Anonymous asked you: What if Graham and Emma's lives were swapped. Emma is the Huntress and Graham is the prodigal son of Prince Charming and Snow White?
AN: Oh Anon… I love you so much… This idea… Anon, you are awesome!
P.S. This is one of the many one-shots that I wrote back in December and January... Hope you all enjoy!
Graham had been in Storybrooke for seven weeks now. He'd come to make sure his son was all right.
He and his girlfriend, Meredith were going to be the best parents; they were going to try anyways. But then his girlfriend died from complications after Henry was born, and he couldn't take care of a baby alone, so he gave him up for adoption.
He met the Sheriff the first night he was there. He noticed her because she was at the house with Regina. She'd gone to check up on Henry when he ran inside. He found it odd that she know the house so well. Most people would say, "I'm gonna go now that everything's okay." She walked up the stairs.
Then he woke up in the jail cell, and she was telling him that 'Regina's' drinks are stronger than most people think. He spent the next few weeks battling Regina for time with his son. Wanting to spend time with Henry, David offering his and Kathryn's spare room, and Mary Margaret coming out of her coma were more than enough incentives for him to stay.
It was after Emma asked him to take the night shift that he became suspicious of her. Though he didn't think he would find out the very night the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He was patrolling the streets, bored out of his mind when he decided to go by the mayor's mansion. He noticed something off about one of the windows then he saw a figure climbing out of it. He immediately grabbed his flashlight and crept out of his car.
He waited by the bushes and when the figure came strolling down, he hit him in the gut—he hit her in the gut. He knit his brows and looked down at his boss before he put two and two together and looked back to the window.
"You were… this was why you needed me to take the night shift?"
"Graham, it's not what it looks like…" She shook her head and heaved herself back to a standing position, "It's exactly what it looks like, but you don't understand… Regina, she—"
"Does Henry know? I mean, he's in the house! You're doing this while he's in the house?"
"Henry doesn't know."
"I wish I was him right now… Emma!"
"Look, you…" She shook her head, "You don't understand."
"I don't think I want to understand." He gave her the keys, "I'm not doing night shift's ever again."
The next morning he walked into the station to hear two voices muttering. He looked up to see Regina and Emma talking, rolled his eyes and dropped his keys and breakfast on the table before turning to walk back out of the room.
"Deputy." Regina called after him. She walked up to him with a pleasantly fake smile and warning in her eyes, "I'm sure this goes unsaid, but what you found last night—"
"I'm not going to tell anyone." He didn't look at her, he couldn't.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Three nights later, he was storming out of the diner, Emma following him, "You can't just walk away! You don't get it! You can't judge me without trying to understand!" She tried to turn him back to her, but he shrugged her off, "Please! Listen to me!" She grabbed his wrist and squeezed.
He deflated and turned to look at her. His eyes were now sympathetic and he held her wrist in the same way she held his. As soon as his hand clasped her small wrist, her eyes seemed to glaze over and she wasn't there anymore.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"You can't just walk away! You don't get it! You can't judge me without trying to understand!" Emma was following the queen that summoned her to kill the dear Princess Snow White. She tried to turn the Queen around, but she shrugged her off, "Please! Listen to me!"
Regina deflated. She turned back to the huntress with sympathetic eyes and her hand mimicked Emma's clasping her wrist. "You have one minute."
~0~0~0~0~0~
She was visibly shaken when she came out of whatever reverie she was in. She knit her brows and stared into his eyes. They were so familiar.
~0~0~0~0~0~
She walked with Snow White out passed the garden into the forest.
"You're not a knight, are you?"
"What makes you say that?" Emma asked as she struggled in her gear.
"Without fail, every one of my father's men has offered me condolences. Except you."
"Please accept my condolences."
"And they all know how to wear armor." Snow stared the blonde down, "She picked you to take me. Why?"
Emma stared back. The eyes were something she would never forget. Even though the princess knew what was going to happen, she held sympathy and acceptance for her slayer.
"I think you know."
The princess nodded, "You're going to kill me."
~0~0~0~0~0~
"Have I?... Do you know who your mother is? Sister?"
Graham knit his brows, "Emma? What are you talking about?"
"I don't know." She sat on the curb.
