AN: I can't believe it's been a year since I started The Games We Play. Wow. I was rereading the story and just thought I should answer some of your questions. What was in the box that Regina gave Henry for a graduation present? Whatever happened to Rachel? Well, this will answer your questions. I wrote it a long time ago but it never seemed right to post it, but I still thought you all would like to tie up a few loose ends, so here you go. And now I'm rambling so shutting up now. Enjoy.

Regina POV

I frowned unhappily at Doctor Whale as he outlined what I would need to do for my recovery. He wanted to put me on bed rest for the next few days as my body regained strength and recovered. While on bed rest, I was only to be allowed some exercise, and only when supervised. Henry, not surprisingly, immediately volunteered to help. I was also unhappy about the list of foods I was restricted to. As Doctor Whale named more discouraged items, my brain was silently thinking how to convince Henry to smuggle me the "forbidden" foods. Apparently sausage and bacon were both on the no go list. Henry appeared to be taking notes of everything the doctor said, probably to remind me of later when I would inevitably ignore everything I was just told.

Once Doctor Whale left, Henry approached me and kissed me lightly on the lips. My heart rate monitor had recently been removed, a fact I was thankful for. "Mmmm," I smiled against his lips when Henry broke away from the gentle kiss. It was over almost as soon as it started.

"I brought you something," Henry said.

"Oh?" I cocked my eyebrow upwards. Henry had only been gone for ten minutes. What could he have possibly gotten me in that time?

Henry reached into his pocket as he said, "I was walking by the vending machine and I saw this. I thought it was...appropriate."

His voice was laced with seduction, though I could think of nothing sold in a vending machine that would bring forth his mysterious smirk. My question was soon answered.

I heard the crinkling of a wrapper being opened. Then Henry was sitting on my bedside holding out a pice of candy. A ring pop to be precise. Henry grabbed my left hand and studied it. He slid the ring pop onto my pinky finger, the only one small enough for the plastic ring.

"Absolutely not!" I exclaimed. If he thought he was going to get away with a ring pop from a vending machine in lieu of an actual engagement ring he was sorely mistaken.

Henry just laughed but it was short lived. He was soon serious again. Picking up my right hand, he held it tightly and said, "I know. I haven't had time to get an actual ring for you yet. But as soon as you're feeling up for it, I'll take you to go pick one out."

I could not stop my smile. He was simply... I did not have the words to describe how Henry made me feel, but it was undeniable that he made me feel very strongly. While the last few months had been marked by frequent crying, now, only an hour after his proposal, I could not stop smiling. Nothing, absolutely nothing, could make me unhappy.

"I'd like that," I agreed demurely. Then, more playfully, I yanked my right hand free from his grasp and removed the ring pop from my other. I threw it at his head. Henry failed to notice what I was doing in time to duck. The candy bounced off of his face.

I laughed at the comical and confused expression on his face. For a moment, Henry looked like he was going to retaliate. His lips were crashing down onto mine as his hands tangled in my hair and he tilted my head into place. I eagerly opened my mouth to his explorations. Henry took advantage of my offering. I was kissing my fiancee. Fiancee. Heat coiled in my belly as warmth spread throughout my entire body. This feeling of elation and happiness was never going to get old.

Panting, Henry pulled away. "Sorry," he gasped. I looked at him horrified. That was one of the best kisses we'd had and he was apologizing. "I know you're supposed to be taking it easy." Not even an hour after Doctor Whale's lecture and I was already ignoring his orders.

Henry abruptly decided to change the subject, "Now that you're awake and doing better, Ma's been wanting to speak to you about what happened. I have some things I need to go do as well. Is it okay if I send her in while I'm gone?"

"Sure." The prospect of having to talk to Emma put a damper on my mood. However, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. After my kidnapping and subsequent ordeals, Emma, as the sheriff, was obligated to get my statement. "Send her in." If I was going to have to talk to her then I might as well get it over with.

Henry left with another brief kiss. I only had a minute to calm down my rapidly beating heart before Emma entered. I knew my face must have been flushed from Henry's recent kisses. If Emma noticed my unusual coloring, she must have attributed it to my general injuries and gave it no heed.

"You alright?" the blond woman asked. As she sat down next to me, I saw genuine sympathy shining in her expression. I did not want sympathy. I just wanted to be left alone.

Instead of admonishing her, I agreed as honestly as I could, "I'm going to be fine. Doctor Whale said I'm going to make a full recovery."

