Alright here's another Regina centric chapter with some Snowing angst thrown in. Enjoy!

When Regina woke the next morning before the sun even rose. Only a few hours had passed and her eyes still felt sore from the tears of the previous day. She was also very aware of the two strong arms around her and the distinct smell of forest. She turned to face her soulmate while remaining in his arms. He was still awake and smiled softly at her.

"Morning," he whispered.

She smiled painfully at him. "Thank you for staying with me."

"Where else would I be?" he answered. They were silent for a while, just enjoying being in each other's arms. It's was comforting just being with each other. Then Regina finally spoke.

"You have to go," she said softly. "You know as soon as that sun comes up Roland will be awake and you need to be there when he does."

Robin sighed sadly. He knew that his son would always come first but he felt so guilty about leaving Regina when she was in such distress. He leaned in to give her a lingering kiss. He tried to put all his love and concern into it. He pulled her close with one hand and caressed her cheek with the other. When they finally broke apart he placed his forehead against hers. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I know," she said breathlessly.

When Robin went downstairs he saw Belle in the kitchen making breakfast. She looked at him with concerned eyes. "How is she?"

"Only a little better than yesterday," he replied honestly. "I can't stand leaving her like this."

"She understands that you have to be there for Roland," said Belle. "She knows you'd do the same for her if it was Henry."

He nodded while squinting at her. "You look like you haven't slept all night."

Belle sighed. "I tried for the first three hours then I just gave up. Thought I'd try my hand at cooking oatmeal for Regina and Snow."

"Snow stayed?" asked Robin. He didn't expect that from the princess.

Belle nodded her head. "She didn't want her to be alone."

Robin smiled at her. "I'm glad Regina has you two."

Regina was still lying on her bed when Belle knocked on her door an hour later carrying a tray of oatmeal and toast. She didn't even sit up to address her. "I'm not hungry Belle."

"I know you're not," said Belle walking over to her side of the bed. "But it's been nearly 20 hours since your last meal and you still need to eat something."

Regina just stared at blankly at the ceiling. She didn't feel like eating. Or talking. Or seeing people. She wasn't ready for it. She just wanted to stay in her bed with the drapes shut. Despite her behavior Belle wasn't deterred as she set down the tray and pulled over a chair.

"Regina, when Henry left last night I promised him that I would take care of you," she said. "Please don't make me a liar."

Regina rolled over to face her. She could see pity and concern written all over the younger woman's face. She supposed that with the way she was acting that it wasn't much of a surprise.

"Six bites," bargained Belle. "Then I won't you force you to eat anything for the rest of the day."

Regina begrudgingly sat up and took the tray. "I'll give you five."

With the spoon in her hand she stared at the oatmeal and toast. Even if she had been hungry it wasn't the most appetizing thing in the world. At least Belle had been smart enough to add a thin layer of brown sugar to the oatmeal. Of course she would, thought Regina. She'd probably seen the queen do it herself a thousand times since living here. She thought over how much she'd actually enjoyed having brunette around. Regina didn't have many people that she could call a friend. But she did have Belle. She abruptly set the spoon down and faced her.

"Belle… I'm sorry for how treated you," she said. "I was angry and I couldn't control myself and I hurt you just because you were there."

"Oh no Regina," said Belle grabbing her hand. "This was my fault. I should have told you about Zelena when I gave Hook his heart back. I was just afraid. I didn't want to say it aloud because that would be admitting to everyone that my marriage was a failure before it even started. And I didn't' want you to go after Rumple. I knew that you'd changed and I still didn't trust you. I could've prevented all of this if I'd just trusted you like I should have."

The younger woman was in tears before she knew it. She knew in her soul that if she'd just been honest that all this would never have happened.

Regina wiped a tear from her cheek. "Oh Belle that's just not true. Rumple would've found some way to go after his dagger. It's what he does. And you'd just left your husband. I don't blame you for feeling the way you did. Our history wasn't the greatest back then."

Belle chuckled at that. "No it wasn't. But I'm so glad we got the chance to change it."

"Me too," said Regina with a smile. "Now I just have one more question."

"What is it?" answered Belle.

"Why the hell is Snow still in my house?"

After she helped Belle with breakfast Snow headed for the library. The least she could do for Regina was make sure that her house was some kind of order when she woke up. She'd finally gotten all the books back on the shelf and in order when the queen herself walked into the library.

"You know I order my books by genre instead of the alphabet right?"

Snow took a deep sigh before turning to look at her. "I see Belle told you that I was still here."

"She didn't have to," said Regina sitting down. "The toast told me."

"The toast?" said Snow quizzically.

"For some strange reason you refuse to cut toast diagonally like a normal person," said Regina. "You've always done it vertically. Ever since you were a child."

"I can't believe you remember that," said Snow taking a seat next to her.

"Yeah well neither can I," said Regina. She hated to admit that she still kept those little details about Snow in her head.

Snow looked at her with concern. "Do you want to talk about-"

"No I do not," said Regina cutting her off. "I don't really want to talk at all."

"Okay," said Snow letting it go. "I was thinking that I could finish cleaning up in here and maybe get started on some of the upstairs rooms-"

"Snow," interrupted Regina. "You have to go home."

