Hello friends! I had a 2 am epiphany the other night to write this story. I've read tons of fanfics where either Regina or Emma is turned into a child, but I've yet to see one where Snow is. I really wanted to explore Regina's motherly instincts now that so much has changed. She's older, wiser, more compassionate. Plus, I feel like Regina and Snow's relationship was a bit neglected in the show. I wanted more material of them bonding and expressing the mother/daughter relationship they are supposed to have. Anyway, that's my spiel. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters.
x
Regina stood back, watching as Snow White's body was covered in bright, shimmery magic. She had warned Snow to stay away from her, but of course she hadn't listened. She followed her to her father's grave, wanting to help and make up for what her daughter had done by bringing back Marian Locksley. Righteousness was an annoying family trait for the Charmings, unfortunately. Regina was not too concerned about Snow, after all, they were supposed to be bitter enemies. Plus, the potions she'd been fiddling with were harmless enough, Simple transformation potions, easily undone. And anyway, maybe the insipid princess would learn her lesson if she was forced to be a goat for a couple minutes. Truthfully, Regina was surprised any of the potions had activated at all... they all had to be consumed to work. Hmm.
"Regina?" Snow asked, the magic no longer surrounding her. She looked no different than before.
"Damn, I was hoping you'd be a goat, or maybe a chicken." Regina remarked dryly. Moving closer, Regina examined Snow, having her do a twirl. "Not even a tail." She observed.
"How do you feel?" She asked, wanting to ensure the precious princess was okay lest her knights in shining leather come for her head.
"Fine. What was all that?" Snow said, bewildered.
"Well, that depends on what you touched. What did I tell you about touching?"
"I didn't touch anything!" She defended. "It touched me!"
"Dear, am I supposed to believe that?"
"It's the truth. I was looking around for … well, an apple, to be honest. I didn't want you to do something you'd regret later. But then this ring started glowing." Snow started to explain.
The ring caught Regina's eye. "That is impossible. I lost that ring when I tried to poison Ms. Swan. It can't be here." She emphasized, eyeing the ring on Snow's finger with suspicion. "And then what, you decided to play dress up?" She asked scathingly. Hurt flashed across Snow's face before she composed herself and continued. "No, I walked towards it and I heard something, like a heartbeat. The closer I got, the louder the beat. You showed up and then all of a sudden the ring literally flew onto my finger. I didn't grab it or anything."
Regina's face grew more somber as Snow continued, staring intently at the ring.
"This makes no sense to me. None of this should be possible. That ring isn't even magic."
"So I guess that means you don't know what it does? Or how to take it off?" Snow questioned.
"No. We'll have to do some research. In the meantime, if you could escort yourself home to your traitorous family, I would solve this problem a lot faster." Regina dismissed her, already moving towards her mother's collection of books. Hopefully she could find a solution there. Seeing Daniel's ring on Snow's finger made her feel sick.
"Regina, I'm really sorry..," Snow started, making her way to Regina before she stumbled forward and knocked into the other brunette. "What the hell, Snow White?" Regina shouted, stunned as she was struck from behind by the falling princess.
"I don't feel too hot, Regina." Snow mumbled, gripping her chest. "I feel like my heart is breaking.. I need to see Charming! Take me to Charming!" She ordered, clutching Regina's hand like a lifeline.
"Okay, okay. Calm down," Regina agreed, disturbed to see Snow acting so frantic. She and Snow rushed out of the vault. Regina pointed Snow towards the Mercedes. "God Regina. Can't you just transport us there?" Snow complained, the ache in her chest growing stronger by the second. Seeing the distress Snow was in, Regina ignored her irritation at being labelled a magical taxi and gripped Snow's hand. For an instant, Snow's face melted in relief as the pain vanished. The next second, they were in the loft and Regina released her hand. The pain returned tenfold and Snow began to crumple to the floor. Whatever this was, it was tied to Regina, so she shot out an arm and brought the former queen down with her. They landed in a pile with a loud thud. "Jesus, Snow!" Regina exclaimed, shocked at her behaviour. She started to pull away and get up.
"No! Stay with me! It hurts.." Snow began to cry, seeking comfort in Regina's touch. Before the stunned woman could respond, a cacophony of footsteps emerged in the apartment and the other members of the Charming household made themselves known.
"Mom!" Emma shouted, swinging down the steps of the loft after David.
