Chapter 4

Days went by while Emma tried to think of ways to make it up to Regina, of how she could make it right, her heart pounded furiously at the hurt she had unintentionally inflicted upon the brunette.

She had even stooped as low as to have Henry call from his cell phone, but there was no answer, even for him at this time.

In her need to know Regina was okay as well as her son's worry of his adoptive mother's whereabouts, they showed up to her regal manor house, early one evening, when neither of them could sit around much longer.

The Benz was there, with fresh droplets of rain upon it's black roof, but no other indication if it had moved or not.

But Emma sighed in relief when she felt the tingling vibration at the end of her fingertips, signifying Regina's presence was within her abode.

She didn't want to push it so early but she couldn't not know if she was okay, she couldn't not check in to see how she was doing.

Henry hovered by her side for a moment, unsure whether to move forward or not, but at the gentle press of a hand between his shoulder blades, his feet inched forward at the touch towards his old home, the one he had grown up in, his memories swirled confusingly then, with his mind filtering between the blonde and the brunette in identical memories.

He knocked gently on the door with the black door knocker, as his blonde mother hovered to the side away from view, he felt like they were bombarding his adoptive mother but after not hearing from her in three days, his worry couldn't contain itself any longer.

After another more insistent tap, one which Emma had leaned forward and banged her knuckles loudly against the white door herself, a muffled noise behind the large door, where they should have heard the distinct staccato sound of stiletto's on marble flooring was painstakingly obvious and worrying, came a raspy voice.

"Who is it?" The brunette queried, she could feel the blonde but she didn't want to acknowledge her existence either.

"Mom?" Henry answered hesitantly upon hearing her voice, hearing how exhausted it sounded, she heard the worried tinge to his tone, immediately following the boy's words the sound of the deadbolt grated harshly against their ears, followed by the rattling of the chain as it was pulled from place and the large white door swung open, revealing a drawn, casually dressed, shoeless dark figure... that after a long blinking stare, revealed it was indeed, Regina.

Henry rushed forward blindly into his mother, who only just managed to stop herself from falling backwards at the ferocity of his embrace.

Her heart crumbled, before she could stop them, more tears sprung forth, wetting unusually pale cheeks and she wrapped her arms tightly about his rapidly growing figure, noting his head practically laid on her shoulder now and remembering a time that he barely graced her knees.

"I love you, Mom, I was so worried about you," he mumbled into the shoulder in question.

She sighed softly, her heart filling up slightly at still having her boy, no matter how many times she messed up, he still loved her, maybe for a little bit it would be hard, but maybe that would be enough?

"I love you too, Henry," She whispered back, "I'm sorry I worried you."

It was then she heard the awkward shuffling of feet outside, her gaze drifted upwards to see Emma hovering by the open door, a look of guilt and sadness plastered across porcelain features and instantly chocolate orbs hardened upon seeing her.

"Hi," Emma offered shyly, reminiscent of their first meeting, unwillingly at the time, she had found the expression somewhat endearing but now though, she hated to admit it, even though she not only found it evoked such a soft feeling in her but now coupled with an intense anger. Though at least the blonde had some far more redeemable features about her than her mother ever did, no matter how far Snow White and herself had come.

"So, are you okay to have Henry for a few hours or even the night if you are up to it?" Emma asked hesitantly, breaking into the brunette's thoughts unable to stand the hardened look any longer.

"I am more than capable of looking after my own son for the night, Miss Swan," Regina snapped, just as Henry pulled back from their embrace, he had felt the tenseness in his mother's body at seeing Emma and consciously he squeezed her reassuringly before he let her go.

"Of course, that is not what I meant, Regina, and you know it," Emma answered gently.

"Well, what did you mean? Do you just expect me to buckle underneath the overwhelming sorrow I'm feeling not only at my first chance at love but my second at the hands of the same family? I will always have time for Henry, always. No matter what is going on in my life."

"That's not... I wasn't implying..." Emma started, she felt her face flush instantly and stood awkwardly silent for a moment trying to think of something that wasn't going to set off a torrent of insults her way from the brunette.

"Got a big date with the pirate? Henry needs to be pawned off for some illicit deeds?" Regina replied with heavily barbed words, she was intentionally starting a fight to ward off the over emotional need to cry, replacing sorrow with anger.

"Regina!" Emma hissed through her teeth in response, "Call me whatever you want when Henry is not around but that is not acceptable in front of him, no matter how much I deserve whatever harsh words."

Regina's face softened for a second, just as Henry slid his hand within her grasp comfortingly,

"You're right, it shalln't happen again," She received a gentle squeeze the from her son and she almost felt her resolve drop there and then.

"I'm good from here, Ma," Henry immediately butted in, worried the name calling would turn into some soft of magic duel between two of the most powerful women he knew.

"Okay, kid," Emma said softly, smiling at him, "I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, I'll text you," They nodded at one another again and Henry briefly let go of his adoptive mother's hand so he could give a small hug to his blonde mother, after all, he didn't need for either of them to feel like he was taking sides in this mess.

