The Beauty of the Beast

Chapter 21

Regina had enjoyed the walk with Emma and Henry more than she had expected, especially because it had been a silent one.

And she had appreciated Emma's words more than she would ever admit.

The blonde really got her after all because what Regina really needed was some time and space. This whole "becoming a family" – project was a bit too overwhelming and she could not jump into it with both feet without thinking about the consequences.

She wanted it to work, at least for Henry's sake, maybe even a little bit for her own, but what if it would not work out for them?

Henry would be devastated and heartbroken and she would be…well, prbably the same.

Regina never had a real family, a caring one. A family based on respect and supporting one another, a family she could count and hold on to.

Maybe she could have that now with her son and Emma Swan. Maybe not.

Who knew?

She would lose more than ever if they would fail and she was not sure yet if she was actually willing to take that risk.

The mayor was aware of the fact that she should stop worrying so much because there was a pack of reports waiting for her, but she would not be able to concentrate enough to work through them properly, so she left her office and headed for her car.

She really needed to clear her head.

Meanwhile Emma and Henry had made it over to Granny's to get some hot chocolate and now that they were settled in their favorite booth the blonde sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, kid, nothing. I just realized once again…that this whole family thing…it will be a long way to get there…with Regina."

"I know, but we won't give up, right?" Henry looked at her, obviously worried and Emma gave him a reassuring smile, "Of course not, kid. We need to give your mom some time though…she will come around when she is ready…pushing her will lead nowhere because as long as Regina doesn't feel safe enough…she won't make a move into our direction."

"Okay, but how do we make her feel safe?"

Emma had known that Henry would ask that question, but she was not sure if she was able to answer it correctly, "Well...as I said…no pushing. We can't force her into this, kid. You understand that, right?" She looked at her son, who nodded quickly and so she continued with her explanation, "Regina has to do that out of her own free will…she has been manipulated and played her whole life and that's all she knows…that's why she did that to other people too…and it's our job to show your mom that being a family can be a good thing."

Regina was standing at the paddock, watching the stallion she had discovered the other day.

She did not know why she had come here of all places, but somehow that horse reminded her of herself.

The stallion had gotten worked up as she had come closer to the paddock, but once Regina had found a comfortable spot to stand at and had stopped moving, the imposing animal had started to calm down a little.

The mayor knew that the slightest movement could be fatal, so she did nothing, but watch the stallion in silence and to her own surprise Regina found that quite comforting.

She stood there for a while and then she recognized that the horse must have gotten curious after all because the stallion made a few steps forward before stopping again, eyeing her cautiously, which caused Regina to smile.

It was the littlest step, but at least it was a step forward.

Emma and Henry had spent the afternoon at the Charmings apartment and although Mary Margaret had insisted to cook them dinner, the blonde had declined.

The afternoon had been nice and Emma had not wanted to stay for too long because she knew things would get out of control at some point.

And she was not ready for another battle against herself, but once David would start ranting, and at some point he would, Emma would not be able to stop herself from freaking out and there was no way she would risk that, especially not in the presence of her son.

There was another reason for not having dinner with her parents too. It simply would have meant that Regina would have to eat dinner alone and Emma did not want that. She had planned to pick up food from Granny's before she would bring Henry back and then the mayor and her son could eat together because it was important for Henry to get to spend some time with his mother.

Emma had to smile because of her newfound thoughtfulness and once she had told Henry about her idea he had been overjoyed and so they had left to pick up Regina's favorite food from the diner.

Regina had pulled into the driveway when Emma had called to check if the brunette already was back from the office and the brunette had wondered why Henry would be home around dinner time.

Was there no dinner at the Charmings tonight?

But before Regina could have started to question that there had been a knock on the door.

When she had caught sight of Emma and her son, both of them holding bags from Granny's in their hands, Regina had feared an invasion, but the blonde had surprised her once again, "We've brought dinner, I hope you don't mind. I thought it would save you time and you could spend some time with your son tonight."

Regina had stood there, not knowing what to respond to that because obviously Emma was not joining them and she was relieved because she would not have dared to tell the blonde off because of Henry. It did not mean that she had not enjoyed their family time together because she actually had, but right now she needed a break. The changes in her life were happening so quickly that she really needed to slow down a bit or she would freak out at some point.

"Mom, can we watch Spiderman after dinner?" Henry's question snapped the mayor back to reality in the end.

Regina rolled her eyes, but agreed none-the-less and Emma smiled satisfied.

"Good night, Regina."

That said the blonde turned round and walked away, but she still heard the mayor's words.

"Good night, Miss Swan. And thank you."

The next few days Regina had spent most of her time in her office, busy with reports, phone calls, meetings and listening to the complaints of Storybrooke's citizens.

