Chapter 94: Parental Dis-play/may
The next morning is quiet in Storybrooke, like every other morning. A morning mist had descended onto her front lawn under a gray sky as the former Evil Queen quietly walked down the stairs of her mansion in her bathrobe and slippers. She hopes that her slippers combined with her soft footsteps on the carpets will not disturb the whole household. She methodically makes her way to the kitchen and ensures that the door is closed before turning on the coffee machine. After the craziness of last night, she needed something to bring her energy back.
Gone was the drama of last night and also the celebrations, even though there wasn't much to celebrate. Yes, Evie had been found safely, but none of the children were properly trained in magic, half the town was in fear of another dragon battle after Lilith's tantrum yesterday, and they were no closer to sending these children home. The entire town still had a fair number of teenagers living in their homes, realms away from home and their real parents… Except for a lot of the villain kids. Most of them likely saw it as an upgrade from their lives on the Isle. Things just seemed to be building and building and Regina knew that eventually, everything would come to a head. It always did. But for now…right now it was nothing but calm, but Regina knew better than anyone that it was always calm before the storm.
As the kitchen fills with the smell of fresh coffee, Regina reflects on this entire mess. It all started with Crystal wanting to help Granny find an easy way to travel to visit Red and it all spiraled from there. It didn't help that the stranded visitors were potentially their children from an alternative realm… and it didn't help that none of them knew how to get back… and it didn't help that Regina was growing attached to them… one in particular.
Taking a sip of her coffee, Regina wonders what life would have been like if she'd chosen to have children. If she wasn't controlled by her mother and in a desperate attempt to have something in her grasp, she wouldn't have drunk that infertility potion. Maybe she could have had children with Robin. She already became a surrogate mother to Roland… how amazing it would have been to have another few outlaws running around. Swing set in the backyard, picking apples from her tree, teaching her children to bake, letting Henry babysit when they were too tired. It was the happy ending she'd never thought she'd get or deserved and in the she didn't get what sprang to her mind now. Yes, she had an interesting and unique family, yes, she had friends, and yes, she was the hero and queen she wanted to be, but Robin was gone and now Henry was off finding his own adventure, she couldn't help but wish that she'd made a different choice. The damn desperate move for control and that one potion. And she would have never been lucky like Snow had either. To be able to drink the lake water restored her stepdaughter's ability to bear the Saviour. At the time she would have delighted to see Snow White so devastated, but if fate hadn't stepped in, then Emma would not have been born, and in turn, Regina wouldn't have adopted Henry and given her a second chance at life… But seeing her daughter… or a version of her daughter… the thoughts of what might have been had been surfacing over the past few days.
Evie was the perfect daughter. Smart, confident, loyal, caring, authoritative, sassy, socially able, with a strong sense of fashion. Everything Regina could have imagined in her own daughter. And aside from the blue hair, Evie did resemble her mother… or maybe the one looking was just desperate to see some resemblance. To see what could have been. And the teen trusted Regina completely, liked her and even thought she was cool, which was a bonus considering how Henry thought how "uncool" both his mothers were in his later teen years. Hearing snippets of her childhood from some of the kids' conversations irked Regina and at the same time broke her heart. The Isle was obviously a terrible place to raise a child, but most of the villains had no choice. On the surface, Evie's life was better than others, living in a castle, but the kid had her fair share of hardships. Her mother seemed more interested in her daughter being beautiful and finding wealth along with a prince than actually raising her child by supporting and loving her. She criticized her daughter's looks and set extremely high standards for Evie to meet. Along with having a temper and causing her daughter to fear her sometimes, it enraged Regina immensely.
While the former Evil Queen can admit that she wasn't the best mother to Henry, some of the things still made her feel guilty and kept her awake at night; she was still always there for him, met all his needs and after he saved her, did everything she could to be a mother he could always turn to for help. She protected him from all kinds of threats and loved him more than anything else in the world. But on the scale of motherhood between the two Evil Queens, Regina took home the prize every time, and she wished she had had a chance to give Evie that care and support. While Evie clearly thrived on her own with the support and love from her friends, how much more would she have flourished if she'd had a better mother?
