I'm going a little darker than I usually have with this one, but I really like the idea. This one is going to be a shorter one I think, possibly only two chapters, but most definitely SnowQueen endgame. Please send feedback and I hope you enjoy! If you're wondering, this is right after the curse breaks. Stay safe and wash your hands! Love you all!

Major trigger warning for mentions of child abuse, sexual abuse, and non-con

"Henry, can you come in here please," Regina called. She heard reluctant padding of Henry's feet outside the closed door of her bedroom. He was still unwilling to face her, especially learning of her true nature, and could go days without talking to her, but this was the best chance she could get.

"Fine," he answered half-heartedly.

"Can you…grab your book and bring it here please?" He curtly nodded to her and shut her door again. Regina flung her head back and groaned. She wiped her makeup-less face exhaustedly and sat back up once Henry came back in, leather cover book under his arm.

"What's this about," he grumbled to her.

"I want to tell you something." He looked like he was going to roll his eyes at her, but she couldn't bring herself to scold him. He had a right to be angry and confused, she gave him that. "This book isn't accurate in telling mine and Snow White's story."

"I'm sure Grandma can tell me," he muttered to himself.

"I'm sure she would, but there are always two sides to a story. Not everything is black and white, dear. I want you to see that as I tell you a story. My story." She always knew he was a sucker for stories, and he couldn't deny the small pull of interest at another story, regardless of who he wanted to hear it from. "So if I'm going to tell you my story, I may as well start from the beginning. The very beginning."

It was hard for Regina to muster the courage needed to tell her son the truth of her life, but it had to be told at some point. She might as well rip the bandages off sooner, rather than later. She could hardly bring herself to reflect on her past, let alone tell her son about it.

Regina looked down at her hands, clasped tightly in fists, digging her nails into her palms, then closed her eyes. She could just picture it, like a worn photo, but still fresh in her mind.

"My mother was…difficult when it came to loving people; just like me. She did so in questionable ways. My father was kind, but he was quiet when being threatened by absolute power. My mother may have been lacking in some things, but power was never one of them."

She took a steadying breath and looked up at Henry. He was watching her intently, with a little bit of anger, but curiosity overpowered his will to leave.

"She liked to flaunt her confidence and power. Anyone who dared cross her would face a wrath unlike no other. She persuaded people by making them fear her."

"Can we get to the part about you now," Henry asked impatiently.

"Just wait a minute. This isn't easy for me and I need to give you the important details." She sighed and continued. Henry scooted closer to her, ever so cautiously.

"Even when my mother was dealing with me, she never hesitated to use the tactics she threatened other people with on me. She set strict rules for me, I was given a curfew, I was never allowed to have friends over, and she never hesitated in showing just how much power she had over me."

"She hurt you?" It never amazed her how clever Henry was.

"Yes," she admitted begrudgingly. "She used her magic whenever I got out of line, and she would even go to extreme measures to show I was always wrong. Each time she was done punishing me, she would always hold my cheeks in her hand and tell me I was beautiful, that she would expect me to follow her every order, and she would heal every mark she left. She would tell me that a lady doesn't show her marks." Henry drew in a shaky breath and inched closer to her once more.

"Why didn't the book tell me this?"

"Because the book is about the good guys. They never show anything about villains and what they went through. They never show how the villains got so evil. I'm afraid it isn't about the bad guys." He nodded understandingly."She made me believe everything she told me. That I was incompetent, that I wasn't good enough to be a ruler of any sort, that I had disappointed her with everything I did."

"Why did you believe her? You could've walked away," Henry protested. She fought the urge to tousle his hair and admire his innocence.

"Because I didn't want to leave. The young Regina craved her affection and her love. I was looked past, frowned upon, and ignored, so every time she approved of me, I loved it. I ate up her attention like food after being starved for days. Can you understand that?" He frowned and tilted his head. After a second, he nodded.

"You wanted her love, even if it meant she punished you too."

"Exactly. You're very smart. Maybe too smart." He grinned, before he remembered he was supposed to hate her, and wiped his face of emotion.

"Keep going," he urged.

"I was sixteen when I met a stable boy. Daniel." Henry's face flashed with recognition.

"Like my middle name?"

