Regina woke up with a startle the next morning. She rose from her bed quickly and rushed down the hall to Henry's room. She opened the door and found herself sigh in relief that he was safely in bed.
Regina rested her head against the door frame and closed her eye. She recalled the dream she just had. It was more of a nightmare. Henry has chosen to run away with Emma Swan and got in a terrible car accident. He was badly injured as he called out for her on the side of the rode, but Regina couldn't move. If felt like someone was holding her body back and she couldn't save him. She was forced to watch her son call out for her and eventually die.
"Mum? Are you okay?" she heard a voice say as she opened her eyes. Henry turned in his bed to face her.
"Uhh, yah. Just got lost in my thoughts, i guess." she said walking over to Henry and sitting on the side of his bed. Henry sat up and brushed his hand across her cheek.
"Why are you crying?" he asked with a worried expression. Regina just shook her head and noticed that it was 8:17. The clock had started. She just ignored that fact and pushed it down into the back of her mind.
"I should start breakfast." Regina said changing the subject. She stood up from the bed and fixed her tousled bed hair. She leaned down and kissed his forehead tenderly before walking away. She moved to her bedroom, put on make up and quickly changed into a blue dress with black heels.
"Come down when your ready!" she called as she descended the stairs to the kitchen.
Regina got busy in the kitchen making all of Henry's favourites including bacon, scrambled eggs, and apple pancakes.
She heard a knock at the front door and lifted the last pancake off of the pan and turned off the stove before answering it. Her heels clacked against the marble staircase as she walked down the steps and unlocked the door.
"Morning, Dr. Deleo." she said as the man smiled at her. He looked her up and down looking at her perfect figure in the tight dress.
"Did you need something?" Regina asked trying to conceal her smirk.
"Oh umm. Henry left this in my car yesterday. I thought that he might want it back." Chris said as he handed her the leather-bound storybook. "Oh and please call me Chris."
"Thank you very much. You didn't need to bring it by this early in the morning." She said politely.
"It was my pleasure, Madam Mayor." he said turning to leave.
"Chris. You can just call me Regina." she said as he turned back around. Regina waved to him as he got in his car and drove off.
"Who was that?" Henry asked coming down the staircase. Regina closed the door and handed him his book.
"You forgot this in Chris' car." Regina said lightly pushing his bangs away from his forehead. She needed to make a reminder for Henry to get a haircut.
Henry hugged the book as he jumped the last two steps and followed Regina into the kitchen. She began to put the dirty bowls in the sink as Henry sat down on the island.
"Mom." He said solemnly. Regina turned and saw his expression.
"Henry, what's wrong?" She asked moving to sit next to him. He stared at the plate that was already loaded with tons of food.
"It's just that… I'm sorry for making you worry about me. I just had to meet her. I just wanted to break the curse." Henry whispered.
"It's okay honey." Regina said as a pang of guilt hit her.
What was she doing to her son? He could have gotten hurt because of this stupid curse that she was trapped in as well as everybody in the town.
"I understand why you did it, but please don't go running off." She said before pushing his plate closer to him.
"Now eat. You must be starving." she said as Henry's stomach grumbled.
They sat in silence as they both ate. When Regina finished she stood up and put her dirty dishes in the sink followed by Henry.
"Mom, do you think we could go to the stables today? I thought that maybe I could learn how to ride. I saw some old trophies in the basement and maybe you could teach me." he asked timidly.
Regina turned towards him in surprise.
"Uhh, yah sure. I have some paperwork to finish, but we could go in an hour or two." she said placing the clean dishes onto the drying rack.
She dried her hands and walked to Henry. Placing both hands to cradle his face, she kissed his forehead and left towards her home office. Henry gave a small smile and grabbed his storybook before running to his room.
A little over an hour later Regina finished up the last of the forms and called Henry. He excitedly changed into proper clothes and Regina traded her usual business suit for a pair of riding pants and white t-shirt. Henry gasped as he walked downstairs and watched his adoptive mother put on black riding boots.
"Don't worry. We can get you better riding attire once you get comfortable with a horse." Regina said with a soft smile.
They got into her Mercedes and drove down to the stables. Henry got out of the car first and ran into the stables with Regina following close behind.
Regina opened the door to the office and leaned her head in. She greeted the stable hand and continued to follow Henry.