Regina walks quietly through the halls and stops at the mirror for a moment, seeing how worried, flustered, and sad she feels written all over her face. It was a wide range of emotions and made her wonder how such thoughts could plague her so early in the morning.
She sits down in her living room with Carlos sleeping on the couch nearby. He'd been so exhausted from the night before that he'd crashed when he sat down. While she could have poofed him up to bed, Regina decided to let him sleep. Mal was also staying with them, and no one could blame her considering how Lily's true feelings came through yesterday. She and Zelena had a volatile relationship, but the Queen had confidence that the hatchet would be buried soon. It still felt like she was running a dormitory with a number of teenagers in her mansion and it looked and smelled like it too. She needed to have a word with these children about picking up after themselves.
Carlos snores softly, groaning a few times and even grimacing as if he is dreaming about something bad.
"No…" he muttered. "No, I didn't do it…"
Probably a line he'd memorized from childhood. Regina does her best to ignore the comments, deciding to finish her coffee before making breakfast, but the teen continues to moan in discomfort.
"No… I…"
His body seems to settle, and he goes back into a deep sleep. He clings to one of Regina's decorative silver pillows like a teddy bear.
After a few minutes of silence, he moans again, rolling over abruptly and trying to get comfortable again.
"Guys… I swear…" he says. His face became more distressed and his breathing accelerated to panting. "I only did it so… so… please… Jane…"
His voice trails off and he lies still, but the teen is panting like he was running a marathon. Sweat beads on his forehead and he squeezes the pillow so tightly it's like he's mangling it.
The former Evil Queen becomes concerned as the son of Cruella thrashes, throwing the pillow to the ground and his voice returning, shriller and more distressed. "I'm… I'm sorry… guys please believe me… I only did it… I wanted to…No…I'm… JANE!"
He bolts upwards from the couch in a panic, panting and beginning to cry. The fear on his face is palatable and he looks around in confusion.
Regina puts her coffee aside and goes to him. Just like when Henry was young, she knew that after every nightmare that a child… no every person needs someone there to comfort them. She sits on the couch and instinctively pats Carlos' back as he tries to settle down. He wipes the tears away in embarrassment and leans down, his elbows resting on his knees to try and catch his breath.
"It's okay," Regina says gently and soothingly. "It was only a nightmare."
"Felt really real," is all he can manage to say, wiping the sweat with the back of his hand.
"They do feel like that, but they're not."
But Carlos knew better, in his nightmare 90% of it was true. It was based on what he was doing, his desperation to see his mother and the decisions he was making. He knew his friends and girlfriend would hate it and it killed him not to tell them. But it all had to be a secret. I wanted to see her and they'd just shoot him down.
After finally having calmed down, Carlos looks at Regina who stares at him with concern but with also comfort. She pats his back a few more times before using her magic to conjure up something.
The quick display of magic still spooks the kid, but then he sees what she's conjured for him. The smell made his mouth water immediately.
"Whenever my son had nightmares," she explained, handing over a steaming mug of apple cider. "I'd bring him downstairs, and we'd make cider together. While he always wanted cocoa with whipped cream and cinnamon, I wanted him to be able to sleep again so cider with cinnamon sufficed."
He was a bit hesitant to take the drink, but the smell of it was too tempting and Carlos accepted it.
"Take a few slow sips, it's pretty hot," she warns.
Carlos does as he's told, and with the first few sips, the drink immediately takes his mind off the nightmare and calms him down. Sweet things on the Isle were rare if not nonexistent so no one ever offered him something to drink after a rough night and it's not like his mother would have ever come to comfort him when he had nightmares. It felt strange, but also normal.
"Thank you," Carlos says after a few moments of silence.
"You're welcome," Regina says. "I just hope that the stuff that happened yesterday didn't affect you too deeply."
The teen shakes his head. "No… honestly I've seen a lot worse."
