Regina had managed to stay in Snow and David's bed for an hour before she decided that was enough and she wanted to go downstairs and Snow was to go with her. Snow groaned and hid her face into her pillow. She hadn't thought about the fact toddlers were usually up early. Having never experienced this stage with Emma she had no idea what she was doing. She moved her head slightly to see Regina shuffling out of the bed. There was no way she was going to get Regina back in the bed. She sighed and sat up.
"Mommy lets go. I hungry." Regina demanded.
"Alright Regina. Give me a minute." Snow replied. She rubbed her eyes and stretched letting her body wake up. Looking at the clock, seeing it was only quarter past six. It was going to be a long day and she had no idea what to do with the toddler that was stood in front of her.
She hadn't thought about it when she had said she and David would look after Regina. She hadn't thought about what looking after a toddler would be like. She had never got the chance to do so with Emma. She had never got the nagging to get up far too early in the morning. She hadn't had to spend a day entertaining a toddler. Although the night before had gone well enough she had no idea what was in store for them today.
Snow moved and swung her legs out of the bed. Regina pulled on Snow's hand. "Mommy come on!" Regina pulled and pulled and eventually Snow stood up and let Regina pull her out of the room and downstairs. As soon as they were downstairs Regina ran through to the kitchen and Snow quickly followed her. "Want toast mommy."
"Alright Regina." Snow said yawning slightly in the middle. "Why don't you go in the living room and watch some TV?"
Regina nodded and she ran out of the kitchen and through to the living room while Snow prepared Regina's toast. Snow leaned on the counter and tried to think what they could do. She knew that she and David needed to set some time aside to discuss things. Discuss how they were going to handle a toddler and working. Discuss how they would punish the toddler when she stepped out of line. There was a lot they needed to discuss and it was probably best if Regina was not in ear shot to hear any of it. So Snow decided the best time would probably be when Regina went for a nap.
She sighed thinking about everything that had happened the day before. It had been a weird day, even for her. One minute Regina was with Cora and they were attacking Gold's shop, attacking them all. The next she and Regina were in her vault and she was trying to convince Regina to give Cora her heart back and stop it all. She didn't think it would end in Cora's death. She didn't think Rumplestiltskin would kill Cora. Then all of sudden there was a toddler Regina and she had told them all she would look after Regina. It had all seemed to happen so fast and when she had looked into the toddler's eyes it was as if she was looking at the sweet young woman who had once saved her life. The woman before the Evil Queen. Looking into those eyes she saw the Regina before she had been corrupted and evil had taken her over. She saw the woman she had once loved and worshipped and she took pity on the young girl and she knew she could not just leave her. She needed to give her what Cora wished because Cora's wish was not unlike her own wish for Regina.
Snow had long wished that Regina could have a second chance. A chance to prove that she was not the woman everyone branded her to be. Snow knew Regina wasn't really that woman. Things got in the way, things got on top of her, people manipulated her. She was not born that way, she was made that way. Of course Snow wasn't naive. She knew that Regina made a lot of her choices willingly but it didn't change how she felt about her. it didn't change that she wished Regina could be the woman who had once saved her.
She guessed also that perhaps Regina's second chance at life gave her a second chance in a strange way. Regina had taken Snow's chance of raising her daughter away from her when she cast the dark curse. She had taken Emma from her in a way and Snow had missed out on Emma growing. She had missed out on Emma's first word, first step and many more firsts. She had missed her toddler tantrums, missed watching her grow into the beautiful woman that she is today and with what happened to Regina Snow saw it as, in a strange way, Regina giving her a second chance to raise a child. She had a chance to experience what she had missed with not having Emma with her and although she wished so much to have those memories of Emma she knew it wasn't going to happen.
She jumped slightly as the toast popped out from the toaster and she put some jam on them and put them on a plate. She carried the plate through to the living room and smiled as she saw Regina sitting on the sofa, a blanket draped over her small legs, Magic sitting beside her with the blanket over the toy and watching whatever cartoons the toddler had found. She walked further in and handed the plate to Regina. "Here you are. Would you like a drink Regina?"
"Milk please."
Snow nodded and made her way back to the kitchen. Yes it was indeed going to be weird raising the woman she had once seen as her mother but when was her life normal. After all she came from a world of fairy tales and magic.
A little later on when David had emerged from bed they decided they would take Regina to the park, get her out in the fresh air and hopefully tire her out so nap time would be no issue and to their surprise it had worked wonders. When they had returned home, shoes and coats were taken off and when nap time was mentioned Regina had not argued. She simply climbed into bed (with David's help) let her parents kiss her and cuddled into magic, falling asleep in no time at all.
