it but she missed her friend, she was the first person to really understand her in a long time, and now that was gone, so instead of dwelling on it she tried to do what she would and fix everything, but that proved to be easier said than done.

Snow and Charming have been in their own world, Regina tried reaching out to check on them but was more worried about taking care of her son. He was probably the now suffering the most, if you don't count Killian who hadn't been seen since that fateful evening. The young teenager had lost all hope he had in the past, like the light had been snuffed out of his world and was replaced with haunting images and sleepless nights. He was having around two or three nightmares every night, that Regina knew of, and would wake up screaming constantly asking for his blonde mother, the one thing she couldn't give him.

This had been one of those nights, the queen was jolted awake by the sounds of her son's screams, she hastily jumped up and sprinted to his room. Inside was a panicked Henry, with sweat dampening his hair and his hands glued to his head desperately trying to get rid of the images he just relived. He had relived her death for the millionth time, but it didn't hurt any less each time he saw the sword being run through her side, each time he saw the light leave her eyes, each time he was reminded how helpless he felt as he watched his hero fall.

"Hey, shhhh, shhh, it's okay, you're okay" Regina said as she sat next to him on his bed and rubbed circles around his back. "I want my mom, I want my mom" he cried pulling into her embrace. "I'm right here honey, I'm right here" she knew she didn't mean her but it wassail she could think to say to calm him down. "Not you, Emma, I want her, I want her NOW!" Regina had always been able to soothe his nightmares in instants but lately the task was seeming to get more impossible each passing night, "Please, I just want to hear her voice, I just want to talk to her, please, just five minutes." This shattered Regina's heart into a thousand shards, he sounded so desperate and all she wanted was to give him what he wants, but she couldn't. "I'm sorry baby, I can't do that I wish I could but I can't, I'm so sorry."

Then his sadness and desperation turned into rage, "Yeah right," he said with spite as he pulled away from his mothers warm embrace, "You really expect be to believe you're not thrilled about this."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, you tried so hard to get rid of Emma but you stopped because you knew I would never forgive you. But now someone did the job for you, she's gone, you finally have me all to yourself and you really expect me to believe you're sorry about that!"

This was another trait Henry had adopted, he would take all of his anger out on Regina, she kept telling herself it was part of his process and she should give him space, but he had crossed a line. "You really think I'm happy about this," she said standing up, "Yes, I stopped trying to kill her because I would loose you but it turned into so much more than that, after everything we went through believe it or not she became my best friend! So if you think even for one second that I'm thrilled about her being dead-"

"Get out, just get out!" Henry snapped at the word 'dead'. "I want to help you, you just have to talk to me and last time I checked this is yelling and it isn't acceptable!" she said wanting to help but loosing her temper besides her efforts. "If you really want to help me just leave me alone!" With that Regina gave up and slammed the door on her way out, she pressed her back to the door already regretting what just happened. She heard her son sobbing in the room behind her but she didn't go comfort him, it would just be worse. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and wiped the tears she wasn't aware were streaming her face. She didn't know what to do anymore, but she knew this had to stop.

Two days had passed since their breakdown in Henry's room and the two had barely spoken a word to each other. That wasn't too unusual since Henry hadn't been exactly the life of the party that last week, but now there was a tension in the air, like there was a ticking time bomb that would explode any minute.

Regina had started to spend most of her trying to figure out a way to help her son, after what happened that the mayor decided this could not go on any longer. She trying getting him to talk to the cricket but that proved to be even more useless than asking Captain Guyliner the night of the Final Battle.

she tried to ask David for help but he seemed to be in a rush all the time never stopping for a breath, and Snow was in her home with the baby clearly in need to talk herself so she decided not to rock the boat. But after night after night of trying to soothe her son's panic she had discovered the root of the problem, and this wasn't going to stop as long as the memory was still in his young impressionable brain. If she wanted to relieve him of reliving Emma's death, she had to make sure he never saw it in the first place

Henry refused to sleep no matter how exhausted he felt. Every time he closed his eyes the images of his mothers lifeless body laying on the cold, hard, pavement plague his mind, so instead of allowing them to flood in he just lay in his bed, his back faced away from the door, his eyes on a picture of him and Emma when she first arrived in StoryBrooke.

He remembered the day that picture was taken like it was yesterday, it was the day after he convinced her to stay in town. One week, god, she was only supposed to stay for one week and she ended up dying here. I only he had sucked it up, if only he hadn't been selfish and had let here leave when she wanted to then she would be alive. Emma had reassured him it wasn't his fault but he couldn't help blaming himself at least a little bit, if not for bringing her here then for being naive and believing she would make it out alive. Suddenly he was broken away from his thoughts by the hairs in the back of his neck standing up and a yellow light shining from behind him.

Regina decided to bring in the big guns and do whatever it takes to help her son. She had been reluctant about this decision, but what he doesn't know won't kill him right? At least that's what she was hoping would happen when she decided to remove his memories of the final battle. Of course he would still be aware of what happened to his birth mother, but he just wouldn't be aware he was present when it happened. It wouldn't take away any of the pain but it would at least free him of those horrid images.

She walked into her son's room once she was sure he was sleeping, his back was facing her, but she didn't think to second guess it. She brought out one of the dreamcatchers Emma had used back when she was the dark one, took a deep breath and started to preform the spell to take his memories away. Before she even had a chance to tell the dreamcatcher what memories to extract her son jerked up.

"What the hell! What are you doing?!"

"What are you doing you're supposed to be sleeping?" Regina said knowing there was no way this was going to end well. How could she have been so stupid and not check?

"I couldn-, it doesn't matter. I know what those dreamcatchers do." He stated remembering what his other mother had done in her time as the dark one.

"Henry listen to me," she said defensibly, "This isn't what it looks like-"

"It looks like you were trying to take my memories away!" the boy said standing up from his bed, getting more angry with every word that comes out of her mouth.

"Okay yes, I won't deny that, but Henry I was only trying to take one memory away, just one" she pleaded, she was not about to loose her son again. Seeing he stayed silent in order for her to state which one she continued. "The night of the final battle" she blurted out, and when she saw Henry was about to say something she sped up, "But Henry I swear it was only so you would stop having nightmares and panic attacks, I was just trying to help!"

"And you thought that taking the last memory I have of my mom away from me was helping me!" He didn't care all the pain that memory brought it was what he had and he wasn't forgetting a single part of it.

"Henry I-" Regina started, but was interrupted, "Save it! Alright I'm done, I never want to see you again!"

-/

Wow, I actually made myself cry while writing a part of this. I put a lot of time and work into this so I really hope I did good. So now you know what happened between them but don't worry this is just the tip of the iceberg, I have a lot planned for this story. This chapter was a little different because it was just a flashback but next chapter will be back in the present. Special shoutout to those who followed and reviewed, you have no idea how much it means to me, thank you and keep them coming. :) :) :)