A/N- Ok, I'm a filthy liar, this chapter is not the Kathryn background chapter, but I pinky swear that the next one will be all Kathryn.
Kathryn could hear the tears before she saw them. She pulled out her key, taking a moment to prepare herself to deal with the waterworks sure to meet her. Henry didn't cry a lot, but when he did it was these large alligator tears and heaving breaths that neared hyperventilating.
When she pushed open the door, Kathryn had to hold back a chuckle. Henry was on the floor, holding tight to Regina's leg with tears rolling down his cheeks. Emma was tapping her foot with her arms crossed sternly from down the hall.
"Hen, you need to let go of Mommy now."
"No!" He only clung tighter, if possible.
Regina for her part was entirely silent, she had the most conflicted expression Kathryn had ever seen.
"Henry, this is ridiculous. We'll be back in a few hours and Mommy will go upstairs and sing you a lullabye."
Kathryn was shocked, she had never seen Henry have such an issue when his mother's were leaving for a date night.
"Henry, you're a big boy now and you have to start acting like it." Emma warned.
Regina, though, looked close to tears herself as she just patted Henry's back in sympathy, "He's afraid that I'll forget him."
Emma huffed, and Kathryn just grew more confused how could the dean forget her own son?
"He knows you won't."
"Don't leave!" The boy cried pathetically through his tears.
"That's it." Emma swooped in and grabbed Henry, pulling him off of Regina's leg and depositing him still crying in Kathryn's arms, "Let's go Regina. Henry, we'll be back in a few hours and when we are, Mommy will sing you a song."
With that, Emma took hold of Regina's wrist and urged her wife to head towards the door. Regina pressed a kiss to her son's floppy brown hair before finally leaving.
Kathryn was still stunned with the boy in her arms. Once the door clicked shut, his wet cries subsided to hiccups and he wiggled to be put down. Rather than ask what had just happened, Kathryn rolled with the apparent change in attitude.
The rest of their evening was slightly more subdued than normal, but at least there were no more tears. Kathryn put him to bed at his normal time, though he did try and sneak down in the middle of the night to wait for Regina to return.
When the women did, Kathryn took her leave quietly, still woefully in the dark.
"My sweet boy." Regina cooed, perching on the edge of Henry's bed.
He stirred just enough to roll over and nestle into her, "I love you, baby." She promised. Emma watched from the doorway as Regina leant over and began singing quietly to their son. She bowed out and went to wait in their bedroom.
It was about twenty minutes later when she felt the bed dip next to her, and Regina curl up into her. Emma rolled over to hold her wife, "I hate picnics." Regina said.
The blonde laughed shortly, "Me too."
"God, that day was a disaster."
"We should just come clean already."
Regina burrowed herself closer into the blonde, "Not until you get tenure, I don't want them to have any reason to fire you."
Emma sighed, "Fine, but no more social events with the staff of the university."
"Deal."
Emma breathed in the comforting scent of her wife's shampoo and remembered back to the week before they had hired Kathryn, to the day they were almost found out. There was a university wide picnic to celebrate the end of first semester, Emma was planning on bringing Henry so that the rest of the English department could see him (they hadn't seen him in nearly a year) and Regina was planning on avoiding the picnic like the plague.
But things never go according to plan.
"I just need President Bottomly to sign this form allowing my TA's to get credit for the hours they worked over break." Regina half growled at the secretary guarding the door to the president's office.
"She's at the picnic on the green."
"Well can you call her?"
The secretary had worked at the University ever since Regina was a student, and she didn't take shit from anyone, "Well can't you just go down there and ask her yourself?"
Regina shot her a death glare before turning on her heel and stalking from the office. Resigning herself to the innevitable, Regina went out to the picnic, hoping to be able to find President Bottomly quickly without running into Emma and Henry.
But things never go according to plan.
With the president in her sights, Regina walked across the crowded green as fast as one can in four inch heels and a pencil skirt. She was blindsighted by a small whirlwind.
"Mommy!" Henry yelled as he crashed into her legs and begged to be picked up.
Feeling the heat of the eyes of the entire english department on her, Regina dropped down onto her knees. It seemed as though all of the professors were holding their breath, waiting to see how the uptight, cold dean would respond to being attacked by a 'random' child.
Regina looked over her son's head, hoping to catch the eyes of her wife, and finally seeing the blonde running across the grass towards her.
"Hello, who are you, handsome boy?" Regina asked her son, sweetly, hoping that using one of her nicknames for him would ease Henry's confusion. It didn't.
"Mommy, I-"
"Henry!" Emma cut the boy off, grabbing him and swooping him up to hold on her hip, "Did you run into Ms. Mills?"
"No I-"
"Let's go Henry." Emma turned, bouncing Henry, and shooting an apologetic look over her shoulder at Regina, trying so hard not to notice the heartbroken expression on her wife's face.
That night, Henry was convinced that Regina had forgotten who he was. It took a week of Henry sneaking into their bed in the middle of the night, and he reached the height of his 'Mommy's boy' phase until he believed that Regina didn't forget about him, but he was still plagued with occasional doubt.
A/N- I couldn't resist, somebody asked what was up with Henry being such a Mommy's boy and I came up with this! Promise, up next is Kathryn!