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“Shh, your mother will be back in a moment,” he explained with a fearful expression.

Regina walked into the room with a tray of tea, “she’s five months old, she doesn’t understand you,” she sighed as she put the tray on the coffee table and bent down to her daughter. She adjusted the blanked and gently stroked her face with the back of her hand while Gold sat down and served himself a cup of hot tea and then began to do the same for Regina.

Once Grace was settling and her eyes started to droop Regina stood up and took a seat opposite Gold, noticing the cup of tea she nodded her thanks.

“Motherhood suits you,” Gold said without a hint of malice.

“Thank you,” Regina smiled as she stole glances at the Grace, “she had filled a hole in my life.”

“And you hers,” Gold pointed out, “dare I say that you have your happy ending?”

Regina smiled sincerely, “I think I do, thank you, Rumple.”

“Oh that’s quite alright, Dearie,” Gold responded, “I was just in fear for my life when I agreed to help you.”

Regina shrugged, “I like results.”

“Is the potion working?” Gold got straight to the point.

“Yes, so far,” Regina nodded.

“You have enough for the next three months,” Gold commented as he indicated a large box in the hallway, “after that you will either not require the brew or you will have learnt to create it yourself.”

Regina nodded, “I had a visit this morning from Snow and Charming,” she began as she sipped her tea.

“Oh?” Gold remarked, “here to save the wee girl from the Evil Queen?”

“I thought so,” Regina admitted, “but they.. gave me a card.. wished me all the best.”

“I did notice a monstrosity on your hall table,” Gold nodded, “very Snow White.”

“I don’t know why I kept it,” Regina admitted.

Gold smirked as he sipped his tea.

“Out with it,” Regina rolled her eyes.

Gold chuckled, softly, as he noticed Grace was now sleeping, “it’s a peace offering, albeit a hideous one, that you have agreed to allow adorn your hallway. Is the fighting nearly over?”

Regina bristled at the possibility that her hatred for Snow might be in anyway dissipating, “no.”

Gold shrugged, “as you wish, just remember,” Gold swung his cane to point at Grace, “she has to grow up here. You may be content to live in a silo but she won’t be, I would advise you accept any peace offering that comes your way.”

He lowered his cane again, “Storybrooke is changing, Regina, the simpleton residents of this town have relatively short memories. The curse was instigated to allow you have your happy ending, the problem was, at the time, you were so consumed with rage and a desire for vengeance that you wouldn’t have correctly identified your happy ending if it smacked you in the face.”

He ignored Regina’s icy stare, “maybe you were wrong. Maybe vengeance, death and misery aren’t going to make you happy. You seem happy with Grace, maybe peace suits you.”

“Did you come here to convince me to forgive Snow White?” Regina bit out angrily.

“No, I came here to deliver the potion, as per your request,” Gold said as he finished his tea and placed the cup back on the table, “consider the rest some free advice.”

He stood up and looked down at Grace who was sleeping happily smiled before pointing towards the front door, “I’ll see myself out.”

As he left Regina took a deep breath and released it again. She heard the click of the front door and shook her head, things were changing in Storybrooke, people were treating her differently and she had to admit that she was enjoying the respite from the fighting.

The sound of the front door knocker shook her from her thoughts and, with a quick glance to a still-sleeping Grace, she quickly moved to the hallway and down the steps to open the door.

“Henry,” she breathed when she saw him standing on the porch with his hands in his pockets and that determined look on his face.

“I’ve been really angry at you,” he disclosed, “for a long time.”

Regina opened her mouth to speak but Henry got there first, “but I shouldn’t have run away like I did. I..” he stammered, “I get that I’m too late to fix what I did.”

“Oh, Henry,” Regina breathed.

Henry released one hand from a pocked and held it in front of him so she allowed him to continue, “I’m having a hard time understanding my feelings about what you did.. I’m trying to figure everything out but I know you were a great Mom and..” he took a breath to steady himself, “and.. I just want to say I’m sorry and give you this..”

He took the other hand out of his deep duffle coat pocket and stepped forward as he handed Regina a green crocodile cuddly toy.

Regina took the toy and smiled, “I didn’t know you still had Snapper..”

“I want Grace to have it,” he declared, “I mean.. I dunno if she’ll like crocodiles.. she might prefer bunnies or something but..”

“She’ll love it, thank you, Henry,” Regina looked at him with a small smile, “I take it Emma doesn’t know you’ve come here?”

Henry look down at the ground and shook his head.