Mary Margaret was not a fan of Regina in the least. They'd tried to kill one another on a number of occasions, and not all of them pre-Curse. So when Emma called to tell her that she and Henry were staying for dinner with the ex-Evil Queen, the brunette was understandably concerned. But she buried her urge to run across town with a bow and arrow, and instead went about pacing the floor of the apartment in what she deemed a "calm enough" manner.
It was after 9:00 when she heard Emma's key turning in the door, and Mary Margaret leapt onto the sofa, grabbing a book from the coffee table just in time to look busy.
Nonchalant, she spoke, "Oh, hi Emma! How was dinner at Regina's?"
Emma looked at her mother, apparently trying to read Tom Sawyer upside down, and raised an eyebrow.
"What? No, 'what am I thinking? She's the Evil Queen' bullshit?"
Mary Margaret shut the book and frowned up at the blonde. "She is the Evil Queen, and while I don't think she'd hurt Henry again, I am certainly concerned when you stay out with her until all hours!"
"It's nine o'clock!"
"Yes, well-" The brunette trailed off, frustrated, but unable to come up with an appropriate response.
"What was it she wanted you to come over about, anyway?"
Emma's face fell. "Maybe you should sit down," she started in a grave voice.
Mary Margaret hadn't even noticed that she'd stood up. She hurried over to Emma instead of taking up space on the couch again.
"What is it? Is it Henry? Did she do something bad? Is someone dead?" She rushed out in a flurry. At that, Emma's shell cracks again. A traitor tear trailed down the blonde's cheek before she could stop it. Her mother, desperate to console her, pulled her onto the couch, and wiped the stray drop from her chin.
"Just tell me what's wrong, and I'll do everything I can to fix it."
Emma cleared her throat, and began her story: "Regina's sick. Like, really sick. Dr. Whale says she has cancer. She… he doesn't think she's going to live very long."
"What?" Mary Margaret's mouth hung open in shock, and tears brimmed her eyes.
"She spoke to Mother Superior too… it's not magical, so I guess magic can't fix it either."
"Oh, Emma! Is that why Henry wanted to stay the night?"
Emma nodded, fighting back a crack in her voice. "I think he wants to move back in with her. He wants to take care of her, and have a chance to say goodbye."
"And he'll move back here when she gets sicker?"
Wiping away another tear, Emma shook her head. "Actually, I spoke to Regina about that, and we think there might be an easier way…"
Earlier that night…
Henry wished his birth mother a goodnight, and went upstairs to brush his teeth, leaving his two mothers alone.
Emma shrugged her coat back on, and thanked Regina profusely for the meal, and the impromptu cooking lesson, only to be reminded of the painful reason she was there when Regina responded, "I do hope you'll learn a few of my dishes to feed to Henry when I'm gone."
"Regina, we don't know for sure that there isn't another way to fix this…"
Regina smiled sadly, "Yes, Emma, we do."
The brunette stepped around her guest and opened the door, ushering her out into the cool spring night.
"Thank you, for bringing Henry. And for being so kind to me tonight. I know it means a lot to m- our son."
"I just wish we'd found this sooner."
"I do too." Regina answered warmly. Emma turned to go, but was stopped by a warm hand on her arm.
"Emma, I hate to ask another favour… and it need not be addressed immediately, but I'd like you to think about it…" The former queen paused as if expecting to be interrupted, but continued when it appeared the sheriff only wished to listen. "When this gets worse… when I am no longer able to take care of myself… I do not wish to die in Frankenstein's hospital, Ms. Swan. I hope… I would like very much to live out my days in this home with my son."
"Of course, Regina. I'm sure he'd like that too."
"I haven't finished."
Emma shut her mouth again, and nodded.
"When I am no longer able to take care of myself, or Henry… I would like you to consider moving into our guest room upstairs. I know it is more than I have any right to ask, but I would like Henry to be with me in my final days, and he will need a proper caretaker in the house as well."
"Of course, Regina!" Emma repeated, emotion caking her words. "I mean, I'll need to talk it over with Mary Margaret and David, but - yes!"
Regina sighed with relief, and squeezed the arm she still held in her hand before releasing Emma from her presence.
"Goodnight, Ms. Swan."
The white door closed behind her retreating form, and Emma was left wishing there was something else to say.
"You'd move in with them? Why not just bring her here?"
"You really think Regina should have to die in her arch-nemesis' apartment? Besides, there's barely enough room for the four of us now."
"You're right, you're right. But we'll talk more about this later, okay? It's been a very long day, and I think we could both use a nice long rest in a comfy bed."
"I should tell David-" Emma started to protest.
"David's at the shelter. I'll let him know what's happening when he gets home. You, go to sleep." Mary Margaret ordered her daughter gently.
With a kind-hearted roll of her eyes, Emma laughed, "Yes, mom."
Mary Margaret beamed, hugged her daughter, and watched her climb the steps to her bedroom. As soon as the blonde was out of sight, her mother broke down in tears. Mary Margaret was not a fan of Regina in the least, but in another time, in another land, Snow loved her stepmother with all her heart, and she was about to be orphaned again.
Back at the manor, Henry had convinced his mother to tell him a story…
"But not a make-believe one like you used to tell! Tell me a story about the Enchanted Forest! I wanna know what you were like as a kid!"
Regina teared up at that. She couldn't deny him now, after all these years of lying to him about her past, she agreed to tell him a short story. As she climbed into his bed next to him, she noticed how much he'd grown since the last time she'd been allowed here. She was almost falling off on one side, and her son held on tight to her from the other. She absent-mindedly brushed her hand through his hair like she had so many times before. She thought quietly about her childhood, by-passing all of her painful memories, and settling on one she thought her son would like.
"When I was very young, maybe five or six years old, I used to love to play in the mud. My mother hated the mess, so I hardly ever got to, but when she was away, my father would take me into town, past the market, and over to this tiny little stream with absolutely perfect mud! I would play for hours, and I didn't care how dirty my clothes got. My father would put me in one of his riding shirts so that my mother would not know what we had been up to."
"Was the water really cold?"
"Oh, yes! But I didn't care! I built mud castle masterpieces… which were about as masterful as those paper snowflakes you made in Kindergarten that we had up on the fridge."
The two Mills' laughter filled the room with the sounds of joy.
"There were tadpoles in the stream too. And I sometimes took a cooking pot from home to try to catch them. Except I was adamant that I had to catch them in my bare hands and put them in the pot like I once saw a fisherman do with some big fish. I never did catch any like that, but my father was happy enough to play along, and we always came home as the sun was setting to have our evening meal. No matter what we were eating, we always pretended it was made from the big fish I'd caught in the river, and the cakes I'd made with the mud and grass."
Regina's eyes shone with happiness at the memory of her time with her father.
"Is that why you named me after him? Because he took you there even though your mom wouldn't let you?"
"I named you after my father because I loved him very much. And because in those times, when he really acted like a father, I learned what it was to be a parent, and I wanted nothing more than to bring that joy to you."
Henry hugged his mother tightly, squeezing her with all of his might. She teared up at the unrestrained show of affection, and even more so when he said, "I love you, mom."
"I love you too, Henry. Now, get some sleep."