"Thanks for letting me tag along with you guys." Emma said with a smile, her eyes were fixated on Henry, who was running a couple of feet in front of them. "It really means a lot after... you know."

Regina looked sideways and then nodded. "Yes, I do." She buried her hands deeper in the pockets of her coat. It was a cold day for March.

"Henry! Don't go so fast, kid! You're mom is slow!" Emma playfully yelled when Henry was about to turn the corner on Main Street. The brunet only grinned as he turned it. "But I'm hungry!" He yelled behind his back.

Regina chuckled. "He so got your genes."

Emma playfully bumped the brunette's shoulder. "Now now, I'm not so sure about that. Yesterday he gave me a look when I was trying to steal one of his French fries off his plate, I swear if looks could kill."

"Do you recognize anything from Neal in him?" Regina decided to ask about the thing she and Emma had been tiptoeing around for the better part of two days. But when she saw Emma's smile drop immediately, she regretted it.

"Not really, well besides the hair."

Regina and Emma said nothing as they rounded the corner also, only to almost lose their footing when they saw Henry... and Neal.

"Henry?!" Regina and Emma both yelled as they quickly made their way to the boy.

"Emma." Neal smiled slightly when he saw her. He then turned his attention to the brunette next to her. "Hi." He said politely as he reached his hand forwards. "I'm Neal Cassidy."

Regina had composed herself rather quickly and shot the man a polite smile back. "Regina Mills, the Mayor of this town." She quickly put a hand on Henry's shoulder in protective manner. "I'm also Henry's mother."

Neal nodded in understanding and pushed his hands in his pockets. "Yes. He just ran into me so I wanted to make sure he was okay. You have a great kid, Madame Mayor."

"I'm aware of that, yes." Regina snapped, the fact that the man was Henry's father was not a free ticket to her friendship. Not to mention what he had done to Emma, leaving her alone to rot in jail.

"So, how do you know Emma?" Henry asked suspiciously as he narrowed his brown eyes.

"Ehm." Neal stuttered as he scratched his neck sheepishly. "I met her when I was in Portland. I had a.. car business there."

Emma was fighting the urge to roll her eyes. That must've been the most stupid answer he could've given. Henry was a curious kid, not to mention way too smart for his age. A trait he must certainly have inherited from Regina, somehow.

"So was Emma already pregnant with me back then?" Henry asked enthusiastically. He wanted to know more about his birthmother's past seeing that Emma didn't like to talk about it. Come to think about it, none of his parents liked to talk about their pasts. "Oeh, did you know my father. He was a firefighter and he-"

"Henry that enough questions for today!" Regina quickly interrupted before this could go any further, though by the look on mister Cassidy's face, it was already perfectly clear. "I'm sorry mister Cassidy, but my son and I were supposed to go to lunch."

Neal only nodded as he was still processing the news. His face had gone completely white.

"Are you coming, Emma?" Regina asked.

Emma swallowed visibly as she shook her head. "N- no I think Neal and I need to talk."

Regina nodded understandingly and shot her a comforting look. "I'll call you tonight."

"Yes, that's fine."

...

"Emma." Neal said once the Mayor and her son were out of earshot. "It's not true isn't it?" He started pacing. "That can't be. Henry is the Mayor's kid, she said so herself. So he can't be my son, can he?"

Emma took a deep breath to calm her furiously beating heart. "Yes. It's true. Biologically he's yours. But let's not forget that he's Regina's son. She raised him, so he's hers." She looked around and noticed some people were staring. "Look, let's not do this here. Let's go the the appartment, my parents are not home."

"Parents?"

Emma closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes, Snow White and Prince Charming. It's a long story, alright?"

...

The walk back to the appartment had been short, but awkward. They hadn't said a word to each other. Neal was trying to process that he had a son - or as Emma put it, Regina had his son - and Emma was wondering about how she was going to explain this mess that was her life.

"So, how the hell did my son end up with Mayor Regina Mills?" Neal asked again as they were both seated at the dining table.

Emma sighed aloud. "First of all, again, he's Regina's son. Let's start by the beginning, alright?" Emma waited until he nodded before continuing. "When you left me to go to prison." Emma held her hand up when she saw he was about to interrupt. "No, let me talk then you can ask questions. So, when you left me to go to prison, I found out it was pregnant. But I knew I was in no place to raise a child so I gave him up for adopting."

"Adoption?!"

"Let me talk! Damn Neal, just shut up for a moment, will ya?" Emma growled. "Ten years later he came to my appartment in Boston and claimed that his hometown was cursed. I think you know all about that don't you? Seeing that your father is Rumplestiltskin."

