Chapter 20

Rory flinched as she came in the front door. She heard Henry yelling from the driveway. She waited to come in until his bedroom door slammed shut. Unfortunately, she didn't wait for Regina's study door to also slam. This meant that when she crept in the door, Regina was staring at her with arms crossed looking like a demon at her.

"Hey babe…" she smiled brightly, hoping to ease the woman down a bit from her fight with the boy.

"Do not hey babe me. I know you have been standing out there waiting for him to finish screaming at me before you came in." Regina stood staring at her like she had been the one who started the damn fight. "It would have been really great if you could have come in and helped me deal with him."

Rory stared at the floor and stuffed her hands in her pockets, "yeah… I probably should have. But, then he would've just started yelling at me for helping the evil queen do evil shit or whatever. I really hate when he yells at me and calls me by my whole name."

Regina sighed and stormed off to her study, leaving Rory to suffer alone. She poured a glass of her cider and downed half of it before finally taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself. Rory wasn't to blame here. That pixie haired spoiled brat Mary Margaret aka Snow-fuckshitup-White was to blame. If she hadn't given him that book this never would've happened. Nevermind the question of how that book got into her town to begin with.

Rory tried to help at first, but the deeper Henry got into that book the worse he got. He had decided that she was the evil queen and Rory was Lorelei, probably based on her status as mayor and Rory's general appearance. He had also somehow gotten it in his head that Lorelei was some kind of immortal dark knight that defended the queen without question. She snorted at that one. The day Lorelei stopped questioning her was the day she died. Then again, Lorelei would probably find her in the afterlife to ask her why she thought dying was a good idea.

She wanted very much to read that book to figure out why he got things so twisted, but he kept it hidden somewhere usually. Yes, she had been the evil queen, but he didn't seem to understand how she got there or what Snow White did to her. He thinks that Daniel actually attacked her and Snow saved Regina by putting him to the death. Worst yet was that he thought she wanted to be the evil queen and that she murdered entire villages for sport.

She downed a second glass and sat on her couch to settle. Rory would be in before too long to try and chill her out. She would eventually bring her down, but Regina wouldn't make it easy.

Rory sat and ate a sandwich in the kitchen while she made a second peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She finished hers and downed a good two shots of the secret bourbon she kept in the pantry, then took a deep breath. She grabbed the second sandwich and made her way quietly upstairs. She would deal with the tiny demon first, and then the big one.

She knocked on the boys door softly and opened it slowly, prepared to dodge flying objects. That happened sometimes. When nothing hit the door, she held the sandwich into the room like a white flag of surrender. It took about 30 seconds but finally, little hands snatched it from her and she waited a few more seconds before finally stepping in the room.

Henry was sat on his bed, angrily chewing his sandwich. "Hey boy… don't choke."

Henry rolled his eyes and around a mouthful of sandwich said, "I'm not 5, you don't have to tell me not to choke anymore."

"I know you're not 5. When you were 5, I wasn't scared of you." Rory told him as she sat beside him.

"You're not scared of me. You're not scared of anything or anyone. You're immortal."

"K."

Henry finished his sandwich and turned to look at her in the eye, "Lorelei, you are a siren."

She grabbed his face in both her hands and told him in a stage whisper, "whatever you say doorstep demon baby."

He was laughing then and batted her hands away, "you'll see. I'm gonna get the savior and break the curse."

Rory stood and brushed the bread crumbs off him and onto the floor. She physically turned him upside down and rolled him around a bit until he was right in his bed, then covered him up. "The savior huh? Does he have a pink afro?"

Laughing, Henry settled into his bed, "probably not, and also, the savior is a girl."

"I see. Well, does she have a massive rack?"

Henry slapped his forehead and sighed, "not age appropriate ma."

Rory winced. She was really bad at age appropriate. He had gotten good at reminding her. "My bad. Okay, well, when the savior shows up, I will let her know not to mention her rack." She smiled at him as she turned off the light. "Night boy."

"Night ma."

Rory made her way down to the study. She detoured to the pantry and hit the bourbon just a little more. Then, she braced herself and stepped thru the study door.

Regina had turned on some low music to try and distract herself. She was mostly thru her third glass of cider and feeling much better for it. She heard Rory close the door and then she sat next to her, putting a gentle hand on her knee. She sipped her drink again and shook her head slightly, "what did I ever do to him? Did I mess up somehow? Am I a bad mother?"

Rory squeezed her knee reassuringly, "no, you're a good mom. I'm a bad mother, so I can tell the difference. He's just being an ass because of that book."

Regina giggled in spite of herself. She meant to be difficult, but the cider had relaxed her. "Do not call him an ass, that's not age appropriate dear."

