Chapter 2
Snow let out a small grasp when she heard Regina's name. Emma had triumphantly stood up, but as soon as she realized what name the girl just said, her jaw dropped. She was just about to ask the girl another question when Snow beat her to it. "What do you mean your mother's name is Regina?"
Rose got up her seat and glanced over her shoulder looking for the door.
"Don't even think about it, kid." Emma said and placed herself on the other side of the counter so that she blocked Rose's possible escape.
"I told you, I can explain." Rose pleaded. "Just don't tell anyone about me."
Emma crossed her arms. "You mean, don't tell Regina?"
"Wait, wait, wait." Snow walked up and placed herself between Emma and Rose. "Regina doesn't have a daughter."
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time she kept something from us." Emma responded in a cold voice.
"It doesn't make sense." Snow shook her head and faced Emma. "If Rose is 16, she was born during the curse."
"Who said she was born in this land?"
"Hello, I'm right here you know." Snow turned around and looked at Rose. She really looked like Regina. The same nose, mouth and eyes, except for the color. However, Snow remarked something else familiar in the girl's features. She just couldn't place it.
"Rose, who's your father?" Snow asked softly.
"I don't have one."
"Do you know his name?" Emma looked at Snow. Did she know something?
"No, I mean I don't have a father." Rose sat down again, reached over and grabbed Emma's coffee mug. "At all." Both women looked puzzled.
"Can I get some coffee?" The brunette girl held out Emma's mug. Emma went back the counter, grabbing a mug from the shelves. She took the cup from Rose's hands and filled it up, Emma needed more coffee for this story.
"You're 16, should you be drinking coffee?" Snow asked worriedly.
"I haven't been sleeping well. I need the caffeine." Rose explained as she received her cup of coffee from Emma.
Snow watched as both Rose and Emma respectively took a sip of their coffees.
"We're not going to tell Regina." Emma said between sips. "But we would like to know how you managed to end up in our apartment."
"Fine." Rose said with a hard voice, putting her mug on the counter. "I used magic."
"Whoa, you used magic? You know magic?" Emma asked in a rush, confusion spreading on her face.
"Emma, she's the daughter of the evil queen, it makes sense." Snow stated.
"She's not evil." Rose snapped. Both Emma and Snow froze in their motions.
"Kid, do you know what she's done lately? I mean she's…"
"She's. Not. Evil." Rose said defensively, giving Emma a death glare. The blonde raised her eyebrows, looking slightly baffled. This was definitely Regina's kid; there was no mistake where the girl had learned her death stares.
"Are we talking about the same Regina?"
"Hey, she tried to be better over and over again and you guys never gave her the chance. You are the ones who put evil into her name. And you are supposed to be the good guys!" Emma felt Rose glare at her. "And you…" Rose turned to Snow. "…You manipulated her to kill her mother. Way to go Snow White! Calling my mom evil, you have no right." Rose caught her breath; she almost had tears in her eyes. It had been a long time since she had snapped at someone so fast.
"Calm down, kid. I was only teasing." Emma took a step closer to Rose but Rose held up her hand, telling her to stop.
"You always do that. It's not funny." Rose muttered.
"I do what now?"
"Tease me when I'm upset. It makes it worse, you know." The girl crossed her arms and her mouth tightened into a thin line, her eyes looking at something in a far distance.
Emma slightly leaned her head to the side and looked at Rose. "Wait, we have met? But you said we haven't?"
"It's a long story." Rose replied, her eyes now glancing at Emma.
"We have time. Right, Mary Margaret?" Snow, who had been staring silently at Emma and Rose during the last minutes, slowly nodded her head, still lost in her own thoughts. "I think we need more coffee." She said, walking around the counter, her hands reching for the coffee pot.
"I think I need vodka." Emma let out, walking towards the living room. "I need to sit more comfortably if it's a long story." She said and sat down in the couch, pulling her legs up so that she sat Indian style. Rose joined her, sitting down on the opposite side of the couch, leaving a gap between the two of them. Holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee in her left hand, Snow grabbed a chair with her free hand and sat down on the other side of the coffee table.
"Start from the beginning, please." Emma said softly, making Rose glance up at the blonde. The girl looked tired, as if she hadn't slept well, making Emma more curious about who Rose was and how she ended up here.
Rose took a deep breath. "I wanted to change something that has happened. So I used magic. Apparently it worked a little too well. I wasn't supposed to end up here."
"You wanted to travel in time? Kid, does magic even do that?" Emma started and was met with a small grin from the girl.
"There are spells. Magic is different in the future."
"You're from the future? And just as I thought things couldn't get weirder." Emma shook her head, looking completely baffled. "This is why we have met, but we haven't?"
"Yes. I knew who you were when I saw you, you just look younger now." Rose replied, carefully watching the blonde's reaction.
"But I know you? And Regina?" Emma still couldn't believe this, a girl from the future. She didn't know how to react, different emotions running through her head as she studied the girl's face. This was strange, she admitted, but as she had learned over the last year, a girl from the future wouldn't be so bizarre. Slaying a dragon, poison apples, her being the savior, her parents being Snow White and Prince Charming, disappearing into a hat and fighting ogres and evil witches, now that was equally weird.
"Yes." Rose replied smoothly, interrupting Emma's thoughts. "You know us pretty well."
"No." Emma and Rose turned their heads and looked at Snow. "No." Snow said again, staring at Rose. "This is why I recognize you."
Emma was perplexed, looking at the raven-haired woman. What was Mary Margaret talking about? The girl is all Regina. Except for the color of her eyes, they were almost the same shade of green as her own. And Rose kind of had her chin, same chin she inherited from Mary Margaret. And that look on the girl's face right now… No, Emma thought. It couldn't be.
"Mary Margaret, what are you talking about?" Emma asked.
"Rose." Snow said gently, her eye's wandering from Emma to Rose. "What is your exact relation with Emma?" Emma turned her head facing Rose and waited for the answer. Rose looked terrified.
"I can't say." This made Emma turned her whole body around and face Rose.
"Rose, just tell me. I'm your fun aunt?"
Rose shook her head no, slowly opening her mouth to reply. Her eyes wandered between Snow and Emma several times as she nervously played with a lock of her brown hair. She looked up at Emma and met the blonde woman's gaze.
"You're my mother."
