Break The Cycle

Chapter 13:

"Hi." He timidly said. "I'm-"

"Henry." I gasped.

"Yeah." He looked confused. "How'd you know?"

"Henry." I spat out again as I crouched down to look at my little boy. I placed a hand to his cheek to make sure this was real, he was standing in front of me. When I believed it, I hugged him.

"So, you're my mom?" He asked.

"Yeah, kid." I said with tears in my eyes.

"Emma?" I heard a familiar voice.

Killian had returned, and was staring at us.

"Killian, this is Henry. He's my son." I said.

Killian stood there, unable to speak.

"Henry," I said, turning to my son, "this is Killian. He helped me find you on the computer. I was going to leave today to find you."

"You were going to get me back?" Henry asked, excited.

"Something like that." I told him. "Come inside. How did you get here anyway?"

"The bus." He said.

"Who let a six year old get on the bus alone?" Killian asked as I closed the door.

"I'm almost seven." Henry retorted. I laughed.

"Well, you got me." Killian said with a smile.

"Henry, did you run away?" I asked him, sitting on the couch with Henry between Killian and I.

"Yes." He looked at his feet, ashamed.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

"A website. I paid for it to tell me who my birth mom was." He explained.

"Okay. But Henry, you can't just run away. People will be worried about you." I told him.

"No they won't. I live in a big group home, no one will miss me." He crossed his arms. I looked at Killian, worried. Just as I feared, he wasn't happy.

"I have to take you back." I said to Henry.

"Don't you want me?" He pleaded.

"Of course I do." I said, running my hand over his hair. "But I have to do it the right way. I can't just take you out of your group home, I have to ask if I can have custody of you."

"Custody?" He asked.

"It means that, legally, you would be my son."

"But I am your son."

"Technically, yes. But not according to the law. I have to ask to get you back."

"Okay." He grumbled.

"I'm going to take you back to the group home. And I'll stay in Boston for a few days to get started on getting you back with me."

He beamed at me and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back and smiled at Killian, mouthing the words thank you at him. He smiled back and nodded at me.

We all climbed in Killian's car and made our way to Boston. It didn't take very long, in fact it went by far too quickly. I didn't want to send Henry back to the group home, I knew he wasn't happy.

"Okay kid." I sighed as I got out of the car. Henry followed suit. Killian stayed put, I guess to give us a minute.

"Look at me Henry." I said. He looked up at me and I leveled with him. "I know you don't like it here. But I promise, I'm going to get you out as fast as I can. I'm sorry I let you go when you were born, but I'm going to come back for you and you can live with me."

He smiled at me and hugged me again. Then it was time. I walked him to the front door and knocked. A very unpleasant looking woman answered. She looked at me and then caught sight of Henry.

"Henry Mills!" She scolded him. He flinched a little but made his way past her as fast as he could.

"I'm sorry he bothered you." She said, turning back to me. "I've been looking for him all day."

It didn't look like she was making much of an effort.

"Did you just find him and convince him to tell you where he lived?"

"No, he found me actually." I stated. "I'm his birth mother."

"Oh." The woman said, looking me up and down. She closed the door behind her. "I'm sorry, you can't just take him back you know."

"I know, not like this at least." I said.

"You want to get custody of him?" She asked, a little too eagerly. She wanted to get rid of him.

"Yes. Since he's here, he doesn't have a family right?"

"Right." She confirmed.

"So how can I go about getting him back?"

"You'll have to talk to the state, since you are his birth mother, if you can prove you're capable of caring for him, it should be easy." She explained.

"Okay, thank you, Miss...?"

"Karen Williams." She stuck out her hand.

"Emma Swan." I said, taking it.

"Best of luck Miss Swan." She said to me before going back inside.

I took a deep breath and made myself leave the place, going back to the car.

"Well?" Killian asked me.

"He's not happy here." I said. "But that woman said since he doesn't have a family I just need to prove that I can take care of him and I'll be set."

"That's great, Emma." He said, squeezing my hand.

I smiled. I was getting my son back.