Author's note: extremely sorry about the wait! I'm literally uploading this from my phone from my fathers hospital room! So please excuse the delayed update and any mess ups as they are probably my fault and not my awesome Beta's! Enjoy!
Mary Margret seemed to be hyperventilating as Sarah disappeared from sight, and no sooner had Sarah left then Mary Margret lost the ability to stand and slumped to the ground as if she were boneless.
Queen Regina tried to move to catch her but was little too late.
Regina stood there staring at Mary Margret with a furrowed brow as Mary Margret began to cry. And then the jealousy came once more.
Queen Regina had gathered Mary Margret in her arms and rocked her, shhing her and telling her that everything was all right.
Mary Margret clung tightly to Queen Regina, holding her with all her strength as she sobbed.
The feeling of being in the Queen's hold making her feel safe and loved by the woman she had wanted to be her mother for the first time in over a decade. She could not stop the tears from falling as what she had heard Sarah say scaring her more than Emma ever had.
"I'm…I'm sorry." Mary Margret's tears making the words sound blubbery as tears and mucus blocked her air way from the amount of crying.
"No. No sweetheart. I understand. No one wants to hear their sister say they're dispensable. I'm sure if you hadn't of done it, my Snow would have. And because of what you did I can tell you love your Sarah very much." Queen Regina said as she placed her cheek atop Mary Margret's head.
Mary Margret's eyes showed such pain in that moment that Regina knew instantly what she was thinking before she voiced the thought.
"I wish I had a Sarah...but I don't."
Queen Regina stopped rocking Mary Margret the instant her brain processed what she had said.
Pulling back from Mary Margret, Queen Regina looked into Mary Margret's face with shock and sadness. "How's that possible?"
Mary Margret still had tears traveling down her face but at the look Queen Regina was giving her she looked down and away from her. She didn't have the answers to that question. Though she had asked herself several times that same question when she had spent time with Sarah.
Queen Regina turned her head and looked at Regina, "How's that possible?" Something in her was screaming and shouting to know the answer. Wanting to know how in any other life she could have been denied Daniel's offspring.
Regina couldn't speak. Anger and jealousy were overwhelming her at the moment. How could she have the answer to that question? Who could have the answer to that question?
Queen Regina knew every emotion the other woman was feeling, could see them all in her eyes - could feel them in her own body.
But nothing could have prepared her for the reality of another version of herself. Of the possibility that something like this could happen.
Though Queen Regina had been told by Rum the prophecy that Sarah would fulfill - the events taking place had never crossed her mind.
Regina's heart was pounding in her chest from how desperately she wanted to follow Mary Margret's footsteps and crumble to the ground crying.
But she wouldn't allow herself, not in front of her enemy. Never in front of her.
"Obviously events happened differently in our worlds. Whatever the circumstances were that lead you to have Sarah I can honestly say...I didn't have that particular blessing."
The way Regina said the words made Mary Margret flinch. Knowing without a doubt in that moment what Regina was not saying out loud. That she was the reason that Sarah had never been born. That someway, somehow, she had been the reason for all of Regina's misery.
Queen Regina said nothing as she tried to fight the urge to snap at her other self.
At that time she knew she had to console her child. Whether the woman in her hold was not technically her daughter or not, Queen Regina had sworn to herself and to Snow that she would always protect her. That whether or not Snow wanted her there, she would be.
Any version of Snow White was her daughter.
Queen Regina rocked Mary Margret whispering words of comfort and kissing her head and forehead while Mary Margret continued to sniffle trying to reign in her emotions.
Snow couldn't say a word as she watched Mary Margret crumbling in her mother's hold.
As strange as the feelings and the sight was, Snow felt that Mary Margret had never allowed herself the luxury of taking comfort in Regina's embrace. So despite the resentment towards her, seeing the need etched on her face, Snow turned trying to give the two some sort of privacy.
That's when she noticed the face on her mother's counterpart. The jealousy that the woman was experiencing was evident by the stiffening of her back, the blaze of anger in her eyes as she watched Mary Margret and Queen Regina.
Snow walked slowly towards Regina as a tear drop had made it's way out of one of her eyes.
Without a word Snow wrapped her in a tight embrace.
It was as though all the bravado that Regina had been using drained out of her.
Regina squeezed Snow back tightly as she let herself mourn the child she had never had.
Emma walked around the corner to find her mother and found the odd sight of two Regina's and two Snow's. All of them hugging. To say that Emma was shocked and unnerved was of course an understatement.
"Ok...I know there's a perfectly good explanation for what's happening." Emma said out loud, startling all four women and cause them to jump apart from each other.
"I just can't for the life of me figure what that explanation could be." Emma continued as her eyes switched between each woman in front of her. When her eyes landed on the women who sat on the ground, Emma's eyes squinted with anger as she realized that Mary Margret was crying.
Staring daggers at the Regina sitting next to the woman she knew as her mother, Emma asked the no nonsense question, "What did you do to my mother?"
Mary Margret sniffled and looked up with red eyes at Emma and quickly said, "No...she...she didn't do anything." With that she sniffled again.
