Hey guys. So this story is coming to an end soon. After this chapter there will be two more and an epilogue to round things off. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Also I have a few stories in the mix and I would like to see what some people might like to see next. I still have my OQ college story that I did wan to start before but I hadn't quite got all the details sorted so there is still that one. Or I have an EvilCharming story, college based again with David Charming coming from a very rich family and wanting to rebel against them meeting the lovely Regina Mills who will be the one to help him. Or I also have had another idea recently from personal things and from watching a film. The idea is about Regina being diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer and what the struggle would be for not only herself but for others around her.
So yes those are my ideas and I would appreciate it if you could give me some feedback on what you might like to see next. Thanks guys!
Regina and Zelena headed over to the vault. Zelena glanced over to Regina who was pushing the double buggy as best she could over the stone pathway. "I can't believe you brought the babies with you." Zelena commented.
"What did you expect me to do? Leave them alone in the loft? Leave them with mother in her cell?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You could have left them with Emma or with Robin." Zelena said.
"Robin is working and Emma…is with mother." Regina said.
"And you're the one who wants to give mother a second chance to redeem herself." Zelena smirked a little.
"She hasn't got her heart back yet. Once she gets her heart back I will consider letting her near my children but right now she is not getting anywhere near them. Not after she tried to take them away from me." Regina said. They both stopped outside of the vault. "She tried to lock me up again Zelena and she wanted to keep me and the babies prisoner so that she could get what she wanted."
"Which is why I don't understand why you want to give her a second chance…after everything she has done to you Regina, why would you want to it her into your life?" Zelena said.
Regina sighed a little and she walked around the buggy to the front. She looked down at her babies sleeping away. "Because whatever she done to me…she done without a heart. Right now she doesn't feel anything. She feels no love and I…feel sorry for her. She hasn't felt love in such a long time. Can you imagine what that feels like?"
Zelena shook her head. "No I can't but however horrible that must feel mother chose to be like that. She chose to take her heart out and feel nothing."
"I know…but if I don't believe that she can change then…I don't know what I can believe in Zelena." Regina said. "No matter what mother did to me it didn't change me loving her."
Zelena smiled a little at her sister. "You have too big a heart Regina."
"How can you have to big a heart?" Regina asked with a slight laugh.
"You feel with everything you have. Your whole soul. That is probably why you have some great magic in you." Zelena said.
Regina smiled a little and just looked down at her little babies. "I'd rather feel deeply than not feel at all."
Zelena nodded her head. "And with that I'm going in there." Zelena said pointing over to the vault with her thumb. "You stay out here with the twins, I'll look for her heart."
"Okay…shout if you need me." Regina said. Zelena nodded again before turning on her heel and making her way into the vault. Regina pulled the double buggy over a little more and sat down on the steps of the vault. She stared into the buggy. She hoped she was doing the right thing by giving her mother a second chance. She just wanted to believe that her mother could be the person she had always wanted her to be. The mother that would show her true love and not the kind she used to get what she wanted from her. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She then jumped a little as Lily started crying. She leaned forward and lifted Lily out of the buggy and cradled her in her arms. Regina then smiled as she saw that Roland was still fast asleep. It appeared her little boy would sleep through anything. She then looked down at Lily. "I hope I'm going the right thing little one. I hope your grandma takes this chance we are giving her."
Lily had stopped crying as soon as she was in Regina's arms and was cuddled into Regina, her small hand clinging to Regina's finger. "What are we going to do little one? I'm scared." Regina said. "I don't know what to do for you two. I have only just gotten out of that damn house. I have tried to get my life together for the both of you but…I still have no idea what I am doing. I don't even think I know how to look after myself, never mind you and your brother. I'm scared."
Zelena stood behind Regina for a minute listening to her sister talking to her little girl. She didn't realise how Regina really felt. She had no idea what Regina had been keeping to herself. She stepped forward and sat down beside Regina on the step causing Regina to look up at her older sister. "It's a good thing you have people around you that love you."
"Did you hear everything I said?" Regina asked.
"Pretty much. Mother was right. The hearts were easy to find. Once you get down there you just need to listen for the sound of beating hearts. She has collected quite a lot over the years." Zelena explained and she placed the wooden box down on the step beside her feet. "I saw this in the middle of the room and I knew it was hers."
