The way I love you

33| RegalBeliever (Part 2)

"And she made it!", Henry chuckled, reassuring her that she will pick up the story again to finish it.

"Eventually... Yeah... She managed to get away from her mother... In a different land.", Regina explained, leaving out all the details about how the girl, herself, managed to accomplish that.

"And she found love... In a little boy she now calls her son.", Regina chuckled.

"Just like you found me!", Henry smirked.

"Yeah... Exactly... Just as I found you my little prince.", Regina smiled. "And she loved her little boy just as much as I love you. And they lived happily ever after...", she ended her story with another kiss on his cheek.

*****
Regina's office

"Madame Mayor those kids deserve a better education system.", Mary Margaret eagerly said, definitely being the source of Regina's headache.

"Ms. Blanchard, we can discuss this in a later meeting. I got your files, I will go through them and I will give you a review on them during the next appointment but I really need to go now because this discussion is not getting us anywhere and my son is waiting for me.", she sighed. Even in this world, Snow White was a pain.

"... Henry?", she asked. "I had him once in preschool before I moved on to the older classes.", she said.

"And?", Regina asked, whilst already packing her stuff since it was only herself and her pain of a stepdaughter in the room.

"You're doing a good job with him...", Marry Margaret confessed even though she wasn't a fan of Regina's personality. Regina froze in her motions for a second, giving her an annoyed side look.

"... Well... Thank you.", the mayor quickly answered, before burying back to her sick son.

*****
Storybrook's stables
*Henry is about 8 years old*

"Why do we always ride when nobody is watching, mom? Kids in my class think that you're... Well... Not a nice person. No one wants to come to our home... Why don't you show them that you're a good person and that they and their parents are wrong?", Henry asked, whilst cleaning his pony. His second one already since he had outgrown his first little horse.

"I just don't want to. Please stop asking, Henry.", Regina sighed, tightening the saddle. It was hard to have those conversations over and over again and she felt sorry for being such a barrier in Henry's social life but she simply didn't want to have anything to do with those people who once underestimated her power.

"But I don't like how they talk about you! It's wrong what they are saying! I don't understand... You always say that I should stand up for myself... Why are you not standing up for yourself?? Why do you let them all believe that you're... Evil? ", Henry asked and was clearly not aware of what wounded point he just brought up.

"Henry enough!", Regina said, swirling her head around to give him a stern look. She normally didn't use this on him, but Henry's words did hurt her more than anyone could imagine. She jumped up on her horse, which immediately tensed up because of Regina's sudden mood swing. Over the past years the gray, tall horse, which Regina had named Lightning, learned that the mayor was a special person but never did he feel so much anger and rage in her body.

"Close her barn and wait here. I will be back in a couple of minutes. You can feed Jacil in the meantime and give her some clean straw.", Regina demanded, before leaving the stables. She needed fresh air and some time to herself to calm down because she clearly didn't like her reaction toward Henry and she definitely didn't want to make it worse.