Broken

Excruciating

Regina

I finally returned to the hospital after my husband and Daniel begged for me to go home to get some decent sleep, but being almost eight and a half months pregnant made it impossible for that to happen no matter where I slept.

I slowly walked in and made my way to the psych ward where I saw Daniel chatting with our daughter, the scene making me smile since he wanted to spend some time with her.

"Good morning my love, how are both of you?" Robin asked, meeting me in the lobby to retrieve the bagel that I had brought him from home. "Sore, worried, stressed, being eight and a half months pregnant is exhausting, I feel gigantic and I couldn't put my shoes on this morning! I just want this baby to be out of me! I'm so tired of being pregnant and my due date is two weeks away!" I began to cry, wrapping my arms around myself.

"I know babe, but you've made such a nice home for her this whole time, and you're beautiful, but I'm sorry that you're sore today, I can rub your back if you want?" He offered, already pressing his fist into my lower back. "Thank you, but I actually need you to stay with Roland, because Daniel and I need to talk to Alena, it's her birthday and Daniel doesn't even know." I said sadly, recalling the day where I sent my daughter, along with a piece of my heart away.

"Are you okay?" Robin asked, clearly understanding that, I sniffled uneasily and rubbed my stomach where the active baby moved. "I'm nervous, this is the first birthday we've spent with her and look where we're at!" I cried, but he gently took my hands and kissed them. "It will be fine, just talk to her." He soothed, leading me towards the door where my daughter was staying, giving me a nod before kissing me then rushing off.

I quietly entered and listened to both of them conversing with each other and struggled to sit in a chair beside him, feeling his hand on my lower back to help me sink into the uncomfortable seat.

"Good morning mom." Alena said quietly, I smiled and scooted forward in my seat in order to kiss her forehead sweetly. "Happy birthday my love." I said carefully, watching her face drop and stare wistfully into her lap.

"Thanks." She replied, trying not to cry, tearing my heart in half, Daniel and I carefully scooted towards her and gripped her hands to get her attention.

"Tell me the story." She asked, catching both of us off guard with her request. "The story?" I asked, but she nodded and looked up at me with painful eyes. "The story of my birthday and how I got here, I've never heard it." She requested, making me realize that Daniel hadn't heard the story either.

"Okay, well Daniel wasn't there and I was married to the king at the time, and it was very dangerous for me to be pregnant with someone else's baby at the time, so I told the king that you were his, well the day you were born was the day of Snow's birthday party. I went into labor at the party and you were born in the castle pretty quickly, I um- I got to hold you for about two minutes before my mother started to storm the castle, a soldier who was always loyal to me warned me that she was coming to kill us both, so I gave you to him-." I felt my eyes watering up as I recalled the next painful part of that horrible story.

"I gave you this mirror and I sent you with him, then when he took you, my mother found me and took my memories." I finished, biting my lip before looking at both of them, Alena wiped a tear from her cheek and hugged me close, pulling away and cupping my cheeks gently.

"I'm sorry mom, that's awful that we got separated." She admitted, making a sad smile spread on my face. "We're together now, and that's what matters." I assured her, composing myself as Eva walked into the room with a smile.