Is It Too Late? - Swan Queen AU

Chapter 14

Author's Note: 

I am so very sorry for the delay in this story. I have hit a sort of mental block in my creativity, and mental health. Therefore, the chapters will be terribly slow in being released. I hope you understand and can attempt to forgive me! I hope this chapter makes up for some of the time that you've been waiting. 

Dark hair swayed slightly as soft hands traced dark black ink over different papers, placing them in a stack to her right. The faint click of the handle of the door to the study opening caused the dark brown eyes to flutter, and raise up, inspecting whomever dared disturb her work. Days on end, Regina spent every waking moment in her study with the door closed. Soft music played through the stereo, to the right of the fireplace, while Regina sat in her soft black office chair. Every morning, the Mayor's wife would wake up, shower, apply her makeup, and do her hair. After getting dressed, Regina found herself making everyone breakfast and the minute it was finished and the dishes were washed, dried and put away, she was in her study, finishing paperwork and drowning herself in any work she could find. Too many bottles of wine had been downed in the days since she'd walked out of Emma's — so many that she had switched to something stronger in her husband's liquor cabinet.

"Momma?" The shaggy brown haired boy, stood pinned between the door and the door jam, his body rolling back on his heels — like Emma.

"Hello, my little love. Come in. Do you need something?" Her voice was soft, almost too soft to hear. His hair was getting far too long, and he was due for a haircut. She knew she had been very distant towards her son, only really spending time with him when she took him to Emma's, but she never spoke a word to the blonde woman, not even when the blonde dropped off paperwork.

At first, Regina would answer the door, take the paperwork, and close the door without a word. Eventually, she stopped answering the door and Emma began leaving the paperwork in a folder leaned up against the door frame. Seeing Emma and hearing her voice made Regina realize just how dangerous the game she was playing truly was.

Henry's movement drew her eyes to where he was walking, and he placed himself on the chaise lounge near the fire. His hand motioned for her to rise and join him, so she did. The bones in her body cracked as she straightened them back out from being hunched over her desk. She sat down in the chaise and his body curled up into her lap, his legs draped perpendicular over her own. "I miss you."

Regina's vision blurred as hot tears bubbled up, threatening to spill. The heartbreak in her son's voice gripped at her heart and pulled it out of her chest. His hands clutched at her shirt, pulling himself closer. "I'm so sorry, Henry." Her arms wrapped around him, pulling him tightly against her chest, her lips pressing into his hair. "I'm so so sorry." Her words broke as the emotion took over in her body. Large tear drops glided down her cheeks, but her body continued to comfort her son, her rock, the love of her life, and the one person in her life she would kill for.

"W-was it what happened at Emma's? She's been sad too. What happened? We had dinner like a family, and it was great! You were happy. Really happy, Mom. You were so happy." His eyes met hers, and the pleading in those brown eyes that shared the same shade as her own felt like a fist punching her in the stomach.

"I'm sorry, Henry. I just... I said something I shouldn't have. I'm married to your father, and I'm very much in love, and we have everything we could want. We're happy here."

"That's bullshit!" Henry sat up quickly, pushing away from his mother.

"Henry Daniel Mills! You will not use that language!"

"Mom! You know it's true. You hate him. I  hate him! We're both unhappy, and you can't tell me that you weren't happy at Emma's house. I have never felt that relaxed at dinner. You can't tell me that you two didn't feel it. You still love her. You love her. You love her! Not dad!" His hands grabbed his mother's shoulders, needing her to take him seriously.