Much love to Gracie for checking to see if I'm still alive! I assure you that I am, but I temporarily misplaced the notebook that I drafted all the chapters in and only just found it U^_^

Now on with the show! xo

To Mei's dislike, Aurora had to go to her job at the animal shelter for a few hours around noon. Mulan understood though, and she was grateful when Aurora dropped Phillip off at the babysitter's place because she knew that in her condition, the only child she had the energy to deal with solo was Mei.

Ruby would have done the babysitting, but inexplicably, she remained stuck in the body of a puppy.

Not wanting to be alone, she tagged along with her friends for the day.

"Mama?" Mei said suddenly. "Something feels funny. I don't like it."

The two of them and Ruby were at the park, enjoying the autumn day and up until Mei had spoken, they'd been enjoying a comfortable silence, looking at books. Mulan looked up from hers to address her offspring.

She could feel what Mei was feeling, too, tracker that she was, but she'd said nothing because Mei was very excitable.

"I'm sure that it's nothing." Mulan told her. "Go back to your book."

Mei would not be moved by her mother's words and to prove her point, she actually set her book down and gazed at Ruby, who only a minute before, had been snoozing in a patch of sunlight and was now sitting on her haunches and staring at a fixed point in front of her, some way off.

"Then why is Ruby acting funny?"

Before Mulan could think of a non-frightening way to say that they were more than likely being watched by someone they thought they'd escaped, Ruby gave a high-pitched yip and then bounded from her spot and clambered on top of Mulan's big belly, ready to protect it.

She had a good reason reason, though: Regina was approaching them. Ruby knew that Regina was doing her best to turn over a new leaf, but when she was in wolf mode, her instinct to protect became so strong that it had more than once been the source of clouded judgement.

Mei, meanwhile, decided that it was Regina who had been watching them, so she went back to her book and tuned the others out.

Mulan became stuck trying to pacify Ruby as Regina came to stand in front of her bench.

The witch and the warrior had heard about each other many times over the years, but they'd never had a reason to meet… until now.

"You must be Mulan." Regina gave her a kind smile. "May I sit?"

Mulan gave a nod and watched her sit while trying to figure out what the other woman could possibly want. Seeing that Mulan was quite apprehensive, Regina continued to be kind.

"You can relax, dear. Even if you weren't pregnant, I still wouldn't hurt you."

Mulan fianlly spoke, relieved by the admission. "Why?"

"Because you're a mother… and because I am not mine."

"Your mother was Cora, the Queen of Hearts."

Regina nodded. "She died and sometimes I miss her, but I'm working on doing my best to not be like her. I also know that Aurora, Belle, and Ruby would also be first in line to retaliate. I just want to talk—honest."

Somethig about Regina's tone was trustworthy, so Mulan finally relaxed. "What is it that you want to talk about?"

Regina nodded towards Ruby. "For starters, I wanted to see for myself it was true about her. I visited Aurora, and she said Ruby is with you."

Mulan scratched Ruby behind her ears, grinning a little when Ruby caved a little; she loved cuddles. "It's very true. Aurora and I were talking to her at the hospital, and she randomly changed into a puppy even though the sun had yet to go down. Apparently, she has yet to change back to herself."

Regina was immediately intrigued. "Any ideas why?"

"It's probably something to do with her being pregnant."

Ruby immediately turned around to look at Mulan and gave her an annoyed growl.

"If you growl at me again and don't relax," Mulan reprimanded the puppy. "I will put you back on the grass!"

Not at all interested in moving from her spot when she had the top surface of a wiggly baby bump to be on, Ruby sobered up and curled up in a ball, falling asleep almost immediately and snoring adorable puppy snores.

"Well, you certainly have the mothering thing down." Regina remarked in amusement. "When Henry was a little one, he went through a frustratingly long phase where he wouldn't listen to me unless he chose to."

"Mei isn't like that, thank goodness, but she inherited my fierce determination and the stubborn streak of her father."

At the casual, accidental mention of her husband, Mulan immediately bit her lip as she did her best told hold in her tears, while she held one hand to Ruby's little back and the other to the side of her bump, to the area where she could feel the twins both kicking around.

She avoided talking about Li because of the moments like this, when she remembered the abuse.

"I'm sorry." She told the other woman.

"It's okay." Regina reassured her, seeing almost right away the battered soul of someone who'd been through way too much in a short period of time, although she only recognized it because that had been her once. "Storybrooke is the place where we all get to start over, no matter how fresh the wounds."

Thankful that Mei had wandered off to play on the playground and was out of their immediate earshot, Mulan asked "Has anyone told you yet how I got to Storybrooke, or at least where I was found?"

"I assume that you got here because of the curse?"

"Yes." Mulan confirmed.

"Robin Hood informed of the rescue party at the trailer, and that you were in pretty bad shape. The word he used was 'ghastly,' actually."

"It was quite bad before the Blue Fairy healed us, but the worst part is who did it to me."

Again, Regina thought back to her marriage to Leopold, but what made her heart turn over was when she realized that at the time, she couldn't have been much older than Mulan was now.

"It was a person close to you; Mei's father, perhaps?"

"Yes, and I haven't seen him since we got here, but I've had the strangest feeling about him."

"What is it?"

Mulan spoke with a tone of utmost seriousness. "First, promise me that you'll tell nobody—especially Aurora—unless it's an emergency."

Regina responded in equal seriousness. "You have my word, Mulan; I understand what it's like to be neglected and even manipulated by people who say they love you."

