A/N: I've been working on this since last Sunday's episode during the free time I have before and after work on weekdays. I expect to do this like a chapter per episode aired for this half of season 4 because I'll be using canon events to spur on the less action-y moments that happen between them in this version of 4B. The chapters will show both Emma and Regina and Ursula and Cruella. Sometimes all four will be together and sometimes, like this chapter, the pairs will separate but sort of mirror each other in certain aspects. Enjoy!
Hard to believe it started with a phone call, but stranger things happened all the time. Regina was rightfully hesitant, as was Emma, when Ursula claimed she and Cruella just wanted a second chance and a place to stay. They wanted to redeem themselves, Ursula had explained, just like the former Evil Queen had. It was then Emma knew. The blonde saw it in the other woman's eyes that Regina wanted to give them the same opportunity she was rewarded.
Emma suggested the Snow Queen's scroll and after they ended the call, Regina felt infinitely better about…everything. Except for maybe the hell beast Chernabog that flew around outside in search of the person with the darkest heart. That was thankfully, and kind of beautifully, rectified by teamwork at the town line. Teamwork that included Emma's bug, Regina's magic and attempt at a distraction so at least the younger woman survived, and a plan set successfully in motion out of well-timed instincts. Emma drove straight toward Regina and the town line and slammed on her brakes at the last moment. In an instant Regina ducked and the Chernabog crashed through the barrier and disappeared. They were both safe, Ursula and Cruella waiting impatiently on the other side.
When Emma got out of the car she looked at Regina with awe and Regina sighed with relief just as a small but bright and obvious smile appeared on her face, directed at Emma. And then they threw Cruella and Ursula the scroll after a brief moment. A moment in which Regina surprised even herself when she reached out and touched Emma's shoulder.
Once the other women drove into town, the real fun began whether or not Emma and Regina knew it right away.
Once Rumple had told them of his plan to reunite them with Maleficent, Cruella and Ursula were on their own. He'd suggested the bed and breakfast run by a woman who apparently went by the name Granny even though she was only one person's Granny and not the entire town's. The bed and breakfast was a homey hotel connected to the one diner, but not the only restaurant, in Storybrooke. It was all very quaint and while Ursula didn't seem to care one way or the other, Cruella sneered with distaste at the size and décor of the place. She wished her husband had been better with money. If he had been she'd still have the lifestyle she was always after since they came to the Land without Magic.
One room. Ursula only asked for one room and when Cruella asked why she insisted on sharing a cramped space, the other woman explained, "I don't trust you to be lone in a place you can't stand."
"I don't need looking after, darling."
"Like hell you don't," Ursula argued after she accepted the room key from Granny and started to head upstairs. "You'd probably set fire to this place trying to sanitize your room."
"This place looks like it has fleas and termites. Can you really blame me?"
"Yes."
Cruella scoffed and rolled her eyes as she clomped up the stairs and picked up the ends of her fur coat to keep it from touching the floor. She swiped at it over and over as each stair threatened to dirty her magnificent fur.
Once inside the room, Ursula quickly and easily made herself comfortable while Cruella looked more displeased than ever before.
"Oh relax, Princess," Ursula said when she noticed Cruella's discomfort. "You'll be fine here."
"I most certainly will not," she sniffed.
"Honey, you had sex with that sleazy, decrepit old man. I think you can handle this."
"He was easy," Cruella dismissively said. "He passed out most of the time so all I had to do was explain to him how great he was even though nothing had happened."
"And the other times," Ursula asked with a raised brow.
Cruella gave her a pointed look before answered, "I was on Egyptian cotton sheets with an incredibly high thread count. He was on top of me for less than five minutes. It wasn't horrible."
"Sounds like you didn't get much out of it," Ursula noted as she pulled down the sheets and fluffed up the pillows.
"They have things in this world that are magical in their own right that helped take care of that. I got by just fine. You, on the other hand, look like you haven't been laid in years. Tell me, darling, are you satisfied? Haveyou ever been satisfied since I left?"
Cruella kept plenty of distance between them and stood with a hand on her cocked hip. She grinned across the room at Ursula who had slowed her movements and looked back at Cruella with mostly annoyance but also a bit of a sadness in her eyes.
Cruella didn't tease her any further, but she didn't apologize either. Instead, she went the closet and inspected it thoroughly before she decided it was decent enough to hang her coat in.
