****Update 2017: minor grammar fixes and flow changes. Nothing major has been altered story wise!

Emma Swan had changed much after her adventure in Neverland. "Adventure" Yeah right. Stuck on an island with a band of insidious brats in need of discipline, is more like it. She was not only fighting for her life, but for her son's, her parents, and her Regina, for lack of better term. Much had changed during their time on the Jolly Roger, much more had changed in the jungles of Neverland. Most of which surrounded her views on her son's other mother, Regina Mills.

Emma always knew reality, whether it was a fairy tale reality or real world reality, was never black and white. It was gradient. Unlike the stories that were passed on and written down in Henry's book, she knew there had been more to the story on why people did what they did. Why they seemed good, as well as why they seemed evil.

The picture she had of Regina Mills after Neverland, had suddenly become an endless spectrum of gray. The manipulations the woman had endured from those meant to protect her, lent credence that her Majesty the Mayor was as much a victim of circumstance as Emma herself. She came to the realization, on that wicked little island, that it may have been Regina that cast the curse, but it was her parents who chose to send her away and make her an orphan. That decision shaped her, better or worse, into who she had become. She could no longer fault the Mayor for the things that had gone so terribly wrong in her youth, but came to thank her for casting the curse that gave her their son.

Post Neverland, that is how Henry was described, by both women. Their son. Shared. Between them. Emma had earned that right in Regina's eyes during their stay on the island, and Emma, Emma always considered Henry to be Regina's kid. Even when she was yelling about how he was hers, he never felt hers. She didn't raise him. She fought for him, sure, but every time she would say the words, the little voice in the back of her head would sound off, reminding her of that crucial fact. She had abandoned him. The way her parents had done to her. For reasons, of course, both instances, but the end results were the same. At least he had HER. He had a mother . She was loving and amazing and lived and breathed for him. She never hurt him, she loved and nurtured him.

Until Gold manipulated the woman's life once more for his own personal gain and told the boy he was adopted. That seemed to be how Regina's life would be.

Emma didn't pity Regina, the queen wouldn't stand for something so vile. No, she did however have compassion, and understanding for her. Those feelings, once allowed to seed, grew within the savior. Every day on the island, as they fought side by side against the brat brigade, at night when things were quiet, the Mayor would instruct her on harnessing the magic within her. They would talk. She would tell Emma about Henry when he was a boy, when he was her little prince. It helped them both. Now that they were back in Storybrooke, she very quickly realized she missed spending time with the Mayor. Regina was broken, in a way Emma was broken and Emma took comfort in that mutual understanding. A comfort she didn't get from any other person from Storybrooke. Not even Neal.

Neal was alive and wanted to be a part of Henry's life. He had all but demanded it. As if he had any right to. As if she even had the power to grant such a request, even if she wanted to. She knew Henry wanted to know his father, she also knew Henry wanted his father and her to be true love and reunite. It was never going to happen, but isn't that what every child wants? The fact that her own parents seemed to want the same thing put a ridiculous amount of pressure on her. Her mother was relentless in the subtle nudging to Neal's direction.

"I have a right to see him Emma." Neal said.

Emma's eyes bulged, "Seriously? You don't have rights Neal! You gave those rights up when you left me to give birth to him in jail!"

"I didn't know! And you had a destiny—" he started.

"Enough!" she shouted at him. "Even if I thought it was okay, even I don't have actual rights to him Neal! Regina is the only parent here who has a say! I'll talk to her, but damn it, we BOTH need to abide her wishes!" She huffed out of the station where he had confronted her.

Henry was in fact still technically living with her. Her parents had talked her into keeping him with her after the whole Cora debacle. Now, though, it felt wrong. She wanted him, of course, but she knew he was there simply because Regina had allowed it thus far. The Mayor wanted to appease the boy, so she hadn't contested his choice to live with his birth mother. That fact did not escape the blonde. Once Henry had been rescued, and they returned to their rather cramped loft, he had mentioned, offhandedly, that he missed Regina. He missed his mother . She had to admit to herself that she was going to do exactly what Regina had done, and allow the boy to move back home. She just needed a way to break it to her parents. Her mother wouldn't understand.

