Who Is Emma Swan?
Henry sat in his room, the question burning in his mind like a relentless fire. The words escaped his lips before he could even consider the consequences. "Who is my real mom?" he asked Regina one day, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and determination.
"Henry?" Regina's voice held surprise and vulnerability, a far cry from the powerful mayor who had ruled over Storybrooke. She had become accustomed to his newfound coldness, his obsession with fairy tales, but this question blindsided her.
"I just want to know where I come from," Henry replied, his eyes fixed on Regina, searching for any hint of the truth in her expression.
Regina took a deep breath, her well-practiced mask of composure slipping slightly. "I'm sorry, Henry," she said, her voice quivering with uncertainty. "I don't have any information. It was a closed adoption."
But Regina was lying, and she knew it all too well. She had meticulously investigated the girl who had given birth to Henry shortly after adopting him. The girl, just a teen mother in Portland, had given him up because she was too young to raise him. Regina had seen the picture of the girl and Henry in the adoption file, a picture filled with love and bittersweet sorrow. The decision to give him up had been agonizing for the girl, but Regina couldn't bear to lose her son to a mother who sought only to give him his best chance.
"You're lying!" Henry's voice cracked as he screamed in frustration, the pain of rejection piercing his heart. He turned and ran away, leaving Regina with a heavy sigh.
Regina knew she had to act swiftly. She retrieved the adoption file from the back of her drawers, the weight of her deception hanging heavily on her conscience. She walked out of her imposing house, clutching the file tightly, and went to her office, where a secure safe awaited.
As Regina locked the file away, her thoughts raced. She couldn't let Henry find out the truth, not now. But little did she know that Henry was on his own mission, one fueled by determination and the belief that his real mother might just be the savior.
While Regina occupied, Henry sat at his computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard. He had taken his teacher's credit card, desperate for any clue about his true origins. With relentless determination, he managed to access closed adoption records.
There it was, the name that held the key to his past—Emma. Just like the baby in the book. His mom could be the savior, the hero of the fairy tales he had grown to love. He noted her birthday, exactly 28 years from that day.
The scanned picture in the file revealed a woman who looked like a princess, her eyes filled with undeniable love for the baby in her arms. Henry couldn't understand why she had let him go, but he was determined to find out.
There was an address listed, one that pointed to Portland, the place where his journey would begin. He discovered that his mother had attended Boston University, and when he searched for alumni, her name appeared as a postdoc faculty member.
"Sweet," Henry whispered with a triumphant smile. His mom was not just any woman; she was smart and powerful. With unwavering determination, he began crafting a plan. In a few weeks, on her birthday, he would go to Boston. He was sure that he would bring the savior back to Storybrooke, and perhaps, find the answers he so desperately sought.