"Regina, it's time!" Snow's energetic voice filled the tent before she entered. When she did, she was frozen where she stood, hand racing to her mouth as if to swallow her already spoken words.
Roland was cuddled against Regina, talking animatedly, while the Queen listened with great focus, as if whatever he was saying was the most important thing in the world to her.
It was a precious scene that Snow hated to disrupt.
However, her presence was already known and Regina's eyes snapped up to meet hers, as Roland whipped his own head in Mary Margaret's direction.
"Hello, Miss Snow," He greeted, bouncing off Regina's lap and walking quickly in the Princess' direction.
"Why, hello, Roland. You look very handsome."
"Thank you," He mumbled, bowing his head shyly, kicking at some invisible force on the floor, "Mommy said I'm more handsome than Papa."
Snow's eyebrows snapped upward to her hairline, eyes snapping up to meet Regina's, but her former stepmother kept her attention solely on Roland.
"Roland, sweetheart," Regina started, waiting until the child turned to face her, "Why don't you go outside with everyone, okay?"
"Is it time for the wedding?" Robin's son beamed, rocking back and worth as if trying to physically contain an explosion of excitement about to go off.
Regina nodded, a bright smile corrupting her own lips. Roland's jubilant energy was infectious enough, but as it dawned on her that it was, truly time for the wedding, the wedding between her and the man she loved, the man who loved her, her soulmate, her own anxiety manifested in an endless thumping in her chest. Her heart, an organ that she once thought was a dark, empty vessel preserved for regrets and could-have-beens, filled with love for the three men she would be pledging to love for the rest of her life.
"Yes!" Roland cheered, punching the air above him- a victorious movement that Henry no doubt showed him after winning a particularly grueling match of Mario Kart, Regina thought affectionately. Her sons.
Regina stood, walking the short distance to Roland. She bent down, a hand smooth down his unruly curls, "I'll be out there soon. Will you keep an eye on Papa until I do, my little knight?"
"Of course, Mommy," Roland agreed dutifully, puffing out his little chest at the "royal" task that was asked of him. He reached up on his tip-toes, planting a big, wet kiss on the Queen's cheek, before skipping out of the tent.
Snow watched until she saw Roland reunited with his father, near the ceremony's location, then she closed the flap, returning her focus to Regina.
"'Mommy'?" The school teacher questioned, a smile teasing the corners of her lips.
"He insisted," Regina answered, an abnormally sheepish tone to her voice.
Snow frowned momentarily, then offered her stepmother an encouraging smile, "Well, I, for one, think it's beautiful."
Regina heard her former adversary's speech waver and she narrowed her eyes, focusing in on Snow's eyes, "Are you crying?"
"I'm," Mary Margaret took in a deep breath and used her pinky finger to dab at the corners of her perfectly made-up eyes, "I'm just very happy that you found happiness. That you found love. What you have built with Robin and Henry and Robin, it is a lovely thing to witness, one that I feared I'd never see for you."
Regina sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, so many words that had needlessly been said or senselessly held back for so long between the two women, she didn't know where to begin. She decided to say the first thing that came to mind, "I'm sorry, Snow."
Snow seemed bewildered, shaking her head quickly as if resetting herself, "Sorry? For what?"
Regina released a huff of laughter, "What is there not to be sorry for?"
"Regina," Snow addressed, taking a few steps closer to the bride, "What's happened in our past is just that- the past. We both have much to apologize for, too much, in fact and certainly not on your wedding day."
"Always painfully optimistic, aren't you?" Regina playfully smarted, smirking at the younger of the two women.
Mary Margaret shrugged, another gentle smile unfolding on her face, "I believe that this day of celebration should be reserved for love, that is all."
"I tried to ruin your day of celebration," Regina said, her voice barely audible, visions of her former self spewing the words "I will destroy your happiness" flashing through her mind, "When you and Charming had your wedding, I arrived to threaten it. I don't know what I would do if someone did that to Robin and I."
"Regina, we-"
"I tried, many times, to take love away from you. And I am sorry for that."
"If we're going down this road, Regina, we both know I am the one who stole love from your life. I cast the first stone in that war of ours."
Regina nodded solemnly, lifting her head, locking her own watery eyes with Snow's, both women wearing matching somber smiles, "I hated you for so long. I held onto that moment when, well, when I thought, that I had lost my last chance for happiness and I allowed that anger and that hatred for you to burn me and it burned you, hell it scorched an entire kingdom like a thousand fireballs."
She chuckled bitterly, trying to shove the guilt she felt welling in her throat back down with a swallow, "But you weren't the one who reached a hand into Daniel's chest and crushed his heart."
