Emma feels a strange thrumming in her blood as she approaches Henry, hugging him tightly with Regina – another strange feeling, a physical one. Emma never touches Regina, rarely, if ever. The former Evil Queen is warm and her blue jacket is silken to the touch. I'm hugging her as much as Henry, she thinks, before the thrumming gets deeper, more present, like a drumbeat.
"What is that?" Henry questions, before a ripping sound comes from above them. They all look up in time to see a golden portal form, a small figure dropping down right on top of them. They all fall to the ground as the portal disappears, the fourth body on top of them wriggling and swearing in-
"Is that Spanish?" Emma gasps as she pushes up, the person falling onto her legs.
"Yes, very vulgar Spanish," Regina says, before the person looks up to meet Emma's eyes. The person is a girl, barely more than a teen, with dark brown eyes that widen at the sight of Emma, dark brown hair brushing over her cheeks. She looks around, clearly panicking, swearing again but cutting herself off as Regina snaps, "Language!"
"Sorry, madre," the words tumble out of her mouth and even Emma knows enough Spanish to translate that, Regina looking at the girl with a shocked expression.
"What- who- this is absurd!" Regina exclaims, before getting to her feet, helping Henry up. "Who are you? How did you appear on this ship?"
"I'm sorry," the girl gets up too, Emma following as the weight on her legs lifts. But the girl is shorter than Emma had realised, not even taller than Regina – and Regina is short, maybe only five foot five, at the most – and wears what Emma sees as normal clothes, thankfully, however Emma towers over her by a full head. "I made a mistake with my magic. I was just mucking about with Elphie's things. I shouldn't be here."
"What's your name?" Mary-Margaret questions, but the girl shakes her head sharply, reaching into her pocket. Emma tenses as she brings out a bean, pushing past Henry to get to the edge of the ship, climbing up and shutting her eyes.
When she goes to throw the bean though, Killian catches her wrist with his hook and she drops it, startled, onto the main deck. Emma steps back in horror as a portal forms, Henry stumbling right into it.
"Henry!" Emma and Regina shout in stereo, before leaping forwards at the same time as the girl, all of them falling through the portal. Emma feels the drumbeat in her veins get louder and louder, until it's almost unbearable before abruptly fading to near-oblivion, just when they finish falling through the portal, landing on a stone floor. Emma's lucky in that she lands on her feet, but she nearly falls as someone presses against her leg heavily.
Wobbling, Emma looks around, eyes widening at the sight of her parents in fancy, Enchanted Forest-style clothes, her mother in a white dress while, in front of her, separated by mere metres, is the Evil Queen.
"Holy shit," Emma whispers at the same time as the mystery girl, before reaching to help a close Regina to her feet. The witch staggers, leaning against her, abnormally close for a few moments before she stands straight, looking around and gasping.
"Oh my," Regina whispers, meeting eyes with her – past? – self. There are a long few seconds, before Henry holds out his hands to the mystery girl, helping her to her feet, Regina twisting to look at her in anger. "What did you do? Why and how are you able to play with time like this?"
The girl shakes her head rapidly, "It wasn't my fault! Gideon dared me to borrow some of Elphie's magic beans and-"
"And what? You accidentally used them?" Regina half-shouts, anger clear. The girl cringes, hugging herself tightly and Emma frowns, because that's a really familiar blue leather jacket she's wearing. It's too big for her, with white leather accents and it clicks a second later.
"That's my jacket."
The girl looks to Emma, hesitating too long before shaking her head. "No, it's not." Ping.
"My lie-detector's making noise. How do you have my jacket?"
"How are you even here?" the Evil Queen down the aisle finally speaks up, sounding baffled. "Who are you?"
Emma glances at her and then at Regina, who clams up immediately. Emma looks to the girl. "Have any more of those magic beans?"
"Just one," she says, swallowing. "I need it though, to get back to my own time."
Well, that's been confirmed.
"Great, do it, get us more of these magic beans to get us home," Emma starts, before Snow White suddenly shouts.
"Guards! Arrest them!"
Men in armour with spears previously lining the aisle move to surround them and it's only when they grab Henry that Regina snaps out of it, snarling, fireball appearing in her hand.
"Let go of my son!"
"Mom!" Henry struggles against the guard, Emma reaching forwards before guards grab her, too and the girl. The three of them are pulled away from Regina as lashes out at the guards who try to get her.
"Let them go!"
"Who are you?" Prince Charming demands. Emma stamps on the foot of one of the guards holding her, but trying to elbow the other in the neck doesn't work because of his armour, only bringing Emma pain.
