The next day, Teresa found herself laying on the couch, watching as her best friend Snow White rocked her baby to sleep. Neal was his name, as she had learned the night before after the snow monster incident, and he was a beautiful little prince. Not only did Teresa meet Neal, but she also met Snow's grandson and Emma's son, Henry Mills. That was something she was still trying to wrap her head around. One of her closest friends was a queen and her king was the man they once robbed, and now they had children and a grandchild.

"Here you go, sweetheart. I'll see you in three hours for your midnight shrieking," Snow said as she gently placed him in his crib. "Yes, I will. Ohh. Sweet dreams."

Henry walked over and glanced down at his uncle. "What do you suppose babies dream about?"

"Bullfighting," David answered.

"Laser tag," Emma threw in.

Teresa looked at Emma as if she had two heads. "What in the hell laser tag?"

Emma glanced over at the blonde laid out on the couch. "A very fun game that you will have to try some time, kid."

"Hey, princess, how many times do we have to go over this? Don't ─ "

Emma cut her off. "Call you kid, yeah yeah, I know." David and Snow chuckled as Emma rolled her eyes at the blonde teenager.

"If you knew, why say it?" Teresa sent a smirk towards Emma. "Anyways, Snow, perhaps little Neal is dreaming of the bluest waters or the brightest flowers. Or perhaps he's a warrior and is fighting great battles for his kingdom."

"None of those are true," Snow declared, hands on her hips.

"I think they're joking," Henry said.

"Right. I'll recognize funny again when he's three and I've had some sleep."

"Three?" David watched as his wife sat down in the rocking chair. "I see the optimism returning."

"Okay, chocolate, DVDs, ice cream. Red wine," Emma said as she listed off the many items within Henry's maroon basket he was fixing up in the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow. "That's one heck of a late-night snack, kid."

"It's for my mom."

"I don't drink and sheriff," Emma stated.

"My other mom. I googled how to get over a breakup. It didn't talk about your boyfriend's wife time-travelling back from the past, but close enough." Henry finished with a shrug.

Emma gave her son a smile. "That's really sweet."

"I still can't get over that," Teresa voiced, eyes trained on the ceiling as she now laid spread out on the couch with her arms behind her head.

"Get over what?" Asked David.

"That your grandchild is the son of the Evil Queen."

"She's not the Evil Queen anymore," Henry said in a defensive tone.

Teresa sat up, her eyes meeting Henry's cocoa ones. "Noted. But, you see ─ I hate to burst your bubble here Henry, but some people just don't change."

"Teresa," Snow said in a warning tone, sounding like her mother.

"Some people can change," Henry said. "She did. If you don't believe me, come with me. You can see for yourself that she isn't the way she used to be. Adopting me, it changed her."

Teresa held his stare for a moment before sighing. "Fine."

All of a sudden, something hit the window, startling the blonde teenager. She whipped around and opened the window to find a black raven with a scroll tied to its leg. "I see you still deliever messages the same way here," she commented while pulling the scroll from its legs. She then read it who it was for. "Speaking of the devil ─ it's for you, from your mother."

Henry walked over and grabbed the scroll from her outstretched hand. Turning his back towards everyone in the room, he began to read it. After a moment, his head lifted and his heart fell. "She doesn't want to see me." With that being said, Henry walked passed everyone and upstairs to his room. Teresa felt a twinge of guilt as she watched him leave.

After a few moments, Henry walked back down the stairs and out the door without a word to be said. The look on his face made everyone know he wanted to be alone.

"Damn it," Emma muttered. "Should I...should I go after him?"

Teresa stood from the sofa. "Allow me."

Emma raised a brow at her. "You? You upset him just as much as Regina's letter did."

"Believe it or not, I'm the only person in this room that understands how he's feeling right now."

"What do you mean?" Snow asked, looking at her friend in both confusion and concern.

Grabbing her cloak, Teresa put it on and as she tied it, her fingers fumbled with the pendant beneath her shirt, which caused a frown formed on her face. "My mother didn't want me either," she said before walking out the door after Henry.

