A/N Well, you know how I was totally done and this was just a missing scene? Huh. Funny story: then someone prompted me about Emma's return, and now this story has grown into a whole other thing.
"It might not work," Regina warns one last time, flexing her fingers and listening to the joints crack. Hours upon hours of practice have left her exhausted, but quietly confident. She doesn't relish the thought of Charming threatening her life again, though, and so she doesn't betray anything other than vague hope.
"Do it, Mom!" Henry calls out, from where he's lingering in the doorway with Ruby.
She smiles at him, thrilled again beyond measure when he returns it with a lopsided smile of his own. Regina remembers when those were just baby teeth, and they've been discussing those lost years for weeks as Regina has plotted and researched and experimented with magic. It's the first time she's truly believed they're a family, or at least been able to feel that as a fact and not some desperate, clinging hope; she has no intention of jeopardizing that now.
"Here goes," she says, as much for her own benefit as anyone's. Charming stands en garde, sword glinting in the dull light and other weapons strapped to his body in strategic places.
The words are complex and still not entirely familiar, but the newly-repaired hat begins to twitch almost instantly. Henry lets out a childish 'whoop!' of glee from the door, but Regina squeezes her eyes shut and forces herself to concentrate. Opening the portal is one thing-she can do that simply by spinning the hat-but pulling Emma and Snow back through it is another challenge altogether. Clearly, they've found no way to transport themselves home, and Regina isn't sure whatever remains of the Enchanted Forest would have the magic to support any such thing.
"Where are they?" Charming bellows, and Regina directs a sneer in his direction. If she ruins this now because of his impatience...
But then there's a shout from somewhere in the swirling purple vortex, and Regina watches the familiar form of Snow White tumble through, scooped up in an instant by her devoted husband. Regina would be nauseated, if she could spare the concentration. She flicks a glance over Snow's changed clothes-the flowing white dress is what she always preferred, and there's something bizarrely comforting about the sight.
Regina feels the energy draining from her body at an alarming rate, but there's a shift in gravity that suggests she's succeeding. Sure enough, Emma tumbles through a moment later, cursing like a sailor as she hits the cold, tile floor.
Despite the changed clothing, Emma looks much the same as she ever did, only now her long hair is tied up in a practical bun, and her leathers belong to hunters of the old world rather than the bikers of this one. Henry is straining in Red's arms, and Regina exhales heavily, letting the portal fall closed as she drops her arms, crumpling to the floor in a way that feels like a relief.
"Emma!" Henry cries out as he runs, and as her eyes slip closed, Regina takes perverse glee in the fact that he didn't call her 'mom'. "Are you okay?" Regina hears, and she presses her cheek against the cool floor, trying to recover some strength.
Someone touches her face, and she opens her eyes to see Emma staring at her, a healing cut on her jaw and a fading bruise around one eye. Regina can't recall the last time she saw anything quite so beautiful, and she hates herself for thinking it.
"Hey," Emma says, brushing her thumb over Regina's cheekbone as they lie there on the floor-Regina on her side, Emma on her stomach. "Regina, did you just save us?"
"Maybe," Regina whispers. "You came back."
"Well, you did promise me round two," Emma says, smiling through a sudden wince of pain. "Although you could maybe work on a softer landing, for next time."
"You're complaining about ihow/i I saved your life?" Regina sputters, pulling herself up into a sitting position, before helping Emma do the same. Regina is painfully aware of the other eyes on them, of how curious they must appear to everyone else, not least of all Henry.
"I seem to remember accusing you of the same thing," Emma says, still smiling, still improbably solid and real.
"Emma?" Snow says cautiously, still wrapped up in Charming's arms. "Are you coming home with us?"
"Am I?" Emma whispers, not quite looking at Regina.
"Henry hasn't been staying with me," Regina says, feeling her strength finally creep back through limp muscles. "But perhaps Emma should come and spend some time with him, now she's back."
"Wait a minute," Charming says, letting go of Snow so he can step forward and challenge Regina. It would seem their fragile peace has officially come to an end. "Emma and Henry are coming with us."
"I want to go with my moms!" Henry protests, running and then sliding across the floor on his knees to place himself between Emma and Regina. "Sorry, grandpa."
"It's okay," Emma says, holding up a hand to placate her father. Regina looks between them, quietly marvelling at the physical resemblance. "I've missed Henry like hell, but Regina is his mom. So I'll go there."
"You should get checked out first," Regina interjects. "You're obviously injured."
"Nothing I can't walk off," Emma dismisses the concern, setting Regina's teeth on edge. It seems that a quick fumble followed by a seemingly endless separation has changed nothing, at least not when it comes to Emma's stubbornness.
"Henry," Regina says, patting him on the shoulder. "You go with your grandparents for now. Once I take Emma to the doctor, we'll come and get you."
"Why are you talking like this?" Snow says, pouncing on the pronouns. "And Emma, why are you letting her? Is this what you've been refusing to talk about the whole time we were away?"
"Mom, leave it," Emma sighs, and there's a ripple of energy in the room at her use of the word.
"Regina," Snow shifts focus. "Thank you. For bringing us back."
"I suppose we'll have to talk about where you were," Regina says, not willing to acknowledge the grudging thanks.
"Oh, we will," Snow confirms, that steely resolve setting her jaw once more. Regina has almost missed it, except for the part where it's exhausting to have all that determination aimed at her own head. "But right now, I want to spend some time with my husband. Emma, are you sure?"
"Yeah," Emma says. "Take Henry to get some of his things, and I'll come get him in a while."
"Wait, are you two-" James begins.
"Charming!" Snow snaps, the old nickname resurfacing in her haste. "Let's finish that thought another time, hmm?"
