AUTHORS NOTE: apologies again for my poor English, it isn't my first language and I have speech and language issues.
Also, apologies for my long absence. I'm at university and have had a crap lot of exams to do recently and of course, they have to come above fanfics for a while.

Regina turned on the shower and pulled her hair out of its night-time braids, her mother always hated her having her hair loose around her shoulders, but she wouldn't let Regina cut her hair either. Cora wanted her daughter to look classy, perfect, and even a little scary. Cora herself was terrifying, with her burnt auburn hair, blue eyes, and mouth that always seemed to be sneering at her. Even now in her fifties, people at the clubs and functions that Cora attended were frightened of her.
Regina had always been frightened of her mother although from the age of six months old, she had rarely seen her. Regina had been handed over to a nanny, and a childminder and was then sent to the best private boarding schools that money could buy. It was only during her school holidays and on special days that Regina was wheeled out for inspection by her mother. She didn't call her "mummy" or even "mum". Cora was called "Mother" as she always told Regina that "Saying mummy is common. You will call me Mother"

Stepping into the shower, Regina allowed the hot water to cascade over her shoulder blades and soak through her long hair like tiny rivers. Rubbing her favourite apple scented shampoo and conditioner through her hair, Regina then focused on her face. She washed her face in her shower as her sensitive ass skin loved the steam. She rarely wore her makeup, only if her mother insisted and usually wore her comfiest jeans and leggings with sweatshirts or hoodies. Emma had been pretty dressed down, wearing her black jeans, tank top, and a red leather jacket that Regina privately thought was pretty edgy but knew her mother would call it Common as Muck.
Cora had volunteered her daughter to work for Emma Swan, as her mother and father were very well known in their tiny town. Her mother was the high school superintendent, and her father was the chief of the district police with a staff of twenty employees under him. Emma had been the talk of the clubs when she got pregnant out of wedlock, Regina well remembered the hushed whispers and dirty looks that had been flung at Emma on the rare occasion she accompanied her parents to one of their parties.

Regina walked to her bedroom wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping down her back and sat at her venetian glass dressing table to brush her hair out. With her hair reaching the middle of her back, it wasn't exactly a quick procedure, but eventually Regina had brushed through it all and tied it into two French plaits. Rubbing some moisturizer into her face and smearing some lip balm over her lips, Regina then walked to her walk-in wardrobe to get dressed.
Ruffling through the many rails of fancy designer suits, frocks, jackets, and jumpsuits, Regina found her favourite pair of black leggings, then pulled on her most comfortable bra, over which she threw on a faded band tee, that advertised a band she didn't really like that much anymore. Pulling on her socks, Regina decided on her comfiest vans, though she would probably be kicking them off as soon as she was inside Emma's flat.
Wrapping a hoodie around her body, Regina went down to the kitchen in search of breakfast. She found a note in her mother's hasty scrawl that she was meeting some friends for lunch and wouldn't be back until around seven that evening.

Regina decided on a simple piece of toast for her breakfast, since her mother had decided that Regina was too fat and needed to lose weight.

"however will you find a husband if you eat like a pig? No man wants a wife who can't control her waistline" Cora had said smugly, wrapping her arms around her own waist which was tiny- even after giving birth to her two daughters.

Regina was the younger of two, her older sister was called Zelena, who was married to Dr Robin Locksley with her daughter Robyn Grace and was pregnant again. Zelena knew first-hand just how strict and controlling Cora could be at times, with Cora having forced Zelena to put off announcing her pregnancy until Regina had announced her place at the local university to study Law.
Cora even tried to control Zelena's pregnancy, telling her what to do and what was the best thing to take, and eat, or drink, until Zelena had utterly exploded and told Cora to keep her unfortunately shaped nose out of Zelena's life, and now Zelena's daughter's life.

It seemed like no matter what Regina did, it was never good enough for Cora.

"Regina dear, when will you learn how to dress yourself? For goodness sake! No man wants a wife who looks like she shops in a thrift shop" Cora nagged until Regina had thrown out almost all of her favourite clothes.

"Regina, I don't know why you won't wear your makeup. You look so much prettier with it on. Even just a bit of foundation to cover those horrible acne scars. You always were an unfortunate teenager" Cora had whined until Regina had made an appointment with her dermatologist to have a cosmetic procedure to reduce her acne scarring.

"You were one of the ugliest children that I had ever seen. When they handed you to me in the hospital I was almost sure that they had the wrong baby. Your sister had been a stunning baby, but you looked horrendous. That's why I had all your baby clothes handmade."

"You need only put an ugly child in a pretty dress"

"Regina, why aren't you even trying to find yourself a husband? Your sister married well, I mean the money that Dr Locksley makes! Why you wont even join me when I go to some of my dances and functions is beyond me Regina. You don't want to end up a spinster, do you?"

