Okay, folks. I am so incredibly sorry for skipping last weekend. I teach dance and the two-day dance recital was that weekend, along with my birthday. Last week was just terribly crazy. Thank you for putting up with me and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Not my characters.


(2 months later)

"Mom!" Regina stirred in her sleep thinking she had felt Henry call for her. She shot up in bed when she felt that tug again, desperate and frightened. The outlaw was startled awake at the sudden movement of Regina. He couldn't understand why she was so suddenly awakened and assumed it was a nightmare. Before he could lay his hand on her back to sooth her, she turned to him with terrified eyes and shook her head. "Help us!"

"The boys." Leaving Robin with only those two words as explanation, Regina immediately puffed out of her bed and appeared in her son's bedroom with a sharp gasp at the sight before her. "Don't move," the queen calmly told the frightened boys. Henry had Roland curled into his side with his face hidden by his tiny hands. Somehow, she was able to hear Robin sprinting toward the room over the sounds of her own voice in her head telling her what she should do. Someone throwing the door open and making too much sudden noise would scare the vipers and cause them attack. She thinks about it hard and glues Robin's feet to the floor out in the hall, silently apologizing.

Regina looks around, spots the chest that houses the two snakes and calls it over with her magic. As soon as one of the vipers shot forward at the kids, she poofed Henry and Roland out of the room to Robin. The poisonous creatures' faces smacked into the headboard of the bed while Regina let her anger take over her. The queen imagined the fire that was currently residing in her eyes, going into the beasts that threatened her children. Yes, she considered Roland her child. She had certainly loved him as one. Raising the vipers off the bed, she felt the fire leave her body and noticed that the threats were starting to smoke and hiss. Regina let out more of the fire she was trapping inside and the snakes were squirming mid-air, starting to smell like something she would have cooked over the fire back home in the forest. That's exactly what she was doing, though. Cooking the violent creatures from the inside out, as she would do to anyone who tried to harm her children.

When the snakes stopped their movements and hisses, she guided them to the chest that they had come from, locking it. She shook the anger from her body and let the worry return as she threw the bedroom door open and met her loved ones face to face. She released Robin's bare feet from the floor and ran to them. "I'm sorry, I didn't want the vipers to react in a fatal way," she explained quickly. Regina turned to the boys and kissed them both on the cheeks, "Are you both alright? You have nothing to fear anymore, they're gone." Henry embraced his mother tightly as Roland clung to his father's neck and cried.

They all made their way back to Regina's bedroom and the boys settled in the middle of the king sized bed. "I need to talk to Robin for a moment, you will both be fine in here. Nothing is going to happen, and if you get scared, we will be right outside the door. I promise." Henry nodded his head and wrapped his arms around the younger boy as they walked out of the room.

"What the hell happened? Why were there vipers in Henry's room? I know you wouldn't allow such a dangerous pet in your house." Regina ran a hand through her hair, "Of course I wouldn't, and those aren't just any vipers, those are the very snakes that killed Henry's great grandfather." Robin's eyes widened, "Leopold? You still have those creatures?" She closed her eyes at the guilt she felt, "I had them down in my vault with everything else that was brought over with the curse. Henry has snuck down there before and come across them. He knows now not to mess with the chest that held them. Which makes me wonder, who the hell tried to kill our children? I will not allow this to go without consequence, Robin. I will find this person and I will make them pay for this."

The thief pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back, "Love, I know how you are feeling, but don't let some idiot make you fall back on your old ways. We will capture this evil, and we will make him or her pay for their wrong in the right way." Regina buried her face in the crook of his neck, "I know, I know. I was just so scared when I saw those vipers so close to them. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't hear Henry calling for help." Robin pushed her back a bit to look into her eyes, "Yes, why didn't I hear him? Even after I was awake, I heard nothing." The woman shrugged, "I don't know, he was smart enough not to yell out, so I guess he started calling out for me from the inside. He must have some magic deep inside him for him to be able to speak to me telepathically." He pulled her back to his chest, "Well, I'm just glad that he did. Be not troubled, my love, we will find the bastard who did this."

When they reentered Regina's bedroom, the boys were still huddled together, Roland pressed into Henry's chest with tearstains down his face as he slept. Henry looked up when they walked in and put a finger to his lips to tell them that his pseudo brother was sleeping. Gently, they climbed in on either side of the bed and scooted close to the boys, wrapping their arms in a protective gesture around the two between them.


Granny's was fairly empty the next day. As soon as they walked in, the Charmings waved them over. "You sounded frantic on the phone, what's happened?" Snow looked the group over. "Henry, how about you take Roland over to get some hot chocolate at the bar?" Regina suggested to her son.

She turned back to Snow when Henry and Roland were out of earshot, "Someone placed the vipers that killed your father in Henry's room while the boys were sleeping. If I hadn't felt Henry calling for me..." She left the end of the statement in the air.

Snow gasped, "Who would do such a thing?!" Emma's motherly instincts shot through her, "And how the hell do we find them?" The blonde's anger turned to confusion, "What do you mean you felt him calling for you?" The older brunette looked up, "I think he may have some sort of magic deep inside him. He called out for me telepathically and I felt a pull that woke me up. It's nothing we need to worry about right now." Emma looked surprised. David finally spoke, "Where are the vipers now? I knew I should have killed them when Henry found them the first time." Regina cleared her throat at the realization of her son getting into danger multiple times because of her. "They're dead. I sort of cooked them from the inside out, much like I would like to do to whoever did this." Emma stood, "I second that. Let's go then!"

Robin grasped her wrist and softly pulled her back down, "As much as I'm sure we all would like to find who did this, we have no idea where to start. We need to think this through." Emma sat and nodded, "Okay, you're right. Do you have any enemies?" At Regina's scoff, she rubbed her hands over her face, "Right, stupid question. Let's make a list of those who still don't trust you, along with anyone that is against you, Robin." The couple nodded their heads, "Well, there's Blue, but she wouldn't risk the kids' lives. Then there's Whale, King George, all of the people that I still have their hearts," she looked back at Robin, "And there are also those who don't approve of our relationship." She looked out the window, "I should really return all of those hearts." Robin put his arm around her, "We can worry about that after we take care of this."

"I think Blue is off the table. She's definitely a bitch, but she isn't a psychopath. How many hearts do you still have, Regina?" David asked. She looked down, somewhat ashamed, "52." Emma choked on her coffee, "You have 52 hearts that you have yet to return?!" Regina gave her a hard look, "Well I've been sidetracked and no one has even mentioned it. I know it's terrible, but I promise we'll return them all as soon as we find this person with a death wish."

Emma shrunk, "I'm sorry, that just kind of took me by surprise." Regina sighed, "It's quite alright, I understand." She looked up in the blonde's eyes, "Do you have any ideas about whom this could possibly be?"


Little did they know, that as they were beginning their investigation, the very person they were searching for was sitting across the diner in the corner. "Would you like more coffee, Sir?"

The man looked away from the discussion taking place and up to the waitress, "No, thank you. I believe I've gotten just enough."


You know what motivates me :)