Some notes:
i. I know it's been a little moody these last few chapters, but it's to set up everything else. As of the next chapter, the plot really kicks in.
ii. Chapter 4 contains an appearance from every Swan Queen's favorite form of seating: BENCH!
iii. Thanks so much for all the likes/follows/favorites - it means so much to me! As always, if you enjoyed the story this far, please take a second to review? They certainly help get me through the writers block :)
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Chapter Four - Snow on Snow on Snow
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Friday:
And so it begins, slowly and tentatively. Every morning Regina ends her watch by making her way down to the fog hidden pier. If Miss Swan chooses to appear at the same place she happened to be with coffee to share, that was her choice. She was no longer Mayor - not anymore - and couldn't control all the comings and goings in Storybrooke any longer, could she?
She can feel Emma's presence every morning before she hears or sees her. Apparently even the air in Storybrooke had heard about her Savior status and bows before her. Or at least shimmers.
"Is this what we pay you to do now Sheriff?" Regina asks, taking the coffee from Emma's hand.
"You don't pay me to do anything Madame Mayor." Emma smirks, leaning on the railing of the pier with her cup. "At least not anymore."
"Like hell I don't. I spent the last 29 years making sure this town didn't squander the budget on magic beans. I won't see you and your family ruin all my hard work."
"Are those things even real? Magic beans I mean."
"As real as the town's budget."
"Speaking of the town's budget - think we can spring for a bench? My back's starting to hurt from all this leaning."
"The deadline for proposals for the next fiscal year have long passed Sheriff."
"Of course they have."
A quiet moment passes between them as they sip their drinks. Regina with her black coffee and Emma with her cocoa.
"Why do you do this?" Regina finally asks, her curiosity getting the better of her. She has wondered this and can't quite figure the other woman's motives. She has wondered why she's allowed to live. She has wondered why Emma chooses to spend every morning with her.
"Do what?" Emma asks, only to be rewarded with a withering glare. "Oh...no reason."
"Keeping tabs on your local despots is just part of your job now?"
"Something like that... You know me, I like to keep tabs on all my neighborhood ogres, goblins and wicked witches. It's like 'To Catch a Predator - Wicked Witch edition'"
"Evil Queen dear. Give me some credit - anyone can be wicked, but it takes talent to be truly Evil." Despite her serious tone, a sideways glance reveals the upturned corners of her mouth to Emma.
"A joke? Did Regina Mills, the Evil Queen herself just make a joke?" Emma laughs as she nudges the other woman's shoulder with her own and ignores the spark and shock as they touch.
"Careful who you tell, Miss Swan, I'd hate to see my reputation get tarnished in any way." Regina warns, the threat evident in her voice.
"I bet you would." Emma agrees as she looks away from the woman beside her and out towards the sea.
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Tuesday:
"Does anyone know about this?" Regina asks, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her cup.
"About what? Coffee? I'm sure one or two people have discovered this amazing brewed beverage." Emma can't help but glance at the bare skin peaking out from the cloak as it pools on either side of the other woman's leg. "Was this bench always here?" She looks around, thankful for the reason to look anywhere but Regina and her legs and confused why Regina and her legs have thrown her today. Or, if she's honest, why it's thrown her at all.
"Your powers of observation are a credit to Storybrooke's illustrious police force Sheriff." But there is a now familiar smirk curls her lips as she takes another sip of the godawful coffee from Granny's.
A moment of silence passes between them as they survey the sea spread out before them. A sense of warmth lingers between their bodies before the ocean air blows it away.
"You're thinking." Emma points out.
"I am."
"Should we be worried?" Emma's only half joking.
"I don't know yet.".
Another moment as they both sip and toy with their cups.
They are both waiting for the other to say something, to start, to spit it out. Regina is familiar with standing her ground, but unlike Emma, she's also learned the strategic value of submission.
"How are you doing?" She finally asks, not looking at the woman to her right. She knows too much concern will be a sign of insincerity.
"Henry's doing a project on space." Emma returns, unsure of where Regina's concern is coming from, and more importantly, where it will lead if she allows herself to believe in it.