"I gave Cora all the ammunition she needed, though," Snow whispered, crossing her arms in front of yellow lace of her scoop-neck, wide-strapped, floor length dress, "You told me specifically not to tell her and I did. And, because of it, Daniel lost his life. And you lost your belief in True Love."
"How?" Regina wondered aloud, staring at Mary Margaret, perplexed.
"Pardon me?" Was the equally confused response.
"You've always had this twisted faith in me, that I would find love, that I would be happy. How could you after everything I put you through?"
Snow sighed, "I guess it's because you were the one to teach me what True Love was. You told me, outside the stables that night, that it was 'magic' and, I don't know, I think I just always wanted to see you have that kind of magic again. I don't think it's twisted, especially when I know you, Regina."
"Everything you do is motivated by love, it always has been whether you embraced it the right way or not. It was either reaching for Cora's love, avenging Daniel's love, fighting for Henry's love. And I think someone like that deserves to experience True Love, blissful love, so I had hoped you would find that, and you did."
"I suppose you were right," Regina conceded with a small smile, thinking of Robin, of their sons. "Which reminds me, I have something for you."
Snow's brow furrowed once more, watching Regina glide towards the vanity area and retrieving something, which she concealed in her hand, "Regina, this is your wedding day, you're supposed to be receiving, not giving gifts."
"Well, this was long overdue and I felt today was appropriate," The Queen replied as she returned to where the Princess stood, "Open your hand."
She did as commanded, her palm facing upwards. Regina placed her own hand over it and let whatever she held fall.
When Snow looked down, she gasped. Emotion bubbling inside her, leading to a bevy of unshed tears clouding her vision.
A quarter.
"I know by now, I probably owe your 'Hope Commission' enough of those to fill this entire town, but I thought it was a start."
Snow was rendered speechless, her mouth hanging slightly agape, looking between the coin in her and the woman who had given it to her.
"Nothing to say? Hm, maybe I should have given you a roll of these a long time ago," Regina jested.
Without a word, Mary Margaret clutched the coin in her hand, then wrapped her arms around Robin's fiancee's neck, reeling her into a tight embrace.
Regina was shocked and was motionless for a moment or two before cautiously, slowly, returning the hug, patting the woman in her arm's back once, twice, a third time before they both retracted.
"Thank you, Regina," Snow sniffled, "This is a beautiful gesture."
"I had thought for years that you took away my happy ending, but with your incessant pep talks and your nonstop promotion of hope, especially in regards to Robin and I, you are actually one of the reasons I am getting my happy ending today. So, thank you."
Regina could see Mrs. Nolan was reigning herself back from wrapping her in another hug, so she outstretched her hand, grabbing the one that didn't contain the quarter.
Snow looked at her with a watery smile, giving a squeeze to Regina's hand before laughing, "Well, this is far too emotional. We still have a wedding to get through and I have a limited amount of tissues."
Regina couldn't resist rolling her eyes, "I'm sure your Charming is carrying extras for you, Dear."
It was Snow's turn to roll her own green orbs, adopting Regina's penchant for sarcasm, "Yes, Regina, he's carrying them in his fanny pack as we speak."
Regina chuckled, watching Snow reach the exit of the tent, "I'll be out in a moment."
Mary Margaret nodded, gazing over the woman she used to call an enemy. "You look beautiful, by the way," She complimented, using her hand to gesture to the gown Regina donned for her nuptials, "This is what the fairest in all the land should look like."
Regina felt her breath catch in her throat, they both understood what Snow was referring to: Regina's forced wedding to Leopold. Cora had been the one to procure her daughter's dress for when she married Snow's father. A poofy, pure white, gaudy mess of material that pinched and made Regina itch whenever she slipped into it. Snow, a child, had thought she appeared as the "fairest in the land", an ideal Queen, not knowing the circumstances behind the betrothal enough to know that seeing herself in that frock made Regina ill.
But this time, Regina was marrying her soulmate, someone who cherished, respected, and valued her. Not as a possession, something to be controlled and manipulated, but for her, as a person, inside and out. So she wanted to feel as comfortable in the gown she wore down the aisle as she did whenever she was with Robin.
It was simple. Ivory colored, fashioned from a satin material that hugged her body from the modest V-cut neckline to the floor that it dragged a few inches on, with embellished cap sleeves that added the small hint of extravagance that Queen within her would be pleased with.
Unlike her wedding to the King, Regina could breathe today and not only because of the dress.
"Thank you, Snow," She sincerely murmured, blinking away the water threatening to fall from the rims of her eyes.
"You ready to get married, Mom?" Henry asked as he held his adoptive mother's hands in his own.
"Very ready," Regina smiled at her son and he smiled wide. They both glanced at the beginning of the make-shift aisle in the middle of Storybrooke's wooded area.
"Let's go get that happy ending."