Trigger warning: there's a fleeting, semi-graphic mention of rape in one paragraph. It's short, only two sentences, but it's there so I'm letting you know.

A/N: Okay, here's chapter 2, guys. I appreciate all the reviews and follows and I hope you like the chapter. :)


As she stands in the middle of the apartment, part of an awkward triangle consisting of Snow, Emma and herself, Regina can't help but find the scene at least somewhat amusing. Out of all the things she'd ever dared to imagine, having to explain her relationship with Emma to Snow never even crossed her mind. Explaining herself to Snow in general had never been an option , not to mention falling in love with Emma.

Love.

Such a small word and yet one with so many dimensions and nuances to it, so much weight that comes along. Who would have thought that the Evil Queen would ever fall in love, and with the Savior herself, no less. The very woman whose sole purpose was to destroy her and yet here they are, defending their love like a couple of lovesick teenagers.

It's funny how easily Regina is able to read Snow's body language. Yes, the younger woman is standing with her back ramrod straight, her head held high, her face one big mask of defiance. The former Mayor knows what's behind it, though – the perpetual belief that she's right; the one thing that's always been at the forefront of all Snow's actions. However, Regina also knows that, deep inside, Snow is afraid and this is all just an act. Sure, she may be able to play the part of the queen for all the Storybrooke townsfolk and get away with it, but not with her former stepmother. No, Regina can see the way the younger woman's fists are clenched and the way her jaw twitches in time with her heartbeat. She's brave, though, Regina has to give her that much, even if she doesn't really want to. It definitely took a lot to call this particular meeting.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asks and Regina sets her eyes on the blonde for the first time since she came in. The Sheriff is obviously in distress, her face and eyes both with a rosy tint to them. Whether from crying or rage, Regina can't tell.

"Your mother called me."

Oh, yes, it was a particularly interesting, if short, conversation. The former Mayor received a phone call this morning from 'Ms. Blanchard' who didn't bother with pleasantries, but chose to get to the point immediately.

"Come to my apartment today at 5."

That definitely gave Regina pause. "Is there any particular reason I'm being summoned to your apartment?" She couldn't help but infuse her voice with just the right amount of condescension.

"Yes, there is and you know damn well what it is."

Judging by Snow's tone, she definitely did know and she found herself exhaling, both in relief and preparation for what was to come that afternoon. "Very well. I'll be there."

With that, she hung up.

"You what?" Emma's eyebrows shoot up as she turns her head to look at her mother.

"It's okay, Emma," Regina jumps in and holds up her palm. "This is – this is good. We knew this would happen eventually."

Regina definitely knew this would happen and spent a good part of the last eight months thinking about this very moment. As much as she found herself annoyed at the thought of explaining herself to Snow, there was a part of her that just wanted to get it over with. She wanted to be done with it in order to move on, but Emma was always very vocal about her concerns regarding the matter. Regina didn't have it in her to fault her so she agreed to keep their relationship a secret.

"This is good?" Snow finally speaks, chuckling mockingly.

Regina levels her gaze on Snow's eyes, eyes full of fury and turmoil. "I understand how this might be-"

"Drop the act, okay?" the younger woman jumps in. "Are you really so hell-bent on destroying every ounce of my happiness, so much that you would do this?"

Regina's features immediately darken. "Are you really so self-centered that you can't fathom the slightest possibility that this might not be about you?"

She can see Emma from the corner of her eye, trying hard not to smile and it warms her heart. Her Savior, always so inappropriate.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Snow says, putting her hand on her hip.

"It means just what it sounds like, dear. Believe it or not, this is not about you. It's about us," Regina looks at Emma to emphasize her point.

"Oh, really? Please," Snow raises her voice. "You know damned well this is about you and me and your revenge. I should have known it was too good to be true. You laying low for months, socializing with people, smiling and making friends. How could I have been so stupid?" she ends with looking up in exasperation.

Regina sees Emma open her mouth so she walks over to her and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Let her speak."

The blonde wants to protest, but backs down under her lover's unrelenting stare. Regina doesn't miss the way Snow zeroes in on their moment of closeness and understanding, not to mention the way she slides her hand down Emma's arm and holds her hand.

In all honesty, the former Queen can't fault Snow for not believing her being capable of change. After all, they spent a lifetime trying to hurt each other and Regina refused all chances of a truce Snow threw her way. The younger woman is wrong, however – Regina has changed. The funniest part of it all being that it's all thanks to Emma.

No one has ever been patient with her the way the Savior has, no one ever bothered to ask about her feelings or her past experiences and no one was willing to listen to it all and still stay by her side. So, in honor of that revelation and that love, Regina chooses to let Snow finish.

