Sorry for the wait, guys! Here we go, in any case! By the way, if I don't PM you after you ask a specific question, it's because I hope to clear things up in a later chapter. I'm not ignoring you, don't worry! Thanks a lot!

The doorbell rang right as Regina was getting ready to go out. It was meant to be brief, a quick stop at the station to update Grahm on what needed to be done during her absence while Henry was still recovering. She was very close to opening the door, telling the person to leave and then slamming it in their face.

Until she saw who was there.

"Miss Swan."

She looked so damned timid standing in that doorway, as though she were invading some highly personal moment instead of a daily routine.

"Hi…"

Was that all? The only words that were to come from her mouth whilst she was standing at her doorway at seven in the morning?

"Hello. What can I help you with, dear?"

So much hesitation reflected in the girls eyes. As though she were afraid Regina would bite her head off. Which, frankly, she might if Emma didn't say something in the next few moments. After all, Regina had a place to be so that she could come back.

"I, uh. I went to the hospital and heard Henry was discharged. I don't think I got the memo?"

"I don't recall having to give you one."

Hurt flashed in Emma's eyes, and Regina felt momentarily guilty before she went back into her house, leaving the door open as an invite for Emma to step in.

"I'm sorry. I'm just very busy, Emma."

"Can I ask?"

Anyone else? Probably not. Emma? For today, yes.

"I have to give some information to Grahm and get back. I'd rather not leave Henry alone for a long stretch of time, and I'd rather not get caught up having to go on a call because some lazy…" She stopped herself, shaking her head. "I'm just having a hard time juggling things right now, Emma."

Emma paused but nodded, sticking her hands into her pockets. She said nothing else.

"So if you wouldn't mind leaving me be so that I can-"

"I can stick around and keep an eye on Henry."

Regina stopped dead in her tracks. Her back had been to Emma, and for some reason there was a visible slump the moment the words came from Emma's mouth. Emma couldn't trace it.

"I don't have to, if you don't want me to. I just thought…."

"Why?" Regina countered, her voice stony once more.

Why? Well, that was the question for the century, wasn't it? Emma didn't know why. Why on earth did she want to spend time with the curly haired boy? Why did she want to help him and, furthermore, Regina? She didn't think it had a lot to do with last night, though that weighed heavily on her mind. It could simply be the fact that she'd spent enough time with the boy.

"I don't know."

Regina was walking away, and instantly Emma followed. She didn't know if it was wise. There was the chance that it could backfire. Dangerous territory, treading into the den of a lioness. A lioness that could rip your face off at any given moment.

"Mom?"

And there was her cub. On the top of the stairs, clad in pajamas that seemed far too big for him. She wondered if they'd always been that baggy or if it had simply been because of lost weight. He didn't look sick anymore, not as bad off, but damn if he didn't look exhausted. She could see dark circles around his eyes, could see him leaning against the rail of the stair case. Regina's attention was immediately taken from Emma, back to her son, and for a moment the situation seemed to calm.

"Henry," she addressed, the softest voice she had heard from the woman in a while. There was an almost polarizing pull in the room. Regina obviously had to go. There was no changing it. She had a job to do, even if it was obvious that there was one much more important to her.

"You going?"

He didn't look hurt, or even like he was worried. It seemed as though he were used to this, as though this had been his life for far too long. Her chest hurt just looking at it. The way Regina's posture seemed to fall, and the way Henry wasn't bothered by it.

"Yes…Miss Swan…I…"

"I can stay. If Henry's cool with it?"

He smiled at her, a toothy grin, and nodded. She didn't know why she offered again, when the first offer had obviously been unwelcome. There was something eerily familiar about this scene, though, and also eerily different. Once upon a time, she had been in a similar position, sick, wanting her foster family to take care of her. An angry blowback. Take care of yourself. You're old enough.

A moment's hesitation.

"Thank you," she muttered, starting out the door. "Behave, Henry. Sleep."

The door shut as silently as it had only the morning before, with opposite woman on opposite sides. Similar results. An empty feeling in both women's chests.

Henry went down the stairs slowly, every step reminding Emma that there was a chance, a chance, that he would be slow forever.

"Need something, kid?"

" 'as gonna watch TV…"

Emma wondered if that was the brightest idea, but instead of arguing she nodded and offered him a shoulder to lean on. He took it.

"You know, you're mom is right. You do need to sleep."

"Not tired."

Emma smirked .Oh no. Not tired at all. He looked like a sleepy puppy at this point. But she didn't argue it, leading him to the TV and helping him lay down before sitting across from him and tossing him a remote. He flipped through them slowly and then tossed it back to her.

"There's nothing on I haven't seen yet. You chose."

He wasn't necessarily grumpy, just tired in the physical sense, and she could see it on him. And no doubt he was bored. He'd been trapped inside, and she couldn't imagine finally being home and not being able to do anything even though there were no restraints.

