Chapter Fifteen
In the weeks that followed Henry's request to live with his grandparents and birth mother, he had a lot to keep him busy.
Between his schoolwork and getting to know Snow White and Prince Charming (and observing Emma's awkward interactions with them), he hadn't thought about Regina as much as he maybe should have.
He didn't like how he felt when he did, anyway. It would force him to face the fact that she had done nothing to force him to come home.
It would have never been the case before they found out that she was going to have a biological child.
Besides, he knew that she was safe owing to the text messages between her and Emma which appeared to be getting to Snow daily.
On this particular day, Henry was too excited to toil over the newly complicated state of his family.
David had finished showing him the largest gift he'd ever been given before leaving him to figure out how he was supposed to get a horse to trust him.
This was fun for perhaps ten minutes until it neighed and skitted backwards from his attempt to brush its hair.
"Come on," he murmured, holding the brush out feebly, "What do you want? A sugar cube?"
"Perhaps it would be worth trying a carrot first?"
Henry jumped and the horse neighed louder in objection but before it could rear back further, Regina came forward to lay a hand on the snout.
"I'm sorry Henry, I did not intend to startle either of you," Regina apologised.
Henry eyed the strange ease between the former Evil Queen and the creature. He always knew that she liked the animals, but he assumed it was more of a deal of admiring from afar.
Royalty didn't get their hands dirty, did they?
The surprise caused his question to come out more rudely than intended, "What are you doing here?"
Regina raised an eyebrow but in the casual combination of jeans, a shirt and sneakers, it did not have the same imposing effect as when he talked to Mayor Mills.
"This is the only job that I am remotely qualified for other than being mayor," Regina explained.
"They still haven't chosen anyone for that job," Henry replied.
Regina finished patting the horse and said, "But they know exactly who they do not want in that office."
Henry hummed, unable to deny the notion. He was pretty sure that no one knew how to do the job but having no one was better than the obvious option.
Personally, he would have argued for giving her a chance even if it was in contradiction to his actions when it came to the complex woman.
At this moment, he was far too preoccupied with how odd she looked in the clothes that were also covered in dirt.
Regina glanced down to determine what he was looking at and then said, "There is no sense in mucking out a stall in a pantsuit."
Unable to imagine her doing that at all, Henry asked, "Why would a queen learn to do any of this?"
The question came out more curiously than accusatory this time, he really was starting to think that there was so much he didn't know about her.
Maybe the missing parts could explain the speed with which she'd changed upon discovering her True Love?
"I was not always a queen, Henry," Regina said absently, "Certainly not when Daniel taught me."
Henry's stomach lurched at the middle name that she'd always lied about. 'Old friend' never seemed to cover the depths of her feelings towards the name.
Because of her newfound candour, he repeated, "Daniel?"
Regina stiffened and Henry noticed the instinct to lie would probably always be with her, but she answered honestly after a second of consideration, "He was..my father's stable boy."
The response ignited a million questions about growing up in the Enchanted Forest. He'd asked them all to his grandparents, but maybe Regina could offer a different perspective?
This thought made him press, "Is that all?"
Regina shook her head with a huff and said, "That is…a very long story for another time. I will leave you to your grandfather's task for now."
Henry furrowed his brow as she attempted to leave the stall and it occurred to him that David must have connected with her in some way to arrange all of this.
Had she actually spoken to Prince Charming so that he could have the horse he'd always wanted?
"Wait!" he said, grabbing her arm to stop her from leaving and she looked at him expectantly, "Do you…think that you could show me?" he gestured to the horse, "Gramps wants me to figure it out myself before I can ride and…"
"Are you asking me to help you cheat?" Regina challenged.
"Yeah," Henry shrugged, "But it's cheating Prince Charming, right?"
Regina paused for a moment before she smirked and took the brush from him.
With a hand on his back, she led him towards the animal.
S
David and Snow were out on a date (after it was explained to him what it was), which granted Emma some time alone.
Or as close as she could get to alone with the squirming in her uterus.
Apparently, the baby was as opposed to her relaxing as Henry had been before the curse was broken.
This swiftly destroyed her plans of watching TV until she was supposed to go and pick up Henry from his little adventure at the stables.
