It was their first ever dance, which meant Bryony and Evie were buzzing with excitement. It was nothing big, just a junior high dance in the cafeteria. Still, they were super excited to finally be "grown up enough" to go to something like that. They already had their outfits picked out, they just needed a few more accessories to go along with the outfits. Since Regina had gone to take their little sibling to the doctor, they hurried to her closet and started going through it.

"What about this?" Bryony asked, pulling out a black fedora and placing it on her head.

"Oh, that would go great with this." Evie handed her a silver star necklace she had found in her mom's jewelry box. "I want to wear these, though." She held up a pair of gold earrings."

"Those would go perfect with this."

Bryony went to grab one of her mom's scarves when she saw a shoe box. Her mom's feet were pretty small, so at that point, they had the same size. She pulled it out, ready to see if it'd go with her carefully put together outfit and took off the lid. To her surprise, there were just a bunch of papers inside. Bryony frowned, pulling them out.

"What is all that?"

"I don't know, a bunch of court stuff, transcripts. I think it's from when Mom and Dad were adopting us."

Evie shrugged and went back to searching for more stuff as Bryony reached the bottom of the box. She found a letter neatly written on stationary she had never seen before. It was a letter to her mother, though she didn't know the sender at first. She read the first few lines, feeling confused. Then she got to the part no one had ever told her.

When you had Evie, both of you had complications. They were trying to save you from the C-Section and for a moment, they were worried about Evie as well. She was 2 weeks early and was having some medical issues. I knew that you couldn't be burdened with a child who could possibly spend her life needing constant medical care, so I once again stepped in and did what I needed to do.

It was from Cora, her mother's mother. She had been the person to switch her and Evie.

When the girls had gotten old enough to be told the truth about everything, Robin and Regina hadn't gone into that much detail. They just said that a mistake was made and it took three years to make it right. Now, here it was, in blue ink. Her grandmother had decided that she wasn't good enough to be a part of the family…simply because she was sick.

Her hand floated to her hearing aid and frowned. All her life, she had to deal with people not accepting her or thinking she could do less because she was deaf in one ear. She never expected it from her own family, from her own grandmother. She had been tossed aside like a pair of unwanted shoes, swapped out for a healthy baby.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Bryony grumbled, dropping everything she was holding to the floor.

Regina and Robin came home a little later, heading up to their room when their girls were nowhere in sight. They found Evie sitting on their bed, looking a little guilty.

"What's going on?" Regina asked.

"We were um…we were looking for your closet for accessories for the dance."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Are you supposed to go through my stuff without permission?"

"Well…no. But that's not the worst of what happened. Bryony found this box and in it…was this." She handed the letter over to her parents.

The two looked it over, their eyes widening. Regina had only held onto that letter for all those years since it had become a part of the court case. They had to prove that neither of them had abandoned their girls and that it was all orchestrated out of their hands. They had never told the girls about Cora's role in things, they never wanted them to feel bad.

"I…I need to talk to Bryony," Regina stammered.

"I'll stay here and talk it over with Evie," Robin said, dropping down next to his daughter.

Evie shrugged. "I'm fine. I'm not the one who just found out I was rejected."

"Evie."

"I'm not saying it to be mean! I tried talking to her and that's what she said!"

Regina sighed and headed upstairs to the attic bedroom the girls began sharing when they were 7. They had started off sharing a room when Regina had their little sibling, but soon discovered the finished attic and begged their parents to let them move up there. Even with Henry out of the house, and Roland on his way there, they still had no intentions of going back to their old rooms. She found her daughter curled up on her bed, staring off into space.

"So…you found the letter."

Bryony didn't even blink. "Yeah."

"You shouldn't be going through my things."

"Yeah…well…wasn't looking for this."

Regina bit her lip and sat next to her. "Mother was wrong to do what she did, Bryony."

"Look, it's nothing new. I've been rejected my whole life."

"Not by me, or Daddy, or your siblings…"

"You guys aren't the only people in the world." Bryony sat up, grabbing hold of her stuffed bunny (which had seen better days), holding it tightly to her chest.

"I know. And as someone who grew up with Cora Mills, I can tell you, it hurts to feel this way."

"Would you have not wanted me from the beginning if you knew I was sick?"

"Of course I would've," Regina said, automatically. "Sweetheart, I love you. I carried you in my stomach for eight and a half months. Nothing would ever make me not want you. When I got this letter, I was so angry with her for making this choice for me, because it's not one I would've. You having health problems doesn't mean that you're any less deserving of love."

"She seemed to think so."

"And that's why she died alone." Regina took her hand. "I know this hurts and I know I can't fix it all in one conversation. Just know that Daddy and I love you, more than anything. We never wanted you to find out about this."

Bryony shrugged. "It's my own fault. I went through your stuff."

"Doesn't mean you deserve to feel this hurt." She kissed her forehead. "You wanna know something, though? You were chosen, Bryony Kate. You were chosen by your father and by me. You aren't a reject, I promise you that."

She nodded, but Regina could still see the doubt in her eyes. In that moment, all the anger she held towards Cora came rushing back. She had worked so hard to make sure that her kids never felt the way she did growing up and now, one of them did.