Alternate Universe where Emma and Regina meet in College. It's her last semester(of graduate school) and she decides to bring Regina home to meet her family but...they don't know she's gay.
This hasn't been proofread so I'm sorry for any mistakes!
I do not own anything involved with Once Upon a Time or ABC.
"Emma!" Her over-enthusiastic mother calls as she opens the front door for her daughter.
She practically smothers Emma in a bear-hug which is a feat considering the woman is so tiny.
"Hi Mom." Comes Emma's muffled reply. The blonde pulls back from the hug as soon as she hears Regina's amused chortle.
The sound seems to break Mary Margaret out of the moment as well and she looks to Emma's traveling companion.
"Hello again, Regina." She greets and pulls the other girl into a less bone-crushing but still strong hug.
Now it's Emma's turn to laugh at Regina's discomfort.
Truthfully Emma is glad about this greeting. Her mother is acting as though Regina is not a stranger spending the holidays but a part of the family and Emma couldn't be happier about that. She hopes one-day for Regina to actually be a part of the family. Not that her mother would know anything about that.
"It's nice to meet you again Mrs. Swan." Regina responds politely. She's not use to such displays and even though Emma had warned her of the possibility she hadn't actually expected Mary Margaret to be this excitable about seeing her. After all they'd only briefly met once.
"Call me Mary Margaret. And Come in, Come in. It's freezing out there. How was the drive? I always hate coming all the way from Boston. But of course Emma here had to go there for school. I guess I should just be happy she chose a school within driving distance at all! She was looking at all of those California schools at one point. But only one more semester and then she's done and hopefully she'll be moving back home. Don't give me that look Emma, a mother can hope, can't she? You've been gone five years now, it would be nice to have you home for a change. And why would you want to be so far away anyway? You love this town! I'm sure you'll love it too Regina. Emma how about you show her around?"
Regina's eyes bugged out. She certainly knew where Emma's tangents came from now.
"Okay mom, yeah that's a good idea. I think we just want to put our stuff down and relax first though." Emma says when she finally gets a chance to respond.
"Of course. I can put on a pot for tea if you'd like while you're getting settled." At their grateful nods she continues. "Oh and I had assumed you would both share Emma's old room but I think we have an air mattress in the hall closet if you girls are more comfortable with that, and there's always the couch that Emma- " she gives her daughter a pointed look here. "-could take."
"Mom I wouldn't make her sleep on the couch! And we'll be fine in my room. Right Regina?"
Regina is grinning but refusing to make direct eye contact.
"Okay lovely, you go up and get settled then." M.M says and shoos them away.
Once in Emma's old bedroom the two burst into laughter.
"You weren't kidding about your mother." Regina muses and sits on the edge of the small twin bed.
"Nope." Emma plops down next to her.
"It's nice though." Regina admits. "So this is Emma Swan's childhood bedroom?" She segues and scans the room.
"Technically I had-what is now-my brother's room until like 10th grade but yeah this is my old room." Scanning the room nostalgically as well.
Regina suddenly turns to face her. "Have you ever...you know, in here?" She asks flirtatiously.
"That depends on what 'you know' refers too. I'm guessing you're not asking if I've ever danced around in my underwear. The answer would be yes, by the way." Regina hits her arm. "Ow. Oh, you meant sex! Yeah no definitely not."
"Why not?"
"You know why not, Gin." Emma rolls her eyes.
It's true. Regina knows everything about Emma. Like how Emma knew she was gay since 9th grade but didn't tell a soul until her friend Lily kissed her senior year. She knows just how heart-broken that dragon lady than left her sweet swan. Emma only really started to date in college, away from the prying eyes of her family and the town.
"Well...want to change that?"
"Right now?" Emma questions.
"Mhm hmm." Regina mumbles in between kisses.
And Emma forgets all the reasons that this might be a bad idea.
That is, until she hears a knock on the door.
"Ugh" She groans as she gets up to answer it and Regina fixes her appearance.
"Don't be so happy to see me." Her brother sarcastically remarks when she opens the door.
"Shut up!" She says but pulls him into a hug. She's distressed to find that he is now taller than her. I guess that what happens once they hit sixteen.
"Am I going to be introduced to this man you're hugging?" Regina sasses.