"Something tells me not every nap time will go this smoothly." Snow whispered as she and David checked on Regina.
David chuckled quietly and placed a hand on Snow's shoulder. "No probably not. Come on let's go down stairs."
Snow nodded and they quietly left the sleeping toddler's room and went down stairs into the living room. They sat on the sofa and Snow was the first of them to speak. "David we need to talk."
"What about?" David asked turning on the sofa slightly to look at Snow.
"We need to talk about how we are going to handle things with Regina. What we are going to do with her while we work, how we will discipline her when she steps out of line, just what we are going to do with this." Snow sighed. "Things I didn't think about when I suggested we look after Regina."
"To be fair I didn't think about those things either." David said placing a hand on Snow's knee.
"I just don't really know what to do with a toddler. I think last night and this morning we have gotten lucky. Things have run smoothly, well apart from Regina waking really early. But other than that things have gone great. We have hardly had to tell her off and that's great but there will come a time when she will step over that line."
"Well I think what you done on the way to Grannies yesterday worked well. The counting thing."
"Yes but we need something else David. There will come a time when she decides to see what will happen when we get to three and if we have nothing then we are in trouble. This second chance for Regina is a chance for her to become the person she should have been before evil corrupted her and I think for us to achieve this we need discipline of some sort." Snow explained.
"Okay." David nodded. "Did you have anything in mind?"
"Well I borrowed this parenting book from Belle's library yesterday. The book suggests that we give a time out when Regina misbehaves. This will give Regina time to think about what she has done and see that it was wrong. Once the time out is finished we ask for an apology, if she gives us her apology we accept, have a hug and she can leave time out."
"And if she doesn't say sorry?" David asked.
"She stays in time out until she does say sorry." Snow said. "The idea is she thinks about what she has done, realises it was wrong and she won't do it again."
David nodded. "How long should she be in time out until we ask for an apology?"
"Well this book suggests a time of minute per age of the child so I guess three minutes for Regina at the moment."
"Three minutes isn't very long."
"Not to us no. But if you think about it, to a toddler that would rather be playing and having fun it will seem like a life time."
"Okay well we will give that a go when she misbehaves then but what if she misbehaves with someone else? Will we tell them to do the same?"
"I think so." Snow nodded. "It would be best to be consistent with her don't you think?"
"Yes I think so." David agreed.
"Now with me teaching and you deputy at the sheriff's station what do we do with Regina then?" Snow asked.
"I'm sure we could find someone to look after Regina. or she could come into work with me and Emma." David suggested.
"Do you really think that would work David?" Snow asked eyebrows raised.
David shrugged. "I have no idea Snow. But we just have to try it. We will figure something out. One step at a time. We are both slightly unsure how to handle things with a toddler around, after all we never got that chance with Emma."
Snow sighed. "Yea, it would have been good to see Emma as a toddler wouldn't it?"
David smiled. "Yes it would have."
They spent a few moments in silence thinking about it and the chance they had lost. But they did not dwell on it for long knowing it would do neither of them any good. It was a time they could not get back with Emma but perhaps an experience they could have now with Regina.
"But I suppose we can see Regina as our chance at experiencing it now right?" David said with a smile on his face.
"Yes I guess we could." snow replied. It was then that they heard movement upstairs and they knew their piece was shattered and their discussions would have to end for the moment. They heard little feet bounding down the stairs and through into the living room. Snow turned round to see Regina stood their clutching Magic and rubbing her eyes. She smiled at Regina and held her arms open. "Hello sweetheart." Snow said softly and Regina ran over to her and climbed into her lap, cuddling into her. "Did you have a good nap?"
Regina nodded her head into Snow's chest. "Yes." She mumbled still waking up slightly. Snow ran her fingers through Regina's hair and rested back against the sofa and David couldn't help but smile as he watched her. Snow seemed to have fallen into being a mother so quickly. Her maternal instincts kicked in. "Mommy I wanna see Emma and Henry." Regina said sitting up in Snow's lap.
"You do? Why?" Snow asked.
Regina shrugged her shoulders. "I just do." She replied simply and Snow realised that their probably wasn't a particular reason maybe just that Regina wanted to see her 'big sister' and her 'nephew'. "Can we go to grannies and get food with Emma and Henry?"
"Well how about daddy gives Emma a call and sees if she and Henry have eaten yet? And if not we can ask if they want to?" Snow suggested.
"Yea!" Regina squealed. She then looked over at David. "Please daddy."
David chuckled and leaned over for the phone. "Okay I'll phone. Why don't you let mommy help you get ready? We can go to grannies even if Emma and Henry have eaten."