─────

Teresa walked into a tiny, but cozy looking, building called Granny's Diner, having seen Henry walk in from down the street. After looking around, she spotted him at the counter with his chin resting on his arms that lay upon the counter in-front of him.

With a sigh, Teresa walked over and took a seat beside him. "Hey." Henry didn't respond, allowing her to release another sigh. She knew this was going to be hard for her to say since she never liked to talk about. "You know," she began, "my mother didn't want me either."

Henry lifted his head to glance at her. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked into her ocean-coloured eyes. "She didn't?"

Teresa shook her head. "My mother abandoned me when I was a small child. I don't exactly remember the words exchanged, but all I know is that I've been parentless for nine years. Nine years of stealing and hunting and killing, all because I had no one to love me or care for me."

"Why'd she abandon you?" Henry questioned.

Teresa shrugged. "Who the hell knows. All my memories I have with her, we are smiling and laughing and playing. I don't understand why one day she would just up and abandon me. It makes no sense, to be honest."

"What's that?" Henry asked, watching as her hands played with something hidden beneath her shirt.

Teresa hadn't even realized that she had been playing with her pendant until Henry spoke. Wordlessly, she pulled it out from beneath her shirt for him to see. Henry reached forward and gently stroked the crystal pendant. "It's beautiful. Is it..."

"Real crystal?" She nodded. "Yes. My mother gave it to me a long time ago. It's the only thing I have left of her. That and memories." Teresa reached up and wiped away the tear that had escaped. "Enough about me and my mommy issues," she said, turning to face Henry. "I read her note, you know, and that is not exactly what she said." Teresa paused for a moment. "She said for right now, while she's dealing with things."

"She doesn't want to see me," Henry said, repeating the same last words he said at the apartment.

"She's in a lot of pain over this Alice woman and Robin Hood. Well, forever really, since Snow has told me of her past tragedies. Things have been tough on her, and you I'm sure. She's just trying to fix them so that way you two can be together...because she cares about you."

"So why'd she tell me to stay away?"

"Because perhaps, like my mother thought, she thinks she's making things better."

"Well she's not."

"Perhaps not, but she's brokenhearted, Henry. As was I at the age of six, when I was abandoned. I became a thief, a ruthless hunter and a murderer. All because of my mother." Teresa laid her hand over his and gave him a soft smile. "Don't let your mother change you because of her mistakes like mine changed me."

Henry returned her smile with one of his own. "Thanks, Teresa. But why are you defending my mom when you still believe she hasn't changed?"

"Maybe I'm wrong, like she is for pushing you away because of a broken heart. At the time of a broken heart is when you need someone most of all." Just as Teresa finished, the power went out and the diner darkened. Both teenagers jumped.

"What the hell?" Teresa turned to Henry. "Does this happen often?"

Henry looked at her with a shake of his head. "This would be the first."

Teresa jumped up from her stool and snatched his wrist. "Come on!"

Henry ran after her as she pulled him out of the diner. As soon as leaving the diner, they met up with Emma, who was walking towards the diner. "Henry!" The blonde sheriff said in relief. "Hey you wanna come check this out with me We can call it Operation ─ "

"No thanks," Henry said. He then pulled Teresa with him passed his mother. "Come on, Teresa."

Teresa glanced back at Emma, who she found wearing a frown. To cheer the blonde up some, she sent her a tiny smile before turning back in front of her to make sure Henry wasn't going to make her crash into anything. She glanced down at Henry's hand that still held her wrist and smiled before glancing at the teenagers face and raising a brow. "Where exactly are we going?"

"I'm not sure yet."

─────

Some time later after she spent the day conversing with Henry and roaming the streets together, they had eventually made their way back to the apartment where they learned Emma had been tracked in an ice cave practically all day. The blonde sheriff now sat in a chair with a thick blanket wrapped around her that Teresa had fetched her. Emma's skin and lips were a shade of blue as she shivered violently.

"Emma," David said. She hummed in response, shivering violently while clutching tightly onto both Henry and Hooks hands, desperate for their warmth. "You okay?" He asked, throwing another blanket around her shoulders.