"Emma honey, he is your son!" Snow said sweetly, not even pretending to have heard Emma's argument to the contrary.

"He isn't mom. I gave him life, she raised him. She adopted him. I gave him up. Frankly, he wants to live with her! I'm going to let him." She said with finality.

"Well, maybe he can go stay with her, but once you and Neal get back together, he will have a proper family, he will want to stay with his mother and father!" Snow had already started looking into her daughter's fairy tale wedding arrangements, unbeknownst to the blonde of course.

"Wow. Mom? No. Just. No." Emma knew she shouldn't be shocked at her mother's point of view on the matter, but to hear the delusion in all of its glory practically floored the blonde. Emma picked up her cell phone and left her mother in the kitchen, the pixie haired brunette was still going on about when Emma was going to start giving Neal a second chance as Emma left the apartment.

Out in front of their building, standing on the sidewalk, was the only place she had any privacy at home. It was a little crazy to think that a rather busy public street was more private than her own room, but it indeed was. She turned on her phone and scrolled through her contacts to pull up Regina's number.

"Crazy Hot Mayor" is how she was listed. 'I really need to change that.' Emma thought to herself. She had labeled the contact when she first met Regina Mills over a year and a half ago. Nothing had changed really, she was still a Mayor, and she was still Crazy Hot too. Emma snickered as she brought the phone to her ear. "Hey Regina, it's Emma."

"Yes Miss Swan, I have caller ID. What can I do for you?" Regina's voice seemed strained, the contempt she was exuding seemed forced. "Are you busy?" Emma was hoping to get all of the living arrangements, Neils "request" and a possible custody agreement out of the way that evening. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted to see the brunette too. Like Henry, she missed the woman.

'That is twice you've thought that Swan.' Her brain reminded her.

"No, why?" came the curt answer.

"Can I come over? We need to talk." Emma was pacing in front of her building.

"Right now? What could we possibly have to discuss Miss Swan?" It had been several weeks since they had been home from Neverland and Emma was painfully aware of Regina's absence in her daily routine. It was as if they just picked up where they left off and went their separate ways. It wasn't how Emma wanted it to be. Really, that was the heart of this phone call. Change.

"Are we really going back to formalities Regina? We need to talk about Henry." Emma sighed loudly, expressing her dissatisfaction on the brunette's insistence on rebuilding the walls she had pre-island get-away.

"Is he okay?" Regina's voice suddenly lost all of her previous venom, forced or otherwise, and worry flooded her question.

"Yes, can I come over?" Emma did not want to talk about what they needed to discuss over the phone and she was hoping Regina would catch a clue sooner rather than later.

"Yes, you may . When shall I expect you?" the brunette answered curtly.

"I'll be there in 5." After gaining the permission, she disconnected the call and headed back into her parents home.

"Mom, keep an eye on Henry, I need to go out."

Snow stopped her supper preparations and a lost puppy dog look crossed her eyes, as if she were suddenly Anime. "What about dinner?" she asked with a pout.

"I'll either catch something at Granny's or grab something when I get in, either way, I promise I won't starve. Just make sure the kid gets to bed at a decent hour please?" Emma said as she bounded up the stairs to the room she shared with the kid in question.

"Henry?" she poked her head in the room they shared. The bathroom door was closed so she assumed he was in there and knocked. "Kid?"

"I'll be right out!" he said almost panicked.

"I'm not coming in, I'm going out. Dinner, homework and an hour of TV. School in the morning. I'll be back a little later." she called through the wooden door.

The door opened to her smiling son, "Are you going to go see my dad?"

"Henry, no. Listen, kid, Neal and I are not going to happen buddy." She tried once again to get through to him about reality. "I loved him a LONG time ago, and he broke my trust. As it is, I don't trust easily and once you break it, it doesn't come back." She said softly with a smile that could be construed as a grimace.

