Chapter Two: Eye and the Storm
A quick stop to Granny's had been required on Mary's way home, as though Mary was not particularly experienced in the art of plotting how to make someone fall in love with you, she figured a snack to provide fuel was always a good place to start. A couple of Granny's fantastic cinnamon rolls would certainly do - those things were Food of the Gods and could be sold in franchises the world over, or so she and Emma constantly tried telling the older woman. She considered sitting down to enjoy one right there, when a smirking Dr. Whale came walking through the door. She quickly determined that having the immediate satisfaction of her treat then and there wasn't quite worth the discomfort of sitting through the upcoming show a second time (Ruby was wearing her usual Whale drool inducing outfit), and took her box of cinnamon rolls to go.
It was easy after that to talk herself into a lazy night, and she changed into her comfiest clothes immediately after arriving home, wrapped herself into a blanket, and sat down on her couch with a glass of warm milk and her snack (what was that about Food of the Gods?). It had been some time since Mary had last felt quite this content, and she could feel herself easily slipping into a daydream about David, about what life could be like once they were finally together.
Her belly was rounded underneath her stunning white nightgown, and she could feel the baby moving below her hand. Brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes - lord was it long, when had she grown it out so? - she smiled at David as he walked into the room, carrying a tray loaded with what was sure to be a most nutritious breakfast; the overprotective husband having quickly become an extraordinarily overprotective father. As she basked in the warmth of the sunlight pouring in from their terrace doors, David appeared thrilled at the relaxation on her face. She had been too tense, too long. Placing the tray down on a dresser, he walked over to her purposefully, wrapped his arms around her, and lowered his head to -
Emma came exploding into their apartment like some kind of natural disaster, beautiful chaos (and wasn't that just the perfect descriptor for her fiery roommate), startling Mary from her daydream. Blinking the sleepiness (and regret - things had just been getting good!) from her eyes, Mary turned to stare at her roommate. Deeply aware of the previous history - and continued possibility - of her possessions bearing the brunt of the blonde's anger, Mary carefully, and with a studied air of casualness asked, "Rough night?"
Emma spun - quite literally - in a perfect circle, before coming to face Mary once more, and Mary finally realized that Emma hadn't even been aware she wasn't alone, such was her rage at... something. More than that, Emma would have come home under the impression that Mary was going to be out with -
Emma's voice was like ice as she questioned "Why are you here? What. Did. He. Do?"
Mary attempted some quick thinking. Tried to pick his wife over me, and in a completely out of character move, I informed him that I wasn't going to let him, then kissed the guy silent and that was fantastic and now I feel like I can't be without him so I'm going to have to make him fall for me sometime super soon; and how was your night? It just didn't go very well. "Uh..."
"Men!" Emma yelled, and the word was a curse coming from her lips. "He picked her didn't he?"
"Well, yes, but you see -"
"Men!" Emma shouted again, "Useless, arrogant creatures, the whole lot of them. They make you think things, they make you feel things, and just when you think you may have a shot at that whole happy thing, there's someone else. Of course there is. There always is. Because happy? Is a load of crap that they trick the people who deserve it most, into believing in just for a second, before shooting that to hell."
"Emma!"
"What, Mary? It's true. That man followed you around town like a cute lost little puppy, making cute lost little puppy dog eyes at you until you started to weaken just a little bit, and then he goes all, 'oh I think I'll just stay with my wife now'. Not the adorable freaking puppy anymore. And God, I told you to go for it. I'm such an idiot. Major, major idiot."
Mary drew in a breath. As irritated as Emma was on her behalf, there was clearly something far more than that bothering the roommate that she had come to care for so deeply. Emma had been hurt. And Mary Margaret felt ready to tear whoever was responsible to shreds - a burning anger that she could not remember having ever experienced before.
"Em. What happened, honey?"
Mary's voice, so sympathetic, so caring - like family should be - was just what was needed for the fight to go right out of Emma. She crumbled onto the couch beside Mary, and Mary's arms were around her before she could blink. Emma knew that she had never, ever been held like this before, but she wasn't going to reject the feeling of warmth and safety that came of it. She rested her head on Mary's shoulder, fought back the tears (she was not going to cry for that man), and muttered under her breath, "Graham's sleeping with that witch."
Needing no explanation of who their local witch was, Mary groaned, horrified. Now that was a mental image her brain would be permanently scarred by; and judging her roommate's emotional response, Emma shared the sentiment ten-fold. Sure that nothing she could say would help at this point - she suspected that Emma had stronger feelings for her boss than she had admitted even to herself - she simply rubbed Emma's back, and waited for her to continue, somehow knowing that there was more.
Emma cleared her throat. "And they do it with my son in the house."
"Oh God," Mary winced, knowing that it's this additional fact that is really torturing Emma. The fact that she had claimed Henry as hers made this clearer than anything else Emma could have said.
"I just... look, Graham's a grown man, and he can make his own choices, gross as they might be. They can do it all they want, I don't care -" Lies. "But not while Henry's home. Not if he gets sick or something, and needs his... needs Regina -" She could no longer bring herself to think of, let alone speak of Regina as Henry's mother. "And she's off in her room with him, and it's disgusting, and I want to rip both of their heads off for doing something that could damage him even more if he were to ever find out about it."
Mary gently smiled at Emma. She was such a Mama Bear when it came to Henry, and didn't even know it. It filled Mary with pride to see the change that the boy was bringing in the woman.