Ursula laid out on the bed and rested her back against a pillow set up against the headboard. She was relaxed until she watched Cruella sit down on the other side of the Queen sized bed in the same clothes she'd worn all day. Ursula frowned while Cruella removed her shoes and tried her hardest to be comfortable in a bed that disgusted her. She wasn't very successful, but Ursula never expected her to be.
"I have some clothes in your car, you know," the former Sea Witch mentioned. "You can borrow something to sleep in if you want."
"I'm fine as I am, darling," Cruella insisted and laid down on her side with her back to Ursula.
"Why do you always have to be so stubborn," Ursula tiredly and rhetorically asked as she turned onto her side, shut off the bedside lamp, and settled down under the covers.
Both women were wide awake as they laid in the dark with their backs to each other. Neither of them was able to sleep until exhaustion from the day's hectic events overwhelmed them.
Just as Ursula felt herself drifting off, Cruella spoke up in a low, gravelly voice.
"Who do you think that blonde is?"
"What blonde?"
"The one next to Regina at the town line. You think she's important?"
"Well, the only other people there were all pretty important in the other land."
"You think she was with Regina or the other two?"
Ursula thought about it for a moment then replied, "The other two stood behind her and Regina and this is supposed to be Regina's town. She even reclaimed her title as Mayor."
"I never caught the woman's name, but Snow White and her prince mentioned their daughter Emma. You think it could be her?"
"She's too close in age to them to be their daughter."
"The place has been frozen in time for years," Cruella reminded her. "It's entirely possible that's Emma."
Ursula chuckled a moment later.
"What? What's so funny," Cruella asked and looked over her shoulder in the darkness at Ursula.
"Could you imagine that the blonde is their daughter and dares stand by Regina in her decision to let us into town?"
A few seconds passed before Cruella chuckled just as darkly as Ursula had a moment ago.
"You don't think she's the corruptible savior Rumple mentioned, do you? Because if she is, I'd say Regina's done very well for herself. But it's odd she would pair up with someone with such great potential for darkness while she herself is choosing to be good now."
"Old habits die hard," Ursula supplied a reason. "Besides, if Regina's with her—and I mean really with her—the sex is always better when it's not so sweet and innocent."
Cruella hummed her agreement and subtly rolled onto her other side before she coaxed Ursula onto her back.
"What are you—?"
Ursula didn't finish her question before Cruella leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, Ursula was stiff beneath the other woman, but she kissed back before Cruella thought to pull away.
"No matter how good it is between her and that blonde, she'll never experience better than what we once had," Cruella purred above her.
"Uhn," Ursula moaned before she grabbed a fistful of Cruella's shirt, which was sure to wrinkle when she released it. "Damn right."
Ursula pulled Cruella down for another kiss, much more heated than the first, and after a few minutes a tentacle appeared and wrapped itself around the other woman's waist. Cruella let out a strangled moan that she'd seemingly tried to contain and failed to do, and Ursula hiked up her dress. She pulled Cruella's underwear aside and positioned two fingers right beneath the other woman before she used her tentacle to push the other woman down onto her fingers.
Cruella tensed and grunted at the rough and unexpected intrusion, but Ursula went a little slower and was just a little gentler a moment later. Cruella then easily adapted and started to ride Ursula's skillful hand.
When Ursula had told Regina over the phone that she and Cruella were back together, it was never more true than it was in that particular moment with the two of them moaning, panting, and finding satisfaction together.
Emma stood outside on her porch with a wide smile and a large bottle of wine as soon as Regina opened the front door.
"Figured it was a drinking occasion," Emma said and walked into the mansion without an invitation.
Regina didn't even chastise her for it. She even stepped aside to more easily permit entrance. Normally, they met everywhere else around town, the Mayor's office, Granny's diner, Regina's vault. They hadn't met at the house until then, but Emma always invited herself into Regina's space the same way every time.
"Where's Henry's book," Emma asked as she headed into the kitchen.
Regina followed close behind the other woman.
"Upstairs in his room," Regina answered.
"So, where it normally is," Emma surmised and grabbed a corkscrew from the third place in the kitchen she'd checked for one. She found it much faster than she should have considering how few times she'd been inside the mansion.
"I didn't want to just take it from him. I thought I'd wait until you showed up before I asked him for it," Regina explained. "He's a part of this too and he's been glued to that book ever since Blue suggested it contained clues about the Author."