"But he has changed mom. You have to give him another chance." Henry pleaded. "He loves you. He loves you now. It's true love."

"Okay, listen. I know you want this, I get it, but the best thing I can do is try and be friendly with him so you can have a relationship with him, because that is what matters here." He considered her words then rebutted, "Your happiness matters mom. You deserve a happy ending. You're the Savior, product of true love, you deserve to be with your true love!"

"Henry, Neal isn't my true love."

"Grandma says he is."

"She is delusional." She snarked then recovered back to a serious tone, "Listen, I can't do this right now. Just, be good and listen to Mary Margaret and David while I'm gone. Bed by 10:30, okay?"

"Okay mom." He hugged her. "Can we go see Regina after school tomorrow?" he asked into her shoulder. She pulled him back and looked him in the eye, anger evident in her tone. "She is your mother, not Regina. I don't want to hear you disrespect her like that ever again, do you understand me?"

"Grandma said—"

"Henry Daniel Mills!" Emma's voice was seething. It was the end of the conversation. He had been allowed to get away with far too much, all of which ended today. "Do you understand what I've said to you?"

Unused to hearing his birth mother act like his adoptive mother, he nodded his head silently.

"Yes we can go see your mother tomorrow." She said in her normal light tone. "And I'll be having a conversation with grandma about what is and what isn't okay." He pulled away from her and flopped down on their bed.

Regina opened her front door to her adopted sons birth mother. "It has been much longer than 5 minutes Miss Swan." Regina poised herself in the right light, gaining the upper hand for the remainder of their conversation. "What was so important that it couldn't wait?"

"You are Henry's mom." The blonde brushed past the mayor and started the conversation off giving the Queen the leg up she desired.

"I am aware." Regina turned and closed the door. "Do make yourself at home Miss—"

"Emma." Emma cut her off. "I swear you call me Miss Swan again—"

"You'll what?" Regina snapped defensively.

"I'll… I'll remind you yet again , my name is Emma. Yours is Regina. You are not the Evil Queen, I am not the Savior, we are mothers of a boy. That is it. Now can we just talk please without this—" she waved her hands between them, "crap we do?"

Regina stared at her, no doubt looking for the angle she couldn't quite see, then relented and guided the blonde into her office. It was where she felt most in control, even if she wasn't. Power was Regina's security blanket and the illusion of power was sometimes just as good.

Emma sat down on the couch instead of sitting in front of Regina's desk. She didn't want this to feel like a meeting, she wanted to talk to her like they did in Neverland. Like a woman. Not like a foe.

"Look, Regina, I…" she took a deep breath, "I've made mistakes. In how I've approached you, how I've handled Henry. I want to stop making mistakes with us." She flicked her finger between herself and the brunette. This got a raise of an eyebrow, but the Mayor said nothing. "Henry is our kid. Yours and mine, but you raised him. I'd like to ask your permission if we could, from here on out, share him. Between us. You and I. Together ." Feeling the need to stress the clarity of what she wanted in regards to their son because of the dumbfounded look the Mayor was giving her.

Regina stood and walked over to the bar. "Would you like some cider, Miss…" she stopped and looked at the blonde, and corrected herself. "Emma?"

"That would be awesome, Regina." Emma smiled brightly with a victorious smile.

Regina returned to her spot on the couch next to the blonde, handing Emma her glass. "What exactly are you proposing?"

Emma worried the inside of her lip, "Eventually I will be moving out of my parents loft, but until I do, I think Henry should live here full time. I'll take him weekends, and maybe have the option to come by here whenever I want to see him during the week?" She formed it as a question, but only really to gauge Regina's response. The look on the brunette's face was priceless. The hope that her son would finally be coming home was brimming behind her onyx eyes. "I don't want to impose on your routine, Regina, at all. I just want the option to hang out with him when I want. As long as it doesn't interfere with his schoolwork or chores you have for him."

