A Storm, an once upon a time fanfic

AU: Non-Magical Storybrooke in which Regina is the Mayor and her husband David is a co-Sheriff with Emma Swan, her adopted son Henry. They have a child together named Charlotte, the spitting image of her mother and on a day that begins with sunshine, their world collapses when a storm hits them.

To parrilla-adkins-I absolutely could not have done this without you! Thank you for your early hour contributions, suggestions and encouragement!

-iiwasalwaysthequeen

That morning it rained. The sun shone passed gray clouds that cried, casting a poor glare below. The faint orange glow infiltrated each house and each window, and through the storm there was light. The light that shone came and went, gone by the time the residents of Storybrooke rose from their ignorant slumber. The only remnant left behind was the beating of the rain against innocent windowpanes and roofs. For a moment, only a moment, there was light-For the rest of the day there would be rain.

A storm was coming.

Eyes lingered upon her features and for a few seconds, she pondered ignoring his glances. She was used to it now, waking up to his eyes staring at her with an adoration that she had long since abandoned hope of. She never ignored his glances, always one to press her lips to his in a morning greeting that never wore old. But in that moment, on that particular morning, she ignored his stares. Sleep was hard to come by and the evidence was written in the bags that were forming beneath her eyes. So she ignored him, she turned her back and closed her eyes once again.

The action was dully noted and rejected by him, not accepting her attitude despite the cause. A strong arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her back, hip to hip and chest to back. When nothing was reciprocated from that, tender lips pressed against her forehead in a way that made the very tips of her fingers tingle in sheer joy of being-special. He knew how to get to her, how to get her fingers to tingle and her toes to curl. He knew her.

But what he didn't know was why she was seemed so melancholy. Not one to press, he'd rather delight her in a sensual love than try and squeeze something out of her. Her response was one that took her from their bed and into the bathroom, leaving him with more questions than one would want at such an hour. But once again, he left her to herself and focused on the footsteps thundering down the halls.

"How could such a loud noise come from such a little person." His words fell on tiny ears that came through the door, eyes big and shining. She hated the rain just like her mother, always asking why the clouds were so sad each time thunder clapped in the sky. Hair braided in a fishtail down her back, she pulled at the covers in her best attempt to get on their bed but found it to be increasingly difficult with each go-around. Always the doting father, David reached down and pulled her into his embrace. Chubby arms went around his neck and a chuckle escaped him as his child, the spitting image of her mother, whimpered at the thought of thunderstorms.

"Bug it's just water." She pulled away from him, holding as much of his shirt that her tiny hands could handle.

"No funny." A small eyebrow attempted to rise, resulting in her looking surprised rather than intimidating considering the fact that she had yet to master the single eyebrow lift. He clamped his laughs and held a stern look, hints of amusement still tacked onto his features as a smirk tugged on his lips. "Daycare?"

"No daycare today-" He plopped her down on Regina's empty side of the bed, relishing in the giggles that erupted when she thumped against the mattress. "You get to go to work with Mommy today."

Her chestnut eye's lit up at the prospect, and she jumped off of the bed with less struggle than she had getting on. Offbeat claps and 'Yays' were all to be heard as a happy toddler ran to her brother's room, telling him that she was going to be the 'May-o' for the day. Her father smiled, standing up to start a day that began with the sun and, unbeknownst to him, would end with the rain.

A storm was coming.

She was exhausted and the day had yet to even crack the noonday. Part of her considered not even going in for work but the skeptic in her, the small optimist told her that the rain would let up and the exhaustion was mind over matter. The day was short with only paperwork to be signed and meetings to be attended, lightly seen on the surface. Henry's lunch was packed, his overnight bag to stay at Emma and Mary Margret's was in the trunk of her car. As her husband would say, 'Bug' was dressed and ready to go to work with her dad; and the Mayor was ready to go to work.

God, she hated the rain. She called it liquid assault on the Earth even though it replenished and groomed. She couldn't see it as something tenderly caring for nature rather than the nuisance that ruins her suede pumps and floods the courtyard at city hall. Today would be of aggravation, she knew, already feeling the irritants in her bones. There wasn't much to relieve her besides her family, smiling faces and toothy grins that she could otherwise seek nowhere else.

