Regina hadn't realized how tightly she had been gripping her steering wheel until she released it to put the car in park. Here she was at the stables, having come up here early to see to getting a couple of horses outfitted for her and Snow.

She hadn't bothered eating, as she was not sure her stomach could take it. Surprisingly, she had fallen asleep quickly the night before but had woken around 3 a.m. from a nightmare. While she couldn't remember it, the feeling it evoked in her was enough to keep her from getting back into any kind of restful sleep.

At work she hadn't gotten much done because she kept thinking about this horse riding trip and how it would go. She knew she couldn't just smile and fake it, but at least if she could keep from getting too upset then maybe that could be counted on as a win.

Getting out of the car, she paused, looking at the stables. She hadn't been out here since … no don't think about it, she told herself. Don't think about Daniel dying again.

Closing the door, she approached the stable manager's office. She had called that morning to reserve two horses but she wanted to see them before they were saddled. It wouldn't do for young Snow to end up with a mount she couldn't handle.

After inspecting the horses, she watched as a stable hand saddled both of them. She used to watch Daniel as he did this kind of work. It's how they met of course on her family's homestead. She could still remember that first day how he had smiled at her and it completely disarmed her.

I can do this, she thought, as she closed her eyes hoping to purge the memories that threatened to onslaught her.

"Regina!"

She turned to see Snow skipping toward her with Emma walking slowly behind her. Regina had instructed Emma to get suitable clothing for Snow to wear to ride in, which prompted a conversation about what suitable attire for riding was as Emma had never been riding herself.

Snow was smiling widely as she reached Regina, who couldn't even force herself to match even a fraction of it. When she had first married the king, this is how things had started – Snow wanting to spend time with her constantly. Regina often wondered if Snow was that way with her own mother or if it was a reaction to the loss of her mother. Either way, it was like Snow was her little shadow.

"Are you ready?" Regina asked her.

"Yes!"

Regina looked at Emma. "I will bring her back to the station once we are done."

"You sure?"

"There is no reason for you to stick around. Unless you feel some need to."

"No. I'm sure your majesty has it well in hand," Emma said giving her a slight bow and a smile.

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Let's go," Regina said to Snow and turned around toward the horses.

Regina reviewed a few basics of riding with Snow first.

"We're not going to ride side saddle?" she asked.

"You can if you wish," Regina said.

"Isn't it proper to ride side saddle though?"

Regina couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous having this conversation with a young Snow who had grown up to be a forest outlaw when she was on the run.

"When you ride side saddle you are letting the horse have control," Regina said. "Riding should be a partnership between you and the horse. Were you never taught that?"

Snow shook her head no.

While Regina had been an accomplished rider before she met Daniel, it was him who taught her not only how to enjoy the experience to its fullest, but also respect the strengths and weaknesses of each individual horse.

Since she was stuck in this little endeavor perhaps she could impart some knowledge onto young Snow.

"I guess it's better late than never for you to learn then."
Regina instructed Snow to mount the horse and then gave her some corrective tips and had her do it over again. Once she was satisfied, she got on her own horse and they set off.

There were several riding trails around the stables – for beginners, intermediate and expert riders. Regina took her on the intermediate trail knowing Snow at least had training on how to ride a horse. If she had been with Emma she would have gone on the beginner trail.

Emma, why had she even thought about that, she wondered. Going riding with Emma was something she had never thought about before. Yet there the thought had come unbidden into her mind.

Horseback riding didn't seem to be something Emma did, but that didn't mean she might not be up for it.

Regina now found herself thinking about what kinds of things Emma did like to do. If they were to go out on a date, what would Emma want to do – the standard dinner and a movie or something else?

Her mind was so focused on this train of thought that she almost missed that Snow was speaking.

"What did you say?"

"I asked why you never took me riding back home?"

"I don't know, just busy I guess. You know how it is around the court, there is always something going on or diplomats stopping by to seek audience with the king."

"Do you think when we get back we could go riding again?"

"Perhaps."

"When are we going home?"

"I don't know."

"I don't like this place."

"It's not so bad."

"I miss father. Don't you miss him too?"

No, Regina wanted to say, but she held her tongue knowing that saying something negative about Snow's father would not help matters at all.

"I know you miss your father," Regina said. "But he isn't here in this world. And there isn't anything I can do about that. What I can do is make sure you are taken care of like he would want. Now, let's work on some of your control while riding faster."

….

Emma trusted Regina. She trusted her, yet she still worried about this little trip to go horseback riding. Snow had been so excited all day that Emma was thinking she has having some sort of sugar high. Emma was still having trouble reconciling this little version of her mother who clearly adored Regina and the adult version of her mother who had warred with Regina.

She felt like the excitement Snow was displaying was a double-edged sword. It was great that Snow seemed happier now that she had the opportunity to spend time one-on-one with Regina, but that kind of enthusiasm would probably quickly get on Regina's nerves.