"She's so cold," Hook said with worry in his eyes. Suddenly, the power turned back on, causing smiles to pull onto their faces.

Hook jumped up and grabbed a radiator from the next room to place it next to the girl he is love with, and watched as her lips curved into a weak smile at the heat spitting out towards her.

"Oh, that's good," Emma said.

Henry stood. "I'll go make some hot cocoa."

"Wait."

Henry smiled. "I know. With cinnamon.

Emma threw her arms around her son. "I'm sorry if I wasn't much help earlier, kid."

"I'm just glad you're okay. I was already down to one mother, and I won't go lower than that," Henry said. He stood, so Teresa replaced his spot and took Emma's hand to help warm her up.

Emma gave her a small smile before looking at Elsa. Elsa was the one who had trapped in the ice cave, but according to David it was by mistake. Elsa thought Emma was a threat and was scared. However, now they've learned the truth about Elsa; all she wanted was to find her sister.

"Elsa, you okay?" Emma asked.

"Not only have I lost my sister, I've lost her necklace, too. Now I have nothing of hers."

"Then let's find her." David handed her Bo Beeps shepherd's crook.

Elsa smiled and held it up, looking at it. Afted a moment, she said, "I don't see anything."

David frowned. "It should work."

"Is it broken?" Hook asked

"Or does it mean something happened to her?" Elsa asked, more worried than she had been before.

"Wait," Teresa said, straining her ears. "What's that sound?"

"Is that a heartbeat?" Elsa asked with a smile.

David nodded. "It is."

"We might not know where your sister is, but we know the most important thing."

"She's alive."

"Who's alive?" Asked Snow as she walked into the apartment with baby Neal in her arms. She paused after seeing Elsa. "Oh...who are you?"

"Uh, this is Elsa," David said, introducing his wife to the ice-wielding platinum-blonde. "We're gonna find her sister. That's what this family does. We find people. We always do, because we really, really don't like to give up."

─────

That morning, upon Henry's request, Teresa was following him towars a large white house. She stopped at the pathway and watched as Henry walked up to his mother's door. He glanced back at her and Teresa gave him an encouraging smile. He turned back towards the door and hesitated for a moment before knocking.

"I know you're in there!" He shouted. "You can give up on yourself, but I'm not gonna give up on you! And I'm not gonna go away just because you told me to! I belong here, and I'm gonna come back every day, because this is my house, too! And I miss my room!"

The door opened and Teresa took a step back as she looked at the woman before her. Yes, she had seen her in the woods the day before, but this time she was able to get a good look at her. Regina Mills wore her hair short now, and a smile that Teresa has never seen before on Regina was plastered on said womans face.

"Henry," Regina said. Even her voice was different. She sounded...happier, more full of life.

She couldn't see his face, but Teresa knew he was smiling as Henry said, "Mom."

Regina stepped forward and threw her arms around her son, a large grin on her face. In that moment, Teresa knew Henry and Snow were right. The Evil Queen has changed.

After their hug, Teresa was noticed. Regina looked at her with slightly widened eyes. "Teresa Holmes?"

"Regina Mills," Teresa said, wearing a smirk.

"How did ─ how did you get here? You're," Regina gulped, "I thought."

"Mom didn't just bring back Marian, but Teresa, too. I thought you had known," Henry said.

"I know you probably think of me still as the Evil Queen, but you don't need to fear me anymore Teresa. I'm not that person anymore. I use my magic only to protect my son and the people of this town. And...I'm sorry for everything I have ever done to you."

Teresa and Regina stared at each other for the longest time until Teresa began walking towards them. Henry was nervous at first, not knowing what Teresa was about to do. But relief washed over him when he watched as Teresa extended her hand towards his mother with a serious look in her eye. "I can see that you're a changed person now," Teresa began, "so as much as this is going to be awkward, I forgive you."

Regina smiled and shook the young girls hand. "I agree this will be awkward at first as you adjust to the new me, but, like Snow and I have, I'm sure well get used to it."

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