A/N: So I have been working with this idea for a while now. I wanted to write a story where Regina had a child with Daniel, but wasn't sure how and when to fit this idea into the course of the seasons. I have thought through many different storylines, and now I have a definitive storyline for this one.

This story begins in season 1, a little before 1x18 (this is the episode about Regina and Daniel's love story), and will continue until mid-season 2. Regina and Emma have been together at this point, and I will explore how this came about. Much of what has happened in the show at the beginning did happen. Canon divergence with the fact that Regina and Emma are together, Kathryn never went missing, and Regina didn't try to frame Mary Margaret for murder. This story will alter between the past and present as I develop the backstory of Regina and Daniel's daughter and how she meets Regina and Emma in the present.

Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT, its characters, or its storylines. I only own Avery, whose character you'll find out more about later :)

SwanQueen. Regina had a child with Daniel, but never got the chance at raising her before Cora took both her and her memories of Avery away so Regina could be queen. Now, years later, Avery searches for her mother and the woman she knows will be her happy ending, having seen Emma's face in a vision, but she is stuck in the Enchanted Forest. That is, until Emma and Snow arrive after the curse has broken.

~Those Lost Precious Memories~

Chapter One: The Fragile Nature of Love

The Enchanted Forest ~ Many Years Ago

Regina came to a stop at the side of the stables' doors and let out a breath. She had slipped away from the castle that evening as soon as she knew she was safe from her mother's prying eyes. She didn't always like sneaking out during the nighttime to see Daniel, but tonight was different. She had important news to tell him. And now that she knew for certain, she could no longer wait to inform him of it.

She was both excited and nervous. What she was about to tell Daniel that night would change everything between them. But it was something they had both discussed and desired in their future together. Something that would truly bring them both great happiness.

She exhaled again and gave herself a confident nod. She slowly stepped inside the stables. Daniel turned around at her entrance and joyfully said her name.

"Regina."

"Daniel."

She strode over to him and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned up to him, and they shared a kiss.

"Thank you for coming tonight."

"Of course, Regina. I always look forward to spending time with you."

Their lips met once more, and she could feel a warmth travel through her, of the love they had for each other burn passionately inside her. Daniel's words echoed in her head in that moment, of how true love was the most powerful magic of all. Now more than ever she believed in that message, and she couldn't be any more grateful that she had found someone so special as Daniel who she could spend the rest of her life with.

"There was something you wanted to tell me?" he asked with a sweet smile as he backed away from her.

"Yes." Regina nodded a few times out of nervousness and then repeated herself. "Yes, there is."

"Judging by the smile on your face, I take it to be good news?"

Her smile widened, and she rocked slightly on her heels. "Yes." She entwined her fingers around his, and she gazed up into his eyes. "Remember how we talked about wanting a family together someday?"

Daniel nodded.

She gave his hands a gentle squeeze. "Well… We're going to have that." She beamed as his eyes brightened with happiness. "I'm pregnant, Daniel."

"I'm… I'm going to be a father?"

"And I a mother."

He brought a hand up to her face and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He softly caressed her cheek. "We're going to have a family."

"Yes, dear."

He pulled her close and lifted her up as they began to kiss. She threw her arms around his neck and wrapped her legs around his waist. He spun her in a circle a few times, and they were soon laughing happily, grinning from ear to ear in this blissful moment. She felt like she was living one of the fairytales she had read about as a little girl, and she wouldn't trade anything for the magical feeling.

Regina came back to her feet, and she leaned her forehead against Daniel's. She followed his gaze downward, took his hands in hers, and placed them on her belly. That warmth she felt earlier as they kissed came back to her at the touch.

"I love you so much, Regina."

"I love you, too, Daniel."

She would never forget this night. Or so she thought.

Storybrooke, Maine ~ Present

Regina found herself wandering to the stables that afternoon. She needed to get away, be somewhere no one would find her. Particularly, she wanted to avoid a certain someone who had quite the skill for tracking people down. She didn't want to hear what she had to say.

She knew what the blonde was going to say to her. She'd been making attempts all week to confess those three words. But she didn't want to hear them verbalized. She didn't want to hear that someone else wanted her. Loved her as much as Daniel had years ago.

