Author's Note: This is set right after the curse is broken, while Snow and Emma was in Fairytale land. Also this was a request from Stephvh243, so I do hope you like it :o)
Going back to Wonderland
Regina had never ever thought in a million years she would got to visit her mother freely, then again she had never thought the curse would be broken. Now that she had it was all a mess, or so she felt. She had given David the main guardianship to her son, so it came to her surprise that Henry came back not long after.
As she assumed that she was no longer mayor, it was no longer use for her services either. She had been hiding out at her mansion, considering whether using magic was the right thing or not, when Henry came in the door, calling for her, "Mom, are you here?"
"In here," she called from the living room, turning towards the entrance to face it. He came into her and she looked at him, wondering, "So what can I do for you, Henry."
"I was wondering about something, do I have any other grandparents than Snow and Charming?" he looked at her with questioning eyes. After all she had to have had parents as well, meaning that if they were alive she would have to be in Wonderland. Of course she could not contact her of course and she didn't really want to either.
She took a deep breath and said, "You have a grandmother if you count my mother that, but she is really not someone I would want you to meet."
"Mom, you were the evil queen, how bad could she really be?" he said, tilting his hair and looking at her.
"Bad," she said shortly.
"You are afraid of her," he said confused.
"Of course not, but to get to her we have to go through a portal and I am not sure if I can make another one," said she with a heavy sigh. She was not scared, she was terrified.
"Please mom, I really want to met her," he pleaded her. She nodded, if she had managed to open a portal and get Emma and Mary Margaret to vanish once she for sure would managed to do so again for her and her son to see her mother. And so she started to do to get another portal working.
A few days later the two of them finally managed to go through it and ended up in wonderland. Henry looked around at this strange place as his mother held him close yelling, "Mother, I know you are here."
Soon guards appeared saying, "Who are you that dear to trespass on the grounds of the queen?"
"The daughter and her grandson, where is she?" Regina said in a harsh tone, she wasn't even scared of them.
"Follow us," they pointed their spears at them to get them moving. Henry looked at his mother, walking ahead proud and Regal as always, only in this land her dress had changed to something more royal. She had a dress, red with black pattern, something he had only seen in his storybook. She had her arm protectively around him, as they walked towards the throne of her mother. Cora removed her veil from her face saying, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
"Mother, your grandson wanted to see you," she pushed Henry in front of her, hoping that was safe to do. He looked at the woman that seemed like an older version of his mother. Red dress, crown on her head, wrinkles, all high and mighty. She eyed him, before she said, "Your name child?"
"Henry, Henry Mills," he said, not letting his eyes fall.
"You named him after your father?" Cora looked at her daughter with surprised.
"I named him after the greatest man I ever knew," said she, her grip tightening around Henry's shoulder, he said nothing of this. He kept looking at the older woman, that nodded saying, "Very well, so why did you want to see me, young Henry?"
"Because you are my second set of grandparents as I don't know my father and his parents, and I wanted to get to know you," said Henry looking at her.
"You don't know who his father is?" this question was directed as her daughter as surely she had to know who she got pregnant with to get him. Clearly he did look at his daughter.
"I...I didn't give birth to him, he is adopted, closed, so I wouldn't know who his parents was. He however went to find his mother to break the curse. She is the daughter of Snow White and Charming. I accidentally banished his mother and grandmother to the Fairytale land and now we are here as he wanted to see you," she said with a heavy sigh.
Clearly wanting to see her came from her grandson alone and not her daughter. Still she was happy to see her. Adoptive son or not, whatever the term meant, this was still her son and she had raised him no matter who his biological parents were. She probably didn't know so at the time. It was a minor inconvenience that Cora at the same time held Snow and Emma captured in Fairytale land. Of course her daughter and grandson did not know this. She sighed heavily and said, "Well you are both welcome to stay for as long as you want. Are you hungry or thirsty?"
"I am, do you have a soda?" Henry tried, still not sure what to make of her. Clearly his mother did not like this woman he knew that much for sure. He thought he recall that he read she had banished her here or something, then something occurred to him and he asked, "Where are we, exactly what land is this?"
"Wonderland, I assumed you did know I was the queen of hearts," said she, eying him, wondering what the heck a soda was.
He swallowed saying, "You would not take off my head would you?"
"Of course not, you are family, so how about that drink, I don't know what soda is, but I do have some strawberry drinks, is that good?" she tried a smile even.
