DISCLAIMER. NOT MINE. NOT NOW, NOT EVER.
It was Emma's birthday and she arrived home at the sound of what it felt like a mob on her kitchen. Grunting she came into the kitchen to find her son finishing the last details of a birthday cake and surrounded by probably the biggest mess she had ever witnessed. "wow Henry... this is..." was all she managed to say not sure about if complaining about the dirty kitchen or congratulate the kid for cooking a cake for her. The kid simply shrugged and smiled mischievously "Happy Birthday to the prettiest mum all around the world!?" exclaimed and asked trying to avoid getting grounded. Emma giggled and gently kissed her son's head "You are helping me cleaning this mess kid..." They cleaned the kitchen together and talked about their day. Once the cleaning was done Henry explained to his mum that he was not all responsible for the cake as far as he had ordered a simple cake. He had only decorated it himself though he never thought that he would end up decorating the whole kitchen too. Happy and proud Emma she listening to his explanation. She had always wondered from who Henry took after in a few aspects of his life, cooking and being a control freak were two of things they never had in common.
Her birthday and Henry's were one of Emma's favourite days of the year. She always felt complete looking back on those dates and thanking the stars how much she changed after deciding to keep Henry. The feeling of fulfilment was not there this year, something was missing. She had the feeling she was forgetting something and it was really annoying not remembering what. The nagging feeling started about a week and a half ago when a crazy man stood on her door claiming her family needed her and kissed her. She immediately kicked him out but the man had kept trying to contact her. She knew he was lying, probably some con man. As far as she had no other family than Henry and he was good no one would need her. However the kiss woke something up inside of her. It was that day when the nagging feeling started. At first it was barely an itch after a week and a half Emma felt like all her body was covered by hives. It was almost physically painful as if someone were squeezing her heart merciless.
Henry and Emma shared a nice meal despite the increasing nervousness conquering Emma. After dinner Henry showed up with the cake as present. Emma was surprised at the sight of the cake, it was amazing. "I don't know how you can do this stuff Henry". The kid looked at her and raised an eyebrow giggling "Oh, you know my other mum taught me... the one I keep hidden inside the oven, the same oven you never use..." Emma grabbed her son and tickled him until the boy was begging for mercy "I know what an oven is, I'm just waiting for you to be old enough to cook all the meals for me kid". Henry smiled and hugged his mother "Ok, you know what's next. Make a wish and blow off the candles". Emma got closer to the cake and smiled at the strawberry letters "luv u mum". She thought she had everything she wished and needed in her life and she got ready to blow the candles.
Suddenly Emma remembered. Images, feelings, memories, pain, happiness, sadness... everything was back all of a sudden. Regina. Hell broke loose after the name was said. Emma only had time to grab Henry's hand while a torrent of memories struck both of them while the earth behind them seemed to be undergoing the bigger earthquakes on history.
Once it felt like everything was back in place Emma opened her eyes and looked around her. She was still grabbing Henry's hand and both of them seemed unharmed "You ok Henry?" The boy was staring at something and seemed not to be listening to his mother. "Henry? Kid? Henry!". She was freaking out thinking something was wrong with him. After what it seemed an eternity to Emma he was whispered "You did it, you did it again" and hug his mother as if his life depended on that hug.
Emma released the breath she had no clue she had been holding and lifted her sight feeling Henry was ok. As soon as she looked up she understood Henry's words. They were in a nursery. A crib. Unicorns over the crib. Toys and dolls everywhere. Emma looked inside the crib and smiled at the sight of a sleeping baby covered by a blanket. The blanket was obviously old and had her name on it plus a new one, Samantha. Emma looked at Henry and made sure he looked handsome enough for what was about to come and smiled "We are home kid, and I guess this little one is no other than your new aunt... my sister, baby sister... what a mess, and they talk about dysfunctional families on TV, we are far beyond that. We need to find your grandparents... and..." Henry's eyes widened "my mum! My other mum! I remember!". Emma nodded with tears on her eyes, she remembered too but what she felt was pretty different. The pain of those last minutes in Storybrooke were all she could think about. The way her parents hugged her saying good bye. Regina saying she needed to let go of Henry. How she promised them a good life. Emma remembered the pain on those brown so clearly she could still feel it herself.