"Something's bothering you." Three words interrupted her train of thought, making her eyes as big as her daughter's when she found out that she was going to work with Mommy. She pulled her mouth into a tight smile, ignoring his stare as he sipped from a dark mug that she had set out for him. Everyday was the same, black coffee, an apple and a banana. It was light because he didn't like to run on a heavy stomach, he'd eat more during lunch but he wanted to begin the day lightly. So, coffee, an apple, and a banana.

But today there was no apple.

When she shook her head, he smiled. "I wasn't asking you-I was telling you. Something's bothering you." He lifted his banana, tinted green at the stem. "You forgot to go to pick apples." It was a knowing tell, early in the week, that something was off. Every Wednesday she picked apples from her tree, dropped them off at home and went to the florist. She always purchased three roses before heading off to the mausoleum but that week-there were no apples; there were no roses. "Maybe if the rain picks up, you and Bug can-"

"I thought she was spending the day with you." He furrowed his brow and ceased the spin of the banana in his fingers. Clad in his leather suspenders and co-Sheriff badge, he made strides towards her that awkwardly ended in the back of his hand pressing against her temple. She scoffed at the suggestion, despite his smile. "Just because you forgot to mention something doesn't mean that I'm sick."

"Regina I told you last week that Ashley was closing the daycare today-You said that you would move your meetings around after telling me, and me agreeing, that a police station is no place for a 3 year old to stay or play or color-" She couldn't resist his smile this time. "She wants to be the 'May-o'" Brown eyes rolled at him and tender lips kissed hers, a resolute even though the rain was pouring, beating against the glass around them. "Call me during your lunch?" She nodded dryly and he pressed his hand into her back so that she had no choice but to look int his eyes and feel the rise and fall of his chest against hers. "Did I do something?"

She exhaled shakily, watery eyes bringing him a different answer than the words she spoke. "No, I-" She jumped at the sound of the thunder and he held her close, not patronizing her but also not leaving her to flail emotionally in the wind. She could carry emotions for weeks, months-even years without saying the cause and it was something that he didn't tolerate. Shutting down wasn't an option-Shutting him out wasn't an option.

"Talk to me." The plea was a whisper that melted her heart. This man, her husband just wanted to love her. She ached to talk to him, to share with him but it felt as though, each time she opened her mouth to speak someone came and clasped a hand over her mouth. Her mouth had hung open to speak but no words were spoken and soon enough, he caught her lips in his instead. Her hand drifted to his cheek, pulling away softly as his fervor to have her to himself brought tears to her eyes.

"Mom, I'm in the car!" Henry bellowed as he walked out the front door, bringing their moment to a hault. Neither having a word to say, the default became an embrace that let her ear press against his heartbeat and a kiss pressed to her temple.

"I'm gonna be da May-o, I'm gonna be da May-o." Chest vibrated against chest as their laughs over took them and reality was swept back into the picture. With a last glance, it was agreed that they would speak during lunch.

Perhaps before the storm.

"Mama, do you like purple?" The Mayor and the May-o sat at their desk, a chair pulled from the conference table so that the May-o was snugly seated next to the Mayor. Regina tended to her paperwork, flipping pages every so often when there was nothing more to be seen, to be signed, or to be dated. Bug's legs kicked beneath her, content with coloring in animals that she couldn't pronounce and places that she had never seen. In the slum of times, Regina envied her daughter, her imagination-her innocence. She was robbed of the chance to experience the sheer serenity of a crayon or the bliss of talking dolls and stuffed animal. She was groomed to be a lady, an educated no-nonsense lady.

And she paid for it everyday.

"It's a nice color." She paused, hand positioned to write but with eyes glued to the purple bear beside her stack. "Sweetheart?"

"Hmm?" She was concentrating, trying her best to stay inside the lines but it was difficult when she found a new color and just wanted to see it-everywhere.

"What color is a bear?"

Bug shrugged, not skipping a beat as Mr. Bear went from lavender to a deep royal violet. "Brown...but Pooh is yellow." She couldn't help the grin that passed over her features. We raised a genius. "Mr. Bear is purple because you like purple...and I like you."

She chuckled, raising a brow as she set her pen down, leaning on her fist as she watched her daughter. Bug turned the page and leaned into her mother as though someone was listening in on them. She pointed to a blue cheetah that had been colored days before. "Mr. Cheetah is blue because Daddy likes blue...and Daddy likes you...and I like you."

Regina slid her stack to the side and took one of the coloring books from Bug's stack, opening it to the first uncolored page: An apple tree. It reminded her to go apple picking when the rain let up but in the meantime, she was enamored with her daughter's definition of love and like. "I like you too."

