Notes:
I came back without interruption and caught up with the Prompt Party. I included #151, #190, #270.
Hope you enjoy!
In the previous chapter
"I am the first one! I finished school in first place!"
"Oh my God! I'm proud of you, dear!" Henry immediately pulled his daughter into his arms and shared in her joy.
When the voice she expected from her mother did not come, Regina broke up with her father. "Mother, aren't you going to say anything?"
"What do you expect me to say, Regina? Congratulate you for the time you wasted?"
"Cora!"
"Where will this school take her, Henry? First or last, she won't be able to get the life she deserves by spending hours in front of the computer anyway."
"This is the life I want, mother!"
"The life you want is nothing, Regina, I've been trying to tell you this for four years!" She stood up angrily.
Although the young woman, whose eyes were filled with tears, told herself how much she wanted and preferred this life, she realized that while she was constantly trying to do the best all her life, she never actually did it for herself, she always struggled to hear a pride sentence from her mother. Because when she saw that she couldn't please her mother once again, all her joy vanished in an instant.
Regina stopped trying to please Cora Mills that day, learning bitterly that she would never be enough for her unless she had the power in her hands.
"We are here." She realized that the car had stopped when the man sitting next to her took her hand. "Everything is gonna be okay."
"It's all I want."
"Come on." Robin got out of the car and walked around Regina's side, opening the door before the woman reached for the doorknob.
"Thank you."
"Always, milady."
They shared a smile.
Regina, who was entering her son's father's house for the first time, waited behind Robin as she opened the door. She took a deep breath as the man stepped aside and cleared the way for her to pass.
If she hadn't been too nervous to examine the house, she would have noticed that the photographs they had taken in the lake house decorated the table in the foyer.
"Mom, dad we are at home!" Robin called inside as he placed his coats on the coat rack.
Regina let the landlord put his hand on her waist and guide her into the living room, and when they entered she saw the version of his hair with gray of the man in her memories . As Robert rose from his chair, he realized that he had not lost any of his old energy.
"Regina! You came!"
Finding a cordial welcome, the opposite of what she expected, the woman glanced away at the man next to her, saw that he was smiling too, and realized with his eyes that he was saying, "I told you so."
"Good to see you, Mr. Locksley."
She has to be blind not to see that Robert's cheerful mood waned after how did she call him. Although her love for the old man she had once called his name, whom she saw as a second father, had not waned, she felt too embarrassed to let go of the formality at that moment.
"You too. I'm glad you came."
"Thank you for inviting me."
Before they could continue their conversation, they heard a voice behind the door, where they were standing with their backs turned, indicating that someone else had joined them.
"The honor is ours, your majesty."
All three turned at the same time to find Katherine Locksley. The electricity in the environment reached its peak with the presence of the old woman.
"Mom…" Robin muttered with little warning, but she didn't even turn to look at him.
"We tried to make an appointment with the palace, but they said not everyone could see the queen."
While the woman, known for her sharp tongue, continued to taunt, the queen was burning with longing for the woman she hadn't seen for years. Regina was not offended because she knew she was using all these words to reproach her, not to upset her. It was already known by everyone that he was never a smug manager.
"Mrs. Locksley, you've never been everyone." She answered her in the same tone, but unlike her, her voice was sweeter than harsh. She and Katherine always had such quarrels.
"Then why do I feel that way?"
In fact, the brunette woman was glad that she showed her direct feelings instead of fake attitudes. Neither liked to delay the inevitable. In fact, Regina sometimes thought she looked more like Katherine than Cora.
"Can we talk in private?" Regina said.
"As you wish."
Robin led them to the study and left them alone. After the two women sat on the opposite seats, they looked at each other with the weight of silence.
"I understand that you are angry with me." The brunette woman shifted uneasily in her seat, then spoke.
The old woman did not open her sealed lips, her hazel eyes fixed on the reflection of the girl her son had once brought home for dinner.
"I saw the same anger in Robin and Henry's eyes, but no matter how hard I try, I can't fully understand their feelings. I suffered my own pain, it was not the same as theirs. Now when I look at you I can understand, I can see the eyes of a mother whose child has been hurt. I know how hard it is for you to forgive me. I just..."
"You just don't know anything, Regina!" Hearing her name from the woman's voice for the first time since they met, the queen's eyes widened in surprise.
"I do not understand." She hummed.
"I know you don't understand. What do you think? That I'm mad at you for upsetting Robin?"
Regina didn't even have the courage to approve.
"After you broke up with Robin, he fell apart. I have never seen my son so sad in his life. He did not leave his room, did not eat or drink for days. He didn't speak."
The fabric of the velvet armchair shifted uncomfortably like thorns, and the brunette resisted the urge to avert her eyes. She could no longer see the signs of how much she had broken the heart of the man she loved, but once again she had to bear the consequences of her decision. This time she couldn't help but wish it would be the last.