"I wasn't asking about Henry, I was asking about you." She knows this ploy - deflection. Emma had many strengths, but tactical strategy wasn't one of them. Her moves are often obvious and clumsy. It stems from her earnestness and her inability to lie well. Besides, Regina had seen Henry's open books at night, had read over his essay and even corrected a word or two. "A world with magic is very different than what you're familiar with. Say, in Boston or Tallahassee. It is, an adjustment." She angles her head to one side to take in Emma's free hand in her lap. "To discover you have magic of your own -"
"I don't have magic!"
"You do, Miss Swan. We all saw it. Crude, but impressive magic." Regina takes a sip, "Reminds me of a younger version of myse-"
"I'm not like you, Regina." The fierceness in her voice surprises them both. "I'm nothing like you."
"You are more like me than it pleases either of us to admit. You may not know how to control your magic, but you do have it."
"I don't have magic and I don't have any more cocoa, or time." Emma counters as she rises. She takes one more look at the bench that she suspects but can't confirm is new before she heads off, away from Regina and her talks of magic.
"I'll be here, Miss Swan." The older woman calls, stopping Emma in her tracks. Neither of them turns to the other. Regina because she knows what she'll see - a young woman she needs to prepare for the battle ahead and Emma because she's afraid of what she'll see - a lonely reflection of herself. "When you're ready."
x ~ x
Saturday:
Regina can't believe she actually misses the abysmal coffee from Granny's. Or the company of Emma Swan. She sighs and tries not to pity herself - she once had kings and queens, witches and warlocks as consorts and companions and now she's waiting on her enemy, the Savior, an ill-bred misfit who has taken everything from Regina. There has never been a moment in her life where her masochistic tendencies have been more evident than this. She should leave, she knows she should, but she can't. She knows this is the day the other woman will return to their meeting spot on the docks.
She wraps her cloak around herself - as always, she can feel the other woman's presence before she sees her. "And here I was thinking you were playing hard to get, Sheriff." She takes the proffered cup without a thanks.
"And here I was thinking you liked games, Regina"
"Depends on the game." Regina concedes with a coy turn of her head. She looks up at the other woman, her eyes shining through a fringe of lashes.
"I'm ah, sorry." Emma begins, gripping the rail of the pier and leaning over. She doesn't know why she's apologizing, but much like why she doesn't know why she showed up after three days of swearing she wouldn't, she can't help it - she just knows she needs to be here. "You know for -"
"How are you sleeping, Sheriff?" Regina asks, she knows the answer however, she has seen the restlessness that has kept Emma tossing and turning in the night.
"Fine. Yourself?"
"Very well, thank you."
Silence.
"Is this how it's going to be, You Highness?" Emma asks, "I had hoped for a little more lively company this morning."
"I'm sorry to disappoint, I didn't realize I was expected to be your court jester as well as your mortal enemy."
"You're not my enemy."
"It's a shame, because you're mine." She takes a sip.
"I see." There's a distinct detachment in Emma's voice that intrigues her. She has taken to calling her Emma, at least in her mind. She feels closer to the woman than she has any right to. "It isn't easy, is it Miss Swan?" She asks. Regina suspects the young woman is chaffing at the changes in her world.
"Having a mortal enemy?" Emma laughs, "Not really."
"I meant magic." The conversation is starting to irritate her.
"I don't have magic."
"And we don't have time for this, not anymore." Her voice grows colder with every word.
"What is this Regina?" Emma asks, rising from the bench in frustration. "Because I don't know. I don't know much anymore it seems. About magic and Kings and Queens and being a Savior and a mom and a daughter. None of this is real!"
"Except it IS Ms. Swan and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will learn how to understand it!" Regina stays seated - drawing power from her regal posture. Emma's tantrum is a waste of energy and she will not squander it.
"I don't WANT to understand it Regina! I just... I don't!" Emma turns around and looks towards the water. It's fall and anywhere else along the Eastern Seaboard, the crispness in the air would mean snow, but here, in Storybrooke... "I just want to go back to the way it was before."
"Well then, you should've thought about that before you barged in here determined to play the white knight. Maybe we all would've been better off without your heroics."
"Christ Regina!" Emma spins to face the Evil Queen, looking every bit of the role the town has cast her in, the fog parting to reveal her dark hair and eyes. "Why are you such a bitch? Even now!"
"I thought you wanted to go back to before, dear." Regina snarls, missing the aggression of their past exchanges. She knows to play this carefully, she needs to use Emma in the most exact ways she can to ensure her cooperation. Too hard and she'll leave, too soft and she'll never believe her. "So let's go back, shall we? Before we were evil Queen and noble knight." She lets the contempt drip from her words.
