A/N: Just a reminder that this is not going to be a particularly happy fic. I have a general direction for where I want this story to go, and I know where it's going to end up, but I don't have many of the details worked out so I have no idea how long it will be. Also, full disclosure: I am known to be inconsistent and unreliable with updating. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience.
"Honey, I'm home!"
The blonde woman walked through the front door and slammed it shut, perhaps a bit too hard. She shrugged off her red leather jacket and walked up the steps of the entryway. A moment later, she was greeted by a frazzled brunette.
"Stop grinning like an idiot," Regina spat. "You aren't as funny as you think you are." She sighed deeply and turned back to walk into her home office.
"Ouch..." Emma said under her breath, and followed her into the other room. She watched warily as Regina brushed her hair out of her face and grabbed yet another glass vile. "I take it things aren't going well with the potion?"
"Not even a little bit," she muttered in response. She set the vile down and turned to face the blonde. She crossed her arms and then furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Where's Henry? I thought he was with you today?"
"Yeah, he was. He wanted to visit David, so I dropped him off on my way home."
"Oh." Regina looked disappointed.
Emma took a deep breath and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and directing her away from the assortment of glass beakers filled with liquids of various colors. "Look," she said calmly as she walked her out of the room, "I know you're stressed, but it's going to be okay. You'll figure this out eventually, and until then... things really aren't that bad!"
"Not that bad?" she asked incredulously, shrugging Emma's hand off her shoulder and stopping abruptly in the hallway. "That's easy for you to say! Henry has a lifetime of memories of happiness with you, and he doesn't even know who I really am. He thinks I'm just the mayor of this town, and he thinks we hit things off when you got here. That's all he knows! He doesn't know about our past together, he doesn't know anything about who you are, where you came from... he doesn't know anything. His entire life is a lie!"
"Yeah, a lie you gave him. Regina, you're the one who gave him those memories, who gave me those memories. You're the one who let him have this life of happiness. And when he remembers, he'll love you even more for it. Until then, at least he likes you! I mean, he really likes you. You made a great impression on him... for a whole week he couldn't stop talking about how great you were on your walk together. And then, when you and I started... well, you know, seeing each other, he couldn't have been more encouraging."
Regina's mouth turned up a bit at the corners. "Yes, you've told me this. And how you almost didn't even call me after our first date, but he made you."
Emma laughed. "Yeah, he was a real stinker about it too."
"Well, that's Henry for you. Did I tell you that he tried to set me up with Dr. Whale?"
Emma dropped her mouth in shock. "Please tell me you're kidding... Whale?"
Regina shrugged. "Do I kid?" She laughed. "Mary Margaret talked about him a lot in class, because of her volunteer work at the hospital. So he told me he thought Dr. Whale might like to meet me. He was only seven. He was a smart kid..."
"Still is," Emma said, looking into Regina's eyes, which had softened considerably since she'd first walked in the door.
The two enjoyed a comfortable silence, which was soon broken by the buzzing of Emma's phone. She laughed.
"Nothing like a phone call to interrupt a moment, huh?" she said, and then answered the call.
Regina decided to give her some privacy and walked to the kitchen, heading straight for the alcohol cabinet. She could use a small drink, just to take the edge off of her frustration. It had been a long day. She pulled out a glass and poured herself some scotch.
She walked into her sitting room and took a small sip as she sat. She passed the time by watching the fire and letting her mind wander to her time with Henry before all of this. She began to realize she liked her relationship with him now better than it had been before, when he remembered, and she cursed herself for thinking that. Of course she wanted him to remember. He needed to know the truth, he deserved to know the truth. And to be honest, it was extremely exhausting dancing around everything so much. She had to refer to everyone by their curse names, and she couldn't talk about anything related to her life in Fairytale Land around him. Conversations about her past were strictly between her and Emma, and all of the work she does with her magic and these potions were kept behind locked doors in a room he knew he wasn't allowed. Regina wasn't exactly sure what lie Emma had come up with to keep him out of there, but Regina didn't care. She didn't want to know, because she didn't want to have to take part in any more lies around Henry than absolutely necessary.
