Prologue

As Regina sat in the diner during Snow and Emma's welcome back party, she couldn't help but look around and realize how much of a disappointment her life had turned out to be. Sure, she had once been the all-powerful Evil Queen of Fairytale Land, wreaking havoc on whomever, in whichever way she saw fit at the time, but she had to admit it was all a joke. Here in Storybrooke, with the curse no longer in affect, she knew that she no longer held any sort of power over anyone. Even Henry, the boy she raised from the time he was just three weeks old, had turned his back on her, slammed the door in her face, and basically said "you're not good enough Regina."

Her entire life she had only wanted one thing; to be good enough. To finally be the one and only person that someone turned to in their time of need, of want, of happiness, of sorrow… To be someone's someone. She'd always wished for a friend. A true friend that would never say she wasn't good enough, wouldn't push her away, would include her and protect her.

Sitting all alone in the diner, with only her now cold tea for company, she realized that once again, her life would never be anything but an enormous let down.

She'd had enough of wallowing in her self-pity in the corner while everyone laughed and created even more good memories, and decided to call it a night, sneak out and go home and have herself a nice cry.

The tears were already forming as she quickly stood and threw her coat on as she left the diner.

"Archie made a cake!" was the unexpected response to her leaving. She stopped in her tracks when she realized Emma Swan, the Savior, her supposed arch-nemesis, had followed her.

Regina thought she could hear a hint of regret, guilt and maybe desperation in the voice of the Savior.

"You don't want to stay for a piece?" Emma smiled gently, if not a little awkwardly, in which Regina returned.

Apparently, even just a simple smile from the one person who had, for some strange reason that Regina had yet to figure out, always stuck up for her, no matter how big of a bitch she was to her, could make her night just a tad bit better.

"I'm fine thank you."

"Okay," Emma said, turning around to head back into the diner.

Regina frowned unexpectedly, not wanting the only pleasant contact with a human being she'd had that day, other than the short conversation she'd had with Henry, to end.

"Thank you." Regina said, causing the blonde to turn back to her, facing her again with a confused look on her face.

"You just said that."

"For inviting me," Regina responded awkwardly, answering Emma's silent question as to what the woman was getting at.

"Henry wanted it," the blonde told her honestly, "I'm glad you guys got to spend some time together."

Regina gave Emma a genuine smile, "Me too."

"I'd like to see him more; maybe you'd consider letting him stay over sometime? I have his room just waiting for him," she chuckled nervously.

Why is this conversation so awkward? Regina felt as if they were two parents, who'd split up, and were talking about custody and visitation rights.

The brunette hoped it didn't show on her face but little did she know that Emma could hear the desperation in her voice and see it in her eyes. She could see how broken Regina looked, and after having been that broken woman, many times before, she honestly felt bad for the woman.

"Oh um," Emma said, looking around quickly considering the brunette's request, growing slightly uncomfortable at the high level of tension that surrounded the women. "Yeah I suppose that'd be alright…"

Regina's face immediately lit up as tears of happiness sprang to her eyes, "Really?"

Emma smiled kindly at the older woman, "Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure about the staying over part right off the bat and I'd like to be there at first too, just because of the whole, you know, magic stuff and the town being all 'Anti-Regina' right now." Regina nodded her consent to the blonde's terms, "But otherwise, I think it'd be stupid to take him from you. You never really did anything wrong. Well, to him anyway. Plus, you've been his mother for the past 10 years."

Regina couldn't wipe the smile off her face at the blonde's words. She was utterly relieved that the blonde was willing to let her see the only person she'd truly loved since Daniel's death.

"Don't look so surprised," Emma said with a laugh, shoving her hands into her pockets and shifting her weight to the other leg.

"Well I am!" Regina said, letting out a nervous laugh as she took in the body language of the Sheriff. "I figured you'd keep him from me, seeing how you're his biological mother, you've found out I'm the Evil Queen and everyone hates me."

Emma smiled sadly letting her empathy for the woman shine through brightly, "Regina, I've grown up my entire life not knowing my family. I know how hard that is; I've been in Henry's shoes. I know what it's like not knowing where you come from, who you truly are and now that I've found them I know it's the best blessing a person could get. I wouldn't change the fact that I've finally found them after twenty eight long, horrible years for anything in this world."

Regina's smile slid from her face and she hung her head in shame. She'd caused the blonde to suffer that pain.

"But," Emma continued as she took a step towards Regina and gently placed a hand on the woman's arm, grasping it lightly, "I also know what it's like to give up a child, knowing it's the best decision for your child, regardless of how bad it hurts, and I could never do that to you. I could never take a child away from its mother, knowing firsthand what it's like to lose a child."

