Happy birthday Julie! Hope you enjoy this!

Regina woke, and unlike the previous morning, she remembered where she was. It had only been a day, and yet Storybrooke had already become like home… with the exception of the one flaw in her day the day before, of course.

Speaking of that flaw… was that an arm around her she felt? Again?

It was! Didn't she tell that infuriating man that she didn't want him around? Did he not know how to listen to orders from his queen? Or the mayor, as she was apparently known here. It was inconceivable that she would be disobeyed by someone who supposedly was cursed to love her. Did he not have any respect for her at all?

There was only one way to find out. "What are you doing here?" she demanded as she backed away from him.

The expression on his face clearly showed his confusion and hurt. Regina wasn't moved by his feelings. He was just some stranger, a subject like any other. That meant that he had to obey her, whether he liked it or not.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here, milady?" he asked. He tried to move forward to bridge the gap between them, but she slapped his hand away.

"I thought I told you to go, to leave me in peace with Ryan," she snapped.

His confusion was immediately apparent, written all over his face. "Leave? But, Regina-"

"And don't call me that," she snapped.

"Fine, milady," he said. Oh, that was worse. So much worse. "I don't understand. When did you tell me to leave? More importantly, why?"

She took a moment to answer. Maybe if she used what he thought the day before to her advantage, she would be able to get out of this mess. Clearly, the curse had erased his memories from yesterday. If it had, though, how would she find a way for this nuisance of a man to be permanently out of her hair? "I… look, a lot of my memories just vanished yesterday. I don't know how, or why. Maybe I had amnesia. Either way, I clearly need to focus on myself for awhile, okay?"

"Milady," he began. "That may be, but how do I not remember this? It doesn't seem possible that both of us had the same thing happen on consecutive days."

She sighed. "You know what? I'm leaving. I need to go to my office anyway." She had to find out what exactly being mayor of this town entailed.

"Good," he said. "Maybe time doing what we normally do will bring us to our senses."

"Us?" she repeated indignantly. "Even if I can't remember one little thing, I think only one of us needs to come to our senses, and it's not me."

He chuckled. "You're always so stubborn, has anyone told you that?"

The glare she gave him could have leveled a small village. "No one would dare, which means you shouldn't either." Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. What if she tried to leave him? That would make things much easier on her. No child to care for, no man dogging her every step… It would be bliss. She would have to be sneaky about it though. She could very well end up in the same predicament she faced the night before if she tried to leave with him in the house.

He chuckled. "Oh, but I would. After all, I am one of the few who knows you for who you truly are, Regina."

His words made her pause. What he had just said suggested that she was as much the Evil Queen here as she had been in the Enchanted Forest. Good. However, it seemed that this man saw past the Queen. Was it possible that in his cursed memories, she had by some miracle or magic of his own let down her walls for him, revealed some part of her past that she would never reveal to anyone? It seemed that was the case, but she had to make sure somehow. "Prove it."

He reached out for her, but she slapped his hand away before he could lay a hand on her. "You lost Daniel just as you were about to start a life with him, and you may try to deny it, but it left a hole in your heart that I would never try to fill."

Tears came to her eyes at his words, but she refused to let them fall. She wouldn't let this obnoxious man see any sign of weakness from her, no matter how right he was about her. Why did the curse have to come up with a version of her past that was so close to reality? She was sure the version of the story he knew didn't include magic (after all, they were in the Land Without Magic), but what he had described was spot on. She needed to get out of this situation, and fast. "Come on, we need to get Ryan up and get ready for work."

He frowned. "Are you sure we should be going to work if we've both suffered some kind of memory loss in the past few days? Why don't we just send Ryan to school and have a day just to ourselves. I would suggest we keep him home with us and spend the day as a family, but our boy loves school. He would be devastated if we made him stay home."

She shook her head. "No, let's have him stay home with us." She wasn't going to be alone with him with no little boy to distract them. Judging by how this conversation had gone, that was the last thing she should be doing.

Then she had an idea. "Why don't you take Ryan to the park for awhile? I'm sure he has lots of energy, and I'm not even ready for the day yet."

"You look beautiful no matter what," he said. "Come with us."

She snorted. "Trust me, I don't."

"You do," he insisted. "Besides, it's not a family day if you're not there."

