"She's 25"

That's what Regina heard last from the little girl Vada. And that's what's been replaying in her mind over and over again. Regina didn't know how to feel, what to do with this newly acquired information. She bit her bottom lip. It stated like salt. Oh right, she was crying. Regina took a deep breathe. Could her Emma possibly be alive? It surely seemed that way. If Emma was still alive she would have been 25 years old today. 25 going on 26. Her last name was Swan. Blonde hair, green eyes. It was all the same. That voice...

That voice Regina heard on the phone many days ago. It sounded like Emma's voice. The difference, Regina noted. Older. She sounded older. She sounded happy...She was happy. Regina bit her lip again. Her vision was blurry. If Emma was still alive, she's moved on. She has a daughter now. She's happy now. Without her. It's like the knife that broke her heart again 8 years ago was shoved back in and twisted painfully slow. She realized, she couldn't do this. She couldn't do this anymore. If Emma was alive, she was happy without her. If she was dead...well, she was dead. There was nothing Regina could do. She had lost Emma.

"Regina, why are you crying again?" Vada asked from over the phone as she wondered what Regina was thinking. Why was she so sad? Vada looks up at the light above her bed. It's flickering again. Her mommy said it was the faulty wires. Stupid faulty wires. Vada thinks before listening to Regina on the phone.

Regina covered her mouth with her hand quickly after a sob escaped. She tried to compose herself. "I'm sorry sweetie...I'm just so..." Regina starts but it's interrupted by a sob. Why can't she stop crying. Oh, her heart is broken, and it hurts. It can't be repaired, not this time. She suddenly realizes she had been given a second chance after all. And she was the one who blew it. Her first love was taken away from her, by Snow White. Her second love, was created by Snow White. Emma had loved her, Regina realizes that she was the one who caused Emma to commit suicide. Not commit, attempt. Attempt it. Regina's not sure how Emma survived, she just...did. For that Regina's grateful. She's glad Emma lived. She just wished it was with her.

"You're just sad" Vada whispers.

The voice interrupts Regina from her thoughts. "What"

"Your sad. You're sad because you thought your Emma died. You wish she was with you" Vada repeats some of what she's heard.

"What...?" Regina asks in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"You just said...Emma...suicide or something, but she lived" Vada explains. "What's...suicide?" She asks into the phone.

"I didn't say that out loud" Regina states feeling panicked. Exactly who is this little girl on the phone, she wonders.

"Yes you did. And, I'm Vada...you already know that" Vada says, quickly becoming bored with this conversation. Again.

"I did not" Regina insists.

"Did too" Vada counters.

The eye roll was automatic coming from Regina. She silently reprimanded herself for arguing with a little girl.

"I'm not a little girl. I'll be 8 September 21" Vada explains/pouts. She wasn't a little girl. She was almost 8.

Regina gasps. That's Emma's birthday.

"It is" Vada states excitedly with a smile. Then it falters. "Wait a minute. You said you didn't know my mommy. How come you know her birthday?" Vada asks, suspiciously.

Regina's many things right now. Sad because, Emma's not here with her. Happy, happy Emma's alive. She would be lying if she was to say that she wasn't a tad bit angry for believing Emma was dead all these years, and she had been depressed, and mourning Emma. And finally, she was freaked out. This little girl...not so little girl, was having conversations with her when she hadn't even opened her mouth to say what she was thinking yet. Regina attempted to not think anymore, but how do one achieve that?

Regina couldn't do this on the phone. She had a lot of information she needed to process, and she couldn't do it on the phone. Regina didn't even bother to open her mouth. She didn't have to. It didn't take long for Regina to put two and two together to figure out how Emma survived that suicide. Magic. Emma had magic inside of her when Regina rushed her to the hospital. A tiny ball of magic that morphed into a baby girl. Emma was pregnant when she left Storybrooke. Vada didn't just have magic. She was magic. Emma was very powerful. Vada even more so to be able to mindlessly read Regina's mind over the phone, no less. Suddenly things started to make sense.

"I have to go, call me later" Regina thinks.

"Why do you have to go?" Vada asks, but is met with a dial tone. How rude.

1000's of miles away. Regina rushes to her bathroom and empties the contents of her stomach. She's going to be sick. Emotionally. Things are wrong. Very wrong. Regina sits back on the back of her legs and sobs.

"How am I going to fix this?" Regina questions. She gets no reply. It's just her here. And suddenly, she's desperate. Desperate to see her Emma.


To be continued...

I know, I know, It's kind of a short chapter, but we've had a major break through here. Be sure to review. I'm bouncing impatiently with excitement to know what you thought of this chapter.