Alrighty! Sorry for all these early formality chapters. I'm just sort of setting the mood! I promise more exciting chapters are to come shortly! Thanks for the few comments I've gotten. I appreciate you guys reading! And sorry if this one is a little short, i tried to add as much as I could but i didn't want to muddy it up.

Enjoy!

Henry

Emma heard the door echo through their apartment and the usual slump of a backpack on the floor as her son came in from his basketball practice.

"So, how was your first few days of school kid?" Emma came out of her room to see Henry slouched over the edge of the couch. She walked into the kitchen and began pulling out some food for dinner.

"Oh you know. Class was boring, coach is still crazy. Did you know he made us run a lap for every free throw we missed?" He sighed heavily, kicking out his dangling legs and beating them on the back of the couch

"So how many did you miss?" Emma asked.

"You don't want to know." He mumbled pulling himself from the couch and heading into the kitchen. "What's for dinner?" He peaked around Emma standing over the stove.

She bumped him away with her hips. "Go take a shower and then maybe I'll tell you." He sighed and headed for the bathroom. When Emma heard the water come on she pulled down the spaghetti from the cabinet and set a pot on the stove to bowl water. Pasta was her specialty, and tonight she was going to work her magic. The first couple days of school for both mother and son done and over with.

Fortunately she had managed to avoid Regina for the most part. Since their little spout on the first day, Emma was not particularly hopeful of running into her any time soon. After everything they had been through, it was hard to even be in the same room. Emma felt like she had been tossed away, and forgotten about. There was no closure. Yet the brunette still had power over her, which is the part Emma didn't understand.

The spaghetti turned out fabulous as always, and Emma was thoroughly pleased with her full stomach. She leaned back in her chair, patting her bulging midsection. Henry, still wet headed from his shower, shoveled in his last fork full of pasta.

"Do I make good spaghetti, or do I make good spaghetti?" She teased. Henry smiled up at her, red sauce staining his lips and chin. He sat back in his chair, imitating his mother and then let out an echoing belch.

"Really?" Emma's eyes widened. Henry laughed out loud, smiling in content.

"Thanks, Mom. It was delicious." Henry rose from the table taking his dishes to the sink.

"Alright kid. I know you probably have homework so why don't you go get it done. If I remember correctly, I get a rematch from yesterday's gaming session." She ruffled his hair after setting her dishes in the sink on top of his. Without a word he darted past her and around the corner into his room, enthusiastically ready to get through his homework so he could play video games. Emma laughed and set to work washing the dishes.

When she had placed the last fork into the dish washer, she made her way to the couch with a quite large glass of wine in her hand. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check for any messages. None. Of course, the life of a teacher. More accurately the "no life" of a teacher. Thankfully her class was mainly discussion and reading, so she brought little work home to grade on a daily basis. She clicked through her phone, suddenly having a strange urge to call Regina. Emma found her name in her contact list and her thumb hovered over her name for some time. She felt like she deserved at least a little explanation as to why she was just dropped cold turkey. After everything they had been through, she at least deserved an answer.

"All done!" Henry came prancing out of his room and rolled over the top of the couch, nearly knocking the glass of wine out of Emma's hand. She pushed him off the edge onto the floor and he laughed at the awkward position he landed in.

"Watch it, kid. You're getting too big to be jumping around. I'm not going to be able to keep up with you." Emma took a sip of wine and set in on the table next to her.

"Yeah well you already can't keep up with me at video games." Henry teased, turning on his Xbox.

"Oh is that so? Let's just see who's laughing after I kick your butt." Emma slid off the edge of the couch and took her usual video game position next to him on the floor.

They pushed each other back and forth on the floor trying to mess each other up.

"Oh, boom! Right in the face!" Henry shouted.

"No, no! I got you. You are so going down." Emma chimed back. She leaned over on top of him causing him to fall over. "Oh, I'm going to win, I'm going to win!"

"Quit it!" Henry laughed. He pushed back, but it was too late for the game.

'BOOM! I win!" Emma threw her hands above her head in victory. "See, I told you I would win." She nudged him with her elbow.

"Yeah whatever, I let you win." He smarted back turning off the gaming system. He stretched his arms above his head, yawning deeply. The motion was contagious as Emma yawned and pushed herself off the floor.

"Oh, I'm getting to old for this." She stood up and held her hand to her back, stooped over and pretending like she was walking like a grandma.

"Whatever mom. You aren't that old."

"Oh yeah? How would you know?" She said, pushing him towards his room. He did not argue with the direction.

"Because…" He started walking into his room and fell onto his bed. "You're still pretty." He smiled.

Emma sat down next to him on the edge of his bed as he climbed in and pushed his long hair from his face. "What are you trying to say? When I get old I won't be pretty?" She reached out and tickled him under the arm playfully and he started uncontrollably flailing.

"You will always be pretty mom." He said in all seriousness when Emma pulled back from her attack.

She felt her heart grow heavy, wondering how in the world she could have gotten so lucky to have Henry. She questioned why she even wanted anyone else in her life, knowing that Henry would fill any and all voids inside of her. He was the reason she even made it through school when he was a baby. Yeah it was tough juggling both being a single parent and studying for finals, but he kept her motivated. She knew he was counting on her, and making it through college was her responsibility to him. To be able to provide for him. She had managed to get out of the city, find a great place, and even though the apartment seemed small sometimes, other times it was just right for the both of them.