"Snow!" David called, reaching out to her and pulling her flush against him. His shock could not be contained when she shoved herself away from him and landed back next to Regina. Thrusting her hand into the Regina's, she sighed as the pain became manageable. "Oh, oh, that's better." She cooed, unaware of the dumbstruck looks surrounding her.
"What is going on?" David exclaimed as his wife curled even closer to the evil queen.
Regina cleared her throat and attempted an explanation. "Well, Snow, she was in my vault and touched something she shouldn't have-"
"It touched me!" an indignant Snow interjected.
"Fine, this ring touched her, and she's been acting strange ever since." Regina finished.
"That's it? That's all you know? It's your vault! You should know what's doing this to her!" David lashed out at Regina.
"I was attempting to figure it out when your wife tackled me and forced me to bring her here, so forgive me if I've been a bit preoccupied, shepard!" Regina snarled. She would have continued but she noticed Snow's grip become stronger as she had yelled at David. Clearly it was causing her pain, so instead she took a deep breath and began to rise, making sure to help Snow White up with her. "Look, I will do what I can to get this reversed. In the meantime, stay out of my way." She announced while slinging Snow's arm over her shoulder and leading her to the sofa. They sat down together, their hands intertwined and their bodies close. The image left David with a sour expression on his face.
"What's your plan, then? Stay attached at the hip until you have some sort of an epiphany?" David mocked. Emma finally spoke up, having stayed out of it so far because of the heartache she'd caused Regina just the day before. "David, this is an accident and we have to work together to fix it. We're not gonna get anything done by antagonizing each other." She reasoned with him, smiling when her mother nodded along approvingly. She passed over a fresh cup of cocoa (with cinnamon, of course) she'd made before the craziness had started and patted Snow's leg comfortingly. The moment was interrupted by Regina's disgust.
"What, is the cricket teaching you how to pretend to be a diplomat, Ms. Swan?" Regina sneered, pulling her hand away from Snow's, Emma's presence suddenly making her emotional and flighty. She reluctantly offered it back when Snow gasped in pain.
"I'm just trying to be reasonable, Regina."
"If you had any sense of reason in that thick blonde head of yours, Ms. Swan, you would have left the dead woman where she belongs! In the past" Regina erupted, the vein in the center of her forehead flexing dangerously. Snow wobbled in trepidation, some hot chocolate dribbling out of the cup.
"I already said I was sorry Regina! I can't undo what I did, and I wouldn't even if I could. She didn't deserve to die!"
"You think you get to decide that? What, because you're the saviour? I always knew that would go right to your already over inflated ego!"
"You know what? I didn't ask for any of this!"
"Neither did I!" The queen exclaimed, rushing to her feet and making her way to the door. She was through with the untrustworthy and ungrateful Charming family. Her march was halted by Snow White's shriek of pain and then subsequently, her family's gasps of shock. "Oh my God," Emma whispered. Frozen with her back to the family, Regina slowly turned around and was greeted by a ghost of her past.
An eleven year old Snow White stared back at her, fresh faced and dewy eyed as ever.
x
"Snow? Are you okay?" David asked, crouching in front of the little girl. Her eyes came to focus and she zeroed in on his face.
"Who are you?" She asked, before glancing around the room nervously. "Where am I?"
The young girl started to tremble in fear when Charming grabbed her hand. "I'm David. Do you remember anything about me or Emma?" He tried to question her. Unfortunately, his questions were ignored as Snow looked past David and truly noticed Regina.
"Regina!" She exclaimed, already out of her seat and racing to the shocked queen. She quickly swallowed her shock as young Snow wrapped her arms around her middle and began to speak at a rapid fire pace. "Regina, where are we? Who are those people? Why do you look so different? Where's my father? Are we in Arendelle?"
Regina forced herself to speak, cutting off Snow before she could add to her list of questions.
"Dear, what's the last thing you remember?"
"Well, my 11th birthday was yesterday. We celebrated with father and the kingdom. It was twice the party this year because-because last year we didn't get to celebrate." She answered, her eyes wide and filled with honesty. Looking around covertly, she whispered to Regina, "Have we been kidnapped?"
"No, dear. Nothing like that. You've-you've had a run in with some magic." Regina answered, the lump in her throat growing as she stared at Snow White's trusting young face. She could hardly believe she used to gaze upon that face with nothing but hatred in her heart.
"Oh my, what kind of magic? Like your mother's?"
"No, not at all. Umm." Regina looked over to David for help. He stepped forward, confused by the tears in her eyes but grabbing Snow's attention nevertheless.
