Zelena didn't give up easily, much to Regina's dismay and annoyance, and she stood there face to face, ready to square off. Zelena stared at her, long and hard, before raising her hands up in surrender with a laugh.

"We're going out tonight," she said. "Girls night out. Are you in?"

"In?"

"Oh, bloody hell, I'm inviting you, Regina," Zelena replied and rolled her eyes incredulously. "Seven at the Rabbit Hole. We're all going to be there."

"I am leaving as soon as the will is read," Regina said tightly. "And do I have to keep reminding you that I don't drink anymore, Zelena, because it's getting old fast."

"Tsk," Zelena scoffed. "You're no fun, Regina. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Aside from you? No."

Zelena began to laugh but the laughter died in an instant as soon as their mother walked into the kitchen with a sad, forlorn look upon her face. She gave a curt nod when she noticed the tea and biscuits had already been put out on the tray and she turned to both of her daughters with a small shake of her head.

"I thought Emma was here?" Cora asked quietly. "I swore I heard her voice earlier."

"She went to pick up Henry," Regina responded. "They should be back shortly."

Cora sighed. "Mr. Spencer is waiting. I know that I told you girls it wouldn't start until eleven, but Mr. Spencer is pushing to start sooner," she said. "We're just about ready for you to join us."

"Spencer? Albert Spencer?" Regina asked, scoffing as her mother just stared blankly at her. "Albert Spencer is your lawyer? Really, Mother?" She shook her head in disbelief. "That man is nothing more than a conniving crook. I can't believe that you and Daddy-"

"Regina, please," Cora said sharply, the tone in her voice warning enough that she was a force not to be reckoned with at the moment. "Albert is an old friend. He graciously offered and he is doing this for your father, if not for anything else. Now, where are the children? We should get started."

"Emma went to pick Henry up," Zelena reminded her patiently even though Regina had told her that just moments earlier. "Robyn should be down any second now as well. We will get started when Emma and Henry arrive. How about you take the tea and biscuits into the study and we'll be right there, all right?"

"Yes, yes of course," Cora murmured and she moved to pick the tray up with shaky hands, the confusion clear on her face as she took a deep breath to steady herself and then another. "Try not to take too long. Mr. Spencer has already offered up enough of his time as it is this morning."

Regina turned to her sister with wide eyes after she caught the strong whiff of alcohol her mother left in her wake. "Is she drunk?" she hissed. "It's barely eight o'clock!"

"In Mother's mind, that no longer matters," Zelena drawled out tiredly, her English accent she'd acquired of years of school in London sounding heavier than normal. "You didn't know, did you? Daddy never told you, did he?"

"Told me what? That mother is an alcoholic now?"

"Now?" Zelena laughed. "She's always been a drinker, dear. You've just had rose-colored blinders on for far too long. I suppose you only just noticed now because of your own problems, hmm?"

The jab was too much. Regina clenched her fists at her side and her anger flared. "Did I not just tell you to not talk about things that you do not understand, Zelena?" Regina asked, her voice tight and strained. She took a few deep breaths as Zelena just stared at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "I do not know what Daddy told you, but I am not-"

"You're nothing like Mother?" Zelena finished for her. "What, you didn't start when you first woke up or were still drinking from the night before at this time in the morning? You binged, didn't you? For days, sometimes weeks, hmm? It is the same thing, Regina. Alcoholism is the same whether you drink all day, every day, or binge, or even just have a glass or two every night, night after night. It is the same fucking thing!"

"I am not and will never be anything like Mother. You can compare me to her all you want, but you have no idea what I went through or what I've been through. Absolutely no idea."

"No, I don't. You're right," Zelena snarked. "Why? Because you left. You left and you cut us all out of your life. Everyone but Daddy. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't know a damn thing about you, about what you've been doing all this time, about what kind of life that you've been living and we-"

"How long is it going to take for you to let that go?"

"When you're a part of this family again, Regina."

