"Why are you combing my hair? It's not Picture Day."

"No, but it's the first day of school. That's still very important, too."

Regina places the comb back on its spot on the bathroom vanity, next to the toothbrush holder with his Spider-Man toothbrush. It matches the red and blue towels she'd bought for his bathroom over the summer, and, his favorite part of the room, a shower curtain made to look like panels from a Spider-Man comic book. Spotless and full of energy—exactly how Henry looks on the first day of first grade.

"Ah!" she grunts, catching him before his hand sweeps up to muss his hair. "Let's go downstairs and wait for the bus."

"Will I see Mr. Badger even though he's not my teacher anymore?" he asks, a nervous hand encircling hers on the way down the stairs.

"I'm sure he'll be there. If he's not busy you can say hi." She had been right that he wouldn't need a jacket. The normally crisp air clung to warmer southern breezes making their way up the coast. Gesturing for him to turn and face her, she snaps a photo of him with his backpack readied and lunchbox in hand.

"Do I look older than I did in last year's picture?"

"Yes." She can't say more than that for fear of tearing up. Kindergarten had only required the adjustments any parent would have to make, that first step in learning to eventually let go, the conflict of independence vs. affection... She'd ordered and read three new child development books (Amazon should be called Amazing) and so felt she was adequately prepared for all of that. The adjustment she feared, however, was inevitable.

Henry was excited now, but he would come home confused. She could hear all the questions already, why his friends are all still in kindergarten, why they don't remember him. She didn't have answers, not truthful ones. She didn't even have deceitful ones, not yet. She'd contemplated playing dumb ("I don't know why the school chose to do that that way"), snooty ("Those children must not be ready to be big kids like you are"), just fully embracing the denial ("Oh, Henry, the kids in your class now were the kids you were in kindergarten with"). There was no perfect response. It would be the first imperfect thing about his little life.

"Mom?" Regina felt a tug on her sleeve.

Gulping, she smiled down at him. Forget all of that for right now, she told herself. It is his first day of first grade and he will never get another one of those. It is a big day.

"What is it, Henry?" She knelt down next to him, the front outline of the bus coming into view.

"I think we didn't get everything on my supply list," he stammers. "I'm pretty sure we had to get the 24-crayon pack, not the 16 pack."

"Listen, sweetie." Her hands grip his shoulders. For a moment, she closes her eyes and tries to summon magic, summon something that can keep him five and ignorant forever and still keep him real. There has to be a way to sometimes have the cake and eat it too. "You will love school. You're a smart, friendly kid and I will be home early to hear all about it. Okay?" Nodding, he gives her a hug. The questions swirl around in her mind again...why the boy in fifth grade who picked on him last year is still in fifth grade, why the kids who came to his birthday party last year don't remember him now...

It's just first day of school jitters, she convinces herself, letting him go and waving to him as he steps onto the bus. Enjoy his first day. Bask in his love.

"I love you!" she calls out.

"I love you, too!"

It will never be the same again.

A/N: Welcome to a 10-chapter story in which the regulars each have a moment to reflect, to take in life, and experience a moment's peace. This was going to be much longer with perspectives from more of the characters, but I trimmed it down to the 9 cast members the show considers regulars along with one other who I felt should have been considered a regular for Season 2. Like the show, the moments are not necessarily in chronological order. Thank you, and I do not own OUAT.