Total filler chapter, not gonna lie. I just don't know how the hell it got so long.
Chapter 38: Seeking Comfort
"Shit! I literally just stepped in shit!" Granny yelled. "Where is that stupid dog?"
"That's not dog shit." Ruby informed. "That's donkey shit."
"When did a donkey get into my diner? Without me noticing?"
"When you were on the phone with Regina." Ruby said nonchalantly.
"They better get here pretty fucking fast. This is ridiculous." Granny exclaimed.
"You said a bad word!" Emma shouted from across the room.
"And I'll say it again too if it means you'll leave my diner!" Granny shouted back.
Suddenly, the room became filled with multiple versions of Emma and Corinne. They couldn't tell which were the real ones. Wishes were being granted left and right and the room was out of control. They have already eaten globs of food ranging from burgers to a double fudge chocolate cake and were on a sugar high right now.
The four burst through the front door to see chaos has certainly erupted and they desperately needed to fix it.
"Shit!" All the Emma's said. "Fuck" All the Corinne's said when they saw the group walk in.
The adults were taking by surprise at the language the two 5 year olds were using.
"Corinne! Don't you ever use that word again, young lady!" Regina scolded although she had no idea which one she was talking to.
"Emma. This isn't funny. You need to stop using that language and come here at once." David demanded.
A pie came out of nowhere and hit David directly in the face. "Well this isn't working." He said wiping the cream from his face.
"How do we figure out which ones are real?" Snow asked.
"I have an idea but I feel bad about doing it." Regina admitted.
"Well what is it? We can't just let this continue…" David said.
"It's kinda mean though." Regina said.
"Come on Regina we don't have all day." Her mother said aggravated.
Regina sighed before explaining her half thought out plan. "We have to pretend like we are going to leave them all alone. That we're abandoning them."
"That's so cruel! I don't think I could do that to Emma…again." Snow said.
"Regina do you know how messed up that sounds?" David asked angrily.
"I know but it's the only plan we got…unless you have something different?"
"I do, actually." He said before taking a step in front of them. "Girls! I want the original Emma and Corinne to come forward. This is unacceptable behavior!"
Another pie came hurdling towards his face. He turned around licking his lips. "Okay Regina, proceed."
Regina then took charge. "I guess Emma and Corinne like it better here and would rather be alone than with us." She said loudly so everyone in the room could hear but she made it sound like she was just talking to the three adults by her.
Cora caught on to her little game and played along. "Yes, they don't want to be with their families. They don't need us." She said I the same tone her daughter was using.
"I guess we better go now seeing they don't want anything to do with us…" Snow said before they all turned to leave the diner.
"Emma, dey are leaving without us!" Corinne whispered to the real Emma. Emma could see the panic on her friends face as her own fear set in.
"No wait!" She called out. The adults smiled before turning around.
"What is it?" Cora asked.
"I want to be with you!" "Me too!" They heard shouts form the middle of the pack but they still didn't know which is which.
"Well the only way to be with us is if there is only one Corinne and one Emma…but seeing that there are multiple versions of you, I don't think that's possible." Regina said and started to turn before they heard a voice answer her.
"We can change back!" The Emma's yelled.
"You would have to make everything else go away too." Snow pointed out. "The Donkey, the dog, the mess you made, everything."
"Right now?" The Corinne's asked.
David nodded. "Right now."
Emma and Corinne looked at each other to make sure they were on the same page. They held hands and closed their eyes. Everything they had once wished for disappeared, leaving the pair in the middle of the room. They peaked open their eyes to see the four grown-ups staring at them.
"Girls, what did we say about using magic?" Regina asked angrily.
"That we had to ask one of you before using it and that you had to be here." Emma answered.
"And did you do either one of them?" Snow asked with a slight softener voice than Regina used.
They both put their heads down and replied in unison. "No."
"We have to punish you both." David said loudly.
Corinne started crying quietly. "Dey not gonna take us home, Emma. Dey gonna leave us here alone."
Emma was just as upset as Corinne was. "I don't wanna be alone again. Don't leave us here, please!" She begged tears rolling down her face.
"I can't do this anymore Regina. Their faces are breaking my heart." Snow whispered to the older woman. "You don't want to do it either. I can see the pain on your face."
She hated that this woman could see through the façade she always had on. She walked over to her daughter and bent down to her level. "Are you going to listen to mommy from now on?"
Corinne nodded vigorously as she tried to hold back sobs. "Good. Do you want to go home with me and grandma?"