It had been hard for her to return to Storybrooke and yet she had no idea it would hurt so damn much at the same time. Her heart was broken, shattered, over her father's sudden death and coming home to Storybrooke had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to do. What she didn't know before was how shaken it would leave her feeling to come back to her family, to hear the things her own sister was saying that hurt so very deeply.

She hadn't noticed her mother's drinking, but then again, she'd hardly spent any time with her since her return home for the funeral. Her mother's drinking problem was more than just a little eye-opener, it was a shock since she was so certain that despite her not ever asking about anyone when she was her father, that he would've at least mentioned that to her.

He never did. He never talked about anyone because she never asked.

She had just walked away when she left, not just from Emma and from Henry, but from her own family and she hadn't looked back, she hadn't cared enough to look back even once. And that was just a tiny part of the huge burden of guilt she now carried around every single day.

Sadly, Regina hadn't cared about her own family for a very long time with the exception of her father as he had always been the only one who had been there without judgment, without some ulterior motive, and with nothing but unconditional love. She couldn't say that about her own mother or her sister, either. She had all but moved on with her life without them being a part of it and it had been her choice, a choice she'd made the day she left and vowed never to return.

She had forgotten about where she'd come from by choice, forgotten who she had been before because she was not that person anymore. Not by a long shot. She had forgotten than others loved her just as her father had and worst of all, she'd forgotten what it was like to be a part of her own family. She had even forgotten what it was like to have a family of her own with Emma and Henry.

And it felt like fucking torture now knowing all that she could've had and had lost.

It all felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. Living a life that was hers and wasn't at the same time.

Ten years was a very long time, too long to just make amends easily. Did she even want to make amends with her family? To find a way to be a part of her own family again? It was easier with her father because she hadn't stopped seeing him or talking to him on a semi-regular basis, but it wasn't going to be easy with her mother, with Zelena and Robyn, and it definitely wasn't going to be easy with Emma and Henry either. Then again, nothing in her life had ever been easy, not since she'd left and definitely not before. There had always been challenges and hurdles to get through, but making amends with her family, it felt like it'd be the biggest one yet.

Regina had been so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't realize she was now alone in the kitchen until she heard the sound of Emma's voice out in the foyer. She ran her hands through her hair with a heavy sigh and mentally tried to prepare herself for what was to come during the reading of the will. What she didn't expect, though, was for Emma and Henry to come strolling into the kitchen just seconds later with Zelena following almost immediately behind them.

"Robyn up yet?" Henry asked with a yawn. "Why does this have to be so early?"

"Robyn should be down any moment now," Zelena replied. "As to why it is so early, I haven't the foggiest idea, but you can ask Cora if you have a death wish today, dear."

Henry laughed, held up his hands, and shook his head. "No thanks, I'd like to live to see my sixteenth birthday at the very least." He laughed again and it died as he glanced at Regina just for a second. "Is there anything to eat? Mom wouldn't let me grab something before we left. Dragged me outta bed and outta the house. Barely even had the chance to get my pants on, too."

"You know where the cereal is," Zelena said flippantly as she pointed to the pantry cupboard. "You could've at least let him get dressed before you dragged him out of the house, Emma."

"Doesn't matter now, does it?"

"True."

Regina watched the scene unfold, watching how easy they were with one another. The thing that really got to her, however, was really seeing how different Henry was now. He was older, sure, as he was practically a man but not quite there yet. She couldn't even barely see the little boy she used to know, the one she'd known for the first five years of his life. That little boy was long gone, replaced by a hormonal teenager with a voice that was changing, deepening, cracking at random intervals. She looked at him carefully, inconspicuously, and she tried to look past his lanky frame, his ill-fitting clothes, the shaggy hair that was too long and fell over his eyes, and she especially tried her hardest to look past the scowl that slid into place with ease when he looked at her again.

