Koda

Kind of interesting to think that those gifs in the top row are both from season 3 and there's only about one year between them and the Operation Mongoose ones below. ONCE seriously needs a time jump, if only to officially age Henry up a bit.

MinutesToMidnight

How old is Henry now in the story? 12?

Neverlight

I think 12.

fox24

12. Emma say in 3.17 he was and that was like 12-14 weeks prior

CityGal

Thanks for the pretty gifset.

| “Because of production things, [the scene] had to be moved to daytime to the center of town, and we lost a lot of the hugs. So we don’t actually get to see… I don’t think we get to see [Regina] hugging Henry. I know the fans who were on set, or maybe it was a set photographer, caught [Regina] hugging Henry and it went all over, and I got a lot of tweets saying ”Why’d you cut this moment?!“” - Jane Espenson

x

Zimane

Giggling.

Regina grins and follows the sound.

“What are you up to?” she calls out as she enters her bedroom.

“I’m Batman!” Henry cries out, turning to look at her, spinning on his bare feet, “Mommy look!”

Regina gasps, a hand on her chest, she looks him up and down, from the top of his head down to his little pink toes, “You are?” she says around smile.

The green towel that usually hangs in her bathroom is perilously close to falling off of Henry’s shoulders as he bounces and raises his arms, but it’s the bright sleeping mask he’s snagged from her nightstand that has her laughing as he tells her he really is Batman.

She crouches down, places her hand on the emblem decorating his pajamas.

“That’s right, honey,” she shakes her head and looks at her beautiful little boy, her prince, the light of her life, “you’re my hero.”

where i at, Giggling. Regina grins and follows the sound....

eternalfate

CityGal

Don't know how I missed this. Lovely for Lana to acknowledge this.

aeverett

Sometimes it seems Henry is the only relationship the writers haven't messed up for Regina. Robin is unworthy. Emma still calls herself Henry's mom. Zelena's connection to the Mills family was a terrible story line to begin with.

Henry just needs to give up calling Emma his mother and move in full time with Regina. It probably won't happen but it would be a nice complete story arc.

Zimane

I don't agree with you. Henry has two mothers. He loves both.

aeverett

If Emma and Regina were lesbians and chose each other romantically, I'd agree, but Emma gave Henry up for a closed adoption. Regina never agreed to let Emma into her child's life. Emma didn't care and Regina just rolled over because she's 'good'. Giving up your human rights to raise your own child is sick, not 'good'.

MinutesToMidnight

They don't have to be a lesbian couple to be a family for Henry. Many children in real life have 2 fathers or 2 mothers for other reasons than they're parents are in a homosexual relationship.

I agree with Zimane. Henry loves Regina and he loves Emma. He can have the two in his life.

phoenix_shine

In my honest opinion, Emma handled her relationship with Henry the wrong way a lot of times. In season 1 in particular she had absolutely no legal right on him and the mere fact that she thought it was ok to sneak the kid out of the house in the middle of the night, or worse, to kidnap him and try to take him to Boston with her was way too infuriating for me. In season 2 it got worse even, because Snow and Charming actually backed her up when she decided to not let Henry spend time with his mother. Snow's line to Regina "I don't think Emma has to run anything by you" when Emma took Henry to New York was definitely NOT ok. As it was not ok for Emma in season 3 to assume that she had any right to take Henry back to New York just becaue she had issues. She definitely still has a long way ahead of her to be able to call herself a mother, imo. And legally speaking, you are right, Emma has no right to call herself Henry's mother, because she chose a closed adoption for a reason. In our world, her actions would have severe consequences.

But this show has proven a lot of times that as much as some things resemble real life, it is still a FANTASY show. And in this case, mishaps like these are totally forgotten, especially when they are actions of a hero. In OUAT's case, Regina was practically "forced" to agree to have Emma in Henry's life because a) that would be the only way they would even let her near her son, since everyone suspected her of murder, b) that was the only way they could work together to save him from Pan and get him back safe and c) that was the only way she could save everyone from Pan's curse. And after the Missing Year events, OUAT established officially Emma's part in Henry's life.

Still, that doesn't mean that the only way for these two women to be his mothers is if they were romantically involved. That's absurd! Like MinutestoMidnight said, there are thousands of children out there that have 2 mothers or 2 fathers for various reasons (second marriages, or adoptive and biological cases, like this one, and so many more) and their families are perfectly normal. And let me respectfully disagree on your opinions about Robin and Zelena's involvements. Robin is very much worthy to be on Regina's side and be one more father figure to Henry, and Zelena being Regina's sister is a brilliant idea. The only screwed-up decision the fans unanimously agree on is the pregnancy.

The bottom line is that Regina and Emma can coexist as Henry's parents without having a romantic relationship, period.

Koda

One thing that's also worth keeping in mind is that, while mistakes have been made in the past on both sides, the characters are finally in a good place. Whether they like it or not, they are part of one big, dysfunctional family and that's not going to change anymore. But for the most part the Charming-Swan-Mills clan seems to have embraced that and they're focusing on the positive aspects of it instead of fighting each other every step of the way. Family and hope are two of the core themes of ONCE and this story is very reflective of that, I believe.

aeverett

Accepting something because you can't change it doesn't make it right, fair, or just. It just makes it the way things are. Remember, it was the injustices that Regina suffered in regards to Henry that made her willing to turn to Cora for help in Season 2. When Pan first got Henry's heart and Emma tried to sugarcoat Regina's pain, Regina showed just how hurt she still was. Regina has walked over hot coals for that child, but she still has to share what in a just world would be hers in whole, the right to raise her child on her own. She may accept it, but it's like the Author said, she gets screwed over a lot. This is just one example.

As for Robin and Zelena, I hate both aspects of the show. Both characters had potential but they were badly handled. Robin's a wuss who brings nothing new to Regina's life and Zelena is nuts and serves no purpose than to continue to screw Regina over. That is my opinion. Everyone is entitled.