"Regina this is my little brother Neal. Neal this is my-this is Regina." She continues fast so he won't notice the almost slip.
He doesn't seem to have caught it though as he's too distracted by Regina's beauty.
"Hi." He finally forces out.
"It's nice to finally meet you." She says sincerely. He almost melts. "Uh yeah you too." He sticks out his hand for her to shake. "Um okay I gotta go I'll see you later." He says and practically scurries to his room.
"What a weirdo." Emma says and shuts her door again.
"No he's cute." Regina lightly admonishes. "Very charming just like his sister."
Emma kisses her cheek. "How is it that he doesn't have acne? It's not even fair that my awkward phase lasted like 8 years and he never even went through one!"
"So you're saying your awkward phase is over?" Regina feigns surprise.
The next thing she knows, a pillow is hitting her in the face.
The next two days pass with relative ease. Regina meets the rest of Emma's family and even a few of her childhood friends.
David is found to be Regina's favorite because he is just as charming as the rest but...quieter. Unimposing. Not that Neal has been comfortable enough around her to actually speak too much. But he still tries to find reasons to always be around.
Between him and Mary Margaret the two girls almost never get a second alone.
The worst part about the visit, in Emma's opinion, is the fact that she can't show any open affection toward Regina. She hadn't realized how much she kissed, and hugged, and held the other woman's hand until she no longer could. She'd taken to not even sitting near Regina to prevent unconscious affectionate gestures.
Regina missed the contact too. However, the worst part about the visit, in Regina's opinion, has been Mary Margaret's constant chatter about boys. She seems to be aware that Emma doesn't find this topic too interesting but still it doesn't stop her.
"Emma honey, do you know who I ran into today? Killian Jones. Remember him. He just moved back to town. He's starting his own fishing company. Isn't that impressive? Do you still keep in touch? You two made such a cute little couple."
"Mom we were never a couple!" This statement seems to finally grab Emma's interest away from the video game her and her brother were playing.
Neal makes a noise of annoyance as her on-screen character dies and their team looses points.
Regina looks up from the book she was reading on the chaise lounge as well.
"Really? You went to prom together. I know you told me you weren't dating but I had just assumed that you didn't want to tell me you were together for whatever reason. You're older now though, you can tell me the truth." Her mother prattles on.
"I can promise you we weren't." Emma says and looks at Regina instead of her mother when she says it.
"Well regardless I told him you were in town and he wants to get together! I think that's a wonderful idea, don't you? He is still very handsome and he seemed very interested."
"I'm sure he did." Emma mumbles sarcastically about the smarmy guy who she had casually hung out with in high school.
"I think you should call him. I'm positive he would ask you out while you're here." Her mother continues while cooking and not registering Emma's tone.
"Mom, I have no interest in Killian, or Jim, or Guss or whoever else you keep trying to push me on. I'm only here for a week, and I have company. Why can't you just leave me be?"
"Regina would be fine here with us for a few hours, she isn't dependent on you. Besides she promised to teach me how to make her apple turnovers."
Emma simply glares at her mother.
"Fine, fine." M.M puts her hands up in resignation. " I just think you should get out there and date a little. How else are you going to find your true love and give me grand-babies?"
Neal snickers.
"Watch out, you're next." His sister tells him.
She looks over at Regina, expecting her to be at least smiling about the half-joke but instead sees the other girl frowning while pretending to read.
"Wow you look amazing. Seriously, bond-girl sexy in that dress!" Emma compliments once Regina is changed into her black-slit dress.
They are up in Emma's old room getting ready to go to the Christmas Eve dinner party.
"You told me your family dressed up for this." Comes Regina's lackluster reply. She sits at Emma's overflowing desk to do her makeup.
"Well yes, because my mother requires a nice Christmas picture of us and no one gets out of their pajamas tomorrow." Emma says trying to continue to make conversation. She herself even wore a sweater-dress for the occasion. She's surprised Regina hasn't commented about it yet.
"Maybe I shouldn't have worried about dressing up than."
"What, why?" All of Emma's concerns about Regina's mood since this morning have seemed to be confirmed from the tone of that last statement.
"I certainly won't be in any family photos. Although I'm sure if you were dating Killian you're mother would gladly allow him in. But then again, I can't fault her too much when she doesn't even know we're dating!." Regina spews while putting on mascara.
