Emma sat at the counter, staring at her phone, just like she had been doing since she woke up. David was standing behind the counter, watching her as he dried off the last of the plates. He turned his head to the side when he heard the shuffling of feet, and saw Snow exiting the room where she had just put the baby down. Their eyes locked, and he shook his head in sadness at her silent question, before he finally put the plate back on the shelf.

Snow sighed sadly, as she made her way over to her daughter, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "still no word from him?" she asked softly.

Emma shook her head sadly, "no. His phone is still off," she replied solemnly.

"His battery probably died," David offered, as a means of explaining why her son was completely ignoring her.

"I know it did, but…." She trailed off, her hand finding her hair, and brushing it aside in frustration, "he always made sure his phone was charged because he knew that it was how I got a hold of him. But seeing as he didn't even bother calling at all, not even from Regina's phone, it means he didn't even check. It means he doesn't even know that his battery is dead, and he doesn't care," she ranted angrily.

Before either of them could get another word out, they heard footsteps, before the door swung open to reveal Henry, wearing something different than the clothes he was wearing the night before, and ones that Emma did not recognize.

She took a step in his direction, her intent of hugging him very much evident, but halted in her tracks when not only did he not set a step in her direction as well, but also put both his hands inside his coat pockets, making his intention very clear as well.

"I called you a bunch of times," she said, when he remained quiet.

"My battery must've died," he stated, making it clear that he didn't even check his phone.

"Well, the charger is right where you left it," she suggested, and he gave her a small smile in return.

"I left it at home, I'll charge it when I get back," he said simply, and Emma felt like someone just punched her in the stomach.

He said home, not Regina's house, or mom's house…..no, home. And he didn't even bring his phone with him, he was going back there, which is what he just said. Her mouth was hung open in shock and pain alike, and when her pained eyes found his, the anger in them softened a bit, but the resolve did not budge.

"You're spending the night there again?" Snow asked tentatively, though judging by his stance, and demeanor, she already knew the answer to that.

"Yeah, I'm staying with her for a while, she still needs me," he deadpanned, before heading for the room where he left his charger, and completely ignoring the soft gasp that left Emma's lips.

"Henry!" she called after him, her voice showing the amount of pain she felt, and it succeeded in halting him in his tracks, but he did not turn around.

He heard the pain in her voice, and it tugged at his heart, but he was still mad at her, pissed even. His morning conversation with Regina, and all the thinking he did last night, were still fresh in his mind, and he was not ready to act like everything was alright, and that nothing was wrong. Like she did nothing wrong, both to him and to his mother. And so, he kept his back turned to her, not because he was trying to hurt her, but because he was still trying to get his emotions under control.

"You're going back to her house?" she asked incredulously, though this time, pain wasn't the only emotion lacing the words, but also disbelief, which only served to piss him off even further.

Why was it so surprising to her that he wants to stay with his mother?

Though he knew the answer to that question, and he did not like it.

The question, however, did succeed in getting him to turn around, and his answer was a simple nod, no explanations, no excuses, no reasons…..just a nod.

"Don't you think you should talk to me first?" she wondered, her pain taking a back seat to her anger, and disappointment.

Henry cocked his head to the side in wonder, "did we talk to her before you packed me up and took me with you to New York? Did you talk to her before you decided to take me back to New York? Did you even talk to me?" he listed, without giving her a chance to answer.

"Henry, Emma doesn't really need to take Regina's permission when it comes to you, you're her son," David pointed out as a matter of fact.

It was the wrong thing to say, even Snow knew that. And Emma, even though she believed those words to be true, she would not have put it like that. But the words had been spoken, and it was too late for damage control, or sugar coating.

She had closed her eyes when her son listed his questions, and they flew open at David's words. She was still looking at Henry, and she did not see her son, she did not see any means of a resemblance between the two of them. Instead, she saw a young man fit to carry the name 'Mills', and one fit to call Regina his mother. For at that moment in time, he looked more like Regina, than Cora herself ever did.

His eyes narrowed, and grew darker, his entire face clenched in anger, as the rest of his body started to shake with rage.

"Yes. She. Does." He enunciated every word, spitting them out through gritted teeth, "she was the one who raised me, loved me, nurtured me, soothed every fever, and endured every tantrum. She was the one who was there when I was scared, when I fell and scrapped my knee. She was the one who taught me everything I know, she was the one who always put me first. Even when I kept pushing her away, when I called her the Evil Queen, accused her of not loving me, of not being capable of love…even then, she never stopped telling me she loved me, she never stopped trying to reach me, to pull me back in," he yelled it all in one breath, and only stopped when he ran out of air, his chest heaving and his cheeks blood shot from the effort.

