Chapter 12: A happy beginning
Regina opened her eyes slowly and looked at the white ceiling above her.
I'm alive, she thought. Well, that's unexpected.
The first thing she noticed was that she was fully dressed and not at all in pain. She wasn't on IV, nor connected to any other machine. But still, she could tell it was a hospital. She got up and moved down her legs to the side of the bed, so her feet touched the floor. Yes, she was definitely wearing something normal, but also something she didn't own. In fact, the more she focused, the more she realised she didn't recognize the room, either. She was certain it was Storybrooke hospital, but she felt like she was placed somewhere she's never been before.
Suddenly there was a sound of movement behind her, so her instincts took over. She turned around quickly and formed a fireball.
"No need for that." The man sitting peacefully on the other side of the room laughed.
"Gold?" Regina frowned and put out the fire.
"In the flesh."
"Wh-what are you doing here?"
"Is it really how you're gonna greet an old friend?"
"I mean... What are you doing back in Storybrooke? You left with Belle..." Regina rose her eyebrows. "It was Henry, wasn't it? He found some way... in your shop..."
"No, it wasn't Henry." Rumple stood up. "During our travels, Belle and I... we had a baby. We decided to come back, it was our own decision."
"A baby? Wow..." Regina nodded and then gasped suddenly. "Where's my...?"
"Don't worry." Gold sat next to her. "Your daughter is fine."
"Where is she?" Regina frowned, repeating a question. "And no offence, but why, of all people, it is you who has waited for me to wake up from my slumber?"
"How much do you remember from what happened?"
Regina was annoyed he didn't answer her question again, but something told her he kept avoiding it for a reason. She was missing something relevant.
"I don't know." She closed her eyes. "Zelena. I went down to kill her. There was so much going on... I tried to stop it. I was about to die... Someone... used the Shears of Destiny on us, so I'm guessing my sister's dead, but… I'm not."
Gold didn't move.
"Where's Robin?" Regina pushed. "Gold?"
"Regina... you did die."
The former queen chuckled.
"What do you mean? I'm pretty sure I'm not dead. Unless you're dead too and we both found ourselves in some twisted version of afterlife."
"No. We're not in afterlife. But... you died. In a matter of speaking. For most of us you were dead for a very long time."
Regina shivered and opened her mouth as realisation struck.
"Now as for your question." Gold continued. "I'm here, because I've been asked to. Your family figured it would be less of a shock if you first saw a familiar face right after waking up, even if it's me. Judging by a fireball, they were right." He laughed.
"No." Regina said shortly, dreading of what it all meant.
"They wanted to give you time to adjust. One thing at a time."
"Adjust to what?" Regina asked deliberately.
"You know what kind of power your daughter has. It manifested before she was even born. Mary was always destined to break the laws of magic."
"No, no, no..." Regina started shaking her head. If she wasn't feeling so many emotions all at once, she might have been able to do a quick math in her head, but she couldn't.
"Do you now have an answer to your question?"
Regina looked at him. She didn't want to believe it. It couldn't have been true. But it was the only explanation. The only reason she could still be alive.
Time. They had more time.
"Regina?" Rumple repeated. "Do you know why they asked me to talk to you first?"
"Because…" She gasped. "Because you don't age."
Gold nodded again and tried to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. She backed off, her mind was spinning.
"How long? Gold, how long?!"
"The day you gave birth to your daughter, the day when you fought Zelena and destroyed the Town Hall..." He took a deep breath. "Regina... it happened 16 years ago."
xxx
~ 16 years ago in another realm ~
"Don't do it, mate!" Hook screamed as he dodged a poisoned arrow.
"Hook's right, if we go back now, we won't be able to come back!" David was running beside the pirate.
"I know!" Robin stopped suddenly and both men who were running behind almost fell. All of them were completly out of breath.
"Ah!" Robin bent forward, grabbing his chest.
"Is it happening again?" David asked, panting.
"It's getting worse."
"How do you know it's because of Regina?" Hook asked.
"Because I know!" Robin yelled. "Don't tell me you don't feel it when something bad is happening to Emma or Snow! I know Regina is in danger, I just know it!"
"Okay, I believe you. But do you realise that if we use the hat now to go back to Storybrooke..."
