It had been two weeks since Regina reversed the Dark Curse and sent them all back to the Enchanted Forest. Two weeks without Emma and Henry. Since they all shared a tearful goodbye on the town line. It's taken a toll on everyone in their family, but Snow knows that it has hit Regina harder than anyone else.
Sometimes at night, Snow would wander the corridors of the castle. After so many years of sleeping in 21st century Maine, it was hard for her to sleep without the blow of the air conditioning, the hum of the refrigerator, the light of the alarm clock. So, Instead she wandered a lot and every night she finds Regina sat in the music room with her shoulders slumped, softly playing the piano. It shocked Snow to find her there the first night, she never knew the other woman could play. She would play the same few songs over and over, Snow noticed, and always a carafe of red wine with a never quite full glass of the sanguineous liquid.
Snow never bothered her, but she found that after a while she ended up sitting outside of the music room and listening to Regina play. She also soon realised that Regina was softly singing to herself as she played, a haunting alto voice. The words were too muffled for Snow to make out just exactly what she was singing, but the tunes of the songs sounded familiar to her. She was able to pinpoint them as songs from the other realm, but nothing more.
About a week after first discovering Regina, Snow grew bold and decided to approach Regina and ask if she could sit and listen for a while. After all, she did just lose a daughter the way Regina had lost her son. As she approached, however, she was able to hear the words that Regina was singing and they stopped her where she stood.
You see her when you close your eyes.
Maybe one day you'll understand why
everything you touch surely dies.
And you only need the light when it's burning low.
You only miss the sun when it starts to snow.
Only know you love you when you let her go.
Snow definitely recognised the song now and her heart skipped a beat. All of this time, she had assumed-no, expected that Regina was mourning Henry whilst she was playing. She racked her brain for a second for whom Regina could be referencing, and then shook her head at her own thickness. Emma. She was singing about Emma. She was mourning the lost chance to tell Emma that she was in love with her.
After the initial blow of the realisation, Snow found that she wasn't really that shocked to begin with. In a way that was so typical to her family, it made sense in some weird sort of way. So, emboldened further by her deduction, she approached Regina. 'Regina?' She said as softly as she could as to not startle the woman too much.
Regina whirled her head around and glared at Snow. 'Snow.' She replied and then reached for her glass of wine. 'Is my playing disturbing you?'
'Quite the contrary, actually.' Snow said, taking Regina's indifference as a sign that it's okay to approach the older woman. 'I didn't know you could play.'
'Just another skill mother deemed necessary for a queen to possess.' Regina scoffed into her wine glass.
As Snow got closer to Regina she could tell even in the dimly lit room that the former queen was crying. 'You weren't singing about Henry were you?' Snow said. She had decided that she was just going to come right out with it. One thing about trying to get Regina to open up, she had learned, was that you had to dive in when you had a moment. Otherwise, you might not ever get another one.
'I don't know what you're imply-'
'I heard you, Regina. "You only know you love her when you let her go." I remember the song from the other realm.' Snow said honestly.
Regina didn't reply. Instead, she turned back to the piano taking her wine glass with her and took a long sip of it. Snow could tell that she was gearing up to deny it, say something hurtful back, and then send Snow on her way. But instead, Snow heard the other woman take a deep breath that caught in her chest halfway through. It is the one thing that always gives it away when another human being has, once again, begun to cry. Regina let her head hang and pressed the fingers of her left hand to her forehead. 'You were singing about Emma, weren't you?' Snow asked. 'You love her, don't you?' She continued.
'Yes.' Regina whispered. It was the heartbreaking admission of woman who had lost all hope in life. Where in the past Regina had been consumed by anger and revenge, the woman that now sat before Snow was lost and filled with loneliness and regret.
Snow sat down on the bench next to Regina and, to her surprise, the other woman lightly rested her head on her shoulder. Maybe it is the lateness of the hour or the red wine, but Regina sought out the comfort her once arch-nemesis offered. 'We will see them again, Regina. I promise.'
'You don't know that.' Regina whispered through her trembling lips.
'No, I don't. But, I know our family and we always find each other. And Emma will fight for us, she will find us. She always does.' Snow assured the former Evil Queen.
'I hope you're right.' Regina said softly. 'Because I can't live without them.'
The admission was something that Snow had never imagined from the woman now resting on her shoulder. Up until Neverland and the aftermath of all of that, Regina was still considered an enemy. One who wasn't trusted. Now, however, she was just a woman who was in love without anyway to get back to her loved ones and Snow's heart broke for her. 'I promise you. She will find us. And you know something else that I'm pretty sure of?' Snow asked with a slight smile on her face.
'What is that?' Regina asked dryly.
'I'm pretty sure that she loves you, too.'