A short Mom's Day fic. This contains a bit of schoolyard bullying and teen-on-teen violence. If that bothers you, please don't chastise me - simply don't read the story. I don't condone unnecessary violence, but some people are assholes and deserve what they get...


"Is that Henry's lunch bag?" Regina asked as she entered the kitchen.

Emma had just finished preparing lunch for her wife and son and was in the middle of packing the boy's lunch bag. "Yeah, why?"

"Here, put these in there for him. He sounds a little congested this morning." She tossed a couple of cold and flu pills into the lunch bag along with a small pack of tissues and some decongestant drops. "I think he might be coming down with something."

"Do you think he should stay home then?"

"No, he has that practice S.A.T. today. And Henry needs all the practice he can get."

"I don' think the school allows the kids to bring medications..."

"Well let them take it up with me!"

"Okay..." Emma knew to back off. God help any person who gets in the way of Regina nurturing her baby boy. "Just let him know that if he needs to take anything, go into the bathroom and do it so he doesn't end up in the principal's office."

"Will do," the brunette says, grabbing hers and Henry's lunch bags. "Will you please tell Henry to come down; I'll be waiting in the car."

"Yeah."

"Goodbye, sweetie. Thank you for lunch."

"Feel free to call and text me all day. I'll be home. On the couch. Watching Maury."

Regina threw a disapproving look over her shoulder as she left.


When they arrived in front of the high school, Henry got out of the car and his mom followed suit. They made quite an adorable pair: Henry in his uniform, beginning to bulk up a bit and Regina, regal as ever in a purple skirt suit and St. Laurent shades. She straightened out his collar a bit and placed her hands on his neck and forehead to feel for temperature. It did seem a bit higher than normal and her brow furrowed in concern, but as she'd told Emma this morning, today was not the day for Henry to stay home. He'd just have to tough it out for a few hours.

"If you're still feeling badly after the exam, call your mother; she'll come get you."

"Okay," he answered. Henry glanced over to his right, where out of the corner of his eye he could see some of his classmates pointing in his direction and laughing. He even saw one of the boys look Regina up and down then look back at Henry while make a lewd gesture clearly directed at his mother. His face flushed in anger.

"Are you okay?" the mayor tilted her head to catch her son's eyes.

"Yeah, just a little warm. I'll be fine."

"Alright. If you start feeling sneezy, there are some cold tablets in your lunch bag. Just excuse yourself to the restroom and take them so you don't get into trouble. And I also packed you tissues and cough drops. Oh, and drink lots of water, okay?"

"Thanks, mom. See you later."

Regina hugged her son then rounded the car to get back in the driver's seat. As Henry walked away, she called out, "I love you!"

Turning his head back toward her he called back, "Love you, mom."


"Does she give you a bath and tuck you in, too?" one of the boys taunted. Andy. Henry had never liked him. Andy was nice enough when they were younger, but he had a terrible habit of bragging about how his toys were better than everyone else's. Whenever Henry did get a cool new toy and bring it to school, Andy would always come in a day later with something more cool and pretty much shit on Henry's "cool" toys. As Henry and Andy got older, Andy's irritating personality just got worse. Hell, he was even more irritating than Sid. Before Andy's induction to the dark side, Sid had held down the position of Worst Kid In School. Funny thing was that at some point in 9th or 10th grade, Sid mellowed out and became somewhat friends with Henry.

"Oh come on," Andy continued even as Henry tried to ignore him and walk into the building. "I think it's sweet. I'd give my left nut to have Mayor Mills give me a scrub down and tuck me in..."

Henry threw down his backpack and lunch and stomped over, getting right in the other boy's face. His cheeks were red with fever and anger, but more anger than anything. He said nothing, just glared at the other kid in front of him. His blonde mother's words were in his head, 'Don't ever hit someone without a reason. That makes you the aggressor...'

Andy kept going, "What are you gonna do about it, little baby?" He spoke in baby talk and pinched Henry's cheeks.

Henry was just about fresh out of patience. He wanted to heed his mother's advice but his fists itched at his side. He'd been waiting years for a reason to punch Andy in the throat.

Turning around to his friends, Andy chuckled, "Maybe we should call his mommy to come give him a bottle and rub his tummy." He adopted the baby-talk again, "Does the baby love his mommy?"

But before the asshole could even fully turn back to face Henry, Henry's right fist collided with the left side of Andy's face. The kid fell to the ground clutching his nose, tears cascading down his cheeks.

Henry's knuckles burned. He took a look at them and noticed how they immediately turned irritated, but he couldn't feel any real damage - he'd tucked his thumb against the other four fingers like Emma'd taught him.

He crouched down over Andy and smirked, "Real men love their moms."

As Henry collected his bags and headed in to school, he had a short sneezing fit. He reached into his lunch bag and grabbed a tissue to blow his nose, silently thanking his mom for thinking ahead.