Having a baby with Jefferson was out of the question. He'd already proved himself to be a horrible father. His intentions may have been good, but he should have known better than to take Regina to Wonderland and abandon his daughter.

Besides, she didn't love him—and she didn't want to share her child with anyone.

That was what led her to Henry, her precious little boy. At first, she would admit, it had been difficult to adjust to motherhood, and giving him away would have been the biggest mistake of her life. Instead, she'd kept him—and realized that the only way for them to both be happy would be to forget the Evil Queen altogether.

As she brewed the potion with what little remained of her magic, she told Henry a story.

"Once Upon a time there was a queen, and she cast a glorious curse that gave her everything she wanted. Or so she thought. She despaired when she learned that revenge was not enough. She was lonely. And so she searched the land for a little boy to be her prince. And then, she found him! And though they lived happily, it was not ever after."

Almost done, now. Henry had started to fuss but she'd managed to calm him down. Even if he did cry, he was a good baby. He'd be a great son—she just hoped that she could be a good mother.

" There was still an evil out there lurking and then queen was worried for her prince's safety. While she knew she could vanquish any threat to the boy, she also knew she couldn't raise him worrying. No, she needed to put her troubles aside and put her child first. And so, the queen procured and ancient potion of forgetting."

Henry started to fuss again, and she stopped to tickle his feet. The potion was done now, all that needed to be done was to drink it.

"Oh! It's alright. If the queen drinks the potion, she won't forget her child, she'll only forget her worries, her troubles, her fears. And with those gone, she, and her prince, can indeed, finally live happily ever after."

She smiled and brought the potion to her lips.

"That's a nice story."

In an instant, her lips were drawn into a thin frown and she was turning to the doorway, where Jefferson stood with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, thinking that perhaps she shouldn't have broken off their—whatever it was—through a letter. How had he even found her? Had he followed her?

"I should be asking you that." Jefferson took a few steps forward, and Regina moved in front of Henry. "I thought you didn't have magic."

"I don't." She growled, intent on protecting her son, and their future.

"I heard you. You're going to erase your memory." Jefferson's eyes narrowed.

"You can't stop me." Regina sneered, tightening her grip on the tiny bottle in her hand, trying not to show how nervous she was. She should have thought of this—even if she'd followed her plan, Jefferson would know and wonder why she didn't know the Mad Hatter anymore.

"I won't. Not if you listen to me." He looked more dangerous than she'd seen him since The Enchanted Forest, and it had her on edge.

"What do you want?" She drawled. They were both looking as cocky and confident as she could. Even though they'd known each other intimately, he was still a hard man to read. She was worried—she knew what he was capable of.

"Share it with me."

"There's only enough for one."

"How do you know?" He asked, madness trembling behind his eyes. Jefferson wasn't even trying to hide how close he was to the edge, and that more than anything was frightening.

"You don't deserve to forget."

"Neither do you." He drew out the words, and she felt an unwelcome and unexpected pain in her chest. Maybe it would have been better to leave her heart behind in Fairytaleland.

He wasn't wrong.

"If you let me forget, I'll leave you alone. I won't know you. Not really. You'll just be the pretty girl in high school I never got to third base with."

"You'll just be a boy I used to know." She loosened her grip on the bottle slightly. "If I don't give it to you, you won't leave Henry alone will you?"

"No. I'll destroy you both."

They both knew that he meant it.

"Together, then?" There wasn't deception left in her, not when she truly wanted to change for her son. Perhaps one good deed while she was still the Evil Queen would help to start her relationship with Henry off right.

"Together." He agreed.

xxx

Jefferson Maddon stared at Regina Mills and they both wondered what he was doing in her family vault. A baby started crying, and he rushed to pick up the infant.

"Be careful!" Regina snapped, obviously wary of letting a drug addict hold her son.

The anger in her face vanished when the baby stopped crying immediately.

"How did you do that?" Regina marveled, placing her hands on Jefferson and Henry, half-supporting her son even though she didn't need to.

