Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic New Year! Here is my first update of 2016!
Henry walked through the house feeling happy to be back. He had enjoyed the last six months with his mom as a toddler but he had also missed her and had missed staying at his house. He walked into the living room to see Regina sat on the sofa, her legs tucked under her and watching Tom and Jerry. He smiled and walked further into the living room flopping down onto the sofa alerting Regina to his presence.
"So being a kid for six months has rubbed off on you then." Henry said nodding towards the TV.
"It seems so. I guess being a toddler for six months and constantly wanting to watch cartoons doesn't exactly wear off quickly. I had a sudden urge to watch Tom and Jerry and then the TV changed." Regina replied. "I have to admit I still love it as much as I did as a toddler."
"It's awesome that's why. If you had given it a proper chance before you would have realised that!" Henry said and Regina laughed a little.
She settled back a little and rolled her head to look at Henry. "You have grown since I last saw you."
"You saw me yesterday." Henry said.
Regina smiled. "I mean since I last saw you. Six months ago saw you." Regina said. "You look so grown up Henry." Regina placed a hand on his cheek and rubbed her thumb over him softly.
"So have you." Henry grinned and Regina laughed.
"I should hope I do." Regina replied.
"How are things with grandma and grandpa? Have you forgiven them?" Henry asked.
"Yes…I'm forgiving them and giving them a chance. It still might take me a little while to get used to but I am giving them a chance." Regina replied. They then both heard a meow below them and Regina pushed herself up to see her little kitten standing at the sofa looking up at her. "Well hello there cutie." Regina said leaning down and picking the kitten up.
"It is so cool that grandma got you a kitten. Although I was sure you were not going to be happy about it. You always told me I couldn't get a pet." Henry said.
Regina shrugged her shoulders. "I know but look at her. Look at those big cute eyes. How could you resist? And she looks like a tiger." Regina said happily running her fingers over the kittens fur, the kitten purring happily on her lap. "You aren't scarred are you? Having seen me as a toddler…and been older than me for six months…"
Henry shook his head and laughed a little. "No I'm not scarred. It was kinda cool. You were quite cute and very funny."
"I was funny?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yea. You sang like all the time and liked to show off. You were definitely not shy. What was super funny was when grandma had to tell you off and put you on time out. That was kinda weird to see too." Henry said.
Regina blushed a little. "Remind me…how many people saw an outburst?"
"You were pretty good to be honest. It never really happened around other people. The only one time was…"
"Christmas." Regina said finishing Henry's sentence as the memory hit her. She brought her hand up and smacked her forehead in embarrassment. "I insisted that I needed to go and see my horse and you were to come with me…"
Henry nodded his head. "Yes and when grandma said you couldn't you were not happy. You even hit her. I think everyone was surprised at that one."
"Oh god." Regina groaned as she rested her head back on the sofa. "I wasn't allowed dinner until I finished my time out."
"Yea…I think grandma felt really guilty about that one." Henry said.
"She needn't have. She was right to do what she did. No child likes time out. You certainly never did." Regina replied.
Henry nodded his head and his gaze fell to the TV. "Hey can we go see your horse? You haven't seen her yet as an adult."
Regina smiled. "Yea. Just let me get changed." She said as she handed the kitten over to Henry and pushed herself up from the sofa.
Henry and Regina were now at the stables with Cora. Rumple had had to go into the shop and Regina had insisted that Cora join them. Cassie seemed to know Regina even if she was an adult now and this made Regina smile. She fed a carrot to her and petted her nose. "Good girl." Regina said. "I cannot believe you both got me a horse and a cat. You really did spoil me rotten."
"Well we wanted to give you everything we could. We wanted you to be happy." Cora said.
"And you wondered why I started throwing tantrums at you." Regina smirked.
"Oh you didn't throw that many tantrums. Just the odd one here and there." Cora shrugged. She hadn't stopped looking at Regina the whole time they had been out. Regina was now dressed in tan riding trousers and a white blouse. Her hair was pulled back off of her face and Cora thought she just looked beautiful.
Regina turned slightly catching her mother staring at her. She frowned a little and tucked a piece of hair that had escaped behind her ear. "What are you looking at me like that for?" Regina asked.
"No reason…you just…you look beautiful." Cora said and Regina blushed a little.
"Mom…" Regina said slowly.
"You called me mom…"
"Yea well you are my mom." Regina said frowning.
"You haven't called me that since you got older. You have always called me mother." Cora said.
"Oh…sorry…" Regina started but Cora stopped her and shook her head.
She reached up and placed both her hands on both of Regina's cheeks. "No don't apologise. I like it." Cora said softly.
"Okay…Mom." Regina replied with a small smile which Cora returned. Cora then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Regina's forehead.
"Hey mom can I ride Cassie?" Henry asked breaking through Cora and Regina's moment. Regina cleared her throat a little and pulled away from her. She turned on her heel and walked over to Henry. "Can I please? Your here so I'll be fine."
"Yes of course you can Henry." Regina replied. Maybe it was going to be as hard as she thought to bond with her mother.
After the stables they all went home. Regina got changed again out of her riding gear and back into the dress she had been in earlier than morning. She then decided to go out for a walk around the town. She had asked Cora to look after Henry wanting a little time on her own. She pulled her coat closer to her as she walked along the street looking around her as she did so.
She found herself stopping outside of Rumple's shop. She looked up at it and then found herself walking in. The bell above the door tingled and Rumple looked up from behind the counter with a smile as he saw Regina walking in. "Hello Regina." He said.
"Hello…" Regina said. She still found it hard to call him her farther. Over the last six months she had done nothing but call him daddy but now she wasn't quite sure what to call him. It was still a little weird to her.