"You don't get it!" Robin was furious and terrified. "The only reason we've even crossed all those lands during the last few weeks was to find the one thing that could potentially save my wife's life. None of this matters anymore, because I can feel she's dying right now!"
David and Hook looked at each other concerned. Then they all heard screaming of the lost boys somewhere nearby in the jungle.
"Alright, if we decide to leave Neverland, we need to do this now." David said.
"It's your call, mate." Hook said to Robin.
The former thief looked down at the worn-out magic hat in his hand. He promised himself he wouldn't come back without the Shears of Destiny. But it was so long... they've tried. They really did. He just... failed. And now something terrible was happening. He could feel this in his body, even across the worlds. He needed to be there, he just had to save her.
Robin threw the hat on the ground. It started spinning. They all jumped in.
They found themselves on the Main Street, but at first they didn't recognize it. Everything seemed to be falling apart, there were people screaming and buildings collapsing. The air was orange from fire spreading everywhere.
"What the hell is happening?" Hook looked around and didn't even realise how right he was.
They all ran to the nearest place they could think of, the Charmings' loft. David rushed into the building, which was thankfully still standing, the other two men followed him. They walked inside and saw Emma, who was doing some magic.
"Dad!" She yelled, seeing her father, but she kept standing in the same place, holding her hands up and forming some kind of protection spell around the building.
"Emma!" David walked closer to her. Hook went into the apartment as well.
"What is happening?"
"It's Hades... well, actually it's Zelena, she's pulling the strings from the beginning. I'm just... trying to hold it together until Regina..."
"Regina?" Robin asked, walking in. "Where is she? Why isn't she with you?!"
"Robin..."
All four of them looked at Snow, who just walked into the room. She was very obviously holding a newborn baby in her arms, which couldn't have been misteken for baby Neal. She didn't know what to say. She was just looking at Robin with tears in her eyes.
Robin froze and shook his head. It was not possible...
He started walking slowly to get a better look at a small bundle in her arms.
"Is... is that...?" He pointed at the baby, his voice was trembling.
Snow nodded and looked down.
"It's Mary." Her voice broke.
Robin touched the baby's head gently. He always thought this name was something he wanted more than Regina. She didn't want to name their daughter after Snow White. He respected this and agreed to wait until after she's born. She made the final decision on her own, which had to mean only one thing. She didn't have a choice. She didn't think she would see him again. Robin almost broke down on the spot.
"She was born early." Snow whispered. "But she's okay."
The former thief couldn't speak. He was overwhelmed by the love he felt for his daughter, more than he could ever imagine, but the crushing feeling in his chest was growing stronger.
"Where's Regina?"
More tears fell down Snow's cheeks. She was looking for words, but there was no way to put it gently. There was no way to stop it, either.
"Where is she, Snow?" Robin repeated.
"At the centre of it. The Town Hall." Emma said, gasping under the pressure of magic, still doing her protection spell. "She's trying to save us. You deserve to know."
"No..." Robin said and turned around quickly.
"No, wait!" Someone yelled.
He ran out of the apartment and into the street, not minding the screams that told him not to do this. Did anyone really expect he would sit still when Regina was dying?
If there was any moment during his lifetime he wished he had magic, it was this very day. He was running as fast as he possibly could. Powered by adrenaline and rage, he sprinted through the town like crazy, dodging the bursts of fire and panicking people. If he had magic, he could be there already.
But what would you do, a voice in his head said. You don't have a way to save her, you failed. It was your only job and you failed to do that. You failed to save your wife. The mother of your child.
He kept running anyway. All the dust and fire seemed to be following him. Then he realised this magic wasn't actually following him, it was just headed in the same direction.
He saw the Town Hall in the distance. The entire building was cracked and shaking, as if the only thing holding it together was magic. It was probably true.
"REGINA!" He screamed. His legs were moving even faster now.
Then he saw a flicker of a white light inside and suddenly... everything collapsed. With a loud rumble the building fell down under its own weight. The blast of magic hit Robin, he fell down. He got up and started running again, but after a couple of seconds he realised there was nothing to run to. The Town Hall was gone. For a few moments he just stood there with eyes wide open, looking at the pile of rubble. Everything went quiet. Not only here, but everywhere.
