Thank you to John Donne for the title. No equations were harmed were harmed in the making of this fic. #IWasanEnglishMajor #IDon'tMath
Regina tries to not stay late at the office on weekdays when Henry is with her. Henry has school on weekdays, which means he has homework, and though her son is brilliant, he still struggles with his math. He's a freshman in highschool now, and Algebra is… stressful. And he's all teenager hormones, so easily frustrated and angered, and when she tells him it's okay, he'll get it, he's a very intelligent — he interrupts, says, "I know I'm a bright young man, Mom, but this makes me feel stupid." And no amount of her carefully crafted pep talks stolen from Snow White herself seem to work, can't bolster his spirits enough to defeat the beast of Algebra.
It hurts to know her baby is struggling so much, but nothing seems to help. And it's getting worse as the year goes on, no matter how she tries to help teach it to him. The fact is, Regina's not a great student as much as she loves to learn, nor is she the best teacher. And Henry is too much like her, or too much like Emma, and they… clash over this as frustrations rise. To put it mildly.
She thinks it's time to put him in tutoring, but he's resistant to that idea. Regina gets it; it feels like admitting defeat. Admitting it's something he can't do on his own.
He's his mother's child.
So instead, she tries to get home as early as she can so they can have dinner and then do his homework together. His math homework, anyway, as he easily goes through all his other assignments.
But today, she's running late — there had been a last minute meeting with one of the dwarves, complaining about something, God only knows what. She was too busy watching the clock, finally ending the meeting with, "I'm sorry, I have to get home to my son," and giving him a special appointment first thing the next morning to finish the discussion.
Regina rushes to her car, haphazardly selecting Henry's name from her call list so she can let him know she's on her way.
"Hi, Mom," he says when he answers. "Long day at the office?"
"I'm so sorry," she replies without even returning his greeting. "I'll be right home in a few minutes. Do you want me to pick up something from Granny's?"
"Nah, it's okay," he tells her. "Maleficent stopped by. Between the two of us, we managed to cobble together dinner."
Oh. That's unexpected. "Maleficent came by? Is she… still there?" she asks, trying to keep her voice even.
Things are complicated between the two of them. Things have always been complicated between the two of them, Regina supposes. But, well, now it's more complicated, because Maleficent is back from the dead and Regina had played her and the other Queens of Darkness to keep the town safe.
But she has Lily now, is trying to build that relationship, and she doesn't seem to interested in getting vengeance — not for Snow and David's crimes against her, or for the ones Regina committed against her. So they've been talking, stilted, awkward conversations as Regina tries to figure out her feelings for Maleficent and what the dragon wants from her.
She wonders what made her drop by the manor.
"Mom? Are you there?"
Regina startles, realizing she's gotten lost in her own thoughts about… everything. "I'm sorry, baby," she apologizes. "What did you say?"
"I said yeah, Maleficent's still here. She wanted to talk to you, and I had told her you should be home soon, so she stayed."
Regina swallows a little harder than she thinks she probably should; she hopes Henry didn't hear her. "All right. Well, I'm on my way."
She gets home, calling out for Henry as she opens the door and starts taking off her coat. Setting her purse on the table in her foyer, she listens as Henry calls out, "We're at the dining table!"
Regina follows his instructions, expecting to see them eating, but instead, Henry has his Algebra book and papers spread out. Maleficent sits next to him, looking over his shoulder at a problem. She reaches over, taps a nail against the sheet of paper.
"You were almost there, but you forgot to add 16x - 7 to both sides of the equation," she says calmly. "But very good. Try again and see what answer you get this time."
Henry sighs, biting his bottom lip as he looks over the problem again. Absently he says, "Welcome home, Mom," as he picks up his pencil and copies the equation again.
"What's… going on?" Regina asks slowly, looking over the scene before her.
In unison, Henry and Maleficent look up at her, and for once, Henry's brow isn't furrowed in complete stress and confusion. Maleficent's face is calm, unbothered by the homework before her. And Henry explains, "Maleficent's helping me with my homework. Did you know she's really good at math?"
Regina blinks. "Yes, I did, actually," she says, and she's still talking slower than usual. Maleficent is helping her son do his math homework. She stares at the dragon as if she has grown a second head. "It's all that silver hoarding she did as a dragon…"
She says it flippantly, like one always talks about dragons and hoarding. This is Storybrooke, after all.
Maleficent chuckles. "You've got a very bright boy here, Regina," she says, smiling at her in a way that makes Regina's heart clench. It's familiar, that smile, makes her think back to the Enchanted Forest and magic lessons with someone other than Rumple.
"Thank you," she replies, and her smile is all proud mother as she looks at her son. "And… thank you for helping him. Math isn't his strong suit…"
She waves a graceful, dismissive hand. "I'm happy to help him. You might remember how much I enjoy mathematical pursuits."
She does. Remembers how relaxing Maleficent found math, not just the counting required to keep a check on her hoard, but figuring out taxes, and geometry, and Math is magic, Regina, she had whispered to her as they lay in Maleficent's bedchambers. One can't build a something from magic without geometry, she had said.
