When Regina swung open her front door to find a strange child on her doorstep her first thought was that Emma apparently had another child who'd come to find her. The girl, who couldn't possibly have been more than 11 or 12 years old, bore such a striking resemblance to both Emma and Henry, from her hazel eyes to her silky brown hair just a hint more mahogany than Henry's as it felt in soft curls around her shoulders, that there simply didn't seem to be any other logical explanation then that she was indeed Emma's long lost daughter. As the child looked up at her, her face stuck somewhere between terrified and hopeful, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her black jeans and causing her shoulders to rise in an almost shrug, Regina found she could predict what she was about to say even before the simple little word fell from the child's lips with a tilted smile.
"Hi." The girl's voice was so very young and yet it held a deeper cadence than Emma's even with its upward lilt as if her greeting was really more of a question. It took more than a few seconds for Regina to remember that a response was customary and that proved enough time for the little girl's cheeks to turn bright red and her head to fall, eyes fixated on her own shoes.
"Hi." It was not at all what she intended to say, not the firm question of 'What are you doing here?' or 'Where are your parents?' that she meant to ask, but it was all she seemed able to manage. It did appear to be enough for the child who once again looked up at her, this time with more excitement on her face, as she rocked forward on the balls of her feet, pulling her hands from her pockets and rubbing them down the front of her thighs as if wiping off nerve induced sweat.
"Um, I'm, uh, I'm sorry to disturb you Gr-uh-M'am, but, are you Regina Mills?"
Regina scowled, crossing her arms over her chest as she attempted to read this child, sort out what a slightly tanner, brown haired, tiny version of Emma Swan could possibly be doing on her doorstep inquiring about who she was.
"Yes, I'm Regina Mills."
"Yes!" The little girl pumped her fist in the air, suddenly celebratory, before thinking better of her actions and quickly becoming more serious again.
"And who might I ask are you?" Despite her natural suspicions Regina couldn't help but find this child endearing, her eerie resemblance to a woman she would grudgingly admit was her best friend was tugging at her heart, and she had always had a soft spot for children.
"My name is Lexie, nice to meet you." A small hand presented itself to her, waiting eagerly for Regina to reach out and take it, and so she did only to be met with a surprisingly strong and confident handshake. Regina bent down, bringing herself to eye level with the child and patting the top of the hand still held in her own.
"That is a very nice handshake you have there young lady. You know, a steady handshake shows you respect the other person but more importantly-"
"That you respect yourself just as much!" Lexie cut her off, finishing her thought with a mischievous twinkle in her eye and causing Regina to pull back in surprise, again regarding her with suspicion.
"So, Lexie, where are your parents? Did you need help finding them?" The crestfallen look that took over Lexie's features made it clear that something about her question was terribly upsetting for the child and Regina instantly felt horribly guilty.
"They're, um...they're gone."
"Gone?" Regina's tone was softer now, kinder and much calmer than she felt as she reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind Lexie's ear. "What do you mean gone?" As far as she knew no recent major crimes had taken place in Storybrooke, they appeared to be in a bit of a calm period after finally defeating the Black Fairy and getting through Emma and Hook's "fairytale" wedding, and she was fairly certain that if a family had gone missing and/or abandoned a little girl she would have heard about it. When Lexie's face only crumbled further and she burst into tears Regina felt her guilt over having upset the child increase tenfold and the next thing she knew she was hauling the girl into her arms and cradling her to her chest, her hand stroking gently through her hair as she murmured quiet words of comfort.
"My-my-my mom died." Lexie stuttered around tears.
"And your father?"
"I don't know, I never knew him."
Once again Regina found herself wondering about the similarities between this child and Emma, and upon hearing this story she realized that it was possible that her mother being "dead" was nothing more than a story she'd been told to explain having been given up as an infant. Her heart ached and she was beginning to get irrationally angry at Emma. Had Emma given up a second child? Had she have found herself pregnant and in no position to raise a kid again, even after what she'd been through with Henry? Had her story about giving Henry up for his own good, for his best chance, been nothing more than a fib, something to make what might be a pattern of behavior excusable? And, most importantly, if all of this were true, how could Emma have lied to her for so many years? How could she have hidden something so important?
"Honey, when did your mother die?" Regina hated to ask, but she had to find a way to put together the pieces of this confusing story.
"When I was 5."
"What was her name? Did you know her? Did she raise you?"
"Yeah, it was just my mom and me for a long time. Her name was Evelyn." Lexie sniffed, wiping her dribbling nose with the sleeve of her flannel shirt in a move that made Regina wince.
"Sweetheart, if it was just the two of you, where have you been living since she died?" Regina could see a hesitance in Lexie's eyes, as if she wasn't sure whether she should answer even though she obviously want very badly to say something. The girl's eyes danced across Regina's face for a minute, then two, looking for something though she couldn't be sure what. Finally, and with a big sigh, she responded.
"With my Grandmothers."
"Grandmothers?"