He fell down on his knees.
"Regina..."
Then his excruciating scream broke the silence. It was a scream of pain. So huge, it seemed like it tore him apart.
He didn't know for how long he stayed there, crying, broken down on the ground. Someone found him. Someone touched his arm, tried to get him to stand. He just kept crying.
Some more time have passed, maybe even a few hours, and someone touched him again. Spoke to him. Nothing broke through. Not until he heard a tiny cry of a baby.
He looked back and saw Henry. The boy was crying as well. He was holding his little sister in his arms. It made Robin to snap back into reality. He stood up on wobbly legs and walked to Henry. He looked at his daughter and closed his eyes. Then he looked at Henry and put an arm around both of them. He embraced crying boy and his daughter and realised he must be stronger from now on. He can't break down. Regina made an ultimate sacrifice for everyone in this town, especially for her family, he needed to make sure it won't be for nothing. It was his job now make sure Henry, Roland and Mary will heal from this, that they will be happy and safe. If he and Regina were ever to meet again, he wanted to make sure she'd be proud of him. Back then he believed it would happen in death. He never would've predicted that the tiny baby in his arms would some day have other plans.
xxx
Regina could only stare. Nothing more. She could just stare into her former teacher's eyes and try to understand what he was saying.
"Robin is waiting in the hall." Rumple said.
No reaction. The man sighed.
"Take as much time as you need." He stood up. Then he looked at her one last time. "Oh, and... Regina? It's good to see you."
He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Regina was trembling.
16 years.
She missed 16 years. In a blink of an eye, robbed of such crucial years in her daughter's life. Of everyone's lifes.
Her heart was pounding fast, trying to process the new information. Her baby daughter, who she held in her arms only hours ago, was almost an adult now, fully aware of everything her mother once was. And Regina had no way to explain herself, it was done. Before all of this she could have at least had hope she'd have years to prepare her daughter for the truth. She could hope she'd gradually prepare her for the legacy that came with it. She could hope she'd be able to form a bond with her daughter before she fully understands the concept of evil and redemption. She could hope Mary would love her before she could judge her.
And Robin... She left him. It was for a noble reason, but it was still so selfish of her. It was easy not to think about it in the moment, she didn't even think she would live long enough to feel quilty for it. She left him to raise their children on his own. And he did. For 16 years...
She grabbed her head with both hands. It was spinning. The feeling of guilt and fear was crippling.
He's right there, she thought. She made herself to look up. He's waiting. He's waited long enough.
She wiped her face, stood up slowly and walked to the door. She tried to tell herself she's ready, but she knew she would never be. She pushed the door and walked into the hall. It was quiet and empty. Apart from one person.
Robin was sitting in a chair in the shadow. When he noticed Regina, he looked up and stood up quickly. Regina froze. She didn't know what to expect. It's been 16 years, he must have changed. It wasn't even about the looks... Maybe he moved on with someone else. Literally anything could happen. After all, all those years ago when he lost his first wife Marion, he moved on... with her. She couldn't blame him for it, if he did. She wouldn't blame him.
Robin slowly stepped into the light. Whatever image of him she had in her head for last couple of seconds, it couldn't have been more wrong. He very much still looked like himself. With a few strands of grey hair on his head, he looked even more handsome than she remembered.
The tears appeared on her face and she smiled widely. Robin smiled as well. Without words, they both fell into each other's arms.
"Oh my god." Robin whispered into her hair, holding her closely. "I can't believe this."
"I'm here." She said through the tears. "I'm here, it's okay."
Robin broke the hug to kiss her suddenly. She was a little surprised, but it kind of answered her question. If he was kissing her... like this... there couldn't have been another woman in his life."
"I'm so sorry." He said, unexpectedly. "You can't even... I can't tell you just how sorry I am... Regina..."
She frowned.
"What are you sorry for?"
"I failed." He shook his head and almost broke down into tears as well. "I failed you. I couldn't save you... I should've..."
"Stop." She put a hand of his face. "You didn't fail me. You have no idea how relieved I was to see you."
"Y-you... saw me?"
