I've had a horrible case of writer's block with this one again, so I'm sorry for not updating sooner. Please send feedback, stay safe, and I hope you enjoy! I also changed my profile picture to an image I drew of Belle. I'm still an amateur, but I really like it. Just a disclaimer, and I don't know if it's possible, but please don't use the image and claim it's your own. Thank you!

Lily asked Mal about Cora the next morning when Regina was still sleeping, and wondered why she was so 'cranky,' as she had said. Mal brought Lily into her lap.

"She's not a very nice woman," Mal told her.

"But she's Regina's mommy. She's supposed to be nice."

"Some people aren't very nice to people, sometimes even to their own children." Lily frowned up at Mal.

"Like the Evil Queen? When she sent Snow White away from the castle?"

"Sort of like that, honey. It's hard to explain, but I think if you be really nice to her, Regina will tell you why Cora's grumpy."

"Really really nice?"

"Really really really nice. Regina doesn't like talking about her mother. She hasn't even told me about her."

"Okay! I'll be really really really really really—"

"Enough 'really's,' dear. But you can't wake her up yet, Regina's still tired."

"Right." Lily marched out of the bedroom and back to her own room, where Mal could here a small clutter from the door down the hall. She chuckled to herself and laid back down, sliding the covers over her shoulders and putting herself back in Regina's cozy arms.

Fifteen minutes later, Regina's alarm buzzed and woke her up. Mal felt Regina's arms shift and shut off the alarm, before snaking back under the covers and around Mal's waist.

"Good morning," Regina whispered, pecking Mal's forehead. Mal responded in kind by raising her head and meeting Regina's lips with her own. Lily burst through the doors of their room just as they were getting comfortable.

"Hi Regina hi mommy!" Lily hopped onto the bed and wiggled her way between Mal and Regina, dipping her tiny body under the covers. Regina screeched.

"You're freezing, Lil. Have you been sleeping in the freezer!?" Regina asked loudly. Lily just giggled and worked out of the covers to sit on top of them.

"I didn't sit in the freezer," Lily giggled. Regina grinned back at her and stretched her back before dipping back below the covers and drawing the sheets over her nose. Mal smiled and kissed the bridge of Regina's nose before climbing out of bed and announcing that she would make breakfast. Mal winked at Lily and left. Regina raised an eyebrow but said nothing, assuming that Mal winked to make Lily laugh. It had the desired effect, Lily was rolling around giggling on the bed, nearly barrelling off the side of the bed.

Regina laughed, though slightly skeptical. Lily stopped laughing and looked up at Regina with curious eyes for a moment, then shot herself across the bed and into Regina's arms. Regina flew back slightly but hugged the girl to her chest.

"You're very hyper this morning," Regina commented, trying to catch her breath in the middle of laughing.

"What does hyper mean?"

"Well, it's a word to describe—"

"—and why doesn't your mom like you?" Regina turned stone-still, with Lily still stuck in her arms.

"Oh. I guess mommy was right. You don't wanna talk about your mommy. I don't wanna talk about my daddy either." Regina snapped herself out of her thoughts and squeezed Lily.

"I guess I can tell you a bit about her," Regina said tiredly. Lily nodded and waited for Regina to talk. The older woman looked deep into Lily's dark, almost-black eyes gazing up inquisitively into Regina's own chocolate eyes.

"My mom isn't very nice to me."

"Why not? You and Mommy love me and the baby." Regina couldn't hide her pride when Lily included her.

"We do, but my mom was...different. She loved me, but she just wanted me to be different. She wanted me to stay with her, and she didn't want me to love your mom, and she wanted me to be what she wanted me to be."

"I don't understand."

"My mom had plans for me. I didn't follow those plans so she's mad at me."

"Is your daddy mad at you?"

"No, he loves me. He told me last night that he loves you and your mom and the baby. He wants me to be happy on my own."

"That's good. I like Henry. Your daddy's nice."

"He's very nice."

"Is mommy not gonna want me to be happy?"

"Of course not. Your mom and I both want you to be really happy so you can do whatever you want."

"Even have ice cream for breakfast?"

"That doesn't count, we want you to be happy, not unhealthy." Lily frowned but laughed and curled up against Regina. Both girls were nearly asleep when Mal came back into the room, carrying two trays of pancakes.

"Mal, you should've called me to help you," Regina said. Mal just shrugged and set the trays on the bed, running back downstairs to get the third. "You sit down, I'll go grab them." Regina hopped off the bed and slid past Mal, who was still standing in the doorway.

"I'm pregnant, not disabled."

"I know, but I want you to feel as comfortable as possible." Mal sighed and defeatedly flung herself onto the bed beside Lily, who was eating her own tray of pancakes eagerly. Regina ran back up the stairs, nearly spilling Mal's coffee over her silk pyjamas, and brought it over to the bed.

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"Lily told me you talked about your mother," Mal said, watching Regina wipe off her makeup in the bathroom. Regina almost physically flinched.

"I did."

"Do you think you could tell me about her?" Mal asked gently. Regina bit the inside of her cheek to keep her screaming impulses quiet.

"I'll...try." Regina came out of the bathroom and sat next to Mal, kissing her cheek before rubbing Mal's growing belly, then taking a deep breath in.

"Obviously, my mother's a very cold woman, that much is clear, but she does love me. She just loves me in a complex way that I don't think I could try to understand." Mal was nodding along to Regina's description and reached out for Regina's hand. Regina immediately squeezed Mal's hand in return. "She's always wanted what was best for me, but she still doesn't know what that is. She didn't really want me, she wanted another version of herself. I let her push me around until I could legally leave her house."

"That sounds hard," Mal said, running her thumb up and down the veins on Regina's hand.

"I think my breaking point was when I came out to her. I was seventeen, I was about to graduate, and I didn't think there was a better time to do so. My mother locked me in my room for a few days after telling her I was gay and kept telling me she wouldn't let me out until I got over the "phase." My dad stole her key and let me out. I didn't come back home for three days and just stayed at a friend's house until my mother phoned the police and told them to escort me back home." Mal was silent and completely awestruck.

"I'm sorry, but she never...asked you what you wanted?"

"No."

"Not once?"

"No." Mal was still processing, but didn't let go of Regina's hand, only held it tighter to ground the both of them. "I remember his one time, I was thirteen years old and I had come home from a Halloween party. Nobody was drinking there, not even me, but mom said she smelled alcohol on me and screamed at me until her face was red. Then she took me to the hospital to make sure I didn't have alcohol poisoning, and the doctors didn't find any alcohol in my system. They couldn't even smell the alcohol my mother claimed she smelled. Mother told the doctors that they were wrong and that I was drinking, so she took me home and...she, uh—"

"Oh god, did she hit you?"

"Just once. Then she apologized to me the entire night, to the points where it was harassing. I fell asleep in class the next day because she kept me up so late." Mal was struck into silence again, but she knew offering her sympathy wouldn't help. Instead, she turned to Regina and cupped her cheek.

"You didn't deserve it."

"She made me think I did..."

"Hey, she can't hurt you anymore. I won't let her." Mal leaned forward and captured Regina's plump lips in a breathtaking, enveloping kiss full of heat and unspoken emotion. Regina pulled back and smiled shyly at Mal as she dove back in for more of Mal's fulfilling kisses.

Not much happening in this chapter, but I promise the next will be more eventful, I just wanted an angsty chapter.