His words cut through Emma's heart, but she found herself unable to find the right words to say. For it seemed her brain was too paralyzed by the amount of anger in her son's voice to think of anything else.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, but it takes more than just giving birth to be a mother," he added.

"Henry, I was trying to give you your best chance," she pleaded.

"I know, but you never checked to see if I got adopted or not. For all you knew, I could've been bouncing around foster homes, just like you were," he countered.

Emma opened her mouth to respond, but found herself incapable. He was right, she never bothered to check on him, she kept convincing herself that he was fine….truth be told, at some point, she never spared him a second thought.

"Look, I forgave you a long time ago, you did what you thought was best, and it all worked out fine. I'm glad you gave me up, because I had a wonderful life, and a very happy and healthy childhood. And I know that I was the one who made you think that it was alright for you to make all those decisions, and not even bother to take how mom feels into consideration, but it's not. She's my mom, she gets a say in everything, and so do I. You wanted me to keep the fake memories, so you can take me back to living a lie, you weren't even going to give me the chance to choose. You were gonna take me away with letting me know what I was really giving up," he continued.

"Henry, I didn't want you to remember everything that you went through," she defended, but even he could see that it was nothing more than just a lie.

"No, you didn't want me to remember my life so that I don't remember that all those wonderful memories I have with you are fake. You didn't want me to remember, because you were too scared that I will go back to Regina, and choose Storybrooke over New York, and you didn't want to stay, so you decided not to bother even asking me. You assumed I will go along, and that is on me. I was the one who made you think that she doesn't matter to me, and that I don't want her in my life, or at least not as much, anymore. And I may never be able to make it up to her, but at least I should try, at least I need to acknowledge what I did wrong. And I strongly suggest that you do the same, because every single person in this room has wronged her somehow, and never even bothered to acknowledge their mistakes," he finished determinedly.

"Henry, we weren't the ones who wronged her, we were nothing but kind to her," Snow defended, immediately regretting it when Henry's angry glare turned to her. He was so much like Regina, it was kind of intimidating.

"When is her birthday?" he asked simply, and a deathly silence fell over the room.

Snow opened her mouth a few times and closed it again in an attempt to come up with an answer, but found none.

"I know she made a lot of mistakes, and wronged many people, but at least she owns up to it. At least she doesn't pretend to be good, at least she tried to redeem herself and make up for them, but we left her alone and vulnerable to her mother to prey on, then got mad because she listened to her," his attack continued, and the Charmings were finding it increasingly difficult to come up with anything to refute his words.

"I did not come here to attack you, I am not angry, and I don't hold a grudge. But I will no longer stand by and watch you hurt her, and I will be damned if people kept their 'holier than thou' attitude, when most of them have done many terrible things in their lives. Some of them had a better life under the curse," he stated defiantly, "it takes more than just blood to create a bond, and I think we all know very well that sometimes blood means nothing. She's my mom, I love her, and I won't leave her again. So if either of you have any problems with that, then I suggest you find a way to deal with it," he finished.

"Henry," David sighed, seeing as his daughter was too stunned to say anything, "I know you are upset, and it's understandable. You love her, and you miss her. But that is no reason to throw us –your family- aside, we love you just as much as Regina does, and we are willing to do the same for you. Family means everything to us, and you know it," he tried to soothe the angry teenager.

Henry just looked at him incredulously, his eyes narrowing even further, before his lips broke into a tight smile, "how old am I now?" he asked coyly.

"12," David answered immediately.

"And how old was I when I went to get Emma?"

"10," this time it was Snow's voice that carried the answer.

"And how many birthdays did I have in New York?"

The question fell like a bomb, and the room became as silent as a graveyard. Emma had already figured out where he was going with his questions, and was too wracked with guilt and pain to talk. She had forgotten her own son's birthday, she didn't even remember forgetting about it till now. And Snow and David, well, for the life of them they couldn't even remember when his birthday was.

"Her mother had just died, and she still remembered. Despite the sadness and misery she was feeling, she still remembered. She even bought me a gift, but I was a brat, and refused to even ask about how she was," he listed, his voice rising a notch with every word he said.

"You know what?" he finally said, when everybody else seemed too stunned to talk, "I came here to get some of my things, but I'll just buy new ones. It'll be easier that way, when we come up with a system that works for all of us," he stated, before he side-stepped David and headed for the doors.

As soon as the doors opened, a collection of surprised exclamations was released from the four occupants of the apartment.

Minutes Before...