She wasn't sure what kind of person Henry was now, but what she saw standing before her wasn't quite what she'd had in her mind of how Henry would turn out as he grew up. Was he going through that awkward phase, one most teenagers do at a certain age, or had he already gone through that and was well on the way to figuring out just who he was? Or was he just another typical teenager, rebellious and figuring out his place in the world still? Did he know what he wanted out of life or what kind of man he wanted to end up being? Was he striving to be anything like his deadbeat father or was he already on that path unknowingly?

It only added to the heavy burden of guilt in her heart because she just didn't know any of these things. It made her heart ache more so, too, because with that came the reminder that she had missed the last ten years of his life and he was, as she was to him, a stranger now.

"As you know, Robyn is in the middle of a rather stubborn streak," Zelena said to Emma. "I'm surprised that either of them wanted to be here, actually. This stubborn streak both of these children are going through has lasted what, two years now?" Zelena said pointedly at Henry and he groaned, rolled his eyes, and took his bowl of cereal out to the dining room. "Sometimes I wonder just what it'd take to get through those thick skulls of theirs."

"They're here," Emma replied. "We gave them the option of being here for this or not. They're here. That's all that Dad-I mean, what Henry would've wanted."

Regina didn't miss the fact that Emma had referred to her father as 'Dad'. She had never heard Emma once call him that before when they were together. She didn't even realize that Emma looked at her father as hers, too. It felt strange, odd. Just downright weird.

"Of course," Zelena said with a nod of agreement. "So, are we still going out tonight? Seven at the Rabbit Hole. Everyone is coming."

"Yeah, of course. I'll be there," Emma replied. "Only got a half-shift today too, which I'm now spending here," she added with a laugh. "Booth asked for some overtime. What good is having a few deputies if I can't take time off on a weekend, hmm?"

"That is exactly the only thing they are good for," Zelena chuckled. "So, you will be there tonight?"

"Yeah." Emma nodded. "I'll be there."

"Regina?" Zelena looked over at her pointedly. "Will you come tonight, too?"

"No, I-I already told you, Zelena, I'm leaving right after the will is read."

"Tsk," Zelena scoffed. "You're no fun anymore, Regina. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"You did not even ten minutes ago."

"Emma, convince her to come tonight," Zelena said, practically begging as she stared at Emma with big, wide eyes. "Please? I need to go get Robyn moving. I'll throttle her if she'd gone back to sleep. Then, if I haven't murdered her, we can see about speeding up this whole dreadful affair and get it all over and done with."

Zelena marched out of the kitchen without another word, just an exaggerated shake of her head in true Zelena fashion. Regina too shook her head as she turned to look over at Emma. Emma just stood there with her arms now crossed over her chest and a tentative smile dancing over her lips. Emma was the first to look away but her eyes didn't wander for long until she looked at Regina again.

"I never would've imagined, not even for a second, that you and my sister would end up being friends," Regina stated and Emma let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I never saw it coming, either," she said with a small, polite smile. She dropped her arms and leaned up against the counter. "Is it that hard to believe?"

"Everything that I've been hearing about and seeing these past couple of days has been hard to believe, honestly."

"Things are a lot different now."

"Yes. I can see that."

"I didn't-it was Da-I mean, your father, who uh came to check in on us after you left. He's the reason why we're here now, I guess," Emma stammered. "He was worried about us. Concerned, I guess. He made sure we were still a part of the family even long after you were gone."

"I don't want to talk about this," Regina said tightly. "There is a reason why I never asked him about any of you. If you can't respect my decision to-"

"I know that." Emma frowned. She wasn't giving up easily. Regina could see that stubborn look in her eyes. At least that remained the same after all that time. "Once we realized you really weren't coming back, Regina, that you had moved on with your life, we tried to do the same thing. I-I just wanted you to know that."

"That you and Henry moved on with your lives? I'm glad. You should've."

"We did. I did."

"Good."

Emma stopped talking then, but Regina knew she was holding back. She knew because she knew that look in Emma's eyes all too well. She didn't push. She never did push Emma at moments like that and ten years away wasn't going to change that. There were a lot of things she still didn't know and things that she did want to know, she just wasn't sure when she'd be ready for all of it. She felt stuck in the middle of being pulled in two different directions, one wanting to know and the other wanting to leave because she already knew more than she'd been prepared for.

