Who Was Daniel?

Joshua flipped through Henry's book one day out of curiosity. He knew a little about his parents' pasts. He asked Henry to tell him what their mom was like before the curse. Henry told him the truth. Well, he figured as much as he could handle. Now, he was sitting in the den reading it.

He saw something that caught his eye. A man named Daniel was mentioned and it said he was her true love. But he thought his dad was his mom's true love. He made a mental note to ask her later. As he continued to read, he couldn't believe all this happened.

He now wanted to go to the Enchanted Forest. He decided to ask his mom if they could go.

Regina came home from the grocery store and called out her son's name. She knew Killian and Emily went out to do a father-daughter day. She figured it was time to let Joshua stay at home by himself.

Joshua walked into the foyer and helped his mom with the groceries. After they finished, Joshua decided to just jump in.

"Mom, who was Daniel?"

Regina was in the middle of looking for a skillet to use for dinner when she froze. She turned to him with a curious expression on her face. "Josh, why would you ask me about him?"

"Well, I read about him in Henry's book. It said Daniel was your true love. I thought dad was your true love," he said.

"I really hate that book at times," Regina thought. She had no intention of telling her kids about Daniel right now. She wanted to tell them when they were a little older.

She saw the curiosity dancing in his eyes. Her gaze softened. She led Joshua into the living room. She watched him sit down waiting for her. She closed her eyes thinking about how she almost named him Daniel in honor of him. They were supposed to have a little boy named Daniel. Then she realized that wasn't going to be fair to Killian.

She opened her eyes and sat down. "See Joshua, um, Daniel was my true love when I was young. He was a stable boy for my family's estate. He…we fell in love and we were going to get married."

"Daniel could have been my daddy?" Joshua asked.

Regina scratched her head thinking of an answer. "Only your daddy could have been your daddy," she said. "Daniel died a long time ago. We never got a chance to get married."

"What happened to him?" he asked.

She sighed as she contemplated her answer. How do you explain to a twelve year old his grandmother ripped out his heart and crushed it? Then he was resurrected and you had to kill him.

"Mom?" he asked.

"He had heart problems," she said smoothly. But he caught on to his mom.

"Mom, I can handle it."

She smirked. "Joshua, it's hard to tell you. It's not what I want you to hear."

"I can handle it," he repeated.

She waited trying to collect herself. "Do you remember me telling you that my mother could do magic? Well, she used it against him. She hurt him. She ripped out his heart and crushed it."

She looked at him skeptically. She waited with baited breath for his reaction hoping she hadn't traumatized him.

He was shocked and he could see the pain in his mother's eyes. He felt guilty for asking her to explain what happened. He may be young but that didn't mean he couldn't understand. His mother went through something horrible.

He did the only thing he could think of. He hugged her and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry mom."

She gave him a grateful smile. "It's alright. It's in the past sweetheart."

"Sorry I made you talk about it," he stated.

She held him by the arms. "It's okay sweetheart. I think you would have liked him though."

"I think I would have liked him too." He bit his lip. "I won't bring him up if you don't want me to."

She moved some hair out his face. "Anything you want to ask me about him, it's okay. Just know that your daddy is the love of my life now. I fell in love with him and you know what the best part of it was?"

"What?"

"You," she said pulling him into her arms and tickling him.

"Mom, stop! I can't breathe," he said laughing.

She let him go and he sat next to her. "Love you mom."

"Love you too baby."