O.o The Enchanted Forest o.O
"Snow! Snow! Wake up!" Sky said jumping up and down on Snow's bed. She groaned and pulled the covers up over her head. "Snow, wake up! Father Christmas came last night!"
Snow White ignored her and had no ambition to get out of bed. Sky stopped jumping on Snow's bed and resorted to pulling her arm as hard as she could, but it was no use. There was no way a six year old girl could drag Snow out of bed. However, Snow finally decided to get up so her sister would stop antagonizing her. As she quickly sat up, the little girl soon lost her footing and fell backwards onto the bed.
Snow chuckled as her little sister sat up and struggled to get her long dark hair out of her face. The blue ribbon in her hair came untied. "Come here, I'll fix your bow." Sky crawled into her lap and Snow slowly tied it.
"Thank you, Snow! Now come on. Father Christmas came last night!"
Snow smiled at her over excited little sister. She wished that she was excited for Christmas as well, but in all honesty her father always brought her gifts. She played along anyway, just to make Sky happy. "Alright, give me some time to get dressed."
"Mummy said I could stay in my nightgown; only to open presents though. You can stay in yours, too." Sky said twirling around, so the bottom of it would flare out. The color of it matched her eyes. Snow didn't think it was proper if she wore her nightgown downstairs at her age, so she politely declined.
"Good morning, your highnesses," A few maids came in and started making Snow's bed. One of them opened the curtains to let the natural light through, which made Sky wince.
Snow quickly slipped on the gown that was laid out for her and decided to finish getting ready later. There was no use to make her impatient little sister wait any longer. She was already pouting as she paced back and forth.
"I'm ready, Sky," Snow said holding out her hand. She took her big sister's hand and grinned.
Sky practically pulled Snow along as she tried to run down the halls and down the stairs. Snow chuckled at her eagerness instead of scolding her. She hoped that her sister would always know happiness and retain her kind, gentle nature as she grew older.
"Merry Christmas!" Leopold bellowed as the two girls made it into the drawing room. Snow immediately went to greet her father, whereas her sister looked for Regina.
Regina sat on a white chaise lounge on the opposite side of the room as him. Sky immediately ran to her and climbed up onto her lap. "Merry Christmas, Mummy!"
"Merry Christmas my darling," Regina said as she hugged her daughter. However, her eyes were glazed over and not focusing on anything. Usually her daughter provided some relief to her wretched life, but she felt nothing. Regina plastered a fake smile on her face for show.
Snow looked over and smiled. Even though Regina and her weren't as close as they used to be, she still greatly admired her. Not many royals would be as determined to pay attention to their children as Regina did to Sky. It was always Regina who her little sister called for when she was upset, not a nanny. It warmed her heart.
"The tree looks beautiful!" Sky said. It almost touched the ceiling and was gorgeously decorated. It had taken the palace staff days to finish it. Sky thought the best part was the piles of presents wrapped in white and blue under the tree. "Can I open presents now?"
Regina nodded, not caring what Leopold thought. Both Sky and Snow eagerly went to their respective pile of presents.
Sky had gotten many wonderful items. A new necklace already hung around her neck, and she clutched a doll made in her likeness. However, one last box was unopened. When she finally came over to it and opened the lid, she was confused. It was a polished blue leather saddle with her name engraved on the side. She didn't know how to ride, but she thought it was beautiful nonetheless.
After the girls were done, Snow went to her room to finish getting ready and Regina followed Sky into hers.
Regina intricately braided her daughter's hair after she had gotten dressed into a pale blue and silver gown that had been made special for the Christmas feast. "I have a surprise for you," Regina said quietly. She placed a small diamond tiara on Sky's head after she had finished with her hair and tied the bow on her white ermine fur cloak. She squealed in delight. "But you must not make a scene."
"Oh, I promise, Mummy. I won't say a word!" Sky said rather excitedly. Regina frowned, but guided her out of the door.
The journey to the surprise was a long and harrowing road to the little girl who just wanted to run to see what it was. As Regina guided her outside the palace towards the location where the gift was, Sky waved at all of the guards walking around them. They didn't wave back, but it gave her something to do. Regina also scolded her for kicking snow at one of them, but the man just smiled and didn't seem to mind.
Finally, they stopped in front of the royal stables. Two guards opened the door for them. Regina led her inside and stopped in front of one of the stalls.
When her mother opened it, Sky peered inside. There was a jet-black foal sitting on the ground, and she thought it was the most adorable thing in the world. It got up and stumbled over to her. Sky put her hand on its nose and squealed.
"He's yours," Regina said to Sky. She jumped up and down excitedly. Regina crouched down to Sky's eye level, "When I was young my father gave me a foal to raise, and now I will give you one. You have to take care of him, and maybe one day he will mean as much to you as Rocinante does to me. When the both of you get a little bigger, I will teach you how to ride."
"Thank you, Mummy! I think I'll name him Nox."
"I'm glad you like him," Regina said. She actually cracked a real smile as she closed and locked the stall door. "Tomorrow, perhaps, would be a good day to start learning how to take care of him."
"Mummy, can we tend to your apple tree before we go inside? Only for a little while?" Sky said as she and Regina began walking back to the castle.
Her apple tree didn't really need tending; not after she had begun learning magic from Rumplestiltskin, but no one needed to know that. Spending time with her daughter made her heart hurt less than when she was alone and ignored by her husband or in the presence of Snow White.
"Of course, my darling." Regina said. "I think some of them are ripe for picking."
O.o Storybrooke o.O
"Hey, Evelyn, wait up," she heard a voice call out as she walked quickly to the bus after school. Henry hadn't gotten up to go to school, and she had a sinking suspicion that he wasn't sick. She whipped her head around and came face to face with a boy in her class. He had floppy brown hair and dark blue eyes. His uniform looked shabby and worn, and there was dirt on his chin.