"Mmhmm." The little girl nodded, pulling back from Regina's hold and wiping her eyes with the back of her hands, rubbing at them as if trying to force the rest of her tears back inside. When she finished, her eyes locked with Regina's and the look in them was so intense that she had to fight to keep from breaking eye contact and pulling away. There was a sinking feel in her gut as she noticed for the first time that she could feel magic coming off of this child, surrounding every inch of her small frame. She'd always prided herself on her instincts and they were screaming at her, a voice in the back of her head warning her that she wasn't going to like the answer to the next question she planned to ask even as she felt the words forcing their way out of her mouth.
"And who are your Grandmothers?"
Lexie's hand rose, cupping Regina's cheek as a sad, small, knowing smile far beyond her years spread across her small lips.
"You are, Gramma. You and Gran. You found me and brought me home when Mom died." Fingers smoothed along her cheek as if marveling at the feel of her skin, new and familiar all at once.
"Gran?" Regina felt the word get stuck in her throat, coming out broken and with an undignified squeak.
"Grannie Emma." Lexie's tone was matter-of-fact, as if what she'd said was the most obvious thing in the world. Regina's heart seized, fumbled its beat and stuttered as a choked breath scratched its way into her lungs. Of course, the implication she was reading into Lexie's words could be wrong, could be completely off-base. As co-parents to Henry it made sense that they would be linked for the foreseeable future, but what would the two of them be doing raising a grandchild together, living with this grandchild unless Lexie's now deceased mother was, in fact, a child they had raised together. But then again, it was possible that her mother had been Henry's wife, or girlfriend, or what-have-you, and Henry was the father Lexie had never known. That would explain why she and Emma would look after the girl upon the death of the only biological parent involved in her life, but, though that explanation might make much more sense than the idea that she and Emma were a couple of some sort, were an actual family, she just could not-would not-believe that Henry would ever abandon a child by choice. Maybe, just maybe, Henry had grown up to make a foolish mistake at an age too young to feel ready for a child (though she hoped with her whole heart that this never happened), or perhaps he would find himself in a relationship that didn't work out and the child would end up with its mother. This was all possible, but something about the way Lexie was looking at her told her none of it was true. As she watched, Lexie's brow furrowed in worry, the expression disturbingly similar to one of her own.
"Gramma I'm sorry, you told me not to come here, but I had to." Lexie looked on the verge of bursting into tears again, her worry and distress vividly displayed in every bit of her body language. Before she could figure out what to say to reassure the little girl, Lexie's gaze jumped over Regina's left shoulder and her entire face lit up. "Gran!" she shrieked, pulling out of Regina's grasp and running full-speed through the doorway and across the entryway before throwing herself into the very surprised arms of one Emma Swan who, it would seem, had just arrived in Regina's foyer in a rapidly fading cloud of grayish-white smoke.
"Hey, uh, kid." Emma hesitantly wrapped her arms around the child returning her hug with far less enthusiasm, her eyes locking with Regina's and giving her a look that said 'What the hell is going on here?' to which Regina responded with a shrug of her shoulders as she moved into the house and shut the door behind her.
"Emma this is Lexie." Regina gestured to the little girl whose grip on Emma's waist was so tight it was nearly painful and the kid turned and stared up at her.
Emma was taken aback as she took in the kid's features, the hair that reminded her of Regina's when it was long except a bit lighter and with more wave and less natural curl (she'd discovered Regina's hair was, in its normal state, abundantly curly after one late night drinking session that resulted in the two of them soaking wet after Emma attempted to poof them both home and ended up dumping them in the harbor by accident). The kid's nose was 100% the other woman's, the intensity in her expression so very much like Henry's when he was young and shouting about true love and fairytales being real, and something about the cocky grin she was giving her reminded her immensely of Neal. Regina's voice pulled her back out of her thoughts as she continued with her introduction.
"According to Lexie, we are her grandmothers and she is, I'm assuming, from the future. Our future." Regina looked to Lexie for confirmation of this, which she got in the form of an exaggerated nod.
"We? Our? Grandmothers?" Emma's brain was short circuiting, and it only got worse when almost identical chuckles spilled forth from the kid in her arms and the woman standing before her, both finding her stuttering shock amusing.
"Yes, Gran! I'm from your future, you and Grammie's." The 'duh' at the end of Lexie's sentence was unspoken but clearly heard. Emma rolled her eyes, putting her arms on the kid's shoulders and pushing her back so she could get a better look at her.
"So what are you? Henry's kid?"
"Nope."
"No?" Emma and Regina spoke simultaneously.
"Kid," At Lexie's scowl Emma amended, "Lexie, if you're our grandkid but you're not Henry's kid, whose kid are you?"
"Your daughter's!" Lexie was practically vibrating with excitement and Regina was only a little surprised to see that the smaller objects scattered around her foyer were vibrating right along with her. 'Magic.' she thought, remembering the way should could feel it all over the child when they were closer. Apparently it wasn't just all over her but inside of her, a part of her, which if she were being truthful about her lineage did make perfect sense.
"Our what?" Emma's mind was reeling. She had literally just returned from her honeymoon with her husband, the man who loved her (and who she loved, because of course she did...right?), but here was a child claiming to not only be from her future but to be the daughter of a child that apparently belonged to herself and Regina. "I mean...how?"
