**Authors Note: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to the writers and creators of Once Upon A Time and ABC**
Chapter 1: Regina's Hope
Regina stared at her swollen belly in the mirror. She gentle glided her fingers across it; her face emotionless. It had been close to nine months since Daniel had his heart ripped out and crushed by her mother. It was all that little brat Snow White's fault. She had promised Regina that she wouldn't tell her mother but the child couldn't keep her mouth shut. Yet some where deep inside Regina knew it wasn't really Snow's fault but when you are struggling with wanting to love your mother, despite the fact she is the one that did the evil deed, and having suffered such a great lost it was just easier for her to just blame the little girl. But she didn't want to think about that she had felt herself growing numb over the past few months and once she realized she was pregnant with Daniel's child she withdrew within herself. As the days of her child's birth grew closer though she felt a warmth return slowly to her. She heard a key turn and the door to her room opened. Cora walked in; as always she stood up straight and tall, walking with a sense of arrogance that demanded the attention of everyone in the room. Regina turned her head from her mother staring back into the mirror. She heard the door close and lock. After finding out she was with child Cora locked her away in her room telling the king that the wedding would have to wait because Regina was "under the weather." No baby was going to get in the way of her daughter being queen.
"Go away mother." Regina said coldly. She was one of the last people she wanted to see.
"Now Regina don't be so angry with me. I am doing what is best for you."
"No you're not. If you really wanted to do what was best for me you would call of the wedding and let me leave this place." Cora stood behind her daughter and looked at her face on the mirror.
"Love is weakness Regina and what you have growing inside you isn't going to get you no where. Who is going to marry a single mother? How are you going to support yourself and this child? What is best is to give the child up and become queen." Regina's brow furrowed and she whipped around to face her mother.
"What if I want to keep this child mother?! After all it is mine and is the only thing I have left of Daniel!" Her mother just rolled her eyes and gave Regina a stern look.
"You have no idea what is best for you Regina. Only I know what is best and what is best is to get rid of that thing and become queen!"
"That thing, mother, is your grandchild! How can you be so cold?" Regina looked deep into her mother's eyes looking for any sign of emotion, but there was nothing. There was always nothing. Cora turned away from her daughter and headed towards the door.
"I will send one of the servants up with food later. You need to eat and stay strong, child labor is hard enough without being weak with hunger."
"I don't want anything to eat I want to leave!" Cora turned the key and left the room without another word. Regina fell to her knees as the tears she had been holding back for months came pouring out of her. She heard the door lock and she screamed with frustration, hatred, and enough pain to swallow the world. She was so tired of this life she wanted out; perhaps suicide was her only way. As Regina sat crying on her knees, contemplating her death, she felt a slight kick and then another. Regina stood still for a moment. She wasn't sure what she had felt. The baby had never moved before this moment. Maybe she was wrong maybe it was nothing then she felt it again. She gasped, it was the baby. Regina touched her stomach this time not as gentle as if searching for the touch of her child. There it was a kick, stronger than the last one. She smiled, for the first time since the death of Daniel she smiled genuinely. This was a sign, death wasn't the only option.
***
Cora stood outside of her daughter's door listening intently. She had heard her daughter's scream of anguish. She was satisfied with this thinking that if her daughter would just give into her anger and give up hope she would be more willing to do her bidding. She was about to walk away when the screaming and crying had stopped suddenly. Cora pressed her ear to the door. Was that a giggle she just heard? She had no clue what had happened but she didn't care. If Regina was beginning to have hope again then it was time to call for help from an old friend.