Regina sat in the car, watching as Henry walked up to the apartment building, and disappeared inside. She fought the urge to run after him, and tell him not to bother with his stuff, that she can buy him new things, just so that he wouldn't go back into that building. She was so afraid that when he goes back there, that he will remember why he left, that he will see what he is leaving, and decide to stay. Or worse, they could stop him from coming back to her. After all, she is heartbroken again, at the hands of one of the Charmings, so as far as they are concerned, she is unstable, and is not a fit parent for Henry.

But she pushed all those dark thoughts aside, and kept reminding herself that Henry came back to her. When it mattered the most, he always came to her. When the diamond was about to swallow the town whole, he came to her. He threw himself at her, and she saw the pain in his eyes at the prospect of losing her. Even in Neverland, she saw the relief in his eyes when she offered to tuck him in. She saw the serenity slowly creep into his exhausted eyes as she sat by his side, and comforted him. Even at the town line, he told her he regretted bringing Emma back. She still remembers how tight his fists were clenched around her coat, how tight his arms were.

And so, she sat in the car, trying to remind herself that he came back to her. That he followed her yesterday, that he stayed with her as she cried, that he spent the night. She tried to remind herself that he was coming back, that he was just picking up a few things.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and released it through her mouth, before she opened her eyes once more, but chose to look to the other side, away from that wretched building. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she caught sight of blonde hair walking on the sidewalk on the other side, and said blonde hair belonged to a certain fairy that she needed to talk to.

She exited her car, and ran after the fairy, who was about to turn the corner, "Tinkerbelle," she called after her.

She was glad when Tink stopped, and turned around. She smiled reassuringly at her, when she saw the slight trepidation in her eyes, "don't worry, I won't hurt you," she assured her, and looked at her feet when the guilt in Tink's eyes increased.

"I know my temper is infamous, but…" her explanation was cut short by Tink's soft voice, "I know you won't hurt me, Regina," she stated, and the surprise made her lift her head.

She gave a small smile in response, "thank you," she said, and at Tink's questioning gaze, she added, "for coming after me yesterday, for staying, and for moving me and Henry to bed," Regina listed.

"It was nothing, after all, it is partially my fault," Tink brushed it off.

"It wasn't your fault, Tink. There was no way you could've known that this was going to happen, no one could. I appreciate what you did last night, and what you tried to do all those years ago," Regina countered, "but the truth is, I don't regret not going in. I wasn't meant to be with him, I was meant to find Henry, and he was meant to find Marian, and have Roland. And I know that as much as I can't wish for anything to change if it risks Henry's existence, he feels the same about Roland."

"You're meant to be together, Regina, pixie dust never lies. I know that it seems farfetched at the moment, but don't turn your back on love again," Tink pleaded softly.

"I can't fight for something that I know can never be mine. I can't take him away from his family, take Roland away from his mother. It's not fair to me, or to any of them," she countered.

Before Tink could object to that, Regina's head snapped towards the apartment building, and her brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?" Tink wondered, and Regina's response was to break off into a jog, with Tink hot on her heels.

"Regina?" Tink called questioningly.

"Something's wrong with Henry, I can feel it," she yelled over her shoulder, as she ran up the stairs two at a time.

She was about to knock on the door, when it suddenly swung open, and she was met with a furious Henry. The various sounds of shock released from the other three fell on deaf ears, as she only had eyes and ears for her son, who had thrown himself at her, the second he laid eyes on her.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly, completely ignoring the other's questioning, and surprised looks. Her arms had wrapped around Henry, one hand cradling the head he had buried in her body. And his only response to her question, was tightening his arms even further around her waist.

"Regina, why did you come up?" David asked, almost accusingly, but it fell on deaf ears. For she was not going to give that idiot another glance, till she finds out exactly what was bothering her son.

And so, David's answer came from Henry, and not her, "she could always tell when I am upset," he stated softly, his eyes now finding hers, a small, loving smile graced his lips, as he rested his chin on her chest.

That was like a punch in the stomach for Emma, for even in the year she lived with him in New York, she never developed those kind of instincts when it came to Henry. She could always tell when he was upset, but that would require seeing him, not feeling it from the car downstairs.

Regina brushed his hair out of his eyes, before pressing a soft kiss to his forehead, her other thumb caressing his cheek lovingly.

"Are you alright?" she inquired once more, and he moved his head back to rest under her chin.

"I just wanna go home," he sighed, and she nodded as she rubbed his back.

"Let's go then," she offered, sliding her hand down his arm till she found his hand, and took it into hers.

She turned him towards the stairs, without even a word to the other three. But before she could take another step, Snow's voice halted her in her tracks.

"Regina, wait!" she called urgently.

