I know you can hate me! I should have definitely worked on any of my other stories but after the promo pics this story happened and usually when somehing happens inside my head I can't help it and have to write it down else it's gonna bug me.
Buttt there will be an update on Jane and Emma's big plan tomorrow since I actually have the next chapter almost finished.
Anyways, there are some mentions of child abuse in here and though this probably isn't going to happen like this on the show I have to warn you SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 EPISODE 1.
Anyways, I always love your reviews so much and I have to work tomorrow so if you could send me some awesome reviews I might actually make it through the day tomorrow.
OW AND BTW. I FORGOT GOLD WAS EVEN ON THE GODDAMN SHIP BUT HE ALSO WASN'T ON THE PROMO PICS SO HE'S NOT IN THIS STORY AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE AN EXCUSE WHY SO JUST FORGET ABOUT HIM FOR NOW.
xxxx
Emma Swan stood on the deck of the ship that was taking them to Neverland, to her son. It felt like standing there was the only place she felt somewhat alone which is what she needed sometimes. Being alone all through her life had never been easy, but she had learned to live with it and now she sometimes needed that time. It was so strange to suddenly have so many people around her – and have them all wanting something – that she sometimes needed an outlet. This time though, something else stole her attention from the water.
Someone was coughing on the other side of the deck and Emma's head quickly snapped sideways and her eyes focused on the Mayor and her parents. She groaned immediately at the sight of the situation. Regina was leaning over and looking paler than Emma had ever seen her. Snow was talking to her and her hand was on Regina's back, soothing it gently. Charming was on her other side holding a glass of water for her and also saying things to her that Emma couldn't hear. She turned around, in search for help but it seemed like she was on her own here. Well.. that sucks. Knowing she probably did have to do something before Regina was going to kill herself she forced herself away from her safe spot and walked towards the three people who were bickering she now heard.
" What's going on?" Emma asked and immediately her mother's eyes moved from Regina to her and Emma could practically see the relieve brush over her face. Her hands moved from the brunette's back to her sides again and she tapped Charming's shoulder, making him focus on his daughter too.
" Emma." He breathed, his face almost as pale as Regina's.
"Is she okay?" Emma asked, her eyes still on her mother but her hand pointing at the Mayor.
Snow opened her mouth to respond but movement from Regina stopped her immediately. The brunette held up her hand towards Emma and coughed a couple of times. "I'm fine."
" You don't sound fine." Was Emma's immediate response as she shifted a bit, trying to see Regina's face which was difficult since she was still leaning over.
" I'm just a little seasick."
" Okay… so can I get you anything." Regina placed her hands on the railing and slowly forced herself up and around, allowing Emma to see how bad she was really feeling. She looked in the blonde's eyes, to her parents and back. It seemed like Emma got the hint as she nodded slightly and turned to her parents.
" Will you guys please leave us alone for a little while?" The blonde asked and Charming nodded right away. Luckily for both woman he took Snow's arm before she could start to protest.
Once they had finally disappeared into their room Emma turned around again, surprised to see Regina already struggling to hold herself up.
"Whoa easy there." She said as she took hold of the brunette's arm and eased her down gently.
" You should have told me before." Emma said after a few minutes of awkward silence.
" Why? So you had a reason to stop me from coming?" Regina snapped back and Emma had to admit she was a little surprised of how well the woman could keep that attitude in these circumstances.
"You know that's not what I meant." She responded softly as she turned her head slowly and looked at the fierce brunette sitting next to her.
" So what did you mean, Miss Swan?"
" You should have told me earlier because I could have kept an eye on you, or help soothe the pain or anything, I know some things."
Regina rolled her eyes. " Did mommy Snow finally get the chance to sing to her daughter and kiss her pain away?"
Regina knew she shouldn't have said it the minute those words left her mouth. Emma's eyes turned dark and her smiled disappeared from her face. She seemed like the old Emma, the one that had nobody. The blonde moved and Regina realized she was walking away, and of course who could blame her for that.
" Wait no!" She sat a little louder as she grabbed Emma's hand. " Emma, I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean it, I was just.. I was in pain. I'm sorry."
They stared at each other for a few minutes before Emma finally gave in and sat back again, she didn't seem willing to bring soothing up again, even though Regina felt like that was all she wanted right now.
"So… what kind of trick did you know?" She asked carefully. She didn't even know where this was coming from, of course she had always felt like there was something between her and Emma but she had never felt like acting on it. Not until their little trip started. Being around Emma all the time was hard, especially if that person also annoys you so much. But right now all she wanted was whatever Emma could give her.
The blonde's eyes shifted to hers and Emma recognized the true emotion there. Regina's wasn't playing any games, she wasn't teasing her. She truly wanted her help.
" You sure?" Emma asked kind of awkward and Regina nodded.
