A/N: Warning: Mention of homocide and suicide. Enjoy :) I'm also writing a story for Twilight. If you are interested in that :)
Regina slowly opens her eyes. The morning light is bright and she has to but a hand in front of her face to see what the clock is. The clock is only 7 am. She walks out of bed and is about to go into the bathroom when she remembers what day it is. February 1st. Her birthday. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
Damn it, she thinks. Her birthday is one of the days she loathes the most. Everyone is going to be happy and try to celebrate her birthday, when everything she wants to do is cry in her bed all day. But she knows she can't. She has responsibilities.
It was Emma's week with Henry and Regina has to deliver him to her after he was done with school. She doesn't want to talk to anyone today, but she knows she has to.
She walks into the bathroom and looks into the mirror. She can still remember the day Robin died perfectly. Hades had taken him away from her, and it had happened because she trusted Zelena. But she didn't blame Zelena. Hades had tricked her too. Zelena just wanted to believe that she could change him, but sometimes you can't, no matter how much you want to.
She also remembers the day Emma had told them Killian was alive. Regina had been furious and wanted to rip out his throat, because it wasn't fair that he survived and Robin didn't. Robin was a hero, Killian wasn't. Killian was the opposite.
But as much as Regina wanted to rip his throat out, she just stood and watched as everyone hugged him and told him how they thought they had lost him forever. They celebrated his return while she mourned over her loss. It just wasn't fair!
Regina blinks as she realizes she is crying. Thinking about Robin's death always does that to her. He was supposed to be her soulmate and always be there for her. He had sacrificed himself to save her, but sometimes she wonders if everything would been better if she was the one who died and not him. She wouldn't have felt the pain she had now if she was dead.
Regina had also thought about suicide, but only at her worst. Each time she was reminded that people needed her, she couldn't be so selfish and just leave them like that. Henry needed her, she was his mother. Emma may be his biological mother, but she had raised Henry, she knew everything about him. He needed both her and Emma. And her sister, Zelena, had also lost the one she loved and she needed support from Regina. Just like Regina needed support from Zelena.
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After Regina is finished in the bathroom she goes to Henry's room. He is still sleeping and Regina stands there and watches him for a while. He has grown so much, it felt like just some few years ago he was the cute little baby she had adopted from Boston. She goes over to him and turns on his lamp that stands on his nightstand. She gently shakes him and tells him he has to wake up. He stirs and his eyes flutters open.
"Henry, it's 7:30. You have to wake up," Regina says gently.
He sighs and gets up from the bed. He walks over the bathroom while Regina goes downstairs to make breakfast. After she is done making his breakfast she makes his lunch. She also puts a red apple in his lunchbox. When Henry comes down Regina is already eating her breakfast. He has a big grin on his face as he makes his way over to her. She glances up at him as she notices it is something he wants to say.
"Happy birthday mom," he says and hugs her. She knew it was inevitable. If she knows the Charming family, they will do something big out of it and drag her along to do something "fun".
Henry gives her the present he was hiding behind his back. When Regina reluctantly takes the gift he grins. He knows she can't say no to him. She opens the gift and sees a photo album. She takes it out of the box it lay in and opens it.
"It's a collection of photos of our family," Henry says. On the first pages it is photos of Regina and him when he was younger. She remember everything as it was yesterday. As he grows older there are less and less pictures of them together and that makes Regina sad, but then the pictures of their whole family begins. There are many pictures of Henry and Emma, but there are also a lot of Regina, Henry and Emma. And the whole Charming family. And some of their friends are on some of the pictures. And then the pictures that hurt the most. Regina and Robin together, and on some of them Roland and other of the Merry Men.
Regina remembers the day Roland went back to the Enchanted Forest together with Little John and the other Merry Men. Roland was sad to leave Regina and his baby sister behind, but he wanted to go back to the Enchanted Forest and Regina didn't have any rights to keep him in Storybrooke against his will. He had given her a very precious gift that day, he had given her a feather from one of Robin's arrows. She had hugged him and she had gotten tears in her eyes as they left through the portal.
Regina's heart aches as she sees how happy she was back then. She will never be so happy again, but then she sees some pictures of her and Zelena, at least she has her sister now.
"Thank you," she whispers as she has seen all the pictures. She hugs Henry.
"You're welcome. It took an eternity to find all those pictures by the way," he chuckles. She smiles and glances at the clock. She almost forgot that he had to go to school.
"Henry, you have to hurry so you won't be late," she says in a rushed voice. He glances at the clock and lightly curses under his breath. He takes his backpack and runs for the door. He reaches the schoolbus just in time. Regina sighs as she is all alone again. She takes the photo album and puts it in the bookshelf among her other books and albums. She takes the gift wrap and throws it in the trash can just as she hears the doorbell.
She walks over to the door, who is awake so early? She has an idea, but when she open the door is it not who she anticipated. It is Zelena. She holds little baby Robin carefully with one hand and holds a small box in the other. Regina had thought that Mary Margaret would be the first to come visit, since she is a sucker for happy events. But then again, Mary Margaret was probably busy at the school.
Zelena clears her throat as Regina makes no move to invite her in.