"Exactly like your middle name. He was my first love. We snuck around mother. We arranged picnics and meetings in secret, we never talked to the other more than small greetings, especially when Mother was around. I was happy, immeasurably. I had finally found someone who had loved me like I both wanted and deserved."

"What changed?"

"Snow White." Regina flipped open the storybook to a photo of a young Snow White, poised and perfect in front of a crowd of people. "She rode by on her horse, going way too fast. If mother was there, she would've told me to leave her. But Daniel was there, and I did the right thing. I ran up to her and held out my arm. She let me pull her to safety. As soon as she looked into my eyes, I knew I already earned her affections, and I had her in the palm of my hand. She followed me to the palace, bringing her father. Before I knew it, I was due to marry Leopold."

"But you loved Daniel! You should've been able to tell your mother that you couldn't marry him," Henry reasoned to her. She sighed.

"If only I could. In the Enchanted Forest, royals rarely had the choice to marry who they wanted. Most of the time, their parents would choose who they married. I was heartbroken. In a last-ditch effort, I suggested to Daniel we ran away. He agreed and told me he would have horses ready for us by the next night." Henry looked riveted in her story, while she felt both queasy and dejected. She kneaded her hands together and slid over closer beside Henry.

"At that time in our planning, Snow White found us. I had to tell her that I didn't love her father, and that Daniel and I had true love, and when you had true love, you have to follow it. Of course, she told mother."

"That's why you hated her? Because she told a secret."

"Because of what her dishonesty earned me."

"What was that?"

"A lost love." She paused to take another steadying breath and to force back the tears stabbing at the corners of her eyes. "Mother stopped us when we were leaving. She made us think she was going to let us go. I was mistaken. As she crushed his heart, she told me that Daniel wasn't my happy ending, but she was wrong." Henry looked at her glistening cheeks. He reached to the bedside table and fetched a tissue. She didn't know she was crying until she felt a splattering wetness on the limp hands in her lap.

"Thank you." Henry looked like he was about to cry a little.

"Henry, whatever I told you just now, I would never do. I would never punish you like she did, and I won't ever use magic on you. I swear on my life." He nodded.

"I know. You would never hurt me."

"So I was married to the king, with Snow right by my side the whole time. The king wasn't any better than my mother. He…hurt me. He didn't listen to me, he ignored my begging, he treated me like an object." Henry cocked an eyebrow and reached for the tissue box as another wave of tears washed over the ones drying on her face.

"What did he do? Did you do something that he thought he should punish you for?"

"I…can't tell you that."

"Why not? I'm mature enough to know," he argued.

"Not for this. This is too much. You wouldn't understand it." He sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"But Snow White was always wanting my attention."

"Because she didn't have a mother before then. She wanted you to love her, like you wanted your mom to love you."

"Clever," Regina said earnestly. "But her needs for affection grew into something less maternal. I'm afraid she developed a bit of a…crush."

"Snow White? With a crush on you?" He sounded so shocked, and it took every willing nerve in her body to resist patting his hand, or look for a warm embrace from him. "What happened?"

"I watched her fawn over me, seek approval for everything she did. Sometimes her presence wasn't as bad, other times I slammed my doors on her face in disgust."

"Why? She sounds a lot like you, when you were her age."

"I think you're right. She was so naive and small. Sometimes I'd take pity on her, sometimes I couldn't face her."

"You're in love with her! I think she loves you too!" She paused for a moment to process his absurd statement, as he bounced on her bed with excitement. Then she burst out laughing, while he sat back down, watching her like she was absolutely nuts.

"I'm sure…that's n-Henry that's absurd. Have you also forgotten she's married?" He only raised his eyebrows, urging her to continue.

"Henry, I'm not in-"

"Keep going." She rolled her eyes and drawled on.

"I began to loathe her more and more once I learned magic. But still, as she grew up, she never grew tired of my anger towards her, followed with brief toleration of her, then more anger." Henry's face lit up. I knew that look from anywhere. He was both plotting something and come up with an idea I can only imagine is as absurd as his sudden sureness that Snow and I are in love.

"We reached a different part of the story where you talk about your magic, but you still talk about Snow White. You do love her!" Regina got the slightest bit flustered, but she was determined to never let it show. She'd gotten good at hiding it.

