Thank you again for sticking up with me and the weird turn I took. Special thanks to Bambibell84 whose reviews made me write this update so quickly. This chapter is Swan Queen in all their glory. The scenes from the show are changed a lot to fit the story. Also Emma's lie detector works perfectly in my fiction unlike the show. Emma's POV is in italic.
Betad by Satan's baby.
I hope you like it. Enjoy.
I'm leaving. Yes, I have to leave. Because this wasn't how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to come here, drop the kid and go back. But no. I saw Regina hugging Henry and all my thoughts vanished somewhere and I forgot I was supposed to go back to Boston. I literally forgot. All I could think is the beauty before me and warmth a felt radiating from her. Weird, huh. Warmth coming from the Mayor? But yeah. It was warmth. I have always felt this warmth coming from her washing over my senses every time we get near each other. Warmth and pull. Something was drawing me towards her and that made me stay. That and the fact that when I asked her whether she loves Henry I saw the love but there was something off with it. That was the other reason I stayed.
And now it is time for me to leave. To leave all of this behind me because it fucking hurt so much. I want Regina since the day I saw her and all this time she was playing with me. Like I am some kind of a toy she could play and toss when she is bored. I have been tossed around enough. Family after family in the great American foster system. And now Regina is acting the same way. We surrendered to our attraction, twice, got all hot and bothered and now she is like "I don't want you."
What the fuckery is that? One minute she was melting in my arms and next she was back to her bitchy self. She speaks half-truths and fabricates false statements. Why do I always fall for the wrong person? First Neal left me to do his time. And now Regina is using my attraction to her for her own needs. She...It was real. She felt it too but now she uses me. She temporary distracted me so she could cover her tracks.
And here is the result now. I'm driving towards the mansion to say goodbye to Henry and Regina. I have to leave. I can't be here and getting hurt like that again. I can't live like that. I can't be tossed around anymore. I have dignity. It is small considering I am street kid but if I don't stand up for myself no one will.
This is me standing for myself. This is me protecting me.
I knock on the door two times and step back waiting. It doesn't take too long.
Regina opens the door with a swing.
"We need to talk," Emma says giving me no time to react.
"Yes, I-I imagine we do," I agree with her having absolutely no idea why she is here. Probably to take Henry as she said to Reina in the station.
She is panting and looking like she is in pain. I suppose it is because of her feelings being hurt. I understand.
"Come right in." I step back allowing her to get inside and close the door after her.
I take a deep breath preparing myself for what is about to come. She looks around the foyer staring briefly at the door of the living room where our last make out session was. She knits her brows, at the memory I have no doubts, and turns to me.
Standing in the middle of the foyer I remind myself that Henry is upstairs doing his homework and Reina is making an apple pie. I wanted to help her but she rejected my preposition so I was relaxing after the hard day when Emma came.
I feel a little uneasy with the silence falling over us and wrap my hands around my body. The pull I feel towards her is here. The air is replaced with all the undeniable feelings we have for each other. The more time it passes the more I am convinced that the kisses we shared are some kind of curse-breaking. Like they opened our eyes to what we really feel and what we were denying all this time.
"I think that this…whatever is between us needs to end."
Her words echo in the big space and stab me right in the heart. End? No.
"W-what?" I stumble over the simple word. Her words are too much of a shock for me.
"Look, this isn't easy. It is actually fucking insane and...I can't..." She is trying to voice whatever is in her mind but it's hard for her.
And I know why. She was hurt by Reina's actions and now she is stepping back from me. She is defending herself. I tried to protect her by not sleeping with her. If we had done that before she knows who I am it would be devastating for her and for me too.
"I am leaving town," she says cutting of my thoughts.
"What?"
"I'm leaving town. I am leaving you and Henry. I should have done that the night I brought him back. I shouldn't have stay. I shouldn't have fall so hard for you. I shouldn't feel this way towards you. So I'm gonna go..."
"Okay," I agree with her and she is stunned. She blinks rapidly trying to figure out why.
If she stays here the games Reina and I used to play will hurt her again. She can't distinguish us and this is going to be a problem after the curse is broken. When we get our magic back the swapping will be our way of fighting and she could get in the cross fire. I am too evil, too content with hurting people and I don't want her to see that. I will lose her either way. I always lose.
"I understand that you are hurt, Emma. I really do." What is wrong with me? That sounds like a politician trying to get vote for the next elections. Get a grip, Regina. "But...the feeling we have for each other...I feel it, you feel it."
