Authoress' Note: Again, I'd like to thank TheWormThatTurns for all their help. I'd never have been able to complete this story without you. It's finally found its way home thanks to you.

PS. This is the final chapter, however, this story was meant to do 3 things. Firstly to showcase the healthy friendship / therapeutic relationship between Archie and Regina and how he can be a major factor in her growth beyond her past. Secondly, to explain why Daniel's instruction to 'love again' can't mean romantic love in a Once Upon a Time context; and finally, to show how Regina can love again in other contexts if she's given the chance. She has many good qualities, but she needs the right environment and inducements to embrace them. Being good for good's sake just won't cut it. In her own life she's seen good loose too often to buy Henry's world view. This is what I believe Archie meant by finding out who she really is.

Without Direction: Part 3

By Arianwen P.F. Everett

As Regina sat down on her therapist's couch she felt relieved. A weight that had dogged her for nearly six months would soon be off her shoulders and she and Dr. Hopper could move forward with her therapy in good faith. She'd hated keeping this secret, but now it could see the light of day, and she hoped that by the end of this session Archie would be genuinely happy for her. "I have some very big news and I know it's going to come as a shock, but I'm pregnant, fifteen weeks along actually. Just so you know, I debated telling you before this, but I wanted to get into my second trimester to ensure the it held. I didn't want to disappoint Henry if I miscarried, but thankfully as of yesterday, I'm officially fifteen weeks now and the baby is still healthy, so I guess it's time to start announcing."

"Wait, wait, what, pregnant? I'm confused. A few months ago you told me that you had drank a curse on your own reproductive organs to prevent unwanted pregnancies during your marriage. What happened? How did this happen?" Archie stuttered, completely taken over by confusion.

"I did drink the curse, but you may also remember I put in an exemption when I brewed it. A few months ago, I learned that when Dr. Whale took tissue samples from Daniel's body before trying to resurrect him, he also retrieved live sperm. To Whale's amazement it appears that a preservation spell doesn't just preserve the shape and form of the body but its individual cells as well. When the enchantment was put in place Daniel hadn't been dead long enough for all his sperm to die, so with the help of in vitro fertilization, Whale was able to create three perfectly healthy embryos, one of which is growing inside of me right now. And I do plan to go back for the other two. If all goes well, in a few years, I'll be a mother of four. I know it'll be grueling work, but it's not like I have a town to run anymore," Regina commented, still slightly bitter at having lost her title as mayor despite the excellent job she'd done since coming to this realm. Still, she was excited about devoting the rest of her life to bearing and raising Daniel's children, hopefully along side Henry.

"Big news indeed, I'll grant you that, but for all the suddenness, I'm happy for you, Regina; although, I'm a bit unsure as to why you didn't mention you were trying to get pregnant. Not telling Henry till you had something definitive to tell, I can understand, but I'm an adult, not to mention a doctor working with you. I wish you'd been able to trust me sooner with this," Archie stated, trying his best not to sound accusatory. Still, something ate at his gut. There was more here than she was letting on and she seemed anxious about informing him as to its nature. Whatever it was, she feared his reaction.

"I didn't trust you sooner because I was concerned… afraid, that you'd try to stop me or even go to Sheriff Swan and have her get a court order to destroy Daniel's sperm along with his other tissue samples rather than allow me to have my children," Regina admitted, making sure to adequately express her fear. One aspect of this realm that had pleased the Evil Queen when she first arrived was the way the native people so easily adjusted their words in order to hide their fears, pains and insecurities. Had their memories remained in tact, most of Storybrooke's citizens would have found the exponential expansion of their vocabularies difficult to bear, but she'd reveled in all the new syllables by which she could control her subjects without the bloody force of an army or the fickleness of magic. In therapy, Regina knew she had to actively work to avoid those verbal tricks of power. She had to be honest and vulnerable to gain any benefit from her sessions. And the truth was, she had been very 'afraid', not merely 'concerned'.

Taken aback, Archie couldn't fathom why his patient would think such a thing. "Why would I do that?"