Corinne wrapped her arms around Regina's neck, almost knocking her over. "I sowy mommy. I be good. I pwomise. Pwease don't leave me here."
Regina held her close. "Don't worry. You're coming home with me." She began rubbing small circles on her daughter's back trying to calm her down.
"So you don't hate me?" Corinne asked through sobs.
"I could never hate you, angel." Regina replied and kissed her head.
"My tummy hurts mommy." Corinne whispered in her ear.
"That's because you ate too much, honey." Regina replied still trying to soothe her upset child. "I'll make it better when we get home." She promised.
"You're too easy on her, Regina." Cora said.
"She's my child. I will deal with her the way I want…and right now I just want her to feel safe. Something she has never felt during her childhood." Regina whispered angrily to her mother.
"She needs to learn right from wrong, Regina." Cora argued.
"She's going to turn back soon so there's really no point now. I'll punish her then." Regina replied hoping to shut her mother up.
"Are you gonna leave me here?" Emma asked looking up to her parents with watery eyes.
"No, Emma we are not going to leave you but you need to listen to us." Snow replied picking her daughter up.
"Will you be a good girl from now on?" David asked.
"I will. I'm sorry."
"That means no more magic. None." David reminded.
"No magic." Emma agreed.
"Where did you hear those bad words?" Snow asked both of them.
The girls pointed to Granny. "They were driving me up the wall and I'm not babysitter." She argued.
"You could've refrained from using such vulgar language around the kids though, Granny." Snow argued back.
"Sorry, Snow. Kids are not my forte." Granny replied.
"Don't ever let her babysit!" Ruby exclaimed.
Mandy woke up with a splitting headache. She realized she was wearing footy pajamas and had no idea what happened. She made her way downstairs to find Regina drinking coffee at the kitchen table.
She slid into the seat next to Regina, holding her head. "Why do I feel like I've been beat up? I'm so exhausted."
"You don't remember?" Regina asked.
"Remember what? I remember yelling at Henry and then…." The events of the past few days replayed in her head but it felt more like a memory from long ago rather than form the last few days. "Wait, did Henry change me into a little kid?"
"A 5 year old. You were so adorable. Wait until you see all the pictures I took." Regina said happily.
"So that means…" She said realizing that Regina had seen her when she was a fragile child covered in bruises.
Regina knew what she was thinking. "Yes, I saw the bruises. I saw how scared you were but I feel like I made it better, even if it was just a little bit."
"I didn't want you to see me like that." Mandy said looking down at the table.
"I thought you wanted me to raise you?" Regina asked confused.
"Yea I did but from the beginning not in the midst of the worst years of my life. I'm sorry you had to see me like that."
Regina put her hand over Mandy's. "I'm glad I did because I took you away from the pain you felt, just for a few days you felt loved. You were so happy. You made me exhausted but I would do it all over again if that meant you were happy."
Mandy smiled. "I remember trashing your study with Emma. That was funny."
"That reminds me…you have to clean that up." Regina said getting up from the table to put her mug in the sink.
"What?" Mandy asked shocked.
"You heard me."
Mandy got up and followed her to the sink. "But it wasn't my fault. I was little and didn't know better and Emma did it too."
"You didn't listen to me when I put you in time out and told you not to use magic. You knew better and so did Emma. Don't worry, she will be helping you with the clean-up."
"And how are you gonna make her clean it up?" She asked crossing her arms not believing she would be able to do it.
"I already talked to Snow. You better go get dressed." She turned to exit the kitchen but was still followed by her daughter. "I don't have clothes that fit me anymore, thanks to you."
"I'll fix it, calm down." Regina replied as she walked up the stairs.
"Did I say anything to you when I was 5?" She asked as she walked up the stairs behind her mother.
"Like what, dear?" Regina asked walking into her daughter's room.
"Anything about my life with the Randells?"
Regina stopped and quickly turned around. "Did something else happen, something you're not telling me?"
"No, of course not! I just…I don't know." She said frustrated. "Like anything to upset you? Cuz I didn't mean too."
There were some thing that the 5 year old version told her that did indeed upset her but she didn't want Mandy to know and she knew Mandy wouldn't want her to know either so it was best to keep it a secret. "You had a bad nightmare and were surprised I came in to comfort you."