"As long as it does not involve you and magic because I would really like to live past this day, dear."
Emma chuckled – nervously, Regina noticed – and pushed herself up. " Well okay than your majesty. Please follow me."
" Why am I laying down for this?" Regina asked as her head hit the pillow.
The sheriff rolled her eyes. "It just works better that way, stop asking so many questions."
" Why? Am I making you nervous?" She smirked and this time the teasing was practically dripping from her lips but it was different. It was good.
" No." She said but the slight hitch in her voice gave her away and Regina laughed, really laughed. But before Emma really got a chance to really enjoy the sound of it, Regina hissed and placed a hand on her forehead. Emma's smile made place for a worried frown.
" I think we better start." She said, her eyes focused on the woman's face.
Slowly but carefully she placed both the side of Regina's face, forcing the Mayor's own hands away. " Okay, just relax and close your eyes."
Regina closed her eyes but Emma still wasn't satisfied. " Seriously Regina. Relax. I can feel how tense you are."
The brunette opened her eyes to shoot her an eye roll but when Emma just glared back at her she forced herself to let go a little and breathed out deeply. " See? That's better!" Emma said happily.
She started rubbing soothing circles on the woman's temples, making sure to use quite a bit of pressure, but not enough to hurt. The longer she went on, the softer the circles started to become as she felt all the tension leave the body underneath her. " One of my good foster mothers did this to me. I think I was around ten and I was going to some stuff. I was always tense and always crying and it gave me these horrible headaches. Whenever I had them she would force me to lay down in my bed and first she's sing to me and then she'd rub these circles here and it would always calm me and then she'd.." Suddenly Emma stopped which caused Regina to open up her eyes.
She had actually found Emma's story quite interesting. She didn't know much about Emma's past, beside for the fact that it was lonely and dark but this good to hear.
" She would do what?" Regina pushed as she watched the shadows cross Emma's face.
"It's nothing."
" Tell me anyways." Regina said softly, wondering where in the hell this kept coming from. She was sure it had something to do with these circles on her temples making her feel so sleepy.
" She'd give me a kiss on each temple. At first it would make me feel so loved and welcome but then.. the dad he uh.. he uhm.. started to like.."
" He took advantage of you." Regina finished for her and Emma slowly nodded.
" Yeah." She took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm because this was definitely not how she'd wanted this to go. " And his kisses felt exactly the same as hers but there was no love, there was only his wet desperate mouth finding mine and then every time when she did it again, that was all I could feel, It never felt like love again."
One week later.
" Henry!" Regina screamed towards the water as she ran towards the railing. All people on the ship immediately ran towards the screaming woman and looked at what she was pointing at in the water.
Emma's mouth dropped open. "Oh my god." She stuttered.
Finally Snow, Charming and Hook were getting there, she could hear their footsteps approaching.
" I'm going in." Regina said as she shook her blue jacket off.
" What are you crazy woman? Can you even swim?" Emma asked with widened eyes, already starting to climb over the railing herself.
" Miss Swan, get back here this instant." Regina hissed, her eyes still on their son in the water who was now waving at them and screaming both their names.
" No. I'm getting our son back." And with those words Emma Swan jumped off the ship and into the wild ocean. The water felt like being stabbed by a million knifes all at once, it was that cold. She ignored the pain for now and started to swim, which was hard because of the waves.
" No! Emma!" Snow screamed as she stood next to Regina. " What did you do?" She said.
Regina's head snapped back at her. "What are you talking about? Emma is out there saving our son I didn't force her, she wouldn't let me."
Snow shook her head but it was Hook who spoke up. " She's not talking about that sweetheart, she's talking about the fact that that's not Henry." When he saw the frown on Regina's face he continued, "It's a siren. There are a lot of them here in this area. I told you guys about it a couple of days ago but you wouldn't listen."
Regina's eyes widened in shock and she looked back to the water, to Emma who was swimming so fast, right towards her own death trap. "We knew, " Snow said, " because we've had some experience ourselves."
Charming stood up on the railing, mimicking his daughter's earlier movements but instead of going in like that, he attached a rope to his middle and gave the other end to the three others who were still standing there. " Take this. Only pull me back when I have Emma." His eyes shifted to Snow. " And not a minute earlier."
Emma Swan forced herself to not stop swimming. Not until she was there. She was getting closer now, she knew because the screaming were more louder. " Henry I'm coming!" She yelled as she finally closed the distance between them after a few more moments.
" Henry!" she said, wrapping her arms around her son, not caring about going underwater in the process.
" Are you okay?" She asked as she tried to keep him up as much as possible. Her little boy nodded and Emma's eyes shifted towards his eyes, which used to be a perfect replication of hers. But not today. Today they were Regina's.
" Emma!" She heard her father's voice, close enough for Emma to realize he was in the water and something was wrong. "Let him go!"
