Title: Home Is Where The Heart Is
Fandom: Once Upon a Time
Characters: Emma Swan, Regina Mills, Henry Mills, Captain Hook, Walsh, Snow White, Prince Charming, Granny, Zelena, Robin Hood
Category: Romance, Angst, Drama, Memory Loss (I mean, it's Once. According to canon it's not possible to write a story without memory loss.) Canon Divergence AU
Rating: M, for swearing and such
Word count: 57,406 (total)
Summary: Emma Swan is no one's fool. She's certainly not going to drink the strange liquid that the creepy Ren Faire Reject that's been stalking she and her son is offering her in the middle of the street - even if they are in front of a police station. So what's a girl to do? Nothing but go home and get engaged to the great guy in her life. And everything is pretty amazing until her son disappears without a trace. Then she has to go track him down in some tiny town in Maine populated by the strangest people she's ever met and a woman her son has unexpectedly bonded with.
Spoilers/Timeline: For Season 3, beginning with "Going Home"
Author's Note: Many thanks to Oparu for the beta and Race for the suggestions. This fic is better because of them.

Check back tomorrow! I'm trying for daily updates. :D

A shrieking howl rent the air. Henry jerked and stumbled against his mom. That sound was terrifying enough that even wrapped in the safety of her arms, his instinctive reaction was to flee. Regina steadied him and moved around him in one smooth motion, putting herself between him and the door before she pushed it shut. Her fingers trailed down his arm with a backwards glance at him as if to make certain he was still there as she stepped toward the door and locked it, top and bottom.

"It's okay," she said, turning back to him. "There are wards around the house. Nothing can get it." Regina said it tentatively, as if she were worried about his response. It was probably the magic thing. They hadn't really had time to talk about it after Neverland and before...before...Henry wasn't ready to think about before yet. This was now and he was so glad to see his Mom.

He shot her a teasing grin, looking up from beneath hair that was getting a little too long and floppy. Mom would have had it cut already. Emma… well, it was okay. He liked it like this for a little while. "I did."

"You," his mother said with a tentative smile and a brush of her fingers beneath his chin. "Can move through any ward I set."

There was something else she didn't seem to be saying and Henry considered it for a second. He'd heard of blood magic, but… "Because I'm your son."

Regina nodded, once, firmly and decisively. "Precisely." She shook her head, sniffing but not blinking, and wrapped her arms around herself. "Henry, how are you here? Where's Emma? How did you find us again? I know my magic worked when I sent you away. Didn't it?"

"Not happy to see me?" Henry asked, the tiniest tug of old insecurities rearing their head at her questions.

"Henry," Regina breathed holding her arms out to him again. He stepped into her embrace without hesitation. "Of course I'm happy to see you, my darling boy. I never thought I would see again." Her voice hitched with ragged pain, still raw and fresh. One hand came up to cup the back of his neck and hold him closer. The scent of hair was so familiar and long absent that his heart ached.

"Mom," he sniffed and then ducked his head to rub his nose on his shoulder. "I missed you."

"You couldn't remember me," she said softly as if trying to break it to them both gently.

"I know," Henry said. "But there was a part of me. I knew something was missing." He shrugged. "I just thought it was my dad, but when I thought about it that never felt right. Emma was always-" he stopped and bit off that thought. "Well, I guess, I thought I used to think…" He furrowed his brows. "It's confusing having a whole other set of memories."

"You still remember them?" Regina asked with surprise.

"Yeah, all of them," Henry responded. "Shouldn't I?"

"Well, it means the curse that was on this town hasn't been broken." Regina said, the distracted tone of her voice indicating she was working through this even as she spoke. It made Henry feel grown up that she would talk to him this way. Before she would have tried to protect him. It had always ended up hurting him worse than telling him the truth. She focused on him again, her dark eyes intense. "How did you get back here? Outsiders shouldn't be able to come back in. There haven't been any since we came back."

"Did you curse the town again to bring it here?" Henry couldn't stop the question spilling out of him. He'd been dying to know the answer since...well, since New York City when his memories had returned. "But," he said, backing away a little. "You couldn't have, right? Because...because I was here." The thing you love most. It felt too embarrassing to say that, a little scary. What if that wasn't the reason.