Regina glares at him. "The Evil Queen from the future, who has already taken away your happiness." There are gasps from the crowd, before Henry lets out a yelp, having tried and failed to kick one of his captors. "Henry, don't struggle, sweetheart, this will all be resolved shortly."
"But mom-"
"Shut up, kid," Emma interrupts him, hoping that Regina has a plan. She's still not let up on the fireball. Across the aisle, by Henry, the girl's guards suddenly fall to the ground, the girl twisting her arms a little, looking nervous.
"What did you do?" the Evil Queen questions, raising her eyebrows. Emma and Regina, likewise, look to her for an explanation.
"Uh, I sent them to sleep," the girl twists her hands, before making a fireball. "Aunt Mal taught me a couple of tricks."
"Aunt Mal?" Regina and the Evil Queen say at the same time, glancing at each other. Emma's eyes widen as she suddenly gets it.
"Like, Maleficent? Your aunt's a dragon?"
"She's not really my aunt," the girl bites her lip, fireball spluttering out before she tucks her hands in her jean pockets in an oddly familiar motion, hunching her shoulders. "Uh, excuse me, Queen Snow?"
"…yes?" Snow White starts warily.
"We really don't want to do anything here, it was an accident that we came here in the first place. Could we just…go?"
"Unlikely," Prince Charming scoffs. "You might be a sorceress, but you're accompanied by someone claiming to be the Evil Queen, from the future. It's an unbelievable tale. You also appeared in the middle of our wedding."
"Like Mom?" the girl points to the Evil Queen, before flinching at realising her slip, the Evil Queen and Regina both startling. "I'm terrible at this time-travel thing."
"I'm your mother?" the Evil Queen questions, looking to Regina, who balks.
"Don't ask me – she's from my future, too. All I have is a son," she motions to Henry with her spare hand, the Evil Queen looking at him with a fragile expression of hope. Emma swallows at the face, feeling guilty for keeping them apart.
…then her guards loosen their grips and Emma reacts.
Pulling out of their arms, she draws her fathers sword from her belt, joining Regina in the centre of the aisle, aiming her sword at them.
"Don't touch me," Emma warns, glancing at Regina, who seems impressed. "I've been practicing."
"I see," she says shortly, before looking back to Snow White. "Please order your men to stand down. We mean no harm."
"I sincerely doubt that," Snow White says, clutching Prince Charming's hand. This is, of course, when the guards with Henry start to move further away, backing into the audience. Immediately, Regina raises her fireball up, but strangely, it's the still nameless girl who comes to his rescue, teleporting in a flurry of white behind the guards and tapping them on the shoulders. They fall to the ground, letting Henry go. He looks back at her in slight awe.
"Thank-you."
"Any time, Henry," the girl fiddles with her hands before making her way back over to Regina and Emma with him. Once there, Henry hugs his mother tightly, her fireball disappearing, the girl drifting to Emma's side. "Mom?"
It takes Emma a little longer than it should – or maybe it takes too little an amount of time – to figure out she's talking to her, rather than Regina.
"Uh, yeah?" slightly baffled, Emma lowers her sword, the end touching the ground. The girl pulls her jacket slightly and now, closer than before, Emma can see how faded it is, cracked at the joins and the arms re-stitched to both shoulders.
"This is your jacket. You gave it to me, will give it to me, later. Before, I didn't have my own and you said leather jackets are a family thing, though I've never seen Henry wear one, like, ever," the girl babbles slightly, before wincing. "My name's a bit of a giveaway, as to who I am? So-"
"So who are you?" the Evil Queen interrupts, voice like a whip-crack, hurt obvious. "Because obviously, something is wrong if you're calling both this woman and myself your mother."
"Mothers," the girl corrects and Emma feels a sense of foreboding that's different to the one she usually feels with Henry. "I'm Emma Lucy Mills, though people call me Lucy and I'm the magic True Love child of the Saviour and the Queen."
Emma translates that, thusly: the girl is called Lucy and she's the magic baby of Emma and Regina from the future.
Though, obviously, Regina had her, Emma thinks rationally, even as slight shock sets in. She'd be Swan, otherwise. Unless I marry Regina and take her name. Emma makes a face, looking to Regina, perturbed.
"Why the hell would I take your name? What about Swan-Mills or something? Hyphenated names are in, right now," she argues, the former Evil Queen looking to her in horror.
"If you ever insinuate I would ever become Regina Swan ever again, I'll put you under the hospital before you can blink. Why would you even ask that kind of question?" Regina looks to Lucy. "And I don't know what kind of drugs you're on, girl, but no way in any universe would I share True Love with Snow White's daughter."
