Regina smiled as she listened to laughter from the other room. She finally had a happy ending in the form of Robin and two wonderful boys, Henry and Roland. She took the lasagna out of the oven and walked into the dining room to join the boys at the table.
"That looks great Regina," Robin said. Henry flashed his mom a smile and dug in quickly.
Regina sat down and just watched as those around her laughed and smiled. The boys started talking about the riding lessons that Roland had begun. He was so excited about the whole process of learning to ride.
"Gina, didn't you ride horses? Did your daddy teach you like Papa is teaching me?" Roland asked these questions innocently, but a switch in Regina's head flipped.
She was racing through the fields around her family mansion on the back of her prized horse Rocinante. She had just rounded a corner when her horse bucked and she went flying off. Her father Henry came running over to her.
"Are you ok?" he asked quickly. Regina nodded as she sat up. She was sore but it wasn't too bad. Her father started to help her up but her mother Cora suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Leave her," she commanded and forced Henry to let Regina go. Regina gave her father a frown. "She needs to learn that queens don't fall from their horses."
Robin looked at Regina, who had seemed to zone out. The boys hadn't noticed anything was off yet, but he knew that something wasn't right.
Regina was a teenager and she was sneaking out of the house to go find Daniel. They were running away together so she wouldn't have to marry the king. They were going to be happy. But then Cora showed up. Before Regina knew what was happening her mother was ripping Daniel's heart from his chest and crushing it right before her eyes. Her scream echoed through the property.
A tear fell down Regina's cheek and at this point Henry had picked up on his mom's mood.
"Henry," Robin said. "Why don't you take Roland to go catch fireflies?" Henry nodded and pulled Roland from the room.
Regina sat quietly at the table and tried to stay as invisible as possible. King Leopold and Snow White spent the whole dinner talking, but Regina couldn't get herself to eat anything. Leopold noticed and he grabbed her hand.
"Why aren't you eating?" he said, harsher than usual in front of Snow.
"I'm not hungry," she mumbled and started to get up from the table. "May I be excused?" King Leopold pulled her back down roughly.
"You most certainly may not be excused," he yelled. "You are disrespecting me. You are the queen."
"I don't want to be!" Regina finally yelled back. She felt the slap before she could even realize what was happening. She heard Snow gasp.
She couldn't think of anything else to do so she wrenched herself out of Leopold's grasp and ran from the room. She could hear Snow yelling from the table.
"Regina! Regina!"
"Regina! Regina! Wake up!"
Regina jolted back to reality. It wasn't real. She was safe in home in Storybrooke and Robin was there next to her, looking at her with a worried expression.
"Regina," he said, putting his hand on her arm. "Are you alright? I lost you there for a few minutes." Regina felt a tear running down her cheek and Robin pulled her into a hug.
"You're safe here," Robin whispered, running his hands through her hair. "I won't ever let you lose yourself. I promise."
Regina hugged Robin harder. For the first time in her life, she truly felt safe.