"I think the lull is over," Regina whispered to Henry. "But perhaps I should just have enjoyed it. It was another hour, at least, before she found me. It would have been better to continue dreaming."

BREAK

Regina stared at her reflection in the vast looking glass, one of her many wedding presents. She hardly recognised herself, she felt so small inside the elaborate, jewelled dress.

"Beautiful, dearie," declared an eerie, grating voice.

"Rumpelstiltskin," Regina murmured.

"Indeed! Yes, you really are quite fetching, even if you aren't the fairest of them all."

"How could I ever be that?" Regina asked, finding her scar.

"You think too little of yourself. It's all your mother's doing."

"Do not speak ill of my mother."

"Would you rather I did as you do, and simply thought ill of her, constantly, but never dared to say so?"

"You lie! I love my mother."

"And yet… Do you like my gift?"

"Your gift?"

"The glass, it is from me."

"Oh, yes, thank you very much. You are too kind, Sir."

Rumple chuckled. "You're welcome. Though you do not know the half."

"What do you mean?"

"This is no ordinary glass, dearie. It is a portal."

"It is my wedding day, I cannot use a portal."

"The portal is not for you, child. It is for your mother."

"But she would not leave."

"Not intentionally. But with a little push-"

"You cannot be serious! I could not harm my mother."

"You would not be harming her. You would simply be sending her on a little trip."

"To where?"

"Somewhere horrible. For her, that is. Oh, yes, that world will be a uniquely abominable torture for her."

"Then I cannot send her."

"Do you not wish her away from you?"

"Not all wishes ought to be granted."

"Such a good little girl. Well, it's up to you, dearie. Push her, don't push her. The portal will remain open until it is used."

"And then?"

"Ah! You are thinking about it. Excellent! Well, my dear, and then, it will close. Forever."

"There's no way back?"

"I never rule anything out when it concerns magic. But not through this portal. And I think it's safe to say there would be no way back for a good long time."

BREAK

Regina thought back to the dream she'd awoken from earlier that morning. The details were already fading, but the knowledge had slipped into her mind as if she had always known it. Here, this world, was a torture that had been meant for her mother, and the portal had been something to do with Rumpelstiltskin and a plot to get her mother out of the way.

But how had she ended up here? Had her mother pushed her? But why would Cora do that? Or had she jumped through the portal herself? But she had been so determined to get married, as she'd told Emma, she would never have run away from her wedding. She was supposed to be the Queen, she belonged in the Enchanted Forest, she would never have left willingly, no matter her fears.

Henry still snoozed against her chest.

"Do you know why I'm here, little one?" she asked softly.

He did not appear to have an answer for her. Regina stroked his hair.

"Well, I am very happy to be. And maybe it won't be as easy for my mother to reach me as I thought last night. I was overly afraid… And even if she is coming, even if all of this is but a fleeting dream soon to be a distant memory, I would be a fool not to enjoy every moment of it."

Henry snuggled into her in his sleep, as if affirming his pleasure in her company.

Regina was soon to realise that his happiness at being with her did not equal an easy day.

He slept for two hours, giving her pins and needles in her arms. She could have put him down, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were on borrowed time. She had to savour every moment with this beautiful boy; it was worth more than a little discomfort.

She had plenty to think about, sitting on the bed. She opened the curtains and looked out at the other buildings. At first she examined the structures, the architecture, but when she tired of that she moved on to looking through the windows. Her eyes were fine with distances and she watched the fascinating people of this strange world go about their lives. She saw a lot she didn't recognise or understand, but that made it all the more fun.

She was still doing this when Henry stirred; she stroked his hair, thinking he would awake peacefully, but he was sick and grumpy and he began to bawl instead. She held him to her as she had seen Emma do, stroking his back and cuddling him, but he continued to cry. Regina stayed calm, thinking through what he might need.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty? Or…" she gritted her teeth and cautiously sniffed his behind. "Oh. Oh."

She lowered the child and took a breath.

"Well, Henry, wish me luck," she said, getting off the bed and walking to the bathroom. She held him on her hip, which was much harder than Emma made it seem, especially when he was crying, and laid out the mat.

His onesie was damp and sweaty; she decided she would find him another one. Changing the nappy wasn't so bad. Okay, it was vile, but several dozen wet wipes did the trick, and after following the procedure with a meticulous hand washing session, Regina didn't feel too bad. She left the nappy mat out for future reference and carried Henry back to the bedroom.

