Thanks for keeping up with this! Here's the next chapter, this one's a little darker, she visits Daniel. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think. I'm getting to the good stuff soon. OQ will have their moment, it's coming. You'll know when it's coming up when the rating changes.

Chapter 10

The next morning, Cora had made a delicious spread for breakfast filled with eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and more. The house smelled delectable. The Mills family sat down and feasted, chatting about little things here and there.

Regina swallowed the bite she had taken and turned towards her father, "Daddy, I want to go see Daniel will you come with me and Henry? Maybe bring him back after a little bit so I can get a few minutes alone." she asked picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip.

"Of course, Princess." Henry smiled at his little girl. He could see the pain that still lived in Regina's eyes, especially now that she was so close to her love. He hated seeing either of his girls hurting; Regina had been through too much too early on in life. He was proud of how she was able to turn things around, but if he could do anything to take that pain away he would.

"Thank you." she replied and turned back to her breakfast. She barely got through half of it before having to push it aside not able to eat from the nerves in her stomach.

After finishing, Regina took Henry upstairs to get ready while her parents cleaned up from breakfast. Regina slipped into jeans and a nice shirt and dressed Henry similarly letting him wear a little dressier outfit. When would they get a chance to visit Daniel again in the near future.

She walked down to find her dad in the living room waiting for her. Henry had curled himself around his mom and laid his head down on her shoulder, sucking his thumb. He let go of his thumb with a pop when he saw his grandfather and said, "Grandpa!"

Henry Sr. looked up with a smile as his daughter walked into the room. "Grandson!" he replied with just as much enthusiasm, standing up to tap Henry's nose before looking at his daughter. "You look beautiful, honey." he commented and kissed her forehead, "Ready to go?"

Regina nodded slightly, biting the inside of her lip. She was trying her hardest to stay strong and not cry in front of her son, but she wasn't sure how much longer she was going to last. She hadn't been to Daniel's grave since she moved across the country, sure she would talk to him in the early morning hours when everyone was still asleep. She believed he was always with her but this was different. He was physically there. Six feet under, instead of standing next to her, watching their son grow up. The mere thought of it was making her want to double over. She looked at her father through unshed tears and nodded a little more firmly. "Let's go." she whispered and turned towards the door.

Henry Sr.'s heart broke watching his little girl. He could remember when she was the size of his grandson and how he had promised himself he wouldn't ever let anything hurt her. She was his pride and joy, his baby girl, but even he couldn't prevent the pain she was in right now. He followed her out and wrapped an arm around her. They walked over to the graveyard in silence.

Regina had picked up a couple flowers from a small shop on the walk over, barely saying a word. Henry had been quiet too, sensing something was up. He stayed cuddled up with his mom the whole walk over. When they walked into the graveyard they walked towards Daniel's grave stopping a few yards away.

"I'll wait here, honey. Bring Henry over when you want me to take him back home okay?" her dad told her, squeezing her shoulder slightly. He lowered his voice so only she could hear, "It's okay to cry, baby girl, you don't always have to be so strong."

Regina shut her eyes tight and took a deep breath, nodding to her dad and walked over the rest of the way until she got to the tombstone.

DANIEL NICHOLAS MASON
BELOVED SON, FATHER, AND FIANCE
1989-2013

Regina read his name over and over until finally setting the flowers in her hand on top of it. She set Henry down briefly before kneeling over the grass and sitting Henry on her lap.

"Momma?" Henry said looking up at his mother and frowning at the stray tears that had slipped out of his mom's eyes.

"Yes, baby?" she responded kissing the top of his head.

"Why are you crying?"

She smiled a little at her son and wrapped her arms around him tightly, "I just miss your daddy. This is where he's resting, honey. Do you want to say anything to him?" She asked, surprisingly keeping her voice from breaking.

"Daddy?" He said looking around, "Where?"

She patted the ground lightly, "Under here, remember how I told you that daddy went to live in heaven so he can," she closed her eyes as voice cracked, "watch over us." Regina finished resting her chin lightly on Henry's head, holding him close. "You can tell him how much you love him, what you've been doing, anything."

"Oh." Henry said and looked over at the tombstone, "I love you, Daddy. Momma and me are going on this big bus and Auntie Z is here and Grandpa and Grandma and Emma and Robin." Regina's stomach lurched when her son said Robin's name, she was sitting at her fiance's grave for the first time in years and she couldn't wait to see him before launching herself at another man. She had zoned back in long enough to hear the end of Henry's monologue to his dad, "... Lily plays with me all the time and I miss her. I'm almost four, Daddy, I'm a big boy. I miss you." He finished and turned towards his mom burying his face against her chest.