Lucy nearly flinches, but she holds her ground. "You will. You might already. You moved a moon together."
"Moving a moon together isn't one of the bullet points for True Love, kid," Emma says uneasily, glancing at Regina warily. She thinks about it, loving Regina. To her surprise…she doesn't think it a bad idea. Her expression twists and she actively stares at the former Evil Queen.
I mean, I kissed Killian and then there was all this stuff with Neal…Regina's been here this whole time and I've always thought she's gorgeous.
Regina snaps her head in Emma's direction at that, looking at her strangely, "You thought what, Miss Swan?"
Emma flushes, embarrassed. "I said that out loud?" Regina doesn't reply, but Henry looks between them like he's dumb.
"Oh my god, of course you share True Love. It's so obvious. Lucy's right!"
"We don't share True Love!" Emma denies, shaking her head.
Henry looks to Lucy. "What are we all like in the future? Do we have any other siblings? Who had you?"
Lucy shrugs uneasily, "We're fine? You're thirty-something and we've got two other siblings, Jasper and Victoria. Victoria's my twin, but not like, normal twins. It's complicated. We're seventeen. Jasper's twelve."
"Thirty-something," Emma repeats, doing the maths. Thirty-something, seventeen… "Are you supposed to be born in a couple of years? Because, Henry's like, twelve and we're not in a romantic relationship."
Lucy bites on a grin. "Don't worry. You'll get there. Just know that Jasper's the only kid you meant to have."
"You're lying," Regina says, looking lost. "This is ridiculous. I can't have children."
"Everything can be healed, madre," Lucy says quietly, before looking over – back to the Evil Queen, who has a hand on her stomach. She meets Emma's eyes and the blonde is stuck, for a little while, feeling something warm in her chest that reminds her of Regina. "We have to go now, I think. Elphie's magic always erases everything you shouldn't know. No-one here will remember. Elphie's good like that."
"Even us?" Emma questions, tearing her eyes from the Evil Queen to look at…my kid. My kid from the future. Everything about her sort of makes sense now. Regina's hair and eyes. My jaw. My nose. Regina's height. Emma can't help a small smile at that, staring at her.
Lucy gives a tight smile back. "Even you. Time is fickle. It won't change because you want it to. Only I can meddle properly, because I come from the future and I won't want you remembering, when you return." She takes her bean from her pocket, looking over to Snow White and the Evil Queen. "Apologies for the interruption, Your Majesties."
"It's fine," the Evil Queen says softly, staring at her. Lucy smiles at the past version of her mother – this is a trip, Emma thinks – before dropping the bean to the floor at their feet. Almost immediately, the four of them fall through and Emma hears the drumbeat again, loud and invasive, before it disappears once more as they fall through the portal out onto wet concrete.
"What the hell have you done?" comes Regina's familiar voice, sounding strangled. Emma looks up to see her, but older and with dark grey hair, pulled back in a loose French bun. Sunglasses are perched on top of her head and the coffee in her hand is so strong Emma can smell it from the ground. The older Regina offers Emma a hand, Emma barely using it at all as she gets to her feet, staring at the older witch, lines by her eyes and mouth, jaw less hard.
"Hi," she breathes, before being distracted by someone calling Lucy's name, a dark blonde pair of legs pulling her to her feet.
"What did you do? Elphie's going insane and Gideon's been grounded-" the new girl looks over to see the younger Regina, younger Henry and younger Emma, jaw dropping. "Gods. What have you done?"
"I need to get them home," Lucy says, clutching the new girl's hands. "Vic, where's Elphie at? I need another bean to send them home."
"The Diner," the older Regina says, attracting Emma's attention again. "Come. I'll take you." Glancing at her Regina, Emma shrugs in a what else are we going to do motion and follows her older self as she twists, walking up the street towards where Granny's Diner sits, intact and whole, if in need of a fresh coat of…lavender paint.
"It's been like this for over four years now," the older Regina sighs. "Trust me, you don't get used to it." They go up the stairs into the Diner, which has changed to match the respective colour-scheme, the booths gone and replaced with six, long gleaming benches that match the bar, extra stools piled up at the end of the room. "Elphaba," the older Regina calls, a red-haired teenage girl twisting around on a bar-stool, eyes full of murder.
"Lucy, you are going to pay for steal from me, dearly."
"Blame Gideon, not me! He was the one who wanted to use them!" Lucy exclaims, hands rising. Elphie immediately stops glaring, frowning.