"Yes." She nodded. "You were running to me. It's me who should apologize. I just... I just knew you wouldn't stop. I had to do this, Robin... I had to..."
"Shh..." Robin put his arms around her again and closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore. You're here. After all those years... you're here."
They stood like this for a couple of minutes, just holding each other and enjoying the moment. She had many questions, but she was afraid to ask them.
"I'm sorry, I can't even imagine what you must feel." Robin spoke eventually. "Did Gold tell you what happened? We asked him, we thought..."
"It's okay." She said with a soft smile. "If I were to incinerate someone, I'm glad the risk was on him. Besides..." She looked up to him. "Robin... it wasn't me who had to go on for 16 years thinking that the love of my life is dead. It wasn't me who had to raise three children all on their own..."
"Is that what you're worried about. Do you... do you think I'm angry with you?"
"I don't know. I just..." She took a deep breath.
"Regina, you saved the town. You saved so many people. You made a selfless choice, you did what a hero does. As much as it broke me to lose you, I could never blame you for it."
Regina closed her eyes and tried to stop the tears from coming.
"Look..." Robin continued. "We can stand here all day and list all the bad things that have happened, but I've spend too many years in pain, I've wasted too much time living in the past. I want to enjoy the gift our daughter gave us, to enjoy feeling you in my arms again."
Regina froze at the mention of Mary. Robin felt it.
"Let's sit."
They both sat down, holding hands.
"You probably have a lot of questions."
Regina frowned. She tried to pick one.
"How did you cope?"
She was looking deeply into his eyes, she knew he understood what she meant by that.
"Not well." He admitted and looked down. "When I lost you... When I thought I lost you... It was like a bad dream I couldn't wake up from. But I knew I had to be strong for our children. I managed to find happiness again. Every day, when I looked at our daughter, I saw your smile on her face."
Regina couldn't say a word. Did she have her smile? She did, after all, have her hair, that much she knew. It was surreal to even think about.
"With time, Storybrooke got rebuild." Robin continued talking without any need for another question from her, she was thankful for it. "We started cleaning up the mess that was left of the Town Hall. We thought... we thought we'd find your body under all this rubble. But we didn't."
"Because it wasn't there." Regina nodded.
"No, it wasn't. For a while it gave me hope, but I realised it wasn't healthy to hold onto it. Time have passed, the children grew up. Snow helped me a lot."
Regina smiled to herself. Of course she did.
"What abour Henry? How did he take it? And Roland?"
Robin frowned and looked down.
"Roland was okay. He missed you, but it was easier to explain that to him. Henry..."
Regina couldn't handle it, she looked away to hide the pain.
"Hey... Henry was a strong boy." Robin said, lifting her chin. "He kept your last words in his heart. He knew you loved him. He was happy to have a sister. He had Emma and the Charmings. And me, of course. He missed you, but with time he was happy again."
"Where are they now?"
"They're all waiting for you in our house." Robin smiled widely. "I left out some things, but I think these ones will work best as a surprise."
Regina rolled her eyes. It all felt like a fever dream.
"So..." Robin rose his eyebrow. "There's still one more person I need to tell you about."
Regina gulped. She let go of his hands and looked away.
"I... I don't think I'm ready. I can't..."
"It's okay." Robin looked at her. "It's okay to be scared."
"Scared?" She turned around quickly to look back at him. "That's an understatement. I have a teenage daughter I know nothing about! Once I told you how much I'm afraid of being a girl mom... How scared I am of becoming like Cora... Back then, you comforted me saying I'd have plenty of time to prepare before she's at the age, but look at us now! I didn't have a day... even one day..."
"Prepare for what?" Robin was beyond confused.
"The look on her face... The hatred."
Robin opened his eyes widely and eventually laughed loudly.
"What is so funny?" Regina frowned angrily.
"God, Regina, I'm sorry." He said with a wide smile. "I keep forgetting you truly know nothing about our daughter. Because every single person who has ever met Mary is very much aware of how much she's obsessed with you."
Those words put together in this order took Regina by a surprise, so much so she had to make sure she understood it correctly.
"Obsessed?"
"More then I can explain. Or make sense of, for that matter." Robin laughed. "Regina... she's literally your biggest fan. From the moment she could talk, she would always go on and on about her mommy being a queen and her being a princess."