"Regina! Wow back up a second!" Emma's surprised by the outburst and touches her girlfriend's shoulder.
Both girls are too wrapped up in the argument to hear Emma's mother calling to them downstairs.
Regina heaves a sigh and finally turns to face Emma. "I'm really trying to be patient. I understand why you are scared to tell them. After all, my only family left is my mother and we haven't spoken since I came out. But you told me you were going to tell them about us during this trip and time's running out! I feel like a fraud; like I'm deceiving them. And you're mother can be a bit much-god help me if I ever wear hideous sweaters like hers- but she's also so sweet. I don't want to be lying to her."
"It's hard!" Emma grinds out before trying to get to the problem of the situation. "I'm sorry you don't feel like a part of the family yet. I can promise you that they all already love you. You seem to have more in common with my parents than I do, and Neal has a major crush on you. He's going to be crushed when he finds out." She tries to joke around at the end but Regina is in no mood.
"And when will that be?!"
"Soon."
"What does soon mean? Soon could be anywhere from tonight to our wedding night!" At this point Regina is almost in tears and neither one remembers the world outside their bubble.
It takes Emma a moment to formulate her response to this. Not necessarily because she doesn't know what to say, more that she doesn't know how to phrase it.
This break gives Mary Margaret plenty of time to climb the stair and make her way to Emma's room. Her hand is poised to knock and tell the girls to get a move on when Emma's next words stop her cold.
"You think our wedding is near enough in the future that it could be considered soon?" She asks tentatively.
And the always composed Regina stutters through her response to the unexpected question. "I-that's not exactly what I meant. But...yes, I suppose so. Do-what about you?"
Mary Margaret knows she shouldn't be listening but she seems to have frozen in place.
"Ginny, come here." Emma commands softly. She sits on the bed and waits until Regina comes over to pull the brunette onto her lap. "Gin, listen to me. I would marry you tomorrow if I thought that was what you actually wanted. However, I know you. I know you would want to wait until you're done with you're graduate degree so that's another year, and maybe even a little after that if you don't have a job set up by then. You like to have your ducks in a row. It makes you comfortable. And you deserve to be comfortable. You also deserve a really nice ring, and a spectacular proposal. Time will give me the opportunity to plan everything you deserve. But if you don't want that, don't doubt for a second that I won't hop on a plane right now and send us to Vegas."
Regina's crying in earnest now, but for completely different reasons.
"You are my person Regina. My true-love. My soul-mate. My penguin, my lobster, my other half. And any other silly titles people have used to say that you are the love of my life and I never intend to live a day without you. I'm amazed everyday that you allow me to even be in your presence let alone have thoughts of sharing your life with me." Emma then buries her head in Regina's shoulder. This makes it harder for Mary Margaret to hear. Nonetheless, she makes out most of the words.
"I just wanted my family to get to know you as you, I don't know how they'll react, and you're right, I'm scared. Even if they don't disown me like you're mom, it doesn't mean they won't treat me (and consequently you) differently when they know the truth. However...I promised you I would tell them before we leave, and I will."
Regina looks at Emma with infinite admiration before kissing her hard.
The ending of the conversation is enough to finally thaw M.M's frozen state.
She scurries down the stairs as fast as she can.
"Are they coming out soon?" Her husband asks when she reappears in the kitchen.
"What?!" M.M practically screeches.
"Are the girls almost ready?" David rephrases the question and gives his wife a confused look.
"Oh, um, not long now is my guess."
"Didn't you go up there to get them?"
Before his wife can answer, Emma appears at the top of the stairs.
"Hey, Regina's just fixing her eye make-up and than we can head out." She comments casually and moves to the foyer to pull her boots on.
When Regina herself emerges Mary Margaret unintentionally stares at the young woman. Regina can feel her eye but they are easily ignored as Emma helps her into her coat.
The dinner party was actually held at Granny's diner. Every year they would close for the night and invite friends and family only to the establishment. It would be decorated with tinsel and fancy tablecloths and everyone would bring a different dish.
Regina seemed to be the life of the party. She was charming the guests in the room like the politician she hopes to become. She genuinely liked all of them too. Well, except for Leroy.