She shook her head. "No, you two deserve to have some father-son bonding time. I'll be fine." She couldn't have anyone underfoot when she left. She was sure that both father and son would try to stop her, and she couldn't have that. A part of her couldn't believe she was doing this- no one should drive the Queen out of her own castle, after all- but kicking him out hadn't worked the day before, so she didn't know what else she could do. She had only brought a limited amount of magic with her, and she hated the thought of using it all in the span of 24 hours. Otherwise, he would be gone faster than he could say, "Your Majesty."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

She sighed. How could she sweeten the deal for him? She had to convince him somehow, and if simple persuasion wouldn't work… Then she had an idea. Although she didn't know him (and had no desire to), no one, male or female, could resist her charms, right?

Suppressing the urge to gag, she closed the gap that he had been trying to bridge since they had woken up, wrapping her arms around him and pressing herself flush against him. She could tell that her efforts were worth her revulsion, because she could feel a certain part of his anatomy pressing against her stomach. Good. He wouldn't need much persuasion at all then. She had taught herself to detach her thoughts from these activities over the years, but she didn't know if she could do that with this man who knew a version of her past that was so close to the truth. "I'll make it worth your while when you get home," she whispered in his ear, her voice as sensual as she could muster under the circumstances. She had become an expert at faking it over the years though, so hopefully this would work.

His voice was no more than a rasp when he responded, "Promise?"

"I do," she breathed.

Suddenly, she was flat on her back, and eyes blue as the ocean were blazing into hers. Apparently, it took nothing to rile this man up, a fact that would have been useful knowledge if she had ever had any intention of following through with her promise. "After we get home from the park, I'm sure Ryan will need a nap. Be ready for me, milady, because the second he's asleep, I will be in here, more than ready for a little rendezvous."

How, how did his words and actions make her toes curl? She was supposed to be the willy seductress, not the other way around. Every other time she had done anything like this in the past, she had been untouchable, able to enjoy the ministrations of her subjects, but emotionally detached from them at the same time. Had he somehow cast a spell on her? No, that couldn't be. It was impossible.

Forcing herself to snap out of it, but managing to maintain the facade of the wily seductress, she whispered in a husky voice, "I'll be waiting." She would, of course, be doing no such thing, but she had to keep up the act for now.

He groaned, but to her relief got out of bed, just in time for his offspring to run into the room and jump into bed with her.

"Now, Ryan, let's let your mama rest," Phoenix chided gently, picking his son up and placing his feet firmly on the ground. "Why don't you go to your room and get dressed and you and I can go to the park, yeah?"

"Okay!" Ryan cheered, running out of the room.

Regina laid in bed, only getting up when she gathered that both father and son were heading to the kitchen for breakfast. Ryan did everything he could to hinder their departure, but Regina was adamant that he and his father were going to leave the house as soon as possible, no matter what it took.

"Come on, Ryan," she coaxed, a spoon with some grainy substance Phoenix had called cereal in her hand.

"No! I don't wanna have cereal!" Ryan yelled, banging his fist on the table.

She sighed. "How about this. If you eat your cereal now, you can have dessert tonight, but if not, no dessert?" From what she had gathered the night before, dessert was a sacred tradition in the house, one that happened every night. Maybe if he had the thought of a night without it in his mind…

Sure enough, Ryan slowly took the spoon and started putting the food in his mouth. Regina sighed in relief.

Their progress from that point onward was much too slow for Regina's liking, but at least they would be out of the house soon. She made a list of things she would need, remembering that she didn't have her magic to aid her. But where would she go?

Then it came to her. Magic. Her vault. No one here even knew it existed, let alone its true contents. They just thought that it was a simple (albeit ornate) mausoleum. They had no idea that underneath her father's crypt, she had brought over the hearts she had taken, and as much of her magic as she could- but not nearly enough, as she was slowly finding out. She was trying to deal with her unwelcome houseguests on her own, but it turned out that magic was a crutch she couldn't let go of so easily.

She wanted them to leave as soon as possible. Ryan's indecisiveness about what outfit to wear, what toys he wanted to bring, didn't exactly help her in her mission to get them out of the house as quickly as possible.

"Ryan, can't you just pick one?" she pleaded. They had been having the same ridiculous discussion for the past twenty minutes, and she couldn't take it anymore.

He shook his head adamantly. "What if I get to the park and want something else, Mama?"

"How about this, Ryan," Phoenix said as he pulled a forest green coat onto his arms and crouched in front of his son. "Let's do eeny meenie miny moe to pick which toy we're taking, all right?"