Regina blinked twice in shock.
"It doesn't mean anything... She was just a little..."
"No, believe me. It's still going on strong. She's so proud of you, it sometimes makes me jealous." Robin laughed again, obviously joking. "Her brothers are probably holding her by force at the moment, so she doesn't come here running. If she could, she would be the one sitting by your bed and waiting. And before you say anything, she does know all of your history. She keeps saying you "slay" or whatever the hell it means these days. She had looked up to you for as long as I can remember. God, bringing you back from the past, it was all her idea!"
"It was?"
"I tried to talk her out of it. I mean, I wanted to believe it was possible, but I didn't want her to do something so dangerous. Obviously, she did what she wanted in the end. She's a teenager. And she's your daughter, after all. Apple didn't fall far from the tree. Pun intended."
Regina chuckled. The warmth spread out inside of her.
"So her magic really is as strong as they said?" She asked, once again shivering with fear.
"Well... yes and no." Robin responded evasively. "She always had some abilities, but breaking the laws of magic didn't come to her as easy as everyone would expect. In fact, she needed a teacher."
"A teacher?" Regina rose an eyebrow.
"Yeah... As you probably already know, Gold and Belle came back to Storybrooke after years of travels. He offered to help. I was hesitant at first, but when his son Gideon was born, I saw how much it changed him. Besides, I do trust Belle. So I agreed. He started teaching Mary, so she wouldn't lose control."
Regina took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She wasn't sure how she feels about Rumple teaching her daughter magic. He seemed to have made it a rule that he'd teach magic to all the generations of women in her family.
"What abour the prophecy? Did anyone come after her? Was she safe?"
"It was nothing we couldn't handle." Robin smiled.
Regina decided she didn't even want to know what it meant. She looked away and sighed.
"I've never been so afraid in my entire life."
"I know." Robin took her hand. "But do you know what?"
Regina looked at him.
"What?"
"I'm with you. And I'm never letting you go again."
She could work with that.
They walked outside and marched through town holding hands. Everyone was looking at her, but she could easily ignore it. She was admiring the New Storybrooke, as she began to call it in her head. It looked the same... but different. Less... cursed. It clearly became more modern with time, the buildings were renovated, there were also a lot of new ones... But it still had the spirit she remembered and it was comforting.
They approached the house and she suddenly stopped, inhaling the air with a whoosh. Robin didn't let go of her.
"It's okay." He squeezed her hand.
She nodded and resumed walking forward.
The house looked the same. She didn't know why she expected the worst, everything turned out to be way better than she imagined. They opened the door and her eyes immediately laid on the little crowd by the dining table. She recognized most of them, some of the faces were new.
"Regina!" Snow was first to stand and run up to her. She definitely aged a little, but she looked almost too good to believe it's been that long. Snow hugged her tightly.
"Hello, ma'am." Some young man gave out a hand. "I've heard a lot about you."
Regina was confused.
"Oh." Snow realised Regina didn't recognize who that was. "It's Neal."
"Oh, wow." Regina gasped. "Hello. Last time I saw you you were... smaller."
"We actually have another son." David, also a bit wrinkled around the eyes, came up to stand beside his wife. "He's 10 and at school. You'll have a chance to meet him later. It's so good to see you, Regina. We're glad you're back."
Regina nodded, trying to calmly take in the new information. Hoping she doesn't seem rude, she leaned out to the side to look further into the room.
"Emma?" She said, looking at the blonde woman.
"Long time no see, madam mayor." The savior smiled and walked to hug her.
Regina lauged. Hook, wearing some normal clothes, came up to her as well. They both had a little girl beside them, who was shyly looking up at the new lady they were greeting.
"Who's this?"
"It's our daughter. Hope." Emma presented a widest of smiles to her.
Regina looked back and forth at Emma and Hook.
"Did you two...?"
"It took some time, but I finally accepted I can be happy." Emma wrapped an arm around Killian. "Losing my friend taught me that I should enjoy the time I have with the people I love."
Regina almost teared up when she realised she was talking about her.
She smiled to Emma and kept looking around. Her heart was pounding with anticipation.
