Had to make a Breakfast at Tiffany's reference, hope you like it!
Also, this is my very first story, so I'd love to hear what you think.
"Mary Margaret?" Regina squeaked as the brunette walked in. She was crumpled on the floor of her immaculate kitchen, a tiny grey stuffed monkey in her arms.
"Oh sweetheart..." Mary Margaret's heart was breaking seeing her friend in such a state. She had clearly been crying again and the middle school teacher really didn't know what she could do to make it better.
Regina grimaced, ashamed that her dear friend had to find her like this... again. She wished she could be stronger, after all it had been six months already. But everyday when she awoke to find the other side of the bed empty, it just broke her heart all over again. Yet she tried her best to keep going, she went to work and pretended that everything was okay. She pretended that she could still function like a normal human being even after her husband left her. She pretended that having loved a man so deeply, so completely for four years and then being so suddenly rejected and abandoned, wasn't weighing her down and didn't make every breath more difficult to take in. And for the most part, it worked, it got her through each day at work. Unfortunately as soon as she opened the front door of her empty mansion and didn't hear the joyful cry of "Regina!" and the sound of tiny feet running towards her, she couldn't pretend anymore, her mask fell, and she shattered into millions of pieces. She never quite knew how she managed every night to get her broken self to her kitchen and then to her bedroom, but she always woke up in her bed the next day to start it all over again.
"Regina, do you want me to draw you a bath?" Mary Margaret asked, hoping it might bring her now shaking friend some comfort.
The older brunette looked down silently and squeezed the stuffed monkey even tighter to her chest before slowly nodding.
With a sigh of relief the teacher headed towards the foyer but stopped at the threshold and looked at Regina, squirming a little she said "Maybe you could come with me?" The idea of leaving her alone like that, even for just a minute, didn't feel right.
Mary Margaret checked the temperature of the water she had drawn and looked intently at the mayor who was sitting dejectedly on the laundry basket. She had to do something to help her. She just couldn't look at this broken woman any longer, she had to get her friend back! But unfortunately, she had no idea how she could do that. For now, a bath would have to do.
"You can get in now sweetie..." She said softly. "I'm gonna get you a towel."
When she came back with the towel, Regina was in the bath, crying quietly. "Honey..." Mary Margaret said as she felt her own tears coming seeing her friend like this. She brought the clothes hamper closer to the bath and sat on it before taking one of the brunette's hands in hers. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I just wish he hadn't left..." Regina sobbed. "Robin". The teacher thought. She had never been one for violence, but that man certainly deserved a good punch in the face. And she'd actually thought he was a good man! That rat! No even worse, he was a super rat! A super rat in rat's clothing... But saying that wouldn't help her friend so she just replied softly "I know..." But the tears were still streaming down the brunette's face and she added more forcefully "But you need to stop crying over that man, Regina. He's just not worth it!"
"I'm not" Regina answered in a whisper. The short-haired teacher was standing close enough to be sure she had heard right but furrowed her brow in confusion. Regina found her friend's facial expression quite endearing and gave her a small smile before explaining. "I mean maybe I am a little but it's been six months, I'm not crying over him. I'm crying over what he took with him, my happiness, my family... I just miss my... - Roland." She had almost said 'my son' but they had never taken the time to fill in the paperwork so now she had no right over the boy she had spent four years raising with his father. And just saying his name aloud brought a new wave of tears.
"Of course." Mary Margaret thought and she suddenly felt really bad to have basically told her friend to pull herself together, when she knew she herself probably would have been devastated if she ever lost a child. The 28-year-old teacher and her husband had just started thinking about having one themselves and she already felt weirdly attached to her not-yet-conceived baby. She just couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Regina to not be able to see her little boy. That's it, she thought. Tomorrow she was going to send Robin a mail to convince him to let Regina see the 6-year-old at least every other weekend. And she'd send one every day until he relented if she had to. While she patted herself on the back for that brilliant idea, she helped the brunette out of the bath and into a big fluffy towel.
The mayor was now tucked warmly in her bed, the small stuffed monkey having found its place back in her arms. She had stopped crying but clearly was still very far from being alright. Mary Margaret sat on the bed next to her and promised to stay till her friend had fallen asleep. When Regina finally did, the younger woman snuck out as quietly as she could. She'd had some time to think though and left something behind that she thought might help. On Regina's nightstand, next to a tall glass of water and a bottle of aspirin, sat an envelope waiting for the brunette to wake up. On the back was written "A Change of Scenery".