Notes:

Here is chapter 2. Thank you for support and feedback in chapter 1. 💜😍 I hope you love this too!
Enjoy! !
This episode contains an element of suicide. If it is not suitable for you, please skip it.

In the previous chapter

Regina shook her head negatively. "For years I have lived for today. You know. I endured all, one day I would meet my son again. But it's over now, Zelena."

Zelena frowned when the exhausted woman's eyes barely opened halfway and she couldn't stand. "Regina?"

"Don't try to contact him. Let him be happy with Emma. I gave permission... I gave my final decree, Zelena." She completed her sentences breathlessly.

"Regina, what have you done? What have you done?!"

She grabbed her sister tightly before she fell to the ground. She put her head in her lap, laid her on the ground, and screamed that echoed throughout the palace. "GRAHAM!"

"Regina, stay with me! Don't close your eyes!"

The door opened quickly, the two-person wait in front of the door came in.

"My dear god! Your majesty!"

"Call the doctor! Hurry!"

While Ruby was running out of the room, Graham took the queen who is in the floor in his arms and put her to the bed. It was the first time, the woman that he had seen splendid in years looked so small.

"Zel-Zelena..."

"I'm here, I'm with you, Regina, please don't leave me." While her blue eyes was turning red, she held her sister's hand.

"I love you."

"I love you too so much, but don't talk as if saying goodbye."

"If-If Robin comes... Tell him that I didn't want it to be like this."

"You'll say yourself. You'll say it to both him and Henry, as soon as you get up from here."

Zelena didn't even notice the doctor came until feel someone else's presence in the bed. The man controlled the queen's eyes, put his finger in her pulse.

"She's poisoned. Did she take medicine?"

"I don't know."

Ruby came to them with an empty medicine bottle in her hand. "Can it be this?"

The doctor took and examined it. "Probably. We don't know how long ago she drank these. She needs a stomach lavage, I'll try something to keep the drugs from getting into her blood until the ambulance arrives. Please open windows."

After dinner, Henry went to his room without even having a chance to his mother to speak. Emma was thinking how to convince her son when she saw Zelena's name on the phone screen.

"Zelena? It was obvious from the surprise in her voice that it had been years since she had heard her voice.

"What happened in this morning?"

"Hello to you too."

"Hello Emma, what happened in this morning?"

"Henry and Regina encountered and Henry had a very harsh reaction. Your voice is bad, is there a problem?"

A deep sigh was heard from the other side. Her old friend's sister was about to answer when Emma heard a man's voice instead.

"The press is in front of the emergency door. I don't know how they got the news."

"Zelena? Where are you?"

"I have to go. We'll talk later."

"Is Regina okay?"

"Emma, Regina tried to commit suicide."

"What? How? Zelena don't hang up!" She got up from her seat with a sudden reflex.

"She had drank medicine. I don't want to think about what could happen if I'm a little late. When we got to the hospital… She was about to die."

The blonde woman pressed her hand to her eyes and wiped the tears. "What about now? Is there a life threat?"

"Good. I guess. She's been sleeping for hours."

"I want to come to there. Which hospital are you in?"

"We're going to convince everyone it's a little disease. If we flock here, they'll know it's serious. I'll let you know, stay home for now. Emma, I really need to hang up. I'll call later."

The phone hung up on her face. The woman was trapped between four walls with the weight of the world on her shoulders and fear in her heart. She had to suppress her urge to run to the hospital because Zelena was right.

"What happened?" A timid voice said.

She found her son outside the door with a confused expression on his face. She didn't know how long he had been there and how much he had heard, but she guessed from the haste in his eyes that he realized something happened to Regina, but she acted in case he hadn't heard.

"Nothing serious.." She tried to stay calm. "A friend got sick."

"I heard that you said Regina. Is she in hospital?"

"Come and sit, Henry." She reached for her son's hand. When they sat on the couch, she still didn't know whether to tell the truth or lie. "Regina is in the hospital. Her sister informed."