The tension between them was new, too. It made Regina feel a little uncomfortable and it also left her longing for the way things had been between them in the past as well.

Zelena walked back into the kitchen then, saving them from the awkward tension that had settled between them in the few minutes they'd been alone. Robyn was right behind her, grumbling under her breath tiredly as she drudged her way over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of orange juice.

"I thought this whole thing wasn't supposed to be until eleven?" Robyn asked. "Why is the lawyer here this early anyway?"

"Well, your beloved grandmother decided to go over a few last-minute things and this is done now," Zelena answered and she grabbed a glass from the cupboard and yanked the bottle of orange juice from Robyn's hands before she could drink straight from it. "You'll be able to go back to bed shortly, dear. And use a damn glass. I didn't raise you to be a bloody farm animal, did I?"

"Baah!"

"Can't," Henry said as he came back into the kitchen then. "We're gonna head over to Nick's place right after. He finally finished building the half-pipe last night and we're gonna go hang out and test it out, you know, the usual."

"Is that cool, Ma?" Robyn asked her mother and Zelena just stared blankly at her. "Come on, it's summer!" she whined when Zelena didn't immediately answer her. "We're here like you asked. What more do you want, Ma? Besides, isn't it girl's night tonight? You both will be out drinking and having fun with all your friends. Why are we allowed to do the same?"

"Because you are both far too young to be drinking with your friends," Emma said as she stepped forward to stand at Zelena's side. "Summer or not, you have chores, both of you. And you," she said as she looked over at Henry. "You have a curfew you haven't been following lately, Hen."

"I know," he groaned. "Eleven. On the dot. Not a second or a half hour longer," he muttered. "I know, Mom. We know. Don't worry, we're not staying at Nick's place all day. We were gonna go down to the harbor and hang out with a few others later, get a bite to eat, or whatever."

"You have chores that needed to be done days ago, kid."

"Yeah, I'll get to them, Mom, don't worry."

"Oh, I worry."

"You shouldn't." Henry paused to rinse his bowl out in the sink. "We won't be late, Mom. I promise. We're just gonna hang out at the harbor later, that's all."

Regina might not have been around for the last decade but she knew that Henry was lying. Robyn, too. Zelena and Emma knew it too because they exchanged a look and both shook their heads at the two teenagers in front of them. It was Zelena who then quickly ushered everyone out of the kitchen as soon as they heard Cora calling for them to hurry up. Regina fell behind once they approached the study and she waited for the others to go inside first.

A wave of guilt flooded through her when she saw her family settled down on the two sofas in the study and the lawyer, Albert Spencer, was standing by the fireplace gingerly sipping from his teacup as he waited for everyone to sit down so that they could get started. She could barely stand the guilt that was beginning to swallow her up whole. It was too much. Everything was becoming just far too much to handle. Being home, being around everyone again, it was just opening up old wounds in her heart that she still wasn't ready to face yet. It made her feel weak, and weakness was not something she dealt with well at all.

"Regina, come," Cora said as she waved her over and patted on the cushion next to her. "Mr. Spencer would like to get started now. Come and sit down, please."

Regina took in the very sight of her mother, with her eyes red and glassy and not just from the tears that had been shed that morning thus far. Knowing it was more than grief was another heavy burden upon itself and one she knew, with only being a few days over her ninety days of sobriety, she wasn't willing to place upon herself. Regina hesitantly entered the study and took a seat beside her mother on the sofa.

"Are you all right, Mother?" she asked as she reached out for her mother's trembling hand. Cora nodded, smiling sadly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, dear. I'm fine. Let's just get started, shall we? Mr. Spencer, whenever you are ready."

The man in front of the fireplace cleared his throat and placed the teacup on the saucer that was sitting on top of the mantle. He cleared his throat again as he picked up a white binder off of the coffee table and opened it slowly. Regina chose not to look at anyone in the room then, her eyes settling on the gray-haired lawyer standing before them wearing a pristine, freshly pressed black Armani suit. She watched him intensely as he fixed his deep red tie, smoothing it down with one hand as she held the binder in the other. Upon Cora's curt and insistent nod, he began.