"Which is just bizarre to me," the Queen says. "You and all of the VKs? Is that how you say it? All of you from the Isle didn't deserve what you were given."
"It wasn't always that bad," he lied. "We were kids, and we didn't know any different. We made it work."
"I just wish there had been a different… future for you. Children should not suffer for the sins of their parents."
"Which is why Ben brought us to Auradon," Carlos clarifies. "To give us the chance to start over, make our own lives and our own futures."
"Give you a second chance," Regina nods in agreement. "Although it should have been done long before that."
"Storybrooke seems like the place for second chances," Carlos says. "I mean, no offence, But you, Captain Hook, Maleficent, Rumpelstiltskin, Ursula and that witch lady… Zara?"
Regina chuckles. "Zelena, who is my half-sister."
"You were all villains, but here you are all good people and living normal lives."
"We weren't always good," she reminds him. "But Snow always insists that Storybrooke gives people hope… hope to change and hope for a better life. Stupidly optimistic and sickly sweet, but in the end she's right."
Carlos laughs a little. "Guess your wickedness towards Snow White didn't fully go away."
The former Evil Queen smiles. "She wasn't my favourite person for a long time. I hated her for telling a secret that ruined my life and I held a vengeful grudge for so many years, vowing to ruin her life too. I know now that a lot of that life as a villain was my mother's and my own fault. Snow was only ten when it happened, she thought she was helping me, and now, after everything, I regret to admit that we're family. I don't always like her hope speeches and her seemingly endless positivity that includes unicorn stickers, but she certainly sees the best in you and you can't help but like her for it."
"So, did all the villains get happy endings here?" Carlos asks, fishing for some information.
"Not all," Regina says. "My mother was one. Hades…"
She hesitates, not wanting to hurt the son of Cruella.
"Gaston. David's twin brother and stepfather."
"David's a twin?"
"Yeah, but James was not a good person and couldn't find redemption, even in the afterlife."
"Afterlife?"
"Yes, so a while back, Killian was trapped in the Underworld, and we all went to save him. We met a lot of people down there who had unfinished business. Some, like my mother, were eventually able to move on, others like James, weren't so lucky."
"Where did they end up?"
Regina swallows, not wanting to scare the kid, even if he puts on the front of being tough.
"A river…" she answers. She remembers what Killian had told them after they'd left the Underworld. "But there's still a chance for them to find a way out."
The son of Cruella knew that his mother was still down there, so she hadn't ended up in that river.
What puzzled Regina is why the kid wasn't asking about his own mother. They'd all encountered Cruella down there; she'd been the mayor for a time. She will likely never to move on because of how purely evil she was. Out of all the Queens of Darkness, she had no redemption of any kind. Maybe the kid didn't want to know, but Regina prayed that his own mother was better than the blackhearted woman who deserved to rot down there.
"So, anyone in the Underworld is stuck there because of unfinished business?" Carlos asks.
"Yes, and then they can move on to a better place."
The boy turns back to his cider, sipping the last of it. His eyes are abuzz, and his mind is racing. This conversation with Regina was extremely informative and he needed to ask his mother for more information about it. Maybe, he could help her with her unfinished business and maybe she could come back like Killian had. It's a possibility.
Regina then gets up. "Well, time to start making breakfast before Jay tries to raid my fridge."
The son of Cruella also stands up, ready and willing to go back to Mr. Gold's shop and ask him these questions to his mother, but something stops him from running to the door. Aside from not wanting to draw suspicion, he felt compelled to stay. He can't quite explain what was, maybe he felt like he owed Regina to help her like she helped him, or maybe it was because he didn't want her to be lonely.
Either way, he couldn't stop the sentence from leaving his mouth.
"Do you want some help?"
Regina is surprised but then smiles.
"Some extra hands would be great."
Carlos follows Regina to the kitchen and the two work together to begin making breakfast. She taught him how to properly poach eggs and how to ensure that hashbrowns didn't burn in the oil.
The experience between the two was interesting but nice.
A/N: I'm very sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Here is a new chapter and I hope you enjoy it.