"Hello." Some curly-haired young man spoke, so her eyes laid on him.
Regina frowned and then her face softened.
"Roland." She whispered and walked up to give him a hug. "Oh my god, you're so tall."
He was tall. And very handsome. He still had dimples in his cheeks and the flicker in his eyes. Regina did a quick math and figured he was about twenty years old.
"You look great."
"What can I say, I have good genes." The boy laughed and looked at his father. Robin, who was still holding Regina's hand, laughed back and nodded.
As soon as Regina let go of Roland, her eyes laid on the other end of the table. The thing that drew her attention was a woman with a baby in her arms, sitting by the table, embraced by a man. She couldn't place her anywhere in her head. She didn't fit anyone she knew from the past.
And then she noticed... She fully and finally noticed the person who was embracing her. She let go of Robin's hand and walked around the table.
"Henry..."
The man stood up and took Regina in his arms, hugging her tightly.
"Mom."
They both started crying. As much as Regina thought she could keep some control over her emotions, it was simply too much. Henry was a grown man, which was something that for some reason didn't even cross her mind. Up until this moment she still imagined him as he was, she was too focused on the pain she must have caused him by leaving him.
"Oh my god, Henry..." She was holding onto his shirt as if her life depended on it.
"I've missed you, too, mom." He said and kissed her head. He was taller than her, it was almost impossible to handle.
When she finally looked up at him, she touched his face and smiled.
"I know." Henry said. "We have so much to talk about. But I would like you to meet someone first, if you don't mind."
Regina rose her eyebrows, but understood at once. She locked her eyes on the woman with a baby.
"Mom..." Henry started. "I would like you to meet my wife. This is Jacinda."
"It's an honour to meet you." The woman shook her hand.
"And this..." Henry pointed at the baby sleeping in his wife's arms. "...is Lucy. Our daughter."
Regina looked at the baby and teared up again.
"I'm a grandma?"
Everyone in the room laughed. Henry put a hand on his mother back. She nodded with understanding. They will have time to talk about this. They will have all the time in the world.
"Henry?" Robin spoke suddenly. "Where's your sister?"
"She's hiding." Henry said with a smirk. "I guessing bending the fabric of spacetime is less scary than meeting your mom after all."
Regina looked at Henry and then at Robin with concern. He told her Mary would be waiting for her. He said they probably had to hold her so she doesn't run to her. What's changed?
"Think about it from her perspective." Jacinda said quietly and briefly looked at Lucy.
Regina nodded. Mary is scared and it shouldn't be much of a surprise. Regina knew, better than anyone, that when happiness is actually within your grasp, it's the hardest to reach for it.
All the fear and doubt left Regina's body. She was her mother. And they both have waited long enough.
Regina looked around and smiled to everyone.
"I want to spend a full day with each and every one of you and just talk about your life. And I will. But right now..." She looked up at the stairs. "I'm ready to meet my daughter."
She walked up alone. She once thought she wouldn't be able to do this without Robin, but now it seemed like the most natural thing to do. She could practically feel something pulling her upstairs.
When she was there, she realised she doesn't actually know where is her daughter's room it. They never bothered to think about it when she was pregnant, back then thinking about it seemed like a waste of time. So she focused on the pull she was feeling and her head instantly turned into the right direction. She walked to the right door and pushed it.
It was a very typical room of a teenage girl. Not very girly, but not dark either. It had a nice aesthetic and was slighly cluttered, as one could expect.
Regina saw her sitting on the bed, with arms around her knees and face buried in the cascade of black hair. The girl lifted her head. Regina stopped.
She was so beautiful, it took her breath away. The dark hair was only the tip of the iceberg of all the things that were similar between them. The nose, the lips... Only the eyes were different. They were all Robin's.
"Mom?" The girl said quietly and moved on the bed. She seemed... unsure. Like she didn't know for how much she can let herself.
"Yes." Regina nodded, only now realising how wet her face was from crying.
Mary almost jumped out of the bed. Regina took two steps forward and they fell into each others arms, as if they had done this a milion times before. It felt right, like all the pieces of the world finally fell into the right place. Regina buried her face in her daughter's hair. She was holding her tightly and she was crying uncontrollably, like the day she was born. Mary smelled like forest and leather. Regina chuckled quietly.