"I'm glad." Emma smiled at me. Deciding to forgo further small talk, Emma went straight to the point. "Now, Regina, I know these events must have been painful for you, but I need to hear what happened."

Emma switched on her voice recorder. I swallowed heavily and took a drink of water to prepare for the long story ahead. I started from the beginning. Well, the beginning when Rachel, then disguised as Emma, first came over to my house. I described the events of the kidnapping and everything I remembered. It was not much. As I told my story, I saw the pity in Emma's eyes. She occasionally stopped me to ask for clarifications. After I was done, she asked me a few more questions. Turning off the voice recorder, Emma then said, "Off the record, Regina, I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now."

"Does the whole town know about my pregnancy?" I already knew the answer was yes, but it made Emma self-conscious of her probing.

"I'm not sure if Neal knows yet," Emma said jokingly, "but more seriously, Regina, I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through. If you need to talk, I'll be here."

Her offer was meant kindly but I could not take her up on it. If I did, that would only lead to questions about the father and that was an issue I did not want to address without Henry present. In fact, the next time I saw Henry I needed to talk to him about how we were going to reveal our relationship. We could not keep it a secret for much longer.

"Emma," I said hesitantly. I had a burning question that I needed to ask but I was almost afraid of the answer, "back at the cottage, right as I was about to go unconscious, I heard a woman screaming. It sounded like someone was dying."

Emma nodded in understanding. "The girl, Henry says her name is Rachel, went ballistic as soon as we got there. She attacked Henry. David was able to stop her, but only barely. She's dead."

A part of me was relieved to know that she was dead. She could not hurt me or Henry anymore. Another part of me was disappointed that she had gotten off so easily. Had she lived, I would have sought revenge on her. She would have gratefully welcomed death by the time I was done with her.

I remembered something Henry had said earlier about asking Emma about Rachel's magic. My heart was thundering in my chest, though this time from anxiety. I needed closure to put this who thing behind me, however, so I forced myself to remain outwardly calm. "Henry said you figured out what spell she was trying to work."

Emma nodded minutely. "I got the gist of it." She pulled a piece of paper out of her jacket pocket and unfolded it. I grabbed the scrap of paper. The spell. It was written in symbols. It was obvious enough what the spell was for. I bit my lips harshly. Though seemingly simple, the spell was dark. The spell called for the death of an unborn child that was conceived of true love. I was grateful the crazy woman was unable to complete the spell. That would have made the loss of my baby even more unbearable.

I trembled slightly as I read through the spell on repeat, as if by reading it more than once the content would change into something less sinister. It never did.

"Do you know who she was?" I asked.

"We're not completely sure. She's not from here, but she's also not from the Enchanted Forest." That information was not the least bit helpful. There were multiple realms, and while I'd been to many of them, I'd only, in reality, been to a small fraction of them. She could have been from anywhere, though if she was not from here it explained how she knew about magic.

"Did Henry say anything about where he met her?" I had a morbid sense of curiosity about the subject.

Emma shrugged. "He didn't want to tell me. Said it wasn't important. That was before we knew if you were going to recover. He seemed so worried about you I didn't press him."

I had one more question I needed to ask. "How did you find me?"

Rachel had clearly gone to great pains to hide the cabin in the woods. I thought I knew every inch of forest in Storybrooke, so she must have gone to enormous effort to keep me from discovering the place. If I did not know where we were then how were they able to find me?

"You'll have to ask Henry that. I'm not quite sure how he knew either."

Emma left soon after. However, I was not meant to be left alone. Next came Snow, David and Neal. Snow and David tried to distract me, though I felt both of their pitying glances. I wanted them to leave, but I was happy to have Neal. He climbed onto my lap, and though his weight was heavy enough to hurt in my weakened state, I only hugged him closer to me as I basked in the temporary warmth only a child could bestow. I felt content laying there as Neal snuggled into my side and made me promise not to leave again. And then I wondered if the child I lost would have been a boy or a girl.

He did not say it but his persistent questions about my well-being let me know he had been worried. For such a small child, I was not surprised. He would have perceived how stressed everyone else was and the uncertainty, more than anything else, would have made him panic.

As I held Neal, I realized that I wanted another child. I needed another child. Even though I had not known my baby, not even know it existed until it was already gone, I still felt the pain of its loss. I wanted another but I wasn't yet prepared to take the risk again. I added yet another topic to my long and growing list about things I needed to discuss with Henry.

