"Do you have your lunch?"

A sigh, "Yes Mom." She knelt down and engulfed Henry in a hug until he had to wiggle out of the embrace.

"Do you want me to drive you to the end of the road, it's a long wa-"

"No Mom. I'm not a baby, and I'm walking with Sammy, that'd be lame to get a ride."

He sighed again and turned towards Emma, bracing for round two. She gave him a slightly shorter hug and ruffled his hair, "Just remember bud. If the teacher tries to give you a book, especially a big one that looks old, just say no."

Henry rolled his eyes, "Bye Emma, bye Mom." He ran to the center of the Causeway where Sammy waited. She took possession of his hand and they walked down the road, deep in conversation.

Emma spoke before Regina could, "He'll be fine Reg. You know that. He's my kid too, and if I could survive twelve years of schooling as a screwed up foster kid who got teased more than I should have, then he can survive the rest of his years as the weird kid who lives on the island with his two moms. 'Specially with Sammy at his side to beat up whoever makes fun of him."

That got a chuckle from Regina, "Really though, once she gets to know you she just doesn't shut up." Her eyes went from her son and new friend to the car that came to a stop at the causeway.

A familiar face got out and walked across the causeway. "Mary Margaret."

Mary Margaret stopped in front of the two women, her hands folded in front of her. "I'm sorry."

Emma frowned, "Mary Margaret, what's wrong, where's David?"

"We- it was... I didn't-" She glanced over at Regina, then back to Emma, "I had nowhere else to go, you- Henry, you're my only family left."

The three women stood at the end of the causeway in uncomfortable silence. It was Regina who spoke first, "What did he do to you?"

Mary Margaret stared down at her shoes, then back up, "Look, I'll just-"

Regina closed the distance between the two of them and to both Emma and Mary Margaret's surprise yanked Mary Margaret's shirt off over her head, "Take off your shoes and pants too."

"Reg?"

Regina spoke over her shoulder as she pulled down Mary Margaret's pants, leaving her in her underwear, and led her down towards the Cleric Island cove's beach. "Could you get us some towels from the house please Em?"

Mary Margaret seemed so stunned that she didn't even fight Regina's pull or speak until Regina tried to pull her from the beach into the water. She finally resisted, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me."

Mary Margaret finally met Regina's eyes, "I don't."

Regina paused, "Then trust Em- take a look back at the causeway."

Mary Margaret did, Emma was gone. Mary Margaret looked back at Regina. "Fine, do what you're going to do, get whatever your revenge you think you deserve. My daughter is worth it."

Regina rolled her eyes and guided Mary Margaret into the water. "In a few feet it'll drop off, a lot, just... float."

Mary Margaret blinked as the ground under the water did indeed disappear. She lifted her legs and mostly floated on her back, "Why?"

"Shush."

Regina tread water next to Mary Margaret with slow controlled strokes of her arms and kicks with her legs. Unlike Mary Margaret she still had on her khakis and shirt, though she'd left her shoes at the water's edge.

Mary Margaret spoke again, "Aren't witches allergic to water?"

Regina bantered back, "Aren't nuns not supposed to get pregnant?"

Mary Margaret jerked around at that and wound up dunking herself. It was Regina's hands that dragged her back to the surface. She sputtered, coughing up water, "I'm not a nun..."

Once Mary Margaret didn't seem to be about to drown again Regina moved away by a bit again, "And I'm not a witch."

"Then how do you explain how you escaped from your jail cell when Henry was missing? Graham still doesn't know why you did it."

Regina flexed her hand a bit. "When Emma sent us back from... wherever we were fighting that Persian army. When she did that, her power went through me. She was the light, I was the prism, or magnifying glass, or some combination of them both. Some of it got caught in me. I used what I had left."

They fell silent, bobbing with the tide. A small sob came from Mary Margaret, and then it turned into a few, and then that unleashed everything she'd held in. Regina put an arm out and Mary Margaret held onto it for dear life, pulling Regina to her as she cried and cried.

Eventually Mary Margaret's sobs slowed and subsided. She cleared her throat and looked up at Regina. The former Mayor didn't blink. "I'm sorry." Mary Margaret pushed at Regina and floated a little bit away. She wiped at her eyes.

"Dunk your head again." Mary Margaret frowned over at Regina, "Trust me."

Regina was a little surprised when Mary Margaret let herself sink under water for a moment before she popped back up. "Why?"

Regina didn't answer the question, it was too big a question to answer in the water. Instead she swam, and then walked towards a bunch of rocks that looked over the cove. She didn't stop until she sat on the top of them.

Mary Margaret shivered a little and jumped when Regina handed her a towel. "Where did?"

Regina raised an eyebrow, "Magic?" Mary Margaret didn't look amused, "If you didn't hear, I asked Emma to get them."

