Author's Note: This fic is ridiculous. And inspired by the fact that yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday. I don't even know. Title taken from the book Oh, The Places You'll Go, which is referenced rather heavily in this story. I do not own Oh, The Places You'll Go, that's all Dr. Seuss. I use some quotes directly from the book. Obviously they are not my words and I'm using them for entertainment value. No infringement intended. Also, Eva is mine, all the rest belong to the creators of Once Upon A Time. Unbetaed, so all mistakes are mine.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Emma looked up from where she was kneeling in front of a box, placing clothing inside of it. She smiled sadly at the brunette in the doorway. "Yeah."
"Because you know that you don't have to go. That you're welcome here, always." Mary Margaret moved into the room, sitting down on Emma's bed.
"It's time, I think. I mean, I've already been here far longer than I ever expected to be."
"And couldn't that mean that you're meant to be here?" There was a tiny note of pleading in Mary Margaret's otherwise soothing voice.
"I used to think that." Emma shrugged. "But Henry's okay now and Regina –" She faltered on the name, shaking her head. "I'm not needed here anymore."
"Emma," Mary Margaret's hand fell onto her cheek in such a motherly gesture that Emma's heart ached, "you know that's not true. Just because Henry has let his beliefs about the curse go doesn't mean that he doesn't need you anymore. It doesn't mean that I don't need you or that she -"
"She doesn't need me. She doesn't need anyone. She's made that quite clear." Emma stood up and moved to the small set of shelves in the room, pulling down the few things that were hers to add to the box. She tossed them in with little care until her hands fell on the worn cover of a book. She ran her hand over the cover almost reverently, like she'd seen Henry do with his book from time to time. Maybe his fixation with books had come honestly.
"Oh, The Places You'll Go," Mary Margaret read from behind her, hands falling on Emma's shoulders. "I didn't know you liked Dr. Seuss."
Emma turned, a smile on her face. "And to think, all this time, we could've been talking about our love of children's literature." She tried to play it off, but Mary Margaret could see the tears that she was trying so hard to blink away.
Mary Margaret reached out and pulled the book from Emma's grasp. "I love Dr. Seuss. I usually read The Grinch and Horton and The Lorax to my students. But it's been a while since I've read this one."
She settled back down on the bed and opened the book. It was obviously well loved, the pages worn and ragged, but not from misuse. "Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!"
"There you go." Emma gestured toward the book. "Even Dr. Seuss agrees that it's time for me to go."
Mary Margaret closed the book, looking back over at Emma, searching for something. When she didn't find it in Emma herself, she glanced down at the box of Emma's possessions.
"You have so little." She said softly, holding up her hand to stop Emma's protests. "You don't accumulate things. You have very few possessions that you deem worthy of keeping, of mattering. But you've kept this book. It must be very special to you. Why, Emma?"
Emma refused to meet Mary Margaret's gaze. "I have no idea why I've kept that all these years. Honestly. You can toss it."
"Emma." Mary Margaret knelt down beside her and reached out, putting her hands over the ones that laid trembling in the box. "You've always been honest with me. Now that you're leaving you're starting to lie?"
Emma closed her eyes tightly at the words. "I don't remember much about that first foster family I was placed in. I was so young when they gave me back and I think I tried to block out all memories and feelings about them, honestly. But the one thing I can't forget was my foster mother reading this story to me. She gave me that book before they brought me back and promised me that I was just starting out on my journey and that I'd go to spectacular places." A few tears slipped down Emma's cheeks and Mary Margaret reached up to wipe them away.
"I was three years old and she was giving me back with a book, telling me I'd go places. I hated her. Still do, really. But the book – well no matter how much I tried, I couldn't hate the book."
"Oh, Emma." Mary Margaret pulled her into a hug and Emma allowed herself the comfort of the brunette's arms around her, wishing that they belonged to another brunette instead.
Finally Emma cleared her throat and pulled back. "It's been true though. I have been in Lurches and Slumps and I managed to find my way out. But now I'm stuck in The Waiting Place. And I'm just tired. I'm tired of waiting, Mary Margaret. So I need to do what the book says and head straight out of town. I need the wide open air."