She couldn't fathom his desire to learn everything about the Enchanted Forest but she was pretty much leaving him to it.
It was an advantage of her son already being ten-years-old, he was fairly self-sufficient and even when he wasn't he could at least tell her directly what he needed.
When her daughter came along, she wouldn't have the same luxury and it wasn't as if her own parents had any experience with child-rearing that they could use to help her out.
In lieu of falling into the deep rabbit hole that was thinking about Regina Mills, Emma gravitated to the kitchen after finding the screwdriver that Mary Margaret must have thought she'd hidden so well.
She had the cover off the toaster and was jamming at the internals, figuring that she had plenty of time to put it back together and hide the evidence of another broken appliance.
This turned out not to be the case, however, as the loft door opened.
Emma paused. She didn't react well when her mother tried to admonish her and she certainly wasn't in the mood right now.
She dropped the screwdriver as Henry appeared though and she craned her neck to check the time.
She had at least half an hour before she had to leave.
"Mom brought me back," Henry said to the unasked question as he came over to the counter to inspect the damage.
"You called Regina?" Emma asked, torn between whether that was a good thing or not.
If Henry moved back to the mansion it would be easy to justify going to visit both of them. She could tell Mary Margaret and David that she was intending to spend time with him rather than with her.
Perhaps it would allow her to connect in a way that she hadn't been able to think of an opening for.
Henry shattered this by shaking his head, "She brought the stables, she was teaching me what to do."
Emma flushed and palmed the counter, overcome with unbidden images, as she squeaked, "Regina is…a stable girl?"
Henry's brow furrowed, thankfully too young to understand the real root behind the reaction.
"I think…stable woman," he corrected, his eyes travelling along her red face, "You really like her, don't you?"
Emma sighed and leaned back to touch her stomach, "I don't really see how I can deny that…but…"
"But what?" Henry pressed.
The saviour scratched at her neck and replied, "This True Love stuff…it's intense. I've barely known her that long and…"
Henry threw his hand out and interrupted with his nose scrunched tight, "I don't need to hear about your 'intense True Love' with my mom!"
"You bought it up!" Emma objected.
Henry raised his shoulders sharply and then dropped them, "Don't you have an…adult to talk about all of this with?"
"Do you mean my 'parents' who hate her or everyone else in town who were very mob happy?" Emma shot back.
"Maybe…Ruby?" Henry suggested.
"Maybe," Emma huffed.
"Or maybe…you could just talk to Mom? She's pretty cool now, you know?" he said.
Emma's eyes fluttered shut.
It was true that between all of the curse-breaking and dragon slaying, Regina had mellowed significantly but it did nothing for Emma's nerves, in fact, she would argue that it made them worse.
How was she supposed to handle the support? The intensity with which Regina had gone from hating her to caring.
Becoming someone she could picture herself potentially having a family with.
Rather than explaining any of this to Henry, Emma picked up the screwdriver and asked, "Do you want to help me put this together before Mary Margaret comes back?"
"Sure," Henry replied, fully prepared to launch into a diatribe of every detail about horses from his other mother.
Emma was going to listen attentively, glad to hear someone talk about her True Love as if she wasn't evil incarnate.
S
Working in the stables was exactly what Regina needed. Not only did she have paperwork to complete again but there was also physical work that left her sufficiently tired to sleep in her empty house without spending an hour or two dwelling on what she was missing.
She wanted to be with Henry outside the stables, to make sure that all of the fairytales hadn't completely overtaken his academic pursuits. How comforting it would be to witness for herself that he was still having his five a day as he was claiming to.
She could also ask how Emma was feeling, and make sure that she had everything she needed. Ensure that Snow wasn't driving her True Love completely mad. Personally, she couldn't fathom how it was remotely possible that there hadn't been a murder in that loft.
There were so many things that she longed to find out about Emma as well.
Was she keeping up with her vitamins? Did the pregnancy feel at all like it did with Henry? Was she experiencing any of the adverse effects that she'd read about extensively?
Unfortunately, the exhaustive manual labour was not enough every day as was the case on this particular Saturday.
Even with Samdi on his day off, she finished her to-do list by 4 pm and was showered and at home by 5.30 pm.
She fiddled with the TV remote before discarding it to search for a book that she had yet to read for the second time.
