A/N: To the reviewer that didn't even have the guts to post under a name I could reply to - I hope you're aware of the fact that *you* are the one running around reading Swan Queen stories, and if I'm 'sick', that's fine. But you're the one who read the story. Thanks and good night ^_^

"This is ridiculous," Regina murmured as she followed Tinkerbell down the dark alleyway. She wouldn't be caught dead in this place on a normal day; she wasn't even sure what the hell she was doing there now. Fairy dust to find her true love…her true love was dead. Snow White had killed him. Her mother had ripped his heart out, but Snow White was the sole responsible murderer. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to why she was following a damn fairy around, looking for something that didn't exist anymore.

"Down here," Tink said quietly over her shoulder. "Keep quiet." Regina so badly wanted to snap that she didn't take orders from winged freaks, but managed to hold her tongue; Tinkerbell had been a friend to her, even when she didn't want one. There was no reason to go hurting her feelings.

Regina was starting to get restless. They were headed out the other side of the alley, and into a patch of woods. The brunette hardly ever ventured out this way without a horse, or at least a weapon. Sure, she had been training under Rumplestiltskin, and her magic had greatly improved…but that honestly wasn't the point here.

"There," Tink said quietly, coming to a stop just before a clearing. Her finger pointed towards it, and Regina crept up next to her, squinting to get a better look. Her brows shot up in disbelief.

The first thing she noticed was that it was a woman. She had never turned the idea away, but she hadn't been with one before, either; she certainly never expected her true love to be in the form of a woman. But then, she didn't believe all of this nonsense, anyway. Squinting further, Regina moved a few steps closer to get a better look…

Her eyes widened when she suddenly realized exactly who that was, and rage shook her whole body immediately.

"You're insane," she hissed as she spun on Tinkerbell, advancing on the fairy with fury in her eyes. "You're absolutely out of your mind if you think I could ever love that!"

For being so visibly threatened, Tink was surprisingly calm. She only gave Regina a soft smile at first; she didn't speak until Regina was demanding she explain herself.

"Not her, Regina," Tink said kindly, moving forward to gesture at the stomach of the woman seated in the clearing. "Her child."

Whipping around, Regina stared into the clearing again. She was pregnant…Angry tears were now stinging her eyes, her hands clenching and unclenching. Her child…

"You're out of your mind," Regina repeated. "Absolutely out of your mind…if she is, in fact, with child…I will be far too old before it's even old enough to consider being with a Queen. And I will never love the spawn of that spoiled Princess."

"Regina, that 'spawn' is going to save you in more ways than you'll ever realize," Tinkerbell said, and she sounded almost thrilled. "She's going to love you more than anyone's ever loved you in this or any lifetime. She's going to give you what you've been looking for since you were young." At Regina's doubtful, but questioning look, Tink gave a slight shrug and a small smile. "Freedom."

Regina's head turned back to the clearing, watching Snow White spread out underneath the trees and gaze up at the sky. She was alone; the fool…Regina could waltz over there right now and completely wipe her out of existence. Of course, all of this was a big bunch of nonsense, but something inside of her had her refraining from harming the woman. Something about those words…

"Insane," Regina muttered, jaw clenching. Spinning on her heel, she stormed back towards the alley they had come from, still muttering. "Ridiculous…" She refused to acknowledge the pull of something in her chest.

Hope.