Regina's head snapped up as she focused on the bright green eyes of the woman standing in front of her. She had no idea why Emma would be so kind after everything she'd put her through. Hell, the entire 'twenty eight long, horrible years' were because Regina thought she had to have her revenge on the poor girl's mother.

"Why do you care?" Regina asked her voice no louder than a whisper.

Emma smiled as she squeezed Regina's upper arm and then let go. "The only thing you've ever really done to me is piss me off by trying to do what was right for our son, I don't see why that's a reason to hate you or keep you from each other."

Regina smirked at Emma's wording, "our son?"

Emma shrugged as she took a step back, out of Regina's personal space, "Well yeah. Technically, you adopted him so he's your son but with this whole fucked up mess that is our lives, I guess we can both claim him."

Regina's smirk transformed into a smile and she shook her head slightly. "Oh Miss Swan, you truly are something else."

Emma smiled back at the brunette, green eyes twinkling merrily, "You really have no idea Madame Mayor."

The smile on the brunette's face once again dimmed slightly at the mention of the title she once carried with pride, "I'm no longer Mayor, Miss Swan. Just call me Regina."

Emma nodded and looked down at her boots as the awkward tension of the evening made its way back between the two women.

Regina cleared her throat, which caused the blonde to raise her eyes, "Well, thank you again Miss Swan, you have no idea how much I truly appreciate you being willing to do this for me after everything-"

"Don't mention it Regina," Emma said, nodding with a slight smile as she walked backwards towards the diner. "Get ahold of me when you'd like to see Henry and we can arrange something."

Regina nodded once and turned on her heal, "Will do. Good night Miss Swan."

"Regina," Emma called out, effectively getting the woman to stop and turn slightly, "you can call me Emma."

Regina smiled again for what seemed like the millionth time that night, "Good night Emma."

"Night."

What an interesting night it's turned out to be, thought Regina as she made her way towards her dark and quiet mansion.

Relieved enough to skip the crying for a night, the brunette slept soundly that night for the first time since the curse was broken and woke up the next morning with a little bit more optimism than she'd had the previous morning.

She was still broken, but at least now almost all of the the pieces had been found and were in the same general vicinity.

Chapter One

A few weeks went by before Regina actually had the courage to call the Sheriff and set up a time where she could see Henry. They'd decided that a public outing was appropriate, seeing how the two women weren't the greatest of friends and they both felt like if they were to meet at the other's house, someone would have the upper hand and this wasn't about them and they did not want any part of this to turn out to be negative and ruin what they were trying to accomplish. This was strictly about being fair to Henry and letting him have a relationship with both of the women he called mom.

Regina was a nothing more than a huge ball of nerves as she pulled up to the small Italian restaurant. Choosing something a little more neutral, the trio had agreed to meet at the only other restaurant in Storybrooke that wasn't Granny's Diner. Regina frowned as she tried to recall the last time she'd eaten at the restaurant, but realized she never had. Shrugging it off, she took a deep breath and exited the safety of her Mercedes.

The brunette found the two sitting at a booth in the small restaurant, giggling loudly at something one of them had said. Regina's lips twitched in a small smile.

Emma was the first to look up and smiled at the woman, nudging Henry slightly to get his attention.

"Mom!" Henry shouted excitedly as she jumped out of the booth and ran to her outstretched arms, "I'm so glad you could come!"

Regina's breath caught in her throat as they wrapped each other in a hug and a tear of happiness rolled down her cheek at the boy's excitement to her presence, "I wouldn't have missed this for anything else in the world."

Henry pulled back with a megawatt smile, "I know mom."

Regina ruffled his hair with her hand as he gazed up at her with his big brown eyes, a soft smile gracing both of their faces. "I'm glad you know that Henry."

"I know that even though you're the Evil Queen and all," Regina frowned slightly as Emma chuckled under her breath, "But you're still my mom. Ma and I had a long talk about the fact that even though she's in my life now, and she's my birth mom, you're still my mom too because you raised me and what not."

Regina looked quickly to the blonde who wore a small smile and shrugged, "I don't understand…"

Henry frowned and followed Regina over to the table.

"What don't you understand?" Emma frowned as well as the two brunettes sat down side by side in front of her, "You're just as much his mom as I am Regina. I told you, I can't take someone's kid away from them after knowing how bad it hurts to have to let your kid go."

"I know you said all of those things but I just figured," she trailed off, suddenly finding her silverware extremely interesting and horribly embarrassed for some odd reason.

"Listen lady," Emma said with a smile in her voice as she tried to catch Regina's eyes, "I know that we're not friends, we're in fact destined to be arch nemesis or whatever," Henry chuckled at Emma's horrible attempt to use his terminology, "But I don't hate you."