When Regina turned around, she saw her walking towards her, side stepping the still stunned Emma, and ignoring David's calls. She didn't stop till she was standing right in front of Regina, the latter was completely glued to the spot. She may be pissed at Emma, and David managed to get on her last nerve in under a five minutes, but she and Snow had reached an understanding after they tried to summon Cora.

She was surprised by the amount of remorse she saw in Snow's eyes, for it was genuine, without even a hint of accusations.

Snow took a deep breath, "I owe you an apology," she stated, smiling sadly at Regina's shocked expression.

"What?!" was chorused by both David and Emma.

"I actually owe you two apologies," she amended, "one from me, and one on behalf of my father. We were both terrible to you; we neglected you, forgot you existed until one of us needed something. I told Cora about Daniel, thinking that she deserved to know. And after I got what I wanted, and you married my father, I hardly spared you a glance. You were miserable, and neither of us cared enough to ask why. We assumed you were living a good life, and refused to face our mistakes. We never even asked about your birthday, never bothered to learn when it was, let alone actually hold a celebration in your honor. Whilst you sat through every single one of our birthdays, and even the ones we held in my mother's honor. You waited till I was a grown woman before you killed my father, even after everything, you still didn't want me to grow up without both my parents. Even later, there were always glaring loopholes in the plans, it didn't make any sense to me back then, but now they do. You were always leaving a back door open for me to escape, you didn't want to kill me, even that day in the tower, Rumple said the first thing he taught you was to sense magic in objects," her story was interrupted by David's surprised 'what?', that she chose to ignore "I know you felt the spell, and knew that it wasn't going to hurt me, you took the way out. You didn't want to let go of the hunt on your own out of fear of betraying Daniel, so you took the way out. Because all you ever wanted...was for me to feel sorry for what I did. You wanted a sincere apology out of me, one that was not conditioned by anything, and one where I didn't try to sound like a victim in," she poured her heart out, stunning all around her into silence.

"We both made a lot of mistakes, we both hurt each other badly, but only one of us was ever held accountable for her actions. I always hung my wrong doings on you, but in reality, if we were to look at who's to blame, then it will be my mother. She was the one who set in motion a series of events that eventually screwed us both. You and I have our mothers to blame," she added sincerely, smiling softly at the tears that were cascading down Regina's cheek.

"Thank you for saving us back in Neverland, and thank you for saving my baby," she said sincerely, earning a soft gasp mixed in with a whimper from Regina.

She saw Regina's eyes shift wildly between hers, trying to find the turning point, the point where this will turn out to be a trick to get her to leave Henry, or to do something else that they want. The point where this all turns out to be a cruel trick, to hurt her even more. She smiled reassuringly at her, and nodded silently at the questioning, disbelieving look in her eyes.

"You don't have to say anything, you can't say anything that will top you standing in front of Cora's ghost, and telling her that if she wants to kill me, she will have to go through you," she soothed, and yet another collection of gasps was heard.

Snow smiled softly at Regina, her own tears now rolling down her cheeks as well, "all these years, I held on to the image of the woman who believed in the power of true love, who threw all appearances and rules aside when I would crawl into bed with her when I got upset, and the one who opened eyes to the possibility of having what I have now. And now, after all these years, I finally have her back," she finished tearfully, before wrapping her arms around Regina's neck.

Regina's head was spinning, she couldn't believe that she was hearing those words out of Snow of all people. She was scared to believe it, and so her arms moved slowly, and almost hesitantly, as it wrapped around Snow's frame.

"Thank you," she whispered tearfully into Snow's shoulder, closing her eyes when she felt her nod.

I know I promised to update weekly, but work has been crazy, so I am sorry for the long wait. Here is the next chapter for you all.

I know that some of the things that Henry said to Emma might seem a bit cruel to some, but it bothers me when the writers act like Emma can walk back into Henry's life and take him away from Regina, which in my opinion sends a message to all adoptive mothers, that you have to accept the fact that the woman who gave birth to your child can take him away just because she gave birth to him. I mean, with that logic, then surrogate mothers have a right to claim the child they gave birth to. It takes more than just giving birth to be a parent, and speaking as someone who deals with this issue a lot, if Emma wanted to give Henry his best shot, she would've checked up on him, but she never did. And so, she deserves to get a second chance, but she does not get to act like she is the primary parent in HEnry's life, for she is not, but Regina is. She waved away her rights when she gave him up, and she does not get them back just because she changed her mind.

Sorry for the rant, but figured I would clear it up to save me the questions.

The next chapter will probably be in sometime within the next week if I am luck enough.

My 100th reviewer offer still stands, so keep'em coming people.

Thanks to all who read, followed and reviewed.