"Well, he's grounded now. His father even put a magic cuff on him, so he can't leave his house. Perhaps that was why." The red-head looks to Emma, Regina and Henry, blinking in surprise. "Are you an idiot, Lucy? I think you are."
"Quiet," older Regina snaps at her. "Don't insult your cousin, Elphaba Mills."
Emma looks to her Regina, who shakes her head, nonplussed. "You've no idea who her parents are?" Emma questions her in a mutter.
"If I did, I wouldn't be this confused, Miss Swan," Regina replies quietly, the two of them watching Elphie as she stands, coming over and digging around in the pockets of her green high-waisted shorts, yellow crop top barely existent. Eventually, she pulls out a bean, dark gold with orange streaks, like the ones Lucy had used, coming forwards to stop in front of the three of them with a serious expression on her face.
"As one of the two only experts on time travel, I warn you that going against my instructions could be disastrous. First of all, as you will be in charge of the time travel portal, you need to make yourself forget. Lucy might have mentioned that those she wanted to forget would have forgotten, after she left, but as she won't be coming with you, that burden now falls to you."
"Wait, so we have to make ourselves forget? How?" Emma interrupts. Elphie doesn't take insult to her interruption, instead calmly answering.
"You need to think it, while travelling through. Whoever throws the bean has to think it all up. As this is the future, we don't need to forget you were here, so just focus on yourselves. Who'll be bringing you back?"
"Emma," older Regina answers for them, to Emma's confusion. The older witch glances at Emma, smiling in amusement. "Trust me, Elphaba. Emma takes them back."
Elphie stares at the woman for a few moments, before groaning. "I hate paradoxes." She hands over the bean to Emma, pressing it into her hand. "Think of the moment you left when you first jump in, all of you," Elphie looks at Regina and Henry, nodding before turning away, grabbing Lucy and Vic. She must have been Victoria, Emma realises with a start, watching her disappear into the back of the Diner with her sister and cousin.
"I'd recommend finding an empty space," older Regina advises, before ruffling Henry's hair, looking wistful. "I miss you being this young. Enjoy being a teen, Henry."
"Bye, Mom," he says quietly, before she leaves their side, going to the bar, where an older Ruby mans the till, drinking her coffee. Emma looks back to her Regina, who takes Henry's hand and leads both he and Emma back out of Granny's, moving a plastic table set so they have a clear space. Gesturing to it, Regina looks to Emma, who breathes in deeply before dropping the bean onto the ground.
A portal forms and Emma readies herself before jumping, thinking of Hook's ship and her parents, right after they've disappeared, only belatedly remembering – when they've fallen onto the deck – that she was supposed to make them forget, too.
"Emma Swan, you idiot," Regina mutters, hand going to her head. "That witch was very explicit in what she wanted you to do-"
"What happened?" Mary-Margaret exclaims, interrupting.
"Time travel shenanigans and my daughter from the future," Emma says, glancing at Regina and Henry, who both stay quiet, not elaborating. She feels the thrum of magic in her blood and she wants to…to do something. She doesn't know what. "We're fine. Don't worry. Let's just get off Neverland."
"Aye, a grand idea," Killian agrees, before ordering them about the ship.
Pan has a Curse.
Regina speaks to her at the town line, holding her hands and Emma doesn't quite know what to say. She thinks of being separated from Regina forever, or at least a time. Lucy and Victoria – twins, but not twins, in a way that Lucy never explained – would never be born. I want them to be born. She feels her magic, still beating like a hummingbird heart inside her and she wishes that they might still live.
Twins, Emma thinks, when she feels a jolt as her magic spills over to Regina, the woman barely pausing in speaking as she reciprocates. Emma feels Regina's magic reach to her and she concentrates, focusing, thinking of Lucy and Victoria.
Regina stops speaking abruptly, then, a twisted expression passing across her face – she's in pain, Emma thinks – before the woman uses Emma's magic, which she can still feel, to make herself feel better. Emma feels something like a phantom ache – did she just pass it over to me? – and copies her, though from Regina's calmer face, she didn't feel it like Emma did.
I'm powerful, Emma reminds herself, before Henry joins her, the goodbyes too much. Soon, they're driving over the town line and-
Emma wakes up and almost immediately, she puts her hands to her mouth as she realises what she's done. Emma races to her, races to where Victoria Lily Swan is under the care of a babysitter, paying Trish double what she's owed before dismissing her permanently. Hook follows her, obviously and comments that she must have moved on fast.
"What, from you?" Emma looks at him incredulously. He raises an eyebrow. "Killian, I kissed you once."
