"This happy ending is not meant to be..." part II
Title: This happy ending is not meant to be...
Part I can be found here ("Lost Memories" - Regina discovers that Daniel is alive and living in Storybrooke. She attempts to renew her relationship with him, but he has no memory of her. When she turns to Mr. Gold for help, he demands a price Regina isn't certain she is willing to pay.).
Genre: Angst
Characters/Pairings: Regina Mills, Daniel/Philipp Colt, Henry Mills
Words: 1746
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights of Once Upon a Time, I just have them do my bidding, so don't sue.
My apologies for posting it almost 3 months later... *sigh* It's been written during holidays and even at different airports (connections can be a *beep*). I'll do my best to finish up the final part as soon as I can.
A huge thanks to my beta, tanyareed for her patience and her amazing feedback! Any remaining mistakes are entirely my own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She could feel his breath on her face, the rise and fall of his chest as he held her in his arms. Regina broke the embrace and gazed into his eyes -those eyes she had sorely and painfully missed; those eyes that meant the world to her. He smiled at her and she smiled back with glee. She closed the remaining distance to kiss him but at the last moment his face contorted with intense pain; his breath halted as the pain caused his chest muscles to tighten. Daniel clutched his chest just before he collapsed. She screamed out his name as if it would be enough to scare his pain away and make everything all right. Daniel hit the floor unmoving...
Regina sat up in bed, soaked in sweat and instinctively called out “Daniel”, again in the dark. Her face was wet from tears, some still rolling down her cheeks. Of course, there was no answer.
It took her a moment to realise it was only a nightmare, that she was in fact in her own bedroom in Storybrooke and that Henry was sleeping a little further down the hall.
“Henry!” she breathed urgently.
She jumped out of bed and quickly but quietly headed towards his room. Silently, she opened the door slightly, checking on him through the slit. He was lying on his side with his back to her, but Regina could clearly see his relaxed breathing. He looked sound asleep. Regina spent a couple of long moments just standing there, looking at her sleeping son, taking the image in.
She felt strange. Henry had been a great joy in her life, a source of reassurance, and he gave her life meaning and purpose. She didn't know if he filled the hole that Daniel left, but she did know that her life would be less without him. She wouldn’t even allow herself the idea of trading one for the other. How could she?
Henry stirred, interrupting Regina's thoughts, and she paused to see if she had woken him. He stirred, rolling to face her, and opened his eyes.
“Mum? Are you okay?” he asked her sleepily.
“Sorry, dear, did I wake you?” Regina asked him, covering her surprise at his sudden waking. She went in and settled on the bed, and Henry blinked sleepily as he sat up beside her.
“Well, something did, but I‘m not sure what... I think I heard something but I can’t remember...” he said while yawning.
Regina pushed him softly back into bed and helped him lie down comfortably. She covered him carefully and fiddled with his covers as she went on to reassure him.
“I just got thirsty and must have been noisy on my way to the kitchen. Now, go to sleep, you have school tomorrow”. Regina stood up, fixing his covers swiftly before leaning down to kiss Henry on his forehead. As she headed to the door, Henry called out to her softly, causing her heart to skip a beat.
“Mum?”
“Yes?” She stood at the door and looked back at him.
“Sleep tight and...” Henry paused for a moment and looked away, “sweet dreams.”
Regina forced a reassuring smile.
“You, too, baby.”
The moment the door clicked closed, Regina sighed. She rested her head on the door frame, her hand still on the doorknob, and closed her eyes.
If children were perceptive, Henry was proving to be even more than the average, she knew that. How could she think that she would get away with it now? After all, Daniel's story-her story-was in the book. All he had to do was put two and two together, and he was good at that.
The next couple of days passed in a haze for Regina, a haze full of mayor duties, nightmares, and Daniel’s face just about everywhere.
At a quarter to five on one of these hazy days, Regina was expecting her secretary, Iris, to come in shortly to ask if there were any other duties to tend to before they were both finished for the day. Regina usually had some last-minute work to assign, but today she just couldn’t push away the haze enough to think of something.
Regina was in front of her window, absently watching the street, when the knock sounded at the door. Without turning away from the window, she called out for Iris to enter.
“Ms. Mills?”
“Thank you, Iris. That will be all for the day. You can leave if you’ve finished.”
“Thank you, Madame Mayor. However, this” Regina heard her entering and walking towards her desk, “was brought in a moment ago.”
Regina turned and saw Iris placing a flat box on her desk.
“Did they say who it's from?” Regina asked, somewhat annoyed as she approached.
