A/N: Few reviews, but some readers, so I can't complain. Don't be lazy, people, let me know what you think!

:P

Chapter 2

Henry was sitting in class, watching his teacher turned grandmother drone on about something math related. He had nothing against math per say, but other sort of thoughts crowded his mind that afternoon and the boy couldn't bring himself to focus enough on the word's coming out of Snow's mouth.

He was worried.

Not exactly worried that something had befallen his mother, though he wouldn't even know if something one day did, since there were long days he failed to see her or even talk to her on the phone. It was a conscious, unspoken decision of his birth mother and his grandparents to limit their time together lately and Henry couldn't say he had exactly fought against this decision. It was easier to focus on his new family.

But he was worried.

Regina hadn't tried to contact him for a whole week now and her being no longer the mayor, there weren't even chance encounters on Granny's or passing by Town Hall. And he missed her.

A frown marred his forehead as he thought of her and her absence. Could it be possible that she had heeded all the careless requests he had made for her to leave him alone? Could it be possible that she had finally given up on him? The thought of losing her was terrifying and left a cold feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He had pushed her away…

The last bell of the day sounded and the kids rushed away, being told not to run by their smiling teacher. Much had changed since the curse broke, yet much had stayed the same. Henry packed up his school bag and made his way to Snow.

"Everything okay, Henry? You seemed very far away. Were you even paying attention?", she teased him.

The boy shook his head. "Grandma?"

Seeing the serious expression on the boy's face, Snow White stopped what she had been doing and turned to face him. "What's bothering you, Henry?"

"Can I… I mean, just for a little while. Today." He breathed in deeply, gathering his words and his courage. "I want to see my mom", he whispered finally, eyes downcast.

"Oh, Henry…". There was no real doubt about which mother he meant and seeing him like this, begging for a moment with his mother, broke Snow's heart. "We should talk to Emma and maybe call Regina later. What do you think?"

His crestfallen expression told her exactly what he thought of that cop out.

"Nevermind", he turned to leave and Snow was quick to pack up her things and follow him.

They made it home in eery silence and uncomfortable companionship. Henry pulled his books to the counter and went to work on his homework paying no attention to his grandmother watching him. An hour later, when he packed it all away again and made his way to the room he shared with Emma on the second floor, Snow didn't even try to talk with him. She just sighed and resolved to talk with Emma later tonight.

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The house was quiet and dark and Henry didn't need a second glance to know something really was wrong. A flutter of relief passed by his chest, knowing that his mother had not deserted him after all. That relief, though, was extremely short lived. Something was wrong. Like, really wrong and with his mom being the Evil Queen, she could actually be in danger.

Heart pounding, chest panting and hands sweating, Henry pulled his key from the front pocket of his trousers - the one she had given to him when he had originally moved in with David - and quickly unlocked the door. The front hall was silent and empty. He rushed to the kitchen, expecting to find her making dinner, but no smell and no sound proved his desperate theory wrong. He ran to her office and carelessly threw the door open, not hoping to find her so easily anymore, but praying to be wrong.

Hand still on the doorknob, he stopped cold in his steps. The room was empty, no sign of Regina at all, but it was far from the pristine state it could usually be found in. His eye widened, his lips parted and a 'no' escaped his lips like a horrified cry of denial. The round mirror his mother kept there was broken, shards spread all around the room. There was something brown coating several pieces of the broken mirror and a pool was present in the middle of this entire mess, still red enough that Henry could not mistake it for anything else but blood.

And the shoe… His mother's high heeled shoe. It was only a single pair, fallen amid the shards.

No, no, no, no. Something was wrong, terribly, terribly wrong. Panic coursing through him, Henry ran to check the rest of the house, a stubborn hope clinging to him like glue. No room was left unchecked, no bathroom was kept with a door closed. She had to be there!

She wasn't, though. Regina had completely disappeared, leaving only a black pump and a broken mirror behind. So Henry did the only thing his young mind could think of to do. He called his birth mother, the Sheriff.