No, it would be best if he regained his memory. Without a doubt.
"C'mon, please!"
"Absolutely not. No. It's out of the question. Your mom would kill me.
"Oh, don't be such a wuss. She'll get over it."
"She's the m-" Charming stopped himself. He'd almost said 'mayor,' but fortunately remembered at the last minute that Henry still didn't know Regina was his mother. "Sheriff," he corrected. "She's the sheriff now, so I don't want to take my chances."
"I'll tell her I forced you! I'll say that I threatened to... I don't know, that I threatened to do something bad. You can come up with something. Please David? I've gotten a lot better, you know I have. I want to get really, really good before I tell my mom. I want it to be a surprise."
Charming laughed, thinking how much like Emma he was as he grabbed his keys. "Half an hour, that's all you're getting."
"Yes!" Henry pumped his fist in the air and ran over to the door and yanked it open, hurrying down the stairs. Charming followed behind, shutting the door behind him. By the time he got outside, Henry was already in the truck, seat-belt on and ready to go. Charming got in next to him and handed over the keys.
"Alright kid, you know what to do."
"Yep!" Henry said, smiling as he started the engine, put the car into drive, checked for traffic, and then smoothly pulled into the road.
Emma finally walked into the room, and Regina couldn't help but feel curious after seeing Emma's odd expression.
"What was that all about? Is everything okay."
"Oh, yeah it's fine. It was Ruby, she was just updating me on the whole 'Zelena' issue," Emma smiled, but Regina frowned.
"Issue? It shouldn't be an issue any more." She didn't even bother to keep the ice out of her tone. "She should be safe and sound, sleeping deeply under the curse we cast on her."
"And she is," Emma reassured her. "Some people are just... having second thoughts about the whole 'safe and sound' part."
"What do you mean?" Regina asked.
"I mean someone tried to sneak into your vault today."
"And do what?" she asked incredulously.
"Regina they- they tried to burn her alive." Emma scrunched her face up, clearly bothered by this.
"Good. She deserves it."
"You don't mean that..."
"Oh, but I do! You know I've been against the sleeping curse this entire time. It's too risky..."
"She's your sister, Regina! We've been over this."
"Yes, and like I've said before, she's my half sister. And I didn't even know her until she turned up and tried to destroy our lives. She tried to kill me, and then she tried to kill you. And she almost killed Henry. I would rejoice in her death." Regina crossed her arms stubbornly, but then softened upon seeing Emma's shocked expression. "Look, I'm not going to kill her. But that doesn't mean I will be particularly upset if someone does. Without her magic, she's powerless. Under this sleeping curse, anything that would kill any ordinary person would kill her. I just- I understand why people are trying."
"Well, I was hoping your reaction would be a little different, because Ruby thinks you should cast a stronger protection spell on your vault. She wants you to use blood magic. And since the only one who can get through a seal you make with blood magic is Zelena, she thinks it'll be pretty safe."
"Well, she's right about that." Regina took a sip of her scotch. "But that doesn't mean I'll do it."
"Yes you will," Emma grinned mischievously.
"Oh yeah?" Regina asked, smiling at Emma's ridiculous assertion. "And why's that?"
"Because..." Emma moved toward her slowly. "Henry's with David. And we have the house to ourselves." She walked closer to Regina. "And if you do this quickly, I'll have enough time afterward before Henry gets back."
"Enough time for what?" Regina asked.
Emma was right up next to her, and leaned in to whisper her answer in Regina's ear.
"Enough time to make you scream my name."
Regina's heart beat loudly in her chest, and she closed her eyes and breathed in Emma's scent before the blonde pulled back.
"But not until you seal your vault."
Trying to maintain as much dignity as she could, Regina stood up from her seat, gulped down the last of her scotch, and walked out of the room, leaving behind a smirking Emma Swan.
"You're getting really good at this Henry," Charming commented.
"I told you! I think I'm almost ready to show my mom."
"I think you are ready."
Henry snapped his head toward Charming in surprise. "Really?" he asked, excitement shining through every one of his features.
