Good morning/evening everyone! The second chapter is here (or at least part of it)

First of all I wanna thank the people who reviewed, it means a lot to me that some people like this story already!

So, this chapter ended up being longer that I thought it would be, so I had to cut it into two parts.

All credits (expect the storyline of this fanfiction) go to the incredible duo that is Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.

Enjoy!

NEWS : We have our new Frozen's Anna and Kristoff. It's official! Elizabeth Lail and Scott Micheal Foster are the new addition to the OUAT family.

Quote of the day :

- Why do women keep their shoe boxes?
- Because after true love there is no more powerful magic than footwear. It has to be protected.

Once upon a time : David Nolan (Prince Charming) and Mary Margaret Blanchard (Snow White).

Chapter two -Heroes don't get days off. (Part I)

To say that Regina was busy that day would be quite the understatement. Not that she minded, it was the opposite actually; she welcomed her work with arms wide open, it kept her from thinking about him, about everything (because no, she wouldn't go there), and if the situation wasn't so serious, she would have thanked her sister for the mess she made in their town. (she couldn't have, her sister was dead, but it was the thought that counted.) The timing of the distraction that came with it all was just perfect.

It was as if the townspeople were lined up outside her office; the minute one of them left, another one came in complaining about something: the hole in the clock-tower, the street lights (which reminded her that she should hire some people to help rebuild all of that was destroyed in Zelena's quest to change the past – which didn't exactly went as her sister would have wanted, but it changed nonetheless, thanks to Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb – (no, she can't - won't - think about that now.) She never felt more thankful than she was today for being mayor, not even when she first enacted the dark curse.

"The streets are on fire, Regina." Said Hopper while entering her office.

She lifted her head from the papers she was currently reading and eyed his murderously.

"I don't need you to tell me that Dr Hopper, as you can see, I'm well aware of it all; and I'm doing my best."

"You need help." Proposed the formal cricket.

"What I need is for you to tell me what brings you here and get out of my office so I can be able to work." She bit back.

"Regina.." he tried in his therapist voice.

"No." She glared at him. And if looks could kill, he'd be ten feet under by now.

"No?"

"You're not using your therapist tricks on me, cricket. If you're here to read me, you're wasting your time, and mine for that matter. I have better things to do."

"You can't keep doing all of this alone, Regina. You'll kill yourself." He said, sounding concerned.

"Your concern is appreciated, Dr Hopper, but not needed."

The truth was, she needed help, and she knew it more than anyone else, but she also knew that if she did get help, she'd get some free time with it, and right now, free time only meant more time to think- which was the last thing she wanted to do. She promised herself that she wouldn't get there, that the tears she cried last night were the only one she'd cry for him, and she knew the second she'd get some free time, the first thing she'd do, is cry, and she couldn't afford that, she didn't want that. So she played it safe, for her own sake. As long as she was busy, she could ignore the ache in her heart. And she would do just that, keep busy, everything else be damned.

She thought about taking her heart off of her chest, more than once. She knew that she would still feel something. You feel things... deeply. You feel things with your whole soul. Snow's words teased her. (As much as she would've liked to deny it, she knew that her formal step-daughter was right; which only served to irritate her.) She really wanted to do it, but that wouldn't be fair to her son, who was the only thing that kept her sane, the thought of disappointing him was unbearable. He had his memories back, and she wouldn't miss her chance by screwing it all up again. So she was going to deny her heartache in front of everybody and suck it up, because losing her son was not an option.

Archie looked like he was about to say something else; probably engage in another of his psychological rant about how she is not supposed to do that all by herself, not supposed to close herself to the world and kill herself at work, that she might end up hurting herself more that she thought, but he knew better, and the look on her face only served to confirm his thoughts. Nodding instead, he made his way out the door.

Other people came in after him, putting their complaints, requests and informing her of their problems before leaving her office, nobody dared to ask her how she was doing, and most of them didn't care. Because even if she did help defeat her sister, (although she didn't just help, she did it all by herself with some help from the others.) saving many lives in the process, some of them still held a grudge, and honestly, she couldn't care less at that point.

It was late at night when she finally made her way home; after making a few phone calls to assure that the town's problems would be taken care of and that the work would be starting first thing tomorrow morning. She made her way to her bedroom to put on more comfortable clothes (she loved her clothes, they were way better than her Enchanted Forest wardrobe, the ones she couldn't breathe in, but after spending a whole day in them, night gowns sounded like heaven.). As she put on her robe, she heard the unmistakable sound of her doorbell. She made her way down stares wondering who would come to her house at this time of the night; she knew it wasn't Tinkerbell, the fairy didn't believe in ringing the doorbell, she would rather break her door down by banging on it.