"Emma! My mom! She's gone and there's blood and a broken mirror and, and…", the rest was lost in sobs and tears. It was enough, however, to get his other mother moving towards the only place her son could be: Regina's house.

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"Henry?" Emma pushed the front door open, gun at the ready. "Henry?"

"Here…", was the soft reply she got, followed by a half contained sob. "I'm here…"

Emma didn't holster the weapon as she made her way to Regina's office. Her heart was beating wildly with worry and the sense of danger lingering in the air still. It only took one look at Henry to add heartbreak to her list of afflictions. Her son was sitting on the floor, back to the door of his mom's office. There were tears on his cheeks and his young body rocked slightly back and forth. His eyes looked at something far away.

As a mother, she wanted to comfort him, throw her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. But to say those words and not mean them could only make things worse, so she ignored her first instinct and walked through the opened door to the office of the once Mayor of Storybrooke. There was no way she could ignore the glass and the blood and the evidence that Regina hadn't left that room with her own two feet. Quickly looking around, she discovered nothing that could lead to finding Regina.

"Henry… when was the last time you talked to Regina?" Kneeling by her son's side, she used a gentle hand on his arm to redirect his attention back to her.

"I… I didn't even try to call her. I haven't seen her since, since we had ice cream last week." Henry wiped the tear tracks on his cheeks and turned fully to face Emma. "We have to find her, Emma!"

The blonde nodded, mind already going ten miles an hour.

"I gotta be honest with you, Henry. We don't know what happened and who was behind all this and that means no one is innocent until we find out what happened." She used her index finger to raise up his chin and stare intentively at his blue-green eyes. "You don't trust anyone outside of this family until then, okay? Do you promise?"

The boy nodded, a steely face of resolve falling into place. Emma couldn't deny that it looked too much like Regina's own face when determined.

"Now… we have to process this scene and I'm going to call your Grandpa here to help me. So don't touch anything." He nodded, making it clear that he understood her instructions.

"What about magic?", he asked, already on his feet. "We can't ignore the possibility that this could have happened by magic, or because of magic!"

Emma was shaking her head. "This looks very non-magic, Henry. We can't ignore it in favour of more wild explanations."

"We don't have to ignore anything, we should focus on both possibilities." He told her, head leaning slightly forward, making his eyes bigger and more focused. It was a look he had worn often when talking to her about the curse before it had been broken.

"I know, Henry, and we will talk with Mother Superior. But after we investigate this place."

Henry sighed, resignation coming out of him in waves. Emma took out her phone to call her father and then made a quick call to Ruby to come pick Henry up. He had already seen much more than he should have.

"Okay, kiddo. You stay with Ruby, try to remember anything that may give us any clues, maybe even check your book. I'll come pick you up as soon as we finish here". Her son agreed and moved into the room his mother had last been in. Emma moved to stop him, but he brushed her away.

Ignoring the mess on the other side of the room, he reached his mother's desk and quickly grabbed the portrait of them she kept there. The doorbell rang and in the second Emma turned to yell out an "it's open!", Henry dropped to the floor and grabbed a small shard of glass and hid it in his pocket. He was already pushing out of the room by the time his birth mother turned back to face him.

His grandfather soon appeared from the foyer, a grave expression on his face. He placed a hand on Henry's shoulder and the boy allowed it for a second, before rushing up the stairs.

"Henry, where are you going!?", Emma called from the foot of the stairs.

"I'm going to grab another picture from my room!" was his yelled out response over his shoulder as he disappeared from view.

"Is he okay?" David asked his daughter, voice low as to not be heard.

"I think he's in a bit of a shock." Emma sighed and moved away from the stairs, finally facing the blonde man that was both her father and her deputy. "We have to find…"

David nodded, hands on hips. "We will."

By the time Ruby came, Henry was already sitting on the last step of the stairs, waiting for her. He offered no words or looks to the woman, only following her out of the house. Not once did he look back. His mother wasn't there, after all.

And he was going to find her.