Emma and Henry had conspired and thought that maybe a little getaway would do them all some good. Settle everything down, between the families. Emma knew she could convince her parents to go and Henry knew exactly how to convince his mother, they just hoped that it would go well.
They'd found a nice little ranch with enough space that Regina and Mary-Margaret wouldn't be cooped up together for any amount of time.
What nobody expected and yet they all should have, would be how much Regina would enjoy it. She would get up in the morning and get stuff done before anybody else managed to stir.
They would usually find her on a horse for most of the morning. She would take it out and they'd be free to travel, across the hills and the woods and streams. She would then spend the afternoon, teaching Emma and Henry how to ride, something both enjoyed greatly.
One night when Regina and Henry were out in the paddocks with the horses Mary-Margaret explained the reason that Regina was so good at the outdoors. She may have been queen and a princess as as child, but she had desperately wanted to be married to the stable boy and grow up in a much less pompous world than she was in.
Deep down Regina was practically a country girl. She was wild at heart really and if she had been given the chance to give up her nobility and work on a ranch, then she would have. Probably. If it meant that she would have her love and her life.
That sort of revelation gave Emma an idea and after some talk with Henry, the two set up their fun and Henry managed to coax Regina into it and within a week, Regina was riding around on her horse with a Stetson placed on top her head. It was a sight that Emma continued to laugh at, but she along with the others also enjoyed seeing how happy Regina was.
This was her home environment, this is where she could really let go and open up, and so maybe the group did stay there a little longer than they had planned to, but how could they not. This was the happiest they had all been in a long time and nobody had wanted it to end.
Not sure how this idea came about, but I had to write it. Regina in a cowboy hat, come on.
A first OUAT story for me, sorry for it not being great. I'm sure there's better to come.