"Snow, you touched a magic item and it made you younger. You're actually 29, not 11."
Snow's eyes grew larger as she listened to Charming's explanation, turning to look at Regina for confirmation. All the queen could do was nod. "Oh my." The young girl repeated. A new determined look overcame her face. "Where is my father? He will know how to help."
Regina grimaced a bit, and forced herself to grab Snow's shoulders and tell her of her father's death the way she should have all those years ago.
"Listen to me, Snow. Your father lived a long, blessed life. I'm so sorry, Snow, but your father is no longer with us." Regina explained, carefully watching Snow's face as it began to crumple. As tears fell from the girl's face, Regina ignored the frustrated looks of David and Emma. It's not like they could have lied their way out of it. Snow White was an eternally curious, determined child, not that they would know that, she supposed. She rubbed Snow's back lovingly, comforting her just like she used to do with Henry after a nightmare.
"My dear, my dear, it's okay, I'm here." She soothed, unable to understand the strong instinct she had to scoop the girl up and rock her. She ignored her confusion and just focused on the girl in front of her. "Snow White, don't worry. We're going to solve this. You'll return to normal and all the pain that you feel right now will feel like a distant memory, I promise."
Snow White nodded, attempting to regain control of herself.
"Yes, of course, step-mother."
"Woah," Emma said. All eyes turned to her and she raised her hands defensively. "I'm sorry, it just now hit me that you're like... her mom. Or used to be. Whatever."
"Used to be?" Snow asked, her brow scrunching in confusion. "You'll always be my step-mother, won't you Regina?"
Regina struggled with her answer for a second, before she saw Charming and Emma mouth at her 'Of course!' if only to prevent Snow further distress. Looking at the child before her, she found a disturbing amount of compassion for her. After all, this Snow White was a clean slate for her. A bridge she has yet to burn, "Of course, dear. Always." She answered.
Snow let out a breath she'd been holding and luckily did not continue that line of questioning.
"Okay then, what do we do?"
x
"Rumplestiltskin. We need your help." Charming declared as the group entered the shop. The man in question smiled cheerily and replied "When don't you, your Majesty?"
"What do you know about … de-aging?" Charming asked.
"Oh dear, you've a few good years yet before you need to worry about that." he jested back. He chuckled for a minute before he caught their somber expressions again. He sighed and gave in, "What seems to be the problem?"
"Snow White has had an accident. She touched something in Regina's vault and it turned her… well, look for yourself." Charming turned behind him, where Regina brought forward the child who had been hiding behind her. Young Snow looked up shyly at Rumplestiltskin.
"Pleased to meet you." Snow said, embellishing her words with a small curtsey.
"Likewise," he responded with an ear to ear smile.
"Well, can you fix it?" Charming burst out. He missed his wife already, even though she wasn't technically gone.
"Me? Well that depends on what caused this predicament. Cursed her again, my dear protégé?" He asked Regina.
"What? Of course not!" She defended, nervously glancing at Snow. She hoped she wouldn't catch on, but Snow was a very sharp girl and zeroed in on Rumple's words.
"What does he mean, Regina? Cursed me again?" Snow asked.
"I'll tell you later, sweetheart. Let's just focus on getting this fixed, okay?" She answered before turning her attention back to her former teacher. "She de-aged after this ring flew onto her finger." She raised Snow's hand to show him the ring.
"My, my my. No wonder you want this taken care of. That's a very special ring to you, isn't it, Madam Mayor? One could almost call it priceless?"
"Yes, dammit. What do you want in exchange for helping us?" Regina bit out, glaring at the imp with challenge in her eyes.
He observed her for a moment, then glanced at the others. He caught Charming's desperate gaze, Emma's tormented one, and finally Snow's lost one. Oh how he loved making deals with the desperate. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be making one today.
"I'm truly sorry to tell you, but there is nothing I can do to help." He watched as rage entered each of their eyes, enjoying their expressions before he continued. "You see, this-" he grabbed Snow's hand and pointed to the ring for emphasis, "is not a curse. Not a poison. Not a spell. It's a promise."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, well that clears things up! Thanks a lot!"
"What kind of promise?" Regina growled.
"One you've clearly long forgotten, otherwise this wouldn't have happened. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you." He supplied.
"All that you can tell us or all that you want to?" Charming clarified.
"Clever shepard." Rumplestiltskin praised before sending them all flying out of his shop with a wave of his hand. "They'll figure it out." He said to the empty shop. "Eventually."