Henry comes home later to find that she's packed their bags, Hook already on his way back to Storybrooke to share the good news. Her son – Henry Swan, oh god, this is so unreal – protests at the suddenness of their departure.
"We're going whether you like it or not," Emma purses her lips and thinks of a story, of something Henry might believe. "Some old friends need me."
"Old friends?"
"Yeah, kiddo," Emma nods, before strapping Victoria into her baby-carrier and wondering how the fuck Regina had time to transfer practically her life-savings into Emma's accounts. "When you were little, I lived in this town called Storybrooke. I almost had a relationship with a woman called Regina and then I fucked up and ran away. She helped raise you until you were like, a toddler and now she's in real shit and terrified, along with half the town because of some murderer on the loose."
She says murderer because it's the only thing that has a chance at distracting Henry from how she'd called Regina an almost-ex lover who'd been his other mother.
"…you almost had a relationship with someone who actually helped raise me?"
Didn't work. Dammit.
When they get to Storybrooke the next morning, Emma rents a room at Granny's and sends Henry up, telling him that if he leaves the building with a murderer running loose, she'll raise him from the dead to raise him herself. He rolls his eyes and only argues when she goes to take Victoria with her.
"You're barely thirteen, kid," Emma excuses. "Unless you're volunteering, of course-"
"No! No, I'm fine," he shakes his head. "Vic's cute, but I'm not going to look after her. I'll just read my comics. Can I get money for lunch?"
"Sure," Emma rolls her eyes, taking out two twenties and dropping them on the bed before readjusting Victoria's sling, procrastinating. Twins. She said they were twins, but not like normal twins. It was complicated, or something.
Logic and a time-travelling teen's mini-speech dictate that if Victoria and Lucy are sort-of-twins and with Emma having Victoria, that means that Regina should have had Lucy.
Logic also dictates that Victoria is a miracle baby without a father, but then again, logic doesn't usually include magic and True Love magic, at that.
Pull up your big-girl pants, Swan, she orders herself before going to the Diner, leaving Henry in the room. When she gets down, it's clear that Ruby spread the word, because not only are her parents there, but so are the dwarves, Dr Hopper…and Regina. Who, as she thought, is accompanied by a three-month old baby with a dark shock of hair.
A smile creeps onto her face at the sight of her, where she's leaning against Regina's clavicle, supported by strong arms that don't waver like Emma's do, sometimes.
"Hey," Emma greets them all. Her father comes forwards, but he obviously doesn't see Vic until he goes to hug her, immediately back-stepping.
"Is that…" his eyes widen. "You had a baby."
"I did," Emma says quietly. "Want to meet her?"
"Of course, but…" Charming glances back to where her mother stands and it's only then that Emma realises her mother is very heavily pregnant. Almost immediately, she flinches, remembering the Echo Caves and I want another baby! "Emma, we can't remember the past year in the Enchanted Forest."
"You…you what?" Emma focuses on her father again, furrowing her brow. "Why?"
"Emma, how much time has passed?" Regina questions, stepping forwards. "We know it has to have been a long time."
"A year," Emma answers, before motioning to the baby in Regina's arms, needing to know, to hear it from Regina's lips. "So, who's that, then?"
"I don't know," Regina replies with a small frown, glancing down and missing Emma's surprised expression. "We all woke up and she was in my arms, asleep. Whatever Curse that returned us here didn't bring any items like your blanket that might have helped us identify her."
"Oh," Emma stares for a few seconds, before remembering Henry, belatedly. "Regina?"
"Yes, Miss Swan?"
"I lied to Henry when I brought him here," she starts, only for said boy's voice to call out.
"You lied to me?"
Emma twists. I didn't get a chance to explain to Regina, she thinks in horror, before speaking slowly. "Uh, kid…"
Henry's face betrays his anger and upset. "What did you lie to me about? Is there really a murderer? Or is this about me being here when I was little?"
"You told him?" Regina breathes, Emma looking back and then between mother and son, trying to find the right words.
"Henry doesn't remember you," the blonde starts slowly. "Henry, meet Regina, Regina Mills. She's been Mayor here, seemingly forever. Regina, re-meet Henry Swan."
"Swan?" Regina can't help but question, Emma looking to the ceiling as Henry replies.
"Like I'd be anything else. Mom, what were you lying about?"
"You remember how I said that Regina helped me raise you, when you were little," Emma starts, trying to get some control over her breathing, one of Victoria's hands reaching up and out of the sling to grab at her hair. "Vic, no, that hurts mommy." She untangles her hair from Vic's grasp, using the distraction to try to formulate an answer.