"Okay daddy." Regina said hopping off Snow's lap. She then waited until Snow stood up and took her hand while they walked out of the room and upstairs.
David rested back on the sofa and waited until Emma picked up the phone. When she answered he smiled to himself. "Hi Emma…I'm fine, everyone's fine. I don't just phone you when something is wrong you know…Well okay yea but a lot was happening before…Anyway that is not why I phoned you today. Regina wants to see you and Henry and go to Grannies. Have you eaten…Perfect. We'll come by the loft and get you both…see you soon."
David hung up and replaced the phone. He then stood up and walked out of the living room and upstairs. He stood outside Regina's room and listened as she and Snow talked and giggled and he couldn't help but smile. He pushed the door open and saw that Regina was no longer in pyjamas and was back in her clothes this morning, a light pink long sleeved top and denim skirt with light pink tights and a pair of black patent shoes that had a bow on them.
"Emma and Henry haven't eaten so Emma said they would be happy to go to Grannies with us." David said announcing to his wife and child he was in the room.
"Yey!" Regina squealed jumping up and down happily. "Can we go now?" She asked running over to David and jumping into his arms when he held them out to her.
"Sure we can princess." David replied softly. "You ready Snow?" He asked moving Regina to sit on his hip as he looked over at Snow. She nodded and they all went out of the room and back downstairs. David put Regina down and he and Snow both put on their coats.
Snow then picked up Regina's blue mac which had daisies all over it and held it open for her. "Come on Regina come put your coat on." Regina ran over and put it on and let Snow button it up for her.
They then made their way out of the house, David locking up. They decided just to walk down to town as it was a very nice day. Regina held on to both David and Snow's hands all the way to Emma and Henry's and every so often David and Snow would swing her making her laugh. When they got to Emma and Henry's Regina decided she wanted to knock on the door and as soon as Emma opened the door Regina flung herself at Emma's legs and hugged them tightly.
"Oh hey kid." Emma said with a surprised tone. This was definitely a different greeting from what she would have got from the old Regina, although Emma couldn't deny it was a better greeting.
"Hi Emma." Regina said happily now looking up at Emma but still clutching her legs. "You and Henry coming to Grannies?"
"Yea we are kid." Emma smiled. She then turned slightly and shouted for Henry. He soon appeared and Regina finally let go of Emma's legs and ran to Henry, wrapping her arms around his and squealing his name happily making Emma, David and Snow laugh. "Aw cute. She's happy to see you kid."
"Yea, still not sure I have gotten used to this yet." Henry frowned. "Still very weird."
"You think this is weird when you live in a town full of fairytale characters from the enchanted forest?" Emma asked raising an eyebrow at him.
Henry shrugged. "Would you not find it weird?"
Emma thought about it for a moment and figured she probably would find it a little weird if her mother were turned into a toddler. "Fair enough kid. You ready to go?" Henry nodded and they both grabbed their coats and made their way out of the loft and were soon down stairs and back onto the street. Regina had decided that she now wanted to hold Henry's hand so they walked a little in front leaving Emma, David and Snow to talk.
"So you all settled into the loft then?" Snow asked her eldest daughter.
Emma nodded. "Yea. Henry and I seemed kind of settled. Although I was kinda living there with you before so was not much different for me."
"Yea but now it's your place." David added in.
"I guess so." Emma replied. "So how's living in the mansion? A far cry from the loft I am sure." Emma said with a chuckle on the end.
"Well yes it is much bigger." Snow laughed. "But it's alright. I'm not sure I'm quite used to it yet. I'm not sure I'm quite used to any of this yet. Regina had me up at about half past six this morning."
"Oh yea toddler's can do that." Emma laughed. "Discovered anything else about toddler's today?"
"Only that they can be very tiring." David laughed "But all in all it's been a good day. Regina has been very well behaved actually."
"That's good then." Emma smiled.
They reached Grannies and Regina ran over to a booth as soon as they entered. They all sat down, Regina sat in the middle of Snow and David and Emma and Henry sat opposite them just like the day before. They all looked at the menu and ordered with ten minutes of being there.
"Mommy can we sing the turtle song again?" Regina asked pulling on the sleeve of snows top.
"The turtle song?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yea Emma it good." Regina declared. "Mommy Emma needs to hear."
"I'm not sure Emma really wants to hear it sweetheart." Snow said.
"Oh no I do." Emma smirked.
"Please Mommy." Regina said giving Snow her best puppy dog eyes.
Snow sighed knowing she couldn't say no to that face. "Okay then but you help me okay?"