Remembering what Emma had said about wriggling, she laid him on the floor rather than the bed while she dug in a drawer for a fresh onesie. She found a nice blue one and helped him into it, and his fever had gone down so she found him a sweater, too. It said "BOSTON RED SOX", whatever that meant. Well, Boston, she knew. That was where they were. And red sox sounded like red socks. Regina smiled and looked in another few drawers until she found what she was looking for. There. Henry looked lovely, now. She kissed his forehead; he smiled at her.

"Feeling better?" she asked him. She'd been giving a running commentary throughout the nappy changing and dressing process, but Henry hadn't seemed to be paying much attention, and he certainly hadn't dignified her with any conversation. She'd been beginning to fear he hated her.

"Pincess Dina," he said, smiling again. She picked him up.

"Yes, here I am."

"Momma?"

"Your Momma is at work, she will be back soon. Would you like something to eat?"

Henry seemed to find this answer reasonably acceptable. Regina supposed he was used to being away from Emma while she worked. She wondered where he went normally. She'd seen the place but she had no idea what it was like inside. What did they do with babies all day? What did anyone do with babies all day?

In the Enchanted Forest, babies had been left with nannies and nursemaids, seen for a few minutes each day to ensure they met appropriate standards of manners and cleanliness, but all Regina knew of actual childcare was what she'd learned with Emma yesterday, and they had been out, shopping and to the park and petting zoo. Being in the apartment wasn't the same… Regina began to feel rather afraid. She took a deep breath. If she wanted to stay here, she had to be able to do this.

Henry hadn't answered the food question, but Regina decided to feed him anyway. She searched through cupboards until she found something she recognised - apples. She scattered through the cutlery, eventually finding a knife, and cut up an apple, then put the pieces into a bowl.

The meal seemed to meet the child's approval; he ate it with sticky enthusiasm, then wiped a snotty hand on her pyjama top as she lifted him from his chair.

"Now what, sweetheart?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. To her happy surprise, she got one after all.

"TOYS!"

She laughed. "As you wish, my prince!"

They took out all kinds of toys; Regina was possibly more excited than Henry. The toys were so colourful and clever, and he had so many… She liked his books, too. The stories were far kinder than the ones she was used to. This world had very different ideas about how to educate children - the main themes of most of the tales seemed to be love and compassion.

Henry's cold was still significant; he coughed and sniffed his way through their games. Emma had left a box of tissues on the table which Regina put to good use, though, and Henry remained cheerful. He only had to say "dink" three times before Regina realised it meant "drink" and fetched him some water. She realised at this point that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink herself, not since yesterday, but she wasn't sure what to do with Henry, or even what she could prepare, so she ignored her drying mouth and rumbling stomach. The feelings were hardly a new experience, anyway.

"Mik!"

This time she only needed it once. Milk. She could find milk. She looked in the less cold of the cold boxes and located the white liquid. She had to do this twice because Henry spilled the first glass (she realised she had probably filled it too full for a one year old) but he was delighted with her second attempt.

Until he vomited it all over the couch. But that was fine. Fine. Regina took yet another deep breath and mopped at the mess with tissues, but Henry was crying now and she gave up on that in favour of cuddling him, which worked, this time.

She wondered what they should do. She remembered the TV and found the wand that operated it. They sat on the floor under the one blanket that didn't have sick on it and Regina pressed the buttons until a play that seemed child-friendly appeared on the screen. Henry seemed content with that; he chewed on the ear of a teddy bear and they watched the play.

Regina let her mind wander, keeping an eye on the boy as she thought about what on earth they might do next. She also had the beginnings of an idea about how she might repay Emma, but she wasn't sure. It relied on a guess that might well be wrong. Still, maybe she would ask Emma tonight. The worst that could happen was that it wouldn't come to anything, and if that was so, she'd think of something else. She wasn't doing too badly, looking after Henry. He was happy and safe. Perhaps that would do for now…

She almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of the door.

"Hello," Emma sing-songed as she let herself in. She wondered how Regina had got on. She was hoping Henry had just slept-

She blinked.

The apartment was a bomb site. Actually, it was worse. A bomb site would have been tidy compared with the chaos that had once been her home.