"Oh," Regina says as she realizes what Zelena wants. She steps aside and Zelena smiles and walks in. Regina closes the door after her and walks into the kitchen. While Zelena sets baby Robin down on the table Regina takes the plates and lays them in the sink.
When she turns back to Zelena, Zelena has a big smile plastered across her face.
"Happy birthday sis," she says and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "I wasn't sure what you wanted for your birthday or if you even wanted a present, but I found something that you may like," she says as she gives the present to Regina.
Regina opens the box to reveal a beautiful bracelet. It has small shiny pearls and on the end there is a heart shaped ruby. It is perfect. Regina smiles and then she hugs Zelena. She can feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but for a change it is not out of sadness, but out of happiness. No one has every given her such a perfect gift. She has a lot of beautiful jewelry, but this is going to be her most precious one. Not because it is pretty or expensive, but because she got it from her sister. And it represents their love for each other, and also their resilient hearts.
"Thank you so much, I love it," Regina says.
"You're welcome".
Regina is happy, but deep down she is still mourning over Robin's death, even after all this time. She can never get over him.
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Zelena stayed after she had given the gift to Regina. They talked mostly about baby Robin. Around eleven Zelena said she had to go back to her place and feed baby Robin.
When Zelena leaves, Regina takes the bracelet and studies it a bit more, before she puts it on her left hand. She takes the box upstairs to her bedroom and puts it in her jewelry box. She goes to the bathroom and puts on makeup, since she didn't bother to do that before she woke up Henry.
When she walks downstairs she takes her purse and opens the door and is about to walk out when she sees Mary Margaret, baby Neal and David. David is just about to ring the doorbell when she opens the door.
"Hey Regina," Mary Margaret says and smiles. "Happy birthday!" she almost screams.
"Yeah, happy birthday Regina," David says and smiles, not at all as enthusiastic as Mary Margaret, but no one can beat Mary Margaret.
"Thanks, but aren't you supposed to be at the school?" Regina asks. "And aren't you supposed to be a the sheriff station?" she asks as she turns to David.
"I don't have a class right now and Emma took David's shift for him," Mary Margaret says as she smiles. David just nods. She pushes past Regina and walks in uninvited, as always. She just can't help herself.
"Ok,"Regina says as David follows after Snow. They walk into the kitchen and Regina has to follow them.
Mary Margaret turns around and takes the gift David has tucked under his arm and gives it to Regina. Mary Margaret glances anxiously as Regina unwraps the gift, it's a cookbook.
"I know you like apples, so we got you a cookbook full of recipes that contains apples," Mary Margaret says. "And with 'we', I mean me, David, Emma and Killian. We wasn't sure what you wanted since you haven't talked about your birthday, so we went together and found a present we thought you would like," she says and smiles.
"Uhm, thank you," she says and nods to Mary Margaret and David. "Tell Emma and Killian that I liked the present".
"Of course," David says. "Well... We'd better go. I promised Emma I would return to the station quickly."
"Yeah, I have a class that I have to prepare for. Bye Regina. I hope you get a lovely birthday," says Mary Margaret. Then she and David goes back to their car and drives away.
Regina sighs and puts the cookbook besides the photo album she got from Henry. She goes outside and locks the door, then she walks to her car and drives to her office.
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At the office Regina has to do what she always does. She is mayor and that is a lot of responsibility, but it's also boring after all this time. There is never a new election, she is always mayor. And she's been mayor for the past 30 years.
There is a knock on the office door.
"Come in," she yells.
Jim, Henry's P.E teacher, walks in. Jim is Catheryn Nolan's husband. Catheryn used to be Regina's best friend and was David's ex-fiancé.
"What do you want?" Regina asks.
"I wanted to talk to you about better equipment. One of the students broke his foot because the equipment doesn't work properly," he says. He is the only one that hasn't mentioned her birthday, and she is glad, but it's probably because he doesn't know about it.
"Oh, that is tragic. But what do you want me to do with it?" Regina asks confused.
"Well, I hoped that maybe you could give more money to the school..." he trails off.
"I will get someone to look at it and see if it is as bad as you say, then I will consider giving more money to the school," Regina says and waves dismissively at him.
"Thank you," he says and goes.
Always the same boring problems. It's not that Regina misses all the threats, but there is nothing to do anymore. There is no problems from Cora, Hook, Peter Pan or his minions, Elsa, the Snow Queen, the Wicked Witch, the Queens of Darkness, the Dark One or Hades. Just NOTHING. There was a time she would want nothing, but now, it was just plain boring.
Especially since Robin died... But she doesn't want to think about that.
She sighs and writes down a reminder that she has to send someone to check on the equipment they use at the school.
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Around two she has to pick up Henry from school and drive him over the Emma's place.
She walks out of her office and locks the door behind her. She drives over to Henry's school and park in the parking lot where she waits for Henry. After some few minutes all the students come flowing out. When Henry spots Regina he walks over to her and jumps into the car. Regina drives out of the parking lot and towards her house.
"So how have your day been, sweetheart?" Regina asks.
