Disclaimer: Just playing, will put everything back when finished.

"Please! Just five more minutes!"

"We're sorry, Ms. Swan, but you signed the papers-"

"I know that! I just want to say good-bye!"

"We're sorry, Ms. Swan."

"No. No, no, no! Please!"

But he's gone, her baby, gone. He's getting his best chance, she knows this, but it doesn't stop the feeling like her own heart is being ripped out.

The pain is unbearable, worse than being abandoned, worse than giving birth, and the wail that wrenches itself free from her lips is nothing short of heart-rending.

She can't do this, she won't.

She tries to get up, tries to tell them she made a mistake, that she'll keep him, no matter what it takes, but suddenly hands are holding her down, stopping her, and she struggles even harder.

"Please! I want him! He's my son! Please!"

"Mom!"

She stills, he's too little to know her, to call her that, what the hell is going on?

"Mom! Please wake up!"

Wake up…

Her eyes blink fast, hands white-knuckling the sheets, and suddenly she realizes. Wake up, wake up because it's a dream. A memory. A memory twisted into a nightmare. And her son-

"Henry?"

"Mom?"

He's perched on her bed, close and concerned and so achingly real.

"C'mere," she pulls him close, feeling him cling just as much as she does, it's hard to tell who's comforting whom.

"Gramma told me to wake you up for breakfast, but when I came up you were thrashing around and crying, and I got scared."

She hugs him even tighter.

"I'm sorry kid, it was just a dream I swear."

"Must have been a bad one."

She nods, moving her head to kiss his hair, "The worst."

"But you're better now?"

He pulls away, his eyes telling her he'll know if she lies to him. It's a look that can only have come from her, and on his young face it's downright adorable. Not that she'll tell him that. After all, princes are supposed to be brave, not adorable.

Her little prince, come to save her from herself.

"More than better," she smiles, whipping the covers off and bolting for the stairs.

"Last one to the kitchen is a rotten egg!"

"No fair! You got a head start!" He shouts back, already hot on her heels.