"I…I've always been good with children." He said as if only just remembering. "I just haven't been around one in awhile. Not since my parents passed away and the rest of my family left Storybrooke."

"Well, at any rate I'll take him back now." She placed Henry in his car-seat and picked it up, pausing and looking at the man she'd last really talked to before they left for college. "…I'm sorry, but I can't quite remember why I've brought you here."

"Neither can I." Jefferson admitted, looking uncomfortable as he glanced at her father's tomb. "I…I wanted to ask you something, I think."

"Well? What was it?" She asked, resting the car-seat on her hip, eager to get out of the musty crypt. The air couldn't be good for infants.

"I can't member—how odd." He managed a smile, and stepped back to let her through and up the steps. "But," As she passed him to go up the stairs, Jefferson took a deep breath. "We could talk about it over coffee if you'd like. I could calm Henry down again if he gets upset."

"I suppose that's acceptable." She agreed to the invitation without a thought.

xxx

Ten months and four days later, it's been three months and eight days since Jefferson has abused his prescriptions. He's continued to calm Henry down, and has found himself having dinner with Regina and her son at least three times a week for several months.

Henry, much bigger than when Regina first brought him home from Boston, has been put to bed. Jefferson is finishing up the dinner dishes when the mayor comes up behind him.

"You don't have to do those." She laughs, and he finds himself smiling.

"I want to." He insists, turning to face her with his hands still covered in soapy dishwater. "It's the least I can do."

He's not sure why, but they're both laughing a little. Regina's face is flushed. At first he thinks it's the wine, then he realizes how close they are.

Mayor Mills and Mr. Maddon kiss for the first time, and the clock-tower starts to move for the first time in seventeen years.

xxx

Henry is ten years old, and has decided that his mother is the Evil Queen. There's no other explanation for the way that she is, and the book that Mary Margaret gave him makes more sense than anything Regina has ever said.

He's found his birthmother, and she has to be the savior. She'll be able to break the curse. Henry's not an idiot—his mother didn't raise him that way, if nothing else. He knows that it's far-fetched, but he believes and that's enough.

As he shoulders his backpack and prepares to leave the house, he hopes that his mother isn't home.

There's something he's forgotten, but it doesn't cross his mind what that is until a hand on his shoulder stops him from leaving the house.

"And just where are you going?" Jefferson asks, and Henry freezes.

"Nowhere."

"Nowhere with a change of clothes and your toothbrush?"

Henry grits his teeth. He doesn't understand how Jefferson can love his mother—according to the book, he's the Mad Hatter. According to the book, he has more reason than most to want his mother dead.

"Nowhere." He repeats.

"Henry." Jefferson says firmly, and the child gives up.

"She's evil!" He turns to face the older man, his eyes wide. "Why can't you see it!"

"Do you think there's ever been a boy your age who didn't hate his mother for at least a little while?" Jefferson sits down on one of the steps that leads up to Henry's room, and gestures for the freckled boy to join him.

"It's not like that!" Henry insists. "She's not my real mom, anyway! I don't want her, I want Emma!"

Jefferson's brow furrows and he looks genuinely hurt. Henry doesn't realize why at first, and then horror creeps onto his face.

"I didn't mean—"

"If Regina's not your mother, does that mean I'm not your father?" He asks.

Henry, for his part, can't remember a time when Jefferson and his mother weren't together. They've only been married for a few years. Both of them insisted on waiting until Henry could give his permission. That didn't change that Papa had been his second word, right after Mom, and he'd said it as Jefferson put him down to bed.

In fact, his mother's love for Jefferson is one of the only things that's made him hesitate in his quest to find Emma Swan, his birth mother.

"Of course you're my dad!" Henry blurts out. "But—"

"But if you're really having that many problems with your mother, let me talk to her." Jefferson puts an arm around his son, and Henry—frustrated tears in his eyes—hides his face against his stepfather's chest. "…but don't run away from your family, Henry. For my sake."

Henry Maddon-Mills mutters a promise into Jefferson's coat, and he never goes to Boston.