I wrote this story during the break between the Season Two finale and the start of Season Three so there are no spoilers of any kind (that I am aware of) as this is a random story. It was simply something written to wait for the new season to start but some people seemed to like it... so... :)
This was meant to be a Snow/Mary Margaret and Regina story but it turned in to a story about Regina dealing with... well... everyone which explains my crazy inaccurate description.
All Along
"Where did Regina run off to?" Mary Margaret asks her husband and daughter who sit beside each other on a bunk in the sleeping quarters of the Jolly Roger.
"Not like she can go far… we're on a ship." Emma says quite sarcastically causing David to chuckle from beside her.
Mary Margaret only glares at her husband before she offers, "Well, I don't think she should be alone right now and I don't want to leave her out of any plans because that will just give her more reason to withdraw."
"Wait a minute… wait a minute… You are Snow White right? The woman who was hunted down by Regina? Regina… The Evil Queen... and now you want her beside you?" Emma points out with a smile on her face.
"I'm glad you can joke about all this." She says with a smile. "But I'm serious. She was going to use that trigger against us because somehow she caught wind of us attempting to possibly leave her behind. I'm not going to take the chance that something like that will happen again. She needs to be here when we talk about… whatever we plan to talk about here." She says throwing her hands in the air at her own confusion. "We need to be on the same team… for Henry."
"Maybe she just needs to be alone for a while." Emma suggests.
"Well… I just don't want her to be left out. I'm gonna go find her." Mary Margaret makes her way out of the sleeping quarters and searches the brunette out. She finds her up on the forecastle deck, leaning her back against a rail away from the edge of the ship, just staring out at the water in the distance.
"Regina?" She calls quietly to her. The woman turns her head, face void of emotion, and simply stares at the smaller brunette who approaches. "I... just wanted to check on you. I know we've been... distracted... by everything that's been going on."
Regina furrows her brow in irritation and turns back to look out at the water once more. She says nothing as the other woman comes to stand beside her. They stand there silent for some time. Mary Margaret sets her gaze over the spans of water before them before turning her head to look the woman over. She opens her mouth to speak several times and each time she holds back.
Regina, fully aware of the woman's actions, relents and with a heavy sigh asks just above a whisper, "Why?" She shakes her head and inhales deeply as annoyance and irritation can be read in her body language.
Mary Margaret is confused by this question. She grimaces at the thought of what she might mean but decides to get clarification for this one worded question. "Why... what?"
"After all this time..." She sighs again as she drops her shoulders. "After everything I have done to you... why do you continue to save me? Is it just that you are determined to be at odds with me no matter what? I mean even in kindness..." She darts a hand out in the air. "I tried to sacrifice myself. I try to end my life so that you could have all gotten away safely, and you went back to save Me." she says turning to face the woman, her eyes wide as she is on the brink of tears.
Mary Margaret nods her head as a small smile forms on her lips. She turns her attention to the horizon. "I might ask the same questions of you."
Regina turns away while rolling her eyes as if offended by the comment. This chit chat session was just not worth her time right now. "You know... if you had just left like you were supposed to Henry wouldn't be in trouble now."
Mary Margaret laughs, she laughs quite heartily actually. In fact the idea of her own laughter only causes her to laugh harder and Regina simply stares at her with a deadly glare but this does nothing to stop her.
Fed up with this childlike display Regina turns to leave her but Mary Margaret grabs her arm and holds her in place as she does a horrible job of trying to gain her composure. "No wait..." She says in a gasp. "I mean really... where do you plan to run off to? We're on a ship in the middle of a body of water we have no idea how to navigate." She says in an amused tone.
Regina's face steels and she abruptly yanks her arms from within the younger woman's grasp. "I'm willing to jump ship so long as I don't have to stand here while you... stand here in hysterics over the fact that Henry is out there somewhere with two magic hating kidnappers. I find no humor in any of this." Though she means to sound harsh her tone is anything but.
Mary Margaret only hears how defeated this woman is. Knowing this she stops her snickering but still maintains a smile as she speaks to the woman once more. "I know and I'm sorry but that's not what I find funny. We'll find Henry. We'll get him back... but the fact that you still want to blame me for everything is just a joke. Really Regina... Do you ever get tired of blaming me for the things that go wrong in your life?"
Regina turns about so that she may look in any other direction except at Mary Margaret. She stuffs her hands in to her coat pockets and manages to find a point on the deck to stare at.
Mary Margaret steps closer to her with a now serious look on her face. "If you really want an answer to your question... I'll give you one." She tilts her head and waits for Regina to look her in the eye and when she does she takes this as permission to continue. She takes a deep breath and goes over to lean against the wooden rail. "Regina... all I ever wanted was for us to be family." She turns and meets eyes with the woman who only lowers her gaze. "You remember that story I told you, when I thought you were... what was the name you gave yourself? Wilma." She says raising her eyebrows at the memory. "I told you the story of how we met and how you saved my life. I told you all about how you changed me. I meant it. I meant every word of it. I wasn't just telling the story to save face or make small talk with a person who I thought was a complete stranger. That is what I thought of you. I thought you were a genuinely good person and I truly believe you were good when I met you. When I found out that my father had proposed to you and you had accepted all I could think about, all I really hoped for was that we might someday be happy as a family."
Regina turns to face the horizon that Mary Margaret is looking out to. She remains silent as she too leans on the wooden rail next to the younger woman. She purses her lips as she thinks on this. "You took away my happiness..." Regina starts to say in a broken whisper.
"Not on purpose. I was a child... and yes I know I broke a promise but to be fair it was a promise made between two very young people. I was a child and you were just old enough to be married off. I didn't do that to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you… in any way."
"And yet you still..." Regina tries to say but is cut off.
"Regina…" She drawls out her name. "You can keep blaming me if you like. That's fine... it's what you have always done but despite what you might think... I did that because I loved you. I know now it was the biggest mistake of my life... to trust your mother. To trust someone so vindictive... someone who literally had no heart." She says fiercely which only goes to fuel Regina's sudden rage.
"DO NOT speak of my mother that way! You..." She whispers as she tries to hold back tears. "You're the reason she's dead. You're the reason I'm alone. You tricked me into killing her. You never cease to interfere in my life. You meddle and play these childish games all the while trying to act the part of an innocent!" She shouts. "You manipulated me in a way that I never thought possible. The fairest of them all… Snow White tricked The Evil Queen." She says in a pained grimace as tears threaten to fall from her bleary eyes. "All I did was save you!" She yells. "How was I repaid for that? My life has been nothing but loss. Everyone that matters to me gets taken away. Daniel, My mother, and now Henry... all gone because of you. We'll be lucky if Henry doesn't meet their same fate." She says defeated now as she covers her face with her hands.
Mary Margaret sighs. "You are always so quick to give up. If you would stop fighting me long enough you would realize we're on the same side here. You know?" She takes a few steps towards the stairs. "Even when I tried to hate you I couldn't because deep down somewhere inside I was holding out hope that you would somehow be a part of my life, a part of my family. It's silly isn't it? Then again Emma always points out how very optimistic I am but if I lose that hope then I lose it all." She takes a few steps down the stairs now but turns back to say, "Without hope I might have given up too... but here we all are and make no mistake we will find Henry… but we'll only get him back if we do this together." She says definitively before she takes her leave.