Chapter Text
So, it's a story. Or rather, it is their story. The one everyone has been wanting to hear about. Well, I am going to tell you everything. Or at least, everything I know.
It was a dark evening when it all started. She was walking back home, alone, after a long day of work, she was tired but also excited to be coming back to her daughter and husband. They were her life and she started to smile while thinking of them. She smiled remembering how difficult it had been at the beginning, how hard they had fought to be able to be called a family, but here they were, happy and a family, finally.
When she arrived in front of the house, she knew something was off. The lights were down, she did not feel that warm feeling that usually filled her when she was standing in front of the door. A bit scared, she entered in her home and that's when she heard it. Their song. The song they had been listening when they received the adoption papers. She could not believe she had forgotten it was today. And she started crying. She was so relieved, and also so happy that her family was alright and happy, she hugged them stronger than she had ever before.
Over dinner, they talked about their day, her daughter telling her about a strange letter she had found that day on her way to school, a letter that was not addressed to anyone but which had a return address. She did not tell what was written in it but she asked whether or not she could answer it. After asking some questions about who seemed to be the expeditor, her and her husband agreed. Their daughter could use a new friend.
And honestly, that is the story I am going to tell.
//
Dad,
I wish you could hear me now, I wish you could be there right next to me. I feel so alone now that you are gone. Please, come back, i don't like it here without you, everything feels empty and bitter. Even mom has lost her bite, she is like a ghost.
I will be better, I promise I will be the daughter you have always dreamed of. I will not fall in love with any other girls, I will find a nice boy, like that Daniel guy you have been constantly telling me about, just so that you come back and stay into my life forever.
Please, Dad, I need you...
Your daughter,
Regina
//
Emma felt so many things while reading this letter and she knew one thing for sure: she would write back to this Regina and convince her that she could be her own person and pull through whatever was going on right now in her life.
Emma began to write, she felt like she knew exactly what to tell this girl. She had never been really good at cheering people up, she was clumsy, never choosing the right words, but she found out that writing down what she wanted to say was much easier.
She had so much to say and yet it seemed like it was never enough. She had felt the deep pain behind these words and she understood it.
//
Dear Regina,
I am not your father (the reference to Star Wars wasn't intentional, but it can be if it made you laugh), but I found your letter and I'm not sure you expected him to read it anyway... May I ask where your dad has gone? Why? You don't have to tell me anything, I just found out recently that talking was much better than keeping eveything inside, and trust me, I really had a lot of things trapped inside.
I'm sorry that your dad wasn't accepting of you liking girls, but you know there is nothing wrong with you, right? Love is love and there is nothing more normal than falling in love with another person. By the way, I like girls too, and I'm a girl too, obviously.
I am just writing back to you because I would like to be your friend, if you'd have me. I'm clumsy and kind of an idiot most of the time, but I have a big heart ready for you. I have been through a lot of things and I'm starting to heal, so I would like to help you heal too. What do you say, Regina? How about a new friend? I'm not sure I'll make your father come back but I might make your smile come back, and I'm sure that'll help your mother's come back too.
Impatiently waiting for your answer (no pressure though!).
Emma
//
Regina had been looking at this letter for 30 minutes. She hadn't been expecting any answer at all, indeed, neither from her father nor from anyone else. It felt good. She felt understood and she realized it had become an unknown feeling to her. She did not know what to do with this precious letter. Should she answer? Or would it look clingy? She was lost but one thing was sure, she would cherish this letter forever.
When she went to sleep that night, she put the letter under her pillow and let the tears fall. They were not tears of sadness, not all of them, but tears of a past that she had finally decided to leave behind and on her face, she drew a smile of determination because she knew her future could look brighter. This Emma might not be aware of it right now, but she had given her a gift: the willingness to start over and to get better, day after day, now that she knew there were good persons in this world. She would do it for her, to show her that she was right to believe in the goodness of people.
And it seemed only fair to Regina that she would write back to Emma just to thank her, just two words, or maybe more, she kind of wanted to know more about this mysteriously wonderful girl...