None of them was inspiring enough to even pull free from the immaculately ordered shelves so she went with plan C.
6 pm was on the early side but it didn't count as day drinking, so she went to Granny's.
She received the normal glares, but Ruby had no issue with serving her (and Regina even had to bat away the suggestion that she have the whiskey on the side of some actual food).
Regina paid very little mind to the townspeople's ire, with the combination of the saviour's express vow that she wasn't to be harmed and the fact that very few people were aware of the agreement that she had made to refrain from succumbing to magical impulses meant that she had no reason to pay attention to any of them.
She wasn't sure that she could have handled another night at the hollow mansion and the Rabbit Hole was still a step too far for just now.
She would rather not think about how likely that was to change under the circumstances, opting instead to sip slowly at her whiskey and wonder whether she would appear less pathetic in the booth if she did order food as Ruby suggested so strongly.
She rubbed insistently at her temple while weighing up how she could appear as regal as she could but the endeavour was abandoned as the seat opposite her was suddenly occupied.
She tensed until she registered the general smug aura of the only adult in Storybrooke capable of holding a verbal conversation with her.
Of course, that person had to be her overly irritating employee who was growing on her daily.
Facilier appeared to be telling the truth regarding his desire to maintain his marriage rather than downing down to any voodoo-related schemes and it also helped that the majority of people wouldn't recognise him so there was very little chance that they could justify calling the sheriff's department because two villains were talking.
A beer in hand, he asked, "Still no word from the saviour?"
Regina puffed out her cheeks and shook her head, "I am waiting for her to ask for my presence."
"And in the meantime, you are completely alone?"
She shook her head but did finish her whiskey in one last gulp.
"I have seen Henry almost every day at the stables, it has been nice," she replied.
Samdi tilted his head, reminding her that it wasn't just her who could see through him in this strange friendship.
"Just nice?" he asked.
"Good things come to those who wait, I believe is the saying," she sighed, "Should you not be with your wife?"
"She is hosting a book club which is apparently only for women so I have been temporarily evicted."
"Have you always been this dramatic?" she asked.
Raising his beer as if to toast, he said, "I've been told that it is part of my charm."
Regina released a laugh and replied, "By who?"
At the same moment, the bell to the diner rang out. For whatever reason, Regina looked up, every other time had treated her only to disappointment.
She couldn't discard the possibility that if Emma were to enter with Henry, there was a chance that he would suggest that they join her.
Of course, it had to be the last person she wanted to see instead.
Snow White stood stunned, staring straight at her booth until Regina decided to break the spell to slowly wave at her.
Just because she was basically prohibited from seeking revenge now, it didn't stop her from finding ways to make the princes uncomfortable.
This proved to be effective as Snow flushed and marched over to the counter where Ruby had been watching the encounter with an eyebrow raised high.
"The mother-in-law is not a fan, I see?" Samdi mused.
Cringing, Regina longed for a refill, but the wolfish waitress was far too close to the woman who had brought on the desire.
"Please don't call her that."
"She is your children's grandmother, is it not inevitable?" he shot back and this time, Regina dug a nail into her temple.
Marrying Emma Swan felt like a fantasy more ridiculous than her actual past but they'd already skipped so many steps so maybe it wasn't completely out of the bounds of reality.
She could worry about the implications of becoming a Charming, however, when Emma started talking to her in person again.
"That would depend on just how much time Emma requires," Regina admitted.
Samdi hummed, draining his beer before he grabbed a menu to peruse.
"Seeing as we both have some time, how would you like some company boss?"
"I suppose that would not be the worst thing," she replied gratefully.
"Food or shots?"
"I think you know the answer to that," Regina chuckled.
Over at the counter, Ruby placed the to-go bag in front of Snow who had just turned in time to see Regina suspiciously close to smiling with the man she did not recognise.
Without permission, her nostrils flared and a thought hit her, how could she do this to her daughter who was already struggling with everything?
"It's nice that she has something to occupy herself with," a woman next to her thought aloud.
Snow jumped and took a moment to realise that it was one of the servants who had remained with the Evil Queen after Leopold's tragic end.
"Excuse me?" Snow asked.
