Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters besides Rose and Mason and the other odd OCs. But really, they aren't that brilliant, so I can't take much credit for them.

A/N: Review please. Also, take it easy on me. This is my first time trying to take in Regina's point of view and she's a hard one to hear.

Chapter 20

Regina

"And what does she look like?" Charming asked in his irritatingly sincere voice. Regina wished that just for a moment their composure would break, that they would show some kind of fear, happiness, or any emotion at all besides that irritating calm that seemed to run in the family.

Anything to show that Regina was not the only one who was utterly terrified by the prospect of Cora being in Storybrooke.

Storybrooke had been Regina's safe haven. At first she had just meant it as a land of glory, in which she could gloat her victory over the Charmings and anyone else who had ever wronged her. But then she had found happiness again in the form of Henry, and Storybrooke had become the one place she was safe. Here was the one place where the saying "Villains don't get happy endings" would never apply. Because here she wasn't a villain. She was the mayor of a small, quant little town.

And then the Savior had come.

And, okay, admittedly, Swan was not that bad. In fact, if she wasn't the child of her enemies, didn't break her curse, and attempt to take her son away, Regina might actually consider that she would be a good friend to have. Her dry sarcasm resembled Regina's own sarcastic wit and sometimes Regina had to remind herself not to laugh at something the blond woman had said.

But despite the fact that in a different world they might have been friends, Regina still loathed the fact that she had come to Storybrooke. Henry may have been happier with her here, but she broke Regina's safe haven. She made it not safe anymore. It became a world full of hate and fear again, and Regina hated it. Hated Swan because of it.

And now with her mother being here, safe was the last word that Regina would use to describe Storybrooke. She loved her mother but she also knew that she was a manipulative, cruel woman with very little regard for anyone else.

She sighed and explained the way her mother looked to the people surrounding her in the diner. They all listened intently except Rumplestiltskin, who knew well enough what she looked like.

Now if Regina was looking for someone who had lost their composure, she should have been looking at him. He was, well not obviously, because nothing was ever obvious with that man, but it was clear to Regina that he was shaken up by his arrival of his children and the subsequent arrival of a certain pirate and mother.

So shaken up that it made Regina wish she had brought them here, just so she could gloat over this victory.

"Do you think it has anything to do with the arrival of Gold's children?" Swan asked Regina, as if she had ever understood what went through her mother's mind.

"I don't know," Regina said. "I find it hard to imagine, as there is no way she could have known they were going to be here at this time, but it might be the reason why she is here."

"We should ask Rose if she knows Cora in her time," Neal suggested. Regina looked at him. She was still unsure what to think about him. He was quite obviously enamored with Swan, which was a strike against him, and he was the father of Henry, which meant that he was another person who could take him from her, which was another strike against him, but she didn't exactly hate him yet. He seemed slightly cynical in a way that Regina could relate to.

"Rose?" Rumplestiltskin turned around, looking for his daughter. His face panicked slightly when he could see her. "Rose?"

"Over here," The pirate called in an annoyingly smug way. They all turned to look and found Rose curled on a bench, her head pillowed lovingly in the pirate's lap.

The face Rumplestiltskin had made Regina fill with envy for the pirate, who could create such a reaction in him so easily when Regina had to work for it.