Reset

“Absolutely,” Emma smiled, “I’m going to stay up and watch some television.”

Regina nodded, “very well, see you in the morning.”

“Night, Regina,” Emma said as she watched the brunette leave the room.

Chapter 60

Chapter Notes

This chapter contains references to Regina's past including some disturbing incidents which, while not explained in any details, may upset some people.

Emma was exhausted. At four o’clock in the morning she finally admitted to herself that it would have been a good idea to take Regina up on the offer of helping her sleep because by then she hadn’t slept for more than fifteen minutes in total. Although Grace had been awake a few times during the night that hadn’t been the reason for Emma’s sleeplessness, more an overactive brain.

By the morning Emma felt like a zombie and drifted around the kitchen seeking out sugary cereal that would keep her going through the work day. She offered to take Henry to school on her way to the station and then to drop Henry and Grace off at Mary Margaret’s before dinner before returning to the station for a team meeting over takeout from Granny’s.

So when Emma finally got back to the house she was exhausted. Creeping in through the front door at ten in the evening she had no idea if Regina would be awake or in bed so she was surprised when all the lights were off but there was a dim glow coming from the living room.

As she walked into the living room she saw Regina in her pyjamas and dressing gown with a glass of white wine and an empty glass in front of what was now regarded as Emma’s armchair.

“Hi,” Emma said quietly so she didn’t surprise the brunette.

Regina looked at her with a small smile and nodded her greeting silently and indicated the bottle of wine in the cooler on the coffee table.

“No thanks,” Emma smiled as she sat in the armchair and started to take her boots off, “what are you doing?”

“At the centre of it all I would say my story is about lost love,” Regina said without looking up.

The brunette took a sip of wine and Emma paused in the process of removing her boots and looked up at Regina with a slightly open mouth of surprise. They were doing this and they were doing this now, Emma knew she didn’t have much hope of getting another chance so she nodded and asked, “a love that you lost?”

Regina nodded, “his name was Daniel, have you been told about him?”

Emma shook her head in the negative and then verbally said no when she realised Regina wasn’t going to make eye contact any time soon.

A sad chortle escaped Regina’s lips and then a nod of understanding before taking another sip of wine, “my.. mother,” she began, “was a very determined woman. She had very specific goals for me in mind and she was.. obsessed.. with my path in life.”

Regina looked up and Emma could just about make out in the dim light the rosy cheeks and the red eyes of someone who had shed tears.

“My mother had a plan for me to be Queen, probably since before I was even born. She had magic and she used it to control me, to mould me into what she wanted me to be. She allowed me some freedoms but they were few and far between and often used as bargaining chips. When bribery didn’t work she would..” her voice became thick, “restrain me.. with magic.”

Emma could feel her mind and her mouth warring with things she desperately wanted to say, comfort she wanted to offer but she didn’t know what the right thing to say was and she knew that Regina needed to let this out into the open just as much as she needed to hear it.

“There was a man, Daniel,” Regina smiled at the memory, “who worked in the stables and he was kind and handsome and..” she shook her head as if to prevent the memories coming back to her too thick and fast.

“I loved him,” she said simply as she looked into the burning log fire that gave off the only light in the room.

“One day your mother and your grandfather were visiting near to where we lived. Your mother’s horse went out of control with her on it, I was with Daniel in the stables when I heard a child screaming for help. I didn’t think, I jumped on my horse and I went after her. I had no idea who she was I just saw a young girl crying and screaming for help, I rode alongside her and pulled her from the horse,” Regina looked at Emma with a small smile, “I didn’t know then that my mother had used her magic to startle the horse and set the whole thing in motion.”

Emma nodded and fumbled with her hands, she eventually decided she would need a drink and something to do with her hands if she were to survive this conversation so she leaned forward and picked up the bottle and began to pour herself some wine.

“Your grandfather, King Leopold, came to see us soon after. He proposed marriage to me, he was,” she laughed as she spat the sentence out, “impressed at my care and concern for his daughter.”