"Because of the deal I made with Whale. You've undoubtedly figured out that the sperm used to create this baby and its two potential siblings came from one of the tissue samples that Whale traded me in exchange for ensuring Elaine Gorlois lost her own pregnancy. I know the more conscience-driven choice would have been to assist Whale without payment and without harming Elaine's fetus, but Whale isn't seeking any kind of redemption and neither is Elaine. She would have been tipped off to Whale's plans to abort her against her will and he would have responded to my making his task infinitely harder by destroying Daniel's sperm, impregnating another woman with it, or worse using it in one of his disgusting experiments. I know this whole situation flies in the face of everything that is 'good', but I swear, I wouldn't have participated if I'd had another option that ended with me getting those samples and having this baby. Doing the right thing has never protected me or my Daniel from harm before and I couldn't risk our children's lives on the saccharine whims of my newly revived conscience. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't," Regina explained, shame and defiance alternating back and forth as she spoke.

This was the moment she'd dreaded for weeks. She knew it sounded bad; for all intents and purposes, she'd become some sort of fetal hit woman. It wasn't so much that she regretted what she'd done. After all, Elaine Gorlois was a rapist who had taken what should have been a meaningful act, the creation of her child, and turned it into an assault on a man she barely knew for the promise of a regular inflow of money. Regina just hoped Archie would look past any feelings of betrayal to see her side of things. If anyone in this town could, it would be Archibald Hopper.

Archie sighed, not really knowing how to handle this situation. He was disappointed, but he didn't completely blame her. Daniel was the only area in her life that Regina was completely powerless before, and Whale had once again used that underlying desperation for a happy ending with her true love to manipulate her into doing his bidding. Still, Archie couldn't merely brush aside Regina's part in the deal or the fact that she'd kept it hidden for months. "Regina, I know you wanted to keep a part of Daniel alive and preserve his dignity in death, but you made a deal to destroy another woman's fetus to do so. Irregardless of how that fetus came to be, doesn't the barbarity of that arrangement seem at odds with the beauty of the love you and Daniel shared?"

"Yes, and believe me, that thought grates at me daily. It sullies the creation of Daniel's children and I hate that fact! But then I remember my promise to Daniel to love again. This is the only way I have to keep that promise. I mean, I did what you suggested; I stopped chasing Henry. Yet, he's still with Emma and now calls her mom. Maybe if he was living with me, updating me daily on what happened at school, eating dinner with me, all the things that made up our relationship, maybe I would have been stronger when Whale proposed the... No, I won't cop out like that. I'm having Daniel's baby after all these years and I won't demean the miracle of her existence with excuses. I just couldn't leave Storybrooke. I've repeatedly tried to minimize the idea of loosing my memories of Daniel and Henry and reminded myself over and over again that it was my best shot at happiness, but for all the internal dialogue, I just couldn't sell it. If I were to have left, I wouldn't remember Daniel, which means I wouldn't remember, nor could I work to honor, my promise to him. Here, with his children, I can love every day, and there will be no out-of-nowhere birthmothers to steal this child's affections from me," Regina explained, tears threatening.

Her pregnancy was making it much harder to hide her pain and she found that tears flowed to the surface more easily now. Yet paradoxically, she almost never wanted to cry. She was carrying Daniel's baby. That fact in and of itself took the sting out of snarky townspeople's comments and even dulled the rejection from Henry's complete lack of interest in coming home. This baby was a sliver of the happy ending that had been stolen from her so many times. She wouldn't allow anyone, not even Archibald Hopper, to question her dedication to this path. Even when she was ripping her father's heart out, never in her life had she been more dedicated, never before had a choice seemed so right.

"Regina, did it ever occur to you that perhaps Daniel meant for you to find love with another man and to create a family together with him?" Archie asked, needing his patient to understand that there were other choices she could still make and honor her promise to her true love. Archie had never liked her idea of leaving town, but that didn't mean she had to remain single for the rest of her life.

