"Haven't you always wanted to know who your soulmate is?" Mary Margaret pestered Emma for the hundredth time. Having grown up in the Enchanted Forest, she just couldn't understand Emma's lack of interest in finding the one. After all, Mary Margaret had met her Prince Charming when she was barely of age, but Emma…Emma was nearing thirty. She was going to give her daughter a little push, whether she wanted it or not.
"No. For the millionth time. I have Henry to think about. I can't go gallivanting around on some quest to find my soulmate, and even if I could, I don't want to. I'm happy being single," Emma insisted. "The world doesn't revolve around two people falling in love."
As Emma said the word 'love', Nova materialized in the tiny loft. Her hair was intricately braided, and her wings sparkled, and she looked more like a fairy than Emma had ever seen her. Emma eyed the wand in her hand warily, unsure what to make of it.
With her eyes sparkling, Mary Margaret clapped her hands, "Emma, do you know what this means?"
"No?"
"You have a fairy godmother!" Mary Margaret burst out, unable to contain her excitement. "And dear, sweet, Nova will surely help you find your soulmate."
"I have a fairy godmother?" Emma repeated, letting her mother's words sink in. "Wait, Nova…I was just telling Mary Margaret that I'm happy being single…"
"And you don't want to find your soulmate," Nova continued, knowing her charge well. "Posh, everyone wants to find their soulmate, and yours, my dear, is closer than you think."
"Really?" Emma said doubtfully. "Even if I thought you could identify my soulmate, the whole idea of a fairy telling me who to spend the rest of my life with makes my skin crawl."
Used to disbelievers, Nova looked at her charge with kindness in her eyes, "You, Emma Swan, are looking for an equal. Someone who both challenges you and listens to you. Someone who is extremely loyal and will never abandon you in your time of need. Someone who doesn't expect you to be girly just to please them. And someone who loves children, seeing as how you have one."
"You forgot the most important thing: someone who I choose. So much of my life has been dictated by fate, and I just don't want my love life to be arranged by anyone but myself," Emma insisted. Sometimes the antiquated ideas of Enchanted Forest-style romance just irked her.
"Ah, my dear, we always have a choice. Defying Fate, however, comes with great cost, and sometimes, we ourselves are not the ones to pay the price," Nova warned. "One day I will sit with you and tell you the story of how a fairy defied fate and fell in love with a dwarf."
Eyebrows raised, Emma inquired, "A fairy and a dwarf?"
"For now, I believe you should know who Fate has chosen, so that you can make a clear choice. If, my charge, you are truly displeased with your soulmate, we can petition the fairies to sever the connection," Nova continued.
"You would do that?" Emma asked.
"Of course, I would. Your happiness is extremely important to me," Nova gushed, putting a ring on Emma's finger. She waved her wand, and the ring began to sparkle. "Now, this ring will begin to glow when you and your soulmate are alone. Don't even try to take it off—it's enchanted."
Emma was naturally already trying to push the ring off her finger and failing miserably. Stupid fairies and their meddling. Two can play this game, she thought to herself. All she had to do was make sure she wasn't alone with anyone besides Henry, and she wouldn't have to worry about it….or so she thought.
As it happened, Fate wasn't too fond of being ignored. A week had gone by, and Emma had begun to forget about the annoying ring stuck to her finger. She was sitting outside the mansion and honking the horn because Henry hadn't appeared yet, and she had to take him to a Charming family dinner. Not that Regina wasn't invited, but Regina in the same room as her parents usually generated World War III, and Emma playing peacemaker in the middle. She cursed and turned the car off, walking up the way and knocking on the door before putting her hands in their comfortable position in her back pockets.
Moments later, Regina, immaculately dressed as always, opened the door and motioned for her to enter, "Come in. Henry should be back any second. He had a group project he had to stay after school for, but I gave him a firm deadline of 4 o'clock. Would you like something to drink while you wait?"
To be fair, if anyone else in Storybrooke had offered Emma a drink, she likely would have said no, but she found her mouth forming the word 'yes' instead. Regina's apple cider was literally fruit from the heavens, and if she were perfectly honest with herself, she did have a bit of a craving.
With Emma following, Regina moved to the kitchen and began pouring a glass of her famous apple cider. Regina asked, "How late do you think this dinner will last?"