Regina held him tightly, letting her tears silently fall down her cheeks. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that she had to lose him before they could even get married. It wasn't fair that Henry had to go through life without his father, who was going to teach him how to throw a football or take him to boy scouts? None of this was fair.

All she knew was she couldn't get Henry's mood down because of what she was feeling. She turned towards her dad and signaled him to come take Henry.

"Sweetie, Grandpa is going to take you back to the house and you can have ice cream with him okay? I'll be back in a little bit." She told him softly as her dad reached them.

"Ice cream?" Henry asked with a sparkle in his eye.

Regina laughed slightly, "Yes, baby. Ice cream. Don't have too much though you don't want a belly ache."

"Okay, mommy." he replied giving her a kiss before reaching towards his grandpa. "Grandpa, ice cream!"

Henry Sr. picked up his grandson and sat him on his hip. He reached down to rub his daughter shoulder a little, "Stay as long as you need, Princess, we'll keep your son occupied."

"Thanks, Daddy," she said smiling slightly up at him as he turned to walk out leaving her alone with the man she was supposed to build forever with.

Regina stayed sitting on the grass, running her hand over Daniel's name on the tombstone. "Daniel, words can't describe how much I miss you." she said softly. "I'm sorry I haven't come to visit, it's not like I didn't want to but I wasn't strong enough to come out here." She stroked the tombstone absently looking at the ground in front of her. "I wrote a book. Remember how I used to say I wanted to be an author? Yeah, that happened. We're touring right now, actually." She continued trying to lighten up her mood a little before inevitably saying what she needed to say.

"It hasn't been easy, but Henry makes it amazing." She smiled a little thinking of her son, "I wish you were here to see him grow up, he's growing way too fast. He looks just like you," she paused wiping a tear, "There were days when I would break down because he reminded me too much of you."

"But don't worry about me, I've got my family and friends to keep me from giving up. I can't give up. I have to be there for Henry." she shook her head slightly, "He should have his father here but that bastard stole you from us too soon." she shook a little from the anger and sadness burning inside her. "I moved, you know that, Mal let us stay with her, she's been great. Henry loves having a pseudo big sister. I'm looking for a place when I get back though. It's time. Time to move on." Her voice cracked a little on the last word and she took a deep breathe before continuing.

"Speaking of moving on, I met someone." she whispered, "I know, first time I come to see you and I've already let someone else kiss me." she said with tears streaming down her face, "I'm so sorry Daniel. I didn't want this to happen. I was dead set on staying single, you're the love of my life. You. You always will be." she paused to wipe her face. "But Robin, he gets it. He lost his love too. I guess we bonded over that. That doesn't excuse the kissing." she said disgusted with herself that she had done that before coming here, "I should have seen you first. I should have came here and not let silly hormones get the better of me. I'm not as strong as everyone seems to think I am, Daniel. I'm barely holding on. I have to be strong for Henry, but it's hard. It's really hard." she took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

"Everyone says you would want me to move on, I get where they're coming from, had the roles been reversed I would have wanted you to move on, but there's still something that makes this feel wrong." she sighed, "It feels right but wrong, if that makes any sense." she muttered. "I doubt you can do anything but," she bit her lip, "If you're listening, send me a sign to let me know you aren't upset with me. That what I did isn't hurting you right now. The last thing I would want to do is hurt you. I love you, Daniel." She choked out and wrapped her arms around herself as the lump in her throat got too hard to bear. Regina placed her head in her hands giving up on holding the tears back any longer and let herself cry it out. She hadn't let herself get this emotional since Daniel's funeral. All the feelings she'd had were pent up needing to be released.

Regina's body was visibly jerking as she cried, after a couple minutes she felt a hand on her back and instantly jumped. Her face was stained with tears and it took her a minute to focus on the woman who had just tried to offer her comfort. "Evelyn?" she whispered standing up and giving her would have been mother in law a hug.

"It's good to see you, sweetheart." Evelyn said as she hugged Regina tightly. She let go of her and pulled out a pack of tissues handing them to the young girl. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Regina thanked her and shook her head. Pulling out a tissue to wipe her face a little, "It's good to see you too."

They both sat back down facing the grave. Evelyn had wrapped her arm around Regina so she could lean against her. Regina had already worn herself out mentally and emotionally, she wasn't sure how she was going to do a signing and reading later today.

