Not Enough: Part 5
By Arianwen P.F. Everett
Regina felt upbeat as she walked from her car to Granny's. She was meeting Henry to go over his questions for the five women they had narrowed their list down to. She also needed to confirm her catering order with Granny. When she first spoke with her attorney, Regina had insisted that the women be single, have a good work ethic, and significant financial resources, but as her mother always said, 'Gold makes you wealthy, but demonstrating style and grace, that's the true mark of a lady.' A small spread of food and drink would be an excellent test of these women. Cora's biological grandchild would be raised by a true lady and would never want for anything. She would honor her mother that way. She just hoped she and Henry would agree on the final selection.
"Miss Lucas, are the platters ready?" Regina asked, the werewolf waitress having approached the edge of the counter the moment Regina walked in.
"Yep. Just give me a minute to get them packed up for you," the younger woman answered, heading back into the kitchen.
Seating herself at the counter to wait for her order, Regina could only sigh when Sheriff Swan entered the diner and stalked straight up to her. "You're breaking Henry's heart. You know that, right?"
"Miss Swan, I'm doing the best I can under very delicate circumstances. And need I remind you that it was Jake who gave Henry false hope about the baby. That's why I've removed him from my life as of last night when he came by to collect the last of his possessions. I wanted to keep it all quiet, to keep Henry far away from this mess, but Jake was the one who put him center stage. Now we both have to deal with Henry's disappointment," Regina replied, fighting her anger with the man who had dragged her sensitive son's heart into all this in his desperate attempt to fight for a baby he'd not even known existed a week ago.
"Yeah, well, he loves his kid," Emma defended. She couldn't help feeling compassion when it came to a man who'd do anything for his child, even if a part of her knew Regina was right and he'd tried to use Henry to manipulate Regina's emotions to his own ends.
"He loves the idea of his kid, Miss Swan. He loves the idea of a family of his own. Someday he'll have a child with a woman who wants to make a home with him and he'll be a great dad. Today he's just a guy who's been crushed by the cruelty of existence. Believe me, I know the feeling," Regina corrected, her mood falling even further as she remembered the pain in Jake's eyes last night as he loaded the large gym bag filled with his belongings into his van. He'd seemed so lost that she'd wanted to hug him, but she knew that impulse resided in the past. He was no longer a cherished friend but a scored lover and holding him to her in comfort would send the wrong message. Regina had always hoped that when they eventually broke up she and Jake would remain friends. That was obviously not what fate had in store for her. No matter, she'd lived friendless most of her life and she knew the script by heart.
"No, he loves his actual kid. That baby isn't some imaginary thing; he's Jake's son and he has a right to raise him. I'm the Sheriff; I have to uphold the law!" Emma stated firmly, allowing Regina to understand this wasn't a social visit. Jake was making a legal claim to his baby.
All of a sudden Regina let out a deep, bitter chuckle before turning savagely on Emma and drawing the full attention of diner patrons. "If you gave a damn about the laws of this realm, Sheriff, you'd return Henry to my home and remain at least 500 feet away from him at all times! While Jake has a paternity test and a birth certificate, those are only the tools he'd need get a judge to listen to his plea for custody, in Augusta, miles and miles over the town line, which, for him, might as well be the moon! I have a legal adoption decree, I put in over 10 years of hard work to raise that child into a strong and healthy boy while you were off tracking down your fellow deadbeats, and yet you still keep my son from me! So don't you dare go spouting such hypocritical drivel about your charge as Sheriff! Until you stop cherry picking the laws you'll obey and those you'll ignore, I don't recognize your authority in these matters!"
"I'm doing what I have to do to protect Henry!" Emma shot back, not taking this from Regina today.
"Protect Henry? You're the one who told your parents that when it came to me there was one certainty in life and that was my willingness to protect Henry at all costs! And yet, you haven't moved an inch on permanently reuniting me and my son! You still allow him to call you 'Mom'; what, Emma's not good enough for you anymore?! The truth is that you love Henry too much to give him away again without breaking your own heart in the process, just as you loved Emma too much to make the sacrifices you would have had to make to keep him when Henry was a newborn! You truly are your mother's daughter; your promises mean nothing when honoring them will interfere with your own whims! I'm the one protecting Henry by not having you hauled back to prison for custodial interference and kidnapping! Henry would be working on his master's degree by the time you were even eligible for parole! But then, I'm willing to put aside my rights and my needs for Henry's happiness! I've forgotten more about protecting Henry than you're even capable of understanding much less have the strength to carry through with!" Regina growled, enraged at every word that fell from the blonde sheriff's lips.
Emma took a step back and considered her next words before she said something they'd both regret. She knew Regina had a point, but that point hurt like hot pokers, so Emma retreated to her immediate objective. "Look, your devotion to Henry isn't in question. I'm here about Paul; Jake plans to take custody of him, and the law says he has that right."
"The law also requires him to personally appear before a judge to claim that right, which as we've previously established, he can't do without having half his memories ripped away. That leaves me free to have the infant adopted. Really, I have tried everything I can think of to make this easier on Jake. I've listened to his frustration and pain and never fought back no matter how personal or cruel he became. I've even asked him to assist Henry and me in choosing the family to adopt, but he'd prefer to sulk and stir up resentment against me. That's his right too, I guess," Regina shrugged matter-of-factly, her previous rage dwindling.
"Regina, why are you so hell bent on seeing Paul adopted when Jake wants to keep him? He would probably sign away any right to child support, just to keep his son, so why not let him?" Emma asked, her skin nearly crawling off her bones with the sense of wrongness she felt at any child being given up when there was a loving parent around to raise them.
"Because I want the baby… Paul, to be happy, and a life surrounded by magic will steal any chance he has of that. I wasn't out of the hospital half an hour, not even 30 whole minutes, before Rumplestiltskin came sniffing around, asking about him. If I could I'd give him to Jake and walk off into the sunset with my Henry, but that's not possible. Even if I never changed a single diaper or helped him with his homework, to ensure his safety from magic, I'd have to diligently remain in the background of his life. As I explained to Henry at the hospital, Paul just isn't worth the effort for me," Regina explained, knowing this was unlikely the last time she'd have to do so.
"You know for someone who just lambasted me about choosing my own future over Henry when he was born, you're being quite hypocritical doing the exact same thing to Paul," Emma commented as she watched Ruby ring up Regina's catered tray.
"I never condemned your choice to put yourself first. You were a teenager with little education and a felony conviction on your record. You had little opportunity as it was without a baby in tow. My problem is with the way you allow Henry to believe you gave him away for selfless reasons. You have no problem parading my sins before him, but keep your own to yourself. I, however, just don't have the heart to tell him he was a burden to you back then, that your giving him away was a means of freeing yourself, not… how did he put it, giving him his best chance. That is where your hypocrisy lies, as well as my superiority as a mother. Good day, Miss Swan," Regina finished, picking up her paper bag and leaving the diner and a self ashamed Emma Swan.