Regina stared at the essay her son had turned in about his family. Since leaving the school, her thoughts had been on it. She took another sip of wine and reread a passage that had immediately stood out to her.

"My mom – that would be Emma, she sometimes forgets to take care of herself. Nothing major, it's just that she gets real busy sometimes during the day that she might forget to eat her lunch. The last time this happened, my mother – that would be Regina, noticed so she invited Emma to dinner that night to make sure she ate.

Last week my mother had a flat tire on her car and she called mom to see if she could pick me up since she was stuck. Mom picked me up and then we went over and mom changed the tire on my mother's car.

That is how they are – they take care of each other."

Regina tucked the papers away as she heard Henry entering the home. He had been away at a friend's working on a science project. "Hi," he said entering the kitchen. "How was the parent-teacher conference?"

"It was good," she said. "The teacher was very complimentary of your grades, although she thought you could use some improvement in math."

"Did Emma show up?"

"She did. She was late as usual."

Henry smiled, "at least she made it."

"Yes. Did they feed you over at the Andersons or do you need me to make something?"

"No, I'm good,"

She looked down where she had hidden the papers in a kitchen drawer. "Henry …"

"Yes?"

"Nothing, nevermind," she said.

"Ok, well I am going to go up to my room," he said.

As he left the room, Regina pulled the papers back out. She looked at them, and then picked up her cellphone and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Emma, we need to talk about this family tree project."

"We did talk about it."

"No. You laughed and said it was a misunderstanding and then left it up to me to deal with. Don't you think we should address this together? I mean did you read the essay?"

"Yes. It's not like he lied in it. We have done stuff with each other more often lately."

"That doesn't exactly equate to a relationship. A relationship which he clearly believes we are in based on how he ended the whole essay."

"Ok, maybe you and I should sit down and talk about how we want to address it with him. We could meet after work tomorrow at your office."

"That is agreeable. I will see you tomorrow."

The next day Emma showed up – on time she pointed out – to Regina's office.

"Thank you for coming," Regina said.

"Sure," she said, taking a seat in front of Regina's desk.

"I think we need to address this with Henry sooner, rather than later. I think if we sit him down and discuss with him that nature of how adults interact that maybe he will see that what you and I have is nothing more than two adults who are raising their son, and therefore it is only natural that we would have interactions."

Silence.

"Well, what do you think Miss Swan?"

"I read it over again last night, and again this morning and I got to thinking. You know when I was being shuffled in between foster homes growing up, all I wanted was for my real parents to come in and sweep me away from all that crap. And I could picture it clearly in my head – a mom and dad who loved me and realized it was a mistake to give me up, or else they were on the run from the mob and had to leave me behind for my own protection. As a kid in the system you think about these things. You want your parents to be together and to love you. Henry is no different. He wants his parents to be together."

"I can understand that. I mean I have no idea what that must have been like for you and I could say sorry because it wouldn't have happened if it weren't my actions, but I couldn't say sorry enough for it."

"I didn't bring it up make you uncomfortable."

"I know you didn't. I was trying to say that while I understand why you would feel that way, that isn't how Henry was raised. I raised him well. As a kid, he was so happy, and I could examine over and over again how things went wrong, or I guess you could say right since the curse was lifted and my son is still my son. I just … he has never asked me why I don't date or why don't have a man in my life. And maybe he thinks there is void there that needs filled. Maybe he wonders the same about you and that is where this is really stemming from."

"Why does it have to be a man?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said you think he wants to know why you and I don't have a man in our lives. Why do we have to be with men to fill that void?"

"Um … well … I just … well you said yourself you pictured your mom and dad," Regina said feeling uncomfortable with how the conversation was changing.

Emma's phone rang. "It's the station," she said getting up and answering it. Regina watched her as she talked and knew from her responses that their discussion was over.

"Sorry, I got to go," Emma said.

"Of course sheriff."

Emma took a step away then turned back. "Have you ever noticed that when we are in public or having a formal talk you call me Miss Swan or Sheriff Swan, but when we are alone or with just Henry you call me Emma? Maybe you should think that over Regina and think about why Henry might think we have a close relationship."