New story! Woot woot! Have lots of super fun and funny things planned for this one! I've been wanting to post it for foreeeeever but made myself finish an old story before I did. Enjoy! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! Suggestions and questions are always welcome too :) David will be coming in to this story as well in a few chapters. I just have to get everything set up for that :)

He was falling and spinning and panicking. He hadn't meant to drop the bean. It fell from his fingers and he leapt forward to try and catch it. No not a portal, don't open a portal, no, no, no! Unfortunately when thinking of a portal, a portal opens and having stumbled in the act of trying to catch it he found himself falling right inside.

"Henry!" Regina screamed in terror and sprinted toward him after rounding the corner and seeing him fall in to the unmistakeable green swirl of a portal.

"Mom!" He yelled back but it was too late. He was terrified and he wanted his mother.

With a rough thud he hit the ground only under his hands he didn't feel the concrete of the sidewalk. Instead he felt soil. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his racing heart. His eyes were closed as he shook his head in denial. He was fine. It was a trick of the mind, a dream even. Building courage as strength, he opened his eyes to see what the sound of approaching horses was going to bring him.

Shining jet black horses galloped up the road toward him, men in black armour sat atop their backs and behind the two riders was a team of four black horses pulling an extravagant black carriage.

Quickly he pushed himself to his feet but he didn't have time to run, nor did he really want to just yet. The two armoured men on their black horses stopped and maneuvered around him so that he could not escape and while his heart was racing and his breathing was unsteady with fear he kept looking hopefully over to the black carriage.

The door opened and his eyes were glued to the foot that stepped out from behind the door and on to the step. His heart all but stopped and tears burned in his eyes when she stepped out from behind the door and began walking toward him with her head held high. She was different, of course she was, he wasn't surprised. But she was there and he was overjoyed. Her hair was so much longer, her makeup so much bolder, her presence so much colder, her eyes so much harder, but she was still there with her commanding and powerful demeanour that no one could best.

Regina stopped in front of the boy and looked over his strange clothing before demanding, "what are you doing on my road?"

Henry grinned and breathed out a relieved laugh as his tears threatened to fall and she cocked her head in vicious curiosity at his reaction. Her voice was harsh and hard but he was so happy to hear it. She wore tight black leather pants, black heeled boots, and a dark blood red shirt beneath a black coat tightly fitted around her narrow waist and the hem skimmed the forest floor. If he hadn't have known better he would have been absolutely terrified. But instead he jumped forward and wrapped his arms securely around her waist.

Her hands went up at the unexpected contact and her eyes widened while her jaw dropped enough for her red lips to part softly as she inhaled sharply. Her guards stepped forward to pull him off her but she waved her hand in a gesture for them to stop and they did. The boy clung to her and she looked down at him and tried to step away but he stepped with her and buried his face deeper in to her chest. "What are you doing?" She growled but he only started crying.

"I made a mistake and now I'm lost."

"Well I assure you I am not the person you want to be happy to see, my dear boy," she explained bitterly but could already feel her heart softening for the child.

Henry smiled and lifted his head from her chest to look in to her eyes to find the only familiarity to be the colour, "I know exactly who you are."

"Then why do you insist on staying so close?"

"Because I know who you are," he nodded slowly but she only squinted her eyes a fraction and refused to hold him back, "you're my mom."

Regina laughed and shook her head, "I am no mother."

"Not yet."

"If you are insinuating that I am just going to pick you up off the street-"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't explain that very well," he shook his head and the rage burned in her eyes, "I'm sorry for cutting you off," he added quickly and she tilted her head and threatened to step away from him, "I'm not from here. I'm from another land and I am from the future...sort of. I am your son and I accidentally fell through a portal. I found myself here because I was thinking about you as I fell because I had just heard your voice scream my name. I've never heard you so scared."

Regina cocked her head and picked at his story through her mind. She supposed it could happen. It was a hard story to grasp, "come."

"What?" He whispered hopefully and let her step out of his arms.

"You will tell me more of this intriguing story," she answered and opened the door to her carriage and turned to face him to find he had followed her and was standing right in front of her with big hopeful brown eyes that didn't contain the slightest bit of fear. Odd. "But I no longer care to stand in this forest."

...