"Henry, I'd rather talk about Snow than my path down dark magic." Even after having the truth told to him, he refused to soak it in. He just kept smiling at her, like he knew something that she didn't.

"Okay, so Snow was getting fonder of me and built up this belief that I liked her just as she did me. She tried…acting on those feelings, ones that I did not and never will reciprocate." Henry looked like he understood what she said, as he tried to make sure he didn't cut in. That was good, it would've been harder if he didn't understand.

"After I…killed the king, I sent the huntsman out to kill her, and that was when I went through a…dark patch."

"Which lasted until you cast the curse."

"Even after. It wasn't until I adopted you. You changed everything for me."

"Can you answer a question for me?"

"Anything."

"Why did you go…dark?"

"Well, it's complicated. Mother's terrible influence on me, the tempting dark magic, and Daniel. I wanted to exact revenge on Snow White, and that tipped me over the line of good and evil."

"I thought you said nothing's just black and white. Doesn't that count with good and evil?"

"Well, in this-"

"-and I think you don't like her because she made you go through whatever you wouldn't tell me with the king." She was raising a child smarter than her. She was both proud and slightly annoyed at how right he was.

"I…never thought of it like that."

"Can I tell you something now?" Regina cocked an uneasy eyebrow. He went on anyway. "I think you should go tell Snow you love her."

"Are you kidding me, Henry? Have you forgotten she's with her true love, and for the last time, I'm not in love with her. You're reading over this too hard."

"Why were you so intent on catching her in the Enchanted Forest? Why did she consume everything you did. You sacrificed you own father so you could get your revenge. Why? Wouldn't it have been easier to just let it go and find happiness with your dad?" At this rate, Regina thought he may be able to replace that cricket-gone-therapist.

"I think it's time for bed." She glanced at the clock. Two hours had gone by?

"Can we talk about it tomorrow? I…want to make sure you're okay," he murmured the last bit to himself.

"Sure, if that makes you feel better. Goodnight."

"'Night mom." Henry snatched the open book off the covers and paused. He set the book down and flew into her arms.

"I'm sorry your mother and Snow's dad did that to you. You didn't deserve it." She nodded against Henry's neck and let him go.

"Brush your teeth." He grabbed his book, hopped off the bed, and left happier than when he came in.

I need a shower, Regina thought. She reached under her made-up covers for her silk nightgown and shuffled into the bathroom. She started the water and climbed in. She turned the heat up as much as she could without burning her skin.

She got out and put on her nightgown, ignoring the lone toothbrush in it's clay holder.

Sleep didn't come to her until late during the night, after getting a little bit of fresh air in her compressing lungs off the balcony. When she did fall asleep, she was awoken easily by invisible fingers around her neck, clawing at her thighs, and the familiar feeling of a heavy weight over her abdomen, the one that even after healed bruises inflicted by the king, still hurt for weeks.

A small voice broke through her heavy breaths and frantic clawing at her chest. Henry was in the door, terror and sympathy stitched onto his gentle face.

"Henry."

"I heard you screaming, and I woke up. I want to make sure your okay."

"I'm fine, dear. I'm sorry I woke you, but you should go back to bed." Henry slunk back into the shadows around the door, but stopped. He turned back around and ran to her bed, throwing his arms around her neck. She jumped back in surprise, but hugged him close. Just like that, the invisible fingers touching her body disappeared for a second, as she held her son tight in her arms.

"I want to stay with you tonight." He didn't look for an answer as he crawled under the covers and held his mother close."Mom? I'm scared too."

"You are?"

"I don't want you to feel like this. You're safe." Instead of replying, she chuckled and descended back under the covers.

"I should be saying that to you, not the other way around."

"That doesn't matter. As long as your safe from them, we're fine." She grinned. We. She easily drifted off after that. She had her very own knight in shining armour to protect her. She grinned inwardly and pulled him close.

Regina hadn't had a dream starring her mother or Leopold in ages. She had just ignored them to the best of her abilities, but now that she reopened her wounds she thought were long since healed, it hurt. It didn't hurt so much that she had the desire to kill Snow with her bare hands like she wanted to in the Enchanted Forest, but she couldn't get out of bed.

Until she remembered the boy sleeping contentedly in her arms, snoring lightly. She chuckled roughly then shook him awake.

"Henry, you have school today. If you aren't up at this rate, you'll miss the bus."

