"I just have to ask, Regina. What made you decide to adopt a second child?"

Startled, Regina glanced at the baby in the pram beside her desk, her little boy asleep. For once, he was asleep. She then glanced back to her friend, who was just as eccentric as ever. She sighed. The first day in Storybrooke had felt to be just yesterday, and, yet the calendar then had been January the 1st, 2026. It was, now, the February of 2045. It bothered her that she, Caity, and Sherry were the only people consciously aware of that fact. Even more so than that, it scared her. How much did Lynn know? How much could she know? When would she know? Just the thought of Lynn finding out - or, more accurately, putting the pieces together in memory - what her mother had done to her grandfather terrified her. Would Lynn hate her for what she had done? She had loved her grandfather, and, though Regina was loathe to admit it, she often had spent more time with him than her mother. Then. Then, in a different place, and years, years, years ago. It was another life, and one long since left behind.

"I felt…" Regina briefly trailed off, her thoughts eluding and betraying her. "I was…I don't know how to describe it. It was impulsive. Lynn wanted another sibling, and she had for a long time. But I don't think that was the reason. To be honest, I'm not quite sure there was one."

Caity considered that. "Sometimes you don't need one," She admitted. "I was just curious. You adore Lynn, always have. I guess I'd assumed she was all you needed."

"They both are," Regina said, her fingers gently brushing over her son's forehead. "He was really fussy when I first brought him home. Truly, I thought there was something wrong with him. But he's fine, and he…only needed to get used to home."

Caity sighed. "That's fair. Although I don't blame you for being so upset when he stopped fussing for a moment when you took him to hospital and Snow held him."

Regina tensed. "She's not allowed to be anywhere near my children. That's why I had you take Lynn to school out of town."

"But only in the last year," Caity reminded her. "You homeschooled her up until that point. And she's tested as a child prodigy. In fairness, she's had nineteen years on other kids, but, on the other hand, she's physically and developmentally seven. Although…"

Regina eyed her closely. "What's 'although?' Sounds a bit concerning."

"That's the other thing, Regina," Caity hopped up onto her desk, and Regina sent her a pointed look but didn't protest further. "You said the other day that Lynn has grown about three inches since last year, and that she's starting to mature past age seven. Let me remind you: Henry's almost a year old."

Silence.

"Time…" Regina took a moment to make sure Henry was still sound asleep before standing up and dragging Caity by the arm towards the window. "The clock hasn't changed. Time should be stopped."

"It is for everyone but them," She told her, awkwardly crossing her arms. "Probably because Lynn was only unconsciously aware of the curse, you, Sherry, and I knew, and everyone else…" She nudged her shoulder towards the window. "They are cursed."

Regina sighed. "You don't think that means Lynn…"

"Will remember her life in Misthaven?" Caity hesitated. "I don't know. But possibly?"

Regina looked between her, Henry, and the window.

"Lynn will be celebrating her eighth birthday this year, then," Regina bit at the inside of her cheek. "I can't believe it. That's madness."

"I mean, it's also probably for the best," Caity countered, bouncing on her toes. "Lynn is a first year, but she's going to be tested to see if she should go into year two in the fall, which will be around her eighth birthday. She's going to be able to have a real sense of time that we've had, and a fairly normal life. That's all a good thing, isn't it?"

"It is," Regina briefly closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Caity, I just…taking all of this in has been a lot. I can barely believe that Lynn's growing, just like Henry."

"I mean, all parents probably go through that," She shrugged. "But it's okay. You'll get used to it."

"I'm sure I will," Regina agreed. "It's going to take awhile, but I'm sure it will."

She flinched when she heard Henry begin to stir, but relaxed a little when she saw he was still sleeping soundly.

"I have nothing to worry about," She finally said. "No one is going to hurt or change anything about my children. Of course not. Snow and Charming's kid got away years ago, but odds are a baby won't survive alone for long. They're stupid. So fucking stupid."

Caity blinked, staring at her, surprised, her bony hands shakily adjusting her glasses.

"What?" Regina frowned, suddenly pressing a hand against her friend's arm. "Well?"

"It's nothing, just…" Caity shook her head. "You don't say things like that too often. I didn't realise how far it gets…how far they get under your skin."

"I…" Regina let her go. "Sorry about that. I just…well, you just briefly took me back to my paranoia in the first few years. Which was ridiculous. I never saw their child because it escaped through that damn wardrobe. But you know how I got. It was hard to let go of the paranoia I had grown accustomed to."

"Paranoia is a bitch," She replied. "But it's going to be fine, Regina. It has been for years, hasn't it? Why would that change now?"

Regina took another look at her son, everything about her softening when she saw he smiled in his sleep.

"You're right," She said. "He's fine. Lynn's fine."

She blinked back tears, her eyes falling on a picture of herself, her father, and Lynn on her desk.

"I'll never regret what brought us here," She said quietly. "But I wish it hadn't forced the loss of one of the few people who always cared. That…"

"Is why you named your son after your father?"

Regina met her gaze again. "Exactly," Her fingers tapped absentmindedly against the edge of her desk. "But I wish I had an easy way to tell Lynn what happened when I…when I'll eventually have to tell her the truth."

Silence.

"Sherry and I don't have kids, so I don't know what to say, but all I know is that…all those things that seemed so important?" Caity sighed. "They weren't so important, now were they?"

