The knock on the door startles her. It's not late. In fact it's still early evening, but she doesn't expect anyone to show up at her door. If there is one thing the day's experiences taught her is that the people of Storybrooke don't want her near them. It's a lesson she should have learned long ago, but she's always hoped that one day someone would look at her with something other than disgust or mistrust. She's been alive for almost 60 years and the number of people who've trusted or loved her can be counted on one hand.
"Ms. Swan?" That it's the blonde at her door doesn't surprise her. If anyone was going to walk up to her front door it would her son's birthmother. No one else had a reason to seek her out. "Is the celebratory dinner over already?"
Emma shifted her weight from one foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable about something. "Yeah."
Regina waited for the other woman to elucidate on the reason she was standing on her doorstep, but the seconds stretched on without a word. "Was there something you needed Ms. Swan?"
Again there is some fidgeting from other woman. It's something she's always found unbecoming in a person. If you were going to do something you should own it. It didn't matter if you were helping or hurting someone, you had to own your every action. "Well?"
"Ok, listen...Henry said something about a blanket you brought over to Gold's shop, I went by to get but Gold told me you took it."
After a day of putting herself through the ringer emotionally and physically, she's not ready to put up a fight but she would do so regardless (if only out of habit). "I wasn't going leave something so precious in Rumpelstiltskin's hands."
Emma nods, "Right, well Henry wants it."
"The blanket?" Her head is starting to swim with uneasiness and heartache. The blanket, like her son, belongs in his room and in her home.
"Yeah, and some other stuff from his room. He gave me a list." Emma holds up a crumpled napkin with Henry's neat handwriting.
She stared at it for a long moment, unable to fully comprehend what was happening. "A list of what?"
Emma sighed stepping past her into the foyer. "Of things he wants me to take back to Snow's apartment."
The door closes almost on its own as the air around them seems to crackle with anxious energy. "Take with you?"
The blonde huffed, giving her a look that screams that she was being obtuse. "Yeah, he needs his things Regina and you have them."
"Which is why he should come home." She had allowed him to leave because in truth she hadn't trusted herself yet, but that had changed. Her willingness to save Emma and Snow had proven that she could do the right thing even when it wasn't in her best interest (even when she was scared of the outcome). She isn't her mother Henry was in no danger. She would never hurt her baby.
Emma's brow furrowed. "That's not going to happen."
The shift in the air was all but impossible to ignore now. There was magic all around them, sizzling as their emotions grew. Regina could feel it prickle her skin. It was the same feeling from months before when Emma helped kick start her magic. That moment surprised her and engendered her to reflect on her past interactions with the Sheriff. In the chaos that permeated her town since the curse broke, Regina had finally come to the realization that if she would ever find an ally among the 'good guys' it would be Emma. Yet, now that hopeful thought was disintegrating before her eyes.
"I never gave up custody of my son! You gave him up. You can't simply decide that you're his mother now. I let him stay with your father because he'd just found out about my past and I wanted him to have the space and time necessary to come to terms with it. I didn't want my own son scared of me, but rest assure that I have not stopped being his mother. I haven't stopped tending to his nightmares and making sure he has something nutritious to eat. I am his mother. You can't take him away."