"Chores?" Regina looked perplexed.

"Yeah or whatever it is you did to make him so responsible and awesome." The blonde casually tossed the praise out there.

Regina pulled her eyebrows in tight as she looked at Emma, her old habit of obvious mistrust painted almost neon across her face. She took a sip of her cider then asked the question, "What's the catch?" she obviously had run through every scenario and couldn't come up with why the blonde was acting this way.

"The catch? The catch is, when I do move out, we share him equally between us. He will have his own room at my place and his own room at yours and like Sunday to Wednesday he stays with you and Wednesday night to Sunday morning he stays with me, or every other week or whatever you think is fair. I don't care. I just want us to discuss parenting decisions between us, and I want to have an active role in your lives."

Regina stood once again and began to slowly pace, tapping her index finger against the fine crystal of the glass she held, considering the proposition.

" Our son." She finally stopped and said aloud.

"Yeah." Emma looked up at her, a little half smile crossed her face carving a dimple deep into her cheek.

"When can he come home?" Regina folded her forearms across her midsection and held a baited breath.

"He wants to see you tomorrow, after school. I suppose that is as good a time as any." Emma wasn't expecting the tear of loss that traitorously broke free from behind her eyelashes. Regina immediately sat down close to her and reached out to cover Emma's fidgety hand. "Why are you doing this Emma? Are you leaving or something?"

Emma sniffled back her emotion and shook her head no, unable to give voice to her answer.

"Then, what is it?" Regina sounded honestly concerned at the odd turn of events.

"I'm done making mistakes with him. With you ." Emma looked away from the gaze of the Mayor, yet still held onto the woman's offered hand. "We changed, haven't we? I mean, since Neverland?"

"It seems as though we have, Emma. Yes." The brunette agreed. "So our son is moving home tomorrow. You can come and see him whenever you want, and take him on weekends, to your parents loft, until you get your own place then we will revisit a living arrangement schedule that suits us both, and meets Henry's needs." Regina summed up their conversation tightly and let out an exasperated sigh. She held up her crystal glass with a smile to toast the blonde on their new arrangement.

"There is one other thing." Emma started and almost regretted not leading with the bad news as Regina's face dropped. "Neal. He wants to see Henry. And I know Henry wants to see Neal. I told him it was up to you. It is a decision we, you and I, can discuss as part of our newly found co-parent status." Anger shone in Regina's dark eyes immediately.

"I know! I don't like it either!" Emma added quickly to appease the woman, and also speak the truth. The idea of Neal anywhere near their son made Emma's stomach flip.

"What do you mean you don't like it either?" Regina spat accusingly. "I thought you two were… you know…" she fluttered her hand in the air searching for the word she was looking for, then settled it back on top of the blonde's "happily ever after!" she said with distaste.

"God Regina! No!" Emma downed the last swallow of her cider and put the crystal glass on the table in front of them. "No no no no no, no!" she shook her head vehemently, "And no again."

Regina looked inquisitively at her, "Does your mother know this? I'm fairly certain I've heard her planning your nuptials down at Granny's with Miss Lucas."

Emma sat back on the couch, defeated and sighed. "Yeah well, Snow White is delusional." She felt bad for referring to her mother as that for the second time that evening, but it was accurate.

This got a smirk from the Queen, "Indeed." She drawled a little too coolly, which made Emma laugh.

Emma sighed once more, "She has Henry thinking he and I are getting back together too, and it doesn't matter how plainly I say to him that it isn't going to happen, he looks at me with those big hazel eyes full of hope."

"He is the truest believer." The Mayor relented. "So am I to presume you are with Hook then?" Regina asked a little too casually. The question shocked Emma into sitting straight up on the couch once more, "Hell no! Wait, how did you know about Killian?" Emma demanded.

"Your mother has never been known to keep a secret dear." The brunette drawled.