"How? Really dear?" Though Regina felt nearly as perplexed and thrown off balance by all of this new information as Emma did she couldn't help but take a slight bit of pleasure in Emma's confusion and obvious discomfort. Between them Lexie giggled, pulling herself back to stand so she could look at them both, mimicking Regina's posture and placing her hands on her hips, looking at Emma like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Magic." The way she moved her head as she spoke screamed attitude, screamed Henry when he was being particularly entitled.
"Alright honey, say we believe you. How exactly did you manage to get here? Time travel is extremely difficult and complicated." Regina couldn't help but be hung up on this one issue, the simple fact that time travel, especially like this, was nearly unheard of and the idea that a child could have done it herself was astonishing.
"I dunno." Lexie shrugged. "Mom always said my magic was special. She said because I was the product of true love, and she was the product of true love, and Gran was the product of true love, combined with you and Gran's magic, that I can do things other people can't do." As she spoke Lexie had ticked off the generations of true love on her fingers, her nose scrunching in an ever-so-Regina-like way as she focused on getting the facts right.
While Regina was caught up in sorting through the complexities of magic, Emma had gotten stuck back on the statement that this kid's mom, the kid that was apparently hers and Regina's, was also the product of true love.
"Wait-so you're saying that your...Gramma...and I are...true loves?" Emma was fairly certainly that her jaw was on the floor but she couldn't seem to close her mouth as she gaped at the child who remained grinning up at her. Regina was hanging on to her composure slightly better, however Emma could see the cracks in her facade, was an expert at doing just that after years of learning to read Regina's tells. When Lexie approached them both, taking one of Emma's hands in one of her own and one of Regina's in the other and tugging them closer together she had a look of such seriousness on her face, one that would allow absolutely no arguments, that there was no denying she was their granddaughter, and one they had both had quite a hand in raising.
"Gran, Gram, I'm really sorry I disobeyed you and came here. I'm sorry I used my powers and I know I'm not supposed to change the past, but I had to."
"Why?" Regina's voice was hushed and laced with tension and Emma spared her a sidelong glance, wondering what this would mean for the two of them, wondering how Regina felt about what they were learning.
"Because," Lexie pulled them even closer, causing both of them to bend slightly at their waists so their heads came together like the three of them were whispering precious secrets in eachother's ears, "your family needs you."
Emma spluttered out an anxious laugh, that phrase an exact replica of the one Henry had said to her when he'd showed up on her doorstep in much the same way (minus the time travel) years before. She knew what those words meant. She knew that what followed them would turn her whole world upside-down and make her realize that everything she thought she knew was not as it seemed. She felt Regina reach out and grab the hand not held by Lexie, her fingers sliding through Emma's and squeezing.
"You have to help me. We can save my mom, but we have to do it now. I didn't know it before, when I was little, but I found her book and I found out what she knew and where it all went wrong. Please, you have to believe me!"
"Oh honey," Regina's hand freed itself from Lexie's grip and found its way to her once again red and teary face, cupping it tenderly as she spared a quick glance to Emma who nodded once, "of course we'll help you."
"That's right kid," Emma squeezed the small hand holding her own in reassurance, "we'll do everything we can to save your mom. I mean, as you might have heard, I'm kind of the Savior, and that means that saving people is literally my job."
Neither Emma nor Regina knew why they trusted this child without question, knew why they could each tell without a second guess that her words were true. Maybe it was the way she looked and acted like she was absolutely a member of their strange, mismatched, cobbled together Swan-Mills family, maybe it was the way they could each feel their magic reaching out to and recognizing hers. What they did know, deep down in their hearts, was that she was a part of them, without a doubt, and that meant that her mother was their daughter. They may not know their child, this Evelyn, yet, may not have even known she was a possibility or that she was wanted, but if there was one thing the two of them would never, ever allow it was for someone to hurt their children, not if there was anything they could do to stop it. For just a moment, just a beat, Regina moved her focus from Lexie to Emma, squeezing the woman's hand again and drawing her attention. Emma's eyes told her how scared she was, how uncertain and anxious, but they also showed her fiery determination sparking deep within and fighting to the surface.
"Are you sure Emma?"
"Yeah. You?"
"It would seem we don't have much of a choice."
"There's always a choice Regina, the question is if this is one we're ready to make."
Silence fell again, Lexie's presence fading to the background as the two women studied one another. Regina tugged the corner of her bottom lip into her mouth and bit it, Emma gave a small shrug and tight lipped yet hopeful smile. Finally, and after a curt nod from Regina who then drew herself back up to standing and straightened her tailored suit jacket, Emma reached out and pulled Lexie to her side, an arm wrapping around her shoulders as Lexie's came up around her waist.
"We got this kid."
The grin, bright and beaming, that spread across Lexie's face was so Emma, so Regina, so Henry (and even and little bit Snow and Charming and Neal and Gold and yes, even Cora) that, if there had been any doubt whose family she belonged in, it would have vanished that instant.
"Ok," She started, a seriousness far beyond her years taking over for her childish grin, "this is what we have to do."