"Okay mommy." Regina nodded.
"I had a little turtle…" Snow started and nodded to Regina.
"He name was tiny Tim, I puts him in the bath tub to sees if he could swim." Regina sang and Snow couldn't help the little giggle at how Regina sang the song.
"He drank up all the water…"
"And eat all the soap and now my little turtle has bubbles in his throat." Regina sang.
"Bubble bubble bubble, bubble bubble bubble, bubble bubble bubble, bubble bubble…" snow sang.
"POP!" Regina shouted clapping her hands together and laughing.
Emma, Henry and David laughed a little. "Wow kid that was good." Emma praised.
"You like it Henry?" Regina asked.
"Yea it was cool." Henry replied.
"Regina likes singing don't you?" David said and Regina nodded her head eagerly. "What was the one you were singing earlier Regina?"
Regina shrugged. "I can't remember daddy."
"It was 'two little dickie birds'" Snow added in.
"Ah yes. Regina tell Emma and Henry that one." David smiled.
"Okay." Regina said eagerly. She was more than happy to show off and perform. "Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall. Ones named Peter and ones named Paul. Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul. Comes back Peter, Comes back Paul." Once Regina was finished they all clapped and she gave a curtsey that made them all laugh.
"Your good kid, isn't she Henry?" Emma said nudging Henry.
"Yea you are Regina." He smiled.
"Thanks you." Regina smiled. "I knows lots more."
"Well I think maybe that's enough just now Regina. Look there is our food." Snow said pointing as Ruby was bringing over there food.
Regina sat down and they all ate their food, talking here and there with Regina adding in little comments which usually made them laugh. Emma watched Snow and David with Regina and couldn't help but notice how good they were with her and it made her wonder just what she had missed out on growing up. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous. When she was little she would have given anything to have her mother and father. To have what Regina had right now. Emma shook her head. She couldn't think of that now. She had put all the bad feelings behind her. She had decided to just get on with it and send the time she had now with her mom and dad, and now she had a little sister and she had her son. Things had worked out for her in the end.
"Mommy I need toilet." Regina said.
"Oh okay. I'll take you." Snow said about to get up but Regina stopped her.
"No mommy I go myself. I a big girl." Regina insisted.
"I know you are a big girl honey but I think I should take you just in case." Snow said.
However Regina just shook her head. "I be fine mommy."
Snow looked up at David who shrugged. "One of us will go check on her if she is not back in at least ten minutes." He suggested.
Snow nodded. "Alright Regina off you go."
Regina jumped down off the seat and ran through to the bathroom. Granny and Ruby came over to the table and Ruby began to move the empty plates from the table. "So how's it going with toddler Regina?" Granny inquired.
"It's going alright." David replied.
"Yes everything is good actually." Snow added. "She really is lovely at this age Granny. Very cute with many looks that would make the hardest person melt."
"Hard to believe having seen the old Regina." Granny snorted.
"Oh wait until you experience this Regina." David laughed. "Not quite like the old Regina, although she is still quite stubborn and can fight an argument."
"Yes she can do that, although we have only experienced that once for now." Snow said.
"Well I am sure it won't be long before you experience that again." Granny said.
"No I'm sure it won't be, but hey that's a toddler for you." Snow shrugged.
"Very true." Granny nodded. "Ruby was a nightmare." Granny said just as Ruby came back over.
"Oh thanks Granny." Ruby said rolling her eyes.
"You were child. Kept me on my toes that's for sure. Always off gallivanting when you shouldn't have been. I'm not surprised went grey haired so early." Emma laughed at this and the fact Ruby had gone bright read with this. As did David and Snow.
Snow then looked down at her watch. "I think I should go see if Regina is alright. She's been gone for a while now."
"Oh don't you worry dear. I will go see to her. Ruby sort out everyone's desserts. I presume you know what Regina will eat?" Snow nodded and watched as Granny walked off towards the toilets. Granny pushed the door open and looked in to see Regina stood in front of the sinks, on her tip toes to try and reach in. "Regina are you alright in here?" Granny asked as she walked in.
Regina looked over and shook her head. "No Granny." She said with a frown. "I can't reach." She pointed to the sink.
Granny chuckled and walked over to the small child. "Would you like some help?" Regina nodded and Granny leaned down and lifted Regina up so that she could now reach the sink. Regina put some soap on her hands and washed her hands under the tap. Granny then took her over to dry her hands and then put her down on the floor.
"Thanks you Granny." Regina said smiling up at Granny and giving her a look that would really melt anyone's heart.
Granny couldn't help but smile back. Damn they were right. She does have a look and smile that would make anyone melt.