Henry was a mere three days old when Regina brought him home from the hospital; an eight-pound bundle with a button nose, small enough to fit in the crook of her arm. Under such extraordinary circumstances, Henry was released to Regina's care far sooner than she'd been expecting. She'd assumed it would have taken weeks before she even got a home-visit, let alone the chance to bring the boy back to her small apartment just days after entering the world. Her time as a child in the system hadn't prepared her enough for when it was her turn to be the adult. She was flying completely blind.
The evening started out easily enough. Regina sat on her couch and watched anxiously as Henry slept in his carrier, still half-thinking that this was all just a dream. She marveled at his tiny fingers and small lips, and she listened to the soft sounds of his breathing. Every once in a while, she'd pinch herself to make sure that she truly was awake— that this was what her life now revolved around. Meanwhile, a box of diapers and several containers of formula sat in a pile on the kitchen counter and stared at Regina, as if challenging her. She didn't know the first thing about babies and the diapers knew it.
When Henry finally woke up and began to cry, Regina panicked. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in, and every single fiber of her being told her to fly. And yet, Regina found herself gravitating towards the newborn, her legs as steady as if she were tethered to the earth. As she lifted him out of the portable basinet, his petite fists waving in the air as he wailed endlessly, a calmness washed over her. Within seconds, Henry stopped crying. His eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at Regina. And as he stopped squirming, Regina swallowed hard at the curious eyes that looked back at her. Slowly, the corners of Regina's mouth spread from ear to ear. It was then, with Henry in her arms, that a sharp pang tugged in her chest; an overpowering swell of love filled her heart and spread from her fingers to her toes, and her heart restarted, now beating for two. It was in that moment that Regina knew she would do anything and everything for her son.
Now, as Henry made his second homecoming, much taller and much wiser, Regina recalled their first night together 11 years ago. Over a decade had passed, and still, Regina felt the same anxiety that she'd wrestled with all those years ago. It had come and gone over the years, though in the last few months, it had only intensified. With her anxiety came a helplessness that she had struggled to overcome.
When she couldn't fall asleep, and when all she could hear was Emma's heavy snoring from the living room, Regina gave into her insomnia and rolled out of bed. With her cellphone as a flashlight, she tiptoed down the hallway and into the living room, careful not to wake up either Henry or Emma.
At some point during the night, Henry had managed to turn himself around and lay his feet on Emma's lap, right where his head had been when he'd fallen asleep. Regina knelt down beside the boy and squinted through the darkness; she listened to his even breathing and gently stroked his hair. Her knuckles brushed against his forehead before she pressed her lips against it, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief when he showed no signs of having a fever. Although she couldn't see him too well, she suspected the color in his cheeks hadn't washed away. Henry was still going strong.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the sofa, Emma hadn't moved a muscle. She hadn't even taken her sweater off, even with the heat finally back on. Still upright in a sitting position, her mouth hung wide open as her head tilted backwards.
Using the most tender of touches, Regina pulled the pillow out from under Henry's ankles, flipped it over, and placed it beneath Emma's limp neck. Emma stirred slightly, and shifted in her seat, and just like that, her snoring ceased. Regina rested a hand on Emma's shoulder, and without thinking too much about it, she placed a kiss on top of Emma's head just as she had done with Henry.
"Thank you," Regina heard herself whisper.
When she'd received the reassurance she'd been seeking, when she was certain that Henry was all right, Regina started back towards her own room. And as she did so, she felt a calmness wash over her, just as it had the first time that she got Henry to stop crying. Sure, she was still anxious; afraid of when they would have to take Henry back to the hospital, afraid of all that could go wrong and all that had yet to happen. But, somehow, Regina didn't feel as though all was lost. Somehow, she'd managed to uncover a shred of hope that she thought she'd long since buried. Henry was home. He was safe. He was with his mom. Both of them.
And, as she pulled the blankets over her shoulders, rested her head upon her pillow, and closed her eyes, the last image Regina saw before succumbing to the exhaustion was of Emma and Henry. The two people she cared about most in the world. The two people she could never stand to lose.
A/N - This is a long over-due update on a story I care very much about. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to return to it, but I hope you can understand needing a break. And I hope that you all enjoy this short chapter! Much love to everyone who's still reading!
