Author's Note:
rebakathy - Thank yah for your sacrifice and enduring pain for the stroking of my ego! I really do appreciate it. And know that your sacrifice is not in vain!
popularcypher - Your patience will pay off! I'm working on how Regina meets her other self right now! I can't promise it will be in the next chapter...but hopefully soon! I'm happy you're liking the flashbacks of the alt dimension! There will be more in the coming chapters as well.
Bhobba17 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Thanks for the encouragement, as you know it is very much needed!
Marphisa - THANK YOU! I really do like criticism! Please don't be afraid to tell me how to be better! I can definitely do more detail. I need a beta reader for sure...so if you know anyone that is willing to help a sister out - bring them on down!
evilregal108 - Hopefully you enjoy this chapter. Let me know if it is evil regal approved! :D
Guest: :D Glad you're enjoying it! More back story coming right up!
David tapped on the door of Regina's home feeling awkward as can be.
"Hello?!" He called out into the grand foyer.
Though exhausted, Cora heard the voice and sleepily opened her eyes at the sound.
David entered the house, knowing that Emma and Mary Margret had been on their way here.
Looking around he quickly assessed that no one was there.
"They left some time ago."
Then again maybe not.
David whipped around to stare at Cora.
Suddenly David couldn't speak or move.
"I think they might have gone to the diner. At least that's where Sarah and Henry were going. I would only assume they would meet up with them there." Cora felt nervous as David stared at her, and was not quite sure why.
In the pawn shop he had not proven to be a real danger to her.
David stood frozen as he stared at her. For the first time in his life he wasn't able to say a word.
Snow had always told him that his way with words was why she had called him 'Charming.' Yet now when he needed his words most...nothing came out.
Cora waited for the prince to speak, not knowing if he was afraid of her or just truly didn't know what to say to the woman that had caused his wife the greatest pain in her life.
"I think I'll turn back in, it's been a long day..." Cora tried to give David the out of having to say anything.
"NoWait!" David finally was able to move and step forward.
Cora instinctively stiffened her posture in defense at the action.
David immediately seeing this stopped.
"Please. I know earlier we were all fighting one another, but I'm not here for that."
Cora stared at David with a stare that he had seen on Regina's face. It was a look that he knew meant she was questioning his intentions.
"I just...I...I need to know if it's true." David tried to get the question out. He really did.
That's when Cora furrowed her brows.
"If what's true?"
David swallowed as the words played over and over in his head.
Just wanting to come out.
Yet again...nothing would.
Cora sighed. "If you want to know if I tried to kill Rumple for his dagger and power...the answer is yes. My reason's weren't exactly wholesome. But everything I've done...I've done for my daughter."
David couldn't deny the bitter truth. Cora had indeed tried to kill Rumple...but he had doubted it had been for Regina.
Until Sarah and Snow had arrived he had thought Cora to not just be heartless, but for her to be soulless.
Sarah's revelation that he was...could be...Cora's son, had flipped his thinking, as the details of how it was possible were explained to him.
Finally as Cora was about to turn away again the words sprang from deep inside him.
Four words that could forever change his life.
"Are you my mother?"
***********************Alternative Dimension Fairy Tale Land****************
(In The Past)
David stood, afraid to make a sound as he stared at the woman that had given birth to him stand in the evening sunlight.
His heart thumped in his chest like mad.
He could hear it in his own ears.
Surely she could hear it!
The young Shepard knew he had to say something before he left out of fear and stupidity.
"Hello..."
It was out before he could stop himself.
And the simple salutation caused Cora to spin and ready a fireball on instinct.
David backed up immediately holding up his hands. "I'm sorry I startled you!" The words coming out with fear clearly heard in them.
"Who are you?! How dare you enter my chambers!" Cora's face was lined with anger as she kept the fireball up and ready to throw.
"My name's David. I'm..." David swallowed, "I'm a Shepard from the outskirts of town."
Cora looked at David's clothes, noting that he certainly didn't seem like a Shepard.
David looked at Cora's face and couldn't help but see how beautiful she was.
Cora slowly distinguished the fireball, and waited for David to continue.
"You're...you're just going to trust my word?"
The question was indeed stupid, but David couldn't help but be concerned that his mother would be so careless.
Cora gave him a look that read 'did you really ask me that?'
"Who would claim to be that...who is not?"
A small smile emerged on his face, showing just how young he was to Cora.
"I guess noone." David said with a bigger smile at the end.
Cora slowly relaxed. Her initial feelings of fear vanishing as she realized that he indeed was a very young man.
"If you're lost..."
"No...I'm...I'm actually here to see you...your majesty." David felt nervous again.
Cora though gave him a big smile and David felt his nerves subside.
"I don't think it appropriate to have an audience with me in my chambers David. If you would..."