"Oh yea, I remember now…When I had nightmares back then I would wake Mr. and Mrs. Randell. They weren't too happy about being woken up, especially by me so when you came in I thought you were going to punish me like they used to do." She said trying to explain herself. "I'm so glad you came though."
"Honey, I know how hard it is for you to talk about your past and I really appreciate that you are opening up to me. Didn't you say you had to tell me something but it had to wait until after the party?" Regina was dying to know what it was her daughter had to tell her.
"You know, I really should start cleaning that study of yours. If I remember correctly, we left it a mess." She said opening her closet to find some clothes.
"You're only getting out of it this time because I want my study clean, but we will have this conversation later." She promised.
"Okay." She said solemnly.
Emma and Mandy were on the hands and knees cleaning Regina's study.
"I can't believe we made this mess." Mandy said as she scrubbed the desk trying to get the drawings off.
"I can't believe Snow made me come here and clean it up." Emma said picking up all the papers from the floor.
"So you were gonna let me do all the cleaning while you got away scot free? That's not fair." Mandy complained.
"Ugh…I hate when you and Henry always point stuff out."
"Because we're usually right?" Mandy smirked.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Yea, it's so annoying."
"Do you even remember the shit we did? We were freaking crazy!" Mandy exclaimed.
"We had a ball together. We got into so much trouble….it was well worth it though, don't ya think?" Emma asked.
"Absolutely! I've never had so much fun at that age...and I had a friend to share it with which made it 10 times better."
"I feel the same way kid." As she bent down to pick up more papers she realized something. "Wait a second, I remember getting a bath…with you…and Regina was there."
"Yea, so was Snow." Mandy reminds her.
"Doesn't that freak you out…even just a little?"
"Well now that you put it in my head, yea it's freaky."
"How are we doing in here?" Regina asked checking the progress they were making.
"Oh shit." Emma louder then she meant it to be.
"What's the matter Ms. Swan? Are you remembering a few things? Like when you were dying for me to pick you up and hug you?"
Emma did indeed remember that and she wanted to hit her younger self right in the face. "I also remember you being nice to me, almost like you didn't hate me anymore."
"I don't hate you Ms. Swan. I simply tolerate you, that is all." She said in a low voice. "You've been in here for an hour and it looks like you haven't done a blessed thing."
"I finished scrubbing the walls, mother." Mandy argued. "I'm working on the desk now. Sorry, we're not quick enough for you."
"And I've picked up god knows how many papers and got the stain out of your carpet…you're welcome." Emma said angrily and she picked up more papers.
"Well, hopefully you're done in an hour or you won't get any cake." She said as she started to walk out.
"Cake?" They asked in unison.
Regina turned back. "It amazes me how you both respond to food, especially dessert."
Emma was about to say something smart back but Mandy spoke first. "Why is there cake?"
"For your birthday. You never got to blow out your candles." Regina reminded.
"Oh yea, forgot about that. Thanks for the party by the way…I had a lot of fun."
"You mean before we got turned into 5 year olds?" Emma added.
"No, the entire time I had fun." Mandy smiled. "You know, right before the whole Henry debacle, Jake asked me to be his girlfriend."
"He did?!" They both asked.
"What did you say?" Regina asked taking a few steps into the room.
"I said yes of course!"
"I'm so happy for you, dear!" Regina said giving her daughter a hug.
"That's great, kid. Henry told me you two were all over each other before he interrupted." Emma said before she realized she shouldn't have said that in front of Regina. Mandy gave her a death stare that reminded her all too well of the looks the former mayor used to give her when she arrived into town.
Regina arched her eyebrows. "All over each other?"
"We didn't go past first base, calm down mom!" Mandy defended.
"Are we going to have to have a little talk?" Regina asked still not believing her.
Mandy rolled her eyes. "No, mom and can we not talk about this now?!"
"Sorry I brought it up, kid. I didn't mean too." Emma said.
"Fine. Finish cleaning and then we are having a long talk later…understood?" Regina asked holding her chin so she was paying attention.
Mandy nodded. "I know. I really have to talk to you."
"I know, baby." She kissed the top of Mandy's forehead. "Emma, let's go! The papers won't pick themselves up!" She yelled.
"Sorry, your majesty." She said sarcastically before Regina walked out.
"How the hell does she go from loving mother to a total bitch in less than half a second?" Emma asked out loud.
"You like fighting with her, don't deny it." Mandy said as she returned to scrubbing the desk.
Emma thought for a moment. "Yea, I guess you're right. It gives me something to do."