Mary Margaret looked around, "So, where's Emma?"

Regina shrugged, "That one I don't know."

"Why... why did you do that?"

Regina cleared her throat and looked out of the cove towards the open ocean. "I'm not... good... at crying. 'To cry is to show weakness daughter, and my daughter is not weak'." Regina paused, then finally blew out a breath and continued, "Taking a swim, that seemed to... help. And if I ever saw anyone coming back from my swim... which I rarely did. Being thought of as a witch does have some advantages when you want privacy. But, if I did meet someone, it was merely the salt that had irritated my eyes."

"How... how could a mother say that?" Regina had no answer for that, so she stayed quiet. She had no doubt that Mary Margaret would continue with her questions sooner rather than later. So, she just waited. It wasn't a long wait. "I was just a child Regina. I wanted a mother, or, or even just a friend. Someone to to..." Mary Margaret frowned, "To do what you just did now." She stared at Regina, "People don't change Regina. They're born the way they are. Period."

Regina shook her head, "No. Rumple wasn't born evil, I wasn't born evil. And Emma wasn't born good, you weren't born good. We're just born. And we change every day. Fate should have had Emma hating me. I took away her life, I put her in foster homes, some of which were..." Regina winced, "unimaginable. Foster homes instead of in your arms. But, when she looks at me, all I see is love in her eyes. I don't... understand it. But, someone once told me that I don't have to understand true love, I just have to accept it." Regina smiled, "And so every day I get up and try to be the woman that Emma sees when she sees me. So, I'm running for the seat for House District 48 as Unenrolled... not Democrat or Republican. Em convinced me not to start a Fairyland party. And every day I'm going to try and make up for every bad thing I've done."

"That was a lot of words."

Regina changed the subject, "Did Katherine come back? They reconciled?"

Mary Margaret nodded, "We were married, with this beautiful daughter before it all, and then we were apart and I didn't know he existed, and then, he's married, but he loves me, or he doesn't or he does or..." Mary Margaret sighed, "Now I've said too many words. I... before I met him, I want to go back to before I met him."

Regina glanced around, "Well, we could mine the causeway, hide you in our tower, or at least the second floor. You could room in the attic, but I wouldn't recommend it, it's not livable space." One side of Regina's lip curled into a half a smile, "But, in all seriousness, Henry would love it if you stayed."

"Why, why would you just stop... stop hating me for causing Daniel to die and... invite me into your house?"

"Because, I would do anything to make Emma and Henry happy, even trying to start over with you."

"Start over?"

Regina nodded, "My name's Regina. I have a son, Henry, who on occasion vexes me to no end. And yet I can't live without him. And a girlfriend, Emma, she's a bail enforcement agent, and she's pretty good at vexing me too, but I love her and she's also pretty great in be..."

"Regina- she's my daughter."

Regina stood, "We have a dog too. Black lab mix of some sort, likes to lick seagull poop off the rocks."

Mary Margaret stared up at Regina, "You're kidding?"

"As the primary cleaner of the dog I'm not. His name is Spot."

Mary Margaret gave Regina a curious look, "Didn't you just say he was a black lab?"

"Em and Henry named him. Ironically I think... I hope."

They fell silent until Mary Margaret shivered. Regina stood and moved to the causeway, coming back with Mary Margaret's clothes. After she had them back on she spoke, ""Oh, Xena gave me something to give to you." Mary Margaret reached in her pants pocket and took out a small ziplock bag with a note on its front and a bunch of seeds inside it.

She handed it to Regina, who recognized the seeds but read the note anyway, 'Your past is important. So, plant these so that with each new apple your past will merge with your future. X+G.' In a different handwriting under the first note was another short message that made Regina smile just a little, 'Yeah, what she just wrote. -X.'

Mary Margaret studied Regina, "You're smiling. And, you must be freezing?"

Regina folded the note and kept a good grip on the bag of apple seeds, "As I said, I did this before."

"...a lot?" Regina nodded, "I am sorry Regina, for my part in... all of this, past and present."

Regina avoided the conversation, changing the subject instead, "Let's go see what Em has cooking." Regina held out a hand, and after a moment Mary Margaret took it and was pulled up.

"Emma can cook?"

"She said, and I quote, 'With how bad a bounty hunter I started out as, I either had to learn to cook or starve'."

They started down the island's road, "She's not great with a toaster though. She destroyed mine."

A dog came sprinting at them, tail wagging very happily as Regina smirked, "Ah, yes, she did get rid of my top loading toaster awhile ago. We have an oven toaster."

Mary Margaret scratched behind Spot's ears. "You don't seem like an Evil Queen at the moment you know."

Regina's eyes twinkled, "Just wait until I'm President."

Fin ~ August 26, 2012