"That's right," his mom agreed and Henry could breathe again. "We don't know how we got here. No one remembers." She sighed. "But I would imagine it has something to do with the master of that hell beast out there."

"What is it?" Henry said. He didn't doubt his mother's magic, but he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at the door to make sure it was still standing between them and whatever was out there.

"I'm not certain. I haven't heard anything like it before and no one's seen it. No one," she amended, "that has come back to report of it. There are people missing."

"Oh," Henry said, feeling the excitement that had been welling up in him at the thought of a new adventure drain away. "Are Grandma and Grandpa-"

"Fine," Regina said before he could even finish speaking. "I made certain of it myself." She looked down, not meeting his gaze. "There are wards on most of the buildings in town now."

"Awesome," Henry said, not having to feign his grin that time. "That's great, Mom."

"Yes, well." She cleared her throat and he caught a glimpse of the pink that tinged her cheeks. "I cannot believe Emma would have let you out of her sight? Where is she?"

Henry grimaced and then tried to give her his best, bright smile. Maybe because it had been so long since she had seen him… "In the city?"

Regina's eyes narrowed. "Which city?"

"New York City?"

"Henry Daniel Mills," Regina drawled out as she took a step forward. "Does Emma know you're here?"

"No," he said with a grimace that made it sound more like a question. He continued in a rush of words, like water tumbling over a damn. "But, Mom, she doesn't remember. Hook kissed her but it didn't work. She didn't remember anything. She kicked him out of the apartment." Henry grinned. "She kicked him and told him to get out and stop harassing her. I don't know what happened after that. I was spending the night over at Avery's - his mom took us out for pizza - and then in the middle of eating I just remembered. All of it. Maybe Hook slipped something in my drink?" It wasn't the craziest idea. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but someone had walked past the table, jostling it when they bumped into it just before Henry had started to remember. He had been in the middle of an in depth discussion with Avery about how to level up in the game they were playing together and he hadn't looked up. But maybe he'd caught a glimpse of a leather coat out of the corner of his eye? Hook never took his off.

Then when his memories had come crashing over him, it had been too overwhelming to notice. He'd rushed into the bathroom and thrown up an astounding amount of barely chewed up pizza and soda. It was so gross. Avery's mom had sent Avery in there to check on him. Henry had waved him off with as much manly stoicism as he could muster, still stunned and more than a little embarrassed. When he'd managed to shove down his embarrassment and come out of the bathroom, he had told Avery's mom he wanted to go home. Avery had shot him a disdainful and disappointed glance, but his mom had ruffled Henry's hair and given him a warm and knowing smile before telling him that of course she would take him home.

Avery and his mom had walked him up to his door and waited until he let himself in. The apartment had been quiet and the lights muted. Henry had wrinkled his nose at the thought of why that might be and called out, "Em-" He caught the now unfamiliar name on his lips, almost too late and changed it mid-word. "Mom?"

"Henry?" Emma's voice had come back a second later, muffled but there. Her head shot up from where the back of the couch concealed her from view. One side of her sweater was hanging off her shoulder. "Kid? Are you okay? I thought you were spending the night at Avery's?"

"Yeah," Henry said quickly, surveying Emma with far more attention to detail than he usually did. Had it just been him or had she remembered too? "Yeah," Henry repeated, with more strength and certainty this time. "I just came by to pick up something I forgot." He waved at the man who had sat up next to Emma on the couch. "Hi, Walsh."

"Henry," the man gave a friendly wave, his good cheer plain from the sparkle in his eyes. He didn't even seem perturbed by the interruption. "Having a fun night?"

Henry swallowed hard, knowing that Emma had accepted Walsh's proposal. She wouldn't have done that if she remembered. She would have come and found him, brought him home immediately. But there was nothing. Emma didn't remember at all. It had been up to him. "Yeah, Avery's mom took us out for pizza." He patted his backpack, hanging off his shoulder and down at his side. "I'm just gonna go-" He pointed in the direction of his bedroom and fled. Henry's brain was racing, but he did his best to think as he shut the door behind him. Quickly he threw clothes into his backpack, more than the pair that had been there for his overnight trip, and grabbed up a few more necessities. The last thing he grabbed was the credit card Emma had given him for emergencies. It was only in the last six months that she had started letting him stay at the apartment alone if she was going to be a little bit late coming home from work, and she'd given it to him if he needed to grab the occasional pizza or something. Now he needed for something much more important. She'd be pissed until she remembered. He'd have to deal with that when the time came. He had slipped it into his back pocket when the door opened and Henry whirled to face it.