Before Emma and Henry were able to leave the nursery the door abruptly opened and all they saw was a group of six men with their swords lifted towards them. Instinct hit Emma who placed Henry behind her immediately though both of them smiled at the familiar growl they heard next.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY! WHO DARE COME INTO THE ROOM OF THE PRINCESS? I'M HAVING YOUR HEADS FOR..." Emma and Henry looked at the woman with half a smile on their faces. They were as happy as scared. The first cursed allowed Regina to remember while the rest of the people from the Enchanted Forest forgot their previous lives. Breaking the curse meant as explained by Regina that all of them would be back home without any memories from Storybrooke. If Snow, Charming and Regina forgot about them Emma knew they were in a pretty bad position being found in the chambers of the heir dressed with clothes from another world. Emma squeezed Henry's hand while both of them stared at the woman and the six men in front of them.
"Leave us. I will deal with them" the woman said. Emma saw the doubt on the eyes of all the men but she knew better than to expect them to say anything against the will of the woman so in a second the six of them were gone and the woman was left alone with the baby and the strange visitors. "Why are you here? And I swear as the Queen that I am that I will kill you two myself if you try to harm that baby". Emma felt odd, she knew the woman in front of her but something was really off of her and she was not sure about what to say next. "It was my birthday. It seems I made the right wish and we are here. True love. Happy Endings. We are home." Henry quickly moved away from his mother and quickly added "She means we are back home on the Enchanted Forest. Storybrooke is gone and that was our other home. Do you remember that? We are a family, we always find each other" Emma looked at the kid and couldn't help but put a sad smile on her face, the kid was always filled with hope even in moments when it seemed there was none. Emma wanted to believe as much as Henry did but she knew very well that not stories have a happy ending and their ending could have being the farewell in Storybrooke a year ago.
The brunette woman got closer to them a draw a shy smile on her face "Who am I?" asked looking at Emma with a mix of hope and defiance on her eyes. "Mary Margaret Blanchard in Storybrooke. Snowhite, Queen Snow for what you said before." The woman looked at Henry and back again at Emma "Who. am. I.?" repeated slower this time. Emma's brain tried to find out what was the right answer till she heard the baby doing some noises behind them and understood the question. The woman was testing how far along their memories went what it was good because if she was requiring such information and not denying Mary Margaret's existance it meant she also remembered their time in Maine. "My mother. Henry's grandmother. I'm assuming Samantha is my" Emma had no time to finish the sentence. Snow turned around and opening the nursery doors talked to one of the men in a low voice. The man left and Snow walked back to Henry and Emma. "David is not going to believe it" said while wrapping her arms around Emma and Henry kissing them "your youngest sister, yes".
After David arrived and both Emma and Henry were dressed according the the Enchanted Forest they all sat. They all needed to understand what had happened and how it did happened. Mary Margaret and David were sure Hook had managed to bring them home one way or another. On the other side Henry and Emma wanted to know why they remembered while they forgot and how Hook found his way to them.
Emma was about to explain it was not because of Hook that they were there when Henry decided he was not waiting any longer to find out what he wanted to know. "Guys, I know my mum is the Evil Queen and all that... but where is she? You have her imprisoned? You killed her? Someone did? Where is my mum? She was not bad, she is my mum. If you kept her memories so did she and you must remember she helped us a lot. She is not evil. I want her. She is my mum..." The kid started his speech on a loud tone but when he was done his voice was only the voice of a child who missed and wanted his mum. Snow looked at her grandson and smiled, she was about to start explaining the kid what happened to Regina when David squeezed her hand to make her stop. "I am here Henry" Emma could not remember a time when Henry reacted that fast ever. She barely had time to process the fact that Regina was there and Henry was already hugging her with all his strength, sobbing and mumbling how sorry he was for hurting her and telling time after time that he loved her and missed her. Regina kissed and hugged the boy back soothing him the best she could but it seemed impossible.
Emma stared open mouthed. Regina looked great, greater even if possible, but she looked pretty different from the woman she said good bye to a little longer than a year ago. Regina finally pushed Henry after a few minutes towards his family and they sat with the them. The Queen had changed but she was not able to hold herself for any longer and she finally spoke to Emma "I could expect this behaviour from the Sheppard boy your father is, but I see you really take after him, dearie. Whilst it is good to see you again Ms Swam you seriously need to work on being on time, you took a lot longer than you should". Emma was speechless and expected her parents to defend her as they used to do and to say something in return to Regina's comment but nothing happened. David looked at his sword as if he was not involved on the comparison while Mary Margaret kept on looking at her grandson clearly ignoring what was around her. Both of them seemed to not have listened to Regina's punch and that left Emma more speechless if possible wondering if they were under some spell or something. It was not good to see Regina and her parents fighting but it was really weird. Henry was about to ask Regina to behave a little when Mary Margaret finally grinned at her daughter "Sure you two missed your fights but you'll have time later. Now Regina, explain why you are not surprised of having your son and Emma here and why you are here right now as far as I just send the guards to inform you".