Meanwhile, Emma was enjoying just watching her secret-girlfriend win over all of the townspeople.
Ruby, or Aunt Ruby as Emma had called her as a child, came to sit across from her.
"Regina is intimidatingly perfect." Ruby states without preamble.
Emma laughs. "So you've had a chance to talk to her?"
Now that Granny gone, Ruby has taken over the diner. As such, she has been too busy to really get to know Regina before tonight.
"A bit." She admits. They watch as Regina plays with Ashely's little Alex on the other side of the room.
"Dam little Swan, you better put a ring on that before she realizes how dorky you are and leaves." Ruby teases with a knowing smile.
Emma blanches for a second. She's never told Ruby about her sexuality. She's her mother's best-friend after all. Her faux-aunt has joked about things in the past but never this directly.
"There is no reason to lie to me of all people." Ruby assures when she sees Emma's nerves. She gets up from the table and puts a hand on Emma's shoulder. "Everything will be fine."
Emma let the words wash over her, and for the first time, believes that everything might really be fine.
This was a very different outlook from Mary Margaret, who had spent the night so far feeling distinctly not fine.
David kept an eye on his wife. She appeared despondent and only spoke with people when asked direct questions. This wasn't normal behavior for her at all.
"What's wrong?" He finally asks when they're alone in the booth.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just not exactly...right?" She doesn't know how to phrase her feelings.
David is understandably confused.
"What?"
"I just don't know how I didn't see it." She finally says.
David follows her gaze to where Emma and Regina are making up a plate of desserts to share.
"See what? Is this about Emma?"
His wife sighs deeply. "I think I'm going to go home."
"Okay, I'll get Neal and be right back."
"No, you both stay. I need to get some things prepared for tomorrow anyway." She says already putting her coat on.
"Are you sure? You seem...upset."
"Yes, enjoy yourself. We'll talk when you get home."
He kisses her but instead of leaving she seems to want to say something more.
"Snow?" He asks using her pet name.
"Just...watch Emma and Regina interact while you're here." She suggests before finally leaving.
That night David found his wife on the floor of their bedroom stuffing the stockings.
"Is that one mine?" He asks when he sees her.
"No, and don't even think about sneaking a peak into yours." She answers without even looking up. "It's Regina's." She goes on to say almost bitterly.
"That's nice of you."
"Emma had brought it with her almost filled. I'm just adding some things I had picked up while I was out this week." She adds.
"So you're upset with Regina?" David ventures to guess.
"Did you watch them?" She asked finally looking up at him.
"Yes." He shrugs. "They seem very close. It's actually nice to see Emma this way. She was always more of a loner than Neal is. And Regina seems like a good friend for her to have. You even said so yesterday. Did she say something to you since then? Because-"
"They're in-love!" Snow finally cuts her husband off.
Mary Margaret can almost picture a light-bulb going on over David's head.
"Oh."
"That's all you have to say?" She she asks incredulously.
"It's a lot to process. It makes sense though." He defends. "How do you know? I'm assuming she didn't tell you. So did you catch them doing something...romantic?"
M.M scrunches up her face in distaste. "No David, I didn't catch them. But I did overhear a conversation they were having."
"Snow." He reprimands.
"Don't 'Snow' me! I wasn't intentionally ease dropping!"
"Okay. I believe you." He says in surrender and sits down next to her on the floor. "What exactly about this has you so upset?"
"Many things!"
"Is it that she's gay?"
"No, not exactly. It's more that this is just another things separating her from us...from me!"
"How?"
"We've always been so different in our likes and dislikes. We have very few things in common already and this is just another thing that we don't! And she didn't tell us about it! I have a feeling the only reason she's thinking about telling us is because she's fallen in love and it would become too complicated not to tell us! If we don't have anything in common and she doesn't feel comfortable enough sharing things with me, than what kind of relationship do we even have?! What will ensure that we don't lose her when she moves away and starts a family. Because Regina will probably insist that they move to Washington DC for her political career. And then who knows? Maybe she'll feel she's too busy to have children. I know Emma always wanted them. But maybe I'm wrong, clearly I don't know my daughter at all."