Graham looked into her still glassy eyes, "I think you need to go home and rest."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma shot up in Regina's bed that night after she tore her way into the house. Regina woke up to the movement and the gasp for air.
"Emma… Emma, hey…" She sat up and began rubbing her back, "It was a nightmare. It's alright."
Emma was still panting as she turned to the woman next to her, "Why did you do it? Why couldn't you just have waited? I was trying to… I was trying to tell you…" She shook her head and swung her legs over the bed's edge. She dug her palms into her eyes as she tried to figure it all out.
Regina came behind her and lifted her hair, "Emma you are burning up… You need to sleep. You need rest."
"If I rest then I won't figure it out. I need to figure it out."
"Figure what out? Darling, please…"
"Why did you do it?" Emma could do nothing but lean into Regina behind her as the brunette lifted her hair off her neck again then began tracing soothing lines on her face after gaining access, "Why did you…?"
"Why did I do what?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Regina deflated. She turned back to the huntress with sympathetic eyes and her hand mimicked Emma's clasping her wrist. "You have one minute."
"I understand why you want her dead. I really do. But I think there is a better solution here. I think that if you forgive her and you move on there will be someone waiting for you…" The blonde tried to tell the queen subtly that she had fallen in love with her in spite of the evilness that flowed out of her. "I think that you both have an opportunity to change things, and I think it will be for the better. And this way no one has to die…"
"My, my… I give you armor and you become so very chivalrous don't you." She let go of Emma's wrist, pulling from the blonde completely and walked a few feet away.
"Regina, please. I'm trying to tell you something. Something that I've realized over the short time I've been around you and that's—"
"You're trying to tell me not to take my revenge. Well, Huntress," she turned swiftly and plunged her hand into the blonde's chest, "If you don't give me her heart, then I shall take yours." She pulled it from her chest and stared at it with question, "It's purple." She looked to the huntress, "Your heart is purple!"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Emma found herself breaking into the library. She didn't know why but something was leading her to it. She roamed the isles until she found a book hanging just an inch off its shelf. It was a book about magic; it was not a book of spells, but a book about them.
She flipped through it and found an entire chapter on ripping hearts out. She read through the chapter thoroughly and found that magical beings with the ability to rip a heart out are the most powerful of all aside from true love she ripped that page out, deciding it was useful. She flipped to the index and found a chapter on the colors in magic. That was really, really interesting to her.
She remembered vividly the color of her purple heart when Regina ripped it from her chest. It was a lighter purple especially in the middle, but it was purple. She read everything she could on the meanings of colors and the surrounding magic. She ripped that page out as well, folded them and stuffed them in her back pocket. She put the book back and started towards the mansion.
Henry opened the door, "Sheriff? My mom's not here…"
"That's fine, I was uh… I wondering if I could talk to you… Graham's told me about the curse and I had some questions…"
After confirming that she was indeed who she remembered she was, she started out again. This time though, she didn't know where she was going. She was wandering aimlessly trying to figure out what she could do to help Graham understand when Graham came to her.
"Emma?" He grabbed her shoulders, "What are you doing? Where's your coat? It's freezing."
Emma shrugged, "I'm fine… I figured out who I am though. Why I know your eyes and why my heart was purple when she ripped it out." She smiled a closed mouth drunken-esque smile.
"Have you been drinking?" Graham asked as he watched her tired eyes.
"Nope. I don't remember the last thing I ate either, but I figured it out."
"So you've said." He started walking her towards the diner or the first warm place he could get her. He started taking his coat off, but she touched his shoulder and shook her head.
"I still don't know what I'm supposed to do… How I'm supposed to help you."
"Help me by letting me help you." Graham tried.
"No, Graham, listen to me. Everything Henry said is real. All of it. Regina's the evil queen and you're the savior."
"Deputy? Sheriff?!" Regina's heels came thundering toward them, "Sheriff, what are you doing? Where is your coat?"
"I think I left it in Henry's room."
"Henry…? Why were you in my son's room."
"We were talking about the curse—woah." She swayed and fell into the mayor, "Regina I don't feel so good. Can you take me home?"
~0~0~0~0~0~
Graham spent the next few hours trying to track everywhere the sheriff went. Regina, tried to figure out just how much her huntress really did know.
