Not Bulletproof
Alternate ending to episode 15 Season 2
It had been days, days since she had been back in Storybrooke. Trying to recover from the excitement and dread of the world of her family, Emma was sitting in the dinner alone. She needed the peace and quiet. Henry was with Snow and Charming for the night dozy after the party they had, as she sat with her hot chocolate, some people still lingering talking amongst themselves. Ruby stopped for a chat and a reassuring hug as she sighed dragging her finger into the white creamy foam of the glass before placing it against her lips. It wasn't the same as before, she thought when suddenly she heard the door creak open and a brunette bob popped its way past the glass.
"Regina," she breathed as her lungs fell short and her heart hitched in her chest. They had had a fight prior, the party had gone so well for their return but Emma felt the disturbance between Regina and the town. She saw it, tried to run after her, comfort her but fell short in her attempts. Her stubbornness had gotten between them once more and she felt terrible for it. All Regina ever wanted was Henry and she was tired of fighting for his affections. She saw the Queen sneak in and ask Granny for a drink attempting to stay out of the firing line until Emma caught Regina's glance of intrigue as to why she was still here and not with her family. Her heart jumped as she felt like dying at her sight, the sadness in the woman's eyes racked at her soul as she turned away. She finally got up the courage to take her cup over and sat in the same booth.
"May I?" she asked her attempt at being formal.
"Well you have sat do- yes I'm sorry." Regina responded with a weak smile.
Emma took another sip of her drink as she smiled back at her awkwardly.
"You can stop hiding you know." She said trying again at comforting Regina whose eyes were still filled with pain and sadness.
"I'm not hiding, I…I'm simply staying out of everyone's way." She said nodding a thank you to a gruff Granny who handed over the amber spirit.
"Well, I won't let anything happen to you Regina," she boldly reached out to touch the Queens arms gently, to her shock Regina allowed it for a moment before recoiling her arm away as she always did.
"I don't need that Miss Swan." She looking down into her glass and felt a salty tear drop down into it.
"I'm sorry." Emma cupped her mug once more. "What can I do to make this right?"
"Let me see Henry" she begged again, the repeat of words, her very own broken record of her emotions.
"Regina…." She said looking into the woman's tear filled eyes.
"Let me still take care of him for a while, he's all I have."
"Regina I can't ignore all the things you did before and sometimes it all just gets to me but
I can't take it anymore, I want; I want this to work, between us, between you and me." Emma confessed. She had been up on the Charming family high horse for too long as she felt herself grounded once more. She felt as if she needed to be herself again, the influencing morals of the fairy tale characters were not real, and she remembered that now.
The Queen sat upset, shocked and racked with new feelings she had never had, her life had always been about revenge and evil but nothing about love and compassion, only Henry could draw that out of her soul.
"Emma…." She breathed trying to comprehend everything. "I don't think this the place to discuss this." Her eyes darted to the faces now upon them in the diner, the angry mob watching her every move, as her frightened demeanour showed.
"Yes I think you're right, how about we go back to yours?" Emma suggested hopeful that this meant she would finally get the chance to talk, talk about everything and anything with Regina.
Regina nodded downed her warm drink in one hit.
"We should leave separately. I'm doing this for him, for Henry." She explained getting up first and leaving a $20 on the counter for Granny, not bothering with the change. Emma looked back down at her mug before whispering.
"I'll meet you in 10."
"Emma," The gruff short voice rang out from her day dream as Emma looked up into the stocky face of the Dwarf.
"Yes, Grumpy wasn't it?" she said still getting a hold of everyone's second names.
"I…. we all thought we would warn you, everything ok?" he said sitting in the space Regina had just occupied.
"Everything is fine; Regina and I were just talking."
"Talking? That witch? I'm surprised she didn't try to position your drink again." He spat back viciously.
"Please don't start this again; you know she's only been bloody trying and its people like you who are not helping anyone." She said drinking half her chocolate desperate to get out of there and to see her..
"Sister, she ain't a good person, she never was and never will be, she might be good at wearing masks but that's about it. Take my advice and just let her hide away before the town comes after her again."
Emma slapped him hard shocked at her own movements.
"Don't you dare try, she saved my life and Snows as well, if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have come home. I'm going to give her a chance, if Henry believes in her then so do I, I won't let anyone hurt her ever." She stood not bothering with the rest of her drink. "Ruby sorry it's not finished. And as for you, I would worry about your own things like getting your friends memory back before you go looking at Regina for anything."
Emma walked over to the counter paid Ruby who sighed just as worried as everyone else in the Diner, before she headed for the door.
"Suit yourself, but I can't stop a mob, in fact I don't want to." He said lounging back in the chair rubbing his cheek as she huffed and walked out of the building.