And she had managed to get at least an hour every day to stop by at the stables, checking the stallion because of her growing fascination for the impressive animal.

Regina was proud that there was some real progress within the stallion's behavior because the horse did not get as worked up anymore when she showed up and he started to come closer a few steps every day.

It was beautiful to watch how that stallion became more used to her presence with every day, how the animal got more curious and brave and Regina realized once again that they had a lot in common.

They were two haunted souls, trying to regain their trust in others and in themselves.

Thursday afternoon Emma and Henry met up after school and the blonde knew the second she caught sight of her son that something had to be wrong.

Henry seemed to be down-hearted and disillusioned and it hurt Emma to see him like that.

"What's up, kid? Troubles at school?"

"No. School was okay…it's just…I thought mom would…well…I thought she would make an attempt at some point to spend at least a little time with…us." He stopped right on the street, facing the blonde, "What if she doesn't want this family thing after all?"

Emma knelt down in front of her son, pulling him into a hug, "Don't give up now, kid. I told you this might take a while…it's not easy for Regina. Give her the time she needs, can you do that?"

She had tried to sound as convincing as possible, but Emma had to admit that there were times when she doubted that the mayor would come around one day as well. But she had to believe in it, she could not lose faith. They were put to the test, all of them.

"I'm trying, but mom is acting weird. She disappears from her office, yesterday she left right after she came home from work…well, after she had made sure that I was okay, but still…and where did she go?" Henry could not hide his disappointment and the blonde became highly alerted, "How do you know that she disappeared from her office, kid?"

"I wanted to surprise her after school on Tuesday. She was supposed to be there…but she wasn't."

Emma had promised Henry to figure out what was going on because he was honestly worried about Regina's well-being and so the blonde followed the mayor's car the next day when the brunette left her office around lunch time.

And the sheriff was kind of surprised to find herself at the stables some minutes later, but the even bigger surprise was that Regina had went straight for the farthest paddock, had went straight to see the horse Emma considered crazy and dangerous.

She grabbed the field glasses to get a better look at the scenery and what she saw made Emma hold her breath.

Regina was leaning against the paddock, the horse obviously a lot calmer than the week before, and only a few steps away from the mayor.

Her instincts told her to run and get Regina away from there, but Emma knew better than that and so she kept watching.

The horse seemed to be eyeing the mayor and the other way round and after a while Regina opened her hand slowly, but the animal did not step back.

Emma wondered what was going on because it made no sense to her. Had the mayor been here every day since last Saturday?

But when the horse stepped forward once more, careful not to get too close to Regina, Emma knew that the mayor had indeed been here when she had disappeared from the town. She had disappeared to bond with a horse, that seemed to be broken. Like Regina.

And that thought was the missing part of the puzzle. Now it all made sense.

The mayor did try to get better, she only did it her own way.

Saturday morning Emma drove over to the mansion to pick up her son for his riding lesson and she was not really surprised when Regina announced that she would join them.

Henry on the other hand had glared at his mother in disbelief, but once he had realized that Regina was serious he had hugged her tight. The mayor clearly had not expected that, Emma could tell by the incredulous expression on Regina's face and she had to smile.

There was a long, long journey ahead of them.

As soon as they had arrived at the stables Regina had left for the paddocks and Henry had started to brush his pony and Emma stood there all by herself, feeling a bit misplaced.

She had brought the field glasses again, simply because she wanted to take another look from the distance – to make sure that Regina was okay.

When the riding teacher showed up Emma could not stop herself from asking about the mysterious horse though.

"His name is Melech. He has been a very promising stallion before the fire in the stables. We were able to get all the horses out in time, except for him. Half of his face was burned and since that day he is not the same anymore. Nobody can touch him or go near him and that's why he might be put down one of these days."

Emma's thoughts started to race. They wanted to kill a healthy horse because it had suffered a trauma? That could not happen. It would break Regina's heart if the horse would be gone from one day to the next. She would talk to her about that later.

"It's a very unusual name. Do you know what it means?" The blonde had wondered all the way, so why shouldn't she ask.

"Melech is Hebrew and it means King."

And right then and there Emma Swan knew that this could not be a coincidence.

This had to be part of the mayor's destiny.

Regina, the queen and Melech, the king.

That truly made perfect sense.

Regina had returned in time to watch Henry during his second riding lesson, a big smile on her face. For once because she was proud for son and second because the stallion had came so close that she had been able to feel his warm breath on her hand and that experience had made her see that it was time for herself to take a step forward. Just one, but she had to get moving.

When they returned to the mansion after a great day at the stables, Emma walked Henry and the mayor to the door, ready to say good bye, but Regina interrupted her all of a sudden, "Miss Swan, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us?"