"Please..." David held up his hand, as Cora had begun to walk towards him. Most likely to make him leave.
And if he left he knew he would never gain the courage to do this again.
It was now or never.
"I'm your son."
Cora stopped as if David had slapped her.
"I beg your..."
"My mother...my mother who's raised me since birth...she told me a few days ago that she was my aunt. That my mother had given me and my brother, my twin brother, to her to take care of." David rushed to stop her from continuing, knowing he needed to prove his words.
Cora's heart, that had not beat for dozens of years and had learned in the last few years to expand and pulse with emotions, leapt in her chest. It hammered as she gazed at the man before her that knew things that she had not spoken to a living soul but her sister.
"She gave me these...to show you. To prove to you I am who I say I am." With that David fished from his pocket an object that Cora would have recognized anywhere.
Moving forward to take the necklace from David's hand she stared at the object for just a second before looking up into David's eyes.
David was near tears of his own as he looked into his mother's eyes.
He saw the pain there, he saw the woman that had destroyed herself in every possible way and fought to keep the only things that matter most to her safe.
"My...my mother gave me this necklace. It..." Cora suddenly smiled and laughed as she looked up at David's blue eyes, "It's how I knew you were boys."
"East West for a girl..." David whispered.
Cora let a tear escape.
"North South for a boy." Cora finished.
Both of their eyes sparkled.
Cora looked into David's searching blue eyes and saw his father's eyes. But David held an innocence and tenderness in his eyes that his father never had.
"She also gave me this."
Slowly David reached into his pocket again, and slowly brought out a ring.
Cora's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed David's hand.
"Mother's ring!" Cora exclaimed as she looked down at the green gem ring.
David saw the way his mother looked at the ring.
It was as though time had stopped for her. He could see behind her stare that she was reliving the past.
Cora shook her head and looked up at David.
David said nothing, waiting to hear what had caused the long pause.
Cora's hand, that held his with the ring, and cupped David's cheek.
A tortured smile came onto her face.
"My boy. My little boy."
David saw it then.
Pain.
Razor sharp and agonizing.
It seemed to radiate from his mother's face.
Heart hammering he dove down and wrapped his arms around his mother's frame and buried his head in her neck.
Cora held tight as the force of David made them crash to the floor as Cora was unwilling to let go.
Tears flowed freely from the both of them.
Both feeling a like a missing piece of themselves had been found.
Cora closed her eyes as the tears, and still the tears fell from her shut lids.
"He...he told me why you did it. He told me why you had to. And I understand. I...I just want to know you." David managed to say as tears clogged his throat.
Cora opened her eyes slowly as the word 'he' registered through all the emotion.
Pulling back slowly, Cora looked at David with concern.
"Who?!"
Cora never expected the name.
"Rumplestiltskin."
********************************Back to The Mainworld**********************************
Regina watched Sarah talking to Henry.
Despite everything that had happened, Regina loved her son very much.
Craving his love, and for him just to come back to her, had been her driving force to change.
Regina watched as Sarah suddenly gave Henry a big smile. And watching Henry return Sarah's smile as Sarah wrapped her arm around Henry's shoulder and dragged him along with her made Regina smile as well.
"What are you smi...oh. Yep!" Snow said smiling, having placed her head beside her mother's to see what she was looking at, and noticing exactly what she was looking at.
Regina turned her head towards Snow, oddly as Snow was basically cheek to cheek with her.
"You should see them back home. Henry loves Sarah to death. Two peas in a pod those two." Sarah said smiling as she watched Sarah and Henry walking down the street.
Regina couldn't explain why she didn't feel as angry at Snow as she did Mary Margret. The thought of having Mary Margret so close to her as Snow was made her skin crawl. As far as Regina could tell there was nothing really different about them.
Yet Regina couldn't help but FEEL the difference between the two.
Maybe it was the fact that Snow seemed to honestly love and think of Sarah as her sister. Maybe the fact that Snow openly opened her arms to her biological daughter made Regina accept Snow easily.
Really Regina didn't know the reason.
"Mom?! Are you seriously going to let Sarah give Henry a piggy back ride?! He's not exactly a little boy anymore!" Snow asked with a big smile as she watched the huge production of Henry climbing onto Sarah's shoulders.
"GOD HENRY! STOP EATTING ALL THOSE BURGERS!" Sarah yelled as she tried to stabilize Henry's weight, making Henry laugh.
"SARAH!" Regina yelled out, almost making Henry and Sarah fall.
Emma had just walked outside when she Regina yelled out.
Seeing Henry and Sarah about to fall both women quickly rushed to them.
Sarah though quickly adjusted and held Henry securely.
"What do you think your doing?!" Emma exclaimed reaching up to pull Henry down.