"Henry?" She said, opening the door, the surprise clearly written on her face "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I figured since we have a year to catch up on, we'd better start right now." Her son said, with a wide grin on his face.

As soon as the words left his mouth, she engulfed him in her arms, feeling happier that she had since the day prior.

Henry knew that his mother needed him, probably more now than ever before, and he missed her; so he took the opportunity to go spend some time with her. He tried to reach her that morning, but since his attempts were in vain, he figured she'd be busy all day, and he knew that his mother would take any chance to escape her heartache, he was sure she'd be out untill late at night.

As if she was slapped hard on the face, Regina pulled away from her son with a horrified look in her eyes. She lead him inside her house, before getting out looking for something quite unknown. When she didn't find whatever she was looking for, she turned to her son once again.

"Where is Miss Swan?" She asked, the horrified look not fading from her eyes.

"Home." He replied simply while putting his backpack on the floor and entering the living room.

"What do you mean home?" She said, following him leaving the door wide open. "Who brought you here?"

He looked at her pointedly, a look she only knew too well (she would have sworn it belonged to her) a look that said 'Really? Are you serious?'

"She didn't bring you here?" she said, still not believing the savior would be so.. she had no words. Does this woman know how to do anything right? She sighed when her son rolled his eyes.

"Please mom! I've been getting in and out of this house since I was eight or nine." True, she thought "Do I need to remind you that I even went to Boston by myself when I wasn't much older than that?" Seeing the disapproving look on her face, he added "And, I have two magical moms, literally. One of them even has both dark and light magic." He tried. Also true.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, mister." She reprimanded.

"We both know no one in this town is crazy enough to cross you." He said with a smug smile on his face (she wondered where he got that one, her mind going straight to the one handed pirate he's been hanging out with. Wonderful.) And before you go all mama bear on me, even if we're a bit passed that" he teased "I already texted Emma."

She could ground him, even yell at him; but she knew it won't change anything, if her son took anything from her, it was her stubbornness. Feeling a little colder than usual, she went to close the door, sighing. She then went to hug her son yet again before kissing his forehead and letting go of him.

"Your key is in your room." She informed him, casually.

He nodded. "Did you finish your work?"

Regina took a deep breath before passing her hand through her hair "It doesn't seem like it's ever going to end." She then smiled "Hungry?"

"Lasagna?" He asked with a big smile that she could see all his teeth.

"If my little prince wants lasagna, then lasagna he shall have." She smiled the most genuine smile for the second time that evening, before putting her hand around his shoulders and leading him to the kitchen.

No matter what was going on in her life, her son could always make her feel better, even if it was just for a little bit.

* It's all about timing *

"Ice?"

"Yeah and a fair share of it."

"And we are sure this isn't one of Zelena's leftovers?" Granny said from her spot behind the counter.

Regina rolled her eyes at the old woman's idiocy. "Yes, because my sister traveled with a fridge under her arm!"

It was 6am on a Saturday, and the five of them (Regina, Hook, Snow, Emma and Charming) have been at Granny's for the past half hour trying to wrap their heads around what David just told them.

The day prior, the prince and his daughter went to check on whatever the merry men had seen at the edge of the forest, expecting it to be nothing alarming, nothing more than another aftermath of Zelena's time with them; only to be met with a path of ice leading to nowhere. They thought about looking further for more clues, but decided that talking to the others would be best before making any decisions.

"She did have more than a trick up her sleeve, love." Countered Hook.

Regina rolled her eyes in annoyance. "This is useless. I'm with a bunch of idiots! Where is that imp by the way?"

"Honeymoon." Stated Mary-Margaret simply.

"I beg your pardon?" Regina said, her eyes getting wider by the second. Her formal step daughter smiled slightly and nodded to make her understand that she heard her well. "Wonderful." The queen bit, sarcasm evident in her tone "The town is a mess, new threats are obviously building up and the person we need most went on a midlife crisis."

Hook laughed at her antics only to receive an elbow in his ribs - courtesy of Emma.

"Well, to be fair, he was held captive by Zelena for a long time, and he loves Belle, who, for some reason still unknown to human kind, loves him back." said Charming

"Ugh. They're way past their teenage years to play the love sick puppies." She groaned a sound that people would judge unlady like, especially for a queen. "Any more bad news or can I go see what all this ice is coming from?"

She felt him before she heard him, for a second she hoped that was her imagination playing her some tricks, but Granny's doorbell signaling someone coming in and the look on Mary Margaret's face only served to confirm her doubts.

Robin just entered the diner.

A/N : TARARARAAAAN!

And here it is, people!

I hope you liked it, because more of it is to come!

Leave me some love through reviews (critics are welcome too, as long as they're not just for the sake of being mean!) !

Untill the second part of this chapter!

xoxo