Regina nodded and looked back down to Lily who was back to being fast asleep. "I don't know what I'm doing Zee. How can I be a mother when I have only just started living outside of that mansion? I have only just started looking after myself, working for a living."
"Regina no one knows what they are doing when they become parents. You could read all the parenting books in the world, attend every parenting class and still not really have a clue. You will make mistakes and you will learn from them but as long as those babies are loved and cared for in the best way that I know you know how then it won't matter. You have this maternal instinct. This instinct that as soon as you saw Henry for the first time, when I placed him in your arms when I brought him home…I could see it. It was just like a switch to you. It's there in you,, built in. You are going to be a fantastic mother to these twins." Zelena said as she placed her hand on Regina's knee. Regina sniffed a little and let a few tears slip down her cheeks. "What you are feeling is natural but just remember how many people you have around you to help you out. Including the person who this heart belongs to." Zelena said picking up the wooden box. "A heart that we need to return."
"I think we should strip away her magic first. Take away any temptation." Regina said.
Zelena nodded. "You are probably right. So let's go to Rumplestiltskin and see how we can do that." Zelena said as she pushed herself up from the steps. Regina followed Zelena's actions and she gently placed Lily back into the buggy making sure she was secure and covered up before she followed Zelena down the stone pathway. "We also need to figure out what we are going to tell the town. I don't think they are going to be over the moon with mom being free."
"No they won't be…" Regina sighed. "I just hope over time mom can redeem herself."
"We will help her." Zelena said giving Regina a small smile. "Come on let's get out of here."
Zelena and Regina made their way into Gold's shop, Zelena helping Regina with the buggy as best she could. "Now look who it is. The powerful mother and her magical twins." Rumple smirked and he leaned against the countertop.
"We need your help with something." Regina said. "We are returning our mothers heart and she has asked that we strip her magic so that she does not feel the pull of temptation from dark magic."
"Your mother wants you to strip her magic?" Rumple asked with a slight raised eyebrow.
"Yes. it was a condition she set for us returning her heart. She wants this and we want to know how we go about taking away her magic." Zelena said.
"Your mother set that as a condition to return her heart? A heart she clearly didn't want since she took it out of her chest herself." Rumple said, a slight hint of a smirk on his face.
"Do you think we are lying or that she is?" Regina asked. "You have basically just repeated everything we have told you. She set this condition and I would like to know how I can strip her magic. If you don't tell me I will go to the fairy's. I am sure they will be more than happy to tell us."
"Which begs the question of why you didn't ask them in the first place…" Rumple replied.
Regina glared at Rumple for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning herself and the buggy around to start walking out of the shop. "Fine I will go and ask that fairy's. I'm not really in the mood to play your games Rumplestiltskin."
Rumple let out a shrill giggle that stopped both Zelena and Regina in their steps. They turned slightly and it was as if they could see the man he was in the Enchanted Forest. Even if you never met the Dark One you knew of him and both women were well aware of him. "You know I think I like this version of you Regina. A bit of fire. It's a good change. It's a reason why your mother did what she did to you." He said as he limped around the counter and over to them. "She knew you were much more like her than your father."
"I am nothing like my mother." Regina snapped.
"Are you sure about that dearie?"
"I don't have dark magic. You said so yourself." Regina said her glare dropping and worry beginning to show on her face. "I have light magic. Not dark."
"You don't start out with true dark magic Regina. Do you realise just how easy it is for a person to turn dark? I don't think it would take too long with you. You have the same fiery way as your mother. Now that you are your own person you are beginning to show yourself more and even if you don't want to believe it you are more like your mother." Rumple explained.
"I didn't come here for you to tell me any of this. I will not go the same way my mother did. I came here to help my mother. Now will you tell me how to do that?" Regina asked firmly. Zelena just stood back and watched Regina and Rumple. It was true since Regina had left the mansion and the clutches of their mother she had changed slightly, become more of the person she probably should have been. Yet Zelena had never seen Regina like this. She was confident and she was fiery. She was slightly like their mother but then she wasn't like their mother. It was confusing yet amazing to watch at the same time.
Rumple stared into Regina's deep brown eyes for a moment longer before he stepped back slightly. He turned on his heel and walked back over to one of the counters. Walking round he leaned down and reached under the counter and pulled out a small old looking book and placed it on the counter top. "This contains the spell that you must use to strip your mother of her magic." Rumple said pointing the end of his cane to Regina. "You have magic so you must do it."