Emma looked from her mother to Regina expecting something in the middle of a sassy snarky comment and a flying ball of fire from the older woman aimed towards her mother, but all the older woman did was chuckle and kiss Henry's forehead once more while looking at Emma with curiosity. Henry looked up at his mother knowing that a year ago a chuckle would not had being the answer to his grandmother so he looked straight into Regina's eyes and smiled snuggling against her. There was not a single drop of the Evil Queen there and Henry felt the brunette squeezing him,. The kid was smart and he was sure that whatever made Emma to bring them to the Enchanted Forest was for sure casted by Regina. Emma on the other had was simply speechless, a year ago Snow and the Evil Queen were barely able to work together for a reason that was not Henry and there were they sitting and surrounded by what it semed a fair truce."Anyone up to explain me why you three aren't killing each other?"
Mary Margaret looked from her husband to Regina and nodded "We all remember how we were saved and we have managed to leave the past where it belongs. At least most of us and most of our pasts. In Storybrooke Regina explained the price she would have to save all of us, that was giving Henry up because she was the thing she loved the most. She saved us all but she gave you two a life. Most of the kingdom is thankful for what she did with you two. I, we, your father and I, will always be grateful because she protected you two when in fact what everyone expected from her was to safe herself and Henry. Despite of everything she managed to save us all and to give you a good life, the life she was saying good bye to was yours to live Emma. We watched you leave accepting that the woman standing there protecting you at the cost of her own happiness was not the woman we all met here. I always thought that there was some way to cheat and that she could have let us all die and leave with Henry, but she didn't, she did the right thing letting you and Henry leave.
Next I remember, we remember is being back here in the Enchanted Forest but for some reason we all kept our memories from Storybrooke. It was crazy. Some people wanted to kill Regina while others wanted to give her a new chance. For many people keeping you alive and protecting you was a serious reason to forgive her. The logic said that once back here she'd be back to her old ways but she had saved you two and the last months back in Maine she was not such a …she was not herself or she was herself and not the other self. Anyway, she looked different for months and we discussed things. She could have just made sure that you would loose Henry because she had to say goodbye to him but she did not. Motherhood changed her and I decided we were giving her a new chance. Regina on the other side decided she was not up to have another chance. I was about to say she was under our protection when she opened her big mouth claiming she was no longer the Queen and that the Kingdom belonged to us. She has being lying low, fixing things around the kingdom with her magic and enjoying spoiling Samantha. Since we arrived your father has being ruling the kingdom because I was pregnant when we arrived and he and Regina teamed up to make me relax so I could have a healthy baby. The few times someone tried to fight your father the mere presence of Regina standing side by side with him made them step back. Weird, I know..."
Snow kept talking about how they have managed to rule the kingdom pretty well despite the mixed memories from two different worlds but Emma was not listening. She was simply staring at Regina, she was looking for a hint of the woman she met when Henry found her but all she could see was the woman that pretty much stood by her side during the last year. The anger, the revenge, the pain, were not on their eyes any longer. She looked regal but not snotty any longer. Lost on her own thoughts Emma was clearly ignoring her mother as far as ruling a kingdom was something that held no interest for her but as soon as Regina spoke Emma was brought back to reality. "I would say it is pretty rude not paying attention to your mother's words, much more when she happens to be the Queen Ms Swam". The blonde looked at her mother and her father. Davind had a curious look on his eyes looking from her daughter to Regina totally conscious about the bond between them being bigger and stronger that it was a year ago. As Henry David knew that Regina was partly responsbile from Emma bringing Henry and herself back. Smiling David kissed his wife softly and smiled at Emma and Henry. "Ok, I guess we are all more interested in how you two are here than in what your mother was telling you about. So... Emma? Regina?"
Emma immediately raised her hand gesturing at Regina to start, the former Queen nodded and sighed. "When we came back and I saw we all had memories... it was not supposed to be like that. The curse replaced memories, it blocked the memories from here and planted new ones on everyone except me. Same should have happened to us when we came back here after the curse broke. We were supposed to only remember this place and you were supposed to only remember what I placed on your mind. None of us should have ever kept the smaller memory about Storybrooke. There had to be a reason for those memories to remain with us.