Reaching for the glass of cider, Emma answered, "I believe we should be done in time to bring Henry back for bedtime….um, Regina, do I have something on my teeth? You keep looking at me funny."
"Sherriff Swan, are you aware your ring is glowing? Magic isn't something to be played with lightly," Regina continued to stare at the ring, trying to detect the type of spell put on it.
Emma's face paled, "I…uh…it's glowing?"
"Yes, now let me see it, so I can identify the spell," Regina took Emma's hand in her own, placing the beverage down on the table. Glancing a little closer, she murmured, "This doesn't have your magical signature."
"Um, Regina, it's ok…really," Emma babbled, her fight or flight tendencies beginning to take effect.
Regina's eyes narrowed, "What aren't you telling me?"
"Um, ok. There's really no easy way to say this, is there? See, Mary Margaret was pestering me again, and then Nova appeared…"
Regina prompted, "The fairy?"
"Yes, and gave me this whole speech about Fate and my soulmate, and I told her I didn't want a soulmate—I wanted a choice," Emma continued.
"Just cut to the chase already," Regina said impatiently, tapping her foot.
"It would appear, you and I are…are…."
"Soulmates?"
Emma nodded fiercely, "Yes."
Regina shook her head, "That's impossible."
"She said we could change it if we wanted. Petition the fairies," Emma offered.
"Do you want to…change it?" Regina asked hesitantly.
"I don't know. Do you?"
"I don't know," Regina answered. "My whole life, all I've heard about is True Love and Soulmates, and how I didn't deserve any of that because it was my destiny to be evil."
"You aren't evil," Emma insisted. "I know I've called you evil and a sociopath when I was angry, but I know you're not. In the past 30 years, you could have killed my mother any number of times, but you didn't. You just wanted what everyone wants—to be happy."
"I couldn't be happy there," Regina said wistfully. "You wouldn't have been happy there either. Being royalty isn't all it's cracked up to be."
"I know that. I had to read about the Middle Ages in school," Emma shudders. "That's why I was so scared about having my soulmate 'chosen' for me by Fate. I didn't want to feel like I was being sold off in exchange for cattle."
"I wouldn't let that happen. People fear me, you know," Regina smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
Emma laughed, "I'm well aware. You are also the only one who doesn't think my parents walk on water."
At this moment, they both heard the door pushed open and little feet running toward them, "Mom! I'm so sorry I'm late! Hi, Emma!"
"It's alright, Henry, your mom and I had a chance to talk," Regina winked at Emma. "How would you like it if Emma joined us for dinner tomorrow?"
Henry thought for a moment and countered, "Can we have lasagna?"
"I suppose," Regina agreed, mentally going through her cupboard and whether she would have to shop for any ingredients.
"Yeah, Emma coming over would be awesome," Henry grinned.
"You totally get that from your mother," Regina smiled.
Emma looked up, "What?"
Regina grinned back, "This lackadaisical attitude that everything is wonderful provided there is food in your belly."
"You know what they say, the path to a woman's heart is through her stomach," Emma patted her own tummy affectionately.
"Hey, kid in the room," Henry reminded them both. "Emma, we have to go. We're going to be late."
Emma took a deep breath, "Regina, would you like to join us?"
"I would, but I had a long day at work, and your mother's cheeriness would get to me," Regina admitted. "Have Henry back by bedtime, and be here tomorrow at 5 pm sharp."
Surprised by how easily domestic the two of them sounded, Emma smirked, "Yes, dear."
No sooner were they in Emma's bug than Henry began hounding Emma over her 'odd' behavior, and Emma didn't want to answer his questions because she really didn't have the answers to his questions. Not yet. The whole idea of having a soulmate and that soulmate being Regina was a little overwhelming. How would she explain to her mother that Fate had decided to pair her with her mother's worst enemy? She should be outraged on her mother's behalf, but she wasn't. The weirdest part was that she was a little bit happy that her soulmate was Regina and not some random person with whom she had nothing in common and didn't find attractive. Still, it was new, and neither of them had decided if they wanted to pursue a relationship or petition the fairies, and the last thing they needed was interference from 'well meaning' family members until they made their decision.