"It's a Saturday," he mumbled to her. She thought back, furrowing her eyebrows, then checked her phone. She laughed again and laid back down. After hanging on the edge of falling back asleep, he scrambled out of her arms and ran down the halls. She rubbed her eyes and followed suit.

He was dragging a barstool over to the counter, climbing onto the seat and reached for the sugary cereal he was only allowed on rare occasions.

He looked over his shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows at her. She sighed and gestured for him to continue. She grabbed a container of quick oats from the pantry and poured some water into a saucepan.

"Porridge? Really? It's the weekend, you should make something less boring." She rolled her eyes and pulled up a seat next to Henry.

"Why wouldn't I have porridge? I'm always boring, aren't I?" He laughed into his Lucky Charms.

"You aren't always boring." He barely hid a fit of laughter in his bowl. She laughed with him and watched him shovel his food into his mouth.

"Are you even breathing?"

"I'm just really hungry." She nodded understandingly and stood back up to make her hot cereal. She heard Henry's bare feet pad across the linoleum tiles, before he stopped in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

"I'm going riding with Grandpa today, and Emma's coming with, so you and Grandma can cha,t" he informed, raising and lowering his eyebrows repetitiously. She turned back to the stove, refusing to say anything.

"Come on, you got the hots for Grandma."

"Where did you lear that kind of language?"

"Ruby says that." Of course. "C'mon, I know you do. Look me in the eyes and say that you genuinely don't like Grandma." Regina poured her oats into a bowl and strode over to her son.

"I…don't-"

"I knew it! You looked away, and you stuttered, and you're hands are shaking and you're blushing." She huffed and turned back to the fridge, grabbing a fistful of berries in her hand and dropping it into her bowl. Henry followed her to the kitchen table, where she collapsed into the seat.

"Even if I do, I can't deal with this right now. I have much more pressing issues to attend to."

"Like what?"

"…things that aren't relevant to a ten year old." He smiled at her and leaned over the table, narrowing his eyes at her, watching her every move.

"I don't believe you. I should call Grandma over," Henry decided. He leapt off the chair and ran around to the kitchen, running for the phone.

"Henry, no. Get back here this instant or you don't get special cereal for a month." He considered stopping, but his mom's happiness was worth it's weight in sugary cereal. She spent all her life being sad, why shouldn't she deserve a little bit of happiness? Like she said last night, not everything was black and white. Thankfully, he knew Snow's number off by heart.

"Hello," her voice laced with sleepiness answered.

"Hi Grandma!"

"Hi Henry, how are you?"

"Never been better," he said cheekily. Regina was leaning against the door with amusement and anger tangled on her face.

"Okay then, why are you calling? David is waking Emma up now, so they'll be there shortly."

"Well, my mom wanted to know if you wanted to spend some time with her today," he asked. Now Regina was laughing from behind him, but made no move to stop him.

"Sure. I suppose you don't know where she'd want to meet, do you?" He could tell she was amused at his setting up their day, but he continued on.

"I think she wants to meet at the diner, or maybe her house."

"Okay, I can come over when David and Emma leave. Goodbye Henry." She was barely able to hang up without giggling into the receiver, but Regina wasn't faring much better.

"It was worth it," Henry shrugged, before Regina grinned and pulled him away from the phone.

"You're causing so much collateral damage, young man." Even her typically composed facade didn't make an appearance today, as she left the room, leaving Henry to try and contain his laughter.

Regina was in her bathroom, putting on the last bit of her makeup. She heard a faint knock at the door, then Henry excitedly yell "I'll get it!" She smoothed her skin-tight blue dress down repeatedly and pulled on a black blazer. She pulled on her heels and glided down the stairs, while Henry and Snow were watching her. She thought she heard the schoolteacher gasp a little, but Regina played it off as her imagination running wild.

"Well, I gotta go," Henry said. Regina chuckled lightly and watched Henry scurry out to David's rust bucket of a truck, and didn't peel her eyes off it until it pulled away.

What am I supposed to do now? Snow clearly thought the same thing, when she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and flitted her eyes around the room. What did Henry think he was doing?

"You look very nice," Snow said faintly. Regina tried to hold back a grin. Then Henry's previous statements hit her like a brick. I'm in love with Snow fucking White. She groaned inwardly.

