A/N - Jesus Christ, I seen to be incapable of updating regularly... I did try this time around though e-e, but every time I sat down to write, something came up! Like, last week, I was finally able to write something on wednesday but then my parents decided to go to the theater to watch this show, and since my music teacher was the one who was going to conduct the orchestra, it would be kind bad for my parents to go but I don't so I did and then, the next day they decided to travel to my granny's house (it's pretty far) and when I got there, the internet in her house wasn't working and I had even brought my computer to try to write something but I didn't want to rewrite everything that I had already done and I had used "word online" to write it but I couldn't be online so I couldn't get it and, so, I spent the entirety of four days playing Ace Attorney because there was no internet and now here I am at 1 am in the morning finishing the edition of this chapter and praying my mother doesn't come to scream at me for not sleeping.
Well, that was a long ramble, so, yeah, I did try... sorry guys e-e but enough about myself and my lack of management of time skills, for the disclaimer, I own nothing, everything is for entertainment cause I love to write as prove in the ramble above and it's a good way to practice my english since I spent four years learning this thing and I want to use it somehow so here I am. This time around all mistakes are mine because my beta went to sleep some time ago but I will try my best to correct everything but if you are a grammar freak than you better read it later once after my beta, or myself, corrects it properly, hopefully that will be tomorrow aaand I went into another ramble... sorry, it's stronger than me u-u, now without further ado (as if anyone even read all of this lmao) here you have the chapter. (If you read this until the end I want to tell you are a beautiful person T-T, consider yourself hugged u-u)
Getting a hold of himself after what had happened was proving to be quite difficult for the boy. He had to spend some long minutes hugging his mother and Stella before finally being able to convince himself that they were all alright and alive.
Or, at least, physically alright, because he could feel himself and Stella trembling with the shock of the events and even Regina who was better at hiding it, he knew, was scared too, or, at least, he thought she had to be, after all, this little fiasco of a meeting had shown something quite critical and mortifying, it had proven how vulnerable she was in this form.
Once upon a time she had been able to survive being thrown from the street to the clock tower, but as a puppy she could barely be thrown against a wall a few meters away without severe consequences, and as it was, she hadn't been able to do anything to stop the other woman from stabbing her in the belly.
But what truly worried the once brunette was the fact that her son had been there to witness everything, he already had went through so much, and to have to see his own mother basically bleed to death wasn't something Regina wished on many people, least of all to her own son. Another thing that terrified the brunette, was the thought of how easily Zelena could have done these same things to Henry and how powerless she would be to stop it.
Gazing at her son, the cursed woman regretted ever thinking about using that damned potion, and wished more than anything to be able to hold him just as strongly as he was holding her in that moment, but alas she couldn't even talk, so, there she stood, watching with regretful eyes the son she loved more than anything, tremble in fear for what had happened.
"I'm sorry." She tried to say, only to have her heart break a little when all that got out her mouth was a small unintelligible bark.
She should have know it was too good to be true, all that potion had done was to make things worse, and now she couldn't even properly interact with her son.
Resigned to her fate, the woman got closer to him and tried to stop her heart from stopping altogether at the sight of the tears that finally escaped her little prince, and at the fact that she couldn't even wipe them for him.
It took some time before Emma came back, more than enough for the boy to compose himself and, hopefully, be able to face his mother without alarming the woman, and the fact that he was able to overcome it basically all on his own only left Regina pondering on how much the boy had to grown up because of everything that kept happening around him.
At the sound of the door opening, the woman let her sad and guilty musings aside to get up and join her, not so little anymore, prince in greeting his other mother at the door.
Sighing tiredly, the blonde went to hang up her blue jacket and her beanie before finally noticing her son and the strangely prim puppy sitting by his side.
Giving him a smile, she went closer to the boy to ruffle his hair and kiss his head, but was only able to do the first before a certain little ball of blonde fur decided it was a good time to try and climb her leg.
"Hello to you too Stella." The blonde took the puppy in her arms, her smile growing bigger once the peace of being home registered on her.
The blonde attempted to play with Stella for some seconds before realizing the blonde puppy was acting strange. Instead of the usual happy barks and wagging tail, she simply tucked her head on the sheriff's chest and remained silent if not for the occasional whimper.
Suddenly alarmed once she realized how terrified the puppy seemed to be, something unusual for her since she was usually pretty brave and got over her fears easily, she turned to her son, finally noticing the too neutral expression on his face. An expression she knew well since it was the same his other mother used when she wanted to hide her emotions.
"What is it kid, what happened?" She steadied Stella in one of her arms and put her now free hand on the boy's chin.
Knowing she would be able to tell if he lied, the teen tried to come up with some argument that wouldn't be an outright lie but that would be able to divert her attention, however, his hesitation only seemed to confirm his mother belief that something had happened.
With her expression turning more serious, the blonde looked at the boy's eyes and asked once more. "I know something happened, but you have to tell me what it was Henry, or I won't be able to help."
