Monday Night:

"But Mom I don't want to leave you."

"There's nothing to worry about Henry I'll be fine. We all need to get some rest." Regina ran her hand through the ten year old's hair.

"Yeah kid, come on. We've kept your mom up long enough, she needs to sleep. And so should we." Emma said reasonably, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Okaaay..."

"We can come back tomorrow, I promise." Emma patted his arm.

"I guess..."

"Mary Margaret is making hot chocolate for when we get to her apartment." Emma tempted.

Henry grinned. "It'll be weird staying at her house. Miss Blanchard being my teacher and all."

"True... but it'll be fun!"

"Yeah."

"You'll have to tell me about it tomorrow." Regina smiled.

"I will."

Regina gazed fondly at him. She didn't want him to go either, especially not to stay with Mary Margaret, but she was exhausted. At least he was back in town. That was something she hadn't even begun to consider as a possibility only the day before.

There seemed to be something that Regina was debating on saying or doing, but finally, after glancing at Emma she appeared to disregard the thought.

"I suppose I'll see you in the morning then?" Regina said to Henry.

"Yeah. 'Night Mom."

"Goodnight Henry."

Henry hugged his mother one last time. And as he did she closed her eyes, savouring how good it felt to have him in her arms again. She reluctantly let go as he pulled back and stood up to stand beside Emma.

"See you tomorrow Regina," Emma said, "I hope you... you know, sleep well."

"Thank you. You too." Regina said a little stiffly.

Emma smiled uncomfortably, nodding once as a response. She handed Henry his backpack which he then slung over his shoulder. As the two left the room, Henry looked back and waved at his mother one final time.

That night, Regina Mills had the most peaceful sleep she'd had in months.

"Is Henry asleep?" Mary Margaret asked, keeping her voice low.

"Yeah, I think so." Emma said as she tiptoed down the steps from the spare room and headed over to where Mary Margaret was seated in her own bedroom.

"I'll bet he's tired. He's had a long day."

"You're not kidding." Emma said, flopping down on Mary Margaret's bed.

"So he's really coming back to Storybrooke." Mary Margaret said to herself. "I know how much it meant to have him come live with you. I'm sorry."

"Thanks." Emma said from where she was lying, staring up at the ceiling.

"Although, I have missed him in my class. He's one of my best students you know. It'll be nice to have him back."

"At least one of us will be happy." The blonde propped herself up on her elbows.

"Aww Emma, you'll still get to see him."

"Yeah but... he'll be here... the only way I'll get to see him all the time is if I move back here too."

"Well you could..." Mary Margaret said hopefully.

"You want me to move back to Storybrooke?" Emma's eyebrow quirked, sitting up.

"Well why not?" Mary Margaret said excitedly. "I've missed you. It was nice having you as a roommate. It's like it was always meant to be. Oh... is that too weird to say?" The brunette blushed.

"No, don't worry about it. I know what you mean... we are like... sisters."

Mary Margaret beamed. "So what do you think?"

"Weeell... maybe. I guess so... I really don't want to leave Henry."

"Yes! Oh this is great! You can get your job back as sheriff, no one's taken over for you yet. And you can have your room upstairs back... if you want it of course."

Emma grinned at Mary Margaret's enthusiasm. She sat up, "you know... as much as I love Boston and all, this town's kinda grown on me. I have missed it."

"And everyone has missed you too! You've become a part of Storybrooke now. It was so odd with you and Henry gone."

"Really? We're just two people, how big of a difference can we make?"

"Well apparently a pretty big one. Once you two left, the town just felt different. Like something was missing."

"Or maybe you were just missing your best student." Emma joked.

Mary Margaret laughed.

"Oh.." her face fell. "How is Regina doing? I didn't want to talk too much about it in front of Henry."

"She's okay... I think she's really happy to have Henry back. Hell, I don't blame her. She's still feeling pretty nauseous though. They almost put her on a feeding tube because she wouldn't eat; but being as stubborn as she is, she was having none of that and in the end she ate a little bit of soup. Honestly though... she's not doing so great. And have you noticed how much weight she's lost? We've only been gone a week."

"I noticed that this morning too. After you guys left for Boston she pretty much kept to herself. No one really saw her much. It's so sad, maybe if we had known how hard she was taking it someone could have helped her sooner."

"I'm not so sure... I don't think she would have accepted anyone's help. It's just not like her."

"Maybe you're right..."

Tuesday Afternoon:

"Have you ever had suicidal thoughts before this?" Archie asked from his seat in Regina's hospital room. The mayor herself was standing at the window looking out over Storybrooke. She had changed into clothes that Mary Margaret had brought over the day before, and her arms were crossed to shield herself against the cool air seeping through the glass.

Regina thought about his question. She went back to a time when she had been Queen, trapped in a loveless marriage in a kingdom that felt more like a prison. She had considered ending it all back then, when the feelings of loneliness and anger had become so unbearable that numbness seemed like the most attractive solution.

"Yes. A long time ago."

"What circumstances led you to these thoughts?"

"Well, I was very young, and I was married to a much older man. We weren't really well fit for each other. And what I wanted more than anything was children, but after the wedding I found out that he had no intention of having any more." She said quietly.

"More?"

Regina moved away from the window and took a seat.

"He had a daughter from a previous marriage. His first wife passed away."

"I see..." Archie thought for a few moments. "What was this man's name?"

Regina seemed to freeze up a little at the question. "I'd rather not say."

"Why not?"

"I like to forget about him."

"Okay. Well that's alright, we don't need to name him for now. So, did you find that the memory of his first wife got in the way of your marriage?"

"Oh absolutely. He never stopped talking about her. Day and night he would go on about how perfect she was, how beautiful she was. I don't even think he realized how often he did it."