"First of all, I think you're making a lot of assumptions and worrying unnecessarily." He says and hugs his worked-up wife. "Second, this is a big deal for Emma and she's nervous to tell us. I'm sure that even if we had come right out and said at some point in her childhood: "hey, kid it's okay if you're gay" she would still be nervous to actually tell us she was."
M.M sighs. "Her life will be harder because of this. I don't want that."
"It seems like she's already been living that life for a while now. Just make sure you're not the reason it's harder."
The next morning Regina wakes up bright and early. It's an instinct left from childhood to wake up early on Christmas. She may have not had the best childhood but Christmas was always filled with exciting possibilities. This is the first time since her father died that she feels a sense of that magic again.
She leans over to kiss Emma's cheek.
"Merry Christmas." She wishes.
Emma pulls the blanket over her head and refuses to wake up.
She laughs silently and puts socks on before padding downstairs to see about getting some morning tea.
The house is strangely silent for 8 am on Christmas morning but Regina finds it peaceful. The house is so quiet in fact, that she squeaks in surprise when she see's Mary Margaret nursing a cup of tea at the kitchen table.
"Good Morning." Mary Margaret greets when she hears her. "Is Emma awake?"
"Nope, she is dead to the world." Regina says with a fond smile.
M.M smiles as well. "They all sleep like the dead. And they are so cranky in the morning. They refuse to get up even on Christmas. I never understood it."
"Me either. The party probably wares them out though. Did you get to sleep early since you left the party before us?" She asks and sits next to her at the table.
"No no, I had things to get ready for today."
"Ahh. Emma was worried. She was surprised you would leave before take the family photo." Regina comments.
"The photo!" She exclaims in a disappointed manor. "I had completely forgotten about that."
"I suppose you can always take one today. It might not be as nice because everyone's in pajamas but it's still a memory." Regina suggests.
"Yes but part of the reason we take on on Christmas Eve is so that we have someone to take the photo. No one will be by today to do that for us."
"I'll be here." Regina offers.
"Nonsense, you'd have to be in the picture." M.M states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Regina surprises both herself and the other woman by pulling Emma's mother into a hug.
"Oh" The older woman says startled but hugs back.
"Thank you for letting me spend the holiday."
Mary Margaret then recalls Emma's words from the day before about how Regina's mother disowned her. She wonders if Regina has no family left. Her thoughts cause her to unconsciously hold the girl tighter.
"Anytime." She offers before they finally pull away. "Now, would you like some tea? Or do you prefer coffee, or maybe hot chocolate like my children?"
"Tea is my favorite."
"Mine too."
Eventually everyone else woke up and the rest of the day is wonderful. Never as filled with magic and wonder like when you are a small child, still, everyone felt the warmth and love of the season.
Presents are opened, movies are watched, and eggnog is drunk. They even figure out the timer feature on the camera so that they can take the annual Christmas photo. When Regina sees the photo later she insists that Mary Margaret send her a copy. Despite the fact that she is in one of Emma's ratty sweatshirts and yoga pants, she thinks it might just be her new favorite photo.
"Everything smells amazing!" Charming compliments his wife when they are sitting down for dinner.
"Thank you, I prepared everything I could ahead of time so I wasn't scrambling this year like I usually am!" She informs them as she places the last dish on the table and sits down.
"A very smart idea." He compliments again.
"Yes, one that only took me 23 years to think of. " She replies ruefully.
"My teacher always said the first step in cooking is to mise en place." Neal adds his knowledge from the one course of cooking he has taken in school.
At this comment Emma and Regina burst into laughter, much to the surprise of everyone at the table.
"What's so funny?" A nosy Mary Margaret asks.
"Sorry." Regina apologizes quickly.
"One day," Emma goes on to explain "freshman year-"
"It was our second year." Regina interrupts.
"Oh yeah, in the beginning of our second year, Regina and I had to work on a project together. I had been a little under-prepared that day-"
"You were ALWAYS unprepared." Regina interrupts again.
"Well I guess you had had enough of it because when I asked her for a pen she practically screamed 'Mise en Place!' at me over and over. I didn't even know what it meant at the time. We almost got kicked out of the classroom that day for being so disruptive." Emma smiles at the memory.
"Now anytime one of us forgets anything the other ends up yelling 'mise en place' at them as a joke." Regina finishes the explanation.
The family laughs in amusement.
"So, you two have been friends since your second year?" Emma's father infers.