Evelyn had asked Regina if she wanted to pray together for Daniel. Regina wasn't very religious but she agreed nonetheless, they both sent a silent prayer and sat in silence for a few more moments before getting up.

"How are you sweetie? How's the tour been?"

Regina smiled slightly, "Tour is going well, it hasn't been the easiest thing but it's going well."

"I'm so glad to hear that. And you? How are you?" Evelyn asked.

"I'm okay." Regina responded softly. "Henry and I are doing well together."

"That's so wonderful to hear." Evelyn responded. They walked for a little bit before stopping by a coffee shop and sitting at both. "I hope you don't mind me asking but have you considered starting to date again? I would hate to see you not want to find love again."

"I…" Regina started before sighing, "I hadn't thought about it." She said pausing before deciding she needed to just tell her the truth or part of it, "But, my editor he had a family emergency and sent a colleague in his place on the tour. Robin. He's the first person since Daniel that I've felt comfortable being myself with. He gets what I've been through. He lost the love of his life in a car crash about 5 years ago and so we bonded."

"And you like him?" Evelyn asked.

Regina looked down at her coffee, nodding slightly. "Not the same way that I like Daniel but yeah I do."

"Oh, honey!" Evelyn exclaimed, "I'm so happy to hear that."

Regina scrunched up her face a little, "You are?"

"Of course." Evelyn nodded. "I lost my son that night, my only son and it was devastating. But you lost the love of your life too. I wish he was still around. I wish I could have seen you two get married, maybe have more little ones, but that wasn't in the cards." Regina listened to Evelyn solemnly as she sipped her coffee. Evelyn continued, "I still want to see you get married one day sweetheart, I lost my son but I didn't lose my daughter and grandbaby."

Regina reached over and grabbed her hand, "I love you, Evelyn." She said touched by her words.

"I love you too, sweetie. Which is why I'm thrilled that you're ready to get back out there." She commented before adding, "I want to meet this Robin, make sure he's good enough for my girl."

Regina laughed, "He'll be at the reading tonight, you're coming right? I can introduce you."

"I wouldn't miss it." They continued to talk until they finished their coffee and walked back to Regina's parents house.

Regina walked in and led Evelyn into the living room, "Henry, look who I found." She said as she saw her son on the couch with her sister watching TV.

Henry looked up and smiled "Grammy!" He climbed off the couch and ran towards Evelyn.

"Hello my sweet, sweet boy." She said picking him up and kissing his cheek, "Oh you look just like my Daniel did at your age."

Regina smiled and nodded, "He looks just like his dad."

Zelena walked over and gave Evelyn a hug before going off to find her parents. Regina excused herself for a minute to go freshen up and wash her face. She was sure she still looked like she had been crying not too long ago.

She made her way up and bumped into her mother on the way. Cora held onto her arms to stop her from going up further. "Are you okay?" she asked after having seen her face.

Regina nodded, "I think so."

"Did it help?" she asked.

"Yeah," Regina responded, "I asked for a sign, something that told me he wasn't upset. Next thing I know Evelyn shows up to say just that." she paused, "I don't think I'll ever love someone like I loved Daniel, but maybe it's time to get back out there."

"Good girl. That's what I want to hear. You've got a big heart honey, one I wasn't always keen to acknowledge and I'm sorry about that. You'll always have Daniel with you, but that doesn't mean someone else can't be in the picture too." Cora told her daughter before kissing her cheek, "No go wash your face."

Regina laughed slightly, "Thanks mom." she said rolling her eyes playfully and heading up the rest of the way.

Evelyn had stayed for only fifteen minutes to play with Henry before having to leave to run errands. She promised to see everyone later that night at the hearing and went about her way. Not too long after Robin and Emma showed up. Regina had a signing scheduled for the afternoon and needed to leave to head out to that. Emma had offered to help out in anyway she could, she didn't want to get paid to be on vacation as sweet as the deal sounded; she preferred earning her money. Robin had told her that they could always use an extra set of hands at the signing seeing as Henry was in very capable hands for this stretch of the trip.

The three of them left to go to the bookstore for the signing leaving Henry with Zelena and his grandparents for the afternoon. The signing was off to a good start, there was a big turn out. Bigger than any of the other cities, a lot of old friends and acquaintances had made it out to get their copy of the book signed and reconnect with Regina for a few minutes.