Mandy laughed. "Can we hurry up? I really want cake."
"Sure, kid. I'm dying to have a piece too." She admitted.
She was surrounded by the people important to her, Regina, Cora, Snow, Emma, David, and Henry as they all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. Mandy was surprised that her mother let the Charmings into her house.
"Happy Birthday, dear Miranda. Happy Birthday to you" They all sang.
"Make a wish, dear. Blow out the candles!" Cora exclaimed.
Mandy just stared down at the 16 lit candles.
"What's wrong, dear?" Regina asked when her daughter didn't blow out the candles.
"If I blow them out, it makes it official." She said still not looking away from the candles.
"Makes what official?" Snow asked.
"Her powers." Henry said. "One will take over."
"Are you even sure it will be the dark side?" Emma asked.
Mandy nodded. "I feel pulled that way. I felt it the night of the party."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Regina asked.
"I didn't want to ruin the party and I thought maybe if I didn't think about it, it wouldn't happen." Mandy admitted.
"So what's going to happen?" David asked but no one responded.
Mandy decided it didn't really matter because she already felt like she was on the dark side. She blew out the candles and went to her room, without having a piece of cake.
Once Regina got everyone to leave, she went straight to her daughter's room and knocked on the door. She slightly opened it seeing Mandy rolled up in a ball facing the window. "Honey, can we talk now?"
"Sure." She replied not moving from her spot.
Regina crawled onto the bed and patted Mandy's shoulder, indicating she wanted Mandy to turn around and face her.
Mandy did more than that. She moved closer to Regina, letting her wrap her arms around her. She wished she could just stay like that forever, safe in her mother's arms, but she knew it was too good to be true.
Once she got settled, Mandy spoke first. "I don't want to talk about the whole powers thing, okay? At least not right now."
"Well then we are going to talk about Jake." Regina said.
"What about Jake?" She asked.
"Are you two…serious? Like intimate?" Regina asked wanting to know what her daughter was exactly doing with this boy.
Mandy leaned up quickly and turned to look at her mother. "What? No! Of course not! I already made that mistake, I wouldn't do it again. How could you even think that?" She yelled.
Regina put her hands up in defense. "I'm sorry. I'm just making sure you aren't rushing things."
Mandy put her head down ashamed she freaked out. "I'm not even ready to have sex yet."
Regina pulled her back down to rest her head on her chest once more. She liked having her daughter close to her. "You don't know how relieved that makes me feel." She whispered in her ear.
Mandy giggled. "I said 'yet'."
Regina sighed. "I know it's inevitable…just make sure you're ready and use protection."
"Oaky, this conversation is getting weird. Can we please change it?!" She begged.
Regina laughed. "It's awkward for me too, ya know, to talk to you about sex and protection."
"All the more reason to change it!" Mandy exclaimed. "And can you not say those words, please!"
Regina furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Sex and protection?"
"YES! Now stop saying them!" Mandy shrieked. It amused Regina that it bothered Mandy so much when she said those words.
"Then why don't you tell me what it is that had to wait until after the party?" Regina asked.
"Oh right, that." Mandy said as her face saddened once again but then turned serious. She sat up to look at Regina. "You need to brace yourself, like a lot."
"You're scaring me." Regina said when she saw how serious her daughter was being.
"This will probably hurt you and believe me, it's the last thing I want to do." Mandy said.
"Miranda, just tell me!" Regina urged. Mandy grabbed Regina's hands, thinking it would help her mother deal with what she was about to tell her.
"I was so miserable and in so much pain after I found out I lost the baby, I couldn't take it anymore. I had lost everything, Peter, my baby. I was a complete mess. When I finally got home, I got into the bath. I didn't want to be here anymore, to live anymore." Regina gasped. Mandy paused for a moment to let her mother comprehend what she just said before continuing. "I held myself under the water until I lost consciousness. I found myself talking to Peter. We talked briefly but he had to go get our son. Another person came to talk to me though."
Mandy saw the tears Regina was desperately trying to hold back. She knew the mention of Daniel would definitely make them spill over. "Daddy was the one to convince me to come back. He said you needed me." Regina's tears did in fact begin to spill over. Mandy began to cry as well. She felt horrible for putting her mother through this. "I realized I couldn't do this to you. I've spent way too much time wanting you, to throw it all away now. I love you so much mom, you have no idea. I don't know what I was thinking, I was being selfish."
