"Go Theo!" Regina and Danielle screamed at the top of their lungs as Theo ran for all he was worth down the football field. with three defenders just behind him. "Come on Theo!" He seemed to put on an extra burst of speed to outrun two guys, but the third would not be left behind. Just as Theo leaped to make the touchdown, the defender hit him hard.

"Theo." Danielle gasped.

Regina stood up, ready to run to his aid. The sign above them flashed as it read touchdown, and added another 7 points to the home team's score. Theo suddenly kipped back to his feet and let out a roar, igniting the crowd into a frenzy. His teammates surrounded him and lifted him onto their shoulders, yelling Theo's nickname. "Conqueror!"

Regina grinned so hard her cheeks hurt. "That'll be you on Friday." She nudged Danielle with a smirk. She had a soccer game in the afternoon. Danielle rolled her eyes but smiled, eyes burning with determination. "Come on, let's wait for Theo at the car."

"You're gonna have to buy him a new helmet to fit his giant ego." Her daughter muttered.

"As though yours is any smaller." Regina retorted. She lead the way past the gate and out into the parking lot. She found a familiar blonde waiting for her by her new silver Mercedes SUV. "Miss Swan, how may I help you on this fine evening?"

Emma smiled. "Just saw Theo. he's amazing."

"He is aware. Just don't tell him that." Danielle said as she climbed into the car.

Regina smirked. "Please don't."

Emma laughed. "It's good to see you guys fitting in and you smiling more."

"Well, I can't help it with these two."

"Anyways, I was wondering if you and the kids would like to go camping."

"Me? Camping?"

"I mean, Henry likes it. And it would be good for him to be around his technical siblings and his mother."

"Henry doesn't want to see me and I can't very well force him to talk to me. I'll be glad to spend time with him but I won't force him to do it." Regina crossed her arms.

"I know. He's just been moody and quiet lately and I don't know what to do. He won't tell me anything anymore." Emma sighed.

Regina's reply was cut off before she could talk as Theo slammed into her middle, clutching her tightly. "Did you see me, Regina? I ran all the way down the field!"

"Yes I did, are you hurt?"

"My ribs are a little sore and my shoulder hurts but I'm fine. We're going to the championship!" He screamed in excitement before breaking out in song. "I am the champion! I am the champion! Gone is the loser and I am the champion!" He climbed into the car to annoy his sister.

"You're not the champion yet." They heard Danielle say.

"But we're going to win. The Conqueror destroys all opposition."

"Now I have to listen to that the whole way home." Regina said.

Emma laughed. "What about heading down to the lake? It's warm out, we could go this weekend." Regina looked skeptical. The blonde made her best puppy dog face.

"Alright. I'll talk to them." Regina sighed.

"Great." Emma grinned. "See you in the morning then." She practically skipped back to her little bug and Regina, with a sad shake of her head, got back into her own vehicle.

They were about halfway home when Regina grew tired of the "I am the Champion" song. "Theo! Hey, shut up." She smirked at him in the mirror. He grinned at her and looked ready to bust out singing again when she stopped him. "For your win, what would you like for dinner?"

"Lasagna!"

She smiled. "Alright, future Champion. Lasagna it is."

"Can we have pizza after I actually win the championship on Friday?" Danielle asked.

"Only because you play before we do." Theo shot from the back.

"Relax, both of you. Dany, leave your brother alone. Theo, if you start singing that song again, I will ground you. And I may ground Dany just for the hell of it." She grinned to herself as this only sparked another argument among them.

It was months later and Theo and Danielle had quickly settled into Storybrooke. They had wanted to go to school about a month after coming from the Dark Island and Regina didn't stop them. Danielle quickly mastered most of her schoolwork. Theo was no master but his grades weren't too bad and were steadily climbing due to his desire to play sports. He joined the football team and quickly rose to become one of the star players. Danielle was on the soccer team and was co-captain. But none of it had been easy due to their association with Regina. Theo was suspended twice for fighting and for completely freezing someone solid because someone had called her the Evil Queen and Danielle was suspended for using magic on someone else who had referred to her by her old moniker. Regina had to lecture them and completely cut them off from anything they liked in order to convince them to just ignore such comments. It took some effort, but they overcame it and learned to focus on the bigger things.

Regina put the lasagna in the oven and went upstairs to check on the kids. She peeked into Danielle's room, which she had decorated in shades of purple, mostly dark purple and was made to look like some grand master bedroom. She was sitting on her bed, dressed in her purple sleeping dress, hair slightly wet, and reading some teen magazine. "Lasagna is in the oven. Come down in 10 minutes."

"Okay." Dany smiled at her before returning to her magazine.