"You know how a mother feels when she sees her child sad... But you, Regina, you don't know how a mother feels when she loses her child! I wish God would not teach you about this pain, I would never want you to feel the way I felt when you suddenly disappeared from our lives."
Like a five-year-old scolded for breaking her mother's vase, Regina hadn't even noticed her eyes drifting to the patterns on the carpet until Katherine Locksley's words came into her ears.
The brown orbs rose to meet the old woman's filled eyes.
Her lover's mother had made Regina taste all the motherly feelings that Cora Mills could not give her. During the three years they were together, Katherine was the one who caressed her head when she fell ill, listened to her troubles, and told her about all her successes before her birth mother. She had never looked at her as her son's girlfriend; She had acted no different from Robin, from Belle.
Now that she thought she was angry and offended just because of her son and grandson, it was breaking the heart of the woman with the whites in her blonde hair even more.
17 Years Ago
Watering her garden, which would show its full bloom in a few weeks, Katherine put the garden hose aside, as she heard the phone call through the open window. she picked up the phone hanging on the wall, leaving her gloves outside the door.
"Hello there."
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"I am sunbathing by the pool."
"I'm asking seriously."
She was surprised when he responded with reproach to her usual jokes. "What's wrong, Robin?"
"I called to ask if you could make some soup if you're available, Regina is sick."
"Oh my god, what's wrong?"
"It's cold, don't worry. We'll be out of the hospital soon."
"It must be serious now that you've been able to get Regina to the hospital, Robin, and you're telling me not to worry! Stupid boy, tell me which hospital you're in right now!"
"We're already going out, you don't need to come. I'll stop by and take the soup."
"I'll make the soup, you bring that girl home."
In less than an hour, the woman who was preparing the food in the kitchen heard the door open and went out into the hall. She screamed when she saw the young woman with pale skin on her lover's arm, even the black vibrant waves had faded.
"Regina! What happened to you, dear?" She pulled her from her son's arms and wrapped her own arms around her.
"It's nothing, Katherine, I just feel sluggish."
"I've prepared something to get you up until tomorrow, honey, don't worry, it'll pass soon. For now, I put pillows and blankets on the sofa in the living room, then I'll prepare the drawing room." She gently laid Regina, who could standing with the help of her arm, on the sofa.
"I don't want to inconvenience you. Robin'll take me home tonight."
"Since when are you a nuisance in this house, girl? Get some rest before you break my heart anymore, I'll get your soup. Come with me Robin!"
Her eyes, filled with compassion as she looked at her bride-to-be, began to burn with flames when she turned to her son. The young man immediately obeyed and followed his mother to the kitchen.
"You keep talking about how much you love Regina every minute of the day and leave her alone in this state? What were you thinking, Robin?!" Her voice came out like a hiss.
"Mom, do you realize that when your children are sick, you become paranoid? I was going to take the soup from you and stay with Regina, of course I would never leave her like that."
"What do you know about looking a sick person, Robin? It's my job. Go and do what you're good at, love your girlfriend."
Now
"I…" The majestic woman remained tiny in front of the old one. She had a hard time arranging words one after the other.
"You... You what, Regina?" She said. "For years, you made everyone listen to whatever you wanted to say. You would make us believe if you said black is white, we would! Now, you what, Regina?"
"I am so sorry. I didn't want it to be like this."
"Become the Regina I know. You are better than that."
"The woman you've been watching for years isn't the Regina, you know. You talk about the queen, you see her. I am not that woman."
"Hmm? So why are you acting exactly like that woman?"
Without the scolded little girl changed his mood, the brunette woman lifted her eyes from the ground again.
"It's been fifteen years, hasn't it? You've been Queen of Storybrooke for fifteen years. You have always made decisions on behalf of someone, of the staff of the palace, of your people." She leaned forward in her seat and approached the woman in front of her. "Let me remind you, your majesty; I'm a UK citizen, you can't make decisions for me here. I decide for myself who I see in front of me, not you. Be the Regina I know now, throw off that silly skin Cora created. Fight me as yourself!"
After Katherine's sharp words, she swore she would not say another sentence until Regina began to speak.
The life of the woman in front of her was filled with great lovelessness. Her mother was a commander rather than a mother, and her father was a quiet spectator rather than a father. Robin was Regina's first and only true love. Was it because she was an emotionless person? Of course not! If you had seen Cora Mills, you would have seen that Regina had no willpower to fall in love, not even to breathe. Only when the young woman left home for college, she realized that she was a real person, not a doll or a puppet. If you asked Regina, she would say that the best time of her life was her college years, because it was when she felt the closest to freedom.
Katherine was terrified when her son's lover opened her heart to her, and she still remembers it very clearly. She was afraid that Robin would upset Regina, even though she was sure what an honorable, loving young man he was. She didn't think she had ever seen such a delicate flower in her life; she deserved to be loved, respected, and to know what it means to love and be a family.
So when she met Regina, she talked to Robin many times and tried to make sure of his love, but her son convinced her too easily. Katherine Locksley was certain that in her 62 years of life she had still never witnessed a love as great as theirs.
