Beautiful Lily

The heart of storybrooke

"Honey, please talk to me," pleaded Regina looking over at Henry as she drove him to school the following morning. Henry sat in the passenger seat next to her and continued staring blankly out the window. "You didn't say anything at breakfast this morning..."

She waited for him to respond, but when he didn't she continued, "Fine, The Silent Treatment. That's alright. I'm used to talking by myself."

Regina searched for things to say as they passed the usual corners, occasionally stopping at the familiar stoplights along the way. "Robin and I are dating again..."

"...I'm sorry."

"I'm not sorry. Robin and I finally have our lives straightened out and we can finally be... what's the word, an item?"

"No, I mean... I'm sorry that you don't have magic anymore. I broke it. I broke Storybrooke's magic, Mom."

"Oh Henry," Regina said as she pulled up and parked in front of Henry's school.

Henry continued with his apology, but as he went on his voice cracked and tears fell from his eyes, "I'm sorry for tricking you and Emma. I'm sorry for running away. I'm sorry for not telling you about my magic... and I'm sorry for thinking I could bring my father back from the dead. I'm so sorry, Mom!"

Henry leaned over to his mother for a nurturing hug and she gladly received him as he continued sobbing. "Henry, you're going to be fine. We're all going to be fine. You're here and safe with me now and that's all that matters. Besides, you remember this town as it was before Emma arrived. It has survived without magic before."

"How do I explain that to Grandpa?" Henry cried, his voice muffled in Regina's dress shirt.

"David?"

"Mr. Gold."

"Oh," said Regina, wondering the same thing. She wondered how he was handling the situation. "Well, don't you worry about Mr. Gold. I was planning on talking to him later anyways. The only thing you should worry about now is making sure you're doing well in school."

Henry gave his mother one last squeeze as she kissed the top of his head. He gathered his belongings and opened the car door.

"And call me when you're ready to be picked up, ok?" she requested, to which he nodded acknowledging her. Before he left, he remembered something. He halted his exit out of the car and turned to face his mother again, "Mom?"

"Yes, Henry?" replied Regina, smiling to him as she wiped away the rogue tears on Henry's face. She plucked a few lint balls from off his school jacket as she waited for his response.

"I need some money."

"What for?"

"I was planning on going to the library after school... to pay back Belle for the missing books I had borrowed."

"Oh ok, here..." said Regina as she reached for her purse and handed him a few twenties. "That should be enough to cover both books and lunch today. I'm assuming that I'll be picking you up at the library after school, then?"

"Yeah, I'll text you when I'm done paying for the books."

"Ok, honey," she said, reaching over and giving her son one last kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom," said Henry as he exited the car and headed up the sidewalk onto the school grounds. Regina waited until her son was completely inside the building before turning back around onto the main road to get back to Main Street.

She drove for a little bit until she came upon Mr. Gold's Pawn Shop. She parked her car down the street from the shop and got out to enter the building. She walked up to the shop's door and proceeded to open it and was shocked to find it locked. She saw that the sign on the door said 'closed' but in her experience working with him 'closed' never really meant closed. She peered through the glass panels of the door and seeing that the shop truly looked inhabited, she searched around the building for Gold's car. And when she couldn't find it she thought, it's not like him to be late for work.