Mary Margaret nodded. Emma had kept her relationship with Regina close to the vest, but she still knew enough to know why the younger woman felt like she needed to leave. They'd discussed it in terms of previous relationships Emma had been in, and she knew that the blonde was just trying to protect herself now.
"Well," Mary Margaret reached back and pulled down the baby blanket with Emma's name stitched on it, "you going off into the wide open air is fine, as long as you keep in touch, young lady."
There were tears in the brunette's eyes as she laid the blanket on top of the box. Emma allowed her head to fall on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "Yes, mom." She teased quietly.
After Emma fell asleep, Mary Margaret took the book downstairs with her to read. She read through it once, then again, and finally a third time before she came to a decision and walked back up the stairs, slipping it back into Emma's packed up box.
She stayed in the doorway of the room just watching Emma sleep for a long time before she finally moved to her own bedroom. She could see why Emma loved the book as much as she did and why she had worn it out so thoroughly. Emma was a realist, but she had a hint of a dreamer in her, too. She could imagine Emma reading the book over the years, believing that she just needed to keep going and would reach those Great Places.
Mary Margaret wished more than anything that she would reach them. And she was determined to help her in any way she could.
Regina frowned when she heard the knock at her door early the next morning. She knew exactly who would be on the other side.
"Miss Swan, I thought I told you that you weren't needed here this –" She stopped short as she realized that it wasn't Emma who was standing on the porch.
"Oh, I think you'll find that she got that memo." Mary Margaret said, feeling bolder than she ever had in Regina's presence before.
"Miss Blanchard." Regina's displeasure was obvious. "To what do I owe this… pleasant surprise?"
Mary Margaret held something out to Regina. "I just wanted to drop this off."
Regina took it with a puzzled look. "Dr. Seuss? I know that Henry has finally stopped fixating on fairy tales, but don't you think he's just a bit old for this, Miss Blanchard?"
"It's not for Henry. It's for you." Mary Margaret told her. "Turns out, it's Emma's favorite book."
Regina's eyes flew to the teacher's face. "And why would I care what Miss Swan deems as quality reading?"
"Oh, I think you care quite a bit actually. In fact, I think you care far more than you're comfortable with." Mary Margaret stared at Regina as though she could see right through to her soul. "And that's why you're pushing her away."
Regina took a step closer to Mary Margaret, her eyes darkening and a threatening expression slipping onto her features. "I don't know what Miss Swan has told you, but –"
"Emma hasn't told me anything. Except goodbye."
That stopped Regina cold. "Goodbye?"
Mary Margaret inclined her head toward the book in the mayor's hands. "Turns out she's tired of being in The Waiting Place, so she's decided to head for wide open air."
"You aren't making any sense, Miss Blanchard." If she hadn't been listening for it, Mary Margaret wouldn't have heard the hint of desperation in Regina's voice. But she had been listening for it and she had heard it, just as she knew she would.
"Read the book, Madam Mayor." Mary Margaret smiled. "Maybe then you'll decide to stop playing the Lonely Games and see what's right in front of you."
Regina didn't know what to say to that and Mary Margaret was gone before she could decide on an appropriate response. She was left standing in the doorway holding a book and frowning.
"Mom, are you reading Dr. Seuss?" Henry asked as he came across his mother sitting on her chaise, the book spread out in front of her.
"I –" Regina looked up, surprised to have been caught. She hadn't meant to read the book, but Mary Margaret's words had kept playing over in her head until she'd had to see what they meant.
Henry leaned over and read aloud the words that she had been stuck on.
"I'm afraid that some times you'll play Lonely Games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you." He smiled. "Oh, The Places You'll Go, right? I used to love this book when I was little. Why'd you dig it out now?"
Regina stared at Henry, shock written all over her face. "What?"
"Don't you remember?" Henry's face was scrunched as he looked at her, bewildered. "You used to read this to me when I was little. This part always made me sad, because I didn't want to be alone, but you always told me not to be afraid. That if you're alone, you can always reach out and find someone so you won't be lonely any more – just like you found me."
Regina blinked, the memory rushing back to her suddenly. It seemed so long ago, almost in another life, when she had tucked Henry in and read him this story. The problems between them – the curse – had blocked out all those good memories, leaving only the painful ones behind. But she remembered now, remembered her assurances to the little boy about happiness and how he would find it if only he tried.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Henry asked, still staring at her.