I take a hesitant step forward expecting for her to walk back. But she stays firmly on her place. Maybe I could turn this around.
"We can't deny it," her soft voice laced with hope reaches my ears. Dear God, I might not leave.
"You are right," I agree with Regina. "But when I am away we'll...forget it."
"That is childish. You know that won't happen."
"Yes. But I'm determined to leave. Because I can't keep up with you." I am well aware that my voice gets higher by the minute but I don't really care at this point. I am leaving after all. "One minute you want me, looking like a teenager girl in love for the first time. Next you don't, turning into the bitch you are. I don't know why. So I'm gonna go."
"No," Henry's voice announces his presence and we both turn our heads to the kid who is descending down the stairs. "You can't leave. You have to break the curse. You have to defeat the Evil Queen. You can't leave me here with her."
Great, the rant about his theory that Regina is the Evil Queen is back with full force. And here I thought he was over it.
"Really? Are you back to that again? "I ask him with my voice still high."Coz just yesterday you were glowing at the dinner we had here."
"Yes, because that was all part of our operation," he speaks like it was the most natural thing. Like I knew this.
"No. Stop," I yell at him angry from the fact that even he, this little 10 year old, is planning and scheming. "That wasn't part of any operation. That was..." I glare at Regina and I see her waiting impatiently for my answer. There is a hint of hope in her eyes. Now is my payback time. "That was me trying to be civil with your adoptive mother."
My words have the effect I was looking for. The hurt is evident in Regina's eyes. Good, she deserves it. Or is it a lie?
"So civil means shoving your tongue down someone else's throat?" Reina appears from the kitchen with plastic box containing some food wearing a mid-thigh red dress.
It is full contrast to her sister's dark blue pants suit with white shirt underneath. Now is not the time for fashion observations.
She stands right beside Regina who continues to act like she's hurt.
"What?" Henry grabs my hand forcing me to look down at him. "You kissed her? No, this is not what are you supposed to do."
"And what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"You are supposed to stay and fight with them. They are both evil and..." He turns his eyes to the twins standing before us and his eyes caught on something. "What is that?" He asks.
"Nothing," Reina says and my lie-detector ability senses a lie.
"What is in the box? And don't lie to me coz I can't tell the lie," Emma warns Reina stepping closer to her.
Reina looks at me for help with worry swirling in her eyes. I don't have time to respond because Emma is faster.
"Give it to me," she says and before anyone could react she grabs the box and opens it. "What is that?"
She asks again and I am sure that there is no way out of this.
"This is apple turnover. Old family recipe," I answer her question knowing that there will be more.
"Why she didn't want to tell me?" Emma's eyes are focused on mine.
"I have no idea." I have to speak honest with her. If I want her to leave not hating me completely I have to.
"It's made from apples and it's poisonous. It's just like in the book. The Evil Queen uses apples to poison Snow White," Henry introduced his theory.
Emma purses her lips and shakes her head. The theory is irritating her.
"Stop with that stupid idea. Get it out of your head," she says but he just continues.
"Okay. I will shut up if she says who it for is."
Well, that actually is the first sane thing he has said in a while.
"Great," Emma agrees and turns to Reina. "Who is it for?"
And for a second I am really worried about this. I know that there are no poisonous apples here because we don't have magic here. But the fact that Reina is silent makes me wonder.
"Mr. Gold. He loves it," she replies after a while.
"Bullshit," Emma fires back and steps into her personal space. "Who is it for? And don't lie to me this time."
Her eyes scan Reina's face and see the lie underneath. She might be true lie detector after all.
"Mr. Gold," my sister hisses while her face stay stoic.
"Is it poisonous?" This question was expected.
But before anyone could react or say anything Henry grabs the box from Emma and storms out of the house. We all run after him calling him out but he doesn't stop. He throws the box backwards empty. Few steps later, just before the front door, he collapses with the turnover bitten.
"Henry," Emma and I scream his name as we fall on our knees next to the child lying on the path.
I grab his body and turn him over. His eyes are closed, mouth open. Emma reaches out and finds his pulse point on his neck.
"I barely feel a pulse," she whispers to me and I look at my sister who wears apologetic look.
In this moment it all fits. She spent last night in Jefferson's place and today she came back to the house to make the apple turnover. She practically pushed me out of my own kitchen to make it. It is poisonous and Henry is under the Sleeping curse.