She returned it and went to Theo's room. She peeked inside and found him trying to dry his hair by rubbing the top of his head with a towel like he was crazy. His room room had been made up like a forest. Regina had used magic to paint trees on his wall and make them as intricate and detailed as possible. He had vines tracing across the ceiling and plants everywhere. She had magically inserted a tree into the room since he loved to climb. Most of his stuff were in chests on the floor, except for his tv and Playstation. His bed was nestled in the trees branches and required a ladder for her to reach him to say good night.

Regina smiled and stepped into the room, her bare feet sinking into the extremely soft green carpet and took the towel from him to magically dry his hair.

"Thanks Regina." He beamed up at her.

"You're welcome and please wear a shirt to dinner."

He groaned loudly and dramatically before putting on a white t-shirt and following her back downstairs.

Danielle joined them a few minutes later and as soon as the lasagna was done, they happily dug in.

"When will you give us magic lessons?" Dany asked.

Regina leaned back in her chair, having finished her slice of lasagna and sipped her glass of cider. "Do I need to remind you how you both used magic on your classmates?"

"They called you the Evil Queen." Theo said, his mouth full of his fourth slice.

"That doesn't justify anything." She said calmly. "You know better than to resort to violence." Both of them hung their heads and apologized again. "Tomorrow, after school. You don't have practice so come straight to the vault." Both of their heads snapped up and they grinned. "This weekend, we were invited to go on a camping trip down at the lake." She paused for a moment to take another sip of cider. "How do you feel about going?"

"Who invited us?" Dany asked raising her eyebrow.

Regina smirked at the child's reaction. "Sheriff Swan."

"Yeah, let's go." Theo said. "The sheriff is cool."

Regina looked at Danielle. "Do we have to go?"

"No, it's your decision."

"Is Henry going to be there?"

"Yes."

Danielle rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Regina asked.

"Henry doesn't like us." Theo answered. "He doesn't talk to us and when we try to be friendly, he just frowns and walks off or something. I think he has some issues."

"We'll go but I can't promise anything." Danielle said.

"I'm sure it'll be better than it sounds." Regina said with a stern look in her daughter's direction while trying to fight off a smirk.

"If you say so."

Regina picked up Theo as he tried to walk and sleep at the same time. The game plus the near half pan of lasagna completely wore the little guy out. She carried him upstairs and into his room, gingerly climbing the ladder and tucking him into his tree bed. She smiled down at his cute sleeping face and kissed his forehead. "Good night, my little conqueror."

"Good night Mom." He said sleepily.

Regina's eye flashed open wide for a moment, warmth and happiness spreading from her heart. She nearly cried right then and there but quickly composed herself and walked to the door, flicking on the light switch that turned on the stars in the ceiling, another feature that she'd magically added to his room.

She made her way to Danielle's room. She was in bed but was still awake, staring at the ceiling. "Are you alright, Dany?"

"Regina, why do you think we were on the island?"

Regina stepped forward and sat on the bed. "I don't know, dear."

"Why do you think our parents never came looking for us?" Dany didn't look at her, just kept staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were glassy and sparkling with unshed tears and Regina knew she was about to cry.

"Dany, I don't know how or why you were there, but you're not anymore. You're here and you're safe and I will always protect you. I'll always be there for you, no matter what." Regina knew it had taken Dany a much tougher time to adjust than her brother, and she'd had nightmares for many nights after the first. It only served to make Regina angry and feel powerless, wishing that she could take away the bad memories, that she could bear the pain for her child. But she couldn't. She looked down at the dog collar on her daughter's wrist. She and Theo hardly took them off, thinking that they were good luck charms. She took the girls wrist and placed a spell on it.

"What's that?" Danielle sat up to look at the glowing collar that slowly dulled down.

"If you should ever find yourself alone or in trouble or afraid or even just want to talk. Simply touch one of the beads and think of me and I'll hear you. If you ever need me, I'll come running. You know I will."

Danielle smiled and threw her arms around her Regina's neck. "Thank you Regina. I hope my mom is as awesome as you." Regina hugged her back and placed a kiss on her head.

"Go to sleep, we have a championship to win tomorrow." She smiled and kissed her forehead. "Good night."

"Good night."

Regina closed the door and retreated to her room before quickly calling Tinkerbell. The blonde answered on the first ring.

"Regina?"

"Can you come here, now?"

"Sure, Gina." She hung up the phone and appeared next to her. "What's wrong?"

"I have to tell them. I can't take it anymore. They have to know I'm their mother. But what if they get angry because I wasn't there to raise them and protect them from the Hounds? What if they think I abandoned them or didn't care about them? What if they hate me?" Tink allowed the brunette to ramble for a few minutes before effectively slapping her. Regina clutched the side of her face in surprise.

