LOVE THAT HURTS

Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: All characters are copyright of Once Upon A Time. I own nothing.

She refused to invest any effort into letting herself care that he'd hurt her. At least that was the lie she had spent a good portion of the last eight hours trying to convince herself to believe. Who was she kidding? Of course she cared. Regina looked up at the clock next to the menu board at Granny's and swore.

8:24am.

The thought of having a whole day ahead of her made her feel physically ill. She had barely slept and it had left her running on empty. And if her mood was any indicator of how today was going to go it was definitely not going to go well.

"Mom?"

"Helloo?...Mom?" Henry waved his hand in front of Regina's face when he failed to catch her attention.

He'd spent the last 20 minutes trying to convince her that he was old enough to help and stop being overlooked by everyone when another crisis, or curse, appeared. He knew that his family's efforts to keep him in the dark were to protect him, but couldn't they see that he wanted to be able to protect them too? By the way Regina was vacantly staring at her coffee cup he suspected this whole conversation had fallen on deaf ears.

Henry looked down at Regina's buzzing cell phone and frowned before picking it up. "Hey, Mom your phone is ringing again-"

"Not anymore, it's not," Regina replied curtly, taking the cell from his hand. She took one look at the caller ID and silenced the ringing with the tap of her thumb before putting it out of his reach.

"That's like the fourth time he's – it's rung-" Henry tried, stopping mid sentence when she cast a glare in his direction that warned him to choose his words carefully. "You guys are fighting, aren't you? Something's wrong, Mom. I can feel it."

"Nothing is wrong, Henry,"

"This is exactly what I'm talking about! Everyone lies to me. They don't tell me stuff-"

"Henry, please," Regina sighed wearily, massaging her temples to relieve her looming headache. "...Just finish your breakfast."

"You can tell me anything, Mom. I'm not a kid anymore."

"I know..You've spent the whole morning trying to convince me you're not a kid. But the truth of the matter is that you'll always be my little boy."

"Mom, seriously,"

She smiled tiredly, reaching over to brush hair out of his eyes. She was unexpectedly overcome with emotion at the thought of his concern for her wellbeing. Their relationship had come a long way over the last two years. Regina had made her share of mistakes, giving him every reason to hate her. But Henry had come to love and believe in her all the same.

Regina choked back tears, brushing her fingers across his cheek. "My little prince..."

"Mom!" Henry yelped as he pushed her hand away. He whipped his head around to see if anyone had been listening and mumbled a string of non-comprehendible words.

Regina shook her head and took another sip of her coffee as she proceeded to ask her son if he'd completed the assignment he'd been hell-bent on not finishing last night. Henry shook his head guiltily before launching into defending himself with excuses and explanations. She had been so engrossed and amused by what he was saying that she'd completely neglected to notice that they, specifically she, had an audience. Henry raised an eyebrow, subtly pointing in the direction of the bystander and Regina spun around.

She nearly choked on her coffee.

Robin?

His gaze matched the hesitation and surprise of her own.