"God, you raised him to be a nerd," Emma joked and flashed a smile over her shoulder at the brunette. "Does that mean underneath all of your queenly-ness that you're a nerd, too?"
Regina rolled her eyes while Emma placed the wine bottle on the counter and started to twist and pull to remove the cork.
"You are, aren't you," Emma teased with a grin and a second later, popped the cork. "Regina Mills, a nerd."
"Stop it."
"What? I like it. It's kind of got ring to it."
Emma looked around the kitchen for a moment and Regina sighed.
"The glasses are in the cabinet near the dishes," Regina said and motioned to where the glasses were.
Emma nodded before she went over to the cabinet and grabbed two glasses. She poured them both generous amounts of the red wine and left the bottle on the counter as she walked back over to Regina and handed her one of the glasses. It was a familiar scene, but the roles were reversed and the circumstances were different.
"How about we get Henry to bring us the book," Emma asked with a smile before she took her first sip.
They crossed through the foyer and called for Henry. He ran to the railing and they asked him to bring down his book. Within a few minutes, the three of them sat together on the living room floor. Emma leaned back against the couch with her legs crossed over each other while Henry and Regina sat cross-legged on either side of her. They made a circle between the couch and the coffee table with the book in Emma's lap, the blonde being the center point of their circle.
Emma sipped at her wine and slowly flipped through the slightly yellowed pages of the book with a critical eye on the lookout for details they could use. After a long couple of minutes in silence, Regina gradually began to move closer to the other woman. She was desperate for answers and Emma had yet to give her any. She hadn't shared any information, claimed not to have any to share each time Regina asked her again and again, so Regina invaded her space little by little until she was able to read over Emma's shoulder.
Emma started to furrow her brow further and hummed every so often. That prompted Henry closer and soon enough, Henry and Regina were both at Emma's sides. They were all arm to arm as they stared down at the book as it remained in Emma's lap.
Regina pointed out a few phrases and sentences, a recounting of her parts of the story that weren't quite right. Emma also asked a few times if a certain phrase, even if that part of the book wasn't specifically about Regina, sounded familiar in any way. Henry scampered off for a moment and returned with a pen and a notebook. He handed them to Regina and she jotted down the things they'd pointed out that didn't fit with certain accounts of the overall story. She also noted a few narrative cues that were repetitive and showcased the Author's voice.
They only managed to write enough information, along with questions about each piece of the story they tried to dissect, to cover a single page. Henry had fallen asleep against Emma, his head on her shoulder, prior to their limited success and after their success, both Emma and Regina's visions started to blur from exhaustion and wine.
"I say it's time we call it a night," Regina said as she slowly got up and set the notebook and pen on the coffee table.
Emma nodded her agreement and closed the storybook. She eased Henry off of her and let him lay back on the couch just long enough for her groan while she stood up. She set the book down on the coffee table next to the pen and notebook and turned back to Henry.
"I'll take him to his room," Emma offered and carefully started to lift him into her arms. She maneuvered him over her shoulder and carried him fireman-style toward the stairs. She grunted as she moved, their gangly son too big to be carried, but he was a heavy sleeper and Emma really didn't have the heart to wake him.
"You really shouldn't strain yourself. I can just poof him to his bed."
"Wouldn't that be really disorienting? Even in sleep?"
"Yes, for someone who's not used to it, but—"
"Then this is how he's getting to his room," Emma gritted out as she approached the stairs.
"Be careful."
Regina followed her up the stairs, close behind the blonde in case Emma needed help if Henry started to slip off her shoulder. He thankfully didn't, but it took Emma several minutes to lug him up to the second floor. Regina then magically opened Henry's bedroom door from behind Emma and the younger woman quickly brought their son to his bed.
Emma swiftly but gently laid him out on the bed and puffed out a heavy sigh as soon as his dead weight was placed elsewhere and no longer on her shoulder. She rotated and stretched her shoulder a few times to work out the kinks as soon as possible and then the two of them headed back out into the hallway.
Once the room door was shut and they were closer to the stairs yet again, conversation between the two of them started back up.
"You know, there's one thing I've been meaning to ask since the wannabe former villains arrived."
Regina arched a brow and replied, "I think you'll need to refer to them as something else, dear."
"What, that's what they want to do, right," Emma asked as they started to make their way back downstairs. "They want to be reformed, redeem themselves like you did."
