It was almost Hallow's Eve. There was so much excitement around Storybrooke, and that was something Lynn had felt almost the second she got home from school. Without thinking too much, she dropped her bag in her room, and then (seeing how much he wanted to go outside) used the landline to call her mother at work and tell her she was going out in town with Henry. It was a small town, after all, and Regina knew as well as her ten year old daughter did that she would be able to find her and Henry within minutes. Lynn had been giggly all day, and Henry seemed to be too. It had been an odd day, too. School. It had been such a strange day. Lynn scrunched up her face at the thought, tugging briefly on her little brother's arm to get him to keep following her. It had been almost a year since the fight, since Aria had called her mother the evil queen. The name Snow had given her mother. School had been hell since then. Academically, things were just as always. Intense. Often frustrating. Sometimes boring. But, academically, things were normal. The same as always. That was the only thing she liked about it. It had also been the only thing she had liked about school. Until today.

In every sense but academics, until today, school had been hell. Lynn forced herself to try and relax her face and body. She tried not to squeeze her baby brother too hard. Being a fourth year was hard. Year three had been worse, but, so far, year four had been just as bad. Until today. It was so weird. Everything was weird. Until the fight, she had a group. A group. The lonely group. The weird kids, or, more accurately, the kids whose parents weren't billionaires. The kids who didn't have trust funds. The kids whose lives weren't set in perfect marble and diamonds and gold. That had been the worst part of starting school. She was a princess! She had never been second to anyone. Starting kindergarten had been a shock. Every year seemed to be another shock. This one was by far the weirdest. She hated being alone, having no one to sit with at lunch, having people walk away from her, be afraid of her. It sucked. Until today. Things changed, today. And it was frightening. Things changed so quickly, and so suddenly, it was almost unbelievable. How had all of that happened? Why did it happen? What was happening?

Being lonely was only fun in a group. It sucks when you're actually lonely.

Until today, she had been lonely. That was until, so shockingly that she had screamed, Aria had wrapped an arm around her from behind and told her she thought they should 'kiss and make up.' She hadn't heard that phrase before. Lynn scrunched up her face again, skidding to a stop when Henry squirmed out of her hand and ran in front of her, giggling and throwing leaves at her. She laughed. It didn't last. Why had Aria decided…she tried not to think about it. She had friends again. It was so weird, though. She still couldn't understand why Aria had come around after calling her mother the evil queen. Lynn paused. Her mother had told her that Aria was really Princess Aurora. Lynn's mind whispered otherwise. You're five years older than Aurora. Another part of her whispered back. But how old would you be without the curse? She shoved both of those aside. They didn't make sense. Nothing made sense! Lynn irritably blew on her hair when it flitted in front of her face, picking up her giggling baby brother.

"You're lucky," She told him, giggling when he hugged her. "You don't have weird stuff."

"You not weird!" Henry stared at her with wide eyes. "You sissy! The best sissy!"

Lynn grinned, setting him back down. "Of course I am!" She stuck out her tongue, setting her hands on her hips. "I'm a princess!"

"And everyone in town knows that's how your mother thinks of you."

Lynn turned around, laughing when she saw Ruby.

"Momma has always thought of me that way!" Lynn nudged her little brother to come back towards her. "Hey! Don't eat leaves, Henry!"

He pouted but set the leaves down and came back over to his big sister, waving at Ruby.

"Speaking of your mother," Ruby said, stuffing her hands in her puffy red coat. "Where is she?"

"Work!" Henry chriped.

"She said we can play outside because we're in town," Lynn said, messing with her baby brother's hair. "It's safe in town."

Ruby considered that. "True," She glanced at the street lights and the sunset. The lights were beginning to flicker to life. "But I don't think she would want you two out after dark. How about I walk you two home?"

Lynn nodded. "Okay!"

Ruby rolled her eyes and picked up Henry, who seemed more than content to sit on the sidewalk, and, sneakily, continue to try and taste the fallen leaves. Then, she and Lynn began to walk towards the Mills' house, just past downtown Storybrooke.

"Did you have a good day at school?" Ruby watched Lynn while they walked, having Henry securely in her arms. "I'm sure you have fun things to do around halloween."

Lynn shrugged. "School was weird."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Lynn frowned. "There's a girl who called my mom the evil queen last year. So I punched her. Last year, not today. And then, after hating me for almost a year, she came up to me today and hugged me and said we should 'kiss and make up.' I haven't had friends since then until today. It's so weird."

Ruby considered that. "Well," She eventually said. "It sounds like she had issues she needed to work through and was jealous of how close you and your mom are. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If she's being nice to you again, then what's the problem?"

Lynn fell silent. "I don't know," She mumbled. "Momma didn't like her and I don't want momma to be mad at me."

"She won't be," Ruby promised her. "If anything, she's going to be proud of you for being able to make peace with someone like that. You're a good egg, Lynn."

Lynn paused, staring up at her for a few seconds.

"So I shouldn't worry?"

"Doesn't sound like you need to," Ruby replied. "Like I said, you're a good egg, Lynn, and you're really smart. If anything bad happens again, you'll be able to get out of there. Right?"

"Yeah," Lynn smiled and suddenly hugged her. "You're the best Ruby."

Ruby laughed a little. "Thanks, Lynn. I try, I really do."

"It doesn't make any damn sense!" Regina let out a short breath that could have been easily mistaken for a sob if it were not so clear how angry she was. "How can it be fluctuating anywhere?"