"Sure," he said and nodded. Regina didn't say anything to this. Instead she followed her mother to a dining room where they sat down. Cora asked the a servant to go and get them drinks, he came back with that and some finger food shortly after. She thanked him and dismissed him. Henry looked at the food puzzled, but didn't say anything, he instead waited until the elderly lady said he could help himself and he did. She smiled at him, as Regina kept and watchful eye on her son. Cora knew she would never lay a hand on him. She felt an instant connection with him. When he had eaten a bit she turned to him and said, "So Henry tell me a bit about yourself."
"If you tell me something about yourself first, I shall share some about me," he tried, it couldn't hurt to try. Regina smirked by this, wondering if her mother would answer to this.
"Very well, throughout my life I have had four great loves. One when I was fairly young Jonathan, he just played with me, two was Regina's father, I did love him greatly even if I don't have my heart in my body. Three my daughter no matter what you should have heard and four someone that was swept away to your land by this curse," said she honestly, Regina frowned by this, but she did not speak.
"Really I might have met him then, cool. Alright so I love Fairy tales, video games, and movies. You probably don't know about that, but if you come to our world I will show you," he felt a bit silly, then added, "I am doing good in school, my weak subject is history, argue with the teacher a lot."
"Hmm, it is possible that you have. Maybe I should have thought you that, what is your favorite Fairytale?" said Cora, eying him with curiosity.
"Snow White of course as she is my grandmother," he said and smiled brightly at her.
"I knew of her mother," said Cora dryly.
"You were friends?" he wondered.
"If I tell you I could have been her mother instead of Regina's you think we were?" she said and rolled her eyes.
"Instead you became her... grandmother now that is messed up," he said and rolled his.
"Let us change the subject, how is she as a mother?" Cora wondered curiously.
"She doesn't know how to love very well, but I knows she does love me," he smiled over at his mother that smiled back. Her son was really something she knew. He thought for a second before he said, "She can be a bit strict, but it is for my own good I am quite sure, she doesn't like that I am connecting with Emma, as she is afraid of losing me. She is trying to chance herself for me, and so far she is not doing half bad. She does let me play and do stuff that I want, but only after I have done my homework and chores."
"I see, seems she does make a fine mother," Cora nodded at her daughter, that blushed.
"She isn't as bad as I first thought, even if she is the evil queen," said he and smiled at her.
She nodded as she took a bite of some purple fruit he had not seen before, then she dipped it in chocolate sous before he asked, "Do you miss her, mom I mean?"
"Of course I do, she is the beholder of my heart," said Cora with a heavy sigh. Not adding to the fact that Regina was not her only child.
"I thought you were heartless," said Henry with a shrug as he dried his mouth with a napkin. Then he looked from his mother to Cora saying, "I'm done."
"Very well so what do you want to do?" she asked the question to the both of them.
"I would like to see Wonderland," said Henry, surely she could show him that.
"That can be arranged, do you ride or do you want to walk?" Cora wondered, looking at her daughter.
"I have never been on a horse before," he admitted, she nodded, slowly getting up from her seat. She was surprised that Regina had not taught him to ride, considering how much she had loved it when she was young. She looked at the young boy saying, "Why don't you wait outside for a second so I can talk to my daughter?"
Obedient he nodded and left the two of them. He didn't go outside thought, he staying out of sight, listening to their conversation. Cora was looking at her daughter and she was looking back, he didn't see it often but there was fear in his mother's eyes. Cora took a breath and said, "So you banish me and leave me out of your life only to years later expect me to be a grandmother to a child you didn't even get birth to."
"I couldn't taking it anymore mother, I needed someone to love again, someone that could be mine and I couldn't conceive after all the miscarriages, have you any idea how much it hurt losing child a child?" she asked, her voice trembling. All she wanted was to be loved and thanks to Emma she was about to lose that as well.
"You banished me here remember," said Cora, leaving out the fact that she had left another daughter before her.
"There was a reason for that, you are controlling, and you didn't have a heart, you still don't. How could you claim you love me when you don't have a heart in your body and when you treated me like that," said Regina, her voice was shivering now.
"Because I do, you are my daughter and I will always love you," said Cora, her tone was softer now than before.
"Just stop...can we just leave so you can show Henry Wonderland, and for you to pretend we care for him, then we can leave?" Regina wondered, getting up from her seat.
"Fine, if that is the way you want to play it," Cora got up also, her facial expression hardened. She slowly made her way out of the room, with her daughter in close pursuit.