Queen Regina reached over and wiped away a stray tear from Mary Margret's face, before turning and looking back at...
A double take confirmed that she hadn't been hallucinating. "Emma?"
Slowly Queen Regina rose and walked towards Emma, looking shocked and curious as Emma stared back with a suspicious face.
"What are you..." Emma had been ready to ask, but Queen Regina quickly rushed forward and enveloped the older looking version of her granddaughter in her hold.
Emma didn't move a muscle as the intimacy hit her like a freight train.
Queen Regina couldn't help but close her eyes and cry as she caressed this other world's version of her granddaughter.
Emma stared wide eyed at Regina as she stared in horror at what the other her was doing. Snow on the other hand had an affectionate smile on her face showing joy at the sight. Mary Margret was smirking at the look her daughter had plastered on her face.
"Emma...look at ..." a laugh coming from deep within the Queen as she felt a huge amount of joy surge through her at the sight of her granddaughter," you're a grown woman."
Emma felt fingers weave through her hair and suddenly felt a sense of calm and belonging flow through her.
Queen Regina pulled back to look into Emma's face, cupping her granddaughter's cheeks like her mother had after the curse had been lifted - but the same look that had been in her mother's eyes then were in this other Regina's brown orbs.
"I never thought I'd live long enough to see you like this."
The whispered admission somehow made Emma's heart clench from the pain and truth she heard in them.
Regina didn't know what she was feeling as she watched Emma allow the Queen to tuck Emma's golden locks behind her ear. The idea that Emma was allowing her to do so boggling her mind.
Emma shook her head and lowered her eyes, trying to get her bearings once more, knowing that she had to stop the impossible thoughts running through her mind.
"Ok. I'm not even going to ask what that was about." Lifting her head back up, Emma moved back from Queen Regina and turned and looked at Snow.
"Your sister's gearing up to get in trouble with Ruby again. I just thought I'd let you know before we have to endure another Ruby/Sarah fight." Emma explained her sudden appearance.
Snow tilted her head back and groaned. Queen Regina pivoted and looked between the two women. "Who exactly is Ruby?"
Snow let a deep breath out and tilted her head back up to look at her mother to answer her. "Red."
Queen Regina's mouth opened in a 'ah' manner as she realized why Emma had come to get them.
Mary Margret also let out a huge sigh and rolled her eyes as Snow looked over at her with a little knowing smirk. "Ok...I didn't want to believe you meant it when you said all the time!"
Trying to repress her smirk but failing Snow finally let the huge smile over come her. "Welcome to sisterhood."
Mary Margret groaned and finally stood, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes as she moved towards Emma but stopped near Regina, hesitating to voice the thoughts traveling through her mind.
Regina stiffened, not expecting Mary Margret to turn and look her directly in the eyes. Mary Margret gathered her courage and tried to keep herself from crying once more as the hatred that Regina felt for her glowed out of the woman's eyes.
"Despite how much you hate me, and everything that we've done to each other, I want to make one thing very clear..." Mary Margret began in a strong voice, contradicting the fear and sadness inside her as she prepared herself for a backlash.
Queen Regina and Snow couldn't help but watch the two, it was as though they were staring through a looking glass though they stood just a few feet apart from their other selves. The difference between the four of them hit them both in the face in the next instant with what Mary Margret said and did.
Moving into Regina's personal space, Regina instantly stiffened at the action and felt more than just shock at Mary Margret's next words to her.
With a look that one could only name as the evil queen's glare, Mary Margret leaned in and simply said, "Sarah is and will always remain off limits. She is not a toy or a bargaining chip...am I understood?"
Regina blinked several times as Mary Margret continued to glare at her with a look that reminded her soo much of her own that she felt a sense of pride at Mary Margret's bravado. Immediately following it was anger, but not at Mary Margret's bravado...but the accusation of what she was implying.
"I would never use Sarah like that. She's not a thing to be used!" Regina quickly said with eyes blazing.
Mary Margret searched Regina's eyes, searching for what Regina didn't know, but a curt nod of acceptance was given after she found it. Still keeping her eyes on Regina, Mary Margret inched away and began to turn towards her daughter.
Suddenly a yell caused everyone to jump in shock.
"SARAH I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Emma rolled her eyes when the shock transformed into understanding. A small smile tugging on her lips as she watched the others do the same as the same understanding came over their own faces.
Snow hung her head with a groan and Mary Margret tilted her head and clamped her eyes shut.
"Then again," Mary Margret began, "you may not get the chance to use her. Since Red might kill her before the days over."
Regina waved her hand and a second later both she and Queen Regina were no longer there.
Emma blinked, still after all this time not use to magic, and looked at her mother.
Correction.
Mother's.
Plural.
Groaning Emma murmured, "God help me."
"SARAH WATCH OUT!" Henry yelled as Ruby hurtled a plate towards Sarah.
Sarah ran out the diner just in time, as the plate came whizzing by her head.
"WHAT'D I SAY?" Sarah yelled out as both Henry and Little Snow came running behind her.
"SARAH I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Sarah quickly looked between the shocked faces of both Little Snow and Henry and back at a very pissed of Ruby.
