Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6905051-20131203105732/@comment-4975807-20140426170300

^^ I agree completely with your thoughts. I'm not adopted, but I can see that maternal instinct extends past being blood related or not. Regina *is* Henry's mother. She adopted him and named him and raised him as her own. She basically loved him almost as if she gave birth to him herself. So while they are not biologically related, the familial connection extends deeper than just genetics. I do think Regina wanted to drive Emma away as fast as possible because she feared Emma's title as Henry's birth mother would be enough to lose him. I believe Regina's protectiveness of Henry, in which she basically told Emma to gtfo from Storybrooke (at the end of Pilot) caused Emma herself to perceive, based on her own growing personal dislike of Regina, that Henry wasn't loved by his adoptive mother and in turn caused her to stay in town for a week. Which made things more complicated.