"Slow down." Emma laughed at Henry over the heaping, hot fudge sundae that Ruby had just dropped off for them to share. His spoon darted quickly from the bowl to his mouth, his cheeks stuffed with three spoonfuls ice cream before she could get one.

"If I slow down, you'll eat it all." He replied matter-of-factly after a big, happy gulp.

"Hey!" She acted offended despite there being a kernel of truth to his statement. She playfully added with a jab of her spoon at him, "You've been hanging around your mother too much."

His mischievous grin faded at this and his eyes became fixed on their dessert, watching his spoon half-heartedly scrape at a scoop of vanilla. Emma's smile faltered as well, the forced separation from one another suddenly weighed on them heavily. From her fall out with Regina, this was perhaps the worst consequence. She'd had her heart crushed before, but pain was something she became accustom to living with. However, this hurt Henry too and that she found was something she couldn't live with.

"Hey," Her voice was so soft and buttery she was surprised it came from her mouth. Henry's doleful brown eyes looked up at her curiously and she offered him a smile though sadness tugged at the corners. "I know things aren't… good right now. But we just have to be patient and let the dust settle. Things will get better again."

Normally she would never say anything so positive. She wanted to rant and rave that bad things always happened and life is full of hard knocks so get used to it kid. But with Henry, the little boy who believed everything so ardently, she had to try and assuage the dishearten expression on his face, even if it meant telling him something she didn't quite believe herself.

"I guess." He sighed then furrowed his brow together and scrunched up his nose in the way he did when he was being very pensive. "Just… Emma, what happened with my mom? Did you guys fight? I thought you were being friends."

Emma leaned back in her seat, defensive walls slammed back up, like the heavy metal door of the social services van that she climbed in and out of so many times. The dull roar of the door rolling in its grooves and then the definitive clunk of it latching solidly in place always made her feel safe and guarded, at least when she was leaving a home. For the next hour or so she would be tucked away from the unknown with a caseworker who might buy her sympathy chicken nuggets and a milkshake. When she felt like she needed protected, her mind always summoned the sound as if to fortify her. Henry was still looking at her expectantly.

Now she sighed, "I don't know kid. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you want them to."

"But you'd made so much progress." He whined lightly. "Maybe if you just-"

"No, this is something that can't be fixed." Emma intoned firmly. Her wounds were still too fresh and vivid to even think about making nice with Regina. Her words however caused Henry to deflate even more, sinking into his puffy winter coat like a turtle receding into his shell. The blonde mentally kicked herself. Being a mother was hard. That was why she barely was one beyond title alone, a biological mother.

The term biological mother was thrown around a lot where she grew up. For some kids it was the ideal they clung to regardless of the reality of the situation; my real mom is coming back for me after rehab; my birth mother only has 8 more months in jail then she's coming for me. But for Emma she never had a concept of the woman who birthed her was. There wasn't a single fond memory for her to grasp onto or wish for in regards to this stranger. And so her biological parents were mysterious figures that she grew to resent. She thought this is how her son would come to think of her, but here he was wanting her to be so much more than a mother and she couldn't help wanting to try and rise to his expectation, even the ludicrous notion that she was some magical savior.

"Henry, listen, you remember when we talked a while back about making everyone happy, even your mom?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, it's a two way street. The other person has to want the happiness in return. And I don't think your mom wants my help, in fact she made it very clear."

"You also said that when my mom is scared she seems angry. Maybe she's just scared of the curse breaking."

The kid was too smart for his own good though his conclusion about evil spells was probably off base. She assumed Regina harbored fears similar to her own, wanting to keep her at a distance to protect herself from getting burned. The only difference being Emma had been stupid enough to ignore the defensive feeling that had served her so well in the past. "I did say that, and maybe so, but I can only tell her the truth and if she doesn't accept that then I've got to back off. It's not fair to her or me."

"What did you tell her? What made her so upset?"

"It doesn't matter now, okay?" Emma shook her head unwilling to bring their conversation to the forefront of her mind. "Sometimes the only thing we can do is to pick up the pieces and move on."

"Okay." He agreed glumly then added after a moment because he was never one to be deterred for long, "We'll just have to come up with a different plan for Operation Cobra."

"And we will. But for now," She looked at her wristwatch only to remember that the battery died two weeks ago. It didn't matter anyways as she crossed her eyes at Henry and put on a mocking stern voice, "We only have 13 minutes and 48 seconds left. Let's eat some ice cream."

He giggled at her ridiculous impression and she grinned. "And you can tell me about your new girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend." Henry looked truly horrified at the prospect.