The woman blinked as if realising she had said it out loud and then explained, "My apologies, your highness, it's just that the queen and Dr Facilier were together on a few occasions, he even stayed in the palace overnight once. It might be the perfect distraction from whatever else she could be planning."
Snow turned her head back to the booth to find that Regina was indeed more relaxed than she was with most people.
Despite trying to push away the images of Emma straddling the queen, on this occasion, she couldn't help but try to compare it to this interaction.
After all of the hours she'd spent wishing that anyone else was her daughter's True Love, she was filled with rage at the prospect that Regina would dare to cheat on her child.
S
Snow maintained her anger for the following twelve hours until she and David were alone.
She couldn't have this talk with Emma. The woman consistently withdrew whenever the topic of Regina came up, in fact, she withdrew when most things came up.
Was it so wrong to want to know more about her grandson's father or to know where she was planning for her granddaughter to live?
The loft was tight for space as it was but suggesting a bigger home for their family was apparently crossing some line that she was unaware of.
Everything seemed to be an unknown line.
Snow wished that she could tell her that she and David were as unprepared for the state of their family as she was.
There was no handbook for waking up from a twenty-eight-year stupor to find that her adult roommate was actually her daughter who she could so clearly remember holding tightly to her before giving up for her best chance.
On top of that, she had a grandson who she had known longer than her daughter and was set to have another grandchild.
That would be disconcerting enough if she wasn't also acutely aware of who it was that Emma would always share her children with.
She couldn't respond to the people's outcries for the Evil Queen to pay for what she did to them without hurting Emma and Henry.
Suggestions that Regina be banished were viable until she realised that there was every chance that Emma would follow her True Love wherever she went.
Besides, wouldn't it always be safe to have a powerful sorceress in town as long as she claimed to be on their side?
Her short supply of faith in Regina Mills meant that this was all of little comfort to her or David.
At first, after she left the diner the previous day, she was tempted to think of Regina's newest romantic interest as a good thing.
Henry's adoption and Emma's pregnancy made the notion that they could ignore Regina implausible but shared custody could allow for some separation that wouldn't be available if her stepmother were to surreally become her daughter-in-law.
She couldn't let any of this out until Emma left to drop Henry at the stables and even then she had to wait for her husband to emerge from the shower.
He had only a moment to enjoy the relaxation as he buttoned his shirt as Snow announced, "Regina is cheating on Emma!"
David's fingers stilled on the last button and he blinked. Since he had started to work at the sheriff's station he had become of the opinion that patience was key in this situation despite that shared desire to know everything there was to know about Emma Swan.
This also seemed to extend to not joining in on Snow's rounds of disparagement towards the former mayor. He was by no means accepting of the unexpected development but he was irritatingly closer than she felt as though she would ever be.
"What are you talking about, Snow?" he sighed and drifted towards the kitchen for a helping of coffee which he had learned to love as dearly as everyone else in this realm.
Snow marched over to the island and slammed her hands against it passionately, "I saw her in the diner with a man who she has been with in the past!"
"And?" David replied, "She and Emma are not actually together."
"But if they are actually True Loves, she should not be with anyone else!" she said.
"I don't understand the problem, Snow, are you not happy about Regina being with someone else?"
"Who else is Regina with?"
Both Charmings straightened and turned to find that the door had opened without either of them noticing and their pregnant daughter was looking between them.
Snow swallowed, taking a moment to stop herself from going over to try and hold her hand to comfort her. It was something she had imagined doing a lot when she found out about her connection to the Evil Queen.
Staying put, she said, "I saw Regina drinking with a man at Granny's, I believe he works at the stables with her?" Emma's face twisted before she went to the coffee table to pick up her forgotten sheriff's badge.
She shoved it violently onto her belt and stomped to the door as she said, "Oh well…we're not a couple, you know? We haven't even really talked since the curse broke. She can drink with anyone she wants while I literally carry her daughter!"
Snow's forehead creased.
Outside of irritation, this was the most emotion that she had displayed in a while.
"Are you actually jealous?"
Emma bit her lip hard and then replied, "I don't have time to gossip about Regina, I need to…go on patrol."
"Emma…" Snow called but the woman had already left and David's shake of his head prevented her from going after her.
It wasn't like she would know what to say anyway, she didn't know how she wanted all of this to work out.