"Yeah, I remember." Henry glances at Regina, then. "Does she know?"
"Uh…yeah," Emma coughs, "Regina and I were your moms, together, for a while."
"Wait," Henry's eyes widen. "Like, together, together? I thought you said she was just an 'almost'? Is that what you lied about?" Henry looks to Regina swiftly. "Is that why you questioned my name? Was I something else when I was little?"
Emma glances at Regina, but it's her parents who hold her attention, looking like they're about to explode with questions, having a silent conversation between themselves with batted arms and wildly differing expressions.
"…you were a Mills," Regina finally gets out. "I adopted you, as Emma's…civil partner."
"You were married?" Henry looks between the two of them, seemingly overwhelmed, before he sees the baby on Regina's chest, a slightly crestfallen expression taking over him. "Did you move on?"
"No…" Regina replies, frowning at the question, before shifting the baby in her arms and pausing. "I suppose I moved on the same way your mother did."
Henry glances at Emma, who meets eyes with Regina, silently asking, are you playing along with this? At Regina's slightly nod-tilt, Emma looks to Henry, smirking suddenly as she wiggles her eyebrows. Immediately he gets a disgusted expression, Emma recalling her explanation that Victoria must have come from a one-night stand.
"Right, got it. I'm going back up to the room," he says, sparing Regina a last passing glance before walking out. A few seconds after he disappears, Emma looks to Regina.
"Sorry that was sprung on you."
"No, no, it's fine," Regina replies quietly, looking at Emma sincerely. "He knows I was his mother. Even if he doesn't remember."
"He's a bright kid," Emma's smile fades as she untangles Victoria's fingers from her hair again. "Are you sure you don't know where the baby came from?"
Regina shifts Lucy on her chest and shakes her head.
"No idea."
Regina invites them to her house to stay, though Henry's bedroom is locked and the nameplate is taken off, before he can see it. Staying in a guest bedroom with Victoria, Emma feels kind of weird, knowing that the as-of-yet unnamed Lucy is actually Regina's kid. Our kid. Our True Love magic baby, like Victoria is.
Leaning on her side, Emma runs her fingers down Victoria's nose, smiling as she smiles, Vic's large, dark brown eyes just like Regina's. Then, Emma plays with her hair a little, curling a small blonde wisp around her finger which is just so long for a baby of three months. I wonder if Jasper will be like this. Emma can't get his name out of her head – any of her children's names. Henry, Lucy, Victoria, Jasper. It's a mantra – a promise.
A knock comes from her door, before it opens, Regina slipping in, still holding Lucy. "Emma."
"Regina," Emma smiles at the sight of her, motioning her over. Regina tentatively joins her on the bed, pausing before sighing. She places Lucy on the bed, taking off her high heels and then her small jacket, revealing her black dress to be strapless. She gets onto the bed, placing Lucy in much the same position that Emma has Vic, the girls' hands touching and their heads soon moving slightly as they look at each other.
"Like night and day," Regina murmurs. "I'll assume you don't have a partner. Henry didn't mention one."
"No, no partner, didn't want one or need one," Emma shrugs, reaching over to touch Lucy for the first time, letting her wrap strong, but small hands around her index finger. She's a lot smaller than Victoria. You'd think there were a couple of months between them. "I think I must have been pregnant in Storybrooke."
Regina jerks slightly. "Neal?"
"No."
"Hook?" she questions, sounding disgusted. Emma shakes her head.
"No. I don't know. I haven't slept with anyone in years. Weird, magical curses that you have to break sort of put permanent dampers on your sex-life. Victoria Swan here is three months old, the day after tomorrow."
"Oh," Regina starts, before silence falls. It's the peaceful type, thankfully and Emma is just…tired. Life in Storybrooke is so very, very hard and remembering it all just makes her want to cry, especially knowing that there is yet another villain to defeat, yet more memories gone that need to be retrieved. "Emma?"
"Yeah?"
"Why Victoria?"
"It felt special," Emma replies, remembering the day she was born. Henry had held her hand all the way through her caesarean. "It is special. Remember our trip to the future?" Regina nods sharply, eyes boring holes in her. "Is this mystery kid Lucy, do you think?"
"I think that if she is, then we're both lucky that whomever cursed us didn't take her away," Regina's voice is like steel, before she gets off the bed, taking Lucy with her. "Dinner is at seven."
"Got it," Emma replies, watching her stalk out the room, leaving her things behind. With a sigh, Emma looks to Vic. "Your other mom needs to remember having your sister, before this drives her insane."