"Yes." She told him, even though it was a lie. She wasn't okay.
She'd spent so long playing the Lonely Games – never winning because she'd only been playing against herself, destroying her happiness instead of holding on to it – that she hadn't even realized that she'd left people in The Waiting Place. People like her son and Emma. Emma who had grown tired of it and was – if Mary Margaret was to be believed – leaving.
And suddenly Mary Margaret's word sank in. Emma was leaving. She'd pushed the woman away so many times that she was finally leaving.
Regina stood quickly, grabbing the book and heading for the front door. "Henry, go to school."
"Mom, what's going on?" Henry called after her, but Regina was already out the door.
She made it to Mary Margaret's apartment just in time to see Emma loading a box into the back of her car. Her throat closed up and her heart squeezed viciously at the sight.
"Going somewhere, Miss Swan?" She forced herself to say the words.
Emma turned at the sound of her voice, her face blank, but her eyes were stormy with emotion. She stared at Regina, standing on the opposite side of the car for long moments before she answered. "Yes." It was all she would give.
"So that's it?" Regina raised an eyebrow. "You were just going to leave without saying goodbye?" Her voice held that same fear and vulnerability as it had when she'd been trapped in the fire.
Emma shook her head. "I didn't think you'd care."
"Emma."
Emma pulled open the car door and climbed in. "I don't have time for this, Regina. I have places to go."
She turned the key in the ignition and moved her hand to the gear shift when the passenger door opened and Regina climbed into the Bug.
"What the hell, Regina?" She hissed through clenched teeth.
"You said you had places to go. Well, I want to go, too." Regina caught Emma's eye. "I'm tired of playing Lonely Games."
Emma blinked, her eyes flying down to Regina's lap, where the mayor was holding the book tightly. It was obviously a new copy – not her worn one – but she had a feeling she knew just where the mayor had gotten it.
Emma shook her head and turned back to the road in front of her. "Get out of the car, Regina."
"No."
Emma swung back around, her eyes blazing. "Damn it, Regina, I said get out."
"Emma –" Regina reached out toward her, but Emma pushed her away.
"Oh, I get it. It's fine for you to tell me to get out – to get out of your bed and out of your house and out of your life –"
"I never said –"
"I can read between the lines!" Emma huffed, angry tears forming in her eyes. "But you apparently can't, so let me spell this out for you. I am leaving, like you wanted. So get out of the god damn car and let me go."
Regina swallowed hard and shook her head. "No. I'm not getting out. And you're not either. At least not without me." She reached out again and this time managed to grab Emma's hand in hers. "I don't want to be alone any more. And I don't want you to be alone and waiting either. I – I'm not good at this. It's like the book says. I play against myself. But I don't want to lose you, Emma. So if you're going somewhere, I'm going too."
Emma stared at her, tears slipping down her cheeks, but not saying a word. Regina held her breath.
"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own and you know what you know. And YOU are the girl who'll decide where to go."
A giggle interrupted the person reading. "Henry! It says guy, not girl."
Henry looked down at the page with a smile. "Well, what do you know? You're right, it does! I just thought since you were a girl, Eva, I'd change it to fit."
"Henry," Eva rolled her eyes in a look so reminiscent of their mother it made him laugh, "you can't just change the story because you want to."
"Oh baby, I think you'll find that your big brother is very good at changing stories." Emma's voice floated in from the doorway.
Henry looked up at her and grinned. "I learned from the best."
"You got that right, kid." She nudged his shoulder before sinking down onto the bed next to the siblings. "So what are we reading tonight, munchkin?"
"Your favorite, Momma!" Eva giggled, scrambling over Emma's body so that the blonde was now sandwiched between her children. She dropped the book on Emma's lap and snuggled up to her.
"You're right. It is." She lifted the book up and began reading, running her fingers through dark hair as she read.
"That's your favorite part! Because you used to like to run to the wide open air." Eva grinned knowingly when Emma read that part of the story. Emma laughed and continued reading on, inflecting her voice with humor and excitement as she went.
"Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV." Emma read a bit later and then paused for a moment.
"Except when they don't. Because, sometimes, they won't." All three occupants smiled widely when the fourth voice entered the room.
"Mommy!"