"Yeah, I know about that. The curse was cast by the Evil Queen, right?"

"Yes it was. Turns out that Henry's adoptive mother, Mayor Regina Mills, is - or rather was - the one and only Evil Queen."

Neal's eyes widened. "Seriously?! You left our son with the Evil Queen?!"

"She has changed, for Henry." Emma sighed as if she'd told that sentence a million times already. Which in fact she has. "So to make a long story short, seeing that I'm the Savior and the daughter of Snow White and a Prince Charming, I broke the curse. Me and my mother fell in a portal and ended up in the Enchanted Forest. I don't exactly know how it happened seeing that I was trapped in fairytale land, but somehow doctor Whale, who's actually doctor Frankenstein, brought back Regina's true love Daniel, who had been killed by Regina's own mother, Cora, so she she could marry the King, Snow's father. Regina brought us back but Cora followed, turns out she was the Queen of Hearts and she had actually been heartless. Like litterally, without a heart. But she put it back and know she living with Regina on probation. Oh and Regina's pregnant with Daniel's child." Emma gave a deep sigh. "I think that's about it."

Neal was staring at her with shock still evident on his face. There was a pregnant pause as he tried to get all the information in. "So you're saying that our son is living with the pregnant Evil Queen, her dead slash alive lover and the former heartless Queen of Hearts?"

"Neal have you even been listening?! Henry's perfectly safe with his mother, his father and his grandmother!" Emma growled as she clenched her hands into tight fists.

"I'm his father." Neal insisted again.

"No you're not. Nor am I his mother. Now I'll warn you, Regina may have changed, but if you come near Henry without her permission, she will harm you."

...

"So how did it go?" Regina asked as she put the phone to her left ear.

"Not so well, I told him everything but he seems to be convinced that he has some sort of right to Henry." Emma said with a sigh. "But I made it clear that you will go all Evil Queen on his ass if he came near Henry without your permission."

"Well done, dear." Regina said with a small smile.

"So did Henry ask about him?"

"Yes, though I don't think he knows yet. I said it would be best if we both talked to him, together." Regina said as she gripped the phone tighter in her hand.

"Yes that's good. Great."

"Emma, it's all going to be alright. He won't be mad." Regina tried to sooth.

"If only I could believe that."

...

"He kid, I'm sorry I missed lunch yesterday." Emma tried to say the words with a smile, but it didn't quite work, resulting in a smile so fake even Henry could easily see past it.

"It's alright, you needed to talk to your friend." Henry said with a grin as he turned around and walked back to the living room. Emma following on his heels.

"Yeah. That's what me and your mom wanted to talk to you about."

"Some tea, Emma? Or coffee?" Regina asked as she saw the blonde enter the living room.

"Tea would be nice." Emma answered nervously.

Regina nodded as she turned around to pour herself and Emma a cup of tea. She slowly waddled her way towards the couch and put the mugs on the table.

"Thanks."

"So." Henry spoke up as he dropped down on the couch. "Why do you want to talk about your friend?"

Regina sat down next to Emma and smiled at her. "Tell him, Emma. It's alright." She whispered.

Emma nodded and then turned to Henry again. "Ehm, you remember when I told you about your dad, Henry?"

"Yeah, you said he was a firefighter." The boy grinned.

"Well, you see kid. That friend you saw yesterday, Neal. He's..." Emma stopped talking, she really didn't know how she could tell Henry this. That his father wasn't the heroic firefighter Emma had made him out to be. Instead he was a low live thug, who stole cars in the streets of Portland, Oregon.

There was a tense silence in the living room of the Mills' mansion, while neither of the three people said a word. It was eventually Henry, who again proofed he was too smart for his age, that broke it.

"He's my dad, isn't he?" The now young looking boy asked as tears filled his brown eyes. "You lied to me!"

"Henry, please calm down sweetheart." Regina tried when she saw Henry's chest heaving with frustrated breaths.

"I'm so sorry Henry, but I didn't want to dissapoint you." Emma almost begged. "Please, I did it to protect you, I'm so so sorry."

"You know I hate it when people lie to me."

"I know, I'm sorry Henry."

He just shook his head as he jumped up from the couch. "I- I just need some time." That were his last words as he ran out of the room, his feet beating down on the stairs when he made his way upstairs.

Emma slumped back in the couch with a defeated look on her face.

"I'm sorry Emma." Regina said softly. "I'll try talking to him, alright?"

Emma nodded softly as she stood up. "Yeah, sure. Thanks Regina but I need to go."

...

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