"What?" The girl asked, looking up at her mother.
"Y-you smell like your father."
Mary was confused, but put her head back at Regina's chest.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, my baby..." Regina said softly. "What can you possibly be sorry for?"
"Everything. That I didn't go downstairs to meet you like I should. That you had to go through all of those things... And most of all, that I brought you here from the past without your consent."
"No." Regina said shortly and pulled her daughter away to look her in the eyes. "You saved my life. It's me who should apologize."
"Yeah, dad warned me you'd be like this."
"Like what?!"
"You keep punishing yourself for everything, because you where the Evil Queen. You died for this town and still won't feel you're enough."
"Okay, first of all." Regina frowned and smiled. In a strange way it was amusing she has this kind of argument with her daughter within the first minutes of meeting her. "I didn't die. Technically. Thanks to you."
Mary rolled her eyes. When she did it, she looked exactly like Regina.
"Second of all... this time I don't want to apologize for being evil. I want to apologize to you specifically. I never wanted you to grow up without a mother."
Mary looked down.
"Yeah, it sucked." The girl sighed and walked to the bed to sit on it.
Regina hesitated for a moment, but finally sat down beside her.
"You see..." Mary spoke again. "Everyone always told me about you. Like, literally all the time. I felt this... pressure to be like you. To be... perfect."
Regina opened her eyes widely. She moved a strand of hair from Mary's face gently.
"Honey... you are perfect."
Mary looked at her with her big blue eyes and frowned.
"The prophecy thing... It wasn't actually all true, you know?"
"I don't give a damn about some prophecy. You are perfect, because you're my child. And you were worth everything."
"But you were the Queen! You saved everyone. I'm just... me. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always miserable. But learning I have all this power and having nothing to do with it just... sucked! Storybrooke was safe ever since you left, no one needed saving anymore."
Regina laughed. This was actually good news to her, but she understood her struggle.
"So this is why you decided to bring me back?"
"Yes." Mary looked at her hands. "As I said, the prophecy turned out to be much overrated. I can't just break the laws of magic at will."
"You can't?"
"It said I would break it, not that I would be breaking it over and over. Don't you get it? It was always my fate to break it once. To go back in time to save my mom."
Regina looked at Mary, her hand, which was stroking her hair, froze in the air. She lowered it slowly and looked blindly into space.
"What you said about the town being safe... It wasn't actually true, was it? Your father said someone came after you... but he said it was nothing you guys couldn't handle."
"It's true." Mary nodded. "But it wasn't about me exactly. It was..."
"What?" Regina was confused. What else could it possibly be?
"Well, you'll find out eventually, so I might as well just tell you now."
"Mary, what happened?"
"It's about your sister. Zelena."
"What about her?" Regina's entire body tensed.
"Hades kept coming back to look for her for years. He never had enough power to stay. Evetually we defeated him."
"That's... great news. Mary, why would I be mad?"
"Because of what happened a few days ago." Mary looked down again. "With time I understood why he kept coming. He was looking for her because she has never crossed through the Underworld. She never actually died."
Regina didn't say anything. She was trying to understand what her daughter wants to tell her.
"When we finally found the Shears of Destiny and when I finally gathered enough power to go back in time to rescue you... I realised I left Zelena there to die, so I... went back."
"You... I'm sorry - what?" Regina rose her eyebrows.
"I had just enough power to slip through and go back to the same moment. Mom... they never found your body, but they never found hers either. And then I remembered Hades and why he kept coming for all those years. I realised that if I want to save you, I must save her, too. I didn't want to mess with fate and most definitely I didn't want to mess with spacetime. I know it's dangerous. Also, it felt like a test for some reason... All my life people have told me that I needed to chose my path, that I come from both light and darkness. I knew you were good, mom, and I wanted to be good as well. I couldn't leave her to die..."
Regina was looking at her with wide eyes. Mary looked up with fear.
"Are you angry?"
"Angry?" Regina was astonished. "My sweet girl, there's nothing that has ever made me prouder."
Mary smiled and hugged her mom again. Regina put her arms around her and closed her eyes. Her baby daughter chose her own fate. Against all odds and against all stupid prophecies.
