I do not own OUAT or any of the characters mentioned in this fic.
Hours had passed since Emma experienced the most awkward and uncomfortable introduction to her future in-laws. Zelena was currently in the shower whilst Emma lay on their bed, dying of boredom, so she decided to take a look around the house and get to know her surroundings. She was going to be living here for the next few days so why shouldn't she be allowed to snoop? As long as she didn't run into Cora she would be fine, Cora would have her head if she found her sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, although, Emma was sure she would be safe since Cora and Henry were both downstairs in their shared study, waiting for dinner to be ready.
Emma wandered through the long hall of the top floor, taking in the pictures around her. She was sure that there was close to a hundred pictures decorating the walls, some of the three Mills', some of Henry and Cora but most of them were of Regina. Emma had yet to come across a photograph of her fiancé but she tried not to think about Zelena at the moment, she felt awful now that she knows she had a moment with her sister but Regina had been on the blonde's mind since the flight and now they're practically living together, Emma tried her best to tell herself that her attraction to the brunette is only a crush, she was in love with Zelena, right? But that didn't stop Emma from thinking about how Regina kissed her cheek in the airport, how she blushed when Emma told her she wanted to see her again, 'She was just being friendly, Swan,' Emma tried to convince herself, whether it worked, well, that was a completely different story.
The blonde continued to observe the framed pictures on the walls, allowing her eyes to linger on those of Regina. There was one particular photo of the brunette that caught Emma's eye. She was standing in the most gorgeous dress Emma had ever seen and to her left was a young, good looking man, both of them had humungous smiles on their faces, of course Regina was the one she was drawn to. Emma frowned slightly when she saw that the man had his arm around Regina's waist, sitting dangerously close to the brunette's behind. 'I guess that answers the question on whether she's single or not', Emma didn't know why but she was both jealous and disappointed.
"Jefferson," a voice beside her broke her out of her thoughts.
Emma was a little startled, she hadn't expected someone to be with her but when she saw it was Regina, she was relieved. Confusion etched on her face when finally took in the brunette's words.
"The man in the photograph. His name was Jefferson." Regina smiled.
Emma looked at her, unsure on whether to ask the question or not.
Regina let out a chuckle. "We were married. He's also Henry's father." She said as she came to stand beside the blonde.
Emma stood there silently, she was confused. Why was Regina talking in the past tense. If she and her husband were divorced Emma was sure Cora wouldn't keep a picture of the two on display, unless Regina just wasn't aware of how she was talking so, Emma trying to be as subtle as possible, tried to get a look at Regina's finger.
She was, however, caught by said brunette to which Regina let out another chuckle.
"Jefferson, uh... He died in a car crash a year after Henry was born. Mother wanted to take this one down but daddy told convinced her to keep it up, he was always fond of Jefferson." Regina smiled sadly.
Emma immediately felt awful for her snooping and her jealousy, she had no right to get envious over a dead man, although, in her defence, she didn't know he was dead until seconds ago. Regardless, she has a fiancé yet here she is, practically drooling over her future sister-in-law.
"Regina, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" She started apologising but Regina was quick to cut her off.
Regina shook her head. "No, it's okay, you didn't know. It's not as difficult as it was at first, I'm just trying my best to raise Henry without him." For some reason, the brunette found it incredibly easy to open up to the blonde. "I've never seen Henry look as happy and excited as he did in the airport today and it was all because you didn't treat him like he was a complete invalid, you even let him have your cellphone." She laughed.
Emma smiled fondly at the memory from earlier today before speaking. "I'm glad I could be of assistance."
"It's not just that, Miss Swan, it would have been so much easier for you to have ignored me today but you didn't. You know, you were the only person who actually offered to help me, the only person who asked if everything was okay." Regina told her.
Emma let out a sympathetic sigh. "Well, it didn't take me a second to know that something was wrong after I saw you, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. You're too beautiful to look so upset." She said quietly.
Regina blushed and looked down. 'You can't feel like this! She's marrying your sister for the love of god!" The thoughts continued to enter Regina's mind. She finally gained the courage to talk again. "You're going to make my sister extremely happy, Miss Swan, I can tell. She's very lucky to have you." Although it pained her to say those words, she had to put a barrier up somehow.
At hearing these words come from Regina, Emma couldn't help but sigh. She loved Zelena, she truly did but she couldn't help but feel a connection towards the brunette. As a way of moving the conversation on, Emma asked; "Why aren't there any pictures of Zelena?"