"Thanks for bringing me here." Emma said as Regina came into the room with a glass of juice and some saltines, "Your bed is a lot comfier than mine." She snuggled into the sheets.
"I suppose it is." Regina set the juice and crackers down after getting her to take a bite and a sip.
"Will you stay here with me?"
"Of course, Sheriff." The mayor stopped moving when Emma grabbed her hand.
"It's Emma. We're alone."
"Emma." Regina nodded, "I'm going to change to something less formal, alright?"
"Okay." Emma nodded. While Regina changed, Emma did her best to kick off her skinny jeans.
"What are you doing?" The mayor came to help her.
"I was tryin' to get comfy."
"Here, let me help." She finished pulling the jeans down the blonde's thighs and began folding them to put in a chair. But something caught her eye, "What is this?" She asked.
"Hm? What?"
Regina took the paper out of the pants and walked over to the bed, "What is this paper?" She sat down on her side and start unfolding it. She dropped them when she saw the diagrams and the basics of controlling a ripped hart. "Sheriff?"
"Sheriff's not here now, try Emma." Her voice told Regina just how much pain she was really in and how sick she was, but the words still made her roll her eyes.
"Emma…?"
"It's how to rip out a heart, what happens, why it happens, who can do it…" She shrugged, "The back part is something that I think you need to read though… it explains why my heart was purple."
"Colors in magic?" Regina stared at her, "Where did you get these?"
"The library."
"The library? The library that's been shut down? The library?"
"That's the one… I think I figured out why it was shut down." Emma turned to her, "It's filled with books on magic. That would be a dead giveaway to the curse you created."
"Now you believe this curse as well? Why am I not surprised? No, the real question is why have I let you in this bed?"
Emma tried to pick herself up, "Because my heart was purple for you…" She tapped the paper on Regina's lap, "You don't have to lie to me. I already told you everything I know. The curse is my fault anyways, not yours."
"Why do you say that? I mean, I am the evil queen."
"But you hired me to kill. That's what I did. I was a huntress. I was a damn good huntress. The best. But I couldn't make the kill. I couldn't fulfill your one request."
"Why?"
"Because of you."
"So it is my fault then." Regina stared at the blonde.
Emma shook her head, "No, I let myself fall. I could have controlled it, but I wanted it. I saw a better story in my dreams, and I tried to make it real."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Read the color paper." She tapped it again.
Regina looked down, "All of it?"
"No. Purple first. Then red, pink and blue. Then white." Emma said.
"Okay, purple. Purple magic: Purple in most cultures not just in this realm symbolizes magic; this is because purple magic is the most powerful magic. A being with purple magic is the kind of being that is able to rip hearts out whenever they please, though it is the being's judgment on what they use it for. It is so powerful because it mixes both red and blue magic, and equally balances them." She sighed, "Blue magic: Blue magic is pure magic. It's the magic based on sincerity, truth, spirituality and openness. In this realm, blue magic is generally used by the good fairies, though any magical being may carry it." She bit her lip and took in the dozing blonde.
"Keep going." Emma mumbled into the pillow and closed her eyes.
"Red magic: Red magic is the most passionate magic. It is literally born from passion. It is born from hate, anger, lust, danger, joy, prosperity and most prominently love." She sighed, "What else am I to read?"
"Pink and white."
"Why pink and white?"
"Because my heart was light purple in the middle. There's not a variation of blue magic which means white was added to red which makes pink." She panted after finishing her sentence.
"Are you sure you're just ill? You seem far worse. I'm going to take you to the hospital—"
"NO! Pink and white magic!" The blonde begged.
"Pink magic: comes to a magical being after they have found love. It is caring, healing, tender, and of course always comes from a place of love. White magic: like any realm, white is the color of purity. White magic is raw and powerful. If a magical being is born with white magic or if white magic is born within them it is only because of loyal love, pure love, kind love." Regina dropped the papers and looked at the blonde, "What are you trying to tell me?" She asked as she laid on her side and looked at the sick woman with concern.
"I was born with blue magic. I could do small things for helpless creatures. That's why I roamed with wolves and prayed over my kills and didn't care about people. It was all about my spirituality. Then I met you… and I got red magic that first week I spent in your castle. And after… our first time together, the red magic and blue magic mixed together. But then something else happened in the same night and I had three new magics in one night. White magic came to me and pink magic came to me as well… Because of you."
