Everyone

For my whole life I have always been labelled, and my path always chosen by others and laid out before me.

I was the daughter who would go on to great things. I was the girl who had to grow up and would lose what she held most dear to become queen. I was the second wife and the step mother who would never be good enough. The student of magic made into a pawn to cast the darkest of curses and then I was the Evil Queen.

For so long the darkness was the shadow over who I wanted to be, it laid out a path that seemed like the only option. Not any more though, Storybrooke may have been many things, but first and foremost it was always my second chance. The chance to be so much more, my name is Regina Mills, and I choose to be a mother.

Sitting at her desk Regina lent back slightly before glancing at the clock. She stretched out the stiffness in her back, she had come in to the office despite it being Sunday as she had let Emma and the Charming's take Henry out for the day. She had tried to see it as an opportunity to relax and have some time to herself. It has been less than an hour before she found herself in the familiar office trying to distract herself from the fact that she was missing her son. They had spent so much time together recently working against the Evil Queen that she felt an obligation to give them some time alone with her boy.

Suddenly the silence was rudely interrupted by the shrill ringing of the phone sat on her desk. Lifting the phone she found herself short in her response. "Mayor Mills."

"Regina, it was an accident. We had a lead on the Evil Queen. He must have lost his footing, but I don't know what happened." Emma's voice was breathy and ravaged with tears on the end of the phone.

Regina took a deep breath and swallowed. "Henry?" She could barely manage to say her son's name for the fear of the response that she may receive.

"Yes, we're at the hospital now. Whale said that I needed to get you here…" The blonde heard the sound of the phone hitting something solid. "Regina?" When no answer came she hung up the phone.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Emma heard the familiar voice as the purple smoke signalled Regina's arrival at the hospital. "Of all the stupid things that you could have done…" Her voice trailed off as they both heard it crack.

"We had a lead, I was watching him… He was there, and then there must have been a ditch…" Emma looked at the brunette with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Where is he?" She couldn't listen to anymore. Her mind was running away with all the possibilities of what could be wrong with her boy.

"He's still in surgery. Whale said they needed to relieve some of the pressure. His head hit a branch when he fell." Emma took a step towards Regina. "He will be ok, he has to be ok."

Regina took an immediate step backwards before taking a deep breath. She tried in vain to steady her voice before she spoke. "You have no right… None." Then Regina felt something inside of her snap. She wasn't sure what happened, but within a moment she had the younger woman pinned up against the nearest wall. "10 years. 10 years I bought him up, I bandaged his knees, I soothed his nightmares, and I answered the questions. The questions about why he wasn't good enough for you."

Emma didn't fight her. "I'm sorry." The words seemed so pathetic even as the words left her mouth.

"Are you kidding? You've recklessly put my son's life in danger and you're sorry." Regina was shouting now, and she didn't care who heard her.

"Regina what are you doing?" Snow's voice sounded frantic. As she rounded the corner taking in the sight of her daughter being pinned against a wall by a woman who was clearly angry and upset.

"Stay out of this." Regina knew that she needed to calm down, she had started to loosen her grip on Emma before Snow had interrupted.

"Regina, please don't let this take you backwards. You've worked so hard to come this far." Snow was trying to do the right thing, but her words had the opposite effect.

Regina let go of Emma and rounded on the woman who had played such a complicated part in her life for so long. "You have no right to judge me. I made mistakes, and I have paid for them. I lost everything and everyone I cared about. Now what? I lose Henry too? I lose my son because clan Charming wanted to go on a witch hunt?" There she had said it… Was she about to lose Henry?

"We aren't going to lose him Regina. You said it, you raise him and he's so strong." Emma felt guiltier than she could have ever imagined.

Regina shook her head before sinking to the ground as she started to sob. Since splitting herself from the Evil Queen she had felt a fragility inside of her that she hadn't know before. A fragility that made it impossible to stop the tears as they started to flow down her cheeks, she covered her face with her hands in an attempt to shield the weakness she felt from the other two women.

Emma waited for a moment trying to take in the shaking form in front of her. This was the side of Regina that not many got to see, a side that she knew she had been struggling to hide since the split. She thought for a moment before moving to sit next to her. She placed a hand on Regina's shoulder. Just letting her know that she was still there for her.

"Everyone I've ever loved… They leave… Or they die." Regina's voice was quiet as she spoke.

"No this time." Emma was going to carry on before the two women heard footsteps coming down the corridor towards them. Regina looked up to see Whale walking towards them.