Regina looked into Emma's eyes again, "You don't?"

Emma and Henry both laughed at Regina, "Not even close. Sure you were all evil and separated me from my family for my entire life but the way I look at things, is like this; everything happens for a reason and even though we may not like what happens, we really have no control over it."

Regina nodded in agreement, her eyes begging Emma to continue with her explanation as to why she'd told Henry the things she did after everything the brunette had put her and her family through. Emma smiled nervously, cleared her throat and continued. "So, I decided that for some reason you were meant to be in Henry's life, just like I was meant to be in yours and that he needs to know that even though you have made some mistakes, huge mistakes, that you're still just as human as the rest of us and you deserve to be treated with the respect because of all the things you've done for him in his life."

Regina had tears in her eyes again at the kind words of the blonde, why am I so weepy lately?

Emma chuckled quietly at the brunette as she handed Regina a napkin to wipe her eyes with, "Must you laugh at me Miss Swan?"

Emma quieted her laughter but still directed a smile at the older woman, as she bent down again to catch Regina's eyes, "I don't laugh to make fun of you. It's just… I don't know I just had a strange thought is all."

Regina cleared her throat and took a deep, calming breath, "And what would that be dear?"

Cocking her head to the side, Emma regarded Regina very carefully, she knew she was treading on thin ice with the statement she was about to say and didn't want to hurt the woman's feelings or make her angry.

"It's just you're always so defensive and always act as if you've never had anyone say nice things about you. Or as if you've never had someone who has wanted to be your friend before…"

Regina smiled sadly and looked down at Henry, whose big brown eyes were full of nothing but love and sympathy for the woman. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, kissed his forehead and shook her head in response as she looked at the blonde. "That's because I never have."

Dinner was a great time. It was full of laughter and stories and even though it was slightly awkward seeing how the company was a little unexpected, the trio decided it'd be nice to take a walk through the park to keep the happy times going and just have a nice chat.

"So," Regina broke the calm silence as the group walked through the quiet park, "What have you been up to lately Henry? How's school? Do you like living with Emma, Snow and James?"

Henry went on to tell Regina how he was doing great in school, was the student with the highest reading level in his grade, was getting all A's in his classes, had made a few new friends and that living with Emma and the Charming's was "fun but definitely different."

Regina and Emma laughed at the boy's silly antics and wording as he told his mom about these things. "It's definitely not like living with you that's for sure."

Regina frowned at this slightly but didn't say anything because she didn't want to make the boy feel guilty about anything.

Henry, however, being the perceptive little boy that he is, realized that he had inadvertently caused her to feel bad and quickly tried explaining himself so that she wouldn't feel bad. "I didn't mean it in a bad way mom, it's just at your house, there was so much more room, and it was quieter and definitely more organized," Emma laughed at this, everyone who knew Regina could tell you how OCD the woman was about cleanliness, causing the brunette to roll her eyes with a slight smile on her face. "But it's nice too because it's like, I don't know, we're one big group and there's always something going on. It's like an adventure."

The two women laughed at Henry's explanation. The group continued walking and chatting for a while until Henry saw a group of his friends and got permission to run over and play with them as the two adults sat down on a bench and watched him play.

"Thank you Emma," Regina said, breaking the silence, "I really had a good time tonight with you guys."

Emma smiled and knocked her shoulder into Regina's, "You're welcome, I actually had a good time with you guys tonight too. You're kind of all right you know?"

Regina rolled her eyes with a chuckle, slightly embarrassed at the compliment, "Yeah who would have thought that the stuffy old ex-mayor was any fun right?"

Emma laughed loudly at this, "My thought's exactly!"

"Hey!" Regina laughed exasperatedly, "You're kind of a punk you know."

Emma grinned, "Oh I know."

The two sat quietly for a while, actually enjoying each other's company for once, and letting the laugher of the Henry and the other kids at the playground fill their souls with joy.

"You know," Regina started, "even though I, once again didn't get what I wanted in life, I'm actually glad things are going the way they are."

Emma frowned, "what do you mean?"

Regina took a deep breath, and in that moment she knew that if she was going to ever have the relationship she wanted with her son, she was going to have to start being completely honest with the other people in his life seeing their current predicament.

Emma looked at the brunette and could see the conflict in her eyes. She knew that look. It was the look of someone who so desperately wanted to let someone in but was so afraid of being hurt that it was almost easier to hold in the pain than to let down the walls that held everything back and kept it safe.

"I don't know," Regina said, turning, embarrassed from the blonde inquisitive eyes. "My entire life I've always been the one who was pushed around, was never good enough for certain people and never had things go her way, and now it almost feels like for once something's going right."

