First of all – thank you so much for the response on the story, it really means a lot to me! 3

In this chapter (again, quite short), you'll find out who Regina's love interest will be, and I hope that no one is too disappointed about my choice, it was a difficult decision to make, hope you like it anyway :)

This will be the last chapter before Christmas, because I'm leaving for a vacation… Anyhow, enjoy your read.

XO.

A month had passed since Regina's biological family had arrived Storybrook; they were still here. To her own surprise, she had managed to stay sane for the time they had stayed at her house. Yes, occasionally, she had to calmly walk to her room, put a pillow to her mouth, and scream from the top of her lungs. After the second week, Rhea had noticed Regina getting more edgy, so she had started to look for a house in Storybrook. Because Regina was the mayor of the town, a big house was soon available for rent. The house was big enough for the whole family. The "big kids" as Rhea referred them to, had decided to wait a little while to look for apartments for themselves; they had to get settled first. The whole family had adapted really fast, taking they all came from the Enchanted Forest, not used to this world, but Rhea had said that their family always adapted quickly to new things.

Henry had left after three days, back to Emma. Regina was fine with that; she hadn't really thought that he would stay that long in the first place. A couple of days later, he had invited her to have lunch with him at the diner, just the two of them. They had agreed that lunch, three times a week, was becoming a permanent thing.

During the last month, Regina had started to build a relationship to her brother and sisters; she had become particularly close with Grace, surprisingly not Hope, who was so much alike herself. Rosie was often at her side, eager to talk and get to know her oldest sister. Regina wouldn't admit it often, or even out loud, but she had grown quite fond of the little girl. Regina had even started to soften up to her birth parents, but she always referred to them as Rhea and Samuel. Her mother and father were Cora and Henry.

Today, Regina was busy at her office, catching up on paperwork. She had told her secretary that she did not want to be disturbed, but at 12 o'clock, she walked in, "Madam Mayor, there is someone to see you." She said nervously.

Regina didn't look up, her gaze staying on the papers before her, "Anne, I specifically told you that I –" she was cut off.

"Regina, you need to eat sometime." It was Grace, holding a paper bag of take-away food from Granny's. "I brought you favorite." She said with a smile.

Regina finally looked up at her sister, smiling when she saw what she was wearing. Ever since she had been here, Grace had picked up her own sweet style. Today she was wearing a light blue dress, knee length, with a white lace jacket. She finished her look with braided hair and black stilettoes. "Alright," Regina said, moved to sit down at the little table, Grace followed her. As they sat down, Regina glanced at Grace's shoes again, and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, I haven't really found a perfect pair yet… so I borrowed yours…" Grace said.

Regina chuckled, "It's alright dear."

In silence, they started on their lunch, Regina eating her César-salad. Some minutes passed, and Grace started to talk, "Regina, remember one of our first days here, you asked why any of us weren't married, so I ask you the same, why aren't you?" she asked.

Regina sighed, "I guess it didn't work out that way." She paused, but looked at Grace, who wasn't satisfied with her answer. "I've been in love once, but that was a long time ago."

Grace looked at her and smiled sympathetically, "Well, where is he now?" she said.

Regina raised an eyebrow, "You don't know? Couldn't you see everything thru the barrier?"

With a nod, Grace answered, "Yes, but our parents didn't want us to see everything, because, quite frankly, you've been through a lot." She said.

"Yes, that is true." Regina said and looked down at her salad.

"Are you going to tell me your story?" Grace asked.

At first, Regina hesitated, but then she started talking. She told the whole story from when she was a young girl, learning how to ride horses, falling in love with the stable boy, and about rescuing Snow from a runaway horse. When talking about Daniel, Regina smiled; she hadn't talked about him to anyone for a long time. However, the smile faded when she came to Snow's betrayal, which led Cora to taking the life of her true love. A single tear slid down her cheek when her love story came to an end.

Grace quickly took Regina's hand from across the table, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'm so sorry Regina." Grace said, but continued, "If it makes you feel any better, I can kill Snow for you."

Regina chuckled, "That's not necessary dear, but I do feel better."

There was another moment of silence, until Grace decided to brake it, "Has there… never been anyone else?" she asked carefully, not wanting to push too hard on her sister.

It took a minute before Regina answered, "Not really, but a while after I married the king, I met Tinkerbell –"

"Oh, so you are attracted to men and women?" Grace asked, trying to be subtle, but failed.

Regina shook her head, "No, and if you would let me finish…" she paused, "She had a solution for my misery. She could help me get my happy ending, by finding my true love, I could let go of the darkness. I wouldn't believe her, Daniel was my true love." She paused again, "One night, she came to the palace, she'd brought pixie dust. We used it to find the man I was supposed to be with, and we did. He was in a tavern, drinking beer, I only saw his back, and his wrist with the lion tattoo. Tinkerbell urged me to go inside, but I didn't, I was afraid, I was afraid that if I went in there, the person I knew myself as, would disappear. And that thought scared me more than anything, that darkness I had in me was all I had, I wouldn't let it go. I only know him as "the man with the lion tattoo"."

Grace had just left the Mayor's office, and was now walking down the street. All she was thinking about was Regina, the story she'd just told her. Grace had grown very fond of Regina, her lost big sister. She wanted nothing else for Regina but happiness; she had experienced too much pain, over and over again, so heartache. Yes, Regina had caused much suffering, but wouldn't anyone with such a scarred soul do the same? Grace asked herself that, and there was no doubt in her mind, she would have done the same.

This man, with the lion tattoo, would be Regina's happy ending, but who was he? How can she find him with so little information? Was he even alive after all these years? More and more questions started to form in Grace's mind. Maybe she should leave matters as they were, but Regina needs someone else than her son to love. She kept reasoning with herself about what to do. She figured that there would be no harm done by just gathering some information; maybe find out who he is.

Suddenly Grace stopped walking, turned around, and noticed she was standing outside the library, it must be a sign, Grace thought to herself. She walked inside, and went to the fairytale section. With all the books she managed to carry, she dropped them all down at one of the tables. Quickly she skimmed through many book, much information about princes and heroes, but nothing about a lion tattoo.

Disappointed, Grace walked out of the library. Head down, she didn't see Henry walking towards her, and accidentally bumped into him, "Oh, sorry Henry!"

Henry just smiled, "No worries." He kept walking beside her, but noticed something was off, "What's wrong?" he asked.

It took a little while before Grace got herself to answer, "It's just that I'm looking for some information. I looked through many fairytale books in the library, but I can't find what I'm looking for."

Henry's face lid up, "You can look through mine! It has the stories of all of us!"

Grace turned around to face him, and gripped his arm, "What? Really?" a smile formed on her face.

With a nod, Henry took his aunt's hand and dragged her to Snow's apartment. When they arrived, Henry ran into one of the bedrooms, and quickly returned with the book in his hands. Grace's eyes went wide as the book was handed to her. Carefully, she opened the book, and went through the pages, each one of them. When she got to the middle, she stopped; there as a picture of Regina and Tinkerbell.

Henry was sitting next to her, he couldn't believe what he saw, "That page wasn't there before!"

Well, now you know who her love interest will be! For those who wanted it to be Emma, I'm planning on them become friends, and quite close.

Let me know what you think!

PS. Did anyone else cry during the winter finally, or was it just me?