"You will not get away with this! I will do everything in my power to stop you from destroying my daughter. This, I promise you." Snow is positively seething by the end of that sentence.

"I have no wish to destroy your daughter," Regina says as she takes a step forward.

She doesn't miss the flash of panic that appears in the younger woman's eyes before her gaze returns to the stone cold one she's had since the beginning of their confrontation. It would be so easy to just flick her wrist and…

"Oh, well you saying that makes it all better!" Snow mocks. "Tell me, how long were you planning to keep this a secret from everyone?"

"It was my idea," Emma chimes in. "I wanted to keep it a secret."

"Don't defend her, Emma."

"I'm not. When it got serious, Regina wanted to go public, but I chickened out," Emma presses on and Regina can't help but revel in the feeling of someone standing up for her.

"She manipulated you," Snow says in a way that betrays she came to that realization just now.

Regina smirks. "I knew you were stubborn, but I must say I find myself surprised at how much you want it to be anything but what it truly is. Aren't you supposed to be all about love, Snow?" The smirk is still tugging at her lips and her voice is dripping with sarcasm.

"You know nothing about love!" Snow booms and clenches her fists.

"And whose fault is that?" Regina says in a low, dangerous voice as she steps forward and finds herself deep inside of the younger woman's personal space.

She's positive her eyes are flashing with rage and maybe just a little purple for good measure. The magic inside her is becoming more potent by the second, filling her entire being and begging to be let out.

Snow stands her ground and looks at her defiantly. "You don't get to put this on me."

"Oh, that's right," Regina mocks. "One must never forget that Snow White can do no wrong."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know very well what it means."

"You're her grandmother, Regina!" Snow exclaims as she takes a step back, but the former Mayor doesn't miss the way she deflects from the topic.

"What?" Emma jumps in, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Excuse me?" Regina says almost at the same time.

Out of all the things Snow could have said, Regina must admit she didn't expect this one.

"She's my stepmother," Snow says looking at Emma over Regina's shoulder.

"You will stand there and claim you see me as your stepmother?" the former Mayor forces the other woman to focus on her again.

"I always have," comes the response, spoken in a matter-of-fact tone.

Regina falters for a moment, not expecting such honesty from Snow. Is it really possible that she still sees her like that? Sure, they lived together for some time, under a pretense of family life, but-

"Um, if I can just jump in here," Emma's voice comes from behind. "I'd just like to make it clear that I definitely don't think of Regina as my grandmother," she finishes, disgust and shock mixing in her voice.

"You – you don't see me as your stepdaughter?" Snow's eyebrows scrunch in a display of honest confusion and Regina can't help but ask herself if the two of them ever lived in the same world, not to mention two of them.

They share a moment of silence, looking at each other, both more than confused with the turn this conversation has taken. Sure, Regina has always known that Snow has a somewhat special perception of the world that surrounds her, but this is rich even by her standards. The former Queen comes to a decision in a matter of seconds and takes a big breath, preparing herself for what's to come. She's more than grateful for the fact that Emma already knows everything there is to know about her – what she's about to do would be very ugly otherwise. Well, it will be ugly anyway, but it's obviously time to settle some very old scores.

"Tell me, Snow, how did I become your stepmother?" her voice is low and neutral.

"You married my father," the younger woman answers, looking just like Emma when she says 'duh'.

Regina licks her lips. "And how did I marry your father?"

"What are you asking me?"

"I'm asking you how did my marriage to your father come to be," Regina says, her voice still very much neutral.

"If this is about Daniel-"

"Don't," Regina stops her, her voice immediately lowering to a growl. She doesn't miss the way Snow swallows. "Do you remember that day at my childhood home when you walked in on me trying on my wedding dress?"

"Yes, that's when you told me you were marrying my father instead of-"

"Yes," Regina jumps in just in time yet again. "You're not a child anymore," she starts, making sure to put some obvious weight into that word that's been used as an excuse for as far as the former Queen can remember. "Considering that it was two days after – after what happened at the stables, do you think I was happy to marry your father? Do you think I wanted it?"

Snow flinches and takes a step back. "No – no I guess not."

Regina raises her eyebrow at the use of the word 'guess'.

"But you still married him and you still became my stepmother. I don't know what-" she stops once Regina invades her personal space again, this time definitely seeing her eyes glow purple.

Regina can feel her fingers tingle with magic and just as she's about to give in, she feels a hand on her forearm.

"Hey," Emma says, pulling her back and, after a couple of long seconds, she takes a deep breath and steps back.

"I'm fine, dear," she says as she turns to Emma.

"You don't – we don't have to do this now, you know. Let's go home."

"No," Regina shakes her head. "I don't think I'd be able to do this again."

"I'll do it now and let it rest once and for all," she finishes as she turns to face a wide-eyed Snow.