"Let it be noted that Henry Mills' last will and testament was changed no less than three weeks ago to accommodate some recent changes in his life, most notably the Sour Apple Brewery that hopefully is still slated to open to production in the fall," he said and he licked his left index finger before flipping the page. "There is nothing more important in this world, in our lives, than family, whether they be by blood or by choice. A man had one sole purpose in life and this is to fulfill his duty to protect his family, to guide them, to take care of them, even in death…"

[X]

Regina hastily zipped up her suitcase and took one last look around her childhood bedroom and all of the little memories it still held within its four walls. She was still feeling heavy-hearted, more so now that the will had been read and a few surprises had been dished out. The only one not surprised, of course, was the lawyer, as he had been the one that drafted up her father's last will and testament a handful of weeks ago.

The house, of course, had been left to her mother. Her father had left the brewery under her full control as well, with a portion of the stock, forty percent of it, to be split between Regina and Zelena evenly. His beloved horse, Lady, was left to Regina with some very specific instructions for her to not only care for the horse but to visit once a week to take the golden Arabian out for a long ride on the trails she and her father frequented many years ago. Those three things hadn't been surprising, they'd been expected, especially when it came to her father's horse.

No, the biggest surprise, at least to Regina, was concerning the life insurance policy and how it was going to be split between all of them. Two and a half million dollars, Albert Spencer informed them, and it was to be split evenly between Cora, Zelena, Regina, and Emma. Two and a half million dollars split four ways let them with a little over six-hundred thousand dollars each. The other surprise came when Emma flat out refused to take the money that was being offered until Cora had convinced her that it was exactly what Henry Mills had wanted to do and that she too wanted the very same thing as her late husband.

"You are a part of this family, Emma. Henry wanted to make sure that his family was well taken care of when it was his time to leave us and that includes you and your son."

The other surprise was that Henry Mills had set up two trust funds, one in Robyn's name and one in Henry's. It was a detail that nobody, not even Cora had been aware of and the surprise was evident when the lawyer revealed that those trusts had been in place for over a decade. The money would be available to them for educational purposes, but if they chose not to pursue further education, the trust would remain locked and released to them at the age of twenty-five.

Neither of them knew how to react, just like nobody else had during the entire reading of the will. They stayed silent, but even Regina could see just how delighted they both were knowing they were set for the future either way, no matter which path they took in life. They were both excused shortly after that by Cora, who sensed the fact that they wanted to be anywhere but there. Regina too wanted to be anywhere but there, but unlike the two teenagers, she was not excused and she was fully expected to stay.

There were other things in her father's will and one of them was the rather large and generous donation that would be made from his pension through the school board to the boys and girls club that he co-founded twenty years ago, but there was a stipulation attached. The donation would only be made on his behalf if Regina agreed to take over his chair on the board. There was another equally generous donation being made to the school where he had spent his entire career teaching, first as a beloved fourth-grade teacher and then as the principal. The lawyer pointed out that he wanted it to be done anonymously and like the first, it also had a stipulation attached to it.

Regina wondered if her father had hoped that once he had passed and she came back for her final goodbye that she would stay. The stipulation was much like the first one and it required her to serve as the honoree advisor on the parent/teacher board at both the elementary and high school. It was a voluntary position he had taken even after he retired and one he quite obviously wanted to pass on to his own daughter one day.

She felt blindsided. And guilty, too, because she wasn't going to be staying. And that made that burden of guilt feel heavier than it had before.

