Lady In The Mirror

Chapter 4: Deception.

"Hey sweetie, why don't you go to your room while I talk with Sister Helena", Regina said, pecking her forehead.

"Okay", Emma smiled.

"See you in a while little Swan".

"So what can I do for you, Miss—?".

"Mills, my name is Regina Mills, nice to meet you", she said, shaking the woman's hand.

"Sister Beatrice said you are interested in adopting a kid, is that so?".

"Well yeah, but I'm not interested in any kid, I want to adopt Emma".

"I see", the woman said adjusting her reading glasses, "you must know adopting a child is not like going downtown for shopping, it's a hard and long process".

"I'm well aware of that Mother superior, but I love that child and I don't care how long it takes if at the end I get to be her mother".

"All right, I'm gonna give you a form to fill up and a list with the documents we need you to bring on your next visit", the sister said handing her a folder.

The form was long and asked about very specific aspects of her life she hadn't thought about in years, it took her about half an hour to fill up, but once she was done with that the nuns allowed her to spend some minutes with Emma before she had to go.

She sat on Emma's bed right beside her, looking around the room she couldn't help but find it similar to the cells of her old castle back in the enchanted forest, it made her sad. Emma didn't deserve to live like this, nor did any of the other children, but she didn't care about any other child but the little blonde girl beside her.

"Do you really want to adopt me Gina?", Emma asked, making her stop looking around the room and fix her gaze on her.

"I really do little Swan, would you like that?", She smiled at the girl, caressing her cheek softly.

"I would like that a lot of lots Gina, you are my favorite person in the world!", The girl said excitedly.

"Let me tell you a secret little one", she said, bending over until she was close to the girl's ear, "you are my favorite person in the world too," she whispered, poking her little nose.

Emma laughed.

"Can I go to Storybook with you now?".

"It's called Storybrooke love and I'm afraid you can't yet, but I promise I will come back for you Emma".

"Pinky promise?".

"What honey?".

"Like this", the little girl said, holding out her pinky finger and making her do the same, she then entangled their fingers, "this is a promise you can't break," she explained, and then she broke the bond with her other hand.

Regina just kissed her forehead and smiled.

"I won't break it", she promised against Emma's forehead, "I have something for you, Emma".

She started digging in her purse until she found the little silver locket.

"What is it?" Emma asked looking at the locket when Regina put it around her neck, it had a Swan carved on the front.

"If you open it you will find a magic mirror and if you ever feel alone you can use it to contact me, I'll always be there for you".

"Thank you Gina!", Emma jumped standing on the bed to hug her by her neck.

Regina had to leave after that, being kicked off, would be more convenient to call it. She kissed her goodbyes to the little girl and jumped in her black Mercedes because she had a lot of things to get ready back at home.

...

Two weeks passed and Regina had everything she could possibly need to welcome Emma at home, she had used a little help from Gold to Speed up the process and if everything was according to plans, she would be able to bring Emma home this afternoon.

The ride to Boston never seemed so long to her, her hands were sweaty and she couldn't wait to see Emma again. They talked every night through the locket she gave her, but it was not enough in her opinion.

"Everything you asked for is there, Mother superior", Regina said handing her a big folder full of documents, recommendation letters, and pictures of her house and Emma's new bedroom, that she had just finished decorating and filling with stuffed animals and dolls.

The nun went through the files a million times before she said any word, the silence was driving Regina crazy, but she managed to bite her tongue and wait.

"Everything seems to be in order, so I think we will have no problem with you taking her today", she finally spoke signaling a nun to go bring Emma with her hand.

"That's amazing sister, thank you very much", she said happily, "although, I would like you to give me all the information you have of her, like her biological parents, or anything you know".

"I'm afraid we don't know much Ms. Mills", the woman said, pulling a folder from the right drawer of her desk, " just that she was found on the side of a highway in main by a seven-year-old, we are not certain if his story is completely true, the poor creature was all confused, here, this is the boy who found her", she said handing Regina a clipping with a picture of a boy holding a baby on it.

Regina was sure she had seen that boy before, but that was certainly not possible, her mind had to be tricking her.

"Why do you say he was confused?", She asked vaguely, while still reading the article.

"Oh, well the police interrogated him about the baby and all he kept saying was that his name was Pinocchio and that his mission was to protect her".

And all of a sudden Regina's world crumbled, it all clicked in, why the magic mirror showed Emma in the first place, where the girl really came from, and most importantly, who she really was. Her eyes wandered to the date the article was written.

October 23, 1983.

"The day after the curse", she mumbled.

"Excuse me? I didn't quite get that", the Mother superior queried.

"I can't do this", Regina whispered, "I'm sorry, I can't—", she repeated, jumping of her seat and rushing to the door.

"Regina?", Emma called her in the hallway, " where are you going?.

"I'm sorry little swan, this was a mistake", she said, tears streaming down her face.

"I don't understand", the girl said, also with tears filling her eyes to the brim.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me", she said, running towards the building's door.

"You promised!".

Was the last thing she heard from the girl before she run off to her car.

AN/: Alright guys, I know, you must hate me right now, this chapter was so difficult to write because I knew I was breaking everything you hoped for in this story, but this was always the way it was supposed to go, I just kept getting love response from you on the mother/daughter bond and I didn't want to break it down for anyone, but I had to, that's why this chapter took me forever to write, but seriously this shit was so hard to write, you have no idea. I hope you like it tho despite of the sadness and heartbreak.