When I wrote the first chapter of Her Family I had planned for that to be it. Then the words flowed for about half of this chapter before writer's block hit. Finally, all these years later I have finished the chapter although I am not completely pleased with the last few paragraphs.

Chapter Two

We did it. We saved Storybrooke. Why am I not happy, you ask? Greg and Tamara got Henry. They took him while everyone was unconscious from the fail-safe demolition. Now we are on our way to Neverland to save him. Why of all the realms would they choose to take him to Neverland?

As the ship settled from exiting the portal, Snow pulled away from David o check on everyone else. She saw Gold headed over to talk to Hook and Emma taking a seat on a sideways barrel. She started toward her daughter but caught sight of her stepmother and stopped.

Regina was leaning against the side of the ship, still holding onto the rope. No, clutching would be a more appropriate term. She looked as if she would collapse if she released the rope.

Torn between checking on her daughter and helping her stepmother, Snow frowned. Then she felt a hand on her back. "Go to Regina. I'll take care of Emma."

"Thank you." she gave her husband a smile, thankful he knew her as well as he did. She approached Regina and laid a hand on her arm. "You can let go now," she said softly. "I'm here to take care of you."

She looked surprised to see someone next to her. "Snow?"

"Yes." The younger woman carefully slid an arm around her stepmother. "Let go of the rope, Regina. I won't let you fall."

Slowly releasing the rope, Regina collapsed against the younger woman. Her eyes immediately shut as she fought to remain awake and upright.

"Hook!" Snow called out to the pirate, desperately trying to keep the panic out of her voice. "Where's a bed? She needs to lie down. Emma too."

"I'm fine," Emma replied, joining the others with David at her side. "But Regina doesn't look so good."

"Bunks are below deck." Hook replied carelessly.

Snow bristled. She knew there was no love lost between the queen and the pirate but he could at least show a little concern.

"Hook!" she barked. "You're part of the reason she's like this. Now lead us to a bed before she loses consciousness."

He looked startled by her tone. He had not had much contact with the brunette and was surprised at how demanding she was. 'Yes, love," he replied. "Right this way."

"I'm not your love," she hissed. "You will address me as Snow White or Mary Margaret and nothing else."

"Yes, lo…Snow White."

Biting back a chuckle, David moved to help his wife. He lifted Regina in his arms, surprised by how small she was. She had always seemed so much bigger when they were fighting her.

"Snow." The woman mumbled.

"I'm here." She took her stepmother's hand, reaching for her daughter with the other.

Hook led the family below deck to the bed Baelfire had slept in so many years before. He watched as the queen was laid on the bed before leaving the area.

As soon as David stepped back, Snow sat down on the mattress next to Regina, who had now lost consciousness. She gently touched her forehead before looking at the other two. "She's burning up, David. Go see if there is any fresh water on board. Emma, sit down before you collapse."

"I'm fine." Emma grumbled as she obeyed her mother. She noticed the raised eyebrow and frowned. "What?"

"You're a walking…err sitting contradiction."

"What do you mean?"

"You said you are fine but you sat down, meaning you're not fine. If you were, you would have stayed standing."

"Maybe I just felt like avoiding the argument," she smirked. "Or maybe I was just letting you be my mother, like you requested."

"Oh, Emma." Snow moved over and hugged her daughter.

A moan interrupted them. Snow looked over to see Regina stirring. She pressed a quick kiss to Emma's hair and made her way back to her stepmother. She took Regina's hand, quietly speaking to her. "Easy Regina. You have a fever. We'll take care of you."

"Snow?"

"Yes?"

"We saved Storybrooke, right?"

"Yes. You and Emma did. What is it?" she asked when she saw Regina's face fall. "What is it?"

"It's not a dream, is it? Henry's gone."

"Yes, but we are on our way to rescue him. Everything will be fine." Snow tried to sound sure of the fact even though she had her doubts after seeing how weak her stepmother was.

"Don't lie to me," Regina reprimanded. "You were always a terrible liar."

"No, I wasn't." Snow argued. "You have just always seen through my lies. Not even Charming can do that. Not all the time."

"Oh? What have you lied to your husband about?"

"Why you were trying to kill me. I told him that I had destroyed your happiness because you thought I was prettier than you."

"Lying to your husband and vain?" Regina smirked. "Perhaps you're not so Snow White after all."

"He knows the truth now. I had to tell him after Rumplestiltskin informed us about the curse. He was angry that I kept it from him but understood that I didn't want to talk about it. After all, I had just found out the truth a few months before."

"Truth about what?" David asked as he reentered the cabin.