"I'm Dillard. Just Dill is fine," he said and held his hand out for Evelyn to shake. When she just looked at him, he slowly lowered his hand and gulped. "I'm in your class, and I was just wondering if you... well would you like to... every day after school I help my father in the-"
"Evelyn, get in the car!" Regina yelled as she pulled up in her black Mercedes. She rarely ever picked her up from school. Judging by the look on her mother's face something was wrong.
"It was nice to meet you, Dill, but I have to go. I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow," Evelyn said before running to her mom's car. Dill had a sullen look on his face but waved as she left.
"Who was that?" Regina asked as Evelyn hopped into the front seat. She gripped the steering wheel rather tightly.
"Just a boy in my class. I don't really know him," Evelyn sighed. She recognized him of course, but she never knew his name. In fact, she thought that he seemed oddly familiar even though she couldn't remember a time when they had actually spoken before today. "Is Henry alright?"
Regina gripped the steering wheel even tighter, since Evelyn clearly didn't know where he was. "Henry is missing again. He never showed up for school. Did you know anything about him stealing a credit card from Mary Margaret Blanchard to find his birth mother?"
"He stole a credit card from his teacher? And he didn't think to buy me anything?" Evelyn said surprised. Regina glared and her grin faltered. "I know you are worried about where he is right now, but I'm sure he just needed some time to think. He just found his birth mother, and it must be a terribly confusing time for him. I know you don't want to hear it, but Emma seems nice at least. I think he thought that she might want to stay and get to know him."
"Emma didn't leave, yet," Regina said in a murderous tone, which did not go unnoticed by her daughter.
"Oh, so she decided to save the town after all, then," Evelyn joked. Regina didn't say anything as she pulled up in the driveway.
"Beginning tomorrow, I want you to start watching Henry," Regina said as both of them got out of the car. Evelyn's jaw dropped. "Everywhere he goes, you go. Do you understand?"
"But Mom! I have better things to do than be Henry's glorified baby sitter!" Evelyn protested.
"You will do this, Evelyn. Maybe if you would assert yourself, there would be no need to follow Henry because he would be following you," Regina said and walked into the house. Evelyn ran to catch up.
"I'll watch him on two conditions," Evelyn said with her hands on her hips. "When Emma leaves the town and Henry can be trusted not to run away again, I want you to let me take riding lessons. For the second request, I want a car when I'm old enough to drive.
Regina didn't think Evelyn was in a position to demand anything or make deals with her, but the requests weren't outlandish. She would most likely forget anyway as things went back to normal. If everything went the way Regina hoped it would, Evelyn would remain thirteen forever. She would never learn to drive, so a car wasn't necessary.
"Deal," Regina said and smiled. "Now, what would you like for dinner?"
…
Henry finally came back, and he was with Emma. Evelyn was sitting in the family room finishing up her homework as she heard her mother and Emma talking. Her mother was harsh and went straight to the point. Regina went on about how she was Henry's mother and how she wanted Emma out of the town. She prayed Emma would leave, so she wouldn't have to watch Henry for the rest of her life.
When Emma left, her mother went upstairs and came back a few minutes later with a large book. Evelyn assumed it was Henry's fairy tale book. Without making any noise Evelyn stood in the doorway watching. Regina went up to the mirror on the wall and looked completely livid as she stared at her reflection. If the book did contain the events of her life in the Enchanted Forest- of anyone's previous lives- everything she had built was slowing unraveling.
Evelyn wanted to know what her mother was thinking. In that moment, she could almost picture her mother in a gaudy black gown like an evil queen, but the image in her mind was gone as soon as it appeared. She watched Regina tear her eyes away from the mirror and head to the living room. Evelyn quietly walked back to the couch and grabbed her backpack. Regina was still in the living room, so she padded up the spiral staircase and ran into her room.
She threw her backpack by her desk and quickly laid out her school uniform. She prayed her mother left the book downstairs somewhere in the open. She had the feeling that time was running out to read it. A part of her wondered if there was a little truth to what Henry was saying, and the other part of her wanted to prove him wrong. She hurriedly pulled on her silk pajamas and a bathrobe.
Evelyn jumped when the door opened. "I was just going to bed," Regina said peeking inside. She was curious as to why Evelyn looked like she got caught doing something, but she decided to ignore it. "Don't stay up too late."
Evelyn nodded as her mother closed the door again. She sat on her bed and waited for a while hoping her mother had fallen asleep. Her heart rate picked up as she cracked the door open. Regina's door was closed and there was no light coming from under it.
Evelyn carefully walked down the stairs and headed for the living room. Where would she hide it? She thought as she quietly looked around. She rummaged through several of the many drawers in the room with no luck. After all, her mother might have put it anywhere.
Finally, after she decided that she would give up after looking through the last drawer, she grinned as it sat there waiting for her to read it. She left the drawer open to make sure she put it back in the right one and headed to the family room.
Evelyn didn't turn on a lamp. The moon already provided enough illumination, and she had the illogical notion that if she did her mother would wake up. Her heart started beating a little faster as she opened the cover and read the four iconic words, Once Upon a Time.
Author's Note: Is it ok with everyone that I don't italicize the Enchanted Forest flashbacks? A lot of it hurts my eyes when I read it on my phone, so it's just my preference. Also, if anyone thinks I am using too much of the script from the show please tell me. Some of it is necessary for the plot, but I want everyone to enjoy this story. Also, I am an author who is open to suggestions, so if you want to see something or you have a questions please write it in with your review!