I was never meant to be a Queen, it was all Cora's idea. Though I enjoyed being the mayor I never enjoyed being a Queen so I was more than happy to give the crown to Snow and Charming, too much happiness and sweetness all around, but everything has a price... Anyway, I just went back to Rumple's old cell, I checked everything. He gave me the curse and he told me how to break it. He knew you would break the curse. He left that note with your name inked. One way or another he led you to his son... If there was something he never told me about the curse it should be there. As always, I was right and I found something.
All this time I've being reading, studying, casting spells,... I have been increasing the strength of my magic because I found the answer on Rumple's books. If WE had memories that meant that one way or another we were all connected. I knew it was a weak connection but it meant that at some point one of you would remember us. Family, blood, magic and blood. Ms Swam, you and Henry belong to Charming and Snow. Too often Charming told me that no matter what I did you would always find each other. Took me a while but then it hit me how right he was. It was a fact that at some point you or Henry would find a way to get to the Queen or the King. I just needed to wait and get things ready for this day to come. Your mother Ms Swan is a pain and she's being interrogating me every week asking me what I have been doing, how do I spend my free time, what kind of magic I'm doing... Here is you answer Snow. What I did during this year was finding a new spell for all of us, all the kingdom.; a spell that meant a way to go back to Storybrooke if the kingdom wants it. I made sure that once Henry and Emma would be with us we could choose where home is, the Enchanted Forest or Maine. My spell involves all of us going back, including the new babies born in here as Samantha. No one and no memory will be left behind. The price of it is again, choosing. Only a home will exist. Storybrooke or the Enchanted Forest though we will remember both of them About why I knew the day was today, my heart knew it. I just used magic to come here that fast. Now, Henry, Ms Swam, Emma... who of you is responsible from finding... them?"
Henry smiled and pointed at his mother. "I don't know what she did, but it was her"
Emma was surprised, she could not say what it was what surprised her the most. The former Queen getting along with the Queen and King. The Evil Queen giving away her place as ruler. The fact that she spent a year making sure she could cast a spell to bring them all back to Storybrooke... or the simple fact that she was able to say her name. Back to reality Emma took a deep breath. She knew they needed to put things together for them to make sense, she was just not ready to say what crossed her mind when everything happened. "About a week and a half or two weeks ago Hook came to our door. He said my family needed me and kissed me." Regina rolled her eyes and made a mental note to kick the pirate to the moon and back next time she laid eyes on him. Emma saw Regina rolling her eyes and smiled "I did the same Regina, though I also kicked him in the... I kicked him. Anyway, after he came to us I started thinking I was forgetting something. At first it was a weak feeling, but as the days passed it was a feeling that started to control all my body. I swear it gave me bloody hives. I couldn't stop thinking it was important but the more I thought about it the less I could remember what it was. The feeling grew stronger inside me and it seemed to explode today. As you all know it is my birthday today," Emma stopped and looked at Henry still snuggling against Regina who never stopped cuddling and caressing the kid. "Henry is truly yours. I mean, he really is Regina's son. He cooked a really nice cake... though he still needs a few lessons about cooking without turning the whole kitchen into a big disaster" Regina kissed her son's forehead and at the sincerity of Emma's words she simply nodded and smiled "guess he is yours too if he is able to make a mess on a kitchen. Thank you Emma". Emma blushed a little and went back to her part of the story. "So I was blowing the candles when... something hit me. Memories came back to me and everything started shaking around us It was like a million of images being thrown at me. I remember thinking.. thinking something that... I cannot exactly described. Everything was shaking and I grabbed Henry and when we opened our eyes again we were at the nursery."
Snow and Charming were smiling at her while Regina was looking at her with curiosity. Emma knew Regina skipped something when she told her story but it was clear Regina knew she had done the same thing. Snow was so happy with the idea of having henry and Emma there that was not paying much attention to the small details around them. David after a year getting used to read Regina's body language knew she was kind of telling a lie and decided to leave his daughter and former enemy to talk. Whatever it was they seemed to need to talk about it.
"OK, I think it is time for us to show you around Henry. Come with your grandmother and me. Emma you look tired, you can stay here if you want." said Charming leaving his chair. Henry looked at both her mothers asking for permission. Regina released him immediately feeling the anxiety and curiosity taking the best of the boy while Emma nodded "Henry go with your grandparents. I think I'm going to just stay here for a little bit."