This is going to be a really short story, maybe about 9 or 10 chapters. Its just as it says in the prompt, also the chapter name refers to how many months Regina is pregnant. Enjoy!

Title – Time Turns Flames To Embers

Prompt Requested by EvilRegalTwinnies - What if Regina is alone after robin left. Cora is back but has a heart. Regina discovers she's pregnant she's alone and scared. Cora is there to help.

Setting – 4x12 after Robin leaves Storybrook with Marian and Robin. No Queens of Darkness story line. Everything just goes AU after Robin leaves. One more thing, Cora is back. Let's just say she never died.

Chapter 1 The First Month

She couldn't get out of bed the next morning. Robin was gone. Her happy ending literally just walked away and left her. She figured Snow must have heard because her phone had been ringing non-stop, but she didn't answer it. She wasn't in the mood for a hope speech.

This wasn't like her.

She wasn't one to lie around depressed. No matter what happened, through all the dark times in her life, she always got back up. She always kept fighting but now, well she was just tired. She was tired of all of it and she gave in to the deep dark depression that was swallowing her whole.

All she could think about was how Robin chose her…

The love they had made…

And then his back while he walked away with Marian and Roland, leaving her alone once more.

He said he loved her.

She knew he had no other choice but deep down, the selfish side of her wished he would have fought to stay with her. She didn't dare let herself think of what could've been.

It wasn't until three days later then Cora had actually stopped by. Ever since she had regained her heart all those month ago, things had been awkward and tense between mother and daughter. There was too much heart break and darkness in their past. There was nothing but hate and abuse and death and they didn't know how to even begin having a relationship. So they didn't. They had avoided each other ever since Regina had plunged her hand into her mother's chest. They were strangers to one another and Regina had no intention of changing that… ever, because how could she?

How could she even forgive her?

Now that she was on good terms with Snow and Henry, they had each insisted she'd try to work things out. Cora hadn't caused any problems. She's been on her best behavior, but Regina brushed them off. She didn't want anything to do with the woman who was supposed to love her and instead had been the one to hurt her the most.

Even when there were times they ran into each other, Regina kept her eyes forward, her cold mask in place, and kept walking like she's never even met the woman. Sometimes she was able to ignore the guilt at seeing the look of hurt in her mother's eyes.

Now she was here in her house and Regina groaned in annoyance at the sound of her mother's heels descending the staircase. How did she even get in?

She thought about poofing away, but then the thought was just too damn cowardly, more so then lying depressed in bed. So she faced her mother with red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Look at yourself," Cora said coolly, not even raising her voice and Regina looked up at her.

"Get out," she demanded, her voice dangerously low. It seemed to have no effect on Cora. She simply grabbed her cell from her pocket (Where did she get a cellphone and who the hell taught her to use it?) and dialed a number. Regina's phone rang loudly throughout the room.

Cora snapped it closed, her eyes fixed on her daughter.

"Would you look at that," she stated. "You phone does work."

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Mother, leave!" Regina snapped, losing her patience and not wanting to deal with her right now.

"To do that you'll have to actually get out of that bed," Cora growled and she saw it before it even happened. Regina sat up, flicking her wrist and poofed her mother away. Only, Cora poofed right back.

"Dammit!" Regina cursed, dropping back into the pillows and throwing an arm over her eyes. "I just want to be left alone," she said more softly and she felt the side of the bed dipping under Cora's weight.

"You just had your heart broken. You shouldn't be alone. I don't want you to be alone," her mother said, her voice much softer this time as if she actually cared. Did she care? Regina honestly didn't know.

Regina sat up then and looked at her. She could see the genuine concern and now she just didn't know what to believe. She was just so confused and sad and heart broken and… Story of her life.

"I'm always alone," she whispered, averting Cora's gaze and then disappearing in a cloud of purple.

"Well at least she's out of bed," Cora grumbled and with a sigh she got up to make herself comfortable in one of the guest rooms. She meant what she said and she wasn't leaving.

"Ok, which one of you idiots gave Cora a key," Regina demanded the moment she poofed into the Charming's kitchen. Snow was in the middle of making breakfast while the other three sat at the breakfast counter. They all looked at Henry, the only one who had a key to the mansion.

"Mom, I missed you," Henry said, jumping from the chair and hugging his mother. She hadn't seen him and she let herself melt in the embrace.

"Don't be mad," he said, pulling away and looking at her with uncertain eyes. "I was just trying to help. I was worried."

"I know sweetie," she said softly, the anger edging away at her son's pleading eyes and now she just felt drained from the storm of emotions all in one morning. "I'm fine and now she won't leave."

"You're not fine," his voice trembled as he took in the black sweats and the navy blue hoodie that might have belonged to Robin at one point. "You're wearing sweats and you haven't been out of the house in three days. You're wearing his sweater."

"Cora was worried," Snow spoke up and Regina tried glaring at her but she just didn't have the energy. "None of us had seen or even heard from you since…" She didn't finish that sentence. "We were all worried, not just her."

"Worried that I might do something evil," she scoffed and Snow glared at her as did Henry.

"Mom, please…" Henry groaned and her eyes softened. "We could spend the day together and when you get back maybe Cora will be gone," he suggested.

The thought of being out there exposed to the knowing eyes of the town made her uneasy, but for Henry she would bare it. So she agreed and with a wave of her hand she was dressed, not like the mayor, but as his mother.

Henry tried distracting her. They had lunch at the diner and read comics and talked about unimportant things. He made her smile but it never quite reached her eyes. When she got home that evening the house was quiet and she thought maybe Cora had left.

She was only halfway up her staircase when Cora's voice suddenly sounded throughout the room, startling Regina. She gasped, turning to see her mother standing in the foyer. She frowned, her heart beating against her chest as she looked at the woman who nearly scared her half to death.

"I thought you left," she said harshly.

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere," Cora said with a kind of patience Regina has never seen before. She was always short tempered when it came to her daughter; except now things were different. Cora had her heart and she wasn't completely the same woman Regina had been raised by.

Her dark brown eyes studied her mother, searching for any hint of betrayal. She couldn't trust her. Not now, not ever and right now she could see no hint of malice in those once cold eyes. Cora meant what she said but Regina didn't want to believe it. She couldn't and with a heavy heart she turned her back on her mother and went upstairs for the rest of the evening.

That night Regina couldn't sleep. Her dreams turned to nightmares. Nightmares of her past and Robin walking away from her. She must have cried out because when she woke up she could see Cora's shadow beneath the closed door. It was as if she was hesitating to come in. Cora never used to sooth her nightmares before and Regina could only watch in wonder as the shadow lingered for a few long minutes before it disappeared and the hall light turned off.

Maybe Cora really was trying.