Dear Diary,

Today is my thirteenth birthday. I am told that that means that I am no longer a girl and that I should focus on my future. I am told a lot of things. Mother says that I will be queen. She says that I will wear beautiful gowns and have loyal subjects. Father says that I should just be happy, but I don't know if I know how to be that.

So I guess I will be queen.

Regina felt the ink under her finger tips that had begun to fade beneath the already yellowing pages. Had it been that long since she had written those words? Ten years. A decade, and in them she had found the happiness that her father had hoped for her only to have it ripped from her by Snow White, whose father she was now married to. Regina read the words again. She was queen, this was true; but she was still told a lot of things.

The door to her bedroom burst open drawing her back to the present. Her mother strode in confidently, almost as if it was her room that she was entering and not her daughter's. Regina may have become queen but it was quite clear that Cora was not her subject. Her father walked behind her slowly weighed down by years of guilt and fear and stopped a few steps past the threshold.

"Aren't you ready? dinner is to be served in minutes and it is all for you, you shouldn't be late." Her mother spoke in a harsh tone.

Regina closed the cover of her diary and stroked its leather cover, trying to gain some sort of strength from her past before taking a deep breath and looking up, "a Queen is not late."

"A Queen should be respectful of a schedule…now look at you. It is your birthday, you could put in some effort." She waved her hands and through a cloud of smoke appeared a necklace with a thick gold chain and a large pendant that glimmered with a dark blue stone.

"This should help. Now come here and try it on." Regina sighed and pushed herself off her bed moving to stand by her mother and turned around holding up her hair as her mother secured the necklace around her neck and lead her over to the mirror. "Much better, you almost look presentable." With another wave of Cora's hands Regina's hair was secured in a loose bun with diamond studded hair pins only a few locks hung freely, left to frame her face. Cora just looked at her and gave a nod, proud of her work. "Now hurry down, we're all waiting for you."

Regina nodded, "in a moment."

"A short moment," Cora looked at her seriously, waiting for some sign of acknowledgment. Regina nodded again and at this Cora left, leaving Henry standing by the door.

"Happy Birthday Regina" he said.

"Thank you Father."

"So are you going to tell me what is weighing so heavily on your mind?"

"I don't know what you mean" Regina answered as she smoothed out her dress, looking herself over in the mirror.

"You were reading your diary, you only do that when you have something on your mind."

"It's nothing." Regina said with a half-hearted shrug.

"Is that so?" Her father prompted. Regina wrung her hands together and looked up at her father nervously. "It's not nothing."

Regina shook her head, "not quite."

Henry walked over to where she was standing and took her hands, looking her in the eye. "Scared you're getting older?"

Regina chuckled at that, "no it's not that."

"What then?"

Regina took another deep breath and a gave a crooked smile before admitting, "I'm going to have a child."