"Which on can I ride?" he said excitedly as she placed her hands on his shoulders. She laughed and led him to the third stall.
"This is Cinnamon." she said petting a large brown and white mare.
"How do I get on?" he asked confused as Regina started to giggle to herself.
"You can't just hop on, dear. First you have to get to know her. Let her know that she can trust you and that you can trust her." Regina said grabbing Henry's hand and placing it on her soft fur.
"How do I do that?" he continued to ask.
"Well, you have to take care of her. She is your responsibility now. You have clean her stall and feed her and make sure that she is healthy." She said simply.
"But mom!" Henry said beginning to whine.
"Riding horses isn't just about having fun, Henry. You should make a connection. Do you understand?" she said pulling up a stool and handing Henry a brush.
"Yes. I have to be responsible for her before I can actually ride her." he said taking the brush and gently gliding it through the mares fur.
"Good. I can drive you to the stables everyday after school if you want. You'll have to muck out her stall and I can help, but ultimately she is yours now. Are you sure you want this?" Regina asked stroking Cinnamon's snout.
"Yah, I think I am old enough to do this, but you'll still help right." He asked.
"Of course." Regina said as her phone rang. She looked at Henry who gave her a nod, saying that she could go and handle whatever was wrong with the town.
"Regina Mills." she said into the receiver of her cell.
"Regina can you come down to city hall? Some residents want you to sign something urgent. I'm not sure what it is, but they did seem to cause quite the ruckus." Graham said. There was yelling in the background and he inwardly swore.
"It's my day off. I'm at the stales with Henry." she said bluntly.
"It will only take a few moments." He said and she could hear his tired sigh.
"Okay, but I will not stay for long." She said. He seemed relieved and thanked her profusely as she hung up.
Regina walked back to the stall and smiled at Henry whispering to his horse.
"Hey Henry. There's a problem at city hall, do you mind staying here alone for a few moments? I'll be right back." She promised him.
"Yah, you can go." He said followed with a close lipped smile.
"The stable hand is in his office. His name is Richard. You can ask him anything." she said.
Regina kissed his cheek before walking out towards her car. She passed the stables office and waved a hand at the young man.
She got into her car and drove down to city hall. She was greeted by Graham who opened her door for her and helped her out.
"What's going on?" She said as he led her into the building and was met with a mess of people talking over each other.
"Ahem." She said loudly, instantly taking control of the room. People stared surprisingly at their mayor wearing such casual clothes.
"Why don't we all head to my office?" she said before leading them up the staircase and into her office. She sat at her desk and took out some paper as she listened to the obviously distraught citizens.
After only 15 minutes Regina had the whole situation under control and soon enough everyone was content on the resolution. They all filed out of her office as she finished filling out a form.
"Well aren't you busy." she heard a voice say.
Regina looked up and smiled at Chris who was leaning against the doorway.
"Just the average life of being mayor. Not to seem rude, but why are you here?" she asked as she stood up from her chair with a handful of papers.
"I was in the neighbourhood. I don't know… My legs just sort of took me here." he said laughing to himself. She too found herself smiling and having to conceal a childish giggle.
"I'm just on my way to the records room. You may accompany me down." Regina said locking a drawer on her desk and walking over the the doorway.
Chris gestured for her to walk infront as he closed the door behind her.
"How have liked our quaint little town." She asked.
"It's a lot different from the city. Not as noisy and the people aren't so bad either. Quite beautiful really. Like an escape from what I've been through." He couldn't help, but stare at the side of her face as she smiled. She looked like the carbon copy of Eva. He knew that he shouldn't keep thinking about her. She was long gone and this woman was not her.
"Well I'm glad that it has made a good impression. Many find it lacking in adventure." She said simply as they reached the door to the records room. She took out a key from her pocket and unlocked it.
"Do you smell that?" Chris said crinkling his noise. He couldn't place the smell, but he thought hard. It had been one of his patients at Miami Medical. He smelled of gas from a store explosion. Chris' eyes widened as he grabbed Regina's waist and pulled her down to the ground landing hard on the floor.
"Eva!" left his throat as the wall caved in on them. The explosion was loud as they walls began to collapse trapping them in the records room.
Regina felt the breath leave her lungs as she chocked on smoke. She banged her head against a table and winced as her hand touched the wound. A flash of memory came into her mind, but left quickly.