The floor was covered with toys, books, and some of the clean laundry. The rest of the laundry was still on the couch, covered in puke (as were her book, newspaper, and couch cushions). There were other spills, and the place was littered with used tissues. Emma's eyes found the kitchen area, which also had tissues, wet wipes, apple bits, cutlery, and several plates and bowls, spread over the table and counters. The faucet was running, the milk carton was out, the refrigerator door was wide open…

"What happened?" Emma gasped.

Regina looked up serenely.

"We're fine - what do you mean?"

Emma tried not to explode (in a similar way that everything she owned already had, by the looks of things).

"What happened to my apartment?"

Regina looked around. "Oh, I… I was just thinking about Henry. I'll clean up-"

"No, don't bother," Emma snapped, closing the front door and going over to put the milk away, close the fridge, and turn of the faucet. She started picking up all the trash.

"Emma, I'll help you-"

"Sit down, Regina!" Emma shouted.

Henry had been drowsing, but this woke him instantly.

"Momma!" he exclaimed.

Emma carried on cleaning. She was mad. She didn't even know why, she just…

Regina sat on the floor, stunned, trying to entertain Henry as Emma moved through the room like a demented whirlwind, cleaning everything in her path. He pulled away from her.

"Want Momma," he said crossly. Regina let him go, slumping back, feeling entirely useless. She breathed in. Gods, what was that smell? Oh. She picked at the baby vomit in her hair. To use Emma's word, shit.

"What did you do in here?" Emma yelled from the bathroom. It came out more aggressively than she'd meant, and she hadn't meant it kindly.

Regina heard the yell, had no answer, and burst into tears. To think she'd been proud of changing Henry's diaper by herself. How could she have thought that she'd done well today? She'd barely kept Henry from screaming, she'd destroyed the apartment, she'd abused all of Emma's hospitality, and she'd expected credit for turning Emma's home into a catastrophe.

Emma came out of the bathroom and looked around for her son, who was playing happily, and Regina, who was-

Curled up in a ball in the corner, sobbing.

Emma froze. She replayed the last ten minutes. Then she replayed her first morning with Henry (when he had been in excellent health and unable to walk). Then she thought about Regina and her insecurities, about herself and her strengths, and about staying here. She thought about how she had sounded when she walked through that door, about every moment of communication, and then she was on the floor beside Regina, wrapping her arms around her and begging her forgiveness.

Regina tried to pull away. Emma let her, but didn't back off too much.

"I'm so sorry, Regina. I wasn't thinking, I was stressed but that's no excuse. You did so good, you really did, look how happy Henry is, I just… I was just an asshole, Regina, and you shouldn't be upset, you should be mad, at me. I'm an ungrateful, uh, peasant, and you helped me out so much this morning, you must have worked so hard."

Regina bit her lip. "You're wrong. You're not an asshole."

Emma shook her head. "I am. Just now, I was the exact definition of an asshole. You, on the other hand, are perfect and wonderful and amazing and please, please, would you forgive me?"

Regina leaned against the wall. "I… What am I doing?"

Emma reached her hand out, close enough for Regina to take. Regina paused, then accepted the gesture, entwining their fingers.

"Really, you did so well. I was way worse when I first had Henry. I love what you've done with his outfit, by the way, the red socks thing."

Regina managed a small smile. "I don't even know what the words on his sweater really mean."

"It's a baseball team,"

There was a pause. Then, "What's baseball?" in a very small, embarrassed voice. Emma laughed.

"A fantastic game, which I will teach you at the earliest opportunity."

"So… I can still stay?"

Nothing could stop Emma from hugging Regina this time.

"Yes, of course you can still stay," Emma said, tears prickling her own eyes. She moved back. "And you know what?" she added, looking Regina right in the eyes. "This is important, actually. You have to know… Even if I was still mad, even when I was, stupidly, mad, I still wanted you to stay. I will always want you to stay. No matter what I say or do, never doubt that."

"Do you really mean that?" Regina breathed.

Emma nodded emphatically. "I do, Regina, I swear to you. I will never stop wanting you with me."

Regina felt herself crying again. "I'm sorry, Emma, I just…"

"It's okay," Emma said gently. Henry pottered over to them, wanting in on the cuddle. They held him close.

"Pincess Dina sad?" he asked.

Regina stroked his hair. "No, darling. In fact, I think I might be the happiest I've ever been in my life."

BREAK

Note: I'm back. Thank you so much for waiting.