"We only get one true love, one soul mate, Dr. Hopper. Everyone from our land knows that. You know that, I know that, and more to the point, Daniel knew it. He would never have asked me to do something impossible. He was truly the best person I've ever known, not a cruel bone in his body," Regina explained sadly.

"Emma's kiss woke Henry. Surely, you're not telling me Henry is Emma's soul mate," Archie rebutted, needing Regina to see that there were other possibilities for her. Even with this baby, she might still find happiness.

"Henry's a child and loving a child, particularly one as wonderful as my boy, is easy. True love of the adult kind must be worked for and only the love of a soul mate can make that effort worth it. Had we succeeded in running away together, Daniel and I would have had serious mountains to climb merely to sustain ourselves and our children. As my mother was so fond of telling me, poverty is the condition of most people for their entire lives and only those with the strongest will or the most fantastical luck can escape its grasp if they're born to it. Marrying Daniel had meant choosing that endless insecurity just as teaching and supporting a wife that had never done a hard days labor in her life would have been Daniel's cross to bear. But true love sustains you through those burdens, makes the alternative of giving up unthinkable. Building a life with anyone other than your true love is settling and settling inevitably breeds resentment. I've been on both ends of that bargain, I had to kill to get out of it, and no matter how 'redeemed' I become for Henry, I will never regret what I did for my freedom, even if I do wish there had been another way of obtaining it," Regina responded, forcing Dr. Hopper to face the absurdity of what he was suggesting.

"Your husband, the king," Archie surmised. For most of his life, Archie had believed Leopold a good man, and his friendship with Snow White had only enhanced that opinion. Now, his sessions with Regina were showing him the cracks in that image that Leopold had worked so hard to cultivate amongst the masses. This was not to say the man didn't care, didn't give far more abundantly to charity than any other monarch in the Enchanted Forest, but Archie was now seeing the political shrewdness in the gestures of what he'd once believed to be selfless compassion for the less fortunate and a total disregard for the welfare or happiness of his second Queen.

"He was nearly thrice my age when he married me and fully aware that his late wife had been his true love. He went out of his way to remind Snow and his court of that fact nearly every other day, so even having no knowledge of Daniel, he felt his own loss keenly enough to know our marriage would never bring happiness. Irregardless of this fact, he married me to please his child. He took my parents' estate to ensure I'd never run away or publicly cuckold him without consigning my father and myself to destitution. He even punished my refusal to put my royal duties as Snow's caretaker and his whore ahead of my lessons with Rumplestiltskin by humiliating my father and forcing him into servitude within the palace. Yet, he had the unmitigated gall to strut around the kingdom claiming his only desire was the happiness of all his subjects." Regina spat out bitterly. Leopold and Snow White's cult following had always enraged her. To Regina the two were little more than a despot and his overly indulged offspring; yet the people had bowed with genuine loyalty to them irregardless of their true natures while Regina was found lacking in warmth and her father was outright mocked.

"I'm sorry you had to endure that life for so long and the hypocrisy that came with it. However, just as Daniel was one of a kind, not every man is King Leopold. There are some good men out there who treat women with dignity and are considerate of their needs. Perhaps you shouldn't write them off so quickly," Archie advised, not wanting to sound preachy. He knew Regina had a lot of issues when it came to romantic love, but then he was her therapist. Helping her deal with them was part of his job.

Regina sighed. As far as she was concerned, when Daniel died, so did her love life. "I'm sure there are a lot of good men in this town, but I just don't see the point in pursuing any of them when I'll never be able to give them the love they deserve. Not to mention, remaining with me might deny them their own shot at true love. I refuse to take that chance away from someone or sink to Leopold's level for my own comfort."

"So you never plan to date again?" Archie asked, quietly tapping the tip of his pen against his notepad.

Regina rolled her eyes at the obliviousness of the former cricket to her lack of interest in the pathetic courting practices of this world. "It depends on what you mean by dating. I'll be seeking a regular lover after the baby is born and I'm back in shape. Graham served my needs quite well for many, many years and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to replace him at some point. It's just a matter of finding the right weekly bedmate, one who won't get too attached. Admittedly, that was far simpler when I could just rip out his heart to prevent him from developing feelings for me, but that would break my promise to Henry, so it is what it is."