Regina was speechless. She had no idea what to say, she had a million things running through her head but nothing was coming out of her mouth. She pulled her daughter close to her, closer than she has ever done. She didn't want to let her go, not after she found out she had almost lost her. Mandy didn't fight her, she knew Regina needed to hold her close and let everything sink in. She let her mother sob onto her shoulder. She wanted to comfort her mother the way Regina did to her when she was upset. She started rubbing small circles on her back, which seemed to help Regina catch her breath a little.
Regina pulled back to look into her daughter's eyes. "I didn't know you felt like the only way out was to kill yourself." Regina whispered finally bringing herself to say something.
"I didn't want to tell you but it will never happen again! I promise. I feel like I can tell you everything now." Mandy said softly holding her mother's hand.
"What did Daniel say exactly? I need to know." Regina said searching her daughter's eyes for something, anything.
Mandy took a deep breath trying to remember what he had said. "He said that you needed me and would be lost without me. He said things would get better with time. I told him I wanted to be with him but he said we will be together again but I had to go back to you. He told me to take care of you…and I've been doing a terrible job."
"It's my job to take care of you not the other way around...and I have failed you." Regina said sadly.
Mandy grabbed her mother's chin to get her attention just like Regina did to her. She stared directly into her eyes hoping to get through to her. "No you haven't. You've been here for me since I met you and you've taken great care of me. I love you with all my heart, mom. Please believe me when I say you mean the world to me and I didn't mean to hurt you intentionally. I am truly sorry for all the pain I had caused you." She kissed her mother's check hoping it would help.
Regina let out a long sigh, tears still flowing steadily and pulled her daughter close to her once more. She wanted nothing more to have physical contact with her, to make sure she was real and with her at that exact moment. "I love you to the moon and back, darling. Please don't leave me again. Your father was right, I would be lost without you. I need you. I need you with me."
Mandy moved a little closer to her mother, if that were even possible, she was practically sitting on top of her. "I know you do…and I need you just as much." She said wiping away her mother's tears.
Regina laughed at how silly she probably looked. "I feel as if the roles are reversed tonight."
Mandy smiled. "I finally get to help you through something…even though it's my fault in the first place. You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?"
"Now you're sounding like me." Regina pointed out. "And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."
"I'd say it's a good thing." Mandy kissed her check once more. She wanted to make sure her mom felt how much she loved her, especially tonight.
Regina loved all the affection she was getting from her daughter but she couldn't help fight the knowledge that her daughter wanted to die. "Honey, I'm going to go get changed." She said untangling herself from the teenager.
"Was it something I said?" Mandy asked worriedly. "I don't want you to be alone tonight." She knew her mother was still upset.
Regina smiled knowing her daughter really worried and cared about her. "No sweetie. Trust me; I'm not letting you go anytime soon. I'll be back, you can count on it."
Regina sat on her bed facing the window. She couldn't let her daughter see her break down completely. It took everything she had not to. She couldn't believe her daughter wanted to kill herself but she was more mad at herself. Mad that she didn't see what was truly going on with Miranda. She put her face in her hands and began sobbing.
Miranda was wondering what was taking her mother so long to rejoin her so she decided to take a walk down the hall to Regina's room. She heard sobs coming from the room so she cracked the door just a little to see what was going on.
Regina looked up to the ceiling. "Oh Daniel, how did you know I needed Miranda here with me? You always knew what to do, when my mother made me upset or when something was bothering me, you always knew how to make it better. I just wish you were here now, to tell me what to do with her because I don't know if I'm raising her right. I need you to tell me everything will be alright, just like you used to. I miss you so much, Daniel. Words cannot express the loss I feel every time I think of you. I want to hold you in my arms, to feel your soft lips on mine." She let a huge sob escape her.
Mandy never saw her mother break down like this before, she wanted to go in there and wrap her arms around her mother but she knew it wouldn't do any good, she wasn't her father even though she has half of him inside her, it wouldn't be the same.
"I wish you could see her, Daniel. She reminds me so much of you, and I love her even more because of it. She has your eyes, your laugh. She's incredibly smart, just like you. We have a terrific daughter, I just wish you could see her."
Regina needed Daniel, and Mandy knew her mother would feel this way forever so she decided to do something about it. She knew then and there what she needed to do the next day and that included stealing from Gold.
I had trouble writing the end to this chapter without tearing up. I know the beginning and middle was kinda slow but come next chapter….well you're just gonna have to wait:) What do you think Mandy's gonna do?