FROSTBITE | HENRY MILLS [2]

XIX. forgiving

Chapter Status: Edited.

Elizabeth sits up, wiping away the tears that had fallen, her eyes drift down to her daughter's face and she fights back her tears yet again. She goes to speak, but her voice chokes in her throat, and she knows that if she dares to speak she won't be able to stop crying. But her goodbye can't be silent.

"Tahlia, you are such a wonderful, beautiful person, and I'm sorry that you thought your entire life that your father and I hated you. We don't... we saw who you were, your achievements, but we knew who you were going to become, we knew your destiny would be great. Your powers come from disappointment, and anger, and I know that we were selfish, but we knew if we gave you the perfect life you'd be more at risk.

"You are strong, loyal, and most of all loved by everyone around you. And I don't know how on earth I'm going to tell your father, and June, and Caleb, they're going to be so broken... No matter how many times you'd fight with them and thought they hated you, they've always looked up to you, and always will.

"I wish I was there for you more often than I was, but I knew you had to walk your own path and make your own decisions. But no matter how much I knew that you were going to be a target, it still hurts knowing that I outlived my own child. Tahlia, please, I know you're not gone, fight this baby, I believe in you."

A tear slowly slides down her cheek and lands on her arm, but nothing happens. Elizabeth holds her hand tightly.

"Come on Tahlia, wake up, believe," she begs softly.

The tear suddenly seeps into her skin, the lights above her begin to flicker.

"You can do this Tahlia," she whispers.

Tahlia gasps as she sits up quickly, the wires connected to her are ripped from the machines and she breathes heavily. The flickering stops and Tahlia turns to look at her mother, a large smile appearing on her face.

"I believed."

Elizabeth stands up, hugging her daughter quickly, gripping onto her so tightly that Tahlia fears that she will not let go. But this time she does not complain, she hugs her mother back equally as tightly. She can feel her mother shaking, but she does not feel the need to cry, a large smile on her face, joy filling her. They pull away as the door squeaks open.

"Elizabeth, I-" Anna stops, a large smile spreading onto her face, "TAHLIA!"

Tahlia quickly jumps out of her bed, hugging her tightly. At the sound of the commotion, everyone quickly runs back into the room, Dr Whale nearly fainting, while Regina, Matt, and Aaron smile happily, and Henry, Sandy, and Chloe all struggle to fight for her hug. Pan smiles in the corner.

"How? What?" Chloe asks in shock, smiling for what feels like the first time in forever.

"Her heart had stopped, but her blood was still pumping, I don't know how..." Elizabeth trails off.

"Izzy," Peter suddenly says, "she knew the cure all along, Tahlia wasn't dead, just momentarily changed!"

"That genius," Henry laughs.

"Speaking of which, I need to go see her," Tahlia decides.

"Yeah, she wanted you to see her when you woke up," Sandy says.

"But before you do that, you need to go see your family," Elizabeth says sternly.

Tahlia laughs, "of course, but first I need to talk to Peter... alone."