This story is dedicated to the amazing OncerSware(k)JateBazeGirlscout22. I got this (former) little one-shot idea from their story, 'Already There.' It's an amazing story and she is an amazing author! So you guys should definitely check her stories out:D

Disclaimer: I do not own the Once Upon A Time plot nor the wonderful characters or anything else relating to the show.

This chapter and the rest of the story is also dedicated to red lightning who gave me this idea that basically shapes the whole rest of the story:)

Emma and Henry sat on a bench looking over the docks. The both stared out at the water thinking and waiting for Snow to return from getting ice cream. Emma broke the silence. "Henry?" she asked.

Henry looked towards her away from the peaceful blue water. "Yeah Mom?"

"Do you love me?" Emma asked.

"Of course I love you! You came to Storybrooke and you stayed for me. You're the greatest thing that's happened to me," he told her smiling.

"So…are you happy with me here?"

"Mom, what's going on? You aren't leaving Storybrooke again are you?" Henry asked worried.

Emma laughed and ruffled his hair. "No Kid. I'm staying right here with my family."

"Then what's wrong?" he pushed.

Emma sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She gave Henry a somewhat false smile. "Nothing Kid. Everything is perfect."

"Oh…okay," Henry said letting it go, even though he knew his mother was lying. "Well, I was wondering, could you tell me a story?" he asked, then added, "Please?"

"Sure Kid. What story would you like to hear?" Emma asked smiling.

"One about my dad?" he pleaded.

Emma froze. Henry's father…Oh god no. Emma couldn't bear to think of the man she thought she had loved. The guy, her abusive boyfriend, who after a…eventful party, pretending to love her, when he'd hooked up with her best friend, and she was stuck pregnant…

Henry tapped her arm. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"Yeah Henry, just thinking… Um how 'bout I pick the story," she suggested.

Henry shrugged. "Okay." He snuggled close to Emma who wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Go for it!"

Emma took a deep breath and began. "Once upon a time, I was eighteen years old. I stared at the little pink plus sign, I was pregnant, I was going to have a baby… I was scared, worried, nervous as heck, but secretly excited at the same time. I wanted to be a mother Henry, I really did. But everyone told me otherwise, they said I was a no-good tramp and didn't deserve a child, they said there was no way on earth I would be able to care for you…but I shrugged it off, I wanted to be your mom Kid, more than anything in the world I wanted to be your mother." She paused and took another deep breath.

"Skip ahead a couple weeks to when I had your first ultra-sound. When the little picture of you came up on the screen, I started to cry. I was crying because I knew I wasn't going to be able to care for you.I knew that what everyone said had been true. I didn't deserve to have such a precious thing growing inside me. I would never be able to give you the life you deserved. But still, I shrugged off my own subconscious thoughts and said to myself. 'I CAN do this and I WILL do this.' The doctor gave me a picture of you that day, I put it in my wallet, and it hasn't moved since. Here," she said and pulled out her wallet. "Take a look Kid." Emma showed him the ultrasound picture that was behind her ID.

Henry's face lit up, "So all this time, you kept it?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah. Now it was about a month before you were born I got arrested. That was why I chose to do a closed adoption. I knew I had to give you up, but I didn't want you going into foster care, going from home to home with no one who actually LOVED you. I didn't want you to have to live MY life. And I knew I shouldn't have contact with you because, I thought you would hate me…" Emma's voice got caught in her throat and tears formed in her eyes.

"So I chose a closed adoption. After you were born, I got to hold you one time. I wasn't supposed to be allowed to hold you, but the nurse, she…she could tell I didn't want to doo this, that I didn't want to lose my baby. So she let me hold you. It…it was only for a few minutes. But Henry, those few short minutes were the greatest of my life. Kid…it was in those few short minutes I had the greatest internal war I'd ever faced. I didn't want to lose you." Emma paused and took a shaky, teary-eyed breath. "But I knew…I knew that I—just like your grandparents—had to give you your best chance. And that wasn't…it wasn't with me," Emma whispered as tears rolled down her face.

Henry looked up at Emma, his mother and touched her arm softly. "Mom, I'm not mad you gave me up. You were giving me my best shot. If you think about it, you probably wouldn't have ended up in Storybrooke if you hadn't put me up for adoption and the Evil Queen hadn't adopted me. So it's okay. I love you," he added softly.

Emma smiled and pulled him closer to her. She kissed his head. "I love you too Henry, I love you too."

They held each other tightly, cherishing every moment. Henry finally looked up and broke the silence. "What did I look like? As a baby I mean."

Emma laughed and kissed his forehead. "You had dark, dark brown hair like Snow's. A whole head of hair. You had James' blue eyes. Your…father's nose… And my ignorance."

Henry smiled, "So I was a pretty handsome baby?"

"If you think handsome is the word, sure," Emma said chuckling.

"I bet Henry was the handsomest newborn in the world," a woman said behind them.

Emma and Henry turned around to see Snow holding two frozen hot chocolates with cinnamon and a double-scoop, vanilla and chocolate, dipped waffle cone with sprinkles. "Is that for me?" Henry practically screamed.

Snow winked at Emma. "Nahh, Emma here's had a rough day right sweetheart?" she said with no hint of sarcasm in her voice while handing Emma the cone.