As they walked among huge mushrooms, small houses and purple fields in Wonderland, Regina was watching over her mother and son as they slowly seemed to bond. It was odd considering how controlling and harsh she had been while she was young. She did not seem that way with him at all, it genuinely seemed like she actually cared about him, then again maybe she did. She had always told Regina to marry up and have children, and maybe her young son was not hers by birth, but she for she was his mother in every meaning of the word, making Cora his grandmother. She watched as she offered him pink fruit and yellow berries. She knew they were called honey berries and tasted almost like honey. He was really enjoying himself.
They stopped by the Mad Hatter's house, where they had a tea party with a brown bunny wearing a blue suit and a white bunny with Cora's symbol on his west. Her advisory she said. There was also a couple of mice there. They were celebrating an unbirthday party, which Henry thought was most peculiar. He told them he knew the hatter and he was doing well, and they were most delighted to hear that. Regina thought the animals were acting crazy, but it didn't surprise her at all. Instead she took a piece of cake and some tea, before they kept on walking.
As they were doing so it started to rain and all three hid under a huge mushroom. Cora heard singing from up in the trees and groaned. Regina looked at her saying, "What?"
"It is the Cheshire cat, I try to avoid him," said Cora, not looking happy.
Henry looked up seeing a purple and pink cat and said, "That is awesome."
The cat came down to their level and said, "Good day, Majesty, so who is your company today?"
"My daughter and her son," she answered polite.
"And where might you all be going?" asked he, wiggling his big purple brows.
"Here, there everywhere," Cora said in a dull tone. She had played this game too many times.
"Then you cannot know where to go?" said he and looked at her.
"I know exactly where I am going, now get lost before I cut of your head," said she annoyed.
He vanished singing, "Beware, beware, the queen of hearts is near."
She shook her head as Henry looked at her saying, "Grandma, that wasn't nice, you shouldn't have told him that."
"Perhaps not, but he know I won't kill him," said she and shrugged.
"Gone soft on your older days?" Regina wondered, looking at her surprised.
"Hardly, shall we keep on walking?" she wondered, looking at the young boy, they had walked for hours and he did seem happy. Henry looked at Regina saying, "I am tired, can we go home?"
"Of course, Henry, dear," she said in a soft tone, ruffling his hair gently.
"Can we come back here some time?" he looked at Cora now, she noded dignified. He smiled at her, before giving her a big hug, she hugged back somewhat awkward and said, "What was that for?"
"For not cutting off our heads and pretending you wanted us here," he said letting her go.
"That was not pretending dear," said she with a genuine smile, before asked, "I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
"Sure what?" he was curious now.
"Deliver a message from me to someone," said she and conjured and envelope. She gave it to him and he said, "Sure, who is going to have it?"
"Says on the back, well I shall show you out," she said, walking in the direction of where they had come from earlier that day. Once there she looked at Regina saying, "I will come for you, my dear."
"I have no doubt about that," said Regina, a half smile on her lips. Perhaps her way of saying she missed having her around, spite their differences. The older witch nodded and watched after them as they vanished back to the portal.
It was an excited Henry that went to bed that night, he could hardly wait to tell his grandpa where he and his mom had been all day. He gave her a great big hug, before he left the house. On his way home to David he however stopped by the diner. He didn't see Red right away, which Cora's letter was for, but he waited patiently for her. Once she was out he ran to her saying, "I have something for you."
"What is that, Henry?" she wondered seeing the envelope.
"From Cora, not sure," he said handing it over before he ran out.
Red swallowed as she opened it and read:
My dear wolf
I trust you are alive and well in this new land.
I know it is a lot to ask, but can you keep an eye out for my grandson and my
daughter they may need extra protection. Don't tell them that I have their family.
I shall be with you in not long, I promise.
You know how I feel about you.
Cora
She swallowed and put it aside, before going on with her daily business. Henry on the other hand was excitedly telling David all about what he had seen in Wonderland. He on the other hand couldn't help but wonder how he and Regina had managed to get there and back, when she couldn't open a portal for Snow and Emma.
The brunette however was sitting alone in her big house, wondering what it would have been like if she had treated her as she did Henry while growing up. She also wondered why she always ended up alone, truly that was the worse curse. She wished there was a way to bring Emma and Snow back, but she knew she needed stronger magic to do that. If she could maybe Henry would not be against her so much. She at least had to try she knew. It was the right thing to do for her son. In the end to her he was all that mattered. Her one true love.
Thank you for reading, I would love to hear your point of view :o)