"Mom." He hoped he didn't sound as guilty as he felt.

"Henry," Emma stepped inside the room and shut the door behind her, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned back against it. Henry's heart pounded. Did she know something was wrong? Had he triggered her superpower somehow? "I told him yes. You knew I was going to, but I know it's a lot, kid. It's just been you and me for so many years. It's weird." She shrugged helplessly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Relief drained through him so powerfully, Henry felt weak in his knees. "Absolutely, Mom," he said, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm really happy for you." He tried not to think about how badly this was going to ruin things when she found out about Storybrooke. He needed to convince her everything was fine so he could go. "I really did need to get some stuff. I was hoping Walsh hadn't gotten here yet. I was gonna try to get in and out quick."

Emma laughed. He felt it vibrate against his rib cage. "Walsh came over early. He couldn't wait."

"Poor guy," Henry muttered.

Emma snickered. "None of that, kid." But she didn't let go of him. Henry reveled in the feel of his arms, safe and secure around him. His skin was almost tingling with the need to get back to Storybrooke, but there had always been apart of him that wondered what life with Emma would have been like. He couldn't say he didn't miss his old life with an ache that was already tearing at his heart, but he was glad he knew now.

"I should go," Henry said with reluctance. "Avery and his mom are waiting for me downstairs."

"Okay, Kid," Emma said, letting him go with one last squeeze. She watched as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. Henry tossed Walsh one last wave, but hesitated as he opened the door. He knew he couldn't falter now or Emma would realize something was wrong and that was the last thing he needed, but... He glanced back at her and smiled. "Love you, Mom." He tried to toss off the words as casually as he could so he wouldn't make her suspicious, but he wasn't sure he had succeeded until the door had closed behind him and there was no sound of his footsteps following him.

Henry had forced himself to walk until he was out of the building and around the corner. Then he had broken into a run, only stopping to get cash from an ATM. Finding people was what Emma did, but now he didn't want to be found and the first thing she would do would be to look at his credit card history. It was what she had done before after all.

"After that," Henry explained to his mom. "I took the first bus towards Maine that I could get on and then found one that took me to the nearest town to Storybrooke." He shrugged, knowing she wasn't going to like his answer. "I walked after that."

Regina's brow furrowed. "Henry, that was incredibly irresponsible, not to mention dangerous. You should have called me. I would have come and picked you up."

Despite the chastisement, Henry felt lighter than he had in hours, in the almost thirty-six hours that it had taken him to get to Storybrooke via bus. "I didn't know if you'd remember," Henry admitted, voice choked with emotion. He tried to grin, but his throat felt tight and strained. "But next time I'll call first."

Regina seemed to appreciate the ridiculousness of the situation as well as he did. "Very well," her lips pursed but twisted upwards in a smile. "Next time." She pulled him close again and held him tightly in her arms.

"Mom," Henry said after a long moment. "Do you think I could go up to my room and sleep for a while? I'm so tired." There was a part of him, now that he was back in Storybrooke, now that he had seen his mom, that wanted to know everything, but that part was muted by the exhaustion that seemed to have seeped into his very bones and left his legs feeling leaden. All he wanted to do was sleep until his mom had made it all okay again.

"Of course, Henry," his mom said. He did his best to ignore the emotion in her voice too. She kissed his forehead. "Your room is just the way you left it."

Henry laughed, grateful for the distraction. "Unmade bed and all?"

His mom froze against him. "Yes, Henry." The weight of those words tugged at his heart. She really hadn't changed anything. She had left it exactly as he had. It made him happier than he could have imagined.

A loud, pounding knock at the front door startled them both. It kept going, not letting up. Regina frowned and stepped away from him easing him out of the immediate line of sight from the door. "Wait here," Regina said and strode forward. Her back straightened and Henry could almost see invisible armor slipping back on. He wondered if the people of the town had been harassing her since they had been back, if they blamed her. Regina paused from a moment in front of the door, took a deep breath and then swung it open. "Yes?"

Even in the dim light, Henry could see the faintest outline of a red leather covered arm. "Where the hell is my son?"