Henry woke up the next day under a fur that had apparently been put on top of the blanket during the night. The rumbling in his stomach made him realize the hadn't had anything to eat the day before when they'd brought them food in the makeshift cell.

He dressed and decided he'd find some food and his mom and see what the plan was now, but he immediately found himself in a central room with a book wooden table where the dwarfs were eating and animatedly talking and his grandparents were sitting on one end. "Henry, good you are awake. You should come and get some porridge before the boys eat it all."

"My mom..."

"I brought her some already but I want to talk to you." She admitted and slide aside on the bench.

He hesitated but his stomach was grumbling and when he sat down Granny came over and set a bowl in front of him with what smelled like cinnamon and some fruit on top. It almost felt like home. If home involved more caves and the dwarves with really big ears and noses.

David sat down on the other side of him, a stone fruit in his hand and a knife he was using to cut it. "Do you mind if we ask you some questions."

Henry hesitated again, "Mom said we should avoid changing the timeline..."

"Can you tell us how you got here?"

"A big time portal thing..."

"Time travel isn't supposed to be possible. The Blue Fairy once told me it was one of the three laws of magic."

Henry shrugged, "My family tends to do the impossible." He said a bit proudly looking at both of them.

"And... Regina is your mother."

He nodded.

"You know who she is right?" David asked carefully, looking over at Snow.

"She used to be the Evil Queen... but she's changed. She's a hero now... she ..." He stopped speaking though he wanted very much to brag about how she'd broken the curse with him and saved the town and defeated the Wicked Witch. He'd wanted her to be a hero for so long now she was and he couldn't say how.

David raised an eyebrow and looked over at Snow.

"She doesn't seem as mad and lonely as I remember her... know her," she said carefully, "How..."

Henry shook his head. "My mom said that we can't change the timeline. That we could accidently make it so that I won't be born. Which I... I'm pretty sure would suck."

"Do you always do what she tells you to?"

Henry shifted, "No. But I've seen Back to the Future a dozen times."

"What?" Snow asked confused.

"It's a movie."

"What's a movie?"

Henry shrugged, "Hard to explain."

David shook his head but decided to plow on to the real question, "Where did she get you, Henry? Do you have a family out there."

Henry tried very hard not to laugh, "She's my mom. She raised me she didn't kidnap me. And I have family. A lot of family."

"Interrogating a child without his parent, how very in character for you, Charming."

The voice cut through the room and everyone was silent. The Queen, or this version of her, was standing in the doorway, a hand on her stomach but looking neat and tidy in a way Snow never managed when sleeping rough.

"You were suppose to ..." Snow spoke...

"Keep pretending you can hold me? Doesn't that seem like a bit of a waste of time? Henry and I need to get moving so that we can get home." She put a hand on his shoulder and sat down between him and David.

David inched away from her with a frown on his face. The dwarfs watched her intensely but she ignored them. "That looks good Henry. You should eat it up. Cooking is hard work here and Widow Lucas has probably been up hours making all this food."

He looked up, "Thank you, Granny."

She gave Regina a long stare before smiling at Henry, "It's no problem young man. A few other people could stand to learn manners too, though maybe not from the Evil Queen." She left the room after giving Grumpy a long look.

Henry looked up at his mom, "You have an idea how to get home."

"Yesss..." She said quietly. "But it's dangerous."

"Of course it is." David said glancing at Snow.

"And it doesn't require you people to help," she said, "Just get out of my way. Interacting with you is bad for the timeline."

"Mom, I think that's probably a ship that has sailed," Henry added.

She smiled a little, "Probably. But we need to break into my castle and I rather doubt anyone here wants to help with that anyway."

"I would." Snow said.

"No, it's far too dangerous." Both Regina and David said firmly before looking at each other like some dark magic had occurred.

"Then it's settled. I'm going with you. Now what exactly are you trying to achieve and how do you know you won't get caught by your younger self?"

Regina raised an eyebrow and shrugged at Charming, "I wasn't wrong when I said she was a headstrong brat. Even she'd admit it. At least at some point in her life."

David wasn't sure what was more disturbing, the teasing banter from the Evil Queen or the fact that his love wanted to go with her. "Can we back up to you agreeing to this?"

"No," Snow said evenly. "Now how do you know you won't get caught and what are you after."

"There is a fairy wand in my... her possession... that should be able to recreate the magic that took us here to bring us home. Rumplestiltskin can probably help too but nothing in my life has been made better by a deal with the Dark One. As for knowing I won't get caught I don't. Which is why you shouldn't come with us. But with luck my younger self isn't likely to be home."

Snow nodded.

"Because she knows where she'll be." David said soberly. "And isn't doing a thing to save the people she's killing."

Regina closed her eyes and bit her lip. "The shepherd isn't wrong. I remember what I was doing after you woke from the kiss. After you refused my exile offer I went on a rampage. The people never loved me and you..." She inhaled. "To answer your question David. I can't save them. You can't undo your own sins. You can only live with them as I have learned to live with mine. From my point of view the people she's killing now are already dead."

"That's cold. And you aren't even sorry."

She tilted her head, "When did I say that?"

Henry squeezed her hand, and Snow announced, "We're riding at sundown for the Winter Palace."

"Wait a minute..." David said.

Snow raised an eyebrow, "I don't know how long it will be before I get to meet this version of Regina but I'll be damned if I'm not going to make sure I get as much time with her as possible."

Regina sighed, "I never could get you to listen to me, Snow."