Returning to Storybrooke set Regina on edge. Gone was the feeling of peace that came with the small vacation, the wonderful escape from Leopold. But Regina didn't know that a single phone call she would receive on Monday morning would throw the idea of peace to a place far out of reach.
It had been a normal Monday, and unlike the previous one, at least so far, there had been no reappearance of Leopold. She would have preferred that over the call received by her mother, though.
"You foolish girl." That was never a good greeting. "How long did you think you could hide it from me? Especially putting an announcement in the newspaper like that."
Regina mentally groaned. She knew she would regret that. Murphy's Law and whatnot. She simply waited for her mother's monologue to continue.
"Now, I hear your meetings with Leopold aren't going quite how they should be."
"Oh, they should be going a certain way?" She couldn't help it that time. Her snark had a life of its own. "I'm sorry, I thought this was my life."
"If you know what's good for you, you'll make sure future meetings are on track. Tell me, Regina, who do you think has more weight in words, a simple mayor or the senator who raised her? One call would be all it takes to revoke your right to motherhood."
And just like that, Regina's heart was hammering away uncomfortably in her throat.
"If you'd like to keep your young sweet boy, you'd best heed my wishes. If not? Well, it's a life in the system for him, then."
It was official. Regina would never know happiness again. "You're blackmailing me." It wasn't a question. It was what politicians did best, after all.
"Oh, look at that! You do have some brains somewhere after all."
"Are you going to give me a deadline, too?" It was sarcastic, but it nevertheless gave Cora an idea she wouldn't have had without it.
"I do expect an announcement of engagement by the new year, now that you ask. A wedding invitation by 2003, but earlier is always acceptable."
"I don't love him, Mother. Nor do I even like him."
"Love is weakness, I thought your Daniel taught you that. And marriage has nothing to do with liking someone, my dear."
"Who's to say he is going to stick to your deadline? Do you really expect he'll think not even two months after meeting someone is an acceptable passage of time before a proposal? He doesn't appear to be a complete idiot."
"If I'm not above blackmailing my own daughter do you really think I'm above blackmailing someone else's?"
Regina gritted her teeth. "You threatened the girl?" It was hard not to growl. "Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Many things, dear, many things. I trust we're on the same page?"
"I don't do what you want and Henry gets taken away from me, he doesn't do what you want and something comes out that will ruin his or his daughter's lives, maybe both, forever."
"Precisely. See you at the wedding." The line went dead.
Regina stared at the phone in shock. Surely that couldn't be legal. She shuddered to think what dirty laundry her mother was using against Leopold and Mary Margaret. But she'd implied it was her. What could a fourteen year old girl possibly have done that would result in ruining lives if it was exposed? Regina had the nerve to consider her mother was bluffing, but would never have to courage to actually call her out on it. Especially not if she turned out to be wrong.
She finally let herself groan out loud. Within the next month she would be proposed to, and she would have to say yes in order to keep Henry. She didn't doubt her mother's ability to think up a creative lie that would not only revoke her right of adoption, but would not be quite so damaging to ruin her political career. Power was still one of her main motivators after all, she wouldn't be so suicidal as to take away everything she'd groomed Regina to be. It paid to have offspring in the political field, and that was likely also literal. Power and money were what she held dear, she would never do anything to lessen her hold on either one.
Regina wanted to scream, and the only thing stopping her was the fact that Henry was sleeping. She didn't even care if she would be heard by her secretary, but she didn't want to scar her child for virtually no reason. She pursed her lips shut against the urge. Then, as a wave of nausea hit her, she clamped them shut, determined not to lose her breakfast.
How foolish she had been to think once she took the career path her mother had laid out for her that she'd be left to live her own life. Clearly, as her mother had proven time and time again, her life had never been her own.
A tear trailed down her cheek as the nauseating pain overwhelmed her body. It was torture to not make a dash to the bathroom and give in. But sickness had always been something she'd personally viewed as a weakness, and the only thing she took pride in not succumbing to.
How on earth, she wondered, did her mother expect her to marry a man that made her physically ill to think about marrying? The answer was simple, she supposed. She didn't care.
Regina shook her head before letting it collapse onto her arms as she slumped against the desk like a sleeping student. Any moment now, if God were listening, she'd be happy to take Emma Swan's place. Any damn moment now.