"I suppose you don't want to stand in the doorway all day." Regina shut the door behind her and led her off to the den.

"Why was Henry acting so strange this morning? It seemed like he was almost mocking me, like he knew something and I didn't."

"You don't know the half of it," she said under her breath. Not as quietly as she thought, though. Snow nodded along and made herself at home on her leather armchair.

"Would you like anything?"

"No, thank you." Regina sat down beside her and bit her lip.

"So I told Henry our story-or my half of it."

"How did that go?"

"It was…okay, and then not so okay." Snow furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head.

"How so?"

"Well, firstly, talking about it reopened…old wounds. And he understood it all-so much so that he was telling me what I was feeling. And the weirdest part: he was right about it all. Even if I don't want to believe it."

"Right about what?" Regina looked down at her hands then back up at Snow. Her emerald eyes danced with curiosity. "You can't just say that and leave me hanging."

"Yes I can," Regina snapped. Snow sat back, but didn't flinch. If anyone were to be scared of Regina right now, Snow would have the best reason to; but she wasn't.

"You don't scare me anymore. I can tell, you've changed," Snow said. "I can tell you're hurting. You can pretend you're okay, but I've known you for a long time, I can tell when you're in pain. You can tell me."

"I don't think you want to hear about my sorrows. And you couldn't keep a secret if your lips were physically glued shut."

"I promise with this one. I hope you know I never intended to hurt you. Then and now."

"Fine then, if you're so eager to know. Your father? You thought he cared. You thought he was such an endearing man, who could do no wrong. I'm afraid he was a different man in the hours of night. He was an awful husband, who never asked what I wanted. He never once bothered to wonder if I was happy. I'm sure I don't have to elaborate, dear." Snow was frozen, apart from her shaking hands and trembling breaths. Regina wasn't faring any better though, taking deep breaths after her lengthy talk and trying to steady her bouncing knee.

"What?"

"I never consented to his groping hands, his wrinkled body on top of mine, his member inside me. You were too caught up in winning my attentions to notice that I wasn't happy with you or your father. Shall I continue?" Snow snapped out of her worried daze and a steady blush rose onto her ivory cheeks.

"No, he was…there was-"

"-He never loved me. He barely even tolerated me on a good day."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You said that you wanted to know what was plaguing my every thought since I replayed my life over to my son, so here it is." Snow's eyes were brimming with a thin sheen of tears. "I'm sorry, I guess. I probably shouldn't have shared that, but-"

"-no. I wanted to know. You're very brave, you know that?" Of all the reactions, Regina expected much worse. She almost physically flinched. "I could never handle that like you did."

"I didn't handle it well, I killed him. You would've found yourself in a situation relative to mine if I didn't drive you out of the castle. You would've married a royal who's intentions wouldn't be any different from your father's. You are merely an object in a man's eyes back there." Regina held Snow's knee in a slight comfort, then stood up to grab a glass of water.

A pair of hands clung around her waist in a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry. Nobody deserves to go through that." Regina found herself surprised, but didn't pry her hands off. It was a strange feeling. She could smell the younger woman's perfume from behind her. Cinnamon, flowers, and a little bit like strawberries.

"I'm fine, dear."

"I'm not sure you are." Regina ignored her and went into the kitchen, looking for a glass. The kitchen door swung back open behind her.

"Could you grab me a glass as well? And while you're at it, there's something else, isn't there? Tell me."

"You really want to know?"

"With all my heart." Regina almost laughed.

"Henry has made the absurd deduction that I'm in love with you, and that you're still in love with me." Snow was the one who had to hold back a chuckle. Regina strode over to the sink and glanced out the window in front of her.

"Seriously? He has to be kidding." Regina couldn't ignore the girl's flustered smile and heavier blush painting her that shone through the reflection of the glass. She turned around with a glass of water and ignored the horrible sinking feeling in her chest. It was now or never, she thought.

"He isn't. I'm starting to believe him."

"I do not-"

"-there's no point in denying it, dear, you're blush is betraying you." Snow pressed her knuckles to her burning red face. "I certainly stopped denying it, in terms of myself," She said quietly. She handed Snow the glass of water, but quickly withdrew it once she noticed how limp her hand was.

"What?"