Rolling her eyes, Rory crept closer, putting her arm around Regina's shoulders. "It doesn't count if he isn't within earshot."

Regina let herself be held by the woman. "It does count. I just wish he'd stop with all of this curse nonsense."

Shrugging, Rory held her tighter, assuming the war had been won. "Well, I imagine once he finds the savior and realizes she can't save anyone, he'll let it go."

Regina pulled back and stared at her, "what savior?" Rory looked around as if trying to find where that just came from but Regina pressed harder. "Rory, speak! What did he say about a savior? Does he think he knows where the savior is?"

Covering Regina's mouth with her hand, Rory finally got a word in. "Woah! He is batshit crazy babe. Chill. I have no idea who he thinks the savior is. All I know is he is sure it's a girl and they don't have a pink afro."

Regina groaned and fell back into Rory's side to be held. "You are the worst spy ever."

Rory pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head, "absolutely."

They held each other for a while since it was Thursday night. Tomorrow, Rory would be at the bar until 2 or 3 and Regina would be asleep by the time she got home. Saturday was better, but it still resulted in Rory getting home at 2 or 3 to a sleeping Regina.

…..

"Henry, I do not care if you think I am Godzilla, you will be in bed by nine!" Regina yelled up the stairs as Henry slammed his door shut.

Mary Margaret winced as she heard him scream back, "the evil queen is worse than Godzilla!"

Regina hit her head against the door while thinking a whole long list of insults she could not yell back at her ten year old son. "Miss Blanchard, have a good night, and no more god damn fairytales. I'm coming home late, and probably drunk. If you need anything, text Rory?"

Mary Margaret nodded, "okay, no problem."

….

Regina was more than happy to sock poor Ruby right in the mouth tonight, she didn't even waste it at the door this time. She let the woman sit next to her and waited for her to spew venom before she punched her right in the teeth.

She had a massive grin as Rory saved her just in time to avoid getting hit. Then she followed them out and managed to hit her again before she kissed Rory. She then had a short make out session with her girlfriend in the alley way before dragging her back in and downing two more drinks.

Rory was watching her carefully, she wanted Regina to blow off some stress, but didn't want her to go around hitting anyone else.

At the end of the night, Rory helped the stumbling Regina back to their home, which was far more difficult than getting her simply upstairs. Once she wrangled her into their bed, she promptly had her hands full with satisfying the physical needs of the woman. She did grin every time Regina got good and drunk though, because now, it was totally okay to take advantage of her drunk girlfriend. So long as they woke up together, Regina wouldn't be mad at all.

….

Regina sat up as the Sunday started. She smiled at the new week means no hangover feeling she had. She heard the shower start up and decided to get dressed and get Henry up so they could all go have breakfast.

Rory shut off the shower and had just dried off when she heard Regina scream her name from downstairs. She went racing, naked, down to her and looked around wildly for something worth screaming about.

Regina grabbed her and shook her a little, "Henry's gone!"

…

Regina was losing her mind with worry, she had scoured the town and he wasn't found. She had the sheriff and half the town looking, but then she got a hold of Mary Margaret who had been walking out of the sheriffs office as Regina was walking by it.

"Have you seen Henry?" Regina sked her. She knew it would be pointless to ask her about last night specifically, because it was a new week and she wouldn't remember the differences.

Mary Margaret shook her head, looking worried, "no, I was just here looking to make a report. Someone stole my credit card. I noticed it this morning and when I checked the transactions, someone bought a bus ticket to Boston and used it at fast food…"

Regina grabbed her arm and shut her up. "Boston?" The woman nodded at her. Regina let her go and rushed back home. It was getting late, but no one else would have left the town. Henry had to have stolen the stupid womans card last night. Regina had been drunk and had kept Rory from noticing anything in the house when they got home. She also didn't remember Rory checking her phone last night at the bar.

She ran inside and grabbed her car keys and coat, prepared to race to Boston to find her son when someone rang the front door bell. She waved at Rory who was also getting ready to go, to answer it.

Regina spun around when she heard Rory swear. Regina pushed past her and stood staring at Henry. She reached to hug him, so relieved, "oh my god Henry! Where have you been?"

Henry pulled away from her angrily and shouted, "you're not my real mom! She is," he pointed to a blonde woman behind him that no one had noticed before, "and she's the savior! She's going to break your curse!"

Rory sighed heavily and followed him as he ran upstairs. Regina turned to glare at the blonde woman in front of her. "You're Henry's birth mother?"

Emma nodded and looked really uncomfortable, "Uhm… hi?"

….