"That must not have felt very good to you."

"Honestly, I was mainly just annoyed. I didn't feel jealousy for this woman because she still held my husband's heart. I knew we weren't a good match and I didn't love him either."

"Was he ever abusive towards you?"

Regina swallowed and her eyes wandered a little. She remembered being locked in her chambers. She remembered his anger when she tried to refuse him. "Not abusive exactly. We were married."

"What do mean by that?"

Regina shook her head, not wanting to elaborate.

"This is a safe space Regina." Archie reminded her. "If he was hurting you, that's not okay."

The brunette took in a deep breath, gathering courage, but she couldn't go on. She decided to change the course of the conversation. "He was just, distant. He loved his first wife more than me... he loved his daughter more than me... After we were married he was away a lot and didn't have much time for me."

"Forgive me for asking, but why did you marry him if you weren't in love?"

"I don't know."

Archie studied her. "Are you sure about that?"

Regina narrowed her eyes at him.

"How about him then? Do you know why he proposed to you?"

Regina slowly nodded in thought.

"What was the reason?" Archie asked curiously.

"His daughter was still young and he thought she was in need of a mother. He knew that she liked me and so... well, he proposed."

"And why did you accept?"

Regina shook her head bitterly.

"Regina?"

She looked up at him, "because my mother wanted me to."

"I see. Why did your mother want you to marry this man?"

Regina hesitated. Her story was already unusual enough. It was difficult to try to explain your reasons when they pertained to a different world. This new world used to have these same customs, but that was decades, almost centuries ago. "His social connections were ideal. My mother was a very proud woman, and status and prestige was everything to her."

"I'm going to take a guess and say you were a debutante once too?" He joked.

Regina gave a slightly amused nod. "You could say that."

He turned serious again. "How old were you when all of this happened?"

"In my late teens."

"That is quite young to be married."

"I agree."

Regina shifted uncomfortably as she realized how closely Archie was watching her.

"Regina you didn't want to marry this man did you?"

Regina felt a chill run through her, quite reminiscent of the one she'd had when her mother had accepted Leopold's hand on her behalf all those years ago.

"Regina... from what I am gathering it sounds as if this marriage may have been forced on you?" There was a look of pity in his eyes that she despised.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were here to talk about recent events, not to dwell on the past." Regina said, not liking how much they had already discussed about that time.

"Well, sometimes we must understand the past in order to understand the present. These events could be connected."

"I already understand my past. I've spent a great deal of my life trying to forget about that time. That part of my life has nothing to do with what happened this week."

"You said you had suicidal thoughts back then, whatever you must have been feeling was likely very similar to what you were going through this week. I think the two are very much related. You mentioned wanting to have children, was being denied that chance your only motive?"

Regina stared into his eyes. No. The answer was no.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

Regina paused. "I wanted to be a mother, that was all I required. I didn't need my husband's love. I just wanted a baby."

Archie could see it in her eyes that there was something she was holding back. He had known before he asked the question that there was more to it, he just hadn't expected the answer she gave. So far she had been open with him.

"You didn't want love?"

"No, not from him."

"From who then?"

Regina's mouth opened and closed once, changing her mind on her answer. "From the children I was never going to be allowed to have."

"There was no one else you ever thought of spending your life with? No one before or after your husband?"

Yes

"No"

"You've never been in love Regina?" Archie asked softly.

She hesitated. The look in her eyes gave her away.

"What happened to this person?" He asked.

Damn that Cricket.

"Talking about him won't bring him back." Regina said in a small voice.

"That's true, it won't. But I think talking about him will help you."

Regina stared at him helplessly.

"Forgive me if I do ask, but was he a part of the reason you contemplated suicide before?"

She took a deep breath. "Yes. He was." She looked up at him and realized he was waiting for her to continue. "His name was Daniel. I was going to marry him. We were engaged before I got married to... I loved Daniel so much."

Archie smiled at that, and Regina gave a small one of her own.

"What happened?"

Regina's smile faded away. "He died." She whispered.

"How?"

Regina closed her eyes. "All that matters is that he was taken from me. And so were all of our dreams for our future together. Shortly after that, I married the... I married Leopold."

"Your husband's name was Leopold?"

Regina nodded absently.

"And at some point after the wedding you contemplated ending your life. What changed your mind? What was different back then that stopped you from going through with it?"

Regina thought over her words. "Someone came to me. They told me they could show me how to gain control over my life again."

"And did they?"

"Yes. Because of him I was able to get out of my marriage with Leopold. And eventually, the path he led me on brought me to adopting Henry."

"Who was this person?"

"An old... friend. Of my mother's."

"And did you trust them?"

"Sort of... it's complicated."

What Regina left out were the ulterior motives of this so called "friend". No need getting into gory details.

"Well I'm happy someone was there to help last time." Archie offered a kind grin.

Help. That was one way of putting it.

Regina just forced a smile.

"And what about this week? What was it that made you decide to take those pills?"

"Well, it wasn't something I planned."

"These things are often unexpected. At the moment you took them, what were you thinking about?"

Regina swallowed, crossing her arms defensively. "My son."

"About him leaving?"

"He was the only family I had. When Henry left, my life was just empty. I felt like I no longer had a purpose. I'd dedicated the last ten years of my life to raising and taking care of him, and then all of a sudden... there was nothing. He didn't need me anymore, but I still needed him."

"Have you told him this?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"He was starting a new life, I didn't want to burden him."

"But things have changed, he came back. Why not tell him now? I'm sure he'd like to hear how much he means to you."

Thinking this over, Regina stood up and returned to her position by the window, staring out over the town that was glowing warmly in the afternoon sun.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin."