Last Thing You'll Do

Chapter 15

She barely broke stride as she appeared in the mansion's hallway. The car could be collected tomorrow. She should have simply "poofed" over there in the first place. Why had she been so stupid as to drive! The eerie silence of the house was only broken by what she knew to be her son's cries of anguish. No other sound greeted her ears as she all but ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.

How had he found out? Emma and she had agreed to wait! To tell the boy together and now he knew. Had he overheard them talking and his curious nature had gotten the better of him and his other mother? Regina knew how easily the blonde folded under Henry's tactics. Had Emma taken ill in the time since she'd left the house and she had had no choice but to divulge her condition to the young teen? That consideration hurt more than the possible information leak. What was she about to see as she followed the distressed wails of her not so little boy? She could feel her blood boiling as she skid, turning at the top of staircase as she considered the possible and mostly likely way Henry now knew his birth mother's fate. Snow. Had Snow told him?

She pushed the master bedroom's door open with force. The only thing stopping the wooden door from smashing against the wall was her unsteady hand clutching the handle. The sight before her stopped her breath, ceased her heart beat and all but cut her off at the knees. Their son was curled against his mother so tightly even Regina could see his hands were deathly white. Emma's chin was resting upon their son's head, one hand clutching it to her shoulder as the rest of her body seemed to be almost shielding Henry from the on slaughter of the unforgiving world around them.

The sobs of sorrow were loudest in the moments Regina stood completely and utterly still. Her body refused to move as jade eyes looked directly at her. As tears in those broken eyes glistened threateningly so but refused to fall. Regina could see the actual teeth marks in Emma's dried lips from where the blonde had been biting back her own pain. It seemed an age before Regina's body could comprehend what was happening in front of her and longer still to realise she should do something to comfort their son.

The diner bags and trays were placed with little care upon the vanity. It was of little importance the damage that could be done to the mahogany by steam and grease. Emma's eyes followed her as Regina removed Emma's laptop from her side of the bed though their son's sobbing did not lessen. Henry didn't seem to notice she was there as Emma's body was being pulled and pressed against him as if he feared if he let his mother go, she might just disappear. Regina knew the feeling because she had felt it a little less than twenty four hours ago. The need to just touch or be touched by the blonde, to ensure she was still there. She was still breathing and laughing before her. That her heart still beat within her chest. Ensuring her return was not just a dream Regina's brain had conjured up in the loneliness hours of the night.

The brunette climbed into the large bed from her own side, curling her frame around her little boy's, feeling Emma's forehead come to rest against hers. Henry's cries did not wane as Regina lay beside him, but he did reach her for hand and pulled her arm around him. His grip was so tight Regina momentarily worried that she felt instantaneous pins and needles in her hand. The teen's grasp upon her hand lessened however when it seemed he realised she wasn't going to move away, in fact he seemed to relax against her when the former Queen's hold became bolder.

Nothing could be heard except their son's fallen tears and broken breath but the occasionally "shhh" whispered soothingly from Emma's lips. Though which of the trio she was trying to sooth most Regina wasn't sure as she laid with her eyes closed in an attempt to stop the inevitable tears that scorched behind her eyelids. The hand that that stroking their son's hair kept pushing her own as well, whether intentional or not Regina took comfort from it anyway. How much did Henry know of Emma's condition? Henry knowing changed things Regina knew, and also knew from her own reaction the previous evening that in the moments after you're told your mind goes blank. Only then does your mind work on over load and the desire to know everything takes over; because knowledge is power. That power, that knowledge makes you feel just a little less helpless. How much had Henry asked, and how much had Emma told him?