Regina had just finished signing for a lady and shook her hand when she heard a familiar voice, "Look at you, kid, living the big life."

Regina grinned up and got up to walk around the desk to give him a hug. Robin was watching from the back to see what was going on. He watched her smile and her face light up, clearly someone from her past.

"Neal," Regina said after hugging him. "It's so good to see you."

"Good to see you too, Gina." He smiled down at her, "This is amazing, congratulations!"

"Thank you," she looked down, "It's not a big deal."

"Are you kidding me? This is huge. I'm so proud of what you've accomplished." He said as he slipped a finger under her chin to get her to look up at him. "I always knew you could, by the way."

"Thank you." She said genuinely. "It is pretty big, isn't it?" she bit her lip.

"Hella big." They both started laughing.

"I missed you, Neal." she commented playfully punching his arm.

"Missed you too, kid."

Emma had just walked back in with the Starbucks drink Regina had asked her to get her a few minutes before and walked over to her. "Hey, here you go, grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free vanilla." She said before looking over at Neal.

Regina looked at Emma and giggled when she saw her jaw drop at the sight of Neal, "Thanks, Em."

Neal cleared his throat, "Gina, you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Regina smirked, "Neal, this is Emma, Henry's au pair. Emma, this is my good friend and previous lawyer, Neal. He's the one that helped with the case."

Emma had snapped out of it long enough to hear his name, "Hi." she said blushing a little.

"Speaking of the case, Gina, I need to talk to you before you leave." he responded a little more somberly.

"Everything okay?" Regina asked with a frown, suddenly recalling her little altercation in Portland.

Neal squeezed her arm, "Nothing to worry about." He said looking into her eyes, "Now sign my book so I can go get to know your friend over here." He added winking at Emma in the process.

Regina laughed and walked around the table back to her seat, smiling at Robin when she caught his eye, and motioning him to come over. "You want me to make it out to you?" she asked Neal as she grabbed a pen.

"No shit, Sherlock." Neal responded, satisfied that he was able to get a giggle out of Emma.

Regina finished signing his book as Robin walked over to her, "Need something?" he asked assuming she needed something when she called him over.

"No, I wanted to introduce you to an old friend of mine." She said smiling at him, "Neal, this is Robin, my uhm, sort of editor. He took my editors place for the tour, but he's a friend," she awkwardly said not sure why she felt the need to describe their whatever they were like that, or introduce him in general. She still hadn't told her dad, he was the only one left. She told herself she'd talk to her dad after the signing, so the reading wasn't too weird seeing as everyone else knew.

Neal and Robin shook hands and Neal gave her a knowing look, understanding what was really going on. He picked up his book and leaned over the table to give Regina another hug, "Double congrats, kid, I'm happy for you." he whispered so only she could hear. She smiled as they parted and continued on with the signing.

After the signing, she walked out with Robin and found Emma and Neal sitting outside the store talking. Neal got up and hugged Emma as they said goodbye. Robin and Emma had gone on to the car waiting while Regina held back.

"It was good seeing you today," she said, motioning towards the car she added, "and it looks like it might have gone well in your favor." she teased.

"Yeah, I may need to move out west too," he said laughing a little. He motioned for her to sit on the bench with him and turned to her when she did, "So listen, I don't want you worrying, that's my job but I just heard from Graham earlier that the family is moving to get an acquittal. There's no way we're going to let that happen, but you may need to testify this time."

Regina's heart sank, an acquittal that couldn't happen. He murdered Daniel, he couldn't get away with that. "Can they do that?" she choked out.

"They can try, but we won't let it happen." Neal responded squeezing her hand, "Breathe, go finish your tour. Do whatever you were planning on doing and let me handle this. If, and when, we need you here, we'll call you and go through everything okay? Don't worry about this, kid, just a little bump in the road."

"Easy for you to say." she mumbled, "His wife came out to Portland, said something about getting him out. Is this what she meant?"

"Probably, but like I said we don't have anything to worry about right now." He said watching her nod slightly, "Go live your life, looks like it's going pretty well." He commented before adding, "And Robin seems like a nice guy, I hope he's treating you right. Do I need to give him the big brother talk for you?"

Regina laughed and shook her head, "I'm pretty sure my dad will take care of any intimidation when I tell him."

"You haven't told your dad yet?"

"Hadn't had the time, it's new."

Neal nodded, "I see. You better get going, I'll see you at the reading later."

They got up and hugged as she started to walk off to the car, "Bye, Neal."

"Bye, Regina."