Emma laughed quickly letting him off the hook. "Just checking. Let's keep it that way until your… 35."

"Fine by me." He grumbled at her unaware of what he was promising. He dug back into their melting sundae and Emma follow suite.

"Tell me about school." Emma prompted, knowing the boy would easily fill the space between them with words. Henry began chattering about his day in school in between bites, leaving her content to listen, only needing to intermittently give him some positive affirmation that he still held her attention. He truly was an amazing kid; smart and caring and so resilient.

Emma wished that his character was a reflection of her but she knew better. He was Regina's son whether he accepted it or not. He couldn't see how his eyes shone with the same bright intellect of the woman who raised him and how he was already developing her quicksilver didn't know that it was Regina who taught him to stand back up after taking a hit and ready for round two. He didn't know that she cared about him with the same intensity that he cared about his ideals of happy endings. He didn't know that he was her happy ending.

Henry started to explain the science experiment Mary Margaret had arranged for them, involving layering liquids with very densities but she only half listened now. Through the wide, front window of Granny's a figure walking down the sidewalk caught her attention. It was the shape of a person she would know anywhere, as if it had always ingrained in her memory. Regina was wrapped in her black coat like usual but there was something different about her outline. The brunette lacked her usual confident strut that she normally paraded down the street with. Instead she seemed withdrawn and tired, her hands burrowed deep in her pockets and shoulders hunched against the wind that howled down the main road today. She moved like she was slowly floating, as if a ghost, her dark garb like a shroud rather than a powerful presence.

Regina disappeared behind the blinds of the front door for a moment and Emma let the thought cross her mind that maybe this separation was more difficult for Regina than she had thought. She heard Henry saying, "Corn syrup was the heaviest. But not everybody got some because Ms. Blanchard caught Jason drinking it from the bottle. He got a stomach ache…"

The door chimed as it opened, the blinds rustled scandalized at being disturbed. Regina appeared in the entryway but didn't come inside, remaining silhouetted by the sunlight behind her, surprisingly shadowed despite the ambient lightness of the restaurant. In the brief time Regina was obscured from view, her fragile appearance had vanished and the steeled, square-shouldered mayor called to her son in her commanding tone, "Henry it's time to leave."

His head whipped around to observe his mother waiting expectantly for him. He turned back to Emma, imploring her to do something with a little pout. But she could only give him her best imitation of a reassuring smile. "I'll see you next time kid."

He nodded glumly and resigned, getting up to trudge over to his mom. Emma stared blatantly at Regina who pointedly ignored her, watching her son until Henry was passed the threshold and onto the sidewalk. She gave the blonde a fleeting glance. Emma hoped to see some indication of emotion but her enigmatic eyes gave away nothing.

The sheriff sighed deeply as the door swung back shut and the pair was gone. It didn't matter anymore how Regina felt about anything because they were done for good. Now she was no more than a shadow in the doorway.

"You okay Em?" Ruby suddenly appeared with a sympathetic tilt to her long frame.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her lips pulled back in mimicry of a smile.

"Speaking as someone who observes the full range of human emotion on a daily basis, people get seriously worked up when the meatloaf runs out, I would not put you in the fine category." Ruby pressed.

"The meatloaf is really good." Emma laughed then turned more serious. "Regina isn't letting me see Henry right now. I thought we had reached a good place, that at least we were tolerating each other but I was wrong. I was wrong about all of it."

"Regina has been the mayor as long as anyone can remember." The waitress unwittingly parroted the phrase Emma heard over and over since she'd arrived in town. Everything had been going on for as long as anyone could remember, which she supposed was just a small town quirk initially but it was bordering on ridiculous now. "And you're the only person I've known that can go toe to toe with her. I think you may have taken some hits but you'll be back in the fight soon."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She said though not entirely convinced. "But I don't fight anything right now."

"After going up against Regina, I think you could take on a dragon and win." The women shared in laughter and Emma found herself grateful for her friend. Mary Margret of course was warm and wonderful. She opened her home to Emma and felt like family she never had but could also be a little too serious and passive sometimes, contented or discontented to just let her little humdrum life happen to her. Ruby on the other hand was a little reckless, like being pent up in the tiny town was driving her wild. And she reminded her to laugh even when there wasn't much reason to. The woman lightly slapped her shoulder. "Hey come by tonight after we close up. I could use the company and I know where Granny keeps her moonshine. It'll take the hair off a werewolf's back."

"Sounds like fun." Emma said easily. "I'm in."

/

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