"Um...Henry...where's that park that you told me about?" Sarah squeaked out before quickly running in the direction Henry and Little Snow had quickly taken off towards at Sarah's question.
The trio never saw Regina and the Queen appear behind them.
Regina and the Queen caught a glance of the three running away, but immediately turned back towards the diner as the yelling from within reached their ears.
"LET ME GO GRANNY!" Ruby was struggling against her grandmother, trying to go after Sarah, but Granny was having none of it.
"RUBY YOU STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Granny yelled as she held tight to her struggling granddaughter.
"What is going on here?" Queen Regina asked with authority, causing both Granny and Ruby to stop and stare at the now two Regina's standing before them.
Regina had to smile at the looks of almost horror that both women wore. It was comical how the two as well as a few patrons finally noticed them and couldn't help but stare.
"Ruby? Is it?" Queen Regina asked as she moved closer to Granny and Ruby.
Ruby couldn't get a word out as she took in the sight before her, nodding her head to answer.
A grin broke across Queen Regina's face as she approached Ruby and reached up and adjusted Ruby's hair, making Ruby tense up that much more.
"You know Sarah loves you like a sister...that's why she's constantly egging you on. I don't know what or why she said what she said, but I guarantee you she doesn't really mean to hurt you. And she did...didn't she? I can see it in your eyes."
The concern and gesture of affection of moving Ruby's hair throwing the young woman off. Regina had never really been anything but cold towards her...this other version of her was confusing both Ruby and Granny.
Regina looked between Ruby, Granny, and Queen Regina. Something about the way everyone seemed to be reacting to Queen Regina was slowly driving her insane.
The Queen couldn't help but smile at the girl she had seen grow up along side her daughters. Anita had become one of her best friends and confidant over the years. Both of them sharing soo many similarities when it came to their lives, that as their children had become closer, so had they.
It was a pleasant thing to see how similar Anita's daughter had turned out to be from her mother.
" You look just like your mother. Have her attitude as well." Queen Regina laughed with her eyes sparkling merrily when she noticed the pain in Ruby's eyes.
Queen Regina's chest tightened as her eyes looked to Granny and then back to Ruby, reading the grief in both of their faces - knowing immediately that their Anita was no longer with them.
Regina didn't know the heart ache that the Queen was experiencing at the knowledge that her best friend was dead in this world. All Regina knew was that Ruby had once more threatened Sarah.
Rolling her eyes at the emotional scene before her, Regina quickly asked Ruby the only question she was interested in.
"What did Sarah say this time to make you want to kill her?"
Ruby's eyes glazed over once more at the reminder of what Sarah had done. Opening her mouth to respond, she was cut off by her Grandmother.
"Nothing that should make her lose herself like she did." Granny responded and turned back to Ruby to give her a glare.
"You know better than to let your temper get the best of you. What would you have done if you had turned into a wolf in front of young Snow? Do you have any idea how you could have ruined your relationship with her in the future if you had turned into the wolf just now? Of course not," she answered her own question as Ruby looked like she realized that her Granny was right, "now you remember that whenever Sarah says something that provokes you."
Queen Regina grimaced at the way Ruby rolled her eyes. "She really didn't say anything too bad did she?"
Ruby's eyes flashed gold before she was able to calmly respond to Queen Regina.
"She asked me if I knew mating rituals of different animals...mainly...dogs."
Both Regina's couldn't help but sputter out with laughter, both ducking their heads to try to stifle and hide the laughter. Of course that only inflamed Ruby's anger even more.
Queen Regina recovered first. "Ruby..." cupping Ruby's cheek she stared into the light blue eyes, "she only messes with you because you're like a sister to her. If you haven't noticed it's how my family shows affection." With these words Queen Regina gave Ruby a small smile. "You should hear the stories of what James and I do to torture David. It's only fair...he married my daughter and he deserves to be tortured for it all of time for taking her away from me."
Ruby looked confused at this other Regina's words, turning her gaze to the Regina she knew, who had a wide eyes look on her face. Instantly fearing that the Queen would reveal more.
Regina quickly moved and yanked Queen Regina away from Ruby and spun her.
"We're going to go find Sarah and the others now." Regina gave Queen Regina a look that was instantly understood as keep your mouth shut. It was a look that Cora had perfected, and both Regina's understood it's meaning immediately.
A puff of purple smoke and both woman vanished from before Ruby and Granny's eyes.
Both wore a look of confusion on their faces, when finally Granny said what both had been thinking.
"Well...I guess we just witnessed what Regina was like when Snow was a little girl."
Ruby shook her head trying to come to grips with what she knew and what Snow had told her about her step mother all those years ago.
"Do you think that was an act? I've never seen the Evil Queen smile like that."
Granny shook her head, "No...I could smell the happiness on her. She radiated it. That was all her...I only smelt a trace of magic...but nothing like the Evil Queen."
Ruby nodded her head, knowing exactly what Granny meant.
"I thought David was James." Granny stated, not understanding the last thing the other Regina had said to them.
Ruby's brow furrowed.
"And why would Regina call him family?" Ruby asked her Granny.
Both...ironically...in the dark on the matter.
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