"Since when does Regina Mills overreact to anything?" Tink asked. Regina took a deep breath and composed herself once again. "Just take them aside and tell them. You know you are already their mother, whether they know you are their birth mother or not. This will be simply confirming what they hope to be true."

"But-"

"There will always be a 'but', Regina. Something bad could always happen, but you know what, you deal with it. You're a wonderful mother and they see that. Henry might not have been meant to be yours, but these kids are. They are yours."

Regina nodded, her eyes darkening at the mention of Henry's name, but she still smiled as she thought of Theo and Dany. "You're right."

"Of course I am." Tink laughed. "Now, you should go to bed."

"Thank you, Tink. I don't know what I would do without you." Regina gave the fairy a hug as she disappeared in a burst of green sparkles. She showered and went to bed, but didn't go to sleep too quickly. There was doubt still there about the kids' reactions, but she would face it. She was going to have to.

The next day, school passed quickly for both children. There were no incidents and thankfully no homework.

"Hurry up Theo, Regina's waiting at the vault." Danielle said as they raced away from the bus stop.

"Hey!" Emma called, freezing them in their tracks. "Where are you guys going in such a hurry?" She asked, walking towards them, with Henry trailing behind her.

"Regina is gonna teach us magic and we can't be late so we have to go." Theo said hurriedly. "See you this weekend, Sheriff." He and his sister took off again across the street, both of them practically flying to make it to the vault on time.

"So she teaches the 11 year olds magic but won't teach me." Emma said.

"Why would you want her to?" Henry muttered. "What did they mean by see you this weekend?"

"I invited them to go camping with us."

"What?! Why would you do that?"

"Why wouldn't I do that? They're practically you're brother and sister, you should try to get along with them."

"They're not my brother and sister." Henry said.

"So Regina's not your mom?" Emma asked.

"I didn't say that."

"But they're her children as well. What's going on with you, Henry?"

He sighed and turned to walk to the car but she heard him mutter under his breath, "Villains don't deserve happy endings."

Danielle opened the vault doors and Theo slipped in behind her. They pushed aside the coffin and went down into the vault. Regina was there, dressed in a white silk shirt and casual black slacks, looking through her mother's book of magic.

"What do we do first?" Theo asked excitedly as he put his backpack down next to Danielle's.

"First, I want you to light these candles, Dany." Regina said as she magically conjured a small brazier in front of the rows of candles. She launched a fireball at it, setting it alight. "And you, Theo, will freeze this fire."

"That's easy." Theo said as he stepped forward and raised his hands and unleashed a burst of frost. The fire froze momentarily before burning through. "What happened?"

"Fire burns hottest at its center." Regina explained. "Simply spraying it isn't going to wo-" Theo fired a single ice spike into the center of the flame and it began to freeze from the inside out until it was frozen solid. "Very impressive." Theo beamed in response.

Danielle took her turn. She was easily able to light a couple of the candles but the difficulties came when Regina asked her to light all of them at once. To keep him occupied, she began teaching Theo how to transport small objects. Both of them were extremely talented and very innovative when learning different spells. Theo's magic was still much stronger than his sister's and far harder to control despite how easily he wielded it. Danielle's was weaker but extremely controlled. By the time Regina called it quits for the day, she was very satisfied with their progress. Tomorrow, she would need to caution on the effects of using magic on their bodies.

"Are we going to learn elvish?" Theo asked as the three of them walked to Granny's for dinner.

"You have to if you want to learn enchantments. You're hardly ready for that." Regina smiled as the two went on to excitedly say what they wanted to learn next.

At one point in her life, Regina had been afraid and disgusted with magic because of her mother and all of the abuse she'd suffered at her hands. Then when Henry had made her promise to stop using magic, it was understandable but hurtful at the same time. Magic had played such a powerful role in almost every aspect of her life, and for once, she was glad for it to have a positive effect now. She was happy to pass on her craft to her children and happy that they didn't want her to stop using a part of herself. They accepted her without hesitation, every part of her, and her heart practically burst with happiness.

They got a booth and sat down. Ruby came to take their order.

"Regina." Theo said.

"Yes?"

"Can you change your shape?"

"Yes."

"Ooh, can you teach me how to change into a wolf?" He looked up as Ruby returned with their food."Then I can go Run with Ruby during Wolf's Time."

Ruby laughed. "Sorry Pup, but you'd still be too small to Run with me."

"Nuh uh! I'll be huge and black with huge claws and-"

"Oh please shut up." Danielle sighed.

"Thank you Ruby." Regina said with a genuine smile in the were's direction. "Now eat up."