"It's been okay. We have P.E in the two first classes. One of the students broke his foot because of the bad equipment we have," he says and glances at his mom.
"Yes, I heard about it, I'll get it checked out," she assures him.
"After that we had two hours of maths, then english and in the last we had history. We learnt about the french revolution. Did you know they used to cut of people's heads as a death penalty?" Henry says excited.
"Yes," she says and smiles at his enthusiasm.
"How was your day?" Henry asks.
"Well, shortly after you went to school, Zelena visited. She and I talked some few hours."
"Did she give you a present?" Henry interrupted.
"Yes she did. She gave me a very beautiful bracelet." Regina answers.
"The one you are wearing now?" He asks.
"Yes."
"It's very pretty."
"Thank you."
"Well, what happened after?"
"Mary Margaret and David visited, they had baby Neal with them. They and Emma and Hook gave me a cookbook."
"A cookbook?" Henry asks confused.
"With recipes containing apples," Regina smirks.
"Oh," he says and understands. Regina loves apples.
The rest of the way they drive in silence. When they arrives Henry takes the house key and runs inside while Regina waits in the car. It is like this each time. Henry collects the things he wants to have with him and then Regina drives him over to Emma's place.
When Henry returns they drive to Emma and Killian's house. The one she got during the third curse. They walk out of the car and rings on the doorbell. Hook is the one who opens the door.
"Hey lad, ready for some fun?" he asks Henry.
"Yeah," Henry says and runs inside.
"Happy birthday Regina," Hook says and smiles.
"Thanks."
"Hey Regina," says Emma as she approaches from behind Hook. "Happy birthday, has Mary Margaret given you the present yet?"
"Yes she has."
"And..? Did you like it?"
"Yes I did, thank you by the way. Both of you."
"No problem mate," says Hook.
Regina nods, and then she goes back to her car and drives home.
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Later that day in the evening when Regina was eating dinner, she heard the doorbell. She gets up and opens the door. It is Zelena again. Regina is confused, because Zelena has already been here.
"Hi, can I come in?" Zelena asks.
"Sure," Regina says and steps aside so she can some inside. "I was just eating dinner."
Zelena and Regina walks to the kitchen.
"If you want to, I could get a plate for you," Regina says and is about to take a plate for Zelena.
"There is no need," she quickly says. "I was just thinking; I know you don't want to make a big deal out of your birthday, but I thought maybe you and I could go out. Just the two of us and do something fun together. Maybe go to Granny's diner or something."
"Uhm, yeah... Sure," Regina says. She takes the dinner and puts in the fridge for later.
Zelena wears a green dress.
"Maybe you could wear a dress too," Zelena suggests. "Since it's your birthday and all."
"Okay, wait here," Regina says as she runs up to her bedroom. She takes a black dress that looks like Zelena's and changes into it. She still has the bracelet on and she checks her makeup before going back down. She takes her purse with her.
"So, where were you thinking we should go?" Regina asks.
"Well, I was thinking maybe we could go to the cinema first," Zelena answers.
"Yes, I heard they're showing a really good movie this week."
They go to Regina's car and drives to the cinema.
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After the movie they sit outside the cinema and talks about what they thought about it and about other things.
Suddenly Zelena gets a message on her phone.
"Who is it?" Regina aska curiously, after all, Zelena doesn't have many friends except her.
"Uhm... it's my babysitter. The one I got to take care of baby Robin," she says.
"Ok," Regina says. "What did you want to do now?"
"I was thinking maybe we could go to Granny's."
"Yes, I wasn't done with my dinner, and I'm starving."
They walk to Regina's car. On the way to Granny's Zelena is texting someone.
"Who are you texting?" Regina asks.
"Uhm... Just the babysitter."
They drive over to Granny's. When they arrive outside Zelena has a sly smile plastered across her face. And Regina feels like there is something Zelena is hiding. But she can't put a finger on it.
But when they walk in, Regina is in for a big surprise. When they walk in her family and all her friends are there, and they are shouting "SURPRISE!"
Regina gasps out in surprise. She would never have believed they would do all this for her. They have decorated the whole diner and there are even cakes. On one table there is a bunch of gifts. In the background they are playing some of Regina's favourite music.
Regina can feel the tears in her eyes, she blinks them away. But again, it is out of happiness, not out of sadness.
"Did you do all this for me?" she asks them all.
"Of course, Regina," Mary Margaret, David, Zelena and Emma says at the same time.
"You were a part of it?" Regina asks Zelena.
"Yes, I was," Zelena says and laughs. "I wasn't texting my babysitter, I was texting Emma."
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After some hours people were starting to leave. Regina had opened all the presents, and she loved all of them. She had gotten one from Emma and Hook too, since they wanted to give her more than a cookbook. She had gotten presents from all her friends, even Mr. Gold and Belle. She had a bad past with both of them, but everything was forgiven.
Regina hadn't felt this happy in a very, very long time. It made her forget that Robin wasn't there. Her happy ending wasn't a man or any other person. Her happy ending was to feel at home in the world. And now she did. She had the best friends and family. She had everything anyone could ever ask for. Even after everything she's done to them, they still want a part in her life.
This is her happy ending.