She's not really sure where she's pulling the strength she needs to do this from. Maybe from the image of a smiling Henry in her mind's eye or the soothing circles Emma's making with her hand on her back. She just knows she needs to finally get it out, get it all out and to the one person she's always protected when it came to it, the one person who never really knew the whole story. Or maybe she refused to. Either way, Regina has decided she's had enough of that perpetual urge to shield Snow, that urge that was present even when she was doing her best to destroy her.

She notices the way Snow swallows as she begins to explain what it meant for a girl like her to marry a man like Leopold. What it felt like to have it happen mere days after losing the man she truly loved, after watching him get killed. Knowing that, without Snow, maybe, just maybe, they would have made it. How does she explain the self-satisfied smirk on her mother's lips when she practically sold her to a man old enough to be her grandfather? Regina isn't sure, but she knows the words that are coming out of her mouth are definitely reaching Snow's ears by the way the other woman is visibly shrinking by the second.

Regina herself doesn't hear the words. It feels like an out of body experience. She's there, but not truly. Maybe it's her own defense mechanism. Whatever it is, it's working because she finds herself strong enough to keep going.

Her wedding day. The way she cried as that faithful 'yes' left her lips. Thankfully, the people gathered at the ceremony mistook her tears for tears of joy. He knew, however. He knew and he didn't care. He didn't care and he said 'yes' before kissing her, not even bothering to notice how she froze against him.

Yes, up until this day, Regina was adamant on keeping Leopold a good man, a good father in Snow's eyes. She didn't really know why. Maybe because the way she herself felt as a girl, with a father who was always there, but not really. He never stood up for her, he never protected her. Leopold, on the other hand, truly adored Snow and she couldn't bring herself to shatter that memory. Not when she was the one who killed him. Snow always thought she did it in order to hurt her because the whole world revolved around Snow, naturally. Regina never bothered to correct her in the matter, not when it worked so wonderfully in her revenge.

"No. No," Snow's shaky voice reaches her ears as the former Mayor touches the subject of her wedding night. She's shaking her head and stepping back, but Regina matches her step for step, following her as the words leave her mouth.

Leopold wasn't a good man. No, a good man wouldn't marry a teenager against her will. He wouldn't expect her to become a mother to another teenager. He wouldn't force himself on her on their wedding night. He would grunt a name that wasn't hers in her ear that night and so many nights after that one, with only the darkness of night and the castle walls to stand witness to it.

"No," the shaky voice tickles her ears again and Regina realizes that it's turned into a chant, a soft sound of one's dreams shattering into thousands of pieces.

Snow is now sitting on the sofa, tears running freely down her face. All three of them have obviously moved as Regina's story progressed and she finds that Emma's hand is still slowly circling her back.

"Tell me, Snow, with all this in mind, as well with the fact that it's been 40 years since we last lived together, do you still think Emma is my granddaughter?" Regina asks in a calm voice.

It's actually strange how calm she feels. The magic inside her has subsided and her body isn't tense anymore. Her voice is leveled and she finds herself feeling…empty.

"I – I," Snow tries, but she can't seem to find the words.

Regina doesn't rush her – there's no need anyway.

"But I – you – you killed him and I-" she tries again.

"Yes. I killed your father," Regina says matter-of-factly. "After he killed the last ounce of goodness in me."

A sob escapes Snow and she puts her head in her hands.

Emma squeezes her forearm and, while Regina finds it soothing, she realizes she doesn't really need it. She feels oddly free and that's something she definitely didn't expect to come out of this confession. She shouldn't feel surprised, though. Ever since the blonde standing beside her stepped foot into this town, every day has been a challenge, every day came with a unique twist. Regina still can't fathom how lucky she is that all those days and all those twists led her to this very moment, the moment where she's freely expressing her love for another and letting go of the ghosts of the past. Mysterious ways, most certainly.

After a couple of minutes, Snow regains her composure and looks up at Regina.

"I always – I always thought you were just-" she pauses, looking for the right word.

"Evil?" Regina supplies with a sad smile on her lips. "Oh, I was. Make no mistake about it. The Evil Queen will never truly be gone," she says as she opens her palm and a small fireball swirls on her fingers. "But there's two sides to every story," she finishes, making a fist and extinguishing the flames.

She flexes her fingers a couple of times, turns on her heel and walks away. The last thing she sees before she closes the door behind her is Emma's face and she realizes that the blonde's cheeks are wet. It's still hard for her to grasp the concept that someone is crying for her as opposed to because of her. She'll get there, eventually. With the help of her very own personal Savior, she will.


A/N: I'm thinking about writing another chapter as an aftermath of the whole confrontation even though I could finish it here. Let me know if you'd like a less angsty, Swan Queeny ending to the story. :)