"So you're okay with dating for the purposes of finding sex, but not for finding love?" Archie clarified, hoping to keep his patient talking. He knew she didn't like the direction their session had taken, but he needed to get her to explain her thoughts. So many elements of human love were twisted together that unless you separated each strand and examined it individually, you'd inevitably ended up with a Gordian knot.

"There are only three reasons people date, a desire for love, a desire for sex, and a desire for power; wealth, of course, being a subset of power. I've permanently lost the first, and have known since I was a small girl that courting for the third was extraordinarily dehumanizing for both parties. Sex is all that's left, but to answer your question, yes, I'm still interested in finding a regular supply of that," Regina finished with a wink, hoping to finally put an end to the conversation.

"Let me ask you something, Regina. Let's say that when Henry grows up, he takes this same attitude towards dating; what would you tell him?" Archie asked, trying to reframe the issue.

As Regina considered her answer, her face suddenly darkened, two hormone induced waves crashing into her simultaneously, one of disproportionate sadness, the other a blinding desperation that she'd not felt in years. "If he'd lost his true love young, I'd tell him to wear protection but accept his decision. However, I won't let that happen. I swear, when Henry falls in love, I'm gonna protect that girl with my life. I don't care how I feel about her personally; Henry's getting his happy ending or I promise you whoever is mayor will have to requisition snow plows to handle the piles of human hearts turned to dust that bury the streets of Storybrooke in my wake!"

"Regina, Regina, calm down! Just calm down! It was only a hypothetical," Archie shot up in anxiety, not even confident enough to place a comforting hand on her shoulder without taking a deep breath first.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Hopper. I'm not in complete control of my emotions these days. I didn't mean to frighten you," Regina apologized, straitening her skirt and blouse as if regaining balance in her attire could help her regain internal equilibrium.

Archie came to sit beside Regina taking a hand in his own to comfort her and allow her to see that he wasn't frightened. "It's alright. I'm more worried about you, about the fact that the first place you went with that question was to Henry's true love being killed. Henry is not consigned to your fate, Regina. He has his own life and his own future. I know your youth was filled with extreme abuse and psychological trauma and it's only natural that that would make you fearful for Henry and for the child you're carrying, but you have to learn to take life as it comes. I know that requires a lot of faith and your faith has been shattered quite often as well, but truly, it's the only way. You can't protect Henry from all the pain in the world, but you can't assume he'll suffer as greatly as you have either. You've already given him a safe and secure childhood, one you never had. You'll do the same with this baby and any that come after. Just take it one day at a time."

"I know Henry's destiny isn't necessarily filled with pain and loneliness, but there's no guarantee that it won't be. The same holds true for this child. I can't help worrying about their futures; I'm their mother," Regina defended, letting her hand settle over her still mostly flat abdomen. As it stood only she and Whale had seen her baby bump, her clothing still able to hide it from view. To everyone else, she probably appeared to have put on four or five pounds, enough to swell her a bit but nothing more drastic. Soon she'd no longer be able to keep her baby a secret and while she took comfort in the fact that her child's growth beyond the confines of her current wardrobe was normal and healthy, others being made aware of her pregnancy was merely another way of saying her enemies would have another target.

"Of course you're going to worry, but you're already planning a massacre if Henry gets hurt and he isn't even a teenager yet. Don't you think that's a bit extreme?" Archie asked, trying to make his patient see how her fear had carried her to an unnecessarily dark place.

"I know it is, and I assure you most of it's hormones. I don't think I would have gone there if I wasn't being barraged by my… darker impulses. I was getting better at controlling them before the pregnancy, but now they seem to have a mind of their own. I've given up on trying to control their emergence and am focusing all my energy on not acting on them. Just the idea of Henry being faced with a lifetime of loneliness and loss when he'd barely be out of his teens, makes me want to go and seek retribution right now. I feel trapped in my own body sometimes, but I supposed that's pregnancy. The only way out is childbirth," Regina sighed, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

"Maybe not; I can prescribe antidepressants that should give you greater control over your thoughts. Admittedly, some antidepressants have caused pregnancy complications in the past, but these are safe and relatively mild." Archie concluded, reaching for his prescription pad.