Ryan nodded, and they did this silly rhyming thing that Regina supposed was used by children to make a decision. Even that was tedious. Could they not just make a decision and leave already? She was ready to be gone.

At last, the rhyme was complete and a suitable toy for the park chosen. Regina ushered them out the door, but not without Phoenix trying to kiss her. Deftly, she avoided his advances and knelt down so she was atthe child's eye level. "Have fun at the park, okay?" she told Ryan. "I'll be here waiting for you when you come back."

"Come with us now, Mama!" he begged.

"Mama wants to rest, Ryan," Phoenix said, although she could tell from his expression that he agreed with his son. "We'll see her when we get back, all right?"

With that, they finally left, and Regina shut the door behind them, relieved that she was alone at last. She knew that may not be the case for long though, so she quickly went to her room (Phoenix would see it as their room, she was sure, but she refused to even contemplate the notion of sharing anything with that man). She knew she would leave no note- she didn't want him to think there was even a chance of her coming back. She wanted there to be not a single trace that she had ever been here.

Gathering some food (she didn't know how long the curse would last, after all), she zipped her bag and took one last look around. The curse had truly given her the royal treatment, and she didn't want to leave this place. It was hers, after all. However, given that sending Phoenix away hadn't worked, she didn't see another alternative.

She got out of the house and walked in the direction of her vault. Now her happy ending could really begin.

Phoenix and Ryan got back from the park hours later. Phoenix could tell that his son was more than ready for lunch and a nap, and so was he. He couldn't wait to go find Regina and spend some much-needed time alone with her.

When he opened the door, the house was quiet. Too quiet. He hoped that meant that Regina had fallen back asleep, that she was waiting for him in their bed, hair fanned out on her pillow, eyes closed, chest rising and falling as she breathed softly. His love worked so hard, she deserved a bit of rest every once in awhile. While he and Ryan had both missed her that morning as they played at the park, he was glad that she had had this opportunity to sleep in as late as she wanted. At the same time though, it was very unlike Regina to still be sleeping at this hour.

Once he had put Ryan in bed, he went to their room, every part of him already eagerly anticipating what awaited him there. However, when he opened the door, it appeared that Regina was under the covers, still sleeping.

"Milady, I'm home," he said quietly. He pushed back the covers a little, intending to rub her shoulder, only to find nothing but pillows beneath the sheets. Only in that moment did he realize that he had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. How had he not seen it? Granted, their plan had been for Ryan to take a nap and for them to spend time alone… but had she planned to not be where she said she'd be the whole time?

He realized in that moment that he hadn't checked the closets. Maybe she was hiding, waiting for him there?

His hope renewed, he opened the door to their walk-in closet, prepared to search through every rack of clothing to find her. But no matter where he searched in the closet, Regina wasn't there. Her side of the closet was almost completely empty too, the only pair of jeans she owned the one thing she had left behind.

He had to let out a bitter laugh at that detail. Of course that would be what she left behind. His love hated any comfortable clothes, preferring to spend her days in nothing but dresses and pantsuits. It was a habit of hers that he had never completely understood, but he had to admit that he found the sight of her in her preferred attire alluring, her appearance beyond compare.

He left the room then, flabbergasted as to why she was gone. Granted, she had acted strangely that morning, but that was no reason for him to automatically assume something was amiss… Until her disappearance now, of course.

As he continued his day, woke Ryan and played with him, his mind was racing, trying to figure out the puzzle of Regina's disappearance. He hid his heartbreak from Ryan, but there was no hiding Regina's absence from his son. By the time he was tucking his son in for the night, he had asked for his mama no less than fifty times. He reassured him, told him she was out with friends, but once he had cracked Ryan's door for the night, he was left with nothing but his own thoughts and worries for company.

Why had she left? Had she fallen out of love with him? No. It wasn't possible. The Regina he knew and loved would never leave him. Yet her actions proved otherwise… He wanted her to be happy, he really did, but at the same time, he felt that he had to find her, had to do everything he could to win her back.

He tossed and turned all night, his devastation keeping him awake into the wee hours of the morning. Finally, as the first rays of dawn were starting to peek through the windows, his fatigue won out and he drifted off, certain of only one thing: he would get the love of his life back, no matter what the cost.

Prompt party 2021 prompts in this chapter: 175) amnesia, 189) first curse AU, 193) Robin thinks Regina has fallen out of love with him, 196) Regina breaks Robin's heart, a personal prompt: Robin moves back into the mansion, and 22) work on any WIP. Hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think!