"You're sure this is going to work, Blue?" Snow asked while she stared at the small object in her hand. It was a small bracelet and made of metal. Not metal originating from here, but metal originating from their former home. The Enchanted Forest.

"I'm sure." The fairy - or nun - said with confidence. "If you close the bracelet, it will be closed forever. The metal is unbreakable and it will 'lock', so to say, the magic away inside of the person who's wearing the bracelet."

Snow furrowed her eyebrows. She was still a bit skeptical. "Even magic as powerful as Cora's?"

"Yes, even as strong as hers. But Your Majesty, are you sure it's a good idea to free the Queen of Hearts? That woman was feared throughout all the realms. She was just as terrifying as her daughter had been."

"And look how Regina is now. She has family together with her true love, who I helped killing, and she's pregnant with a little girl. Maybe Cora can change too, because I know she really wants to. Freeing Cora is the only way to help mend their relationship.

Blue nodded and then smiled. "I understand."

"Thank you Blue." Snow said and she stepped inside her car again. It was time to free a ruthless Queen.

...

"Mom, dad, hurry up! Emma, grams and gramps will be here soon!" Henry yelled from the foyer.

Regina looked at the clock on the nightstand in alarm. "Daniel can you zip me up please, Emma and her parents will be here in five minutes." Regina asked as she turned around with her back towards her fiancé.

Daniel took the small zipper between his thumb and index finger and slowly closed it, covering more and more of the smooth tanned back. "There all done." He said and he gave a soft kiss on her shoulder.

"You look beautiful." He smiled as he looked her over. Regina was wearing a form fitting black dress that ended just above her knee. The tight material fitted her curves beautifully and brought the attention to her ever growing stomach.

"Thank you, dear. I'm sure that when you're dressed you'll look handsome too."

Daniel laughed and looked at the black suit that laid on the bed. "I'll be quick."

"Just make sure you're done when the guests arrive. I would hate to teleport you downstairs, wearing only your underwear." Regina winked as she walked out of the bedroom.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you would hate that!" Daniel yelled behind her.

A rich laugh filled the foyer as Regina made her way downstairs.

"Wow, you look great mom." Henry smiled once his mother entered the dining room.

"Thank you, sweetheart. You look dashing too." She smiled when a small blush colored his cheeks.

The sound of the bell rang through the entire house. "Will you get that, sweetheart?" Regina asked Henry with a smile, though she hadn't really needed to ask seeing that Henry was already halfway to the door.

"Hello, David, Emma." Regina smiled at the father and daughter pair once she had caught up with Henry. She furrowed her eyebrows however, when she noticed Snow wasn't with them. "Where's Snow?"

David smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. "Hello, Regina. Ehm, Snow will be a little later. She needed to do something first."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, something to do with grades." She took a step closer to the brunette and wrapped her arms around Regina. It was the exact same moment the little girl in her stomach decided to kick. Emma broke out in a smile when she felt the soft kick against her own stomach. "How's everything? Where's that handsome fiancé of yours?"

Regina took a step back and smiled. "Everything's great and Daniel is upstairs, getting dressed. He came home a little late."

"Oh that's fine." She turned to Henry. "In the mean time, maybe you could show me that awesome video game me and your mom got you for Christmas!"

"Yeah, sure!" Henry said enthusiastically and grabbed Emma's hand so he could pull her along to the living room.

Once Emma and Henry had left, the foyer was engulfed in a tense silence. Neither of them knew what to say.

"Ehm, I'm going to see why Daniel is taking so long." Regina said awkwardly and quickly made her way up the stairs.

"Daniel are you done?" She asked as she stepped inside their bedroom. Daniel was standing next to the bed, fumbling with his dark red tie.

"Sort off, I just can't seem to get this tie on properly." He said and the knot that he'd just made fell open again. "Bloody thing!" He looked up to Regina with a pout. "Regina, could you help me?"

Regina stepped forward and reached for both ends of the tie. "Of course, darling." She quickly did his tie and then put down the collar of his white shirt. She pulled him towards her - still gripping the white fabric in her hands - and gave him tender kiss. "All done."

He smiled and kissed her again. "You're amazing."

"I know, now let's get downstairs and entertain our guests. If we all act civil, I think this dinner might actually work." Regina smirked as she pulled Daniel out of the room by his tie.

...

Cora carefully stepped out of the cell that had been holding her for the past two months, the bracelet was safely secured around her wrists. Her brown eyes watched the pixie haired woman skeptically. "Are you really sure about this, Snow?"

Snow let out a long sigh. "Yes, I am."

Cora was still skeptical. "And you're sure Regina wishes to see me?"

The younger brunette had to think about that for a little while. "No, I'm actually sure Regina doesn't wish to see you, let alone talk to you."

Cora's eyebrows rose in surprise at the honest response. "Well, that isn't really what you people call a 'pep talk'."

"No it's not, but it's the truth. At least this way, you and Regina still get a chance. But you need to realize, Cora. You hurt your daughter -no, you destroyed your daughter. Regina is not going to just forgive you. You put her through so much pain and I think you don't even realize half of it. So you need to give her time. Time to think about all of this and think about if she's ready to at least, start over with you. Because you and I both know, things have happened that Regina will never completely forgive you about.

So for now, just try. Try and be the mother Regina desperately wants, that she deserves. Especially now that she's pregnant."

It took Cora a moment to let the words sink in. Tears formed in her eyes when she realized that Snow was telling the truth. She had hurt her daughter in unspeakable ways.

"You're right. But mark my words, I will do everything I can to be there for my daughter. Even if she doesn't want me."

And that was all Snow needed to hear to realize that she was doing the right thing.

...

Regina took another sip of her juice. Seeing that Snow was going to be a little late, they had all opted to wait for her. So here they were, sitting in the couch in the living room, watching how Henry played his new - and very expensive - video game. Regina wished she'd checked it first, because from what she had gathered it was pretty violent. But it was cruel to take away the game now, so she just trusted on the fact that Henry was a smart boy and that she'd raised him better than to use violence.

She shifted forwards and placed the glass on the table. Henry was frantically pushing all kinds of buttons on the controller and Emma was cheering him on. It all seemed so normal, like a real family. Like they hadn't tried to kill each other on multiple occasions. No, right now they were just a regular family celebrating Christmas together.

"So, I see the baby is still quickly growing." Emma comented with a look at Regina's large stomach.

Regina raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Is this your way of calling me fat, Emma?"

Emma let out a soft laugh. "No, it's just that... you look great."

"Well, thank you. I guess ."

The bell rang for the second time that evening and Daniel got to his feet. "That's probably Snow. I'll get it." He said to Regina who had been trying to stand up.

He quickly walked over to the front door and reached for the handle.

It was Snow, alright. But the big surprise was actually the woman behind her, staring at him with her mouth hanging open and her brown eyes wide.

"Cora."

"Daniel." The old woman said in a whisper, still not really believing that it was actually Daniel standing in front of her.

"Mother."

All three adults snapped their gaze to the woman standing in the doorway. Regina was deadly pale and she was leaning against the doorpost as if she couldn't support her own weight without the aid of the dark wood.

Cora's eyes shifted from her daughter, to Daniel, then back to Regina's pregnant stomach and then back to Daniel again. All the puzzle pieces suddenly connected.

"Oh my..."

...

So the cat's out of the bag! Leave a review ;)