In the slowly falling snow, nearly eight year old Lynetta Mills was skipping around the front yard, her baby brother sitting up on the front steps, in his snow clothes and a blanket. Henry was giggling, and sticking his tongue up out at the falling snow. Every so often, his big sister would come over and pick him up, spinning around with him in her arms. Henry laughed even more when she did this, and seemed to enjoy rolling around on the ground when she set him back down. He couldn't see it, and she likely didn't notice, but their mother was watching them through the dining room window while she continued to look through documents for work. It was becoming hard to focus, however. Seeing how happy her kids were left her aching for something - anything - but work. That feeling only rose in her chest when her eyes fell on the family photographs not too far away, on top of the bookcase in the entryway of the house. Her family. Her kids. Her father. Daniel. Their faces were haunting her. Relentlessly, she felt there might not be any end to the feeling of loneliness that crept up to her throat when she looked at their photographs.

And, now, Lynn was growing up, and so was Henry.

She pushed aside the sudden and terrifying thought of losing them while they got older. That would never happen. It could never happen. There was nothing she wouldn't do to ensure the two of them were happy. More importantly, she reminded herself, there was nothing she wouldn't do to ensure the two of them were safe. Nothing would happen to them. Nothing was going to hurt them. Things would change, yes, but didn't mean she would lose them. That was impossible. They were her kids, and nothing was going to change that. She set down her pen, and flipped through some of the pages of the myriad of files in front of her. The text began to swim before her eyes. She closed her eyes. Enough was enough. With a defeated sigh, she set the files aside. Then, she slipped on her coat and shoes, and stepped outside. She paused on the porch, closing the door and smiling when she saw Lynn was tickling her baby brother, who was laughing. Regina quickly checked to ensure the gate to the front yard was locked before turning back to her kids, kneeling down beside them in the snow.

"You two having fun?"

Lynn nodded her head excitedly. "Snow is a lot of fun, momma!" She declared. "And Henry likes it too! I think he wants to eat it!"

"Well, that's probably not the best idea," Regina helped Henry up when he started to struggle to pull himself up in the snow. "Do you want to try walking out here?"

He stared at her for a few seconds and then started trying to walk with her hands still held around his.

"Can I help him walk?" Lynn looked at her mother with wide eyes. "Please?"

Regina hesitated but then nodded.

"Hold onto his hands," She told her. "Gently, too, he's still small, Lynn. Don't go too fast, and let him try and figure out where to go instead of guiding him too much."

Lynn grinned, looking down at her baby brother for a moment before lightly nudging him. Henry started to try and walk, tugging on her hands. Lynn followed him, bobbing up and down a bit, and looking at their mother every so often before quickly keeping an eye on her baby brother again. Leaning back a little, Regina sat down in the snow, one hand resting on her legs, and the other brushing against the ground. It was normal, now, but it was still also strange, this life. Things did not seem particularly strange or out of place, but remembering what life was like before made them seem that way every so often. When she had been queen. She tried not to dwell on that, instead watching Lynn teeter around the front yard with her baby brother, who seemed to still be rather enjoying himself. She couldn't help but smile. This had been what needed to happen. This was life as it should be, even if it didn't always feel quite right.

"Oh, hello madame mayor!"

Regina startled, standing up quickly and brushing the snow off herself, her eyebrows raising in surprise when she saw the young woman paused outside her front yard. Re - Ruby. The waitress. Enigma, her mind whispered. She tried not to dwell on that too.

"Ruby," She said, tightly crossing her arms and looking between her kids and the young woman. "Don't you have work?"

"I'm on my break," She said with a shrug. "Granny said if I didn't at least take an hour to wander around town, she was going to lock me out and make me. Apparently I spend too much time chatting with people online, or painting my nails, or, you know, working."

Regina managed a small laugh.

"It can't hurt you to spend a little time outside, now can it?"

Ruby winked. "That's fair. But you know how it is. Sometimes you just get…lost -" She threw out her arms dramatically, catching a few snowflakes on her tongue. "- in whatever it is you're doing! And that can be the best feeling."

"It can," Regina smiled at her daughter when Lynn paused to wave at her. "Though I must admit I get lost in work far more often than I ought to."

"You're doing your best," Ruby sympathetically replied. "It can't be easy being the mayor and having two little kids."

"Hey!" Lynn exclaimed. "I'm a big girl! I turn eight in September!"

"And she won't let you forget it," Regina added, sending the young woman a knowing look. "She's adorable, but she has a lot of energy."

"She does," Ruby agreed. "It's so sweet, really. I mean," She giggled, waving at Lynn. "Just look at how sweet she is with her baby brother."

"The two of them are fairly close," Regina hesitated, briefly stepping out onto the sidewalk with Ruby, latching the gate behind herself. "Speaking of Lynn," She said, lowering her voice. "I'm sure I don't say it enough, but I have always appreciated how you look out for Lynn when you see her out, even when she's with me. It means a lot."

"No problem," She said, shrugging. "It's not a big deal. I just…I care about her, that's all. Especially seeing how attached she is to you."

"And I appreciate it a great deal," Regina paused before briefly embracing the young woman, much to her surprise. "I know I haven't needed it much, but I also appreciate you babysitting her and, more recently, Henry. Some of those meetings…go dreadfully long. Truthfully, some days, I worry I don't pay them enough mind."

"Always happy to help," Ruby replied. "And don't worry about that. You're a good mother, and that clearly shines through, even if you can't always see it."

Replies To Reviews:

jasouatfan: she is! sorry for the delay with this chapter, i hope it was well worth it!

barrattajennifer: i'm really glad to hear you say that; i hadn't expected it to take this long to get to Storybrooke, but i'm also happy it did because the story is fuller. it's super exciting to be in this new part of the story!

Sammii16: of course! i'm so happy you liked it, and, yes, the new realm is a whole 'can of worms' in and of itself, so to speak!