She really didn't know how to feel about any of it either. The reading of her father's last will and testament made everything feel so final. It was why, after the lawyer left, she retreated to her old bedroom to make sure she had packed everything, wanting nothing more at that moment to have any excuse to get out of that room. Emma had left right after her to return to work at the station. Robyn and Henry headed out soon after too, to their friend Nick's house with their skateboards after a lengthily lecture from Zelena about staying out of trouble Regina heard loud and clear all the way upstairs in her room. Her mother retreated to her own room, claiming to Zelena that the morning had completely drained her and she would be laying down for a little while. And soon after that, Regina heard Zelena leave too, the sound of the door closing heavily behind her echoing through the quiet house.

With a heavy sigh, Regina lifted her suitcase off the bed and her eyes drifted over to her desk. Without a second thought, she walked over, pulled open the bottom drawer and lifted up the false bottom. She took out the envelope with the pictures she'd put away there a long time ago and after some hesitation, she unzipped the front pocket of her suitcase and stuck the envelope inside.

The house, she decided, was too quiet as she walked down the winding staircase. Her footsteps echoed off the walls and as she took the last step, the front door opened and her niece walked in carrying her skateboard, her brown hair messily pulled back into a ponytail and there was a small streak of dirt across her sweaty forehead.

"Leaving now, are ya?" Robyn asked as she pointed to the suitcase. "I supposed it was inevitable, wasn't it, Auntie Regina?"

"Yes, well, I never planned to stay this long, and I have-"

"A life to get back to," Robyn finished for her drolly. She shrugged and then smiled at her. "I get it. I might be young, but I ain't stupid. Not like the way everyone else thinks I am"

"I don't think you are," Regina said with a small, warm smile. "I thought you and Henry went out to your friend's house? To test out his pipe?"

Robyn laughed at Regina's confusion. "Half-pipe," she corrected. "Came back to get my iPod. Need the proper tunes to skate to, you know? Besides, I saw Ma go out and I kind of wanted to check in on Grandma."

"She's gone to lay down in her room for a little while."

"Passed out is more like it," Robyn scoffed. "Honestly, Ma's been trying to figure out how to get her to stop doing this without pissing her off. So far, not good. Grandma just doesn't care anymore. I think she's gotten worse, too."

A part of her knew she needed to leave and not become involved in it at all, but there was a bigger part-the guilt-that made her very concerned. It was what made her stay.

"How long has this been going on exactly?" Regina asked. "Your mother wasn't too forthcoming with the details earlier."

"For as long as I can remember, really. I think it was happening even before me and Ma moved in."

That meant it had been going on for as long as Regina had been gone, a whole decade, possibly longer than that. Frowning, Regina put her suitcase down in front of the bottom set, but before Regina could say a word, Robyn sighed heavily and placed her skateboard down on the marble floor.

"Grandma has no idea that we know just how much she drinks every day. I don't think she even knows how much she drinks every day and that creates a whole other problem, you know?" Robyn said and Regina nodded in agreement. She understood that all too well. "You know, my father had a similar problem, only instead of a drink, his problem was fed up his nose."

"Really?" Regina looked at her niece in surprise. She truly didn't have any idea of what had happened prior to Zelena's divorce or whether that rumor had been an exaggeration of sorts. Zelena tended to over-exaggerate and jump to conclusions far too easily, especially then. Regina thought after she heard that Walsh had spent thousands of dollars on cocaine that it was just a well-fabricated lie her sister was using to get full custody of their daughter. "That's actually true?

"Yeah, unfortunately. Why do you think we moved here in the first place? Because Ma wanted to?" Robyn laughed bitterly. "We had no other choice. My father chose to feed his nose instead of us. He lost everything. He lost things he didn't even have yet. You had no idea, did you? No, of course you didn't know, Auntie Regina. You don't know jack shit because you haven't been around at all!"

It was an all too familiar jab at her and she'd grown so tired of it happening over and over again since she'd come back. Every time it happened, it hurt a little more, cut a little bit deeper. She wasn't sure what anyone was expecting from her. Was it an apology? She wasn't even sure if she was sorry for leaving anymore. All she had was that heavy burden of guilt and nothing more.

"I'm sorry," Robyn said quietly. "It's true."

"I know. You don't need to apologize."