Emma raised an eyebrow in question. "What do you mean you never had things go your way? I mean you were, hell you still technically are, the evil queen…"

Regina frowned and was instantly offended, which meant that she put her protective walls back up and became defensive. "Never mind," she snapped bitterly at the blonde, "I'm sorry that I even brought it up. For some odd reason I just thought you of all people might understand what it's like to be on the outside."

Emma frowned and turned slightly, her body facing the older woman's a little bit better, "I'm not trying to berate you or make you feel bad Regina; I just don't understand what you mean. From my understanding, and I know I wasn't there, but I just don't understand how you can say that you never got your way when all you did for years was take things from people, stealing their happiness and literally stealing some of their hearts. I don't understand why you think you never got your way…"

Regina stood up, beyond angry, hurt and saddened by Emma's comment. How stupid was she to think that Emma would understand where she was coming from? "You really think that I wanted to be that way?! That I wanted to hurt people? You know nothing of me and my past Miss Swan or the reasons I did the things I did - No one does!"

Emma, who was now also angry, stood so she was face to face with Regina, not backing down for a second. "You're right but you know why no one knows anything, Regina? It's because you're too goddamn stubborn to let anyone in!"

Regina's mouth flew open in shock at the way she was being spoken to. Henry heard the raised voices of his mother's and ran towards them, hoping that there would not be a fight erupting in the middle of the park in front of his friends.

"Yeah that's right Regina," Emma said with an indescribable look on her face, "Did you ever stop and think that not everyone is out to get you and that some of us, me especially, can see that all you are is a scared, broken little girl who just wants someone to understand, hold her when she's crying and make her know that it's okay for her to feel the way she feels regardless of the situation?"

Still stunned, Regina stuttered as she felt hot angry tears well up in her beautiful brown eyes, "Ho-how did you k-know…"

"I'm not stupid Regina," Emma said as she took a step closer to the brunette, "I've always been an outsider, I've always felt alone, scared and sad and have always just wanted one thing, more than anything in this world; and that was to just have someone understand and hold me and tell me that everything's going to be okay. When you have had these feelings yourself, it's very easy to spot them in other people who are having the same thoughts and feelings."

Tears were now running down the brunette's face. Never in her entire life had she been so stripped of all the walls she'd worked so hard to build up. Never had she ever felt so vulnerable; so bare. It was one of the best, yet worst feelings Regina had ever had. She was shell shocked, completely and utterly speechless and horribly embarrassed. She felt like a cornered animal, and all she wanted was to run away from the threat and never look back.

"I-I'm sorry," Emma stuttered, feeling truly horrible, when she saw the tears rolling down the brunette's flushed cheeks, "It wasn't my intention to make you cry…"

Henry looked back and forth between the two women, utterly confused at what had happened to cause such a dramatic change in them in the short time he had been playing.

"Mom?"

Regina regained some semblance of control at the simple word, "I'm okay Henry. I do think I'm going to call it a night though."

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and knelt down in front of Henry to give him a tight hug. "We'll have to get together again soon Henry."

"Mom, don't leave, we were all having so much fun," He said into her neck, tightening his hold on her as his own tears threated to fall.

"Regina-"

"I know Henry," Regina said, completely ignoring the guilty blonde who was attempting to apologize, "We'll meet up again soon, I promise okay?"

"Okay mom," Henry said as one tear escaped.

"Don't cry my beautiful boy," Regina said as she wiped the tear away with her thumb and stood up. She looked Emma in the eye, which caused the blonde to stop talking immediately.

"Miss Swan, thank you for your time and letting me see my son, it's greatly appreciated."

You can take the girl out of the office but not the office out of the girl Emma thought as Regina used her 'mayor voice' on the Sheriff, not letting her emotions affect her speech anymore in front of the blonde.

Emma smiled slightly, still very upset with herself at her little outburst. "I'm truly sorry for the things I said Regina…"

All Regina did in response was nod her head, kiss Henry's forehead once more and turn on her heel and walked off into the dusk, leaving Emma Swan to wallow in her guilt.

Many hours later, in the early morning hours, while most of the world was asleep, Regina Mills sent out a text message to one Miss Emma Swan after hours and hours of soul searching, many tears and a few huge revelations.

From Regina: The one thing I've always disliked about you since the day we met was your inability to put up with my bullshit. Thank you for that.

She had thought endlessly about what the blonde woman had said to her, and she realized Emma was right. Regina realized that she was broken, and in order to become the person she'd always dreamt of being, not who everyone else wanted her to be or perceived her as; she needed to try and let someone in. Try and let someone help her, knock her holier than thou crap off and just breathe for once.