Her eyes lit up and she leaned her head against Regina's side as she colored her purple bear. The thunder boomed once more and they both jumped, coloring out of the lines as a result. Bug snuggled closer into her mother's side and Regina began to hum, her non-coloring hand stroking the locks that were just like her own. A sweet sound that mixed with the pounding of the rain, calmed her nerves and Bug's and soon they were both singing the words to a tune they wouldn't soon forget. "Rain rain go away, come again another day, little Charlotte wants to play, rain rain go away. It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. He Bumped his head and he went to bedand he couldn't get up in the mornin'Rain rain, go away, come again some other day. Rain rain-"

Regina's voice faded when she realized that she was singing alone and Bug was laughing. "What's so funny?"

She shrugged, coloring to her heart's content. "Mr. Gold is an old man, so he bumped his head today."

Charlotte's honesty always caught her off guard but it always brought a smile to her lips. Though sometimes she had to stifle her laughter, like in an instance like this, to make sure that Charlotte knew that the misfortune of others is not to be made a mockery, But today, instead of a lecture, she just laughed at the innocent honesty of a toddler.

When her cell phone buzzed on the table and Bug saw that her mother's eyes were averted elsewhere, she climbed into her lap and began to color in the picture that Regina had begun. Regina, now on the phone, obliged her and sat back in the chair so that Charlotte wouldn't fall forward. "Ten minutes until lunch time."

"It would have been ten minutes more of me waiting to hear your voice."

"Aren't we the charmer?"

"It's the only way to stay off the couch."

"Am I really that bad?"

"As of late, my lovely lady-Yes you are that bad."

"No more drinks with Emma-You're getting sassy."

"Not around Bug-The last thing we need is Charlotte going around telling people that her Daddy is sassy."

"There's nothing wrong with a little sass, dear."

"Where is my lil' Bug anyway?"

"My lap." Their daughter colored over Regina's apple tree with purple crayon, partially listening in on the conversation even if she didn't know most of what was said. "Hi Daddy!"

"Hi princess-"

She gave Bug the phone and she shook her head, turning her attention back to her crayons. "I have paperwork."

Regina laughed, pressing the phone back to her ear. "I'm sorry but Ms. Nolan has paperwork to complete."

"Tell Daddy I said I like him."

With a chuckle, Regina complied. "She says she likes you."

"Is this a phase?"

"I believe so." They both laughed and Bug turned around, showing her mother the now green and purple apple tree that was, for the most part, colored inside the lines. "Very pretty." Regina gushed, not caring if the leaves were purple and the bark was green-Bug was proud. "Charlie sweetie, are you hungry?" Charlotte nodded as she turned the page in her book, absently paying attention. "Daddy we're hungry."

"I'm glad you're feeling better-I was beginning to worry."

"It's not as much of me feeling better as it is me just liking my Charlie." She enunciated the final word so that she caught Bug's attention and earned a toothy grin.

"I like you too Mommy."

"Hold on, dear."

Regina lifted Charlotte off her lap and sat her back down in the chair, while she held the phone between her shoulder and ear. Moving away from her desk, she was far enough for privacy but not too far for keeping an eye on their daughter.

"David, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Are we alone?"

"She can't hear us, if that's what you're asking"

"Good...You know I love you right?"

"Always."

"I just wanna know if you're okay-That's all." The poor man, she thought, feeling worse now that he was tip-toeing around her feelings to make sure that he didn't upset her. She didn't want that for their relationship but the only reason why he was so sheepish was because she had cut him off. She closed the blinds on their two way mirror, and he no longer knew what was going on on the other side. "I miss you."

Her eyes welled at his whisper, knowing that he was probably at the station with Emma, trying to maintain his manly man status. "I miss your smile-Especially when you laugh so hard that you tear-I miss the smile that's on your face right now." Upon his words, she realized that she was indeed smiling like a woman in love and she wiped at her eyes, hating herself for shutting him out. "I miss your lazy kisses in the morning-I-I miss you."

She was silent, not knowing if she would sob if her mouth opened to speak. God, this man loved her-And he showed her everyday. He raised her son as his own, he was a great father and he would do anything-anything for her. "It's nothing...I've just been busy with work-"

"I know, that's why you haven't been sleeping."

