Regina refused to keep track of the days. There was really no point when she didn't plan to leave. She had told Peter the truth when she said she didn't have anywhere to go. She couldn't return to the Enchanted Forest because everyone there knew her as the Evil Queen and remembered what she had done. She couldn't return to Storybrook because everyone would be returning to the Enchanted Forest and she would be alone. Emma and Neal would have taken Henry out into the world and she would have no way to find them, not that they would want her to, anyway. Their world was too big and too strange. She wouldn't be able to adapt to it and she would end up… but she couldn't think of that.
There was a knock at her door. She looked outside and saw the Lost Boys waiting for her.
"Are you coming out to play today, mother?" They asked her.
"Not today. I have to tidy the house. Maybe tomorrow."
"Okay."
When they had gone, Regina sat back on her bed. She was feeling sad and she didn't want them to see her this way.
There was another knock on the door. She stood up, reached for a dust rag on the table and went to answer it.
"Peter."
"Can I come in?"
"I was just…" Something in his face stopped her. "Sure. Come in."
He threw himself onto one of the chairs and twisted around to look at her. She walked over and sat cautiously opposite him.
"I wanted to ask you about your necklace."
"The daisy chain?"
"No, the gold one."
Regina reached for the chain, touching it as she answered. "What do you want to know?"
"I've seen the rings in the other world. What do they mean?"
"They're supposed to be a symbol of love between two people. You wear them when you agree to spend the rest of your life with someone."
"But usually people wear them on their hands, don't they?"
"Yes. Sometimes they are worn as necklaces though."
"Who were you going to spend the rest of your life with?"
"His name was Daniel."
"Did he leave you? Or did you leave him?"
"He died." She didn't mean to say it so harshly, but she still found it hard to think about Daniel. "I didn't get to wear it on my hand while he was alive, but I keep it because I still love him. That was a long time ago, Peter but I will never forget him."
"What were you like when you were a girl?"
Regina was silent for a moment as she tried to remember. "My mother was very strict with me, she knew how to make sure I did as I was told. I supposed I was …"
"So you had a bad mother too?"
"It wasn't her fault. She wanted so much for me that she sacrificed her heart…"
"She stopped you from being a child."
"I supposed she did."
"That's why I do it, you know? Saving the Lost Boys from not getting to be children. That's why I first came to Neverland."
Regina sat and listened to Peter's story, it wasn't what she had expected.