"That was great," Henry says after finishing his lasagne, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Can I ask you about you and Mom?"
Regina keeps a neutral expression on her face as she plays with her broccoli. "You can and you may."
"How long were you together?"
Regina glances at Emma, who shrugs before replying for her. "Two years?"
"But you knew me longer than that," Henry prompts Regina, who nods before he points at Lucy and Vic. "So, did you know me when I was a baby-baby, like those girls?"
"I've known you since you were three months old," the witch says quietly. "I was there for all your milestones, as a young child."
"Mom's never mentioned you before. The first time she mentioned you was yesterday," Henry reaches to serve himself seconds, Regina nor Emma refusing him. "She said she got cold feet."
"Emma Swan regularly experiences the sensation of cold feet – mainly, because she can't pair socks," Regina replies, remembering one of her still-championing behavioural traits, that breaks through despite the memories – and subsequently, sometimes better habits – that Regina had given her a year previous.
Emma pokes at a mushroom, one a lot bigger than the others she'd seen in her lasagne, pouting slightly. "Don't make fun of me."
"Make fun of you? Never, Miss Swan," Regina gives her first smirk of the evening, Emma rolling her eyes as Henry watches them with hawk eyes.
"You've got banter. I've never seen Mom have banter with anyone."
"Your mother and I haven't always gotten on," Regina shrugs.
"We still had banter, though," Emma points out. "Remember when I cut an arm off your apple-tree."
"Oh, don't get me started," Regina shuts her eyes, shuddering at the memory.
Henry looks to Emma with wide eyes, "You did what?"
"I've always been rebellious. Regina pissed me off."
"You were trying to take away Henry," the witch immediately replies in her own defence. "Don't tell me that anything I did back then wasn't justified."
Something cold enters Emma at that. "Really? What about Graham?" A tense silence falls, then, only broken by Henry awkwardly complimenting Regina's lasagne.
"Thank-you, dear," Regina says, voice warm, before she stands, looking to Emma, voice immediately going cold. "Miss Swan. A word, if you will."
"I'd rather finish my plate, you know, clean plate ranger and stuff like that," Emma starts, before Victoria lets out a whine from the bassinet Regina had loaned, big enough for Vic but too big for Lucy, who's in Henry's old cradle. Standing, Emma goes over to her, starting to get a little guilty about using Vic as an excuse to run from things like this – bringing up Graham was a bad move, but to be fair, they hadn't talked about it before.
It was just the timing, Emma thinks as she picks Victoria up, walking out of the dining room so as to not disturb Lucy. I shouldn't have talked about Graham around Henry.
Making her way through the house, going through the hall to the living room and then through to the kitchen before reversing, the walk-around calms Vic down, back to sleeping. After returning her to the bassinet, Emma sits back down at the table, finishing her cold lasagne while Henry talks to Regina in Spanish.
Emma picks up some words – like class, school and homework – but other than that, she's not really able to pick up on the conversation. Only when her own name gets mentioned does she start paying attention, still at a loss even as Regina talks slowly, frowning slightly.
"I don't understand a word either of you are saying," Emma says, belatedly wondering if this – this fluency, this obvious use of Spanish that Henry probably grew up with – is why Henry was so good at Spanish in school, despite his apparent lack of tutelage until transferring to his NYC public school.
"Regina's telling me about us as a family, when I was little." Henry replies, sounding a little upset. "I've got a room here still, apparently. It's locked. Why did you take me away from here, mom?"
"It was a mutual decision," Emma mumbles, not knowing what to say.
"But I could have grown up here," Henry argues, "you could- you could have just stopped running away and stayed here for me where I still have a room nearly ten years later-"
"Henry, stop!" Regina snaps, interrupting him. "I was your mother, yes, I was and you do still have a room here and you always will, but that is no reason to treat Emma like she had no reason for taking you away. I wasn't always like this – I was volatile and practically a psychopath. I've done things that should never be admitted in court and until recent years, I was not a fit guardian for a child. You were taken away from me for your own safety, despite how I'd never, ever harm you. Now – and I will make this very clear, Henry Daniel – in this house, while you are staying here, I do not ever want to hear you raise your voice against your mother or anyone else again. Do you understand me?"
Henry nods quickly.
"Good," Regina looks to Emma. "If you'll excuse me." She stands once again, quickly making her way out. Emma hurries to follow, looking back at Henry as she speed-walks away.
"Keep an eye on the girls!"