"They don't pack as hard a punch, so they can't harm baby," Regina interpreted, nodding with acceptance. Any help that wouldn't damage her baby would be welcome.

"Pretty much, but they're better than nothing and all you really need them for is to push back against your pregnancy hormones. Your own self control, which over the past few months you've proven is considerable, can handle the rest," Archie sheepishly admitted as she wrote out the prescription and handed it to her. She was right though, only birth and enduring the post partum period would right her brain chemistry. He made a note to try and get someone to look in on her after the baby was born to ensure she was handling everything well, for both his patient's sake and that of the little one inside her. Post partum depression wasn't something he wanted to fool around with, not when the mother-to-be had Regina's dark power.

"Thank you, Dr. Hopper. I was actually thinking of discontinuing our sessions till after the birth because of the hormone situation. Hopefully, with these, I won't have to," Regina replied in gratitude. The feeling was still odd, but not as awkward as it once had been and she credited these sessions most of all.

"Discontinue, why?" Archie asked, confused. He'd assumed their work was helping.

"Like I said, it's taking me all my internal resources not to strike out when anger or fear wash over me. What if my control slips and I harm you? I mean, as helpful as our time together has been, you do make me confront a lot of things I would rather not. That combined with a well-timed loss of self control could get you killed. I don't think I could forgive myself for that, not any more," Regina amended, making sure Archie heard the compliment in her explanation. She really did feel stronger now, but if that strength backfired on her therapist, her reborn conscience wouldn't make it. Her mind's need to protect itself would do what it had done so long ago, when she'd realized she'd have to stop caring about right and wrong in order to learn enough dark magic to bring Daniel back, bury her conscience to survive the horror she would become.

Archie considered his patient's concerns, but knew he couldn't allow her to sacrifice her continued growth out of fear of what might happen. Still they'd need to take precautions for everyone's benefit. "Regina, I appreciate your concern for my safety, but if you ever get close to that point I want you to tell me. Like you said, these should help you balance out your negative emotions, but discontinuing therapy in order to protect me isn't the answer. Just tell me if you feel overwhelmed and we can modify our sessions accordingly."

"I'll try, but I'm truly grateful for these. I know they're a crutch but at this point I'll take anything I can get. I'll swing by the hospital this afternoon and have Whale add them to my chart. Wouldn't want any surprises," Regina explained, patting her belly happily. Really, she did feel better than she had in a long time, the rare mood swing being the dangerous exception. As expected, the first trimester had been a bear, but now her energy was back along with her appetite, and she felt recharged and ready to move forward.

"You're still seeing Whale; you haven't moved to an OBGYN yet?" Archie asked, grave concern reshaping his features. While Regina had, by virtue of the curse she'd drunk, ensured that Whale could have only implanted an embryo created with Daniel's sperm and not some other man's, the mad scientists' continued involvement unnerved Dr. Hopper just the same. Perhaps it was his newly reintroduced human instincts to protect a pregnant woman, but he wanted that monster who wore the cloak of a doctor as far away from Regina as possible, not seeing her every other week for prenatal appointments.

"I'm seeing both. Dr. Mab is my regular gynecologist, and though she'll be handling the delivery, is acting as more of a back up here. As part of our agreement, Whale is monitoring the pregnancy. Somehow he thinks this baby's development might give him some clue as to where he went wrong in his procedure to resurrect her father. As I have Dr. Mab watching the watcher, I don't see the harm. Besides, I'm not letting him do any internal procedures or give me any prescriptions, but the additional ultrasound videos are a pleasure and the weekly food diary will make a nice souvenir for the baby book," Regina explained. She didn't see a problem in allowing Whale to monitor the pregnancy so long as her medical decisions were being made by herself and Mab, who as the former Queen of the Dark fairies, was smart enough not to cross her.