"Good day to you, Miss Swan," Regina said civilly just as Henry returned to her side, before pointedly shutting the door in the blonde's face.

It was a start, she had gotten her to talk to her regardless of it having been somewhat heated and argumentative but that main point was that she hadn't immediately disappeared in a flurry of purple smoke.

It was something, it was more than she had expected in that moment that was for certain.

Regina had excused herself immediately after she had closed the door on Emma, to compose herself, returning a few minutes later to ask if he wanted something for dinner.

As always, like usual, she was met with an affirmative answer and she smiled when he asked if he she could make her infamous lasagna for dinner.

"Anything for you, Henry," She said softly, "I'll go start now," she turned and headed towards the kitchen when Henry's newly deepened voice interrupted her footsteps.

"Can I help?" He asked, almost as if she would tell him no and though he couldn't see her face, he could tell from the visible stiffening of her back, she was crying again.

His heart hurt at the sight, he had never seen his adoptive mother this miserable before, or this depressed before a brief flicker of annoyance at his blonde mother for messing up something so big, before being replaced with a renewed determination to help Emma make amends with the brunette, knowing that his blonde mother had never meant to cause harm to his adoptive mother, they had had a fragile, blossoming friendship, things were good... until this...

It was a moment later, his mother turned, having evidently wiped fresh tears away and nodded, not daring to speak and they headed into the kitchen.

She fell into teaching him quite easily, it seemed to come naturally, distracting her enough so by the time that it was ready to go into the oven, Henry had his mother were laughing softly as he regaled her with some of the stories of antics he and his friends from school got up to. Instead of admonishing him for pulling a prank on his teacher in this particular tale, she let it go, he was polite, well mannered, respectful and she was pleased to find herself approving of the fact that Emma hadn't let him run off into the thug life, he maintained his grade average nicely, to which she would admit she was slightly worried about whenever she thought of the pair.

"Hey, Mom?" Henry asked, as he waited for his mother to stand after she had deposited their dish to the oven and she turned to him with a small smile.

"Hmm?"

"You know Ma... I mean... Emma... didn't intentionally mean to hurt you, right?"

Regina paused, not entirely expecting her son to pursue this topic of conversation and instead tried to steer it from it's point,
"You can call her Ma in front of me, Henry, that's okay," She reassured with a soft sigh as she saw him visibly relax at her words, "And as for the rest, the wounds are still too fresh to rub salt into whether intentionally or not."

"I understand... just please tell me he at least tried to speak to you?" At the brief crumbling look he received in response to his question, he had his answer, a fury built in him stronger than at school that time when he had stopped his best friend from being beaten up, his fists clenched and he felt his face heat up, "I'm gonna kill him!" He blurted angrily and seeing how irate her son had gotten in a matter of seconds, she rushed forward and placed calming hands on his reddened cheeks.

"Sssh, no, I don't blame him entirely for forgetting about me, I don't know what I would have done had that been Daniel and not Marian," She soothed.

"But he should have checked to see if you were okay!" Henry argued.

"I really don't think complete logic applies in this situation, Henry, you are a smart boy, you must realize the enormity of what just happened to him?" She placated gently, though it hurt at the thought still but she understood to an extent, but she didn't want her son flying off the handle for a reasonable reaction that probably even anyone might do.

"Yes, I get that Mom, I understand too, but his actions should have included thoughts of you, how would you feel... how this would effect you! Isn't that what a relationship is? Acknowledging one another's feelings? Acknowledging them, period? Instead of running off happily with no consideration of the person you are with?" His face had flushed a deep red again and this time, she hesitated, he had a point.

This entire time she had been defending his actions, she understood why but the hurt that had been simmering below the surface boiled again.

Damn Emma and her not considering consequences regardless of whether it was her or some other person that got hurt in the process.

Damn Robin too, for his insensitivity towards her when he knew how much it had taken for her to open up to him in the first place, he being the one that had pursued her, made her open up to him, reassured her that he basically wasn't planning on going anywhere, giving her a second and only remaining chance at happiness and now look where he was, off playing happy families once again with his dead ex.

Damn them both.

She took a moment to compose herself of her own anger as she realized hazel eyes were boring into her, waiting for her to respond, waiting for some sort of reaction.

"You have a point," she managed before clearing her throat, "But it is a lot more complicated than that, if we are to look at it that way, I should have stayed at Granny's and confronted him and asked him his intentions there and then."

"Mom, you have no blame in this and as much as it pains me to say this, it's Ma and Robin's fault," He paused, waiting for her reply but when she didn't and her eyes simply glazed over he hurried on quickly, "But Mom, only one of the two have showed any remorse or attempts to make it better. And believe it or not, Ma's lost two nights sleep over all of this. She genuinely is hurting for you, I see it..."

"Well, in order to not make you mad here, I will refrain from saying exactly what I think about that," Regina responded somewhat sternly, removing her hands from his face, she paused and then let a softness return to her gaze, "Why don't you go watch some TV while I freshen up before dinner?" Her question signified that this conversation was over, she smiled at him as he agreed and she drew him into a brief hug before disappearing upstairs.