Swan Queen one shots

Operation Emma

"Mom."

Soft knocking came at Regina's door, preceded by a tiny voice the likes of which she had not heard since Henry was a little boy. Regina moved like a sleepwalker, opening the door to her teenage son, standing there looking so small with tears streaking down his cheeks.

"Henry..." Regina wrapped her arms around his lanky body. "What's wrong honey?"

"I...can't sleep," the boy's voice whispered by her ear. "I keep having nightmares. About the Enchanted Forest...and Emma."

Regina closed her eyes. "C'mon. I'll fix you something to help you sleep."

She led the way down the stairs to the kitchen. "They keep coming back," Henry said, sitting down heavily on the couch. "I wake up and tell myself it's over, everything's okay...but..."

"I know," Regina said soothingly. She bustled about the kitchen, her shaky hands betraying her own emotion. She sprinkled cinnamon into the hot cocoa she made, just as she knew Henry liked it. He and...

Regina didn't allow herself to finish the thought. She took the cups out and handed one to Henry, letting her hand rest on his knee as her dark eyes searched his.

"You saved me, Henry." Regina said. "You destroyed the pen."

"But I couldn't save Emma!" Henry said desperately, a sob choking off his words.

Regina set both cups aside and pulled her son to her, cradling him like she had when he was still so little and would have nightmares about nameless monsters. Now he had nightmares about his adoptive mother dying right in front of him, and his birth mother later sacrificing herself to the darkness to save her - but at such a price.

"Henry. It's going to be all right." Regina soothed. "We'll save her." Her mouth twitched slightly. "Operation Emma."

Henry looked up at her and nodded.

What neither of them saw was a shadow standing in the shade of a tree just outside the window. Blue-gray eyes now flecked with gold watched mother and son not with malice as a Dark One should, but with sadness and longing. Her heightened sense of hearing caught their words.

"...Operation Emma."

A sob seized the shadow's body at the sound of her name, and she could stay no longer; she turned and fled into the night. Regina heard the swift footsteps and recognized them, rushing to the door in time to see a glint of moonlight on golden hair.

"Em - "Regina began, cutting herself off hopelessly. Her face crumpled, and she fell to her knees there on the threshold, her son rushing to her side.

"I will find you...I will always find you!"