Regina went silent before finally answering the question. "Mother says she doesn't want to be reminded of such a horrible time in her life, she said every time she looks at Zelena she is disgusted. Of course, it's not Zelena's fault but mother refuses to acknowledge that, in her eyes, she never wanted that child so everything that happened is her fault."
Emma squint her eyes slightly. She was confused. Didn't Regina and Zelena hate each other? So why was her younger sister standing here defending her? Before the two could continue their conversation, Zelena came out from the bedroom in a fitting black dress. She knew Emma would love it since the blonde was the one who told her to pack it every single day until she did. Both Emma and Regina turned to the door to see who had just walked out on them to see the redhead looking at them, her expression unreadable. Emma could instantly sense that she was upset, the blonde frowned, she didn't want her fiancé to get upset this weekend, she knew she would be vulnerable and she hated it. The sheriff stepped over to her, wrapping her arms around Zelena's waist with her hands resting on her hips.
"Baby, what is it?" Emma asked, her voice full of concern.
Zelena gave a subtle glare at Regina before looking at her fiancé, she smiled at the amount of love she saw in Emma's eyes. She suddenly felt terrible for assuming the worst, she just didn't want her sister near her lover. Zelena wrapped her arms loosely around the blonde's neck.
"I'm fine, darling, why don't we go downstairs and see it's time to eat," She smiled. Emma knew that she wasn't fine but she also knew that the redhead would talk to her in her own time so she allowed Zelena to take her hand and lead her down into the kitchen where Cora and Henry Sr were waiting for them. Emma took her seat next to her fiancé as Regina and Henry came into the kitchen, sitting opposite the couple. The food was then served to them by Cora's private waiter as well as the drinks.
Henry Sr stood up and raised his glass. "A toast," he began, everyone gave him a strange look before he continued, "A toast to Zelena and her wonderful fiancé, Emma. There's nothing more important than family and well, Emma, we are honoured that you will soon be a part of ours. Here's to a fantastic weekend, I for one am completely honoured to spending it with everyone at this table."
Emma and Zelena smiled at each other when they heard the man's toast, resulting in Emma leaning in and giving Zelena a soft kiss on the lips, when she pulled away Zelena had a shy smile on her face so Emma placed her hand on her thigh, stroking it softly. Everyone raised their glasses apart from Cora, who sat with a scowl on her face.
"You know, she's technically not even going to be a part of our family." She began. "Anyway, Regina, we're having a party on Monday to celebrate this almost perfect weekend and I have invited Daniel, you remember Daniel, don't you, dear? Such a lovely boy, I don't know why you haven't called him recently, what happened between the two of you? You were a lovely couple."
Regina's eyes immediately snapped to Zelena, who noticeably tensed at the mention of Daniel. Emma turned to look at her before asking if she was okay, Zelena nodded but again, Emma knew there was something wrong.
"Mother, you know what happened, we just fell apart. I'm not interested anyway." Regina forced a smile at her mother.
Henry and Emma could sense that there was tension in the room so the older man quickly changed the subject to something more cheerful. The rest of night had everyone apart from Cora laughing and having a good time.
Once everyone had gone to bed, Zelena lay in her bed waiting for Emma to finish brushing her teeth. She knew she should tell the blonde the truth but she couldn't find it in her to do it. Emma could see her from the mirror in the bathroom.
"You okay?" She asked as she finished off rinsing her mouth out.
Zelena sighed. "I'm fine, it's just been a long day."
Emma sensed that there was something really bothering the redhead. She climbed carefully into bed beside the woman and decided that she would press for what is wrong.
"You know you can always talk to me, right? I'm going to support you through anything, you don't have to tell me what's wrong just now but baby, I'll need to know at some point. I hate seeing you upset." Emma told her.
Zelena gave a sad smile. "I just need you to hold me and tell me how much you love me."
Emma smiled before moving behind her and wrapping her arms around her. She kissed the redhead's shoulder gently. "You're my happy ending, remember? Nothing will ever change that."
Emma fell asleep shortly after but Zelena was kept awake by her thoughts for most of the night.
I know that was mostly WickedSwan fluff but we can't just jump straight into the deep end. I'm not sure how many chapters this fic will be but I have everything planned out and I think it's definitely going to be a long run until we reach the end, I hope everyone will stay to the end even if it's not going your way. Trust me, like I said, everything is planned out, there will be twists but please don't stop reading if you don't like a certain character or how the plot is going, there's always time for change. Thank you guys for staying with me so far, until next time