So this chapter is for the lovely bstix, who requested a happy chapter today. Because any chapter with Lola can make any day happy :)

"Mommy!" Lola called. "I need my story!"

Regina smiled. It was true that she loved her son, but there was something special about a child that you yourself had carried for 9 months and given birth to. No wonder Emma and Henry were so close.

"What are we reading tonight?" Regina asked, sitting next to Lola on her bed.

"A story!" Lola said excitedly.

Regina laughed. "What story?"

Lola thought hard about it. "You make up a story!"

"You want me to make up a story?" Regina asked. Lola had never asked for that before. What was she supposed to do?

"About a princess!" Lola said, burrowing under her covers.

"A princess?" Regina asked. She wracked her brain for any stories that she knew about princesses. And then it hit her. She was a princess once.

"Okay," Regina said. "I'll tell you a story about a princess."

"Yay!" Lola said. She grabbed her teddy bear and looked at Regina expectantly.

Regina smiled. "Once upon a time there was a princess named Lola."

"That's my name!" Lola said in surprise.

"It is," Regina said, chuckling. "Now this princess was very kind and had a lot of love in her heart. Specifically towards a stable boy."

"The princess is in love with a stable boy?" Lola asked. "But princesses are supposed to marry princes!"

"That's true," Regina said. "But this princess wanted to marry him anyway. She loved him with all her heart, and was prepared to run away with him if she needed to."

"So they got married?" Lola asked.

Regina shook her head sadly. "No, they didn't. The queen found out about the princess and the stable boy, and had the stable boy killed so that the princess would be forced to marry the king." Regina knew that she wasn't being entirely honest, but she couldn't exactly tell her young daughter that the stable boy had his heart ripped out.

"What happened to the princess?" Lola asked. "She must have been really sad."

"She was," Regina said sadly. "But she married the king of another kingdom, and became a stepmother to his daughter."

"So she had a family," Lola said, yawning. "That's good."

"It was," Regina agreed. "But the princess, now a queen, didn't love the king. The pain from losing the stable boy became too much, and she became evil and learned magic to get revenge on those who had played a part in his death."

"Oh no!" Lola said. "What happened?"

"The queen scared many people before she was finally defeated," Regina said. "But after she was defeated, she made friends with the people who used to be her enemies, and found love again."

"She did?" Lola asked hopefully.

Regina nodded. "She found someone who she loved very much, and they got married. They had 3 children, and now they're living happily ever after."

Lola smiled as she closed her eyes. "That was a good story Mommy."

"Thank you," Regina whispered. "Now get some sleep." She leaned down and kissed Lola's forehead before getting up and leaving the room, closing the door softly behind her.

"That was your story, wasn't it?" Emma asked from behind her.

Regina jumped. "What are you doing?"

"I always listen to story time," Emma said, shrugging. "I'm just usually gone by the time you come out. This time I stayed."

"Oh," Regina said. "I didn't realize that you listened."

"So, was that your story?" Emma asked. "Because it sounded a lot like it."

Regina nodded. "She asked me for a story about a princess. So I told her one."

"The story of the princess before the Evil Queen," Emma said. "You'll have to tell her the whole story someday. That was only a glimpse of what really happened."

"She doesn't need to know what really happened for quite some time," Regina said.

Emma shrugged. "It was a nice story. Especially the last part."

Regina smiled. "It's true. The queen found her happy ending, and lived happily ever after."

Emma smiled before kissing Regina. "I told you that I would help you find your happy ending. And I'm so glad that I'm a part of it."

Happy World Smile Day! Smile :)