So, basically, I was listening to the audio of What's a Soulmate from Dawson's Creek, and I instantly thought of SQ. I hope you all enjoy! Please review and favorite if you'd like! I also have two other running fanfics on my page. One is a CS (multiOnceshipper) twist on Swan Princess, and the other is based off of the hit t.v. show, F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
As always, I do not own the characters of Once Upon a Time, as well as the quote from Dawson's Creek. This is purely for entertainment purposes.
"Mom?" Henry called his mother, who began walking towards him.
"Yes?" Regina answered, now by his side with her arm wrapped around his shoulders, holding him close to keep him warm in the chilly fall air.
"What's a soulmate?" he asked innocently. The question took Regina by surprise, expecting something more along the lines of getting ice cream after they were done here. For being only eleven years old, the child never seemed to ask such in-depth questions.
"What an interesting question," Regina remarked.
"I heard Archie use it before when he was talking to you about Mama," he explained. Regina nodded her understanding.
"Well," she began, but then paused. She had to think through her answer thoroughly. A soulmate was more than a destined lover.
As she thought through, memories that her and Emma have shared began flooding through her mind. She recalled the time when she first met Emma. Henry was eight years old, and Regina had been worried sick about him. He finally arrived home that night, with a mysterious blonde who turned out to be his birth mother. They became enemies not long after; when Regina had Emma arrested, she returned the favor by cutting a branch down from the mayor's abundant apple tree. Their anger towards each other grew, especially when Emma had found out that the Curse had been real. But there was always something there. Regina remembered feeling tension when Emma looked at her up and down slowly when the brunette had offered her an apple turnover. And when the wraith came, Regina knew that there was definitely something there. She smiled at the memory flashing through her head of Emma putting her hand on her arm, making the magic more forceful. The two later found out that it was because they were soulmates. From what Regina could remember from Gold's explanation, when soulmates use magic together, it becomes more powerful than anything.
The two never talked about what was going on between them until after Regina rescued them from Cora through the well. Regina remembered Emma knocking on her door at midnight after the welcome back party. The mayor, of course, scolded the blonde for acting so irrational, as she could have woken up Henry, who had agreed to stay at her house since she saved his other mother and grandmother. But Emma had none of it. She let herself in without being invited, making her way to Regina's home office.
"We need to talk," Emma had said, the memory rushing through Regina's mind. "We both know something is going on here. Whether it is just sex or some stupid high school drama shit, we have something between us, and it can't be ignored anymore."
"Miss Swan, I can assure you nothing is between us," Regina had defended.
"That's bullshit, Madame Mayor. Because when I see you, I feel connected to you. And not in the way I am with friends or family. In the way I am when I have feelings for someone. Even when we consistently fought last year, I felt a spark, a yearning sensation. Not just sexually, but emotionally and mentally. I was drawn to you, and I have the feeling you were drawn to me."
Emma's words ran vividly through Regina's mind. Within a year, the two were married and living in the mayor's mansion. They had found a way to bar off Cora, and the pirate went back to well, pirating. The two idiots who tried to destroy the magic were defeated by Regina. They had their happily ever after for a while until Zelena came in donning her silver heels. That's when Regina's smile was replaced with a shuddering breath.
"Mom? You okay?" Henry asked. Within a few moments, his mother's smile came then disappeared.
"Yes," Regina answered, snapping back to reality.
"It's a... Well, it's like a best friend, but more," she began to explain kneeling down to him. "It's the one person in the that knows you better than anyone else. It's someone who makes you a better person. Or, I suppose they don't make you a better person-you do that yourself, because they inspire you."
Henry nodded his comprehension, and Regina continued on,
"A soulmate is someone who you carry with you forever. It's the one person who not only knew you, but accepted you. They believed in you when no one else did or would. And," Regina took a breath to help maintain her composure. "And, no matter what happens, you will always love them. Always."
"Okay. I want one," Henry replied. Regina chuckled,
"You'll find yours, Henry, but not yet." They stood there for another moment before Regina suggested,
"How about you set the rose down now, Henry? We will go get some ice cream before I drop you off at Snow and David's."
The promise of ice cream made him smile, and he turned to set the single red rose down on the stone. He waved goodbye to it, then walked over to the car. Regina stood there for a minute longer. It had been a year, but Regina was still distraught when she thought about her love. And for the hundredth time, she read the engraved words:
"Emma Swan-Mills. 1983 - 2013. Loving daughter, mother, wife, friend, and savior."