But continuing most of her monitoring with Whale and having Mab merely sitting in and receiving updates also prevented any of Snow's spies from getting wind of her pregnancy and reporting back before Regina was ready to publicly reveal her condition.

That she'd planned out perfectly. No matter how much she'd craved one of Granny's burgers, Regina hadn't stepped foot into the diner in over five months, not since the night before Whale had given her the first hormone injection to start the IVF process. This prevented Snow's pet wolves from detecting anything amiss in her scent. On the rare occasions she left the house, Regina worked diligently to ensure she never passed them on the street and would cross to the other side, careful to remain upwind if she saw them approaching. She also shied away from the fairies in a similar fashion, but avoiding Gold had been the real challenge. Her mother had warned her well on that account. Rumplestiltskin's primary stock and trade were pregnant women, pregnant magic users being of particular interest. Truthfully she didn't care whether he knew. She'd never made any deals to hand over her children, but he could still inform the entire town if it suited his interest, so she'd kept out of his way just the same.

She wanted this pregnancy to come out of the blue for the Charming family and the town that would bombard them with desperate questions within minutes of her arrival at Granny's in trendy maternity leggings and a pullover crimson blouse that would highlight her small bump the moment she removed her coat. In the resulting chaos, Regina hoped to get Henry thinking about this baby as his sister and himself as her gallant knight charged with defending the princess-to-be's honor and virtue. That way, when his birthmother and her parents inevitably tried to spin the situation to their own advantage, he'd tell them to step off. Unlike his birth family, Regina's son was a truly chivalrous hero and he'd shut down anyone who spoke ill against his unborn little sister, even his own biological family.

"But Whale's experiments…"

"Might one day conquer death and prevent someone else from enduring what I've had to in Daniel's absence. Just because Dr. Whale failed in the past doesn't mean he won't succeed one day and if my ultrasounds and pregnancy journals can contribute in some small part to that discovery, I take comfort in the thought. So long as my family isn't directly involved I see no harm in it, even if Rumplestiltskin and every other magical user I've ever known were right and it all amounts to nothing. Besides, I keep my promises and honor my deals," Regina explained, not wanting to have her decision to allow Whale's involvement questioned.

"Regina, death isn't something to be conquered, it's a natural…"

"Don't you dare give me the 'natural part of life' speech, when I had to watch my true love loose his life to a bony, grasping hand shoved into his chest! That was NOT natural; that was a perversion far more grotesque than anything Whale could ever come up with!" Regina snapped, refusing to allow anyone to claim that Daniel's death had some greater purpose or meaning. It hadn't; it had been senseless slaughter, and no matter what came out of it, always would be.

"Daniel was murdered, and you're definitely right, that wasn't natural, but if Whale were successful, he wouldn't stop at resurrecting murder victims or others who'd suffered unnatural ends. Surely you must realize the implications of people like your mother being brought back to life because they or someone loyal to them had the resources to pay for such a resurrection," Archie argued, trying to make his patient see reason.

"There are ways to make resurrection impossible, as what I had to do a few months ago in the stables proves. Death wouldn't end if Whale were successful, but it would be tamed… controlled, and as Rumplestiltskin taught me so long ago, once you control something you no longer have to fear it. Look, I don't know if Whale will be successful, or if anyone ever will be, but I think the effort is worth a few minutes out of my day during my pregnancy," Regina explained hoping Archie would agree to disagree. She didn't see how a philosophical debate on death helped matters, and thankfully the therapist seemed to understand.

"Well, that's your decision and I respect it. Even if I don't necessarily agree, I know you're coming to it from a desire to spare others pain, which is an admirable thing. However, I think we've gotten a little off track. What's important is that I see you're attending to your and your baby's health and taking adequate precautions where Whale is concerned. As you may have guessed, I don't exactly trust him," Archie sheepishly admitted. He wouldn't give up on anyone, but that didn't mean he had to take everyone at face value. It made him sad, but he'd always known that there were people who weren't trustworthy.