"He's just so innocent," Emma continued, "Almost naively so, and I'd hate to see anything rob him of his innocence. It already seems as though Regina's largely robbed him of much of a childhood. And I didn't want this for him. I gave him up so he could have better than what I could give him. And I come here, and I find myself thinking of him as mine again, but he's not. He's Regina's, and I hate it, and as pathetic as I know it is, I hate knowing that Graham is hers too."
"I know." Mary nudged Emma back into a sitting position, so that she could look her in her eyes when she spoke to her. "But Emma? If it helps... I don't think Henry thinks of himself as Regina's."
Emma looked down for just a second to collect herself, but was able to look Mary in the eye to answer her, "That may be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
Mary smiled back at her. "Then I'm honoured to have said it."
Feeling much calmer than she had all night, Emma felt as though she could finally focus entirely on Mary. "So, Mar... are you going to tell me what happened, now that you can get a word in?"
"He remembered his wife. I don't really know what happened. This morning, he didn't have any memory, any feelings at all for Kathryn, and tonight, he tells me that he remembers her, and that he has to honour that."
Emma sighed, "I don't think I've ever wished that a man wasn't honourable before."
Unable to help laughing at her roommate, Mary swatted Emma on the arm. "Yes, he's a good man. Really good man. Tried to comfort me and all of that."
"Tried?" Emma smirked, "Oh, I hope you just walked away from him."
"I thought about it. Actually, I was going to do exactly that. And then something - I still don't know what - came over me. I felt suddenly like I had this complete other personality, and I thought 'screw that', and informed him that I was going to fight for him." She watched with satisfaction then, as Emma's jaw promptly dropped.
"You... what?"
Mary raised an eyebrow, considering. "You look a lot like he did, actually. And we haven't even got to the part where I kissed him yet."
"You kissed him?"
"It was accidental!"
"How is a kiss 'accidental'? Did you fall onto his lips?"
"Okay, so it was intentional, but I didn't mean to do it! Well I did... but I didn't set out meaning to do it! It just sort of happened. Except I made it happen. Accidentally. Intentionally. It was accidental-intentional!"
"Accidental-intentional? Is that even a thing?"
"I don't know, it's what it was! I think... You're confusing me!"
"I'm confusing you?"
Both women found themselves laughing hysterically at this point, and it was a balm to both of their still slightly hurt souls.
Emma caught her breath first. "Really though, who are you and what did you do with Mary Margaret?"
Mary rolled her eyes at her friend. "Emmaaaa..."
"I'm serious! Oh God, I let strange alien-person Mary comfort me! Hey!" Emma pouted as Mary sent a couch pillow flying into her head.
"You deserved it," Mary smirked. "And as for me and David... I don't really know what happened, what came over me. I just knew I couldn't let it end this way - heck, I don't think I could let it end at all. It doesn't make any real sense, but we feel connected somehow. And I can't let that connection go. He has to do the right thing, the honourable thing for Kathryn. And I have to do what feels right for us. I'll fight hard enough for both of us, until he's ready to fight with me."
Emma exhaled, "Wow. You're really going to do this."
"I am." Mary sucked in a breath, "Do you think I'm a horrible person for it?"
"What I think," Emma carefully gathered her thoughts, "Is that if it weren't for my kid, you'd pretty much be my favourite person that I know. And I don't like horrible people. You are good, you are kind, you care about people, even the wife of the man you're falling for. But Mary? You're also a romantic, and having an adorable, charming man with little lost puppy tendencies chasing you around for a couple weeks is enough to make any romantic want to give the fairy tale a chance."
"Am I just a sucker then?"
"No," Emma murmured, "No, you're not. Because I've seen the way he looks at you when you're not paying attention. Like... you're everything he could ever want. Women everywhere would kill for someone to look at them the way he watches you."
Mary's face was a bright shade of pink. "So you... you think I'm right to go for it?"
Emma grinned, "Oh, Mary. Yes. And I am so on Team You."
Mary smiled back. "Okay then. Commence Operation 'True Love'. I'm stealing the idea from Henry. Speaking of whom... you're now in on a lot of Operations."
"It's cool, it makes me feel badass. Also like I've got people who matter." Not wanting to dwell on that wistful thought, Emma continued, "So what's the plan?"
Mary bit her lip. "I have no idea. I've never been conniving and devious before. This other side of me only got to the part of announcing that I'm going to fight for him, kissing him silent, and a lot of smirking. I've never really smirked a lot before tonight. But suddenly it feels like everything is worth being amused by... smirk-worthy. But yeah, no plan, not smirk-worthy."
Emma gaped at her friend. "So we have no ideas."
"Not a one. Not yet anyway."
"But you announced to him that you were going to fight for him?"
"Yes." Mary raised an eyebrow. "Gee, I hope he's not expecting anything elaborate."
Emma cracked up.
The two of them would stay up late into the night, laughing and plotting; eating more of Granny's cinnamon rolls than was probably healthy; and rejoicing in the relaxed comfort of knowing they had a home.
And when Mary finally went to bed, she dreamt of him.
Author's Note: Okay, so I am thrilled by the number of people who I can see have been reading the beginning of this story. The knowledge that people all over the world are reading something I'm writing is so freaking cool to me. But as much as I can tell that people are reading this story, I can't really tell if people are enjoying it. So as much as I hate to beg for reviews, please do let me know if you're enjoying it, so I can tell if it's worth continuing. I'm really excited about this story and where I could take it. I hope you are too! Please do let me know if you are; or if you have any suggestions as to how it could be better, or wishes as to where it could go. I'm inspired by this fandom every time I come on this website - your encouragement would mean the world to me. Thank you!