She crawled over to Regina, "I wasn't trying to tell you not to take revenge. I knew you were going to do it somehow, someway… I just wanted to tell you that I loved you before you did it, so that you knew that there was someone that did. I'd hoped my heart had been enough. That's why I let you take it. But when you still saw revenge after taking mine in place of Snow's, I knew there was nothing else I could do to possibly convince you that someone did love you. You would have just said it was because you took my heart…" She blinked slowly, staring at the woman, "Somehow, I woke up… and I think that's why it hurts so much. Why I'm like this…" She collapsed next to the woman.
Regina didn't know what to do.
~0~0~0~0~0~
"She just collapsed?" Graham asked in wonder.
"Yes. She was talking about her different magics, told me it was her love basically and fell."
"Wait… magics?"
Regina stared at him, "I would never ask you for anything, but this is different. This is Emma…"
"Magics?"
"Please. Help me figure this out!"
"Magics?! Henry… Henry was right."
"Please." Regina sat on the bed next to Emma and brushed hair from her forehead.
"You love her too…" He realized. Then after she didn't acknowledge the statement he turned in thought, "Okay, so…. We need her heart… Do we have it here?"
Regina nodded, "I got it before I went to get you." She gestured to a box on her vanity.
He opened it and dropped the box, the heart rolling out onto the floor, and Emma convulsing a bit due to the heart rolling around. Regina gave him an angry look.
"That thing is purple!" His only explanation for dropping the box.
"Yes."
"It was glowing!"
"I know…"
"What the hell am I supposed to do with it?"
Regina looked down, "I've tried to put it back inside her… I can't."
Graham raised is brows, "And you figure, I'm the savior, so I should be able to?"
"Please can you at least try?"
"What about true love's kiss? Henry's always going on and on about true love's kiss." He tried, hoping he wouldn't have to touch the heart.
"It won't work unless she has her heart!"
A small voice filled the room, "Do it, Graham. Please!" Henry asked as he walked in.
"Henry!" They both said.
He walked into the room, "She's still going to be asleep after he does it, and that's where you come in mom… And then the curse is going to break."
"How do you know this?"
Henry lifted the book, "Because I finally found myself in it." He pointed to the page of him telling them what needed to be done.
Graham shook in disgust as he reached for the heart, "No, okay." He shook his hand out, "I take it and I put it in her chest. This makes me the savior?"
"Yeah, because you are the only person that can do it. You are the only person with magic in this realm. So, you are the only person that can put her heart back in her chest. You're saving her, and she's saving mom. And that makes you the savior of everyone, dad." Henry explained.
Graham stared at him as instant tears filled his eyes at hearing the word, "You wanna help?"
"Yeah."
Henry place his hand on top of Graham's after he picked the purple glowing heart up and they both shoved it back to her chest. Just as Henry said, nothing happened.
"I think it's because she woke up from the curse…" He looked to his mother.
"Because she woke up, the curse altered and she fell into it deeper, putting her to sleep. She's in a sleeping curse now." Regina nodded, "Right." She reached out to Henry, "I'm so sorry…"
Henry only smiled, "Just kiss her. It'll make it worth it."
Regina leaned down and kissed the blonde.
~0~0~0~0~0~
Suddenly Regina felt as though she was living a memory. She was stalking down a familiar hall.
"You can't just walk away! You don't get it! You can't judge me without trying to understand!"
Regina had heard that from the blonde before.
She felt Emma's hand as she tried to turn her around, but she shrugged her off, "Please! Listen to me!"
Regina deflated; now she knew what was happening. The curse broke and brought her back to the part of history that could have changed everything. She turned back to the huntress with sympathetic eyes and her hand mimicked Emma's clasping her wrist. "I love you too."
Emma took a step back but didn't let go of Regina's wrist, "You?... I… I was trying to say that…."
Regina smiled and leaned into her, "Then say it."
"I love you."
"I love you, too." She placed a gentle kiss against her lips. "Can I… I would like to see something and this is going to sound strange, but can I look at your heart?"
Emma knit her brows but nodded.
"This is going to hurt a bit, but I'll be quick." She reached into the blonde's chest and pulled it out.
"It's purple! My heart's purple!"