She looked up at the half moon now drifting behind a cloud as she rubbed her shoulders. It was cold out tonight as she wondered where Regina had gone to. Home Emma thought as she crossed the main street, sending Snow a text that she would be back soon and not to worry. She walked down the long street until she hit the white looming mansion Regina lived in. She looked up at the enormous structure and thought that Regina must have been so lonely in there each night. She walked around the back to see Regina standing staring into space up at her apple tree, her lose shall draping across her arms as she shuddered in the cold. This was her secret place, the place where she could just be Regina. Emma felt a sight intrusion as she walked under the branches of the archway.
"Regina" she whispered softly trying not to startle the woman, but the Queen did not turn nor move.
Emma felt suddenly frozen, the cold shoulder digging into her heart as she stepped closer still.
She walked up behind the Queen a few inches away as she looked up at the apples, plump and ripe as always, she remembered the first time Regina had offered her one. The memory made her smile thinking about how far they had come together, how all these circumstances, good and bad had brought them together.
"They still look delicious." She said trying to break the ice with a smile.
"They still are, no matter what happens as long as I have magic, these will always remain in perfection." She said miserably.
"I thought I would find you here you know, strangely, no matter how much we fight each other I still know you better than anyone else in this town." Emma sat on the bench and looked up to Regina. She wasn't the same person she met that first night, the person she had fought with. Regina was different; she was fragile, broken and sore. She still couldn't ignore all the things she had done before but looking up into those teary eyes melted any hatred left in her heart.
"Where are you tonight Regina?" she asked seeing the woman was clearly in her own world.
"Something isn't right, you could maybe tell me?" Emma offered gently as Regina turned a scowl on her face.
"I could never do that; you would just hate me as they do." Regina fought back the tears of the night.
"I…" Emma felt terrible, Henry had told her everything Regina had done and yet still, she was being persecuted good or bad, she was always wrong. She gave a defeated look up at Regina sighing and trying not to let her temper get the better of her.
"Be careful of what you do, I'm….I'm not bulletproof Emma." Regina finally looked down at her, arms tightly wrapped around her body as her eyes sparkled in the dim moonlight.
"Is talking ok?" she said seeing Regina was still cold, she finally made the most positive decision she had made since staying in Storybrooke. She stood wrapping Regina in her arms and pulled her down to the chair with her. Regina fought the first touch but something inside her broke. She fell helplessly into Emma's lap the tears streaming from her eyes.
"Please don't take my son from me; he's all I have left." She sobbed into Emma's warm denim jeans, gripping to the fabric tightly.
The pity gripped at her emotions as she struggled to breathe. She reached out and stroked Regina's short tussled bob, trying to show her some sort of affections and calm her shuddering frame.
"I … Regina… I never wanted to do that." She spoke gently.
"Then why do you keep me from him?" Her sobbing harder and more forceful than before.
"Regina, I think about the past and the future with everything in between, how I have to become a mom and how you raised him so well, and maybe well I won't live up to your standards." Everything was coming thick and fast , her thoughts mingling into the tragedy of the situation, she felt Regina gripping her tightly, and the pain hit her heart, knowing that this pain, the pain of splitting her from Henry was far worse than any wound she had been given.
Regina continued to sob, shaking as she felt Emma's arms around her body.
"I'll stay with you, I…. just…I just need to feel that what we have is real and I'm the one you've chosen." Regina looked up startled into Emma soft smile.
"Emma are you…. Are… you….. are you asking me to be…. Be….."
"Yeah I want you as part of the family, we don't have to be with Mary Margret and David, we can have our own time with Henry. It's the least I can do to thank you for saving my life." She said looking lovingly at the woman.
"Emma" she placed a hand over her lips as she cried even more, this time out of joy not the sadness that consumed her.
"It's going to be alright Regina, we will show everyone, the town, my parents, even Henry will see how much of a good person you are here in Storybrooke."
She smiled an exhausted grin, before she hesitantly at first, placed her arms back around Emma's shoulders. The blondes face shocked in her own way gave a small chuckle before wrapping her own arms back around Regina's waist. She closed her eyes.
"Thank you." She whispered to Emma.
"It's ok." Emma gave her a small squeeze before she pulled away slightly, her eyes locking onto the deep dark pools that were now reflecting the tiny lights strewn across the garden. She had never been this close to Regina, let alone imagined her in her lap; as she brushed back some of her soft hair.
The Queens heart jolted, she gripped at her chest, unable to look away from the pleading blondes eyes now heavily upon her, she tried to speak but nothing came out, everything seemed to blur yet stand still at the same time. The two were caught in a daze between them, everything had rushed so fast, as Emma found herself drawing closer. She dipped her head, her eyes, falling to Regina's dark lips as she couldn't help but press her pale pink ones against them. The taste of the rum, mixed with something sweet seeped into her mouth as she felt the shock received on the other end turn into pleasure quickly.