"Mom?" Henry sounded through the darkness of his room just before Emma shut his door,

"Yeah, kid?" Emma poked her head back into his room.

"I love you." His voice was so sweet, it was like honey.

"I love you too, Henry." She smiled into the darkness and then closed his door. She stood there for a moment, staring at the white painted door. There was no question she felt like they were doing all the right things. Henry was happy, she was happy with Henry. What else could she want?

But there was something else she wanted. One more thing to just put the cherry on top of this rollercoaster that was her life. She wanted someone she could love as much as she loved Henry. And someone Henry could rely on for things that she wasn't particularly good at, like math. In all seriousness though, she wanted what she thought she had just a few months ago.

She returned to her glass of wine, quickly downing what was left and headed to the kitchen for the bottle sitting on the counter. The red liquid fell into the glass like the blood rushing through her veins. Her breath skipped as she imagined herself pouring a second glass for her usual company. She had never really thought about how much of a routine she had gotten herself into before. She was comfortable, like everything was just going to plan and nothing could mess any of it up. Then, like someone had just ripped the carpet from under her feet, it was gone. Love just didn't seem like it was part of her destiny. It didn't work out with Henry's father so why would it work out with anyone else?

Getting ready for bed while she was tipsy proved to be somewhat of a challenge for Emma. She didn't get to experience the party side of college since she had to go home to Henry every night therefore her tolerance for alcohol had fallen through the floor since then. A glass of wine here, a beer there, usually only after Henry had gone to bed. The heaviness in her head proved difficult for balancing to put her shorts on. Nevertheless they were on soon enough for her to heavily fall into her bed. Like mother like son. She pulled the covers over her body, snuggling up to the warmth. Her dreams seemed to be the only place where her life played out perfectly. Love actually existed, and the person she wanted to love, was always there to love her back.

Emma's morning was not much better than going to bed. Her head felt heavy and she cursed herself for drinking that much on a school night. She was usually pretty good to control herself when she knew she had work in the morning. After she forced herself out of bed she searched through her closet for something to wear

She could hear Henry shuffling around in his room and was thankful that she didn't have to go in there and wake him up. He was usually pretty good at getting up for the first few weeks of school, but usually around Thanksgiving his eagerness took a nose dive.

She stepped out of her room and knocked on his door sleepily. "Hey kid, you almost ready?"

"Yeah, Mom." She heard his voice muffled on the other side of the door.

"Leaving in 10." She shouted back as she walked into the kitchen. She could already smell the coffee wafting through the kitchen and loved the fact that she didn't have to worry about making it in the morning because of the timer. Those things came in handy on these types of mornings.

As she closed the lid to her thermos, Henry stepped into the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge.

"Sorry I didn't have any breakfast for you." Emma apologized, walking over and kissing his forehead.

"It's okay. I'm not all that hungry anyway." He shrugged taking a swig from the orange juice straight from the jug.

"Really? Get a glass!" Emma pulled one out of the cabinet and set it on the table.

"I'm good." He wiped his face with his mouth and stuck the jug of juice back in the fridge. Emma watched him as he shuffled through the cabinets and pulled out a few snacks for the day.

"You need some money for lunch?" Emma started, heading out to the living room to get her wallet out of her purse. Henry shuffled after her, shoving the handful of snacks in his backpack.

"No, I'm fine." He answered.

"How are you going to eat?" Emma asked curiously, continuing to dig through her bag.

"Coach is buying the team pizza today." He said nonchalantly.

"That doesn't sound like a very balanced diet." Emma joked finally giving up on her wallet and picking up all her bags, huffing them over her shoulder.

"Yeah well don't tell Coach that." Henry thinly smiled as he walked out into the hallway outside of their apartment.

The drive to school was quiet as usual. Emma was lost in thoughts about everything she needed to do today. It was only the middle of the week and she already felt busier than last year, and with her principal problems on top of that, it wasn't turning into a very good mixture.

"Mom?" She heard Henry's voice penetrate her thoughts.

"Yeah?" She blinked and looked over to him. She realized she had been staring out of the windshield and hadn't noticed they had pulled up to the middle school and Henry had already gotten out of the car.

"You okay?" He looked at her funny.

"Yeah, sorry. Just got my mind on other things. Have a great day okay." She smiled as best she could as Henry shut the door.

"Okay. See you later, Mom." He called out behind him as he ran toward the school. Emma watched him run through the front doors, suddenly wondering what her childhood would have been like if she actually enjoyed school. She often wondered how she even became a teacher. Maybe it was to catch kids that were like her at their age. Lost, scared, and unloved. She wanted to make a difference and maybe be a model and show them that even though things may seem hard now, they would eventually work out.

The honk of a horn snapped Emma back into reality. "Alright, alright, I'm going." She spoke to herself and waved an apologetic hand. Her yellow bug lurched forward and she headed off to the high school. Even if she didn't feel completely ready for what today would hold, she felt confident enough that she could make it through, knowing that she would eventually get to go home to Henry who seemed to be her only constant light.