After the Charmings left it was, surprisingly, Ruby who replaced them. She did not stay for long. She only offered her condolences and wished me a speedy recovery before leaving again. I thought her visit was rather strange.

After Ruby departed, I was finally left alone to rest. I had one of the nurses bring me a meal. After I ate, I felt exhaustion creeping through my body yet again and, since I was alone, I gave in and fell asleep again.

That evening, I woke up to find Henry had returned. He was quietly reading off to the side. Once he noticed I was awake, he set his book aside. "When did you get here?" I asked, wondering how long he'd been waiting while I was asleep.

"A few minutes ago," he responded nonchalantly. I glanced towards the clock. He must have been gone for at least ten hours then. Good, I thought, it wasn't good for him to be spending all his time at the hospital with me. Selfishly, I was glad he had decided to return for the night. He could just as easily stayed at home and slept on an actual bed. I knew the chairs at the hospital had to be incredibly uncomfortable to sleep in.

"You should have stayed at home to rest," I scolded him.

"I was tempted to, but the thought of being all alone in that house was unappealing." I nodded in understanding. I knew what he meant. I, too, did not want to spend the night alone. Not after my ordeal.

"How did you find me?" I asked abruptly.

Henry appeared taken aback. He moved his chair closer to me and I propped my body up so my face was level with his.

"It's all thanks to you," he said. I was very confused. All thanks to me? How was that possible?

"Remember the present you got me for graduation?"

I did remember it. Well, there were multiple presents, but I knew the one Henry was referring to. The one that came in the small black box. Inside the box was a golden key.

"I had no idea what it was when you first gave it to me. I tried matching it to locks, but when nothing seemed to work I just shoved it to the back of my dresser and forgot about it."

How thoughtful of him. He simply forgot about my present because he couldn't figure out what it was. I frowned.

Seeing my frown, Henry argued, "What was I supposed to do? I had no idea what it was for." Instead of scolding him further, I encouraged him to continue his explanation. "We were searching desperately for a way to find you. There were no noticeable trails and the house was ransacked. We couldn't find anything meaningful of your to track you by. While we were searching I ran across the key and I just knew."

My heart was fluttering eagerly. If Henry had used the key to find me, then he must have realized what it was. "You used it to find me." Henry nodded in agreement.

There was one mystery solved. At Henry's confirmation, I felt butterflies squirming in my stomach. There had been so many clues I should have realized everything sooner. From how much I loved Henry, and how much he loved me despite everything that had passed between us. Then, after seeing myself looking so radiant in the Storybook, the drawing that confirmed I was finally going to have a happy ending, I should have known that the man disguised in the shadows that was making me so happy was Henry. True Love. I'd thought it before, but now I knew for sure. Henry was my True Love and I was his. I'd known I was capable of True Love ever since my kiss had broken the curse on him years ago, but Henry could only have used the key if it was romantic True Love. The key was the key to my heart. Not literally. The key was not an object made to be useful. The key did not open an actual lock. Instead, it was symbolic. Symbolic of my heart.

I'd worked hard placing spells on the object. I could have chosen any object. I don't know why I choose the key, but it just seemed fitting.

"The key can work both ways. It allows us to find each other." Henry voiced his agreement. "But it does a lot more than that," I added.

"Like what?" Henry seemed curious. I wanted to tell him about my newfound discovery of our True Love, but this was not the time. There would be time later when we were not so on edge and stressed.

"I don't actually know," I admitted. I'd placed enough spells on the key that it's true power would be unpredictable. "But it is powerful."

Henry smiled at me and kissed me gently. I craved more, but Henry was intent on forcing me into the slow and painful recovery Doctor Whale recommended. "So in the end, you gave me the means to save you."

"Hmmm," I hummed in agreement. I was already tiring. The day had been long and rough. Despite only recently awaking from my nap I wanted to sleep again.

"I love you," Henry said as he kissed me again.

I was wide awake once more. He loved me! I knew that had to be true. He would not have proposed otherwise. He would not have been so upset with me otherwise. It was one thing knowing he must still love me and another hearing him say it. I cracked a smile from the pure bliss I was feeling.

"I love you too."

Henry kissed my forehead. I tried to tilt my head upwards to capture his lips with mine but Henry evaded my movements. "Goodnight," was all he said as he held my hand loosely while I fell asleep yet again.

AN2: If anyone else has unanswered questions or scenes they'd like to see from The Games We Play, just let me know. I have a lot more written and I'll try to post the parts people are interested in.