Regina sat with one leg crossed over the other and her elbow resting on the narrow window ledge so her teeth could take hold of a finger as she watched the young boy press his nose to the glass of the window on the other side of her carriage. She didn't know how to feel about him or if she could trust him or his story. But she wanted to. He seemed like an honest boy.

"Hey, mum?"

Such a strange title to be called. She was no mother. It had her furrowing her brow and biting down on her finger just a little more in her discomfort. She was far out of her element and the boy seemed to recognize that for moments later he had spun back around with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry," he laughed quietly and walked back toward her to sit down across from her, "should I call you something else?"

"No," she shook her head slowly and placed her hand back in her lap as she studied the boy and whispered, "no 'mom' is...fine."

"Great!" He grinned and nestled deeper in to the seat and studied her right back. It was strange to have her not know who he was. No one knew him better than his mother did. "You are very pretty," he smiled and her eyes softened as she cocked her head a little, "I like your hair. It is much shorter now. Well later..." He laughed a little and shook his head, "I like it long, it's really pretty."

"...thank you," she whispered kindly and watched his smile curl wider as he leaned forward to put his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

"You're welcome."

"What is your name?" She asked with a cock of her head and a slight squint of her eyes.

"Henry," he beamed and she blinked and tucked her chin, "you named me after your father...is he still alive? Like right now?"

"Of course he is alive..."

"Oh good! Have you put Snow under that sleeping curse yet?"

"...no..." She knitted her eyebrows together and watched the relief relax the boy's shoulders, "how do you know of my intentions for Snow White?"

"I'm from the future," he chuckled and her eyes were guarded once again so he continued a little lighter, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know when I am. And since you haven't cursed Snow yet and haven't cast the dark curse then there is still a good chance that you can be saved from yourself."

"Your notions are...sweet, Henry," she shook her head and he tilted his, "but I am in no place to be saved."

"I have seen who you are. You have goodness inside you and back in my time you are trying so hard to redeem yourself but no one is willing to see it. So I figure we get a head start before you go totally crazy."

"How do you know so much of my past? Surely if what you say is true I would not tell such stories to a child."

"Well no. You are very reluctant to share but I had a book that sort of roughly told the stories of the Enchanted Forest. Still not sure how it was made though or where it came from. You tried your very hardest to convince me none of it was true. But when the curse broke and everyone started remembering who they were, you couldn't deny it anymore. It's really complicated."

"Indeed," she nodded slowly and looked over him once again. He looked back at her with such joy and trust it was difficult for her to grasp. No one had ever looked at her like that. "Who is your father Henry?"

"That's...complicated..."

"Why? Do you not know him?"

"Well I do but I only just met him a little while ago."

"Had I kept him from you?"

"No," Henry shook his head and shrugged, "no you didn't know he was my father until after I was told," he watched her expression change from confusion to complete horror and after a quick reread of his words he laughed and shook his head. "Oh, no, no it's not like that, no. You adopted me," he smiled and she settled back down, "unfortunately you still don't have love," he added quietly and caught the way she flinched ever so slightly.

"If I am to believe that I am in fact your mother then you had best give me something concrete, my dear boy."

Henry gave a sad smile at her distrust. He didn't blame her, it was a far fetched story and she had more than a difficult time trusting people as it was. "I don't really have anything concrete to show you," he answered nervously and she took a slow breath and pursed her lips a little and it had him smiling a little. She always did that when she was unhappy. It was nice to see some elements of her he knew in this other form of her, "but if you give me a chance maybe I can prove it to you."

...

Regina walked with rather slow steps up through the courtyard of her castle as Henry skipped happily around her laughing and chattering about no one thing in particular. Curiosity had gotten the better of her and she took him home with her. The fact that he claimed to be her son should have been enough to convince her. No one would willingly call her their mother let alone call her their mother with such enthusiasm. Besides...she was lonely.

"Hey it's your apple tree!" He cheered and ran up ahead of her to jump up on the small wall surrounding it and look up at its branches, "I didn't know you brought it with you from this land to ours."

"Neither did I," she shrugged as she stopped next to him. He laughed at her reply and the sound had her smiling just a little.

Henry turned to glance her way only to do a double take when he saw her small smile. He grinned at the sight and turned around on the small wall so he was facing her, "you should smile more," he grinned and her smile grew a little more as she looked up at him, "it suits you," with quick gentle hands he held her head in place and dropped his head to give her a quick but lingering kiss on her cheek before he jumped off the wall and continued up ahead with a quiet laugh.