Holding himself firmly, the boy resisted the urge to tell her what had happened and to finally receive the hug he wasn't able to get from Regina, but knew that the consequences would be dire and as it was proved moments before, he had no way to stop it if not to follow the deal he made, whatever it may entail.
Looking at Regina quickly, he gathered some strength from her eyes and her minute nod, and turned to Emma, but the glance wasn't lost on the blonde and before he could say what she knew was probably a lie she tried to draw her own conclusions.
"Is it about your mom? I haven't seen her since yesterday." Seeing him sigh she tried to think of something else that could be happening, until she remembered something about yesterday.
"When you brought her here you wanted to say something about Queen. This is related to her, isn't it? I may not know much about magic but it doesn't take much to realize she isn't just a dog. There is something special about her, something you have to tell me kid." She looked firmly into his eyes, trying her best to read them.
"I- I can't Ma." He sighed tiredly and raised a hand when she opened her mouth to say more. "Look, I'm tired, ok? Can't we just watch a movie or something?" He eyed her imploringly.
Not really liking the idea of leaving what was, no doubt, a serious situation aside, the blonde went to protest but stopped herself short when she realized how tired he truly seemed to be.
Sighing, she finally took her hand away from his chin and nodded with a little "Ok".
After watching some movies, and eating dinner, the unusual family of a mother, a son, a puppy and another cursed mother were now bonding over playing, or, at least, Henry was playing with Stella while his blonde mother tried to convince the gray cub of doing something pup like but, needless to say, once again, she was failing miserably.
"Ah, come on! Why won't you play with me! I've seen you letting Henry coddle you but every time I try to do anything you just look at me like I'm an idiot!" She ruffed in frustration while looking around at all the toys laying about that had failed to gather the pup's attention.
"That might be because you are an idiot." Regina mentally scoffed while trying to roll her eyes as best as she could.
"I refuse to play fetch like I'm some kind of animal." She finished her little monologue.
"I even cooked some fancy meat for you to eat when you refused both the ration and the food we were eating!" The blonde finished while recalling how difficult it had been to finally find something her little majesty deemed worth eating.
"That greasy monstrosity would have given me of a heart attack!" The brunette barked.
"I liked it!" Stella replied happily, making Regina feel somewhat better at having someone that could understand her.
"Not eating at all can't be healthy! And you hadn't eaten anything since yesterday because you refused to eat the ration then too." The blonde continued, not even knowing herself why she was trying to reason with the pup, since all things considered, it was just a dog. "What's wrong with it anyway? It's the fanciest they had and Stella likes it just fine."
"Why don't you try eating it then?" The brunette looked at her son, hoping that he could be able catch what she wanted to say, and, to her happiness, he did.
"Why don't you taste some of it then, Ma?" The teen said while laughing, knowing he had caught his mother silent request right when her tail unconsciously waggled a little and she puffed her chest with pride while looking at the sheriff.
"Oh, now you are happy, hm?" The blonde rolled her eyes in amusement at the slowly waggling tail of the puppy, she couldn't help but admire how she managed to make the usual way of dogs showing happiness look entirely too gracious, it reminded her a lot of how Regina was able to do the same with so many simple acts, always making then look so much more elegant than they should.
"We seriously have to introduce Queen to your mom kid, they are going to get along just fine. What with their shared love for sarcasm." She looked at him, not missing the way he flinched a little at the mention of Regina, but deeming it better to save the information for later. The teen would talk to her once he was ready.
Taking the ball once more, the savior kept trying to complete the herculean job of making, what she didn't knew was Regina Mills, play with a ball, but savior or not she probably had more chance at being able to kill two dragons with nothing but her bare hands than in doing that, and, after one hour of incessantly throwing a ball, and tiring her other puppy, she finally seemed to have realized that.
Now sitting with her arms and legs crossed, the blonde kept trying to stare down the unamused puppy in front of her, thinking of a different approach she could use. As for her unhelpful son, he just kept playing his handheld game, since Stella was sleeping, only stopping to snicker at her comments to Regina or to offer some sarcastic remark on Queen's behalf, she had to admit she was half prideful of his quick wit.
"But then, he does have me and Regina for mothers, not to mention Rumpelstiltskin for a grandfather, it's no wonder he became so much of a little shit." She thought fondly while smiling a little.
Turning back to the puppy though, her smile vanished and was replaced by the frown she had been sporting before. "You know what kid, since you seem so keen into being on Queen's side why don't you convince her of playing?" She challenged while throwing him the ball.
Clumsily catching it and barely losing a hold of his game the boy raised an eyebrow at her. "And why should I do that?"
Narrowing her eyes, the blonde though of what she could do to convince her son and smirked once her thoughts settled on something quite simple. "Twenty dollars if you can make her run after it, fifty if she brings it back."
"Miss Swan!" Regina barked a protest at the idea of betting.
"What?" The blonde turned to the puppy, having been able to understand the protest for what it was, if not the exact words. "It's just a little bet! And if you are so against it, just stay there, it can't be all that difficult, since you have done it the entirety of today and of yesterday."