"I trust that he'll always put his own interests first. He's reliable in that sense, but I appreciate your concern for my baby. I'm also fully aware there are those that are not going to be so kind, due to the fact that she's mine and at least I know she'll have you looking out for her," Regina responded gratefully. It was good to know that her daughter would have support in a world that hated and mistrusted its mother.

"I will. I most definitely will. I've noticed you keep referring to the baby as 'she', have you found out the sex already or is this more speculation than certainty?" Archie asked, smiling at the praise his patient had heaped on him.

"My CVS test two weeks ago confirmed the baby is a girl. I would've been happy either way, but I think a sister will make Henry feel more connected. I just know she'll wrap him around her little finger the moment he sees her. Yes, aren't you the lucky girl? You're going to have your very own knight in shining… flannel," Regina laughed deeply, having directed her final comments to her bump.

"About that, when do you plan to tell Henry the good news?" Archie asked, a bit concerned about Regina's expectations that her son would automatically take to the baby. Still, the more he thought about it the more he concluded that it wasn't too far fetched either. Henry loved being the hero and older siblings were usually heroes to their younger ones simply by their proximity and existence.

"Tonight at dinner at Granny's and I'd appreciate it if you told nobody about my pregnancy. I don't want word getting back to Snow and Charming before I'm ready for them to know about it, giving them time to carefully construct their spin to convince Henry I'm replacing him and he should replace me as well," Regina replied, her eagerness for the meeting clearly evident on her face, but also the concern.

"Regina, I don't think Snow…"

"Ofcourse she would. We may no longer try to kill one other, and living in a democracy, neither of us is officially queen any longer, but we're still at war and always will be. Now I know you were part of her council back in the Enchanted Forest, but I'll have your license if you break doctor patient confidentiality in regards to the details of my pregnancy or its origins. I have no intention of telling anyone else who this baby's father is, not even Henry, or at least not until he's old enough to be trusted not to tell anyone outside our family. When I first met Miss Swan and asked about Henry's biological father, she said 'there was one', and that's going to be my answer. My personal life is my personal life, and Daniel is not a subject for public consumption, which considering his ties to me, would include ridicule and… base humor. I will not have our love treated so contemptuously or our children subjected to such crude meanderings," Regina declared resolutely, making it clear she would brook no contradiction from the former cricket on this point.

"Regina, I would never betray your trust on this matter and I respect your decision to keep this child's paternity a secret, but Snow White isn't your enemy in this world, nor is she your baby's enemy," Archie pleaded, hoping to help Regina see a means of ending this war.

"Snow White will always be my enemy; for Henry's sake we might be civil but the past never changes," Regina explained with grim conviction.

"True, but forgiveness…"

"Is impossible when Snow can never acknowledge the scope and breadth of her wrongdoing; I'm not even sure she's capable of cognitively grasping it. No, there can never be any rapprochement between us. There can only be tolerance and silent contempt, and I do not wish to speak about this any longer; there is nothing more to be said that wasn't already said long ago," Regina hissed, trying to calm her rage.

Seeing her struggle with her pain and rage, Archie relented, not wanting to push Regina any further until she had a chance to get the antidepressants into her system and she'd regained some control over her emotions. "So, how do you plan to deal with the town's curiosity? I mean, eventually you're going to show."

"Actually, I'm looking forward to that part. One of the few things I miss about my old life is the fear that prevented people from asking inappropriate and highly personal questions. Everyone remembers what my mother did when she got to this town. They know I inherited my powers from her and used them to cast the Dark Curse. After their very loud conversation in front of his shop, the people of Storybrooke also now know that Rumplestiltskin once made a deal with my mother's mother, as well. To be blunt, every time they see my baby bump, the fear that this child is just the next generation of evil will play through their minds and they won't dare come near me to ask questions. When she gets older and wants friends, this will likely become a problem, but I have a plan to win over the other parents by the time she's ready for preschool. In the near term the superstition of bad blood will keep the gossips from pestering me," Regina explained her thinking, more comfortable with this conversation than the previous one.