Emma imitated the voice of a five year-old, "Yes, Mommy," she said nodding, a pout on her lips. She took a lick on one side of the ice cream and licked her lips. "Mm! You want some Mom?" she asked trying to hide the smirk in her voice as they tortured Henry.

Snow giggled as she put down the hot chocolate she'd been drinking. "Don't mind if I do! Here Em, I got this other hot chocolate just for you!" Mother and daughter exchanged hot chocolate for ice cream and vice versa while Henry sat there in complete shock.

"Hey remember me? Henry? Your son?" he shouted.

Emma and Snow froze. "I think he's onto us Mom," Emma warned.

"Onto what? I just want to know why Grandma got me absolutely NOTHING from the ice cream shop!" Henry shouted and crossed his arms in anger.

The two women burst into a fit of giggles. "Here…Henry!" Snow said and handed him the ice cream. "It's…yours," she said between laughs.

Emma took one look at her son's surprised face and continued to laugh uncontrollably. "Someone's gullible!" she sang.

Henry stuck out his tongue. "I must get it from you," he countered and took a chunk out of his ice cream.

"Oh now you're gonna get it!" Emma shrieked. She lunged at Henry to tickle him but he jumped out of the way and ran around behind Snow.

"Grandma! HELP!" Henry squealed laughing.

Snow grinned mischievously at her daughter and Emma gave a brief nod understanding what Snow meant. Snow reached her arms around behind her and grabbed Henry by the waist. She spun him around to face Emma. "He's all yours Em."

"Why thank you," Emma said and began to tickle her son.

Henry giggled and tried to squirm out of Snow's grasp, which tightened. "Grandma, why are you helping Mom?" he asked between laughs.

"Daughter always beats grandson Kid," Emma told him and tickled him some more.

"Alright, alright! I surrender!" Henry hiccupped.

Snow released her grasp on Henry, who stumbled forward and fell towards Emma. She caught him in her arms. "Easy there, Henry."

"Where'd my ice cream go?" he asked realizing his hands were empty.

Snow chuckled, "On the floor. Don't worry we'll get you a new one."

"Sweet! Thanks Grandma," Henry said smiling.

There was a cough behind them. "Henry, why weren't you at Doctor Hopper's?" Regina's ice-like voice asked.

Henry's face went pale. "Uh…mom…my sessions till had another hour…" he said softly as everything became tense.

"Yet, you're still here. I was going to pick you up early for dinner. Did you leave you session with Archie to be with the Sheriff?"

"No, well, kinda…" he admitted sheepishly.

"We'll talk about this when we get home, for now, we're leaving," Regina said. She looked at Emma. "Sheriff Swan, I believe we just had this discussion earlier, stay away from my son."

"And I believe I told you Madam Mayor, that I do not plan on staying away from Henry, he is my son, not yours," Emma said, stepping towards Regina, her eyebrows lowering into a scowl.

Henry looked between Regina and Emma, he backed towards Snow who put a protective hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay Henry," she whispered in his ear.

"Sheriff, I am going to tell you one final time. Stay away from Henry. If you don't, I will make sure you do, so help me god," Regina spat. She and Emma were nose to nose.

Emma was fuming with anger. She clenched her hands into fists and tried to keep them at her sides. But her anger and impulsive behavior won over. She raised her right hand, still clenched in a fist, and punched Regina square in the jaw. "Screw you," she whispered and walked over to Snow and Henry.

Regina held her jaw for a moment. "Henry, we're leaving. Now." She stalked over and grabbed Henry's hand.

Emma and Snow both held onto Henry's shoulders. "He's not going anywhere with you stepmother," Snow said angrily. She froze and her face turned pasty white as she realized what she'd just said.

Henry pulled his arm away from Regina. "No…I-I'm not going with you…" he mumbled.

"Speak up Henry," Regina said frustrated. "You know how I hate the mumbling."

Henry raised his head high, the way a king would go to battle. "I said no. I am not going with you. I'm staying right here, with my real mom," he said confidently.

Regina looked taken aback. She looked Emma. "You really shouldn't have done that Miss Swan," she spat; she raised her hand and slapped Emma's face. "I'm getting back my son." She turned and stormed off.

"In your dreams," Emma muttered. "C'mon, let's go home."

And done:) Hey guys I am back! Finally...It's been crazy long and I've missed posting so much:) Now I know Emma seems real OOC from the cannon Emma, but this chapter and the next really shows her walls coming down.

~OUAT~

thistwinklingstar-I love the mother-daughter moments too:) so glad you liked it!

Aod4L-glad you like it:) and yeah fluff is the best!

OncerSware(k)JateBazeGirlscout22-well I'm back;) glad you liked it! And did you get my PM?

red lightning-glad you liked it! Hope you enjoyed this one and I hope I did your idea justice:)

Supernatural-Girl17-thank you so much! Hope you enjoyed this one:)

russianeyes718ouat7ncis-I was crying in this end as well! Hope you liked it:)

tate4eva-so glad you like it:)

crayolakid0413-yeah it's a little odd but she hadn't really had a family before so it just kinda seemed right to me:)

~OUAT~

32 reviews so far guys! Please make that number go higher;) 7 reviews on the last chap, if we get 10 I might give you guys a double update;) So I now exactly where the story is going and I've got the whole end planned out and I need to give a HUGE thanks to red lightning for that because if it weren't for her idea, i'd still be plowing ahead blindly:) And there WILL be a sequel! Now see that beautiful review button? Please push it!