Narrowing her eyes at the woman's tone Regina turned to her son, and after a little silent communication between the two, she nodded, and, with a smirk, Henry threw the ball while Regina followed it with her eyes. Calmly getting up, the former queen walked to the general direction of the ball and, eventually, brought it back to a victorious Henry and a slack jawed Emma.
"That didn't count! She didn't run after it!" The blonde finally gathered her wits and proceeded to argue.
"You said fifty dollars if she brought it back, you never said she had to run after it." He smirked triumphantly and Emma realized her mistake at making a 'deal' with Rumpelstiltskin's grandson.
Huffing, the blonde took out her walled and the fifty dollars, and gave it to him, being then left alone with the little traitor once her son decided it was better to make himself scarce after pulling that one off.
"That's what I get after cooking the fanciest food I had just for you?" The blonde asked with a pout.
Pout still in place and arms crossed, the blonde turned to the television and took the control from the sofa, turning it on.
Mentally sighing and rolling her eyes at her own weakness for the blonde the brunette decided to recompense the blonde somehow, and taking the ball in her mouth, she moved to the front of the blonde and tried to get her attention by gently bumping her head at the hand that was resting in the blonde's tights.
Turning her attention to the puppy, the blonde took the ball from her. "Now you want to play? Well, now I'm the one who doesn't want to do it." The sheriff said in a somewhat childish tone and pouted even harder. "I didn't even knew that was possible." Thought Regina.
Rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of what she was going to do, the once evil queen decided to use the blonde's own weapon against her, and putting her paws on the woman's legs she rested her head on them and tried to transmit as much sadness as possible through her eyes.
"So that's why they call it puppy eyes..." The suddenly guilty blonde commented. "Okay, okay, I will throw the ball, stop looking at me like that." The most startling of everything was that the sadness in those eyes seemed strangely familiar. It was like she had seen it reflected in someone's eyes before and for some reason she couldn't help but think about how Regina was doing right now, all alone in that big mansion...
Shaking her head, the woman turned to the puppy who was now back to her usual queenly self. Taking the ball the woman made mention of throwing it, but not so surprisingly, 'Queen' didn't fall for it, playing with the ball up and down a few times, the blonde then threw it away, and, finally, after two days of trying, Queen, finally run after it.
Once back, the blonde swept the pup up for a hug and laughed full of happiness. "You did it Queen! You did it!"
And the truth was that Regina couldn't help but notice how free she had felt while running, it was a pretty similar sensation to when she used to ride when she was younger. "Riding... maybe I should do it again once I am back to being a human..." But shaking the wistfulness aside, for once in her life, the woman decided to simply enjoy the moment and not think of anything in particular.
What neither women noticed was that their son had witnessed the scene, having gone back to retrieve his game but stopping short after understanding his brunette mother's plan and how it had worked.
Deciding not to interfere, because of how rare it was for them to relax like that, the boy suddenly was stricken with inspiration, and seeing the true happiness they only ever seemed to feel with each other, a little seed of an idea that was simply so perfect he couldn't believe he hadn't though of it before, planted itself in his mind and he couldn't wait to see how it would grow, but, for now, it was best to leave them to figure some things out themselves.
In front of the elegant foyer of the mayor's residence, stood a mysterious figure cloaked in the shadows of the night.
Opening the gate to the mansion the figure slowly made their way to the front door, savoring each unimpeded step as a victory of their own.
With a wave of their hand, the door opened on its own and entering the house, the figure observed each piece of furniture of their house, their, yes, because now there was no one to claim it but themselves and they savored in the taste of finally having what they deemed was deserved.
Walking forward, the figure made their way to the kitchen, and through the window that faced the backyard, the light of the moon was able to reveal their face, and there, with a smirk on her face stood no one other than Regina Mills in all her glory.
.
.
Or was it?
A/N - And BOOM cliffhanger, I am quite proud of this one. Look at my baby T-T, cliffhanging all around, making things mysterious. Isn't it beautiful? I am a proud momma T-T and although people may already know who that is either way, I am still unreasonably proud of it, and for those who didn't like it, please don't pop my bubble u-u, let me be happy e-e.
Random ramble aside, please do tell me about the chapter guys xD even the cliffhanger u-u, if you have ways you think it could have been better, please, tell me, I am sure my baby can get even better at cliffhanging. So, please, tell what you thought. Was Regina cute enough? Was Emma cute enough? Was Henry traumatized enough? What about Stella? Isn't she cute? Are my writing skills too amateur? Does my grammar sucks? Tell me all about it! Just please refrain from hating and cursing, I never got one of those comments but if I ever do, I will say in advance that it will be ignored, baseless misconstructions about my character or my skills are entirely irrelevant and will be treated as so.
Well, here I went rambling all over again, for those reading this, or not, I hope you have a good day and even more so, I hope you keep interested in this story so that I may see you next chapter. So, until then o/.