"I get it, you had a really crappy childhood, I met your mom, I know! You know what though? So did I, so did half of the world, we didn't go out and reign hellfire on everyone!"
No Miss Swan, you just went out and got knocked up at 18. An exemplary life choice that I certainly hope doesn't inspire my son."
"Our son."
"No Miss Swan. My son." She rises now, slowly and surely, power and dominance as evident as if she had her crown atop her head. "You and your family can deny as you all will, but for the first ten years of his life I was the one who calmed every fear, wiped every tear, battled every nightmare, boogie man, monster and bully." She takes determined steps towards Emma until the blonde was pressed up against the rail of the pier. From this distance, Regina couldn't help but deny a certain inborn elegance in the other woman's features. She could see her thoughts flashing beneath her eyes, she could see the determined jutting of her lower lip, quivering slightly. She could so easily stop it with - Regina took a firm step back. No.
"I won't deny it Regina. You are an incredible mother to Henry."
"Were, dear." The words don't choke in her throat as much as she thought they would. "Past tense, like most of my life..." Regina turns around and looks at the vague outlines of the old wood buildings. Even if this world, with it's manufactured past were all from her mind, she cannot help but take comfort at the sight of such old and sturdy structures. Draw strength from their appearance of survival. Appearance was everything, was it not? "Regina, you're life isn't over, it's -" Emma begins to comfort Regina before questioning why. Very little in Storybrooke makes sense to her but she knows that her gut is telling her to go towards the other woman and help her. She knows that in part, Regina's right and Henry is no longer hers alone.
"Not yet, but very soon Miss Swan, I won't be here and there's nothing even the hallowed Savior can do about it." With a raise of her eyebrow, Regina summons the winds to pick up and start blowing around the two of them, bringing forth the cover from the fog and cocooning them together in a safe pocket on the harbour. If she's been cast as the evil queen, she'll play her part with all the splendor she once had in the other world - there was a certain level of respect that her showmanship commanded. "So I need you to hear me, understand me and accept me when I say this: you have magic and the faster you accept it, the faster you can learn to control it and the more faith I will have in you -" She turns around to face Emma and to deliver her final line. This is where she will succeed in luring the Savior Princess to her side, or risk losing everything: "and your ability to keep Henry safe."
She lets the words hang there as Emma takes them in.
"Henry - why do I need to keep Henry safe? From you?" A fire is lit immediately within the blond woman whose hands ball into fists at the thought of her son in jeopardy and suddenly the air changes, grows heavy and charged with something alive. Regina feels Emma's magic surround them and cannot help but smile. Even if Miss Swan doesn't believe in her powers, neither of them can deny them.
"I suggest you calm yourself before you do something rash." She points to Emma's hands, now glowing blue.
"Oh god!" Emma realizes her hands are bathed in an iridescent blue light and begins to shake them, trying to toss the energy off of them, as far away from her as possible. Sparks shower down on Regina like a Fourth of July fireworks display, but still Emma's hands remain blue. "Regina... Make it stop. Make it go away!"
"No. This is where we begin." Regina steps forward and raises her black eyes to calm Emma's frantic panic.
"I don't want to begin anything, I want to stop it - all of it! Magic and you and me and our parents and I want it all to go away! Now!" But with every eager word, the light grows stronger and brighter and Regina cannot help but envy, just a little, Emma's incredible power, raw and untapped as it is. It doesn't match hers in skill, but there's a certain earnestness and purity to it, much the the woman it is emanating from. "If that's the case Miss Swan, I suggest you stop and listen to me. Calm down." She holds her hands out, palms up, towards Emma, in a gesture of peace. "Listen to me. Your magic is tied to your emotions right now - it's where it's drawing power from. The more emotional you get, the stronger it grows. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah!" The blonde bobs her head up and down, "Just help me! Just make it go away."
"Stop." She commands. "Breathe."
"Regina -"
"Are you listening to me dear? I said stop and breathe." The edge of her voice makes it clear this isn't a polite request, but a demand.
