Everything had being going so perfectly. Regina knew, deep down, that it was too good to be true. She had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, she'd just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon. But then, the day came. The day she showed Claire the vault.

"So, this is it." Regina smiles as Claire follows her in. "My lair." Claire smiles as she looks around. "Feel free to explore, I just need to grab a few things." Claire takes her mother's advice and begins looking around. She looks at the many bottles and cases scattered throughout the cement room. She'd heard of this kind of magic from her mother but seeing it in person fascinated her. Claire continues rummaging through the room when she comes across a chest. Inside was Regina's Diary. Claire debates opening it, it looks so old. But Regina had told her to feel free so she opens the old book and skims the pages, smiling as she reads about her mother's adventures with Daniel. Towards the middle, Regina talks of her horrific marriage, but that wasn't what caught Claire's attention. At the end of the book was a long parchment paper, full of names and dates. Claire frowns wondering what this could possibly be.

"Alright dear, I'm ready- Claire….where did you find that?" Regina asks dropping the spell book she'd been holding. Claire holds the diary up causing her mother to gasp.

"What is it?" Claire asks, though she had a guess and it made her stomach turn. "Mom?"

"It's….it's my….my list of the people I murdered." Regina says, whispering tearfully. She'd put that somewhere she didn't think anyone would find it. She honestly wasn't't even sure why she still had it. Maybe to remind her of how easily she could revert to her old ways or maybe for some twisted sympathy….either way, she definitely didn't want Claire to find it.

"Th-there's hundreds of names on this." Claire stutters in shock, backing away when her mother gets closer to her. "No….stay away from me."

"Claire, please, don't do this. That's who I was, not who I am." Regina pleads, nearly sobbing now. But Claire was too upset herself to see the sincerity in her mother's eyes. She shakes her head.

"You're a monster." Claire whispers, bolting for the door. Regina doesn't stop her. She watches as her daughter escapes, terrified of her. Just like Henry had done. She should have been more prepared for this, but she'd let herself believe that Claire understood. But that was crazy. Her daughter was right….no matter how much she'd changed part of her would always be that monster who took innocent lives and who crushed hearts just because she could. How could she expect Claire to forgive her when she hadn't forgiven herself?

Regina enters her house expecting Claire to be there. But she wasn't. Robin and Roland were, but there was no sign of her daughter. The worry hits like a tsunami. Where would Claire have gone? Was she okay? Robin offers to look in the forest while Regina looks around town. If she was still in Storybrooke that was.

Snow had just put Neal down for a nap when there's a knock on the door. She hurries to answer it and is surprised to see Claire. She could see the tear marks still evident on the young girls face and ushers her in. Snow wonders why Claire was here and not with her mother or father, if she was this upset. Then she realized that's WHY she wasn't with them.

"I-I….she….." The teen sobs incoherently. Snow hugs the girl close to her.

"Regina?" Snow asks gently. Claire nods against Snow's shoulder. "What happened, Claire?" The last Snow had heard was that everything had been perfect. She'd never seen her stepmother so happy….so what had happened in the short time since Snow had seen Regina?

"We went to her vault." Claire sniffles ones she's calm enough to talk. Snow pulls back so she can look at Claire better. "She…..killed…..SO many people." Snow sighs. It had to have been hard for Claire to realize this, even if she knew her mother had been the evil queen.

"Claire….what did you see?" Snow asks, looking for an explanation as to why Claire was suddenly so afraid and upset with her mother.

"It was a list…..a REALLY long list of all the lives she took." Claire explains shaking her head as if she's trying to shake the image from her head.

"I see." Snow replies softly. "Claire, do you know why she had that list?" Claire shakes her head again. "She has it because your mother has a heart. She may not even realize it herself but she keeps that list to remember what she did. It's like her own form of punishment. I know how scary this is, but Claire, Regina loves you SO much and she would NEVER hurt you."

"She tried to kill you!" Claire exclaims, suddenly feeling very confused by everything that had happened.

"Heart break can cause a person to do unspeakable things….but Regina really has changed. Please Claire, you can't give up on her." Snow pleads. Her own heart was breaking, thinking of how her step mother must be feeling. Claire snaps back to reality and gasps.

"I-I called her a monster!" Claire realizes growing tearful again. "She's never going to forgive me."

"Of course she will." Snow says reassuringly. "Why don't we get you home?" But before Snow even gets it out of her mouth there's another. Snow didn;t have to answer the door to know it was Regina. Claire nods, telling Snow she was ready to see her mother. Snow gives the teen a small smile before rising and opening the door, revealing a frazzled mayor.

"She's here." Snow confirms before Regina can even asks. She watches as relief washes over the Queen's face. "Come in."

"No….she….she doesn't want to see me." Regina replies stepping back. "I just needed to know she was okay."

"Mom?" Claire's voice comes from behind Snow. The princess moves out of the way as Claire throws herself into her mother's arm and begins to cry again. "I'm sorry!"

"What did I tell you?" Regina asks pulling aways so she can cup her daughter's face in her hands. "You don't ever have to apologize to me, Claire." She pulls her daughter back to her. She rubs her daughter's back and sends Snow a thankful smile. Whatever her stepdaughter had said to her daughter it had worked. "Honey do you wanna go home?" Claire nods. Regina plants a kiss on the top of her daughter's head. "Go wait in the car, I'll be right down." Claire nods and leaves her mother with Snow. Once Claire's out of earshot Regina, shockingly, pulls Snow into a hug.

"Thank you so much." Regina breaths. Snow squeezes Regina tightly. "For whatever it was you did. I can't thank you enough."

"Anytime." She smiles. Regina lets go of Snow and goes to take her daughter home. They had a lot left to talk about, but at least she had the chance to now. She never would have guess, when she cast the curse, that she'd be thanking Snow so much. But they were family and Regina, now gladly, would admit that she had always cared for the girl. And now she had two daughters who she loved.

A/N I was re watching old Snow/Regina scenes and I really hope that season 5 shows more of their relationship! They've come so far now and I love their friendship/mother-daughter connection. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! -Kaila