"Mhmm." Regina nodded and shoved it back in.
"Is your heart purple?"
The witch took Emma's hand and placed it against hers, "Check and see." When she received a hesitant look, she walked into the blonde's hand.
Emma immediately jumped into gear and pulled the thing out, "It's the same color. It's even got light purple in the middle like mine…" She said as she quickly put the beating heart back in her chest, "I wonder what it means…"
Regina took Emma's hands, "It means that our love is passionate, pure and true."
"Something's different…" Emma, ever intuitive stared at the evil queen.
"I saw what life was like without you—without this you… I'm going to give all of this up, is that alright with you? We could find a small cottage somewhere in the middle of everything?"
Emma smiled, "Whatever you want."
"Let's start drawing up contracts for when Snow and her Prince Charming invade."
~0~0~0~0~0~
Regina and Emma were cuddled on blankets in front of her fireplace. They'd sent the guards to their respective homes a long time ago, relinquished them of their duties and gave them extra pay to stay gone. They listened as the group began invading.
"Are you sure about this?" Emma asked as she placed her hand over Regina's swollen belly.
"Of course I am." The witch nodded. "We're having a baby; I don't need the stress of running a country or feuding with someone I should never have considered a foe…"
"Okay." Emma held her close from behind and kept her hands over her love's stomach protectively.
At this moment, Emma and Regina were interrupted by Snow, Charming and Red Riding Wolf. The wolf was charging, but immediately put her rear down and started scratching at the floor when she saw the witch turn and her large, pregnant belly outlined by the fire as Regina stood up.
Snow and Charming lowered their swords, but kept hard holds of them, "What's going on?" Snow asked.
"Where are all your men?"
"I sent them home ages ago." Regina said as she pulled from Emma. "I knew that you assumed I was planning some great scheme for your heart and were doing the same for me, which I deserve, but… I wasn't planning some scheme for your heart. And the men that had sworn themselves with your father and forced to stay in my alliance shouldn't have been here for my demise."
After hearing Regina's words and not being able to handle them and seeing swords and a werewolf just a few feet away from the love of her life, Emma stepped in front of Regina and pulled her bow and three arrows from her back and pulled on the string. This caused Snow and Charming to put up their swords and Red to begin growling. "Lower your weapons and I'll lower mine."
When they didn't, Regina put her hand on Emma's shoulder, "Darling, you said you would be alright."
"That was before they came in here with their pooch and swords and you spoke of your demise." She looked to Charming and Snow, "Lower them. Sheath them and I swear on my unborn child I'll do the same. She is the reason I'm doing this."
Charming and Snow looked to each other then to Red who trotted over to the huntress and sat next to her, obviously believing the blonde huntress' words. Emma tapped on an arrow and it poofed into the carrier on her back. After they saw this, they sheathed their swords, and Emma put away her weapon.
"I have some contracts that I'd like you to look over and sign." Regina broke the silence.
"Why would we sign anything of yours?" Charming asked.
"Because I don't want Snow's life anymore. I've forgiven her." She looked to Snow, "And I hope that you can forgive me… I know it's impossible to ever fully do, but if you can find it in your heart to try…" She shook her head, "Emma and I have built a cottage on what we thought was open land. But after I sent the guards home and we had the castle to ourselves, we found a document of your father's and apparently he purchased it for some unknown reason. We would like to either buy the land from you or work it out somehow that the land is ours."
Regina raised up a document, "That's what this one is." She moved to a second one, "This one states that you all won't come after me or my children or true love so long as we don't come after you…" She bit her lip, "Pretty self-explanatory." She moved on, "And this one is actually an agreement signed by the two of us that we will help you with anything you may need help with later in life, and it's not a one time offer, we will help you with anything and everything…"
Charming and Snow read the documents over explicitly. They signed with their own quills and told them they'd keep the documents. They moved into the White palace and married, nine months later they gave birth to a baby boy. They named him Graham.
Regina and Emma immediately moved into their cottage, they had a baby girl, Meredith.
Meredith and Graham soon found each other. They were best friends up until the day they married. A year after their marriage, they gave birth to a baby boy and named him Henry after Meredith's grandfather.
The bunch lived happily ever after.
AN: Please Read and Review! Hope you enjoyed!