Emma stands then, helped by Henry before they both offer a hand to Regina. She picks herself off the floor with that help, dusting off her dark green dress and trying desperately not to smirk.
"I missed you," Henry says to Emma, hugging her hard around the waist. "Don't wait too long to come get me."
"I won't, kid. But your mom isn't going to gimme a break until I convince her I'm not about to drop dead on the floor."
"Like she cares," Ruby mutters from the doorway, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'll be off," she says, much louder. "Unless anyone else wants me to babysit." Regina can't help but smile at the bitterness. Perhaps in this land people are a little less reluctant to follow every whim of their Royal Family. Twenty-eight years of even token democracy has been persuasive.
Charming reaches for Henry's hand, leading him towards the door, a strong arm still draped around Snow's waist. Regina wonders, fleetingly, what it would have been like to feel happy for Snow, to be able to cheer her finding that one true love. Even if that love is the son of a shepherd with the manners of one, to boot.
"Come on," Emma says. "Let's get out of here. I don't trust that hat not to suck me back in."
"Fine," Regina agrees. "Are you sure you're not hurt?"
"Oh, I'm sure," Emma says, marching towards the hallway.
"Then why let me take you to a doctor?" Regina demands, following Emma in spite of her best instincts.
"That's not where you're taking me," Emma says, turning so suddenly that Regina stumbles in fright. That moment of imbalance, that sudden shift in momentum, is all Emma needs to back Regina against the forest-patterned wallpaper in the hallway. "Round two, remember?"
"Emma!" Regina can't help it, she's faintly scandalized. "You lied to your parents, turned down time with Henry-"
"I've got the rest of the day for Henry," Emma interrupts. "But the one thing keeping me going all those weirdass, crazy days back where I supposedly come from? Was your promise, Regina. You gonna break your word?"
Emma tilts her chin in that defiant way she has (that unfortunate trait is apparently genetic) and stares Regina down. Regina almost wants to deny her, that familiar spite flexing inside her like a well-used muscle, but she chokes down the impulse and for once chooses the thing that might just make her happy.
"Not here," Regina says, as Emma presses a thigh between Regina's own. "The Town Hall isn't exactly safe these days."
"So take me home," Emma breathes, her lips grazing Regina's ear, making her shiver. They're so close right now that Regina can't remember what it's like to breathe her own air, to feel air touch her skin where Emma is pressed instead. Regina's senses are overwhelmed by the sheer force of Emma, the choking, dazzling reality of her being real and back in the same room.
"Maybe I'm not that kind of girl," Regina teases, because even when she doesn't intend it a note of self-sabotage creeps into these things. She pushes and tests and dares the other person to run from her, to give up before things even get all that hard. But Emma Swan, judging by the possessive way her hand squeezes Regina's ass, is in no mood to be pushed anywhere.
"I know exactly what kind of 'girl' you are, Regina," Emma murmurs, her mouth now grazing the sensitive skin beneath Regina's ear. "And despite pirates and you don't even want to know who else hitting on me for weeks, I decided to wait for you."
"Pirates?" Regina gasps, as Emma kisses tenderly where her lips have just grazed.
"Tell you later," Emma whispers, as Regina clutches at the back of her neck, pulling her up into a real kiss, a kiss that says both 'welcome home' and maybe just a little bit of 'what the hell are we doing?'.
Emma tastes sweet, like a fruit Regina vaguely remembers but can't quite identify. But Emma's tongue is deft and insistent, pressing against Regina's own as they both moan softly into the contact, the crumbling Town Hall around them all but forgotten.
Regina wants to retain a little distance, to seem at least a little unmoved, but her body is betraying her. She lifts one foot clear off the ground, using her leg to wrap around Emma and keep her close, and Emma responds by grabbing Regina's thigh to hold her in place. It feels safe, after too many weeks of feeling dangerously adrift, waking ten times a night at every strange noise or unexpected thump. Charming has almost kept the town in check, but Regina knows that human nature is too unpredictable for her to relax, or ever feel truly safe; in Emma's arms, that fear seems far less potent, a concern for someone else altogether.
Until Regina hears the footsteps coming from the room they just left. The empty room.
She hears Jefferson's voice in her head, that bored, disaffected drawl of his telling her that the same amount of people that go through have to come back. No, Regina tries to shake away the dread. No more the memory echoes in her head, as the footsteps draw closer. The clicking of heels on the hard floor. No lessthe memory finishes, and Regina turns towards the open doorway with a sick feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.
She stares, not wanting to believe. She stares, not daring to look away.
"Regina?" Emma asks, shattering the silence that's fallen over them. "What the hell is your mother doing here?"
Regina could have denied it, until she hears those words. The sick feeling that washes over her prevents her from asking how Emma could even recognize Cora, every possibility more unthinkable than the last.
"Mother," she chokes out eventually, as Cora watches her from the doorway.
"Hello, dear," Cora replies, a cruel smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. "You should really be more careful when using magic on a Hatter's hat."
"Of course," Regina says, releasing her grip on Emma and pushing her aside. "What brings you here?"
"Well," Cora says, stepping forward with a contemptuous glare at Emma. "I heard from Snow White that you'd finally found your happy ending."
"And naturally," Regina finishes the thought. "You just had to do something about that."
"Regina?" Emma asks, but Regina is too busy watching the flick of her mother's wrist. Just in time, Regina mumbles a counter enchantment, leaving the sudden pink glare to freeze in mid-air between them.
"I'm warning you," Regina says, sounding far more confident than her trembling hands and wobbling legs would suggest. "There's no place for you here."
Cora laughs, and it's the hollow sound of Regina's nightmares.
"Well, my darling daughter. We shall see."
Regina grabs hold of Emma, weighs the risk for just a second or two, before dissolving them both into wisps of deep blue smoke. Wherever they end up, it has to be safer than here.