Regina had actually lost count of her defects and faults. It seemed as though there was a new one every day. She was supposed to be meeting her sister in the local café that morning, but Regina couldn't face it. Instead she typed out a quick text to Zelena apologising for cancelling at such short notice, grabbed her laptop, and climbed back into her queen-sized bed. Browsing through Netflix, Regina settled on an old episode of "FRIENDS" and began to play candy crush on her iPhone.
Although technically she was still meant to be at university, Regina had sat her final exams early and passed with flying colours so was allowed to have her final five weeks off to herself. Cora had been delighted when she heard that she had finally been given good news to boast about her daughter to all those rich toffs at her famous parties and functions. Regina was glad that she didn't have to get up early anymore.

Regina's main fault that Cora was actually unaware of was that she wasn't even remotely interested in finding a husband. She wanted her career, with her high-flying job and big house before she thought about settling down and having a family. Cora had married into aristocracy at 22 and had Zelena at 24, then Regina at 29.
The girls father had been an old man who had more money than sense and took a shine to Cora, married her, given her the two girls, and left her everything he owned when he died. Cora had been widowed at 33, meaning that Zelena was nine when their father died, but Regina was barely five.

Hearing her phone vibrate, she glanced at the text from her sister, saying it was okay and they could meet up the next day if that was better. Regina agreed and said that she hoped the children were well and that Robyn was excited to be a big sister.
Noting the time as almost midday, Regina decided to get herself together for collecting Henry from school. She threw a book into her bag, her phone charger, headphones, and a boxed salad from the stack in the fridge along with a large bottle of water because according to her mother, Regina didn't drink enough water and that was why her skin was so problematic.

Meanwhile, at the Swan house, things hadn't gone quite as smoothly…

"Henry? Where on earth have you put your school shoes? Have you put your homework folder in your bag? What do you want for your lunch today?" Emma spat out a myriad of questions to her six-year-old while she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom.

"School shoes are in my wardrobe, homework folder is on the table because you have to sign it, and can I have a ham sandwich with mayo, and I'll go and pick out some fruit and some snacks" Henry smiled angelically at his flustered mother.

"You are an angel Henry, what would I do without you?" Emma joked fondly, pulling on her jeans, and tying her hair into her usual ponytail, slicking it down with some hairspray. Pulling her favourite black tank top over her head and shoving her arms through a flannel shirt, Emma dashed into her kitchen, made Henry his lunch, signed his homework, noting that he was getting top marks in all his subjects- including maths, which Emma was delighted about as she was pretty horrible at Maths- and shoved her son's arms down a freshly laundered school shirt and helped him do up his tie. He put on his smart school shoes and pulled on his blazer.

"You'd be lost without me Mama." He grinned, showing off the gap where his two front teeth should be.

"You're damn right about that. You haven't forgotten that Regina will be picking you up from school, have you? She'll get you after your afterschool club and bring you back here, give you something to eat and help you with your homework if you need it. Then you'll do exactly what she tells you and be on your best behaviour, though I already know you will be" Emma beamed, brushing through Henry's curls with her hairbrush.

"No Mama, I haven't forgotten. Will you put your spare key under the mat for her in case she comes here first?" Henry asked, as he began to eat his breakfast, a large bowl of sugary Froot Loops.

"Good thinking Kid, I'll text Regina that later on. Now, is everything ready?" Emma breathed a sigh of relief and drank the remainder of her now-cold coffee.

"Yep. Everything's ready Mama. I love you" Henry said, pulling Emma close for a cuddle and a kiss.

"I love you too Mini-Me, now let's get moving or you'll be late for school." Emma pulled her red leather jacket on and threw her sons school bag at him which he caught, laughing at her, and the pair hurried down the steps of the apartment. Emma hung back to put the spare key under the doormat that read "WELCOME TO THE NUTHOUSE" and made a mental note to text Regina about that on her lunch break.
Henry walked himself through the school gates and met up with his friends Ava and Nicholas, really excited to see what his new babysitter would be like. Maybe she would be the right kind of woman for his mum.

Emma had come out as bisexual to her parents while she was pregnant with Henry and they had immediately supported her, but when Emma really thought about it, she definitely had more of a preference for women rather than men. Sure she had had a few boyfriends in her time and there was obviously Henry's dad, but Emma always thought that she would truly be happier with a woman.

When Henry had asked about his father, Emma was unsure of what to say. She couldn't tell him that it was some guy that she met at a party, had sex with, and then never saw again. So she told him that she was sure his father loved him very much but that it was much better if Emma and his dad were apart. As he got older, he knew that Emma had met him that night and they thought they would be together forever, but instead, Emma and Henry would be together forever. So when Emma had tentatively asked her son how he would feel if his mum wanted to date another woman, Henry said he didn't mind, as long as they made her happy.

Emma and Henry were the prefect mother and son duo, the best kind of family. Regina had always wanted that kind of family