"We have to take him to the hospital," I say but Emma is already opening the door of her car.
I grab my boy in my arms and carry him towards the yellow vehicle. After I slide carefully on the front seat Emma closes the door and goes to her seat.
We storm into the hospital. I'm holding Henry while Emma runs before me and pushes people screaming, "Out of my way."
Two of the nurses come to aid immediately while the others are searching for Dr. Whale. The redheaded one takes the boy and puts him on the bed while the other hooks wires to him.
"No, Henry," I whisper between sobs and my body starts to shake.
Standing on just an arm's length on Emma's right I could see the tears streaming down her sides. It's the first time I have seen her so vulnerable and open.
"What happened?" Whale asks as he enters the room. He goes to the boy and checks his eyes with a flash. "No reaction."
"He ate this," Emma answers him handing him the turnover in a little bag.
When did she take it?
My eyes are glued to Regina's eyes waiting for the emotion to emerge and betray her. I've noticed that her eyes can tell me anything. It doesn't matter what the lips are saying. It's all in her eyes.
There it is. A little pain with knitting eyebrows and pursing lips. She is concerned about the turnover. Could what Henry was babbling about be true? Could the turnover be poison? Is Regina the Evil Queen from the book?
"His airway is clear. Did he vomit? Did he convulse? Did he get any me..."
"He took a bite from this and he just fucking collapse. So run the tests for arsenic or bleach, or whatever the fuck you want that could have fucking caused this." I shout at him throwing the turnover in his face.
He grabs it in time and says, "The boy shows no symptoms that would suggest neurotoxins. So whatever have fucking caused this is not in here." The man throws the bag at one of his nurses.
"Then what the hell is it?"
"I don't know."
"But he is going to be okay though, right?" Regina asks still standing right beside me.
Her warmth is giving me some kind of comfort in this situation.
"I need to stabilize him first coz he is slipping away," the doctor says while putting his gloves on. "Now, is there anything else that you could remember? Any little detail could help."
"I already told you everything. Do something." I spat at him.
"Look. I understand you are frustrated. I do. But I need something to treat and right now there is no explanation..." he speaks but his voice sound like an echo because my thoughts are consumed by Regina and the look on her face.
She is staring directly at Henry, crying with her arms around her. Her shoulders are bent forward, her head tilted sideways.
"You..." I yell at her startling everyone in the room.
She whips her head towards me and we lock gazes. A strange scenes flash before my eyes.
First, there is a castle. Then a woman looking like Mary Margaret but with longer hair give birth a child. Then the woman says "Goodbye, Emma." A man just like David is taking the baby and fighting with some guards. After a while he places the child in a box or something of a sort, says "Find us" as sweat drips from his forehead and closes the wooden thingy.
My eyes snap open. Wait...When I closed them? I stare at Regina unable to say or do anything until she calls my name. I launch myself forward, grab her by the elbow and drag her with me in the closet.
Once we are there I dash her against the supply shelf. She crashes into it and knocks off some of the stuff there.
"You," I say.
She spins to face me asking, "What the hell are you doing?"
As a respond I grab her by the elbows again. I take a step back dragging Regina with me and push her towards the cupboard. Her body slams at the metal doors hard and I'm sure she feels a great amount of pain.
But instead she says, "Stop. This is my son." It's more of a plea and not an order which is a first for her.
My right hand holds her left pinned to the doors while my right hand grabs her collar and presses Regina further into the cupboard. Our faces come inches apart and we breathe the same air.
"The fucking turnover your sister made, did this." With every word I say I get closer to her until our lips are almost touching.
"No," she murmurs with her eyes glued to mine. But her word sounds more like not believing this could be the reason Henry is in this condition. Or more like she don't want it to be the reason.
"It's b-because...the turnover is p-poisonous...right?" I press my body flush against hers and the pull I feel for her is taking over my senses. The anger I feel for her is fading away quickly only to be replace by this goddamn hunger I have for her. It takes all my willpower not to lean the extra inch and kiss her. Coz that's all I wanna do right now.
My heart beats fast and I feel my pulse drumming in my neck. And her sorrow face is not helping at all.
"Right?" I scream at Regina already knowing the answer.
"Yes," she whispers with more tears leaving wet traces on her sides. She lets her head hit the metal as if it would make everything go away. As if the pain will disappear.
"So..." I gulp. "It's all...t-true?"
