Authors Note: Warning, this chapter has a flash back that deals with some pretty heavy stuff regarding miscarriages, and abuse.
"Regina!" Emma shouted her name, startling her out of her own head.
"What?" she snapped, glaring at the blonde woman next to her.
"You have the scroll don't you?" Emma asked sharply. Regina nodded, but made no move to pull the scroll out of her pocket. Emma sighed.
"Why don't you give me the scroll, and go talk to Daniel?" she suggested, her voice soft, understanding. Regina hated it, but she nodded her acquiesce. She turned away.
"Oh hey Regina, can you remind Killian to pick up Liam, Sean, and Meredith?" Emma added.
"Swan I hardly have time to take care of my own child, let alone remind your husband to take care of yours," she was trying for a snarky reply, but they both knew it wasn't quite there.
"Please?" Emma tried. Regina sighed, but nodded her agreement. Emma, with the scroll in hand, walked towards the town line. Regina was gone in a puff of smoke. Emma threw the scroll through the barrier.
At Granny's Diner
Regina strutted into the almost empty diner, her eyes immediately falling on the booth her son and Elizabeth shared. She couldn't help the small smirk that crossed her features when Elizabeth laid down the few cards she had in her hand, and Daniel threw his hands up in defeat. Her son was good at everything he did, but one thing he was hopeless at was cards, especially when the Jones girl was involved. She continued towards her son and his friend, steeling herself for the conversation ahead.
About Fifteen Years Ago
A heavily pregnant Emma Swan stood next to Regina as they both looked into the hospital's nursery.
"He's so small," Regina whispered, awe struck. Emma chuckled.
"Well yeah, he's a newborn baby," she replied. Regina ignored the blonde that she begrudgingly called her friend, choosing instead to gaze at her baby, swaddled in blue and green silk, lying in crib in front of her.
"He's healthy?" Regina asked, not for the first time. Emma nodded.
"There's absolutely nothing wrong with him," Emma responded. "You carried him to term, he developed all the things he needs to survive outside the womb. He's perfect." Relief washed over Regina.
"Daniel and I used to talk about having children," she started. Emma looked at her, surprised.
"Regina," she started, but Regina kept talking.
"But Daniel and I never got the chance. He died, and I married Leopold. All Leopold ever wanted was another child," she could feel her eyes start to sting with tears. "He didn't care that I was a child myself. He didn't care about me, my pleasure, my health, he just wanted a son," she said, her tongue loose from the pain killers and the hormones and the exhaustion of the whole ordeal.
"The first baby lived for seven minutes," she closed her eyes. "I named her Hope. Every other time, I couldn't even carry the baby to term. And the blood, there was always so much blood." Memories of crimson liquid running down her leg, and Hope's little blue face swam across her mind. She forced her eyes open, forced the images away. She looked at Emma, who had tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Regina it wasn't your fault," she said. Regina laughed bitterly.
"I know it wasn't my fault. But after every miscarriage, every death, Leopold punished me like it was. I'm lucky to be alive. I'm lucky to have fallen in love, not once, but twice. I'm lucky to be blessed with this child," she turned to look at her son again. "This child, he is a miracle, he's my miracle. And he'll never know what it's like to be loved by two parents. He'll never know his father, and he'll never know his brother. He doesn't deserve that."
"Regina, Robin and Roland might not be here physically, but the memory of them is something you'll carry with you forever," Emma said gently.
"You're right. I'll carry it with me forever. But he will not. It's better to be oblivious than to mourn what you could've had," Regina said definitively.
"Regina-" Emma started to say.
"Daniel. I think I'll name him Daniel."
"Daniel, Elizabeth," she said, her tone much heavier than she planned to start out with. The teenagers looked up at the obviously frazzled woman in confusion. Elizabeth reacted first. She quickly collected the cards, and shoved them back into their box.
"Well Danny-Boy, that's my cue. Catch you later," she said quickly, and slid out of the booth. They watched as she ran out the door, her long hair flying behind her like raven wings.
"Mom?" Daniel asked hesitantly, startling Regina. She looked at her son, hunched in the corner of the booth. The resemblance between him and Roland was uncanny, there was no way she could keep it a secret. If he didn't put it together, one of his friends would, and they would surely tell him. She could feel the beginning of a splitting headache coming from this sudden onset of stress.
"Are you going to sit?" Daniel said gently, gesturing to the seat across the table from himself. Regina nodded, and collapsed into the cushioned chair. Daniel looked at her, his concern written all over his face. Like Henry, he'd never really been one to hide his emotions.
"Mom what's wrong?" he queried. "What is everybody so freaked out about?"
"It's—It's your—" she started to say, pausing to take a deep breath.
"My what?" he pushed.
"Daniel it's about your father," she said quickly. His eye's widened.
"My father?" he repeated. She nodded.
"And your brother."