To The Man Who Let Her Go

21

"Gina!" Emma yelled throughout the house.

"Mom!" Henry yelled as he searched for her.

"You shouldn't have come here," a voice said from upstairs.

Emma and Henry exchanged looks as they raced upstairs. They ran to the master bedroom and found Regina sitting cross legged.

"Gina are you ok?" Emma said sitting down next to her.

"I was worried about you mom," Henry said as he reached for her hand.

"I'm fine," she answered as she squeezed his hand in assurance, "Are you ok?"

"Mom I'm fine? Why'd you run. We just have to explain to everyone that you're good now," he urged.

Regina smiled at their hands and shook her head, "No, no it's not that simple Henry. I've done some very bad things to everyone in this town. They're not gonna believe that I've changed so easily. They're gonna need proof that I don't have."

"There's gotta be something to show them," Emma said as she held Regina's other hand.

"There's not a single person in this town they I haven't hurt. The only good thing I've ever done for Storybrooke was try to leave," the brunette confessed.

"That's not true. You haven't hurt me and Henry," Emma stated.

A silence fell over the room causing Emma to give Regina a look and let go of her hand.

"Or did you?"

Regina sighed, "I've never hurt Henry intentionally," she paused to look to her son, "One of my biggest regrets is sending you to a therapist when you didn't need to be. I'm sorry for making you feel like you needed to be fixed."

"I forgive you. Besides I see that as something the evil queen did. You aren't her anymore," he told her.

"Henry you don't get it. This good Regina is so new that I don't know if she's here to stay. I don't want to hurt you or anyone else if I go back to the old me," she confessed.

"Then let us help," Emma replied.

Regina turned to the blonde, "Emma you of all people should hate me the most."

"Gina whatever it is you did I already for give you," she smiled.

The mayor shook her head, "It's not that simple."

"You've never done anything to hurt me Gina. You were nice to me from the moment I got to town. The only time I really felt hurt was when we broke up, and I will admit I was hurt. We were doing great. We were a family. We were happy. I had just started to trust you after years of not being able to trust anyone," she started to say.

"And in there lies the problem Emma. You trusted me when you really shouldn't have," she struggled to say.

"What are you talking about?" the savior asked.

Henry was now more intrigued than usual.

Regina sighed in discomfort, "I love you Emma. I love you both," she said grabbing both their hands once again and giving them a good squeeze, "But I did something terrible when I thought you were here to take my son away from me I had to do something."

Emma's eyes narrowed, "What did you do Gina?"

Tears started to pool in the queens eyes, threatening to spill out, "Emma you have to remember Henry was always the most important thing in my life. He IS the most important thing in my life and at the time you were a threat. I did what I thought was best."

"Gina. What did you do?"

She took in a shaky breath as Henry hugged her.

"It's gonna be ok mom."

She wiped the tears from her face and fixed her appearance, "Days after you came to Storybrooke I casted another curse."

"Why? What was another curse gonna do to a town that was already cursed?" Emma questioned.

Regina rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "The curse wasn't for the town. It was just for you..."

Sheriff Swan scooted away from Regina to get a better view of her, "And what was the curse going to do?"

"It was supposed to get rid of you from our lives forever," she divulged.

Emma stood up in disgust, "You tried to have me killed!"

"No, no, no. God no. It was just supposed to send you away to a different realm where you wouldn't be able to get back to Storybrooke," she explained.

"Like that's any better. You were trying to take the life I knew away from me. It's basically the same thing as killing me! How the hell am I even here if you casted the curse?"

Regina gave out another sigh, "The spell was casted but I was missing two things: time for it to cultivate, and- and your complete trust. Once the time passed and I had your complete trust you would have been whisked away to another world."

"But I did trust you! I trusted and loved you, but the whole time you were trying to kill me," she said with her nostrils flaring and eyes turning red from irritation.

"I never tried to kill you! Once I realized I loved you I couldn't let my curse take you away. I broke up with BECAUSE I wanted you to not trust me anymore so that when the time was up you'd still be in Storybrooke," Regina said desperately trying to not sound so evil, "Emma I couldn't lose you."

Emma stood with her eyes closed and her hand up motioning for her to stop, "You were trying to get rid of me WHILE we were together? Not after you broke up with me?"

"Well yeah but-"

"You manipulated me, our relationship was a lie. All of it," she said with her voice cracking, "My parents were right about you..."

"Emma no. Everything we had was real."

"But it was formed on a lie that was meant to kill me!"

"I didn't try to kill you!"

"And that makes it so much fucking better, do you want a fucking medal?!"

"Mom!" Henry yelled reminding his mothers that he was still there, "Don't you get it. You changed her for the better. You were the Savior in more ways than one. You saved my mom and you saved Storybrooke with true loves kiss! That means your love is the purest form of love there is, comparable to Snow White & Prince Charming. No matter what happened you love each other, so stop arguing and lets figure out why when the curse broke the town didn't go back to the Enchanted Forest!"

"Henry I love you but until you're older you won't understand the magnitude of this," she said as she gathered her things, "Now if you want to stay here. I get it, she raised you, she's your mom. But I have to go," she said with tears rolling down her face and a crack in her voice.

She tried to rub the irritation out of her eyes but it just made it worse as she rushed out of the room.

Henry turned to Regina with a solemn look on his face, "I'm sorry mom, but I've gotta help her calm down everyone. She'll be back. I love you mom," he said as he gave her a firm hug.

"It's alright Henry. I love you too," she said hugging him back.

"Stay safe mom," Henry said as he gave her one last smile and head nod as he followed his other mother leaving Regina alone.

She smiled to herself sadly as she looked down at her hands and started to play with. One lone tear escaped her eye then another and another and another. Her hands were covered in her tears as she sat and sobbed about how bad she had fucked up.