Maleficent had helped her with math and magic back in the Enchanted Forest. And now she was helping her son, and why hadn't she considered that before?
Oh, right. Because she was worried the dragon might hold a grudge for being held under the library for nearly thirty years. But here she sits, homework spread out on a table as she checks over Henry's answers, smiling widely when he gets something right and giving advice when he gets stuck. She's a natural at this. One would think she spent all those centuries she's lived teaching just like this.
Maleficent stays until Henry's finished, hours before he and Regina usually finish, and then he's off to relax a bit after his homework. It leaves the two of them together, has awkward silence descending as Henry's footsteps echo on the stairs, his arms laden down with his books.
"Would you like some tea? Or something stronger?" Regina offers, unsure of what to do at this point. Maleficent had come to speak to her, Henry said, and yet she's been silent since he left.
"Hmm. Something stronger, I think," Maleficent smiles, and this one's familiar too. Reminds her of the night Maleficent came back, of the burn of alcohol down her throat and Maleficent's eyes on her as she crushed a shot glass in her palm.
Regina leads her to her study, to her bar and her apple cider. Pours two glasses and when she turns around, she does so with a bit more swing to her hips than she probably should. She doesn't know what it is about Maleficent right now that has her feeling like she did that night in her vault, or back in her castle in the Enchanted Forest.
Maybe it's something about seeing Maleficent help her son, when she was under no obligation to do so.
"Thank you for helping Henry," she says again, and Maleficent smiles at her. Her heart stutters in her chest, has her sipping her cider and relishing the burn it leaves behind. Her lips tingle.
"You're welcome," Maleficent replies, and she's taking a sip of her own. She barely reacts to the alcohol, but that's not surprising. That dragon side gives her a bit of an edge in the resisting alcohol department. "I meant what I said; he's a very smart young man. I'm sure you're very proud."
"I am," Regina smiles, because God, she loves her son. The one thing she's gotten right, really right, despite her mistakes. "How are things with Lily going?"
Maleficent winces. "It's… complicated," she sighs, swirling the liquid in her glass. "There's so much we don't know about each other, but we're trying. Things are hard, especially for Lily. She's not used to having family. And she's still… upset about everything."
Regina grimaces in sympathy. "Henry and I have had our share of complications. If there's anything I can help you with… Advice, or if you need an ear…"
She chuckles, looking up at her with something that might be a smirk. "How things have changed, little one," she murmurs, and Regina shivers at the familiar nickname. "The student has surpassed her teacher…"
"You were always more than a teacher, Mal," Regina says, and she's standing closer to her than she was before. She doesn't remember walking over to her, but she must have. They were always drawn to one another, moths to the same flame.
"And you, more than a student," she whispers, because they're that close now, she doesn't have to raise her voice. Maleficent reaches for her free hand, lightly brushes her fingers against hers. "May I confess something, Regina?"
Regina's breath catches, her fingers twitching at the gentle touch of Maleficent's hand. She nods, almost imperceptibly tiny as she stares into too-blue eyes.
"I miss you," she breathes out, eyes squeezing shut, her chin tipping down at the admission. "I should be angry at you — for lying, for keeping me locked in my dragon form and in that cavern, for not listening to me when I begged you—" She inhales sharply, shaking her head and pursing her lips tightly together. "And I was. I was so angry but now — now I have Lily back, and you're here, and you're so very different but you remind me of that girl who first entered my castle and re-lit my fire. I miss you."
Maleficent's eyes are open now, staring at her with so much earnestness that it takes Regina's breath away. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears, and Regina feels the burn of them welling behind her own eyes.
"I don't expect you to feel the same, or say anything in return," she says, and she sounds a little more in control as she blinks, willing the tears away. They're still there, lingering at the corners of her eyes, and Regina wants to take them away, feels an almost instinctive urge to stroke her cheek, to comfort.
She does just that, using magic to set her glass aside so she can catch Maleficent's face in both hands. "I miss you, too," she gets out just before she's kissing her, a soft but passionate press of her lips against hers.
This is familiar, too. The taste of Mal's mouth, the warmth of her that is unlike any other. Her hands, soft and so tender, belying all that strength as one cups the back of her head and the other slides to her waist, pulling her closer to her.
Regina is the one to break the kiss, pulling away only to lean back in and give her another gentle peck before she parts from her again. For a moment, their foreheads press together, and they just breathe in each other's air.
"Maybe… we can start over?" Regina whispers, opening her eyes and leaning back, but she's still close enough that it's hard to focus on Maleficent's face. She likes it that way, feels a little less vulnerable when the rest of her feels like she's ripped her heart out and presented it to Maleficent on a silver platter. "Try again?"
"I would like that," Maleficent says just as quietly, and she draws away too, so she can see Regina's properly. She smiles at her, a tiny, gentle thing.
That smile stops and starts Regina's heart all at once, has something warm and bright blossoming in her chest. She laughs, quiet and joyous, filled to the brim with feeling as she leans back, recapturing Maleficent's mouth, that smile widening at the touch of their lips together.
It feels like hope.