Robin could have made Regina very happy. Regina could give all the love she had accumulated inside of her to Robin. They spent 3 years together as if they were made for each other, as if they were soul mates, unaware of the path their stories would take, just as their mom was sure.
In these three years, she took it upon herself to complete another missing feeling of Regina, who got what she deserved for love. Although it took time for her to open up to her and get used to a mother's affection, she now had not one, but two daughters.
Until her daughter leaves her life without saying goodbye...
What could Katherine Locksley do but be angry that she was thought to be upset just because her son was heartbroken, because she didn't know about her grandson? And when that stupid thought belonged to her daughter herself?
The long intervening silence dragged both women into their own thoughts, but they were not yet aware that they had finally come together at the same point, although they had wandered elsewhere.
Regina cursed her tearing eyes and ordered them not to water anymore. She was a grown woman, even though she was a daughter scolded by her mother. She knew how to apologize and make to forgive herself. She could have done this without exploiting emotions.
First of all, she got up from her seat and sat in the wide space next to the old woman, in order to eliminate the distance that had frozen the coldness between them. She wanted to hold her hand, to feel her reassuring touch again, but for now she didn't.
She put an end to the formality, or instead of the reassuring touch, she would have been slapped hard in the face. "Katherine…"
"So you remember my name." Although she continued to speak with her stern voice, the right path Regina was taking was starting to warm her heart.
"I remember a lot. I remember a woman proudly watching me at my graduation, I remember a crazy person shouting 'My daughter graduated first place!' in the streets, I remember a pair of tender hands that healed me when I was sick, I remember a teacher who showed me what it means to be a family, I remember a chef who taught me how to cook unfamiliar dishes . I remember a mother who got angry when I made a mistake, who was not ashamed to always lead me to the truth, who I knew would always be there for me, and I felt safe with her."
The eyes she ordered to stop decided to disobey, while inviting Katherine's eyes to walk the same path as them.
"I am really sorry. For everything I can't prevent; for ruining Robin's life, for being the reason Henry grew up without a family, for letting the woman I call mother cause me to lose someone who was really my mother."
The old woman, all her resentment gone, pulled the younger one into her arms. The greatness of her longing to be able to hold her daughter again increased her tears.
If Cora Mills had not died, she was sure that she would have killed her with her own hands.
"Shh, everything is fine dear. It wasn't your fault."
"I was weak."
"You weren't. You are the strongest woman I have ever seen."
Shaking her head, she took refuge in the lap she knew was safe.
"You are." She lifted her head from her chest and looked into her eyes. "You have embarked on a way to protect the ones you love. And where are they now? A few walls away. They are safe. You are here. We are all with you. You made it, Regina."
"We all paid a heavy price."
"We did. I'm not saying we should forget the price we paid, we can't. No matter how painful, we owe our present selves to them. Now we are stronger, now we know better what is most important. The past is in the past, it's here for us to learn. The three of you have a clean new road ahead, hold each other tight and move forward. It's time for you to get the family you deserve, girl."
"I won't let them go again, I promise."
"I know. They won't leave you either." She finally gave her a hearty smile.
"And you? Will you be with us?"
"I will always be there to scold you if you see yourself as worthless again, stupid girl."
Regina slid back into her mother's arms, Katherine's fingers continuing to run through her daughter's hair until Robin, alarmed by the silence, entered the room.
The sight of his mother and the woman he loved forming a ball of love immobilized Robin at the door of the room. They looked just like the old days.
When he realized they hadn't noticed him, he made a move to leave the room as quietly as he had come, but a broken sigh from his crush stopped him again. Two female jumped when he reflexively jumped forward.
"Stop acting like a cat for God's sake, Robin! Do you want me to die early?"
Robin quickly replied to his mother as he sat down next to Regina. "Sorry mom."
He pushed back the hair on her forehead, exposing her red eyes, one hand found her hands and the other her cheeks which wet with tears.
"Robert spent too much time without pissing me off, I have to go to fend off the danger."
She left the room, leaving two lovers giggling behind him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes." She said with a small smile on her face. "Everything is fine."
"Everything will be even better. We'll leave behind us every single day you cried." He said. "We will have days when we will be blessed with your laughter."
Looking at the blue orbs glowing with love, she found the man in all the good things she had in her life. He was in days when she was happiest, the days when she was saddest as she was now, he was in when she gave life to her son, he was in when she shared a mother with him.
Regina thought Robin's the best chance of her. Her love for him overflowed, and independently of her brain, her heart parted her lips and blew air into her vocal cords. The vibrations turned into a three-word sentence.
"I love you."
Notes:
Hey, it was an emotional episode, wasn't it? Aw, I love Katherine and Regina's relationship!
Okay, well... Are you ready for next week? The chapter you've been waiting for is COMING! Let's meet to find out who is following Regina and Robin and what happened!
I promise to post early, see you!