a/n: Hey everyone! This is an OUAT oneshot for my lovely friend from tumblr: Cassi. Her url is criminally - regal sooooo you should follow her because she's amazing. Her birthday is March 7th, so this is a little early, but I wanted to write something for her and surprisingly I got it all done tonight!
Happy early birthday, girl!
Read, review and enjoy everybody! xoxo
Prompt: OTP- StableQueen, Movie: Hercules
.oOo.
Hercules: When I'm with you, I don't feel so alone.
Meg: Sometimes it's better to be alone.
Hercules: What do you mean?
Meg: Nobody can hurt you.
.oOo.
FLASHBACK
"Regina," Daniel breathed, cupping the smaller woman's flushed face gently. Regina put her cold hands over his, relishing his warmth on her skin. In his arms, she felt safe. In his arms, she felt like she was home. When Daniel held her, she felt the courage and love that she could never feel anywhere else. He was her protector, her guardian, her hero.
"I love you," Regina murmured, her cool breath ghosting his lips. The chilling November air had them seeing their breath, as they stood on the frosted ground of the horse stables, where Daniel worked. Regina knew that they didn't have long together, as her mother and father would be returning soon from their most recent trip to yet another kingdom, in search of a suitable husband for Regina .
"And I," he began, pressing his lips to her sweetly, "love you." He closed the small gap between them with a bruising kiss, that had Regina seeing stars. The kiss deepened as she parted her lips to allow his tongue entrance to explore the warm inches of her mouth. She felt his hands move from her face to her shoulders, then down to the small of her back, and moaned as his hands roamed her body.
They finally broke apart for lack of oxygen. He moved away from Regina who instantly missed his touch. Daniel pulled a thick blanket down from the a shelf used to cover the horses. He laid it on the ground, and took Regina's hand, pulling her down onto the blanket on his lap.
"Daniel, I have to go soon…we don't have much time," Regina reminded him sadly.
"Well then let's enjoy what we do have," he said giving her a smile. She returned the smile and leaned her back into his arms, and curled up in his embrace, and for a moment, it felt like nothing else mattered, and no one else existed. It was just the two of them for now. And soon it could be the two of them forever.
PRESENT
"Moooooom," Henry moaned.
"Yes sweetheart?" Regina asked distractedly, not looking up from her book. She hadn't been reading the book, rather, staring at the same page, the words a blur. Today was the anniversary of Daniel's death, and she could not let him go. She could not forget her lover.
"You've been staring at the page for almost an hour," Henry stated, "Also, the book is upside down," he added matter-of-factly.
"What? No it's not," Regina insisted, still sounding distant. Henry rolled his eyes and pulled the book out her hands, and flipped it around so that it was right side up.
"Yes it was," he said nodding. He took the book from her hands again and placed it on the table. She continued to stare at the same place the book would have been.
"What's the matter, mom?" Henry asked. He hadn't known that she had been crying in her room for the whole morning, and most of the previous night. She had only decided to come downstairs during a moment of clarity when her thoughts were stilled enough to remember that she had a son, and that he was downstairs, and probably hungry for lunch. She had made him a grilled cheese, but had burned it. She hadn't even noticed. Henry hadn't said anything because he figured she was just tired from work. He had made himself a bowl of cereal instead, and had eaten alone. But he had decided to check on his mother, because she had seemed off all day.
Regina didn't respond, instead, she looked up at him, and he saw for the first time her red rimmed, puffy eyes.
"Oh, mommy," he said sadly, when he saw how hurt his mother looked, "Stay here," he told her. She hadn't planned on moving anyways.
Henry ran up the stairs, and after several minutes of shuffling around in a closet at the end of the hallway, he brought down a large, cream colored afghan, that Regina had knitted when Henry was a baby. He brought the blanket to his mother, and wrapped it around her carefully. He then went into the kitchen and made a cup of tea for her. He brought that to her as well, just the way she liked it- with a little bit of milk, and a spoonful of honey.
"Here," he said, "Drink this." She graciously accepted the cup, impressed at how mature her eleven year old son had become. When had he grown up? Where had the time gone?
"I'm sorry, Henry," Regina apologized, as Henry entered the room again. He went to the TV and put in a movie.
"It's okay, Mommy," He told her, walking back to the couch, and snuggling under the blanket against her, "Everyone's allowed to be sad…and have bad days sometimes." Regina smiled at her son, tears filling her eyes again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked her. She shook her head 'no'.
"Then I won't ask," he told her. He squeezed her hand under the blanket and smiled when the movie came on.
"Where'd you learn to be so mature?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"When I have nightmares, you always ask if I want to talk about them. And whether I want to or not, you always stay with me till I fall back asleep…I learned from you," he told her with a smile. He turned back to the TV, where they watched previews in silence.
"What are we watching?" Regina asked her son, after a few minutes.
"Hercules," he said, happy with his choice.
"How come?" She wondered.
"Because it's kind of sad at some points, but it's also funny and it's happy at the end. And in the end true love wins," Henry said with a shrug, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"Sounds good," Regina said, feeling slightly better when her son leaned his head into the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist as the movie began. It reminded her of the safety, the courage, the warmth, and the feeling of home that she had had in Daniel's arms long ago.
.oOo.
Towards the end of the movie, Henry murmured, "I hope I'll be someone's hero one day."
"You already are." At his mother's words, Henry's head shot up and looked at her.
"Really? Who's?" He asked excitedly. Regina took a deep breath and sighed. After Daniel died, Regina had always thought that being alone would be a better life than having people. At least then you could never disappoint anyone, and you could never get hurt. But adopting Henry was the best decision of her life, and this moment right here had solidified that truth.
"Mine," she said, smiling fondly at her son.
"I love you mom," Henry murmured.
"And I," she said, pausing to kiss the top of his head, "love you." Henry soon fell asleep with his head on his mother's breast, just like he was a baby again.
Regina looked up at the sky, and closed her eyes, remembering Daniel's face one more time.
"You will always be my hero," she told the sky, "But I'm moving on, Daniel, my love." A lone tear fell rolled down her cheek, but this time, it wasn't a sad tear. It was a joyful one, because she had finally found the true love and happiness she had been searching for, for so long. She had found it in Storybrooke, Maine, of all places, in the arms of her young, loving son.