So I wrote this really fast last night. I had the idea and I just sort of rolled with it on a whim. Hope you enjoy it! I doubt I'll continue this but I really hope you like it anyways. Review if you liked this so I know this wasn't just a sad little shot in the dark.
At first you love it. Your family is together at long last, your real family. Emma and Neal are together and for the first time you say that you have a Mom and Dad, a real mom and dad. You have grandparents! They are royalty! It's every kid's dream to have a real life king and queen as your grandparents. Snow and Charming are suddenly very attentive, they have you over and you bake with Snow and Charming teaches you to swordfight. It's every kid's dream. You find yourself happy for the first time in so long. A new line has been drawn, nobody can get into Storybrooke anymore, no more strangers are there to threaten your Evil Queen is gone, nobody knows where she went, they were all simply happy to have been rid of her and at first, so were you.
At first.
You're fifteen when you start hearing your mom cry herself to sleep at night from down the hall. Suddenly your dad isn't home anymore, he's too busy with work, your mom tells you, clearly lying. You're fifteen, not an idiot. Your grandparents are too busy working with your other grandpa to figure out a way home. Suddenly you feel alone, more alone than you ever felt as a ten year old. Everybody else at least seems happy. Ruby and Archie started dating, which sort of came out of left field for you but you're happy they both finally found each other. Belle and your grandpa got married, it still feels weird to call somebody so young your grandma but then again, she isn't too much younger than Snow anyways.
You've just barely turned seventeen when your parents finally divorce. The nights that you'd rather forget of their fighting and screaming are gone, about what, you never wanted to hear. It kills you inside but you hold firm that because they had true love that they will find each other again soon enough. Your grandparents have given up trying to get everybody home, it requires more magic than all of Storybrooke has to offer. Nobody will acknowledge that the reason could be because the original castor of the curse was gone. The night your mom crashes her bug trying to leave Storybrooke makes you wonder if you could even possibly wait for true love to fix things. You wonder if true love really let these things happen to begin with.
Emma's arm is broken and she's pretty bruised but she's fine. When you ask her why, she says nothing but when you've gone to get a candybar from the vending machine down the hall you hear Snow crying in the room with Emma alone. Just outside the door, your grandpa is holding your uncle, Lance. Your curiosity is almost too much to bear.
Soon enough you find yourself knocking on your grandpa's door for answers, he doesn't answer, he's too busy taking care of Belle and your soon-to-be aunt. You persist regardless and ask him what was happening, knowing that if anybody, he would be the one to give you a real answer. He never coddled you like Snow and Charming did. When you finally ask why Emma crashed her car he won't tell you.
So you persist. Every day for three years.
When most people are focusing on their studies you still find yourself coming to your grandfather's shop every weekend begging for answers. He won't tell you every single time, claiming he's not allowed to as apart of a deal. He never goes back on his deals. Neal has since left Storybrooke with the help of his father, he visits for holidays but not much else. Nobody talks about him anyways. Emma seems to be stressed a lot nowadays. She also always seems to be drinking too, you don't question it. Snow and Charming are always reassuring you that she'll be fine, that she's just having a hard time with you having grown up.
One night you confront your mom about her problem and she begins ranting, you don't even know what it's about but one thing becomes clear in your mother's incoherent, drunken ramblings:
Neal found Regina.
Apparently the call came a few weeks prior that he had spotted her in California. Emma stopped herself before she got much of the chance to say anything else. It's at this moment that you finally remember Regina for the first time in years. You hadn't really thought about her much, had you? In fact, not at all. So for a while you stew on that thought and now looking at your own life, you can't help but wonder what her's is like. You were so happy to be rid of her that you hadn't bothered to miss her when you had the chance.
Soon enough, you are missing her. So you call Neal, he hasn't been like much of a father to you in several years anyways. You've taken to calling him that since he left. You're still angry that he'd leave after all he had been through with Emma. You didn't even realize how bitter you had become about it until you start thinking about Regina. Perhaps that was it, the very thought of her filled you with hate.