So she kept busy constantly and made excuses not to see her. She knew her time was running out and that it would happen soon enough. She thought the words would come a week ago, when that happened between them. She still couldn't believe she'd let it go that far. She should have told her to leave that night. That she didn't feel the same about her as she did with her. But she would be lying to herself if she had, and she just couldn't lie to her. She made her feel whole again, feel the happiness that had been robbed from her when Daniel had died. How could she walk away from that? All she ever wanted was to feel that happiness again.

This was the same day she had told Daniel that she was pregnant. Which should have impacted her the moment Emma walked through the doors of the stables to tell her she loved her. But she had no recollection of the day, no memories of how overjoyed she had felt when she found out and told Daniel the news. There was no trace of anything left. Just as Daniel had been torn from existence, those memories of being pregnant and becoming a mother were taken from her.

If only she knew what a special day this had been.

"Regina?"

She didn't turn around to look at her. She folded her arms across her chest and asked a little too harshly, "What are you doing here, Miss Swan?"

"You've been avoiding me the last few days. And Miss Swan? Really, Regina? After everything that's happened between us?"

She ignored the blonde's questions and settled for her own pressing question. "How did you find me?"

She heard her take a few steps closer to her. "Well, you know I have a knack for finding people." She paused and kicked the ground with her boot. "Usually. This time I needed help from Henry. He told me you come here when you don't want to be found."

Regina wasn't sure how he'd discovered her hiding place, but if he was able to figure out about the curse, then she shouldn't have been too shocked. And if she had to take a bet, he most likely knew about her relationship with Emma. Why else would he have told Emma to come look for her here? She turned around now. "He knows about us, doesn't he?"

"The kid's intuitive enough, Regina. He told me today he's known for a while." She laughed. "When I picked him up from school he said, 'You know, you don't have to pretend anymore. I know you two like each other. That's why she's avoiding you. She's scared to tell you the truth about how she feels about you.'"

"Really?"

Emma nodded.

"Well, he would be partially right about that."

"Partially?"

Regina looked into her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in those green depths for several moments. And she imagined herself telling Emma how she felt about her, how she had changed her life in such a beautiful way, how she brought her to believe in the possibility of true love again… Of whispering those three words in her ear and kissing her with such passion as she'd done the night she'd spent with her a week ago… But deep down she knew she couldn't. No. It wasn't fair to Emma. Not after everything she'd done to her that she sadly had no idea was a reality.

She started to tear up.

"Regina…"

The blonde came to her side and was about to bring her hand to her cheek, but Regina took a few steps backward and shook her head fiercely. Emma looked at her with concern.

"What's the matter, Regina? Is everything…?"

"No. Nothing's okay, Emma. Because I know why you're here. I know exactly what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it. Because you can't, Emma. You can't love me."

"Regina, don't do this to yourself. I know you're scared. And trust me, a week ago, I would have said the same thing to you. I would have kept those walls up and shut out any possibility of love. Because love doesn't come easy for me, and I know you have experienced the same. We've been hurt terribly, and it's hard to open up again because that pain never really goes away. But that night we spent together, things changed. I knew that our relationship was different. I knew how deeply you felt for me. I haven't had that with someone in a long time. And I know it just feels right."

Regina couldn't take it anymore. She knew the blonde was only moments away from saying those words, and she couldn't let her do it. She shook her head again, tears rolling down her face at the heartbreak. "No, Emma. You don't deserve me."

"How can you even say that?"

"Because, Emma! You don't deserve me after everything I've done to you."

"I forgive you for the things you did my first few weeks here. You've made it up to me since then."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

Emma's brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"I'm the reason why your life has sucked. Why you never had family. And I don't think I can ever make it up to you, or your son, or anyone in this damn town. You don't understand it all yet, but trust me when I say this. You don't deserve me. No one does."

"I don't believe that."

Regina gazed sadly at her. "Of course you don't. Because you have no idea who I am and what I was once capable of."

Emma tilted her head to the side, but there was a knowing glint in her eyes.

"Well, since we're being so honest with each other today, I suppose it's time for me to tell you the truth. The whole truth."

"I'm listening."

Regina glanced down at her hands, and then tentatively held out them to Emma. The blonde entwined her fingers around hers immediately and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. Regina nodded behind her. "Let's go take a seat. We're going to be here for a while."

