Somewhere Down The Road

Chapter One

The bone deep exhaustion settles into her soul as the last relative exits her mother's mansion. She's never considered how heavy her eyelids could possibly be but she's struggling to keep them open at the moment. She blinks, long and hard as she softly clicks the door shut. The world feels different around her but she supposes this will be her new normal.

"Regina, darling," her mother softly coos, placing her hand upon her shoulder, "would you like some coffee before your drive back?"

She squeezes her eyes closed, forcing the salty tears to absorb back into her eyes before she faces her mother. "Sure," her voice barely whispers.

"Momma?"

"Oh," Cora whimpers, "come with me, beddu."

Regina peeks over her shoulder to witness her mother scooping up her toddler and carrying him into the kitchen. He doesn't cry for Regina or fight against his grandmother's loving arms. He simply rests his cheek upon her shoulder and closes his eyes from his own exhaustion.

In the moment, the day felt hectic, never-ending but now that the dust has settled, her mind can't possibly comprehend how everything blew by in the blink of an eye. Two weeks of running around, endless phone calls, the apologies from people she doesn't even know, she did it all because it kept her from drowning in her reality. Now, the world is quiet and there's nothing left to do but sit there in her grief.

She swallows the lump of emotions clogged in her throat and forces her feet to carry her toward the kitchen. She finds her mother with her son on her hip as she prepares the coffee. This woman is so strong, too strong actually and she's not exactly sure how she keeps going after everything?

"I'll take Henry," Regina offers with her hands already out and waiting, ignoring the way her heart clenches from his name.

"No, no. I've got him. Just take our mugs to the table, will you?"

"Of course," she easily complies, carefully slipping her fingers around the handles and carrying them to the kitchen table.

Cora settles down in her usual seat, the one to the left of the head of the table. Regina claims her spot directly across from Cora, silently pleading with herself to ignore the fact that her father isn't sitting between them at this table for the first time, ever. Her eyes instantly gloss over but she scrubs the wetness away as if she's simply tired.

"Are you sure you want to drive home tonight?" Cora softly questions, pressing Henry's head to her chest as she slowly rocks him.

"I'm fine," she replies almost on instinct. She curls her hands around her mug to absorb the warmth. "Unless you would like me to stay. I don't mind staying another night if you don't want to be alone."

"I can be alone," her mother snarks like she's offended by the notion that she couldn't possibly take care of herself.

"You haven't been alone in thirty years," she deadpans.

"I will be just fine. If you want to go home, you are more than welcome to go home."

Regina sighs, knowing that her mother is just being a stubborn ass and is refusing to ask for help in her time of need. Just like the last two weeks, where Cora hadn't asked for a single thing, yet Regina is the one that arranged every detail. Maybe that was to help her mother or maybe it was selfish and she just didn't want to face her pain.

"I'll stay another night."

Cora doesn't respond to this, instead, she changes the subject like she has been doing for two weeks now. Not that Regina blames her. She honestly doesn't know how she would react if she were in those shoes.