Regina tensed at the gesture and her lips parted slightly with surprise that remained after he had left. Her fingers carefully found her cheek and tears pricked her eyes as she slowly turned to watch him walk away. It was truly the first kind and tender gesture anyone had shown toward her in...well she didn't know how long.

"You coming, mum?" He called down to her to snap her from her thoughts. He hadn't really thought too much on the kiss but now that he had and he saw her standing there with her fingertips softly touching her cheek he remembered that she wasn't his mom but was the Evil Queen. No one cared for the Evil Queen.

"Yes," Regina answered quietly, just a whisper. She blinked the tears from her eyes and cleared her thick throat as she slowly dropped her fingers from her face and called up to him loud enough for him to hear, "yes I'm coming."

...

With a heavy blanket draped over his shoulders, Henry padded quietly through the castle hall toward his mother's room...well...the queen's room. She had given him instructions on how to get there should he need anything from her in the night that a handmaiden could not provide. He had stayed in his large bed for a good long while but he could not rest his worried mind. He was a world away from his family. Not to mention the time difference. How was he going to get back? He knew back in Storybrooke everyone would be searching for a way to get him back. At least his mother had seen him fall and had a place to start.

Silently he pushed open one of the large wooden doors and peered inside the large room. It was dark outside but the room was softly lit with a burning and crackling fire. The large bed was made and untouched which had him frowning as he stepped inside. He had had his suspicions that she wouldn't be sleeping. She wasn't very good at sleeping when she had something on her mind and he figured, being the Evil Queen, she had a lot more to think about. His scan of the room stopped at the small sofa in front of the fireplace when he saw the back of her head above the back of the sofa.

He shrugged the blanket tighter around his shoulders and started walking her way, making it to the end of the sofa furthest from where she sat with glazed eyes staring in to the fire. She hadn't gotten undressed yet. Not really anyway. She had removed her coat and her boots and let down her long hair but her black leather pants and sleeveless blood red silk shirt remained. Her legs were curled up beside her and she was nestled into the corner of the sofa with her hands in her lap and her long dark hair was pushed over to one side of her head and fell over her shoulder. Upon closer inspection there was a long thin chain around her neck and resting in the palm of her hand was a simple ring he had seen her treasure many times before back in Storybrooke.

"Hey," he whispered softly to announce his presence to her. She jumped a little and her startled dark eyes instantly focused on his as her hand quickly closed around the ring. He stepped closer and watched the fire glint in her irises with a shy smile.

"Did you need something, dear?" She asked with a slight tilt of her head as he inched closer.

"No not really," he shook his head and stopped in front of her, "I just couldn't sleep."

"Missing your family?"

Henry nodded a little and her expression remained carefully guarded but he knew her better than that. From him she was hiding the slight disappointment that he didn't want solely her and was hiding the fact that despite spending not even an entire day together, he had wormed his way in to her heart and was only digging deeper. "I mean practically all of my family is here except for my birth mum and dad. Only 'cause she isn't born yet and he is...well I don't know where he is right now. But it's not the same really. Except you," he smiled at her and her face grew conflicted with disappointment and relief, "other than the fact that you don't love me and don't know who I am and haven't quite calmed down, you're pretty much the same."

They remained in silence for a few moments longer, the queen trying to figure him out and the boy already knowing her. Not really having much else to say, Henry climbed on to the sofa and curled up right next to her in the bend of her knees with his head on her chest over her heart as he slipped his arms around her slim waist. He smiled when she tensed and held her breath as she lifted her arm so as not to touch him as he nuzzled in deeper. Once he settled she hesitantly let her arm fall awkwardly around his back and he smiled a little wider and took a deep breath of her perfectly familiar smell and felt his eyes start to fall shut, "I love you, mom."

Regina squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as he nuzzled in even deeper in to her side with a slow tired exhale. With all she had done how could anyone love her? How could a child love her? But he did, she could feel it, she could feel that old but familiar sensation waking her heart from its cold slumber. But did she want to wake up?

As he sunk heavier against her and his breaths grew slower with his sleep she allowed herself to relax and hug her arm a little tighter around the boy as she cautiously lowered her head to lay atop his. She breathed out a slow breath through her nose and kept her eyes closed as a tear rolled down her cheek. She had forgotten how nice it was to have someone to hold and how nice it was to be loved.