"Is it because of me?"

As his hazel eyes filled with guilt, Emma made up her mind that she isn't going to put such a burden on him, and probably Regina wouldn't want to him to know either. "No no, Henry. It's not about you. She just got sick, she is fine now, okay? Nothing to worry about."

"If there's nothing to worry about, why did she informed to you? Why did you cry? Why is your voice shaking?"

Although she was proud of his son's intelligence, sadness hit her right back. "Because I love her, Henry. She is my best friend. So, she was."

"And what happened then?"

"Do you really want to know?" If Henry isn't going to talk to Regina, she would have to do it for both her son and her friend. She can't watch Regina die before her eyes, and she knew that Henry wanted to get to know her secretly, but he can't let go of his pride and anger.

"I think I can learn a little bit. For now."

"I'd rather you discussed these with Regina, but let it be your way." She got up from where she was sitting and went to the cabinet in the other corner of the room, found a album and took it out. When she returned to her son again, she had a sweet smile on her face because retaining her memories.

"I've never seen this."

"It was a little dangerous for you to see. I took it out yesterday, in case you want to take a look." When they opened the album, a photo of young Regina and Emma greeted them. It was a photo of them hugging each other and looking very happy.

"We met Regina at university. We were both in the same department and in the same room. We became friends in a very short time." When she turned the pages, the memories from the school continued. "We became an inseparable duo. We were even spending the holidays together. I didn't have place to go, and Regina preferred to stay with me rather than go home." Then they came across photos of the places they had visited.

"Have you been to Disney Land?" Henry ran his fingers over the paper where the great park was visible.

"We went everywhere together."

"You both seem so happy. This happiness is not exist in your eyes anymore. Especially in hers."

"Was that what made you want to know? Her eyes?" She thought the brunette woman's eyes; orbs that reflect all her emotions.

Henry shrugged slowly.

"Let me continue." Regina didn't tell me the real reason why she didn't go to home for a while. Yes, it was true that she didn't want to leave me alone, but there was something else. One day, she told me that her mother is prime minister of Stroybrooke. She... She was a terrible woman, Henry. You wouldn't want to meet her. She psychologically abused Regina for years. She struck her final blow by putting her in front of the palace as bait."

"I don't understand." He said with confused eyes.

"She made a political agreement with the royal. Regina paid the price. Cora forced Regina to marry the king."

"Did-Didn't she want to be queen?"

"Never, Henry."

"Why didn't she say didn't want, didn't oppose?"

Emma sighed deeply, she felt herself crushed by the weight of the memories as they rushed into her mind.

16 years ago

The blonde woman continued to draw circles on her back to calm her sobbing friend.

"Take breath sweetie. It's okay, you're safe."

"E-Emma... I-She. She forced..."

"Regina, look at me, you have to breathe. Please. Watch me, okay?"

To get her friend out of hyperventilation, she tried to control her breathing. "Take a breath. Breathe out. In. Out... Like this. Focus on my voice, you're safe."

Minutes later, when she was able to breathe on her own, she began to sip her water.

"How are you feeling?"

"Desperate, angry, cluttered."

"Do you want to tell what happened? Did you say you don't want to get married?"

"I did. I talked about Robin."

She put her still trembling hand to her stomach, which was just beginning to show. "I explained that I was pregnant."

Emma squeezed Regina's hand as if giving strength.

"We had a long discussion about I should abort my baby and leave Robin and marry the king. When I refused… She threatened to kill both the baby and Robin."

"Regina... Can she exceed this much?"

"She can do everything she wants, Emma. Everything. I can't stop her." She busted into tears again.

"So, did you accept it?"

"We made a deal. I'm not going to tell Robin about the baby and I'm breaking up with him. The wedding will be in 7 months, after the birth. She promised not to touch either of them in exchange for giving my baby up for adoption."