"Henry?" She asked and the boy nodded and tears left his eyes. Emma felt her own start to come too but she tried to hold them back. It would cost her too much energy and she needed it right now to keep them both from drowning.
" Emma!" Charming said once again and now he was right there, yanking her back. " Let him go, it's not him."
Emma fought her father and swam away from his grip. " No let me go, it's him!"
"No it's not and you know it, the same way I knew my siren wasn't Snow. You can feel it. You just-" he had to stop for a minute to catch his breath, if they didn't get out of this water soon enough something worse than anything that had happened until now might happen. " You just want to believe it is."
Emma turned towards him and that's when her son attacked. He jumped on her back, drowning her immediately and all Charming could do was watch as his daughter went underwater and didn't come up.
" Oh god." Snow said, her hand covering her mouth and tears streaming down her face as she watched what was going on in the water. She turned towards Regina, who seemed to be in some sort of struggle with her own feelings. "You have to do something."
When Regina didn't react Hook poked her softly with his Hook. "Come on. Can't you shoot some magic that will kill it?"
Slowly Regina nodded as she swallowed the mass in her throat back. " So do it!" Hook said, louder this time. " Kill it!"
Regina shook her head. " I won't."
Snow, who seemed to be understanding why the brunette wouldn't grabbed both her shoulders and forced the brunette to look at her. " It's not him, Regina. I know it looks like him but it's not and I can tell you with certainty Emma feels that too."
Regina let the words sink in as she watched the struggle in the water continue, Charming fighting Emma and trying to knock some sense into her.
She lifted her hands but nothing happened. "I can't. I'm sorry. When I use magic my feelings have to stand 100% behind what I'm doing and that's impossible because all I see is my son and I can't kill him."
Snow found that she had nothing to say to that. As much as she wanted to scream at Regina right now she couldn't because she wasn't sure she could have done it. All there was to do was hope that Charming would get her daughter back safely.
Just as it seemed to be getting better, the siren suddenly jumped Emma, forcing her underwater. Charming tried to jump on the boy but it wouldn't work. Emma stayed down.
"No!" Regina suddenly yelled as she pushed her arms forward and purple strings of magic made contact with the siren and it disappeared instantly. She hadn't even noticed that she'd allowed her tears to start falling but as she watched Hook and Snow help Emma back on the ship she noticed her cheeks were wet and her eyes felt like they were stinging a bit.
" Oh Emma, sweetheart. It's okay." Snow said as she held her daughter in her arms. " You did so good. I'm so sorry we couldn't stop you."
Regina watched Emma groan and stir in her mother's arms. She slowly opened her arms and Regina couldn't deny the wave of relieve that warmed her body.
"How are you feeling?" Snow asked as she watched Emma groan again and her hand shot towards her own forehead.
" My head hurts, and I'm so tired." The blonde said as she suddenly turned and coughed up some water.
" She needs to lay down." Regina said and for once everyone agreed with her.
Emma was put down on her own bed in her own room and it took about thirty minutes of waiting before Regina was finally left alone with the blonde, explaining she had some questions about the siren and they all seemed to think it was normal, giving their situation.
Regina took the empty spare bed on the other side of the bunk and shifted it next to Emma. She quickly dropped her body onto it and turned on her side to Emma. " How are you?"
Emma opened her eyes slowly, after realizing it was Regina who was still here and not her mother.
"Fine." She said.
"How are you?" Emma asked her instead of firing back.
Regina's smiled disappeared. "Fine too."
They both knew the other was lying but neither seemed to want to push the subject. They were silent for a few minutes before Emma's loud groan of pain finally broke it and Regina made up her mind. She shifted closer and without hesitating carefully placed her hands on the sides of Emma's face.
The minute Emma felt the hands on the side of her face her eyes shot open. They desperately searched for Regina's in panic but it faded immediately when she caught the calm look in them. " Just close your eyes." Regina whispered back and Emma obeyed.
They Mayor's fingers started their soothing circles and after some tense moments Emma finally felt the tension and the pain leave her body. A small, and sleepy, smile formed on her lips.
"How does that feel?" The brunette asked as her fingers stopped.
"Good. Really good." Emma responded, her eyes still closed.
There was another silence until Emma felt Regina's lips on her temple all of the sudden. Her body flinched and tensed up again but only for a split second because when Regina placed the second kiss on the other side of her head she realized these kisses were nothing like the kisses the Jackson family's kisses had felt. They were so soft and dry and… loving. Not the way a mother loves her child but the way she always imagined true love would feel like. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared into Regina's dark ones before shifting them to her lips.
The brunette seemed to get the hint as she carefully placed her lips against Emma's and the blonde realized that if she would get loved like this every time something happened, she was definitely going to become a lot more clumsy from now on.
I hope you all enjoyed it! :)