"And you and the kids-You guys are great at-at helping but I don't know, I don't if it's the stress or I'm jut overwhelmed or I just.." She fell silent, taking a deep breath as a hand covered her eyes. He was silent on the other line, the sound of his breaths accounting for more of a calm then words could provide. "I'm late."

The boom that sounded rang twice. Once in her left air, bracing the walls of City hall and once more in her right air, just before the receiver ended. There was no time to think, no time to ponder what had just happened or why the sky was filling with a gray smoke. Wide watery eyes looked at her in fear, chubby fingers nearly breaking the waxy crayon in her grasps. There was no time to be the worried wife or play the endless scenarios in her head, not with the spitting image of her frozen at a desk that was barely high enough for her to see over. "Com-" Her voice failed her and she shook her head, taking a knee with her arms outstretched so that the little girl ran head on into her embrace. "Come, come-"

"Madame Mayor-" Eliza stuck her head in the door, eyes teared and frazzled. "Something's happened, something's going on-"

Regina just nodded into her daughter's hair, petting her soothingly as ragged breaths soothed into smooth inhales and exhales. Softly, she reached for Charlotte's head and reared her back with a gentle tug so that she saw her eye to eye. "Mommy will be right back okay-okay?" She stood and felt a tug at the hem of her skirt, pleading eyes begging not to be left in the scary thunderstorm, and unbeknownst to her, the bedlam beyond the doors of the Mayor's office.

Sirens rang outside the walls and she picked up her daughter, pressing a kiss to her temple before handing her to Eliza without giving her a chance to refuse taking the child. "Mommy will be right back-" She eyed the uneasy assistant. "Protect her with your life." Brown met brown, and she turned away before Charlotte could reach for her again. Before she could be stopped by the pleas of her daughter, the Mayor stepped outside of her office, slow steps carrying her to the double doors. She told him that she was late and she could barely hear his breath before a boom took away their connection. The small optimist told her that it was not his office, the selfish part hoped that it was Mr. Gold's shop and the Sheriff's office's power just took the brunt of.

The optimist in her died that day. When her eyes met the ruins of the building where she first brought him coffee, when her nose inhaled the ashen smell from the building in which she told him that their family was expanding, when she felt the reality hit her-when she knew that her husband was in the building that looked as though it had been crushed from the inside and set aflame.

"Regina!" In that moment, there were no Madams or Misses, just pawns expelled to tragedy. The cardigan loving nuisance that had served as the bane of her existence since she could remember, stood before her ashen and gray. It was utter chaos, rain soaked people roaming and running the streets in search of their loved ones, ambulances and firetrucks blaring.

"You should be at the school." It was an empty statement that barely gave the schoolteacher the tip of a glance, all of her attention focused on the burning Sheriff's station. Soon she left the young woman's side and continue forward, passed the yellow tape despite the protest. "What are you doing?"

The rugged fireman turned his head, clad in his gear. "We can't go in just yet-The structure is too unstable, it'll cave completely." There was an eerie calm about her, surprising to most of those that expected her to be screaming at this point. "We tried and we didn't see any bodies-Maybe they were on lunch."

"May-Maybe Emma and David were at Granny's." It was Mary Margaret again. She sounded hopeful. "They'll be back any second now-I know it." Too hopeful.

The Mayor turned away, not knowing why she wasn't screaming-Why no one was doing anything. The calm she felt was warping into panic and the breaths she needed were disappearing. Inhales turned into short intakes until she was bent at the waist gasping for what she needed the most. But it wasn't what she wanted. It was yet to hit her, to strike her core that her husband was in that building and yet no bodies remained accounted for. The structure was caving and burning in flames and there was nothing that could be done. She felt hollow, mind bereft of thought as the words played in her mind; an absent attempt to soothe herself.

The storm had come.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day.

"Breathe-Regina honey, you have to breathe." Her eyes snapped open to blue worried eyes staring at her and coaxing her back to consciousness as her body shook with uneven breaths and stricken sobs. He didn't get a chance to look her over, to ask her why she had begun to hyperventilate in the middle of her slumber. She pressed her lips to his hastily, a hand stroking at his stubble. "You don't get to die." Their lips met again, for longer, for more. "You don't get to leave me-You." She was still pressed to breathe, barely inhaling when he wrapped his arm around her back and settled her against him, hoping to calm her. The thunder rattled her and he held her closer, tighter. Until her breathing settled, until her heart slowed. Until she spoke again.

"I think I'm pregnant."