Oh, wait. Yeah. She could imagine it. She knew it.

"Wanna play one of your games?" she offered, and he raised a brow at her.

"Mom didn't tell you not to?"

"You're mom literally said two words to me. I didn't hear a no."

A smile grew on his face before he nodded eagerly and pointed. '

"It's over there! Do you know how to start it?"

She gave him an amused look. "I'm a firefighter. We play that thing like a boss, Henry. What game you want?"

He hesitated for a moment.

"You won't tell Mom I have it?"

She raised a brow. Yeah, she probably would. But not in front of the kid.

"What game is it?"

"Grahm let me borrow COD…"

Oh yeah, Regina would have a fit. Emma had no doubt, from what she'd seen of the woman. Still, they had time, and she didn't really see the harm in it. The kid didn't exactly look like a serial killer ready to go.

"Sure. Where's it at?"

"In the bookshelf…It's in a Tales of Symphonia box…"

He'd thought things through. Clever boy. Hide it in plain sight.

She grabbed it, wiggled it playfully and popped the CD in, started up the system and grabbed two controllers before tossing one to Henry and grabbing one for herself. She propped her feet up and when she glanced over at Henry, found that he was doing the same.

They played for forty minutes, maybe, before she decided that it would probably be a good idea to hide the disk away from Regina in case she got back. He nodded in agreement, tossing the controller at her.

"You're really good at that."

"Catching things? Why, thank you."

"No. The game."

Emma paused. She'd spent a lot of time messing with it over the years. Hell, she and her buddies had been joking about it since they joined the Army, and her fire partners did the same.

"I played a lot of it when I was younger. And now, too, I guess."

"You're parents were okay with it?"

Emma hesitated, smiling a little at him.

"No. I, uh. I didn't really have any parents. And I started playing it when I was on base after boot."

He stared at her, as if trying to piece things together.

"Like boot camp?"

"Yep ."

"You were a soldier?"

She didn't know whether or not it was a good idea to talk to him about this, whether Regina would approve or not. Though, she supposed, since Regina's husband had been one, it would make sense that Henry would want to know about the Army, about being a soldier.

"Yes. Yes, I was."

"My dad was a soldier…"

She'd known that, but he wouldn't have known that she's known. Whatever Emma knew about the Mills life, she had gained mostly away from him.

" That's what you're mom was saying."

Henry pointed. "He got those medals, I think."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Mom doesn't like to talk about it, though."

Emma didn't suppose she would. But then, Henry probably wanted to know.

"You miss him?"

"I didn't know him," Henry stated, shrugging.

"Doesn't mean you can't miss him," Emma said, sitting next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. He didn't flinch away, didn't fidget. In fact, he seemed to relax under her touch. "I never knew my parents, and I missed them."

"You didn't have either of your parents?"

"No. I had foster families. Kind of like adoption, only less permanent."

"I know what adoption is. I was adopted, too."

She stared at him for a moment, because it had never come up previously, because Regina hadn't so much as said a word. She supposed it didn't matter. The boy was so much Regina's that she was sure the link in and of itself would prove nurture as a dominating fact over nurture.

"Y-yeah?"

"Yeah…"

It seemed like a fact of life for him, something he had long since accepted. There wasn't any bitterness in his words, no anger. None of the things she had expressed so vehemently as a child. He knew, and that was that. It was as though he were saying 'I have black hair' or 'I have hazel eyes, too.'

It amazed her. Because she'd never experienced it before.

She'd never known someone to embrace it.

"I guess I miss him. Kind of. But I mainly miss him for Mom. She loved him. I think…She told me once, when she thought I was asleep, that I was the only person that kept her heart beating. He was that person, a long time ago I think…"

"That's…That's gotta be a lot of pressure for you, huh?"

He shrugged. "It's what family does. We help each other. We fight each other's monsters away." He paused. "You fought my mom's monsters away. How come?"

Emma didn't know. She knew that it had been the right thing to do, but that wasn't the driving factor. Nor had the driving factor been two nights ago, body against body, moving, dancing. The motivation hadn't lay there, and even if it had, Henry certainly didn't need to hear about it. So she came up with the only thing she could come up with.

"It was the right thing to do…"

Henry accepted the answer.

"I think…I think my dad would have liked you. And I think Mom likes you, too."

Platonically, of course, that was his thinking. And of course she didn't mind that, she would rather be liked platonically than disliked altogether.

"I hope so, kid. I hope so."

He hummed softly, and Emma could almost drift off to it, could almost fall asleep to the sound of his vocals. So soft, melodic. Such a familiar tune that she couldn't place her finger on. It felt like millions of years since she'd heard a tune like that. A hundred summers ago…

And when I get to heaven to Peter I will tell…

"Just another soldier reporting, sir, I've done my time in hell…"