"I'm afraid that some times you'll play lonely games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you." Regina recited from memory, sitting down on the bed at Eva's feet, her hip against Emma's sprawled out legs. "All alone! Whether you like it or not, alone will be something you'll be quite a lot."
"This is the part that isn't right." Eva nodded determinedly. "Because if you're alone, you can always find somebody if you just try. Like Mommy found you, right, Henry?"
"That's right, Princess." Henry smiled. "Just like Mommy found me and like Momma found both of us."
Emma reached down and took Regina's hand, smiling softly at her.
"And like you all found me!" Eva grinned.
Emma pressed a kiss against her hair while Regina pressed one against Emma's knuckles. "Just like that, baby."
Henry reached over and took the book back, continuing on with the story, until he was interrupted by the sound of both of his mothers' voices.
"On and on you will hike and I know you'll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are." They recited together, their eyes locked.
"That's your favorite part, Mommy." Eva crawled down the bed and onto Regina's lap, snuggling against her.
"You're right, baby. That is my favorite part."
"Because Momma taught you about facing your problems, right?"
Regina smiled, thinking of that day in Emma's car, when she'd finally had to face up to her feelings for the other woman. "She certainly did."
Henry kept reading then, working his way towards the ending of the story.
"So be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea," He slowed as he got to that part, waiting for Eva.
"You're off to Great Places!" She hopped up from her mother's lap, bouncing on the bed as she finished the story. "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way!"
With a final bounce, she collapsed against Emma's legs, laughing as Regina began tickling her. "And you, little one, need to be on your way… to bed!"
"No, Mommy!" Eva laughed, clutching at Emma. "Save me, Momma! Help, Henry!"
Henry laughed, standing up from the bed to deposit the book safely back on the bookshelf. "You're on your own, Princess."
"Henry!" Eva gasped, still trying to wriggle out of Regina's tickling hold. "Momma, stop her!"
"Stop her, huh?" Emma slipped her legs out from under the thrashing five year old and slid off the bed, moving to wrap her arms tightly around Regina, effectively stopping the tickling.
"Our daughter wants you to stop." She laughed against Regina's ear, before planting a kiss on her temple.
"All she had to do was say the magic word." Regina grinned, looking at the miniature version of herself, still rolling around on the bed laughing.
"Please!" Eva called, even though Regina's fingers had stopped their attack. She rolled over and looked up at Regina and Emma with a big smile on her face. "Please don't do that anymore, Mommy." She said again, wrapping her arms around Regina's neck, sandwiching the brunette between her two favorite women, and kissing her cheeks.
"Well, since you asked so nicely…" Regina replied with kisses of her own to the little girl's cheeks. "But you do need to get to bed, little one."
Emma took that as her cue to release Regina and scoop up Eva, planting kisses on her face before laying the little girl back down on the bed. "Sweet dreams, Eva bug."
Henry leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Night, Princess." He kissed both his mothers before he headed to bed.
Regina pulled the covers up, tucking Eva in securely. "Goodnight, Eva, my love."
Eva's brown eyes fought to stay open as she smiled up at her mothers. "Night Momma. Night Mommy. I love you."
They waited until her eyes stayed closed and her breathing evened out before they left the room, peeking in on Henry to tell him goodnight, before finally retiring to their room.
"So," Emma grinned up at Regina from her side of the bed, "how are the Lonely Games these days?"
Regina straddled Emma with a wicked grin. "I wouldn't know. I haven't been playing them for over five years."
"Good." Emma reached up and brushed her lips against Regina's in a sweet kiss.
"How's The Waiting Place?" Regina questioned as her fingers popped open the buttons on Emma's pajama top.
"Mmm," Emma sighed, "right now, not so great." She shifted her hips up to punctuate her answer. "But, I wouldn't really know."
"And why is that, Mrs. Mills?" Regina smirked.
"Because I found my Great Place." Emma said just before she rolled them and ended up looking down at a laughing Regina. "Mrs. Swan."
"Oh yeah?" Regina murmured against her lips.
Emma laughed. "98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed."
"Mmm," Regina kissed Emma's neck. "Let's see if we can get that to 100 percent. Because I'm 100 percent sure that I found my Great Place."
Emma grinned at that. "Me too, 'Gina. Me too."