Sarah backed away not allowing Emma to get close to him.
"Nope! Henry for the next few hours is a willing captive of mine!" Sarah said with huge smile.
Emma had been scowling until she saw both Sarah and Henry were smiling.
"Henry! You get down right now!" Regina commanded in a no nonsense voice.
"Moooommm!" Both Sarah and Henry whined with frowns.
For the first time ever...Regina looked to Emma for backup.
Emma placed her hands in her back jean pockets and let out a sigh and a small smirk at Regina.
Regina rolled her eyes at Emma and turned back to the two.
"Sarah..."
But of course Sarah stopped her mother before she could say another word.
Looking up at Henry Sarah began to talk with Henry as if both of their mother's weren't there.
"You know back where I'm from these two," Sarah had been holding on to Henry's hands - raised them to point at said women, "are inseparable!"
Regina and Emma jerked back there heads at the statement. But Henry and Sarah didn't both watching them.
"Really?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow. Not believing what Sarah was saying.
"Oh yeah! As a matter of fact, mom is the one that kept your grandpa from killing Bae!"
Henry's eyebrows furrowed.
"You're still too young for that story!" Sarah said pointedly.
Emma gave a sigh of relief.
"But...since your mom was born she's been attached to her Nanna!" Sarah said with an evil smile, emphasizing the name Emma used for her mother.
Both women's eyes bulged out of their heads. A quick look from the side of their eyes at each other confirmed that both felt the oddness of what Sarah was saying.
Henry though...Henry's smile and laughter at hearing the word made both women say nothing.
"Oh yes! Your mom is crazy for her Nanna. 'Nanna I love you!' 'Only you understand me Nanna!' 'Sarah's making fun of me Nanna!'" Sarah imitated Emma's high pitched voice and then made kissing noises and made noises to accompany them.
Henry of course was laughing at the very concept of his mother acting like that.
Emma was blushing soo hard at the very idea that she had spoken those words to ANY version of Regina.
Regina stared at Emma with a tilted head and curious eyes.
Glancing at Regina and seeing her studying her, Emma blushed a little more as Sarah continued.
"Emma always turns to my mom for comfort. Both of them are as stubborn as mules, so when she gets into a fight with your grandpa...guess who's defending your mom!"
Regina then looked at Sarah at those last words.
"We're nothing alike." Regina stated calmly. Inside though her mind returned to the Diner when Snow had stated the how she could have sworn Emma was her daughter if not for the labor pains.
In a way Regina could see it. Both of them had been at each others throats from day one.
Regina had done it because she was afraid of losing Henry...which technically she did. That thought made her heart sink.
"Please! If you two actually had a conversation that didn't involve the rug rat on my shoulders - you would both see just how disgustingly alike you are!" Sarah said the words disgust with a fact that reflected the word.
"Hey!" Henry exclaimed as he looked down at Sarah's head.
Sarah tilted her head back and smiled.
"I doubt that. Maybe the Emma you know is like her..." Emma's blush had died down and she was about to put an end to Sarah's comparison when of course Sarah interrupted her.
Rolling her eyes Sarah stated her case.
"You both hate being told what to do! You both hate being royalty and to have people expect things from you! You both just want to be free to be the REAL you! Believe me Emma! Things may be incredibly different here...but one thing I know for sure is that you are related by blood and by a bond that NOONE...not even Rum saw. You may think she's evil...and maybe that's why your not admitting it...but you two have a special connection. And you both have physical proof of that."
With those last words Sarah adjusted Henry on her once more, indicating to both women Henry on top of her shoulders.
Both Regina and Emma let the truth sink in as they both understood the physical proof that Sarah was referring to.
Sarah looked up at Henry with a smirk.
"You do know that you are who you are because of both of your mom's right? Without either of them you wouldn't be the person you are today. You wouldn't have even been born with out the 'Evil Queen!'"
Henry's brow furrowed.
Even Emma and Regina were curious about what Sarah was talking about.
Sarah sighed. Why did she always have to spell things out.
"If she..." again Sarah used Henry's arms to point at Regina, "hadn't tried to kill Snow...then YOUR David would have never met! Which means there would be NO Emma! Which means no you. And I personally couldn't imagine a world without you in it!"
Emma and Regina both said nothing as the simple truth smacked them both as both Henry and Sarah shared a smile.
Indeed...Henry wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Regina's curse.
If Regina had never created the curse, then Emma would have never gone through the wardrobe...and she would have never met Neal. There would be no Henry.
Regina though had a sudden thought...one that raised a question she hadn't thought of until that moment. One that slowly left her lips, afraid of what the answer could reveal.
"Then how did Emma and Bae meet in your dimension?"
Author's Note: If you want the answer to that question...you know what I need people! Let's try for FIVE REVIEWS! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
