A Journey Through Time ~ #Wattys2015

A Blast from the Past

Days passed since the incident at the lake. Henry was cleared with a minor concussion and ordered to take it easy. The first night, he slept in his bed with Regina seated in a chair in the corner. She woke him every hour to ask him the questions Dr. Whale instructed her to.

"What's your name?" "Henry." "Who am I?" "My mom." "How old are you?" "12."

After a few hours of losing sleep so his mother could drill him, his answers changed.

"What's your name?" "Rapunzel." "Be serious!" "My name is Henry." "Okay, and who am I?" "The Evil Queen." "Really, Henry?" "Sorry, the former Evil Queen." "How old are you?" "300." "Come on, Henry!" "Oh, how old am I? I thought you asked me how old I thought you were. Sorry mom."

Regina left him alone after that, understanding that he was fine and just needed some rest. But she didn't sleep. She continued to sit in the chair watching him, afraid she'd lose him if she closed her eyes.

She calmed down after a few days and when she noticed that her son was starting to feel like his normal self again, she allowed him to take the walk with her to bring Pongo back to Archie.

He apologized up and down for what happened at the lake. Regina guessed he heard what happened through the grapevine and shrugged off his apologies. It wasn't anyone's fault: not Henry's, not Pongo's, not even her's, although that didn't stop her from blaming herself. Sometimes accidents happen and they are out of our control.

"I really appreciate you taking care of him while I was gone. If there's ever anything you need, please let me know," Archie said, petting his loyal pal.

"I did have a question for you," Regina started and turned to Henry. "Can you go inside with Pongo for a minute?"

The boy patted the back of his leg and called for the dog as they entered the office and the adults stepped into the hallway.

"Is everything alright?"

"Oh yes, everything is fine. I was wondering where you got Pongo. Henry and Roland were really great with him and I thought I'd look into it," she replied. Her tone was all business, but Archie knew that was a defense mechanism for whatever other troubles she was having that she didn't want him to psychoanalyze her about.

"I actually brought him to a breeder to mate with a female Dalmatian. They have one puppy left in the litter that would still need to be adopted out. I can email you their information. How soon were you looking to adopt one?"

"I was thinking around Christmas," she smiled, imagining their little faces on Christmas morning to see a little Dalmatian pup with a red bow around his neck. She lingered in her vision. The idea of Henry and Roland together on Christmas meant something more and she knew that. She knew in her imagination, the boys were giggling and playing with their new pup while Robin stood beside her taking in the view as well.

"I'm sorry, Archie. There's something I need to do. Would you mind watching Henry for me? I'll call Emma to pick him up. It won't be for long," she explained.

"Take all the time you need. We'll be here. And I'll send you that email right away," he answered.

"Thank you," she nodded and raced out the door. She pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed the blonde.

"Hey, how's the kid?" she heard from the other end of the phone.

"He's fine. I left him with Archie. Can you pick him up there?"

"Yeah, no problem. Is everything okay with you?"

"I'm going to the stable. There's something I need to do."