While Emma had been surprised that Regina had even agreed to this, she was also grateful. It meant Regina was willing to try and get along with her mother, and hopefully that would lead to Snow returning to her normal age.

A part of her still was in disbelief that this had been the result of a thought in her head. Magic had transformed her mom into a child all because Emma had wanted to go on a date with Regina. With all the things that had happened to her since arriving in this town, this might actually be the strangest.

Her father had also been surprised and had asked Emma if she thought it would be ok that Regina would be alone with Snow out there. She assured him that it would be fine even if she wasn't entirely sure it would be.

While he had backed off blaming Regina for all of this, Emma still wondered how ok he would be if Regina and her did date. Her relationship with her parents still felt new in a lot of ways, and she didn't want to disappoint them, but at the same time she didn't want them dictating things like who she could date.

Besides all she had wished for (sort of wished for) was one date. It didn't mean that the date would go well or that Regina would even want a second date. Plus, Emma had no idea what kind of date Regina would like to go on.

Maybe they should go someplace out of town, Emma thought. That way there would be no pressure of going on a date in town where everyone knew them.

"Don't you think they should be back by now?" her father asked, interrupting her rather premature thoughts as he entered her office.

Regina was supposed to drop Snow off back at the station once they were done.

"I don't know," Emma said. "How long do horse rides usually take?"

"I didn't think they would be gone this long," he said, taking a seat in front of her desk.

"I'm sure mom's fine."

"It's not her I'm worried about."
"Really?" Emma asked in surprise.

"What, you are the one who keeps stressing that we need Regina to get your mom back, so I would prefer it if we didn't blow any chance of it because we left the two of them alone too long. I'm not sure how much of your mother that Regina can handle."

Emma leaned forward at her desk. "Don't you think it's odd that mom looks at Regina like she hung the moon, yet they ended up the way they did? Did mom ever give you any indication that their relationship was anything but antagonistic?"

"Your mom always had a belief that there was good in Regina," Charming said. "There was a time when we could have ended Regina's reign of evil for good. We were going to do it too, have her executed. But your mother stopped it from happening. She believed there still had to be good in Regina. She wanted to see the good in Regina that she had seen before. I always thought she meant the Regina she first met, the one who saved her from the runaway horse. Now I wonder if there wasn't more to it."

"I think there must have been because this, the way mom is toward Regina, doesn't make any sense," Emma said. "She is seeking approval, attention, anything she can get from Regina."

"I don't know that it is all that strange though. Think about it. Snow's mother had died. Regina became the new mother figure in her life."

Emma almost said something about how unfair it was for Regina to have ever been put in that position, but she held her tongue. After what Granny had told her, she had thought a lot about how unfair things had been for Regina in her life. Not that it excused everything she had done, but at least now Emma found some of it more understandable.

Why wouldn't she resent being made the mother of a princess when it was never something she wanted?

"Do you really have faith in Regina, that she can do this, that she can put the past in the past and get your mother returned to normal?" her father asked suddenly.

Emma thought about it a moment. Did she have faith in Regina? Yes. Did she think she could put the past in the past? That she was unsure of. This was obviously painful for her and Emma wasn't sure that the pain wouldn't be too much for Regina.

"I do have faith in her," Emma told her father. It was the only answer she could give him because they both needed to stay positive and help this situation out in anyway they could.

….

Regina felt like this whole experience could have been a lot worse, so as they headed back to the stables, she felt a touch of relief that it hadn't gone poorly.

For the most part, she concentrated on giving Snow riding instructions that way it would keep them both busy and not talking about anything else.

Once they were in the saddles, they dismounted and Regina handed the reins to the waiting stable hand. She paused just a moment before releasing them, thinking about how back home with Daniel, if her parents were present she would have handed them over while still making contact with Daniel's hand. Sometimes it was the only contact they would have in a day.

They had been so careful because Regina knew her mother would never approve of their relationship.

And they had almost gotten away with it.

The stable hand took the reins and Regina was knocked from her memory. Suddenly, the stable was a place she needed to get away from.

"Let's go," Regina said, turning and not waiting to see if Snow was following, just assuming she was. They got out to her car and Regina didn't bother opening the door for Snow, as she merely went to the driver's side and unlocked the doors and got in.

She saw Snow stopped outside of the car, looking at the door. Regina sighed, got out of the car and walked around and opened the passenger door and then shut it again.

"Go ahead," Regina said. "You open it."

Snow paused and then approached it the door and paused once more before she finally touched the door handle and then finally opened the door.

"I know you were born to privilege," Regina said knelt next to her so they could look more eye to eye. "You are used to servants and others waiting on you, bringing you things, doing things for you that in many cases you could do on your own. The woman you are going to become, her strength isn't going to be defined by how well she can command others to do things. She's going to be defined by the strength she gives others."

Regina didn't wait for a reaction, and instead stood and walked back to her side and got in. There was only a slight hesitation before Snow got in on her own, shut the door and even managed to buckle her seat belt.