A/N: Originally published on my Fanfiction account, GreenEyedPurpleRaven. <3
Emma began to sigh as she put the keys in the ignition, then thinking twice-she didn't need to show Henry her stress and frustration-she turned around to face her son and smiled at him instead.
Her son. Even if she only had him for this week, and had to surrender him up later, as per her, Regina's, and Neal's deal when the three of them had arrived from Neverland over four months ago, Emma felt the simple joy that being with Henry brought her. Somewhere in her heart, Emma wanted her son to herself, but she knew that Regina and Neal were people Henry loved and cared about, and she wanted to put his needs before her own. Hell, she'd learned how to do that a long time ago, on the job as sheriff, and in her life.
Bringing up one of the subjects that caused Henry to launch into unending chatter as the yellow bug pulled out of the school parking lot, Emma asked, "How are you, kid? How's Neal?" Henry had seemed to be pressing for a reunion of his mother and father; she had even overheard him talking over "Operation Yellow Bug" with a friend of his but, as the two adults knew, Henry was unlikely to succeed, especially with the...developments that had taken place lately between Emma and a certain leather-clad man.
Henry almost laughed to himself. Emma still thought he was on Operation Yellow Bug? That had just been a cover name. He was smarter than that. Oh well...she'd find out soon enough. Hopefully his friend would just hurry up. He had better entertain Emma in the meantime, to keep the cover intact.
Although he hated lying to his mom, he just hoped that he wouldn't overdo it. But her lie detector had been pretty...inaccurate lately, to say the least, so Henry considered himself relatively safe.
Emma had to stifle a laugh at the level of enthusiasm in her son's voice as he responded to her.
"I'm good! Neal's good too! He offered to take both of us to Disneyworld for Christmas, which would be really cool!"
Although it would seem fairly ironic to her, Emma kept some of her attention on her son as the words streamed out of him.
"What do you think, Mom? Wouldn't it be so fun?"
Emma met his eyes, looking at the mirror as she did so. They contained an unusual amount of excitement and Emma couldn't help but smile. "I don't know, kid. Regina might want you around, so she's not lonely."
As if. It was mostly a ploy to get around the whole Neal thing, because after the unlikely crew ended up back in Storybrooke after Neverland, Robin Hood and son, of all people, ended up traveling the realms and landed in the little town. Regina, having told the story of the man with the lion tattoo to the rest of the crew on the ship during their journey back, was utterly surprised to meet him. He and Roland, his son, had changed Regina into a better woman and a fairer mayor for the town, something all appreciated, although there were times people were still intimidated by Regina because of who she had been. Emma knew Regina deserved better things after what she had gone through, and didn't despise the woman for having a better life than her, although she was tempted to at times.
"Please? Regina had Robin and Roland and Neal really, really wants us to go..."
Damn. He was using those adorable puppy eyes on her (ones that could only be rivaled by a different, somewhat more playful man in her life) again.
Emma maneuvered the car into the driveway and parked it. She sighed mentally; obviously Operation Yellow Bug was still in full swing. There was only one thing she could think of doing to stop it.
She turned around to meet Henry's gaze directly.
"Henry, is this about getting me back together with Neal? Because, kid, if you want the truth, the only thing we really want to have is you, and nothing else."