"Yes, Henry," Charming laughed. "I think you're ready. Do you want to swing by your mom's house, pick her up? We can show her how good you've gotten."
"What happened to being scared to show the sheriff that you're letting me drive?"
"What happened was I realized that you're actually quite good at this. Good enough to go out on your own." He saw Henry open his mouth but quickly cut him off. "Not that you can go out on your own. You still have to wait until you have a license for that."
Henry frowned, but his disappointment didn't last long. "Okay. Let's go show my mom."
He grinned as he turned down the main road in Storybrooke and headed toward the mayor's house. It didn't take them long to get there, and as soon as Henry pulled into the driveway, he honked the horn twice and rolled down his window, ready for a confused sheriff to emerge.
Sure enough, after less than a minute, Emma walked out of the door, frowning at the sight before her.
"David, what the hell!" she yelled. "What is my son doing behind the wheel of a car? Don't you remember how it went last time?"
"Actually," Charming corrected, "that was the first time. We may or may not have gone, I don't know, eight times since then? Nine?"
Emma sighed. "Well, judging by the state of the mailboxes in this town, I guess it hasn't gone too badly?"
"You judge correctly," Henry said proudly.
Charming opened the car door and stepped out, leaving it open and gesturing to it. "After you, m'lady."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I'm going to show you how great I am now!" Henry beamed from the driver's seat. "Come on mom, please. I promise you, David was safe about it, and he's a really good teacher. I've gotten super great at driving, and I really want you to see."
Emma smiled hesitantly, looking at Charming for confirmation. After an encouraging nod, she shrugged and stepped into the truck, buckling her seat-belt as soon as possible.
"Alright kid, show me what you can do."
Regina couldn't remember the last time she'd cast a spell so quickly. Especially not blood magic. She had only performed blood magic on a select few occasions, when it was particularly necessary. And this time, she reasoned with herself, was the most necessary of all. She couldn't get the image of a naked Emma Swan out of her head. Which was ridiculous, because it wasn't as though they didn't have sex all the time anyway. But somehow, this felt different. Somehow, she felt like this time would be special. After all, some of the best sex she'd ever had came from "thank you" sex. It was second only to argument sex... which was the kind they had whenever they both simultaneously realized that neither of them would really win an argument. So they battled it out in the bedroom.
The mayor smiled at the work she had done on her vault. It was finished, and it had taken her barely an hour. She walked back to her car and started the engine, trying to calm her racing heart. She was about to pull out of her spot when her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller I.D. and saw EMMA pop up, along with a picture of a smiling blonde. She smirked, shaking her head, knowing how impatient Emma could get.
"Yes dear, I'm on my way. I just finished up the spell... I think right about now is the time for you to start prepping the bedroom."
There was a moment of silence, and then she heard someone clear their throat.
"Um, Regina?"
That wasn't Emma.
"Who the hell is this?" she demanded, turning bright red.
"This is Dr. Whale, I-"
Regina laughed in realization. "Oh, very funny Emma. You're really just going to hold that against me aren't you?"
"Regina, please. I'm afraid this isn't a joke; this really is Dr. Whale."
She noticed a sorrow to the tone that she hadn't heard before, and her smile fell immediately.
"I have some bad news... there's been an accident."
Regina felt a knot in her throat. "Who?" she managed.
"Emma... and Henry."
"Wha-" her voice caught, and she paused a moment, trying to breathe. She felt the unfriendly stinging at the back of her eyes as she tried to keep the tears back. This was a doctor calling, which was a good sign, right? "What happened?"
"I really think you should come down here Regina. It would be better to talk in person."
"What happened!" she snapped, finally finding her voice.
"I um- I'm really sorry Regina, but... it's Henry. He-"
"He what?" she closed her eyes.
"Regina, Henry is dead."
A/N: Please leave a review if you have any feedback for me! Not only are comments greatly appreciated, but they will help me determine how you guys are reacting, so I know how to approach each new chapter.
I'm so sorry for cutting it off there, but that's just the way it has to be. The next chapter shouldn't be too long.