Mulan felt her heart skip a beat in both surprise and relief because she'd never expected to find an ally in the Evil Queen, even when she was an evil queen reformed.

"I can't help but feel as though my husband has been brought over as well, but that he's hiding."

Regina raised her eyebrows. "That's quite a claim. What's his name?"

"Li Shang, and back where we come from, he's next in line to be king and I am to be the queen, making Mei and the babies I'm carrying are princesses by birthright." Mulan sighed shakily and ran her fingers through Ruby's fur. "All of that being said, Li happens to be a dedicated soldier, so he has a code of honor that he lives up to. I've done all kinds of things to dishonor him, but they were in the name of Mei's best interests. If Li is looking for me here, his main goal would be to take us back, and I really don't want to go."

"Did he learn any kind of tracking skills in the army?"

"The best."

"So if he is here, it wouldn't be apparent because he's really good at hiding himself and covering his tracks." Regina said as she connected the dots. "Are you scared that he's going to harm you and your children?"

"And everyone I love; Li is the jealous type." Mulan said with a shudder. "I've never loved him because he's older than me and because I was around Henry's age when I married him and had Mei, but as it stands, I am still his wife and he considers me his property because of the way of life in our village. If he so much as finds out that I'm in love with a woman, I really don't know what he'd do to me."

Mualn began to cry as memories of her past came back and Regina found herself comforting the girl, thinking back to how there hadn't been anyone there for her when she had been very far gone in depression during her marriage. True, Tinker Bell had shown up at a very crucial time, but it had been after their fall out, when Regina had started spiraling down past the point where even Rumplestiltskin and Maleficent couldn't help her, that she had really wished for someone who could have been in her corner.

"I've got you, Mulan." Careful not to jostle the sound asleep Ruby, Regina held the warrior close and comforted her in a motherly way. "If he comes, or even if you just need help because you're in trouble, call for me and I'll protect you. I promise."

Very grateful for the love and the beginnings of a newfound friendship, Mulan just hugged her tighter.

Hours later, after Aurora had returned from work and Mulan brought Aurora to up Doctor Whale's room (he lived in the inn, too), Aurora and her family had dinner together, but it wasn't until after they'd put the children in their beds in the corner of the room that Aurora had remembered her promise to take Mulan shopping for baby furniture.

When she apologized, Mulan accepted the apology, but she sounded like she was lost in thought. Naturally, Aurora called her out on it.

"What are you thinking about?"

On the bed, Mulan watched Aurora start to set their library books on a shelf near the door. "Mei, Ruby, and I had a visitor in the park today."

"Who was it?"

"Regina."

Aurora spun around immediately to face Mulan, the book stack still in her arms. Although Mulan was on the bed, she scooted back a little when she saw Aurora's normally pale complexion actually drop a whole shade.

"What did she want?" The older princess inquired, the iciness of her tone one hundred percent apparent.

"She was just coming to check on me," Mulan answered honestly and then raised an eyebrow. "And why are you suddenly so hostile?"

Aurora gave Mulan a genuine 'are you fucking kidding me?' look. "Mulan, Regina's mother liked to rip out hearts of the people whole crossed her, and as I know you know, she ripped out mine. Plus, Regina also happens to be the Evil Queen, remember?"

"Of course," Mulan scoffed. "But she's different now—surely you've noticed that since you've been in Storybrooke longer than I have."

Mulan had Aurora there, she'd admit, but she still had one more secret yet. "Please tell me you two haven't bonded."

"Then I'd be lying to you."

At this, Aurora felt downright scandalized and she dropped the rest of her books, but she made no move to pick them up. "Then cut ties with her, I beg you."

Mulan suddenly felt both affronted and confused. "Why? I like her, she likes me, she promised not to hurt me, and she understands what it's like to come from a bad home."

Aurora pulled out her last-resort tactic. "If not for the queen, Maleficent wouldn't have been encouraged to regain her strength and come after me in revenge against my parents after they toppled her."

"I beg your pardon, Rora?"

Mulan of course knew more about Aurora's than she had when they first met, the mere mention of it always caught her off-guard because the mention of most specific of details were few and in between.

"What exactly are you saying?"

"That we all know that Regina is the reason that Emma grew up thinking herself to be an orphan, but also the reason I woke up as one!" Aurora snarled. "Regina was even there when Maleficent put me to sleep, and probably even offed my parents; I have never been able to forgive that, even after all these years!"

There were times, like now, when Aurora spoke with the wisdom and pain of how old she would should have been—a touch over fifty—and it always told Mulan that there was more to Aurora than what most people took for at face value.

Only wanting to make peace because Mei and Phillip had woken and were getting sniffly, she got off the bed and approached Aurora.

"She is good now—I saw it, I felt it."

Unfortunately, Aurora was now set in her ways. "Regina is toxic."

"I don't believe that, not after the kindness that she showed me today, and as I said earlier, she promised not to touch me in a way that can cause harm."

"She promised you, did she?" Aurora asked sardonically.

"Yes. Just what is wrong with a promise?"

"It was broken promises from Regina's mother in the months preceding my birth that led to my kingdom's downfall in the first place, as was well Maleficent's banishment from our castle!"

By this point, Mulan really couldn't tell if Aurora was upset by her friendship with Regina or the old memories their fight was dredging up… or both.

"Wait!" Aurora said suddenly when she realized that Mulan had the front door open and her back to her. "Where are you going?"

Mulan couldn't even look at her. "I think that you and I need some space. I am going to sleep somewhere else tonight."

And with that, Mulan left.