"Are you alright?" Rumple asked her as he leaned on the counter a little.
Regina bit her lip a little as she walked through the shop, glancing over the objects he had on display. "Yes I'm alright. I was just out for some air and found myself here." Regina replied. She stopped as she saw a cuddly toy Mickey Mouse in one of the cabinets.
Rumple watched her and smiled as he saw her stop there. "When you grew up it found its way back here." Rumple said as he walked round the counter to where Regina was stood. He leaned down and lifted the toy Mickey Mouse from the cabinet and held it out to her. "You can have it back if you want it. I did give him to you after all."
"Really?" Regina asked with a small smile gracing her lips.
"Of course. I know how much you loved it." Rumple said.
Regina took the toy from him and held it close to her. "Thank you." she said softly as she looked down at it. "Dad." She added on quickly. She hadn't been sure if it would sound right but she found it actually sounded quite nice.
Rumple smiled at Regina calling him dad. He liked it. It sounded good. "You're welcome." He replied. The word princess almost slipped past his lips but he stopped himself. He had a feeling Regina wouldn't be too keen on being called princess any more.
"I wasn't sure whether to call you dad…or father…or I used to call my father papa when I was younger." Regina said as she started to walk around the shop again. "I don't think papa or daddy would be appropriate now." she said turning to look back at Rumple.
"Dad is good. I like that." Rumple replied.
Regina nodded. "Good…" She said.
"I presume you wouldn't want me to call you princess any more…I am sure you have grown out of that now…" He said and Regina breathed out a laugh.
"I think I might have grown out of it yes." Regina replied. "But if we're alone you could maybe call me it…you know every so often…" Regina shrugged. "I wanted to say thank you for the locket. I know I said it yesterday but I don't think my toddler self really understood just how much it would mean to me. It is lovely and I do truly love it."
"You are most welcome. I had a feeling you would like it." Rumple said.
"You clearly know me better than I thought you did." Regina smirked. "I was thinking I was going to invite everyone round for dinner tonight…I guess celebrate my growing old once more and I was wondering if you and Belle would like to come over?"
"I would love to…and I know Belle would love to as well. We will be there." Rumple said happily.
"Good." Regina smiled she then turned on her heel and walked towards the door. "Be there by seven…" She said with one last smile before walking out of the shop.
After dinner Henry had revealed that he had brought all the videos he had recorded while Regina had been a toddler. Regina had tried to convince her son just give her the videos and then they needn't talk about them ever again but Neal had other ideas and being the big brother wanted to wind his little sister up.
"Henry why don't you put one on. Let's remind everyone what cute little Regina was like." Neal smirked.
Regina turned round and glared at her brother. "Stop encouraging him. I wouldn't push me you have no idea what I am capable of." Regina warned pointing her finger at Neal.
Neal just continued to smirk at her. "That would be more threatening if I didn't know you so well now and I hadn't seen you as a cute three year old for the past six months."
"You might be my brother but I will still kick your ass." Regina threw back.
"Regina what did I say last time." Rumple frowned.
"Yea yea watch the language." Regina sighed and rolled her eyes making both Emma and Henry laugh a little. Regina turned round and eyed Henry again. "Henry give me the videos."
Neal stood behind Regina and gave Henry a little wink before he quickly moved round Regina crouched down a little and lifted her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift making Regina squeal and everyone else in the room laugh. "Quick Henry out one of the videos in." Neal laughed.
"Neal put me down!" Regina squealed as he spun around a little with her in his arms. "I swear to god Neal."
"It's alright dad will help me out right?" Neal said as he looked towards Rumple.
Rumple held his arms up in mock surrender. "Sorry but you're on your own now. I wouldn't be going against her."
"Neal put me down." Regina whined a little as she hit Neal's back.
"I will put you down if you promise not to do anything to me." Neal said.
"I can't promise that." Regina huffed.
"Well you will just have to stay where you are." Neal shrugged.
"Dad tell him to put me down." Regina whined.
Henry laughed as he watched them and leaned over to Cora. "They really aren't acting their age."
Cora laughed. "They had a lot of time to catch up on. I think Neal will be annoying Regina quite a bit to get the whole annoying big brother out of his system."
Henry nodded with a smile and pressed play and a little Regina appeared on the TV. Neal shifted Regina on his shoulder and he helped her down. They both looked over to the TV and Regina watched as the little version of herself sat on the floor a tea set perfectly set out and dolls and teddy bears sitting around her. She was talking to them and pouring out 'tea' into cups. She smiled a little as she watched. "I liked to take videos when you were playing with your toys. I thought it was kinda cute. You talked to them as if they were real."
"All children think their toys are real." Regina said as she stared at the TV. The video then switched and Regina was now dressed in a princess dress and was dancing around the living room while singing. Regina laughed a little and she sat down on the sofa beside her mother, never taking her eyes off of the TV. "I done that a lot."
Cora nodded. "Yes you did. You were a performer that's for sure."
"That's just a nice way of saying a show off." Regina replied and Cora laughed at that.
"You were cute." Neal said nudging her.
"Were?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Kinda creepy if I think you are still cute." Neal shrugged.
"Good point." Regina replied. They all sat back and watched as the video switched again and then once that video was finished Henry put on the other one. It went through a couple of scenes before showing Regina at Granny's Christmas party at the diner. Regina smiled as she saw her with her mother and father talking to Santa and how her confidence seemed to grow and her shyness disappear. "Thank you." Regina said and she placed her hand on her mothers.
"What for?" Cora asked.
"Everything." Regina replied and leaned into her mother a little more and she continued to watch some of the moments of her childhood over the past 6 months.