"It's alright," said Snow looking down at her feet. "David has Neal so I can stay for a while."

Regina looked her in the eyes. "Snow I appreciate the fact that you stayed the night. I really, really do. But you have a newborn now and he needs you a hell of a lot more than I do. Besides I can see that you miss him."

Snow smiled to herself thinking of her baby. "I do. This is actually the longest I've been away from him."

"Snow, the children have to come first. You know that," said Regina firmly.

"Will you be okay?" asked Snow after a beat.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Afraid I'll go dark?"

"Afraid you'll be lonely," responded Snow.

Regina tilted her head at Snow's concern. It was still unbelievable to her that the girl she had spent so much of her life trying to kill could still express concern over her welfare. It was truly astounding.

"I'll be fine," said Regina. "Go take care of your baby."

"Okay," said Snow heading for the door. Before leaving she turned back toward the older woman. "I know you don't want to talk about it with me but I think you need to talk about it with someone. Whenever you're ready."

As Snow's footsteps echoed down the hall Regina thought over what her stepdaughter had said. She couldn't hold in her emotions like she had before. That had sent her spiraling into darkness. Snow was right. She needed to talk to someone.

Archie sighed to himself as he and Pongo walked down the street to his office. Since the first curse broke he had often wondered whether it was worth it for him to even go anymore. While he was happy that everyone seemed to be getting their happy endings it wasn't exactly good for business. Very few people came to see him anymore. He was more likely to give advice from a park bench than his actual office. Maybe it was time for him to let go of his cursed occupation and venture elsewhere. He was still mulling over his options when he walked into his office. He shaken out of his thoughts by a bark from Pongo. When he looked up he was met with the sight of Regina. She had on no makeup. Her eyes were puffy which was made more noticeable by the fact her short hair was pulled into a small ponytail. What was even more jarring was the fact that instead of her usual put together appearance she was wearing just a t-shirt and jeans. I didn't even know she owned those, thought Archie.

"Regina?" he said in shock. She stood at the sound of his voice.

"I found out Rumpelstiltskin killed my sister. So I took his dagger and tried to choke him to death." She blurted out with a quivering voice.

Archie blinked twice before simply responding, "Well, why don't you have a seat?"

It looked like he wouldn't be getting out of the therapy business anytime soon.

When Snow got home she was greeted by kiss from her husband. It was still early so the loft was fairly quiet. Emma had woken up early to check on Rumpelstiltskin at the sheriff's station. Henry sat next to Neal's bassinet searching the internet on his laptop.

"How was Regina?" asked Charming.

"She's better," answered Snow. "It might be awhile before she's fully recovered but I think she's heading in the right direction."

"That's good," he said nodding his head. He and Regina weren't always on the friendliest of terms but he accepted that she wasn't the person she once was. He didn't like the idea of the woman who saved his son being so depressed.

Snow took the dagger from the belt loop of her jeans and held it out to her husband. "Honey can you take this please? I want to hold my baby and I'd rather not do it while I'm also holding the darkest item in all the realms."

"Alright," he said taking the dagger. He held the twisted metal in his hands and examined it. How could one piece of metal hold so much power? Snow walked over to Neal with a smile on her face.

"Hello my darling," she said lifting him from his bassinet. "I've missed you so much."

"Hey grandma," said Henry barely looking up from his screen.

"Hi Henry," she said looking over his shoulder. "What are you up to this early?"

"Well Hook explained to me why my mom's so sad about Zelena," said Henry. "So I thought that it might be helpful for her if I planned a small memorial service for her."

Snow internally cringed at the thought of saying a tearful goodbye to the women who almost killed them all but she kept a smile on her face for Henry's benefit. "I actually think that might be a good idea Henry. It might help your mom get some closure."

"Yeah that's very important in times like this," said Charming from the kitchen. He hated the idea of a memorial for Zelena too but if it was what Regina needed he wouldn't deny her that right.

"Would you guys mind coming?" Henry asked. He didn't want his mom to feel alone if she felt like she needed a shoulder to cry on.

"You can count on us being there," said Snow instantly, not even seeing the look on her husband's face.

Charming cleared his throat from the kitchen. "Snow can I talk to you upstairs for a minute?"

"Okay," said Snow following her husband up to the spare room. "What's going on?"

"You can't be serious about us going to that thing can you?" he asked once they were safely upstairs.

"I'm completely serious," answered Snow calmly. "I think we need to be there."

"Well you can go but I'm not going," said Charming angrily.

"Charming!"

"No Snow! I am not going to stand at an event that memorializes a woman who took our son from your arms the minute he was born!" said Charming. "I will not pretend to be sorry that she is gone."

"I'm not sorry that she's gone either Charming but this isn't for that woman!" retorted Snow. "This is for her sister. Regina! The woman who saved this town by giving up her son. The same woman who saved our son by using light magic. The woman who saved your life by helping me give you half of my heart. We are going for that woman!"

Charming put his hands on his hips defensively. "Snow you know that I appreciate all that Regina has done for us. I accept her redemption and I will always have her back in a fight but this is one thing that I won't do for her. I can't."

Snow glared at him. "Fine."

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