The Enchanted Forest ~ Present

She placed a flower next to his grave and then sat down in front of it. She had come to visit earlier than normal, but she knew the prophesized day was soon approaching, and she wanted to say her last words to him before she ventured off to bring about the happy ending to the one person she had tried so desperately to help back into the light years ago.

If only she'd known the truth before it was too late. Maybe she would have accepted that love and happiness could come to her again.

"Hello, Father. I've come with great news tonight."

The curse was about to be broken. She had counted down the years since its enactment, and the twenty eight year mark had passed. She could feel something inside her, just like she felt when she saw her and how happy she was going to be in the future with her family. She hadn't lost hope in her magic before, and she wasn't going to lose hope in it now. It was only a matter of time before the curse would be broken.

"The curse is about to be broken. I just know it. And that means she'll be one step closer to being happy again. I'm not sure how, but I haven't given up hope, Father. That woman must be somewhere in the Land Without Magic, and so must the boy. If I can find a way to her, I can help her find her happy ending."

She smiled to herself as the faces of the woman and the boy flashed in her mind.

"I'll let you know when I've gotten there. When I find her again. And maybe in bringing her that happy ending, I can somehow return her memories of me to her. I've read about memory spells, and I know they're not lost forever. I just have to find where my grandmother kept them. I've searched the lands for them here, and I can't seem to find any object that embodied them. If they had been in the castle unknowingly, they may have been swept up with the curse. And they could be there, right within her reach." Her voice became quiet as she thought about what it would mean to have those memories intact. "And then, I'd have my mother back. I'd have family, too."

She really missed her mother. The last time she'd seen her was the night she'd enacted the curse. She had tried to stop her, convince her that making Snow White miserable wasn't her happy ending. At that time, she had no idea her relation to the queen. She had simply wanted to help the woman because she was destined to. She would never forget the sadness and hopelessness in her expression when she first met her as a child. She had been wandering the forest, lost in a world that had been chosen for her. It was the same reason she had run from her adoptive parents that day. That connection always stuck with her, and when she foresaw what fate had in store for her, she knew she had to help her. That connection became even more heartfelt when she discovered that Regina was her mother.

She knew of the destruction her mother had caused. She also understood what pushed her over the edge, the past full of pain that had built up into rage and vengeance over the years. She'd spoken to many in the years of and before the curse and knew much about her mother's history in the Enchanted Forest. Her life hadn't been easy. And while it was hard to overlook much of the evil she had caused, she had forgiven her. Because the woman she had met all those years ago was a kind and gentle and loving person. The darkness had slowly taken hold on her and pulled her away from the person she once was. But she knew she could bring her back. She could help her remember who she used to be. Everyone deserved a second chance.

"I love you, Father. I'm so glad Mother met you. I know you made her really happy. And while I never got to meet you, I know we would have all been happy together. I suppose one day we'll see each other again." She blew a kiss and then placed her hand on the tombstone. "Until then, I'll be looking out for her. Just as I know you are from above." She stood up and stared down at the letters engraved in the stone.

Daniel Colter.

My beloved stable boy. The man I was lucky to call my true love.

The words made her tear up every time she read them. Her mother loved him so much.

"Goodbye, Father."

She turned away and got back on her horse. Before taking off, she glanced one last time at the grave and nodded. She then trod away to meet back up with the friend she'd made the journey with. She couldn't stop the tears from coming as she went. She was never really one to handle goodbyes well.

"You okay, Avery?" her friend asked as she came to a halt in front of her.

"Yeah. I just always get a little emotion at having to leave."

"He'll always be with you, Avery." She pointed to her chest. "Right in your heart."

"I know. But it doesn't make it any easier saying goodbye when you never got to say hello in the first place."

She held out her hand to her, and Avery took it.

"Need a moment?"

"Yes. Thank you, Mulan."

"Don't mention it. Take the time you need."

Avery glanced over her shoulder and spotted the grave in the distance. She closed her eyes for a moment and raised her free hand to her chest, imagining his presence with her.

I love you, Father. I promise to find Mother. I will find her. She will be happy again.

She opened her eyes and turned back to Mulan. "I'm ready."

"Okay." Mulan let go of her hand. "Let's head back to camp."

Should I continue? Leave a review and let me know what you think!