Strewn all around her were spell book after spell book. Relics from their previous life. She didn't need magic, though. She needed answers about magic. It seemed, too, that she, Sherry, and Chloe had gone through just about every spell book they had. Not only was it exhausting, but it was terrifying. What if the curse was starting to fail? It couldn't. No. Too much had been sacrificed to get here, to have a life like this which was so damn near perfect. She closed her eyes. She couldn't take it. She tried to breathe. All around her, apart from the spell books, were reminders of how strong the curse was. Graham's heart. Gowns. Jewels worth more than she could imagine. Daniel. Her eyes snapped open. She swallowed back a true sob that was rising in her chest. No. Snow couldn't take this from her. She had already taken him. She couldn't take this life from her too. She couldn't take Lynn, or Henry. She couldn't. Shaking, the queen stood up, starting to page through yet another book. The answer had to be…she paused, her eyes catching in the mirror. Her favourite mirror from their previous life. This time, however, she did not find the mirror so easy to lie to. She glanced down the corridor.

Two chambers.

One for her father.

One for Daniel.

She, Chloe, and Sherry were alone, Daniel's spirit the one present with them, as Chloe would say.

Regina brushed aside tears that were unwillingly rising in her eyes.

That meant, down the other corridor, she realised, the thought left her mocked by the memory of her father.

"Think about it this way: is it such a bad thing that fluctuations here brought you Henry?" Sherry offered, closing another spell book. "Yes, things have changed, but they're still as they were in the right ways."

Regina sighed. "You're probably right, but this paranoia…it's an obsession," She said quietly. "And I'm worried more than ever that Henry will be in danger because of anything changing."

"He won't be," Sherry reached over and briefly pressed her hands against her best friend's. "Truthfully, based on everything we know and have learned over the years about the curse and its ramifications, Leah and Stefan were probably in some sort of bubble with Aurora that popped."

"I suppose," Regina mumbled, probing her forehead. "Perhaps I'm over thinking this. If Aurora had never crossed paths with Lynn, it never would have occurred to me in the slightest."

"Exactly," Sherry said. "And their bubble likely popped after over a decade as a result of being much closer to the rest of the world than we are. And they were never the targets of the curse, either, they were simply swept up in it. And given that Lynn didn't start ageing until Henry…well, then Aurora must have started ageing several years before her. Henry didn't come into your life until nineteen years after the curse was cast. It makes sense that, eventually, the weakest links would pop and the rest would strengthen."

"Which they have," Chloe shrugged. "I mean, 'John Doe,'" She exaggerated the false name with her fingers and a laugh. "Almost slipped out of consciousness for good the other day, and 'Mary Margaret.'" She did it again. "Is more beaten down than ever."

Regina perked up a bit, laughing herself. "True," She rolled her eyes. "Those two deserve whatever they get for ruining my life. The game is over, they lost."

"They did!" Chloe stretched herself out, wrapping her bony arms tightly around herself in her soft, fur coat. "I mean," She hesitated. "We're about as miserable as always, but we still are secure, and, usually, pretty happy. And genuinely happy, not cursed happy."

"Yes, generally," Regina paused. "Though you aren't wrong to say we've always been miserable. That may be why feeling content is so strange."

"It's always a strange feeling," Chloe sighed. "It probably doesn't help that we're surrounded by the past. Especially a past where we…"

"We had it all for awhile," Sherry said, wrapping an arm around her wife, who leaned tiredly into her. "Then it all sort of…disappeared. Because of a few…particular people."

"Snow," Regina swore under her breath. "And Henry starts kindergarten in three years. I am not looking forward to him having any interaction with her."

"Who says he has to?" Sherry eyed her strangely. "We take Lynn to school in New Hampshire. Why would he have to go to school here?"

Regina briefly went silent. "Silly as it is," She finally said. "I am terrified that if he ever leaves town, he won't come back. And that's why, when I've had to leave town, I've left him with you two, or Re - Ruby."

"He came from out of town," Sherry gently reminded her. "He can come back in, too."

"I'm well aware of that," Regina chewed at the inside of her cheek. "But we've spent a year trying to dissect what could have gone wrong enough in the curse for Leah and Stefan to break out of it with Aurora. Just the thought of putting the curse to the test that way…it scares me."

"In fairness," Chloe put in. "Unlike Lynn, Henry has not even the unconscious knowledge about the curse. Lynn can't even fully wrap her head around it, though, admittedly, she doesn't need to."

"I know," Regina paused, startled by how weak, how exhausted her voice sounded. "They mean everything to me. I can't bear the thought of losing them."

"Of course you can't," Chloe said, standing up to hug her best friend. "They're your babies, you'd do anything for them. And that's a good thing."

"It is," Regina briefly closed her eyes when Chloe let her go, her eyes starting to flutter, flicking away tears. "That's why…."

"Why you can't live without knowing they're safe?" Sherry said, sharing a knowing look with her wife. "That's okay, Regina. You don't have to worry about -"

"It's not about being afraid of being vulnerable, if that's what you're going to say," Regina quietly cut in. "It's that…losing them would mean losing myself. And I've lost too much to lose anymore."

"You won't," Sherry promised her.

"And not in any way," Chloe added. "They know how much you care about them, and Lynn has always admired you, and Henry adores you. You guys are going to be alright."

Regina hesitated, eventually nodding. "Of course we are," She started to laugh, surprising herself. "Because, you're right: the curse is stronger than ever, even if its dropped off the weak, inconsequential links…"

Replies To Reviews:

barrattajennifer: you're absolutely right! Lynn has her struggles, as does her mother, but, at the end of the day, whatever problems they have, they are leagues better off than Leah and Stefan are with Aurora.

Sammii16: of course! sorry this chapter is late, too, i should be getting them on time again soon!

jasouatfan: to an extent, yes, Lynn knows the truth. but she was also very young when the curse was cast, and her mother, for good reason, is hesitant to explain it further than what Lynn already could figure out for herself.