Regina thought to herself how fate had a funny way of tricking her into believing she was powerless back in the day. After all she did have a saying in her daughter's fate and she finally made the right choice. She sacrificed herself, which lead her daughter to follow the path of good. This was something she always wanted, ever since she found out about her existence.
"Where is my sister now?" Regins said quietly.
"Locked up."
Regina laughed. Nothing new.
"Dad told me all about the linking spell. It doesn't exist now."
"I know. You did this."
"Actually, it was dad." Mary said. "For all those years he kept beating himself up for failing, when I first suggested the idea of bringing you back from the past, her made it his life's mission to go back and get those damn scissors. And he did."
"So I have both of you to thank."
They kept talking for hours. About everything, Mary's childhood, her life at school, her magic lessons with Rumple. Also a little bit about the town and her relationships with everyone. Mary fell asleep in Regina's arms in the middle of the sentence. Regina didn't move, she just kept looking at her daughter with love and disbelief.
It was already dark outside when she heard the knock on the door. Robin peeked in and smiled.
"I think it was a long day for her."
"Did everyone leave?" Regina asked quietly, suddenly feeling quilty she didn't talk to anyone else this evening.
"They'll be back." Robin assured her calmly.
"Okay."
Very gently, Regina pulled her arm from under Mary's head, stood up and grabbed a blanket to cover her. She pleced a soft kiss on her daughter's forehead and a memory flashed before her eyes. It was the same forehead she kissed only a day before, but slightly bigger.
Regina grabbed Robin's hand and turned the light off in Mary's room. They went outside and into their bedroom. They found themselves on the bed quickly, their clothes flew across the room. Regina didn't know what kind of healing magic Mary used on her, but it felt like she was never pregnant. She was grateful, but she wasn't ready to think about the possibility her daughter might have done it on purpose.
Robin was desperate for every touch, aching for every kiss. She could feel he missed her very badly.
When they were done, they were lying in each others arms and enjoying the moment.
"What are you thinking about?"
"The question is what am I not thinking about?" Regina grinned and looked at Robin. "I'm just counting my blessings, I guess."
Robin rose his eyebrows.
"I must say I didn't expect you to adjust so quickly."
"I'm not sure I adjusted just yet. But I'm getting there."
"You seem different after talking to Mary."
"Well..." She lifted herself up on her elbow so she could look down at him. "To be honest, I think... I think I can finally forgive myself."
"Really?" Robin smiled widely.
"From the start, from the moment our daughter was created, I felt like I deserved to die. I felt quilty for so many things... I was the reason Zelena wanted to hurt you..."
"Regina..."
"No, it's true. All this legacy, all the darkness... today, for the first time, I felt like I've made up for it. My worst fear was always one thing... that
I'd turn my daughter evil. That she would somehow be conditioned to become what I became. But she didn't. She's good."
"You made the right choice. She just needed a good example to follow."
"And she had you." Regina looked at Robin with eyes full of love.
They kissed again. Regina smiled to herself.
"I will make up for all those years." She put her leg around Robin's waist.
"Is that a challange, your majesty?" He said, looking up and smirking.
"There aren't enough hours in the day, but we can always try..."
Regina placed a kiss on her husband's lips. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.
She knew she'd have to deal with Zelena again in the morning. She knew she would be adjusting to her new life for a while. But none of this mattered. She finally had everything she ever wanted and more. She always wondered how Snow could remain so hopeful and optimistic, having lost 28 years of her daughter's life, but now she knew... it wasn't about what she lost, it's what she gained.
"I love you." She whispered.
"I love you, too." Robin said.
And here they were. Light and darkness. Except there was no darkness anymore, only light. And a new, happy beginning.
They kissed again passionately. Regina waved her hand and the lights in the room went off. She was hoping Mary is a heavy sleeper.
The End
.
I would like to thank everyone who followed this story for all those years. I always knew I would eventually finish it, because this story has been in my head for so long. At times it was my escape in some dark times and I'm so grateful for it. Robin and Regina will always be in my heart and at least now I can picture their story like this instead of what actually happened on the show. Please tell me in the comments what you think about my version of their story! Thank you so much once again 3