Emma rolled her eyes, "So is that my only two options? My baby daddy, who put me in jail or a one handed pirate?" she said as she threw her hand up in the air slapping it loudly against her thigh as it crashed back down.

"Wait, Mr. Cassidy put you in jail?" Regina asked, honestly shocked.

"He said Pinocchio came to him and told him to break up with me, you know for destiny or whatever, but yeah, he arranged it so I ended up doing time for a crime he committed." Emma rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. "He broke my heart, made me feel like I couldn't keep Henry. It was awful. I was honestly broken for a long long time after that." She admitted solemnly.

"Oh Emma, I didn't know. I just assumed you did something stupid to end up in prison." She said flippantly.

"I did. I trusted someone I thought I loved because I was 18 and wanted to belong so badly I could taste it." She replied quietly. Emma bit the inside of her cheek trying to control her emotions.

"Does your mother know any of this? I mean about his role in your unfortunate incarceration?" Regina asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I told her all about it." The blonde nodded.

"Wow." Regina said shooting both of her eyebrows up in shock.

"I know, she just wants the princess she thought I'd be, I guess. Full of true love and weddings and babies and stuff." Emma fidgeted uncomfortably. Things were getting too real for the blonde Regina recognized, decided to back off topic.

"So, what shall we do about Mr. Cassidy and our son?" Regina threw Emma a line to tow her back to somewhere more agreeable.

"I don't want him to have a say in what we do as parents." Emma enunciated the 'we' and punctuated it by gesturing between them. "As far as I am concerned, he is at best a sperm donor. He isn't even on the kid's birth certificate."

"Henry wants to know him though." Regina said it as a statement, but it was a question. One she knew the answer to.

"Yeah." Emma brought her thumb to her forehead rubbing the side near her temple.

"Do you trust him?" Regina asked.

"Do I think he would hurt Henry? Physically? No. Do I think he will panic at some point and run for the hills as soon as things get a little too grown up? Yeah. Do I trust him? No. The guy is flighty. He spent his childhood running away from his problems, that habit followed him to his adulthood." Emma ranted.

"Do you think Mr. Cassidy will try and take Henry?" Regina plainly stated the question she was most worried about.

"Honestly? I don't know. I want to say no, because he helped us on that damn island, and I know he wants to know the kid, but anything is possible, I guess." Emma sorted through her feelings out loud instead of mulling it around within her own head. "Then again, I think Snow and Henry aren't the only ones who think Neal and I have a chance." She sighed at her own situation.

Regina's thumb started to rub the back of Emma's hand, just then she realized the woman was still holding her. Suddenly Emma's stomach fluttered like it was abuzz with butterflies and a light blush crept up her cheeks.

"Well I think supervised visitation, as long as Henry desires it, can be arranged. I trust you will be capable of chaperoning our son and his," she swallowed in disgust, "father."

Emma flashed a toothy faux innocent smile, "I was hoping we both could, chaperone." she replied through a gritted tooth smile.

"Fine, I will chaperone their chaperone, this way neither of us will be subjected to that insufferable man solo. A unified front. We are Henry's parents." She lifted her chin reminiscent of the queen she once was, patted Emma's hand and stood to refresh her tumbler. "May I get you another dear?"

"Please!" the blonde nodded enthusiastically. Her hand still tingled where the brunette had been holding her and the flood of warmth was cascading through her body.

Emma took the offered glass back from Regina and took another gulp. "Damn this is good." She smiled as she began to repeat the moniker, "Best cider I've ever tasted." She giggled despite herself.

Regina lifted her glass before she took another sip, "It is, indeed, that."

"So why did you ask me about Hook?" Emma was feeling a bit more comfortable with the brunette, much more like they were aboard the Jolly Roger, on their way home from Neverland.

The Mayor seemed off put for just a second before she found her diplomatic footing once more. "He has certainly been vocal about his intentions with you, and his little declaration of your kiss on the island, well, one just put two and two together I suppose." Regina tried a little too hard to be nonchalant about it so Emma pushed further, "I mean, why do you care ?"