Emma closes her eyes and begins to slower her breath, but she still feels her heart racing in her chest as if it was trying to leap out of it's bone cage. She feels like she's just run a marathon, like she's just been scared in a movie, like she's just finished a great round of sex. Oh god, Sex. She hasn't had sex in a very, very long time and at the rate it's going, she wonders if she'll ever have it again. Sex, and the ever present lack of it is what does the trick, forcing her to think about something other than Henry, and magic, and being a savior to too many. Funny how it's the little things that override our common senses. "OK, I'm breathing. I'm breathing Regina. Now make it stop."
"I can't Miss Swan." Regina informs her, her voice calm and still. "First rule of magic and the universe is the law of Energy..."
"This is fascinating, really. I didn't realize you took up teaching in your spare time."
"I can leave you at any time Miss Swan." The other woman threatens, but not even the rustle of her cape as it moves away from her can scare the young woman. "But you won't." Emma tosses back, her eyes still closed. She doesn't know why or how she knows this, just that she does.
"You're right." The rustle of her cape reaches Emma's ears again and this time she feels Regina step closer. "You can't make something turn into nothing - and vice versa -"
"I thought magic was all about the vice versa? Something out of nothing?"
"There's always a cost. Hold out your hands Miss Swan." Emma wordlessly agrees, holding out her hands before her, palms up like she'd seen Regina do earlier. "Think of it like money, always drawing from one account and depositing it in another." She holds out her hands to the unseeing savior, "In this case, you've already made the withdrawal - you just need to choose where to deposit it." Regina reaches out her hands and slips them, palm to palm, over the savior's, over Emma's.
A spark, a charge releases as they connect - not just of mind, or body, but of being. This was different - they could both feel it - Regina grows lighter suddenly and Emma grows more aware of her power and what is at stake. "When you're ready Miss Swan, I want you to think of something that calms you down. Brings you joy."
"Anything?"
"It can be anything - but I remind you, bring a puppy into this world and it's yours to tend to..."
"Got it, no puppies, ponies or unicorns." She misses Regina smile softly at the joke, her eyes are clenched so hard in her efforts to focus on her thoughts.
"You can breathe while you do this, Miss Swan." Regina smirks, seeing Emma's brow knit in frustration.
"Quit smirking at me Regina, it's distracting." Emma mutters, but she takes the advice to heart and slowly releases her long held breath as the other woman wonders how she could've known about the look on her face. Regina contemplates removing her hands but knows she can't. Not yet.
Something small floats by.
Small and white.
Followed by another.
And another.
"You can open your eyes Miss Swan." She murmurs, knowing now she can break their connection safely. She slips her hands away and back under her cloak and steps back, as if that step could break the still present desire for the other woman's skin on her.
For a second, all Emma can see when she opens her eyes is Regina's dark eyes staring out at her. Surrounded by delicate, white snowflakes that have begun to swirl around them until it becomes a snowstorm of their own, contained within the walls of the fog. She can't help but smile, beaming brightly at the other woman - raising her hands up to reveal the normalcy of them. "We did it!"
"You did it." Regina corrects her as she takes a further step out of reach from the blonde. "You did it all Miss Swan."
"I couldn't have done it without you -"
"But you did. Besides, do you really think I'd pick snow to calm you down of all things?" She raises a single eyebrow.
"I've always loved it. A fresh snow fall is like a fresh start. I can't wait to show Henry." She doesn't realize what's she's said, focused so firmly on getting to Henry and building a snowman, and a fort, and having a snowball fight and some cocoa and - "Is it snowing outside? I mean, outside of your fog fortress of solitude?"
"Would you like it to?"
"Uh, yeah! It's kind of hard to have a snowball without snow Regina!" She teases, and misses the sadness in eyes of the witch opposite her.
"Then use your magic. Close your eyes and take your excitement," her voice hitches on the words, but she continues, "Your joy and push it out, spread it out."
So Emma does just that - she remembers every snow day off of school, every snow fort she's ever built with every kid that was ever nice to her, every new scarf and gloves she's ever received, every cup of cocoa with cinnamon and though it's not nearly as many times as it should have been, it's enough to fill her with such love that she can't help but let it radiate out of her until there's nothing left to push out.
And when she opens her eyes, she's alone on the pier in the middle of the snowstorm.
And she can feel a tingle in the air.
The same tingle she feels when she tucks Henry in at night and climbs into her bed. It's a safe feeling. Soothing in the snow.
So she heads home to Henry, ready to have fun.
x ~ x
TBC ...