"Yes, but- Oh, never mind. What's the question?"
"Oh, right. Well, you knew Maleficent. That much I understood a while ago. How do you know Cruella and Ursula?"
"Well, I impersonated Ursula once. She didn't take too kindly to it."
"Whoa, wait a minute," Emma stopped Regina before the woman could explain any further. "What does that- Does that mean you had tentacles? How did you have tentacles?"
Regina chuckled with a hint of dark amusement as they reached the bottom of the stairs and came to a stop in the foyer. She stepped a little closer to Emma before she answered the blonde's question.
"It's a simple transformation spell. Want me to show you?"
Out of nowhere, a tentacle slid up between them and affectionately caressed Emma's cheek. The younger woman flinched and shuddered, but she didn't back away. Her breath hitched and she was caught off guard, but she seemed to relax after a moment.
Regina's eyes softened from a more Evil Queen-like glimmer to an expression of wonder and slight disbelief. As she stared at Emma, there was a moment when the blonde actually looked as though she felt safe even as a tentacle that didn't belong continued to touch her. Regina slid the tentacle from Emma's cheek down to her neck and used the tip of it to lift the younger woman's chin.
"Emma," Regina sighed out her name with so much reverence.
Emma took a deep breath and said, "I don't want tentacles. But a transformation spell would be an okay part of a magic lesson."
Regina smiled and retracted the tentacle before it disappeared completely.
"Never speak of this to Ursula," Regina warned her. "I agreed not to impersonate her ever again and I'm not sure if that includes simply growing tentacles on command."
"Sounds to me like you might be just a little bit afraid of her," Emma said and wiped off the slime left behind on her skin by the tentacle.
"No, I'd just like to preserve some kind of alliance and friendship with her. And with Cruella whom I've only ever met because of Maleficent."
"You want to be friends with them?"
"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"
"Oh. No, I didn't mean it like that. It's just…" Emma trailed off and stopped herself before she shook her head and smiled. "I think that'd be nice. Seeing you with other people you can be close to. For a while now you've either been a shut-in or walking on egg shells. Watching you have more of a social life with at least one other person that isn't me would be good for you."
Regina nodded. She took a moment then to look over Emma and in that time she noticed the blown pupils, the hazy expression, and the slight wobble as she rocked back and forth where she stood.
"Are you going to be alright getting home?"
Emma ran a hand through her hair and furrowed her brow as she thought about it.
"Uh, yeah. I think so. I'll just…maybe I'll leave my car here and walk home. I'll come back for it tomorrow."
"If you have to walk home, you shouldn't go home. I have a guest room."
"Oh, I couldn't."
"Why not? It's a perfectly good room and if you're both tipsy and tired it's the closest place you'll successfully get to without trouble."
"I don't want to put you out."
"You wouldn't be. I offered. Just accept the room for the night. You know your parents and Henry wouldn't forgive me if I let you leave in this state. And truthfully, I'd…I'd worry about you."
"I can take care of myself."
Regina rolled her eyes.
"I know that, but right now you're vulnerable to attack."
"You think that's a possibility? Aside from the thing from the hat, the only possible trouble would be Cruella and Ursula."
"The road to redemption is long," Regina explained. "Don't forget that I had a few setbacks myself. Who's to say they won't relapse?"
"You don't trust your friends?"
"They aren't exactly my friends. Yet. And as a former villain I know what they're capable of, regardless of the things they say they want."
"Okay."
After Emma agreed, both women looked at the stairs. They'd just come from up there and it was evident on both of their faces that they didn't want to walk back up there again.
"Would like me to poof us," Regina asked.
"Yes, please."
In an instant, purple smoke surrounded them and in another instant both were on the second floor at the top of the stairs.
"Whoa," Emma said and reached out to brace herself on the railing.
She was unsteady on her feet for multiple reasons, one of them being that she was a little drunk and the other that transportation via magic was as disorienting as she thought it was. After a moment, she was okay enough for Regina to show her to the guest room, however, and Emma practically collapsed on the bed almost as soon as she walked through the threshold.
"I can lend you something to sleep in," Regina said.
"I don't need anything. I'm wearing a comfy shirt and I'm capable of taking off my pants."
Emma smiled and Regina looked at her with distaste due to the blonde's words.
"Don't make me want to burn those sheets later."
Emma laughed and Regina smiled before they said their goodnights.
Note: More to come. Let me know what you think so far.