But you can't hate somebody you miss that much. You don't even know why you miss her as much as you do until it strikes you how messy the world you now live in is. You look down the hall at Emma, who is sleeping finally. After talking to Snow and Charming, you all agree it's time she saw Archie. None of them could truly understand why Emma was like this, even you were in the dark. The man you once called your father is apparently in California doing who knows what. Your grandparents, all of them, are busy restarting their lives. They don't have time for you anymore, you've grown up, you don't need the entire Charming clan doting on you anymore.
You feel alone and for the first time you realize that this must be how Regina felt her entire life.
You run. In the middle of the night you take Emma's car, not telling a single soul. It's been ten years since you last left Storybrooke. You don't even fail to notice the irony in all of this. Ten years ago you left to find the mother that you always wanted, now you're running to find the mother you always needed though you never quite realized it.
It hurts at first, seeing how wrong you were and it hurts knowing you caused somebody else such pain. Is it selfish to only go looking for Regina after realizing that the life you fought for wasn't all it was cracked up to be? Probably but you don't care. You want your mom, you want to hold her and you want to tell her more than anything that you're sorry for ever hurting her.
Five days later you find yourself in the most sunlight you have ever seen. You call Neal begging for the information and he tells you where he's living so you can stay there and then he tells you where he found Regina. He also tells you to be careful, he still believes after all this that she'd dare to hurt you. You scoff, you know you'll be fine. Regina will want you back, she's your mom, she loves you. She left because it was the thing that would someday make you happy. Oh how wrong they were.
You're walking along the line of shops when you find the place Neal saw her. It was a bookstore of all places. You travel up and down the rows of bookcases until you find a small clearing where the sweet sound of your mom's voice can be heard.
She's reading to a group of children, just like she used to for you. There are some parents there, some paying attention, some reading their own things. Either way she is surrounded by quite the crowd. She has aged, but not much, a single streak of grey had begun to form at the side of her head. It makes you smile knowing that magic no longer has a hold on her. After years of dealing with magic, you're more than happy to see her getting along without it.
Your mom finishes reading and plenty of children get up and go back to their parents, except a pair of kids. There's two little boys grinning ear to ear. From the opposite side of the room a young girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled into a low ponytail emerges from a row of shelves. She goes to hug Regina with a wide smile on her face. Finally, a woman of all people walked close behind the girl and kissed Regina on the cheek. Upon closer examination you notice the rings on their fingers.
Your mom has gotten married. She got married and she had three children. They all looked so happy together, the boys were quite the rambunctious pair, jumping up and down to tell their other mother the story. It breaks your heart for a moment, and you have to wonder if there is even room for you in that life that Regina has built. She's so absorbed in her own little world that she jumps when you open your mouth to speak, removing her from her moment with her family.
She stares at you for a moment, her aging brown eyes squint as if she recognizes you. You smile and shrug. Your mom purses her lips for a moment before extending her hand to shake. She barely speaks and your heart shatters. The five days and countless nights of wondering and worrying all amount to nothing in a few simple words. She looks at you and all at once you realize the look she's giving you isn't one of recognition. Yet you shake her hand anyways and pray that maybe she will remember after you talk to her. How could she forget her son...her first son anyways.
'I'm sorry, do I know you?'
'Uh...no.' You say, surprising yourself in the process. You take your hand back and brush it awkwardly against your jeans. 'Uh...I just wanted to say I think that it's really sweet you're taking your time to read to the kids.'
'Oh.' Regina says, almost sadly in a way. 'Well thank you. I do my best.'
You walk away with no intention of returning. You can't, you won't. It hurts too much just seeing her. You can't bring yourself to interrupt her happiness.
You walk away, you don't pay the tears in your eyes any attention. In the back of your mind you just wish that you could change everything. But you can't. You have a home to return to, your mom needs you. Your grandparents probably miss you. Your schoolwork has been beyond neglected. So you go home.
And you find some solace in the fact that at least your mom, your real mom, finally got her happy ending.
And there you have it! Hope you liked this, I wanted to explore the possibilities of what would happen if Regina finally gave up and just left Storybrooke. In my mind, she'd be a lot happier given all that's been going on. So yeah, please, go ahead an review if you liked this!
Jen