Following Regina to her study, Emma barely manages to avoid the door slamming shut on her face, though a few strands of hair don't escape Regina's upset as she shakes, hands gripping the back of a chair.
"I can't do this!"
"It's not forever, Regina," Emma starts, before Regina twists, glaring at her.
"Emma, if it hasn't escaped your notice, we are irrevocably tied together. Henry is in my house! Between the two of us we have three children and my Henry, my son doesn't have a single clue at who I truly am to him!" Regina yells, eyes glassy. Emma swallows, before coming forwards, wrapping her arms around Regina tightly.
"Hey, I'm not kidding, it's not forever. Yeah, right now we have some shit to deal with and some memories to return – and yeah, we have three kids rather than just the one you recall sharing. When Henry remembers, he's going to be so embarrassed with the backstory he came up with."
"No, he won't," Regina says, voice slightly muffled. "He came time travelling with us too, remember? Lucy…Lucy was the one to tell him. Gods, Jasper as well, in four, five years."
"We decide to have him though," Emma recalls. "I suppose it's the only choice we get, in this. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Regina pulls out of her hug, taking her hands. "There's just something I don't understand about this all."
"What?" Emma frowns.
"Elphie," Regina says, Emma taking a moment before remembering the tall red-head who claimed to be one of the two experts on time-travel. "My niece, somehow. I don't have a sibling, though."
There's a long pause, before Emma sighs tiredly.
"Well, obviously that isn't true. With the new residents, how long do you think it would take to catalogue the redheads?"
Regina snorts. "For all we know, I have a sibling who takes up with the Cricket."
Emma laughs, shaking her head as something nags at her. "Oh god, that would be hilarious." She thinks back to earlier in the day, seeing her pregnant mother, happiness dimming. "She could be my niece, y'know. Like, I've got a new sibling coming, too, which is strange enough…"
Regina raises her eyebrow. "Are you implying that my niece, Elphaba Mills, is in fact your niece, via your as-of-yet unborn sibling?"
Emma makes a face. "Yeah, actually, no, lets not think about how that fucks up our family tree even more."
"Language, Miss Swan."
"Call me Emma, Regina."
"…Emma," Regina murmurs and maybe Emma feels a little unbalanced, or maybe it's because a year in New York has done something good for her perspective – but she lets go of Regina's hands, taking her face instead, kissing her. Regina makes a noise of surprise, before reciprocating gently. They make out. When they part, Regina looks at her with heavy-lidded eyes and her lipstick is smudged beyond belief.
"You have something there," the witch says, thumb coming up to wipe at Emma's lip.
"So do you," Emma swallows before they part sharply as Emma's phone rings. Answering it, Emma finds her mother to be on the other end, asking where she is. "I'm at Regina's, Snow. She invited us to stay over, because of Vic and Henry."
"Vic? Is that…" Snow trails off.
"Victoria Swan," Emma elaborates a little, watching Regina as she stares at Emma, wiping at her mouth with her hand. "Was that all?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Come over to the apartment tomorrow? You and Regina?"
"Sure, we'll be there. Bye."
"Bye, sweetie."
Hanging up, Emma speaks to Regina. "We have to go over to Mary-Margaret's tomorrow."
"Why don't you call her 'mother'?" she inquires.
Emma shrugs awkwardly, "Well, she's sort of the same age as me, younger, maybe. I'm thirty-one. I don't need a mother."
"Hmm," Regina nods in agreement, before speaking calmly. "Did you do that because you wanted to or because of what our future is supposed to hold?"
Emma blinks. "What?" A second later, she realises what Regina's on about. "God, no, Regina, of course I did it because I wanted to. You- you're Regina. I kissed you because you're Regina, not because of the future or- well, our future sort of gave me a kick up the ass, but I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you." There's a long pause. "Same question, to you."
Regina frowns. "I would never fornicate with you because someone said we should – even if that someone is our daughter from the future."
"Right, good," Emma sticks her hands in her pockets, before remembering the amnesiac boy outside the office. "How the hell are we supposed to explain this to Henry?"
"We don't," Regina replies, before going to her desk, taking out a package of wet-wipes and throwing Emma one. "Clean your face up." Emma does as she says, watching Regina remove any lasting traces of red lipstick from her own face and hands.
"So, are we doing this or not?"
"We are 'doing this' when everyone's memories are returned and our newest enemy is dispatched."
Emma sags a little. "Oh. Nice."
Regina approaches her, kissing her soundly. When she finishes, she looks at Emma with dark eyes.
"That is all you'll be getting until this is over."
"Great," Emma says faintly, staring at her new romantic partner. "Wait, what?"