SORRY IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO UPDATE. LAST CHAPTER, I WAS SUPPOSED TO SKIP 2 MONTHS, BUT THE CHARACTERS HAD OTHER IDEAS FOR ME. IT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED, AND I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THAT. THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO MY HAMSTER, FLUFFY, WHO DIED LAST NIGHT.

DON'T OWN ONCE UPON A TIME.

James and Graham stood in the doorway to Henry's bedroom, watching as the teenager sulked about, oblivious to their presence. Finally, James cleared his throat and stepped in.

"Sorry Emma and I woke you up." Henry mumbled. Graham would have laughed if this was under different circumstances. The boy was clearly upset. Furious was a more apt description, yet he wasn't really holding a grudge against anyone but Emma, as she was the one who caused his distress. Maybe he had inherited his grandfather's temperament.

"It's fine, Henry."

"I guess you and Dad are here to yell at me." Henry took a seat on his bed. In the moonlit room, he could see both men shake their heads.

"I think your mom's done enough yelling for tonight." Graham said. "But I'm glad that you recognize what you did wasn't right."

"Is she okay?" He asked quietly, his eyes staring at his swinging feet.

"Emma?" James clarified. Henry nodded. "I stayed here to make sure you didn't take off, too. Graham might know." Poor Graham. Since being taken into the Charming Family, he got used to being put in the spotlight and having to make quick decisions that would affect somebody else, not just himself. Still, he was having a hard time coming up with an answer to Henry's question. Obviously, the boy felt guilty and didn't want to hurt his mother. Graham wasn't about to lie and say that Emma was fine, because she wasn't. On the other hand, Graham was pretty sure that Emma didn't want Henry to know that he had –and could– hurt her like he did. Graham looked at James, who looked just as torn as he did. The family really needed a disclaimer warning whoever was about to enter it would be challenged on a daily basis and just might be driven to insanity. Immediately, he felt bad for his unborn daughter. Henry was still staring at them expectantly, so they couldn't sidestep the question. Maybe they could just make him swear to secrecy?

"Henry, your mom, she's… complicated." Graham crosses the threshold and sits on the bed, too. "And that's without her pregnancy. Your sister's messing with her hormones, so she doesn't always react the way she normally would. You have to be especially careful about what you say to her. You have absolutely no idea what Emma has been through in her life. Not one of us can possibly understand what it's like to be her. She's trying so hard, Henry, to be a good mother and to keep those walls down so she can fully love us, but that's hard for her. When you react the way you did when she's doing what a parent does, it makes her second guess herself." So much for keeping Emma's secrets, secrets. "I know it seems like she has a ton of confidence, but she doesn't."

"She's been really good, Henry." James chimed in. "Do you remember when we first came her, how she'd take off at the first sign of love or emotions? How long's it been since she has?"

"A long time." He mumbled.

"Exactly. What we're doing is teaching Emma how to love and how to be loved. It's not easy, and neither is being a parent."

"I know it seems like she's being a hardass with you, but she isn't. You need to learn that you can't always get what you want and sometimes, even though it sucks, you have to make good decisions. Eating four pieces of cake might not seem like a big deal even though it wasn't a good decision, but when you're older and you have to make life or death decisions, you need to be able to make the right ones even if you don't get what you want because of it. That's what she was trying to teach you. Banning you from seeing Johanna for a week, it took a lot for her to do that. She hates hurting you. But you know what she'd hate even more? If you got hurt because you don't know how to make good decisions."

"I know." Henry sighed. "And I hate that I hurt her, I just got so mad and…"

"Yeah, about that." Graham scratched at the back of his head. "Can you not tell her that you know you hurt her? I don't think she wanted you to know that but I know you need to know so that you won't do it in the future."

"I won't." The teenager smiled. "I think that in the morning, after everyone's calmed down, I'll apologize."

"Great." Graham and James returned the smile. "I don't know about you, but in about five months no one's going to be getting much sleep for a while, so I'm gonna hit the hay."

"I second that." James said. "Night, Henry."

"Night!"

Henry was already up and waiting for Emma in the morning. Two plates of eggs, bacon, and English muffins sat on the table. He was nervously fidgeting with the sleeve of his red flannel pajama shirt. Emma padded down the stairs at 5:00, surprise and skepticism on her face when she reached the kitchen.

"Henry?" She said quietly so as not to wake her parents and Graham.

"I'm really sorry, Mom." Despite his best efforts, Henry was unable to keep himself from getting up and wrapping his arms around the blonde. "I didn't mean what I said last night. I was just mad and hurt that I disappointed you and I lashed out but I didn't mean any of it." He said all in one breath. Emma instinctively held him close.

"Oh, Kid, it's okay." She knew she should scold him for the disrespect he had shown her last night, but she didn't have the heart. "I know you didn't mean it. You have my temper, that's all." Maybe that was why she couldn't scold him; because she knew why he did it and she knew what was going on in his head at the time.

"No." Henry shook his head firmly. "It's not okay. What I did was wrong. I had no right to even compare my life now to what yours was like when you were sixteen. I know you're not the best at showing and telling people that you care about them, so sometimes it comes out wrong, but I know that last night you did what you did because you love me. I acted immaturely and I'm sorry." For the first time, Emma realized that their eyes were level. He was going to outgrow her any day now.

"And I'm telling you that you're a teenager going through puberty." She said quietly. "I'm not upset, Henry. Don't worry about it. Everything's fine."

"I love you, Mom." Henry wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you too, Kid. Now come on. I don't think even you can eat two breakfasts all by yourself."