"Did you know that Grandpa always had amazing taste when it came to music?" Robyn asked and Regina nodded with a fond smile. His record collection, after all, had been left to Robyn in his will. "Henry and I, we like to mix some old tunes with some new ones and a little bit of what we come up with." Robyn dashed over to grab her iPod off the dining room table. She browsed through a playlist before she held it out to Regina expectantly. "Here, take a listen. Just hit play."

Regina hesitantly placed the right earbud in her ear and pressed play, not knowing what to expect, and definitely not expecting the slow, tantalizing sound of trumpets playing before drums kicked in, the beat more of a hip-hop style but still flowed astonishingly well. It was taken from her abruptly as Robyn yanked the earbud out.

"It's not finished yet. It's an epic mix. That was just the start."

"It was incredible, Robyn."

"You're just saying that," Robyn laughed awkwardly. "You barely heard a minute of it. It's not finished yet as I said."

"When it is finished, could I listen to the rest?" Regina asked as she gestured to the iPod in her niece's hand. When Robyn barely reacted, Regina frowned. "I understand."

"I am not my mother." It was said defensively and caught Regina a little off-guard. "I am nothing like her. Stop thinking that I am."

"I'm not."

"I don't listen to her when she talks shit about you, Auntie Regina. I choose not to."

"Just as I choose not to listen to her, either."

"You and I aren't so different after all, are we?"

"Perhaps we are not."

Robyn laughed and pulled Regina in for a hug, one Regina hadn't realized she had been waiting for all that time. "Ma always thought I was like you, too much like you, she said."

"Right," Regina chuckled lightly as Robyn hugged her once more quickly. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Robyn. You have grown up to be a very beautiful and smart young woman. For the record, you are nothing like me."

"You don't even know me," Robyn muttered under her breath. "Are you going to come back?"

"I've got to look after Lady now. Of course I'll be coming back, hopefully soon."

"That's not what I meant."

Regina sighed as she took a step back from her niece and picked up her luggage. "I should head out as I was going to stop by the stables and visit with Lady before I left," she stammered slightly. "Perhaps you and I can go out for a ride the next time I'm here?"

"I'd like that. It's been a long time since I have. Ma wouldn't let me ride much after we moved here and Grandpa always said how Lady doesn't just let anyone ride her. Hopefully, for your sake, Aunt Regina, she remembers you. All the best luck to you, yeah?"

"Thank you."

For a moment there, her niece looked much like the young girl she last remembered her as-though clearly not as innocent as she'd once been. Her niece was just another layer added to that heavy burden of guilt and she had a lot of amends to make with her, too. Regina lifted up her hand and licked over her thumb before gently wiping away the smudge of dirt on Robyn's forehead.

"We have nineteen songs on there, except the last one isn't complete, like I said," Robyn said with a small shrug and she placed the iPod into Regina's hand. "Give them a listen and promise that you'll bring it back for me the next time you come home."

"I promise." It was one she fully intended to keep. "Don't you need this? I recall you saying something about needing proper tunes to skate to?"

"I'll just grab a couple of CDs instead, it's no big deal."

Regina had made her a promise she knew she couldn't break. The trip back to Storybrooke had brought with it a lot of things and with the guilt, there was now remorse, remorse she hadn't felt once in all that time. Still, a promise was a promise and she never made a promise she didn't keep. She couldn't remember the last time she'd made a promise to anyone that hadn't been Emma, and she had broken that one, too, because she promised she'd stay for as long as Emma needed her even if that meant forever.

She had two reasons now to come back to Storybrooke again. It was never the plan, though. She was only supposed to come back to bury her father and then go back to the city where she had a whole different life there.

But now, now life was different as it was changing. It was changing and evolving whether she was ready for it, whether she wanted it to or not. There was nothing she could do to stop it. And going back to her life in New York City wouldn't quite be the same, either.

Nothing would be quite the same ever again.

A/N: Thank you to those who are leaving reviews! It really makes all the months I worked on this story worth it. Don't forget there will be another update on Sunday :)