"I wouldn't say we were friends..." Regina muses.
"We pretty much hated each other since we met freshman year. Elsa use to call her my arch-enemy." Emma states bluntly.
"That makes it sound like we are cartoon characters." Regina discourages.
"It's an accurate description of all of our interactions."
"When did...things change?" M.M asks, really wanting to ask when the two got together but knowing she couldn't.
"It took time." Emma says with a shrug. "We were forced together in a lot of situations. We became reluctant allies."
"We had mutual friends and she was always around. Eventually I came to think of that as not such a bad thing." Regina adds.
Emma realizes then that they were never properly friends. Regina's right, they went from reluctant friends to dating. The only way to share how they came to be so close would be to come out. She had dug herself in a hole and she could either lie her butt off or just rip off the band-aid.
"Right before Christmas break in our third year, there was a end-of-semester party that we both happened to go to." Emma starts off saying. Regina eyes widen at the possibility of where Emma's story is heading. "We were both tired though and she was going to leave so I offered to walk her back to her apartment. We didn't talk while we were walking but there was such a beautiful comfort to it all. I realized then that I would really miss her over the break. The feeling hit me so strongly and suddenly that when she turned to say goodbye, I kissed her. Total Humphrey Bogart style. And Regina freaked me out by being completely silent. I thought she was seriously going to just ignore it happened but right before she closes the door she said 'I expect to be wooed' in her most queenly voice. So once classes started again, that's exactly what I did." She ends nervously.
There is a pregnant pause after she finishes. Emma looks around the table anxiously. Neal looks confused, her parents look contemplative but not at all upset, and Regina has a very proud and affectionate smile on.
"Not love at first sight then?" Her mother is the first to break the silence. M.M really didn't think her daughter would announce it in such a casual setting. She wonders how she would have reacted had she not already known. She has so many more questions she wants to ask like when did Emma realize she was gay and if she's dated anyone besides Regina? Her husband's hand squeezing her leg warns her that it's not the time though.
"Uh...no." Emma says almost confused that they don't have more to say about her story.
"Did I miss something?" Neal finally asks. "You're telling me you've been dating Regina for what, almost two years? How?"
"I know it must be weird for you to find our that-" Emma tries to explain before being cut off.
"No, no." He cuts her off with a wave of the hand. "I don't care that you're gay...although was that something I was supposed to know about because you're being awfully flippant? No, what I meant was how have you managed to get, let alone keep, a girl like Regina for two years? Surely she must realize that you're a huge dork."
"Hey! She likes that I'm dorky!" She says offended.
"It's true. I've come to think it's cute." Regina agrees.
Neal shakes his head in disbelief. "You know we don't have money, right?" He asks Regina. "Despite what she may have lied to you and said, we don't have some rich relative who is going to leave us an outrageous inheritance."
Regina laughs and shakes her head.
"You're just jealous Neal." His sister says and sticks her tongue out at him.
"Children is this really the time!" Mary Margaret finally intervenes.
They both stop and look contrite before sneaking glares at each other.
"Emma is wonderful and anybody would be lucky to have her." M.M scolds Neal.
"And Regina seems perfect for her. Someone to keep her in line." David jokes.
Emma looks up at her parents in amazement. This has gone better than she could have imagined.
"Thank you." She tells them sincerely.
Her mother gets up and hugs her. "I'm sad you didn't tell us sooner Emma." She admits.
"I know, I'm sorry." Emma says almost close to tears.
"It's okay sweetie. We love you. This may take us a little while to fully wrap our head around but we want to be apart of your life!"
They disentangle and sit to begin the meal again.
"So I wasn't supposed to know?" Neal infers from the moment they had shared. "I'm a little disappointed in myself for not guessing sooner." He adds before shoveling food in his mouth.
"Can we stop talking about this for now?" Emma asks him specifically.
He shrugs. "What else are we going to talk about, the weather? Nothing interesting ever happens here."
"That's not true. Just the other day Archie brought a new puppy!" Mary Margaret begins to gush.
Emma lets out a sigh of relief knowing that her mom will take over the conversation from here. She lets her mind drift off to the food on her plate when she feels a hand squeeze her knee. She looks up to see Regina smiling at her and she can't imagine a better day.