"Why would you want yourself and your child feared? I mean, having a baby should make you want to draw closer to the community, not push it away!" Archie offered, needing to understand what was driving his patient. If anything could make the people of Storybrooke give Regina a fighting chance, it would be a brand new baby. He remembered how Henry's arrival had spurred public accolades for the mayor all around town, despite the current of nameless fear that had always been underneath every interaction with her.

"This community will never want to draw closer with me. They'll always be looking for an angle, a means of controlling me, or a way of winning favor with their second hand monarchs. As my little girl grows, I plan to take part in every prenatal yoga class, every Mommy & Me meeting, every Saturday morning at the sandbox, in short, every event this town has for the two of us. By the time she's ready for school, nobody will fear her because she'll just be one of the local children. They'll have all watched her grow into a normal, healthy girl. Once I have her in preschool, I can go back for the last two embryos. They can ride their sister's social coattails. Throw in Henry's influence, and this community will embrace my children. Me they never will, and I'm okay with that. I've never felt very comfortable in groups anyway," Regina detailed her plan, hesitantly admitting the final part. She hated admitting weakness, but she knew it was necessary to the process.

"While I think your plans for your children are spot on, I'm worried about your own attitude towards the rest of the town. When you go to these meetings and classes you should try to get to know some of the people there, try to make a few friends," Archie advised, smiling an encouraging smile.

Regina sighed, not feeling very comfortable with the therapist's plan. "The people of this town aren't interested in becoming my friend; I cursed them, after all. Look, I'll see how I'm treated and what options I have once I get to the classes. However, I think you underestimate the contempt the people of Storybrooke have for me."

"Regina, I'm not naïve. I know there are a lot of people that will never forgive you for casting the dark curse, but there are many who will. I think some of them might just surprise you," Archie offered, sure he was right. The people of this town were generally good. He hoped that in time Regina would come to see that.

"Ah but these aren't people; they're parents. Trust me, you become far more paranoid when an infant enters the picture. During my first 18 years in Storybrooke, twenty minutes of housework each day and a cleaning lady, twice a week, was more than enough for me to live alone in comfort and cleanliness. Then Henry came along and within a month I was seriously considering resigning my post as mayor so I could spend more time personally sanitizing the filthy sty that is my house. Nesting isn't just the chores you do; it's a mindset that overtakes you, even when you know you're bordering on irrational. Heck, I still clean for an hour before Henry arrives for dinner and he's an eleven year old boy. Make no mistake, these people are on high alert for dangers great and microscopic now that they're expecting. They just have no experience with human carnage so their hormone surges don't leave them as… aggressive as mine do," Regina explained, trying to give Archie an accurate picture of the nature of parenthood.

While a part of Archie wanted to reject this notion, he couldn't help thinking about Gepetto and the way he'd fought to blackmail the Blue Fairy into allowing Pinocchio to take the second spot in the wardrobe. They'd known the need to protect the savior was paramount and yet a kind hearted man he'd raised from boyhood had become as cold to the needs of thousands of others as any dark magic user Jiminy had ever met in order to ensure his own child's survival. "Parents do tend to over react sometimes; that's true."

"It's not overreacting; it's seeing life for the brutal and uncaring thing that it truly is and fearing what it will do to your children. Henry still believes good always defeats evil, but if that were true, my baby wouldn't have to grow up without her father. Sometimes parents misdirect the fears and hurt life has cursed them with, but that reaction isn't unwarranted. What matters is that my children have a chance to find happiness. I'll do anything for that," Regina stated with zealous conviction. After all, hadn't her father permitted her to take his heart just for the chance she might find happiness in this land without magic? To be worthy of his sacrifice, she had to be willing to go to the same lengths for her own children.

And she would. She would do whatever it took to give her children their shot. She knew their love would make it all worth it. If there was an afterlife, she hoped her father knew how grateful she was for helping to get her here and give her this chance.