"It-It's a very cruel deal, Regina! How did you accept?"

"I had to. You don't know her, what she can do."

Emma who couldn't find anything to say, hugged her friend firmly. She knew that she was right. Cora Mills is one of the most powerful women in the country. She could split Robin into particles without getting her own name involved; it would be very easy for her to separate the baby from their mother. Neither Regina, nor Robin, nor Emma had the strength to stand up to her.

"Emma…" Her voice came out so small and broken and sad. In one word, she smashed her friend into pieces. "Can you... Can you raise my baby?"

"Regina..."

"At least he'll have someone with him that I'm sure will love him. I can only trust you, Emma, please." There was so much despair in her brown eyes...

"This is… a very big decision."

"I know I want something very difficult."

"Are you sure we don't have another way out? We'd escape, find a..."

"There is no other way out. I've never had a way to escape from her. I can't risk their lives."

Now

"Mom, why didn't she oppose?" When she didn't reply, asked again and pulled Emma out of the past.

"Cora threatened her... to kill your and your father. Regina has agreed to marry the king in exchange for her not harming either of you."

"Didn't she really want to give up from me?"

Emma shook her head. "Ever since she found out she was pregnant, she loves you so much. Giving you up killed her inside."

"Thanks mom for being honest with me."

He closed the album and placed it in her lap. He had looked at all the photos while listening. He didn't know Regina, but he had watched the queen many times over. He had searched enough to realize that the woman he saw on this album and the woman running the country were not the same person.

"You should try to know Regina, Henry. She's the one who will tell you more."

Not knowing how to react to what he learned, he went to his room with his emotions upside down again and let go of the tears he was holding. Suddenly the fact that Regina was in the hospital hit his face again. He picked up his phone and looked for news. The Queen arrived at the hospital by ambulance at noon, but no information from the hospital had leaked out. It was only said that the queen was well and resting. It means, whatever happened to Regina happened after she left here. His brutal words echoed in his mind. He knew he had destroyed her world, he knew she was in the hospital because of him. Hee was suddenly filled with the urge to run and apologize, but her 'aunt' obviously didn't even let her mother come. He decided that he would contact when she felt better and put down the phone, but anxiety continued to gnaw at him.

He wonders what his life would be like if his grandmother wasn't a bad person, if she supported his parents' relationship and were happy to have a grandchild? What kind of mother would Regina be to him? Would she wake him up with morning kisses like Emma and cover him before going to bed at night? When he got sick, would she wait until morning? Would his father go to football games with him? Would they play video games together? Family vacations, meals? How would it feel to be three people for dinner? Having a complete family?

In fact, Henry didn't even know who his father was… He decided that this was something he needed to talk to Regina about.

So what happened to his real mother that she had to be hospitalized? The boy thought for a moment that she might have had a heart attack. What if she had died without the opportunity to get to know him, before she had a chance to explain herself, as the last words she heard from her son were the cruellest. Henry would never forgive himself. He hoped Regina could forgive him.

He wiped her tears quickly and left his room when the coat rack by the door suddenly appeared in his mind. A long red coat had been hanging on the hanger full of Emma's and his own coats all afternoon. If his mother didn't have such a thing... Regina must have forgotten as she rushed out. As he passed the living room, he realized that Emma was not there. Better. He didn't want him to see you pick the coat up from the hanger. He went back to his room quickly and locked the door behind him. He knew right away that what he was holding was very expensive, it definitely belonged to his real mother. He ran his fingers over the soft fabric. He timidly lifted it up and brought it to his nose, and the smell of vanilla that permeated him filled his lungs. His arms involuntarily clung to the coat he held, unable to prevent the butterflies flying in her stomach. Was that how he would feel when he hugged her? Like she is filling up all his missing pieces?

Notes:

You can follow my Twitter account for story updates and more: idilsakinci.
Thank you for reading!
If you have any suggestion, feel free to tell me.