Regina clasped against her, finally felt something, the magic kiss that would break any curse, drenched into her fibres as she pressed back expressing what she felt finally to Emma. The woman, who she had hated, feared and tormented felt so right, so perfect, so astonishing she hardly believed it as the rainbow stream of magic fanned out around them. Regina let go after a moment her eyes still shut wishing that her dream was true as Emma's hand cupped her face.
"I'll stay here, I promise." Emma said holding her still, showing she was not about to back out from this, their relationship, their family, their life that was now on its path.
"Emma…" Regina looked slightly scared and nervous, not sure what this all meant. "I…I…."
"We can." Emma breathed placing her head against Regina's. "For Henry, for our son, we can do this."
"This, this isn't proper" she seemed too struggle with the idea.
"I can't fake it anymore, Regina; I want to make this work. I want to be with you." She said softly but with a confident undertone.
She looked at Emma, biting her lip, she felt so vulnerable, so exposed as she flopped down into Emma's arms once more.
"Alright, for Henry, Emma I want to be with you." She whispered her voice hardly able to say the words.
Emma tiled the Queens head back towards her and kissed her once more. The passion coursing through her veins as she closed her eyes and let her lips feel the sparks between them. Magic against magic, the two kissed beneath the apple tree as the night sky shinned above them. Their own moment, their little secret and their little joy.
Emma grinned widely, like a teenager who had gotten away with sneaking out for the night, as she walked out of the Diner with Henry, taking him to the bus as Pongo raced towards them.
"Hey boy, where's Archie?" but the dogs hysterical barking had her on edge.
Henry worried as Ruby flew from the diner.
"There's something wrong with Archie."
"Right the wolf thing." Emma rolled her eyes sending her son off to the bus before following the dog and wolf girl up into the small building across the road. As she swung the door open, she called out only to find the man's body collapsed against the floor.
"Archie!" she called but with no response, she slid to her knees only to feel no pulse in his neck.
"He's dead." She said reeling from the abnormal situation.
"And I know who did it." Ruby growled as Emma turned to her in shock.
"It can't be Regina." Emma pleaded with Ruby and her parents in the street. Everyone was against her, but the only alibi was something she wasn't ready to share just yet.
"It has to be I saw them fighting." Ruby announced bluntly.
"We can at least bring her in." Charming added as Emma looked into her mother's eyes.
"I know she didn't do this, she trying to change, for Henry."
Snows confusion was evident as she wrung her hands looking at everyone.
"At least bring her in." She sided with Charming laying a hand on Emma's shoulder.
"No, I know this is not right, we need proof."
"What proof can we get, we knew they had had a fight and that Regina was seeing Archie for advice , see her file is missing."
"I seem to remember not long ago you were a frame job." Emma snapped back to her. Snows face cringed as she sighed back.
"There was a witness," Ruby called out "We need to see Gold, he will expose the truth."
Emma was hesitant about the idea, going to Gold always had a price as she well knew. She swallowed hard but if it could prove that someone else was there killing Archie she wanted to take the chance. Regina had been with her all night in the garden, there was no way in her condition that she had possibly gotten out of the bed Emma laid her in during the early hours of the morning before she herself snuck back home.
So the party marched to Gold's, shop once more interrupting a precious moment he was to share with Belle, who herself, wasn't fully supportive of the families decisions at times.
"So the sheriff station is a family business now is it?" he commented packing the picnic basket standing between them and belle.
"We need magic; we need to find out if Regina is guilty." Charming proudly roared in as Gold felt a good smack with his cane would have brought him back to earth, though he simply closed the lid to the basket.
"Well there was a witness."
"But here were no witnesses' to Archie's murder." Emma said baffled.
Pongo trotted in from behind the curtain as Rumple fondly patted the dog.
"I didn't know you liked dogs." Belle smiled watching him sweetly.
"I grew up around sheep dogs." He explained before collecting a dream catching item twirling it in his hand.
"These are not just used for catching dreams but catching objects from memories, allowing us to see as they see." He dragged it along Pongos back before placing it in her hands.
"Use your magic, focus on what you wish to see."
Emma scoffed but as Snow nodded her, she sighed and held it out in front concentrating on Archie's office, trying to think about where Pongo would have sat beside him.
Suddenly an image appeared, she quirked open one eye to see Regina walking though the doorway, wearing the same clothes she had been in her arms that night, she watched but heard nothing. Regina briskly entered then in an instant was at Archie's throat sucking the life from him in a purple cloud of smoke.
Emma dropped the Dream catcher as Pongo barked. How? How could she have done this?
"There is your proof." Charming announced walking Snow from the shop. "We're going after Regina."
Emma tried to call out, tried to stop them but they were blind to her cries. Snow was tucked firmly under her lovers arms, fearful of what the Queen may do again. She had killed once what was to stop her doing it to all of them?