Iris took great care to sound as matter-of-fact as possible, ignoring Regina’s annoyance. “No, but I was told there is a card wrapped in it, Madame Mayor. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No, dear, that will be all. You can go,” Regina answered, sitting behind her desk and examining the box in front of her.
As soon as Iris closed the door, Regina unwrapped it carefully. She thought that it was probably chocolate but she would have never guessed it would be shaped and coloured like tiny horses.
There was a small, plain envelope taped to the box, under the wrapping paper. Regina unstuck it and took the equally plain card out.
“Since I don’t know if you’re a flower person,
I decided to go with chocolate;
it may prove a little more difficult
to go to waste.
- P. Colt”
Regina smiled. This definitely sounded like Daniel, always thoughtful and practical.
The memory of meeting Philipp Colt was still fresh. It frustrated her that she couldn’t really remember the words exchanged but, on the other hand, she loved how his hair shimmered in the morning sunlight when he turned, his genuine concern for her well-being, and how he seemed to be the only person around her.
“Give Henry to Emma Swan.”
The abrupt ringing of Gold’s words in her head made her almost lose her balance. She closed her eyes in concentration, trying to force the words from her mind. If she’d reached a conclusion during the past few days it was that she could never trade one for the other, not even if Henry’s and Daniel’s places were reversed. She just couldn’t imagine her life without Henry -and the thought of him with Emma Swan made it so much worse-, but a life without Daniel... she had to learn to endure that... or did she?
Regina had banished everyone in a land of misery, the kind of misery that she herself had to endure before the enactment of the curse. Her pain over her lost love, and the subsequent sentence of a marriage without love, pushed her into condemning everyone to the same fate, never finding true love or whatever their happy ending was supposed to be. Finding Philipp Colt now only to have him being kept away from her, a fate even worse than losing him for a second time, felt like someone was playing a perverted trick on her.
The sudden intense headache she got made her feel like her head would explode. She was trying to fight off the pain so intently she only noticed the phone ringing after a couple of rings.
“Hello?” She picked up the phone more as a reflex rather than a thought-through action.
“Madame Mayor? This is Philipp Colt.”
Regina blinked in surprise and her breathing stopped for a moment before she regained control.
“Oh, Mr. Colt, thank you very much for the chocolate ponies. The box has just been delivered.” She started smiling, forgetting all about her headache without even realising it as her mood shifted. Philipp had the power of turning black into white for her just by saying “hello”.
“I intended to call to thank you, but I didn’t get the chance,” Regina continued, smiling even wider as she realized Philipp must have been impatient.
“I am afraid I jumped the gun then.” Philipp’s voice carried a touch of guilt and a lot more embarrassment.
“Yes, you did, but you shouldn’t worry about it. In any case, thank you very much, indeed, and I can assure you that Henry and I will enjoy these chocolates immensely.”
“Ms. Mills, by the way, have you given any thought to visiting the farm with your son?” It seemed as if he grabbed every opportunity he was given to ask. Regina, on the other hand, was caught off guard. She had given it lots of thought, but she still could not make up her mind. Now, she was put on the spot and didn't know how to respond.
“You know, Mr. Colt...” Regina hesitated.
“Please, call me Philipp,” He interrupted her. Regina sighed inaudibly.
“Okay, Philipp, then. So, Philipp, I didn’t get much time to think about it. Shall I get back to you when I have an answer?” Regina answered in an attempt to gain some more time. She knew all too well though that no matter how much she got, she really didn’t have any options.
“I understand. In any case, I’d like to inform you that this weekend we are going to have a series of workshops and presentations for children to familiarise them with the horses. It’s a trial run and I think there are even a couple of parent-children ones. I just thought you may find it interesting...”
“How nice,” she replied, realizing the futility of her resistance. Mr. Colt was determined to have his way.
“What do you say? Shall I reserve you a place?”
His questions brought her out of her thoughts. She swallowed softly, and gathered all her strength to sound happy and even slightly enthusiastic while her grip of the phone tightened. “Yes, please. It’s going to be our pleasure, Mr..., sorry, Philipp. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. We’ll be there.”
“Excellent. I am looking forward to it, Ms. Mills.” Philipp’s voice was full of excitement.
“Thank you very much for the chocolate as well as the invitation. We’ll see you on Saturday.” Regina’s smile froze on her face as the consequences of what this meant hovered in her mind.
“Don’t mention it. See you on Saturday. Have a nice evening, Ms Mills.” Philipp hung up and Regina was left gripping the phone unable to breathe.