"I don't!" Regina huffed. "I mean, I think I have a right to be informed of the people you chose to bring into our sons life. As I most certainly would discuss with you, if ever the situation were to present itself." She swallowed the last of her cider then stared at the bottom of the crystal almost wishing for there to be more.

Emma nodded her head knowingly, clamping down on the wicked smile threatening to cross her lips and simply replied, "Of course. That seems fair."

"This co-parenting thing is going to be," Regina searched her hazy brain for the word and settled on, "Interesting."

Emma finished off her second glass of what should be called, the strongest cider she's ever tasted, and laid some honesty down on the brunette. "You have so much experience, I just am happy you're letting me be involved. I know you don't have to," she puts her hand on the brunette's knee, "It means so much to me you're willing to do this together, like a family."

The look in Regina's eyes was unreadable to the blonde, she withdrew her hand thinking it was unwanted, a step too far perhaps. A bit too friendly. She put her glass down and tried to stand.

Failing miserably and landing back on the couch. "How the shit? I think I'm drunk! I've had two glasses for shit's sake!" the blonde was angry at her own light weightiness. Regina burst out laughing at the blonde's anger with herself. "You may want to sleep it off in our guest room dear." Regina slipped her heels off and stood. She herself was wobbly at best, and knew the heels would make her stumble for certain and she wouldn't look weak in front of the blonde at any cost. She held out her hand for Emma to help her up. "Seriously what proof is that shit? It tastes like candy, but goddamn it's got punch!"

Regina put Emma's arm over her shoulder to steady the blonde on her feet. They made their way through the foyer and up the stairs, laughing at each others drunken selves along the way. Regina deposited the blonde on the spare room's bed and fell into her as Emma hadn't let her go as she fell back. Both of the women laughing hard at their stupid drunken antics. "I'll get you something to sleep in dear." She lifted herself off the blonde, and the bed, and returned to her own bedroom. She pulled out a pair of silk pajamas from her wardrobe and went back into the guest room. Emma was trying to get her boots off, after trying and failing to take her pants off.

Regina dropped the clothes on the edge of the bed and asked the woman if she was capable of dressing herself. "Yesssss." Was the exaggerated answer. "It appears as though the UN dressing is the part I'm having a problem with Madam Mayor."

"Sit up Savior." Regina commanded.

The blonde complied. Regina got down on her knees and pulled Emma's skinny jeans up just enough so she could remove her boots, then pulled the pants off as well. "There." She said proudly. The blonde blushed bright red unexpectedly and Regina took that to mean perhaps she was suddenly embarrassed. She couldn't imagine why, the blonde had answered her door in nothing but her underwear. This wasn't anything the Mayor hadn't already seen, twice. So she stood and went towards the door. "If you need anything dear, I'm just down the hall."

Emma nodded, but looked distant. "Hey Regina?" she called out as the brunette made her way through the door. Regina stopped and popped her head back in, with wide bright smile, "Yes dear?"

"Thanks."

"Sleep well Savior." Regina said without a drop of sarcasm and headed out into the hall towards her own bedroom. She got changed and removed her makeup and made herself ready for sleep. She climbed into her large bed and settled down. She knew she shouldn't have offered the blonde a second glass, nor had she had the second herself, but they were discussing difficult topics and Emma wasn't wrong, her cider went down real nice, warming her in places that have been stone cold for so long.

Wait, was that the cider or the Savior?

Matters not. As she lay in her bed, her excitement of what they discussed washed over her. Henry was coming home, tomorrow! Perhaps not as important, or maybe just as equally, she was feeling content that her son's mother was just down the hall. She hadn't realized it since they've been back from Neverland, but she thinks… she thinks she missed Emma. Just the mere proximity of the woman. Such a curious thing that. Just as she had done aboard the Jolly Roger, Regina slipped off to sleep, secure in the fact the Savior was close and she was safe.