Regina was examining an old book of spells with a look of deep concentration. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps startled her. She raised her head expecting to see Henry, maybe even that insisting lapdog into which Emma Swan seemed to have turned lately, but her visitor was none of these. With an apologetic smile, Snow White entered Regina's vault, holding an asleep baby Neal in her arms.
Regina raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I forgot the kindergarten was this way," she said. "Or maybe you are looking for the mayor's office?"
Snow didn't let her irony affect her.
"How is your search going?" she asked in a friendly tone.
"Ah, so you've come to check my results? I thought you were not Storybrooke's school teacher anymore, Miss Blanchard."
It had been a long time since anybody had called her Miss Blanchard. Snow remembered too well how the cold tone of Mayor Mills used to intimidate her when she was under the curse. This time, however, she could feel that Regina was just trying to hide her guilt for not being able to find a cure for Marian. She shook her head.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to upset you. I know this must be difficult, and…"
"You think?" returned Regina, still sarcastic.
"Look," Snow tried to soothe her, "I was just trying to start a conversation. I was... well, I'm worried about you. You know, you are always confined down here, and with everything that happened after Emma came back from the past…"
"Please, don't tell me you come to be friends just like your daughter," interrupted Regina. "Or perhaps," she added with a cold smirk, "you are going to apologize for her having destroyed my chance at happiness? Because I thought I had made clear that nothing your family says on the matter will make things better. So now just please go away and let me work."
Snow's arms were starting to feel tired for holding the baby for such a long time, and her patience was coming to an end. She definitely didn't care about Regina's commanding tone, nor was she going to obey it. She looked at her with a really serious face, and sympathy erased from her voice when she spoke, leaving way to bare indignation.
"Apologize?!" she said, in a loud voice that made the baby squirm in dreams. "Why should Emma apologize for saving Marian's life? For saving her of you?"
Her fiery earnestness reminded Regina to the bandit Snow White. She stared at her, puzzled. She didn't expect that answer.
"You," continued Snow, lowering her voice but still ruthlessly "killed Robin Hood's wife. You killed Roland's mother. All that Emma did, without knowing it, was changing this.
"Look, I understand you are angry because now you might lose Robin. But if you truly love him, you should be glad for him and for Roland. You should be glad that you don't have Marian's blood on your hands anymore.
"You once blamed me for ruining your life, and you had reason to do it. But I won't let you blame my daughter for doing the right thing."
Regina's face had grown paler with every word of Snow. She took a couple of steps back and sat on a chair, unable to stand up. When she spoke, her eyes were full of tears.
"But I do love him," she managed to say. "I didn't know then... I'm different now."
She bent down her head, trying to hide the tears. She didn't want Snow to see her anguish. She was scared of losing Robin, but she was even more scared of his hating her. And if she wasn't able to save Marian, Roland would lose his mother again, and he and Robin would suffer. In the last few days, every time she closed a spell book without having found any answer inside it, she could picture the disappointment in Robin's face and hear Roland's questions: "Papa? What's wrong with mama? Why doesn't she wake up? Why can't you help her?"
Watching Regina's face, Snow began to regret the hardness of her words.
"Regina…" she started, trying to approach her.
But Regina was not the kind of person who lets anyone approach her easily.
"Leave me alone," she said. "I don't need you to give me lessons."
However, her voice trembled as she spoke, and she had to give up talking. She looked really, really tired. Snow noticed now the empty shelves, the spell books lying around her, the papers and parchments on the table. And she understood.
"Regina, I'm sorry," she repeated. "I wasn't saying you don't love Robin. I know you must be suffering a lot, and I just…"
"You know nothing," replied Regina. "And I don't want your pity, so just go. Go with your perfect family and save the world, or change diapers, or whatever you do now."
She tried to speak as the Evil Queen, coldly and harshly, to make Snow leave. Because she knew she wouldn't be able to hold her tears for much longer.
But Snow didn't mean to leave. She stood before her, with the little baby still asleep in her arms, and looked her directly in the eye, fearless.
"You have my sympathy, but not my pity," she said, calmly.
Regina couldn't bear it anymore. She was sad, and scared, and abashed. But over all, she was tired of pretending that she was all right. She tried to find her rage, she tried to be angry at her for intruding on her life, but she couldn't. And, for once, she let go. Her head and shoulders sunk, and she began to cry softly.
"You know nothing…" she whispered again between sobs.
Snow sat by her side and, holding the baby with one arm, hesitatingly put the other around her.
"I know you have changed," she said. "And I know you love him. I'm sure of it, because you are doing all that can be done to help Marian. All I say is... let Emma help you. Let us help you. I know that it has not feel like it for a long time, but... we are family."
At that instant, baby Neal opened his eyes and began to cry. Almost instinctively, Regina extended her hand to soothe him, but stopped just before touching him, suddenly realizing what she was doing. At the same time, also by instinct, Snow drew the baby nearer to herself. Both of them were moveless for a long instant.
For a long time, the Evil Queen had menaced Snow White's first baby. When Emma was born, Snow had to sent her alone into another world in order to save her from the Queen's curse. And even when the curse was broken, Snow had felt the danger of being near Regina.
Regina, on the other hand, had spent many, many years hating Snow White. She had sworn to take revenge on her and her child, and she had been about to accomplish it. Had she been in that exact same situation a few years ago, she would have ripped the child's heart out, and then Snow's, without the slightest sorrow.
But now, all she could think was that the little baby on Snow's lap reminded her of Henry. She used to love holding him and rocking him in her knees. She had deprived Snow of that sensation once, and now she felt, she knew, that she had no right to touch her child.
She started to draw back her hand, but Snow stopped her.
–I'm sorry –she said, lowering her eyes–. I'm feeling a little overprotective since Neal was born, but my arms are really tired. Would you like to hold him?
Regina didn't know what to say, but Snow put the baby in her arms without waiting for an answer. As she felt the light weight of the child, the woman who once was the Evil Queen smiled softly. She started to rock him almost without noticing. The baby went silent and then giggled. Snow smiled too.
"See? He likes you," she said.
Little by little, the baby fell asleep again. Snow got up.
"I should go now," she said. "Belle said something about a problem at the library, and there's like a million things I have to do."
"Of course," answered Regina, coming back to reality. She gave the baby back to his mother, somewhat embarrassed. "But, Snow…"
"Yes?"
"If you ever need someone to look after the baby for a while... well, I could do it."
"Oh," said Snow, surprised, "that would be nice. Thank you, Regina." And her face showed clearly that she really was thankful.
Many years had passed, and many things happened, since the last time Snow had had reason to be grateful to Regina, and the Queen found out that she liked the sensation, although she would never admit it. Neither would she admit that, in reality, she knew she was the one who should be thanking Snow for letting her hold her baby, for having faith in her after all. But she had the strange feeling that Snow already knew all this –and if she didn't, Regina definitely wasn't going to tell her–, so she just shrugged her shoulders and said:
"No need."
And, as Snow walked out the door, she added in a whisper:
"We are family."