"Wait!" Emma tired one last time.
"Emma it's over I'm bringing her in." Charming spun around and yelled back before stomping off with Snow mouthing I'm sorry back at her daughter. Emma had to act fast; she had to find Regina before they did, as she bolted towards her manor.
"REGINA!" she screamed up but only the wind whisking through the trees responded to her "Shit!" she knocked at the door and ran around the house but there once more was no response.
Poor Emma ran back into the town looking desperately, but when she wound up back at the station, there she was. Her stern face sitting in the chair while her frightened eyes calling out to Emma as Charming interrogated her.
"We have proof you did it."
"You trust Gold, what if he set me up?"
"Regina Pongo saw you kill Archie"
"I wasn't there I didn't do it." She looked at Emma; she didn't want to tell the truth about the night's events, unsure if Emma herself had spoken of it but hoped that she would get her out of this.
"Emma, I'm being good, for Henry. I haven't used magic at all, why would I do this now?"
Emma's heart broke as she sat on the table.
"But we saw you, how?"
"I was framed. And there is a whole town of suspects."
Regina was right. She pulled Charming away as Snow agreed they couldn't hold her. To his annoyance and frustration Emma walked back in letting Regina go.
"Go and hide, if they catch you – "
"I didn't do this."
"I know." Emma said walking her out quickly.
"Go home and lock the door until I find whoever did this." Emma said throwing her coat over Regina's shoulders. But no sooner had she been set free did the door of the station swing open once more.
"I've had enough of your games!" Charming stood in front of the glass door, the pistol cocked and loaded now pointed straight between Regina's eyes.
"David no!" Snow screamed out of the station clinging to his strong stance.
"I'm not letting her get away a second time." He roared at her.
"David, she's not guilty we haven't proven anything yet, put the gun down, killing a second person won't bring Archie back." Emma pleaded waving her hand telling him to lower the weapon. But the stubborn prince had already made up his mind as Regina turned to face him.
"You wouldn't dare Shepard." She taunted her face sneering at the threat.
"I can dare all I like, admit you killed Archie!" he yelled Snows eyes tearing up against him.
"Don't you could hit Emma!"
"I told you," Regina stepped forward confident in her reply. "I didn't kill anyone!"
"I don't believe you!" he yelled once again and before anyone could breathe the gunshot wrung out into the air.
The thick noise, echoed back as a body dropped to the floor with a thud. Regina slumped to her knees, Emma's blood now pumping from her chest. The saviour smiled up paling by the second as Snow screamed and pushed past her husband aside, falling to her daughters side.
"I guess you were right Regina, I can be the saviour for something." She coughed wreathing in pain.
"Don't talk Emma, Regina call an ambulance!"
But Regina simply pulled the woman in to her arms dumbstruck at what she had done for her.
"You stupid blonde." She said pressing Emma's jacket to her wound trying to stop the bleeding. "Why would you save me?"
"Because I know you didn't do it, you were with me that whole night."
Snow almost dropped her mobile as she turned to hear her daughter's words.
"That's why I didn't say anything Mom, hey Regina I guess you are bulletproof because as long as I keep jumping like this you won't ever get hit." She coughed up another round of the blood that now filled her lungs. Regina wiped it away from the corner of her mouth.
"Don't, don't we will get you to the hospital, I …. Don't leave me to tell Henry this!" he cried shaking Emma's body in her arms.
"Tell him…. That I saved you this time." Emma said trailing her wet hand against Regina's alabaster face. "Tell him I love him and that I love-" her voice cut short as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The dead weight now pressed against Regina's lap as she shook Emma once more.
"Emma, Emma!" she screamed as she now turned away the tears to much to bear. Charming dropped the gun his hands shaking as she stood dazed and unable to comprehend what had happened. The town's people began to gather as Regina, leaned down, she cried, cried so many tears as she watched Emma slip away from her in her arms.
There was a funeral, two in fact, Regina stood far from the towns people who had gathered to mourn the loss of two people they loved. Henry held tightly to her skirt as the tears continued to fall, she couldn't bear to stand beside the angel carved gravestone as she squeezed his woollen jacket.
"I'm sorry henry, we, we were going to be a family." She said as he cried against her. She took his small hand and as the party began to clear as she walked over to the patent black coffin. Henry laid his roses and said his goodbyes and as Regina handed him to Snow allowing her to say her final parting gift. She lay her head against the coffins warm surface, her tears streaming down the glazed wood as she grieved,
"I love you too Emma, I'll take care of our boy, I promise, I promise I will take care of him." She kissed the coffin lid before dragging herself away from it reluctantly, turning back to Henry.
"Let's go home, home to our world, where this won't happen again." She took his hand as they disappeared in the purple smoke of magic.