"About why Regina hated me so much." She took the bowl of water and laid the cloth against Regina's forehead. "Let's see if we can get your fever down."

"I think I will go make sure Hook and Gold don't kill each other." David backed away uncomfortably.

"That's probably a good idea," Snow agreed. She smiled as she watched her husband leave.

"Snow?" Regina whispered. "Is Emma okay? That blast must have drained her."

"She's alright." Snow gave her daughter a smile. "She's tired but not nearly as bad as you."

"If we save Henry and make it back, I want to start over." She watched Snow's face light up. "I want to be a family again, a real family."

"Do you mean it?"

"Yes. I want to be your family. I don't deserve forgiveness or acceptance from you but I have to ask for it, Snow. I'm sorry for everything I've done to you and your family. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh, Regina." Snow bent over her stepmother and pulled her into a hug. "I forgive you. I can't say David will but I forgive you."

"Why? Why are you forgiving me so easily?"

"Because I know the real Regina. I knew you before grief and hatred hardened her heart. Before you tried magic."

Regina slowly slid her arms around her stepdaughter and held her tight. "Thank you."

"What's family for?" Snow pulled back with a smile.

"Can you help me sit up?"

"Of course."

Once Regina was up, propped against the side of the bed, she turned to face Emma. "I'm sorry, Emma. I'm sorry this curse separated you from your family for twenty-eight years. I'm sorry you had to grow up believing you were abandoned, unloved."

Emma was shocked to say the least. Regina Mills, the Evil Queen, was apologizing to her? This was the same person she had been fighting with for the last year, was it not?

"Emma, honey?" Snow asked gently. "Are you okay?"

Unwilling to get emotional, Emma brushed off the apology with humor. "Can we keep her like this? She is much easier to control."

"Emma!" Snow gasped.

'She's trying to run," Regina murmured.

"What? She's sitting right there."

"Not physically. She is trying to run emotionally. She is hiding behind her lack of humor to avoid talking."

"And she's back," Emma muttered at Regina's jab.

"I did it with you," Regina explained, ignoring the blonde. "I put my whole self into hating you, even if I hid it, so I didn't have to deal with my grief over losing Daniel." She looked at her stepdaughter. "I hid my grief behind hatred. Emma is doing the same right now, hiding."

"She's sitting right here," Emma snapped. "And she doesn't appreciate being talked about."

"Emma!" Snow reprimanded.

"Snow." Regina hesitantly touched her hand. "It's okay." She turned to her son's biological mother, her step granddaughter. Step granddaughter. What a strange thought. "Emma, I meant what I said. I'm sorry about the way you grew up, but you should know you are loved and wanted."

"I know that," Emma said. "My parents, Neal, and Henry."

"Yes, them and everyone else or almost everyone else in Storybrooke. My point, however, is that even under a curse with no idea who you were, Snow loved you. She has loved you your whole life."

"How do you know?"

"I cast the curse to take away her happiness. Do you really think that making her a fourth-grade teacher and single would accomplish that?"

"She was single because you put my father in a coma and making her a teacher was taunting her with what she couldn't have."

"That is true except David would have died otherwise, then there is the fact that she didn't know who David was or that she lost her child. The real curse was feeling your loss, even though she didn't understand it. I could see the difference after you came to town. That emptiness began to disappear. And it scared me."

"Which is why you framed her for murder."

Regina nodded. "Yes. Breaking the curse meant she won. Getting rid of her meant the curse would be safe because you would no longer be interested in anything but Henry."

"And when that didn't work you tried to curse me."

"You were a threat to everything. Everything I had worked to achieve was on the verge of being destroyed." She looked away. "My perfect world was falling apart."

"It wasn't perfect," Snow said softly. "If it was you wouldn't have adopted Henry. You wouldn't have felt the need to put Henry in therapy."

"If the curse was real all along why did you put him in therapy?" Emma demanded. "You made him feel like he was crazy."

"I did not put him in therapy because of the curse. I put him in therapy to help him deal with being adopted. Until you showed up, I had no clue he knew about the curse."

"I don't think I can forgive you." Emma said honestly. "I lived through a lot of crap because you decided to cast the curse."

"I understand."

"You do?" the Savior asked in surprise.

"Yes," Regina replied. "I forced your whole family to go through a lot of crap because of my anger."

Stunned, Emma fell silent. Snow took advantage of the conversation stopping, slipping her arm around Regina. She leaned her head against her stepmother's. "Welcome back into the family."

I will never understand how Snow is able to always see the best in me, much less how she always forgives me. What I have done to her and her family is unforgivable, as Emma stated. No, what I have done to my family is unforgivable. But for better or worse, that is what they are, my family.