"Yes." She closes her eyes admitting the trust.
I no longer pin her. I hold on her like dear life. All of what Henry was ranting about is true. It's not a crazy theory. It's true.
"You...I-I am...Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter? I-I have to...I'm the Savior?" I stumble over the words as I lean on Regina even more. "You are...the reason I..."
She just nods.
"Oh..." is all I can say now. All kinds of feeling are rushing through me but the one thing I do is to hold on to her. My grip is stable as if she is the only thing that is real right now.
Her watered eyes are all I can see right now. Her heartbeat under my hand is all I can feel now. Her warmth is all I need now.
"You fix this," she says with her lower lip trembling and her face all red.
"I can't," I admit with a whisper. Her eyes are all I see now. Her opinion is all that matters now. She is all I want.
"Don't you have...m-magic?" She utters the word like it is a bad omen, like it's crazy that it exist.
"No one has magic here."
"Then how in the world this happened?"
"I don't know."
"So what do we do?"
We. She said 'we' not 'I'.
"Magic here is unpredictable and I can't..."
"Can he d-die?"
I close my eyes swallowing the truth and nod.
She takes two steps back and I already miss her and her warmth. The air in this small space is filled with something very different than the magic I am used to. It is something out of this world without a doubt. Maybe there is an object from the Enchanted Forest here or maybe it's the want I feel for her.
Emma looks at me and shakes her head. She paces in circles trying to wrap her mind around the facts. She is struggling with becoming believer and the Savior that she is destined to be.
"What was in the turnover?" she asks after a few seconds with a voice that is free of any emotions. Cold as ice.
"I assume it's a poisonous apple."
"Like the one that the Evil Queen...you gave to Snow White to kill her?" she looks at me and my heart breaks because her face is stone cold too. Her lips pursed in a thin line. Her eyes are distant with a hint of worry for Henry. I can't fool myself that is for me.
"Yes."
"If there is no magic here...how...?"
"I don't."
Silence fills the air as she process the new information and thinks of some plan.
I stay silent and still leaning on the cupboard. As if that could give me support through all that is going to happen. The few moments we shared were in the past now. All hope for something with her ever again has vanished. All hope for anything but hate towards me has disappeared.
"How it can be fixed?"
"True Love's kiss," I say and it reminds me about the way I told her mother about it. "True Love is the most powerful magic of all. It creates happiness. It is the only magic powerful enough to break any curse and transcend realms."
She looks at me like I have three heads. Like all of these are the words of a crazy person.
"But...um..."
"You have to kiss Henry," I tell her as I push myself away from the cupboard and take a hesitant step toward her.
"Isn't True Love about two people being in love?"
"True Love has many forms. But the mother-son True Love is almost as powerful as that between two souls," I explain to her remembering how the Light Seer taught me.
Flashback, Enchanted Forest
"The True Love between mother and son is almost as powerful as that between two souls designed, destined, created for one another. True Love between two souls is the most powerful magic and it's the most pure," the Seer said to me.
"Why it is the most pure?" I asked looking up to the woman before me.
"Because it is created by two people and there is no meddling of a third person in it. It inhabits the sheer part of us. The heart. That is why without heart you can't feel love. Because only the heart can feel it."
"So without heart you have no love and vice versa?"
"True."
"Is True Love affected by the kind of magic you have?"
The Seer looked at me with her sky blue eyes and smiled softly.
"I shall share a secret with you, child. But you have to swear you will never speak of it."
"I promise."
"Good." She nods. "You and your sister have both kind of magic. Not only dark but light too."
"No," I shake my head. "That would mean that our dark magic is because we are from the Mills family. But having light means we are product of True Love?"
"Indeed."
"So Rumplestiltskin and Cora... But why his curse didn't break when they kissed?"
"You are like rough diamond, Regina," the Light Seer chuckles. "True Love's kiss is not the way to break the Dark One's curse. He has to be killed. The killer takes his power. True Love is too pure to meddle with it."
"Why don't you kiss him?"
"Because you have to break the curse."
"Does it have to be both ways. I mean...He loves me...I..." Her eyes are avoiding mine. They are on every little object in this small space but me.
"You love him." I manage to surprise even myself with these words.
But finally making her to look at me was worthy.
Though what I said is true. She might not know it yet, not understand it but she does love him. Because mother-child son is strong and no space and time can break it. It is always present in the mother whether she wants the child or not. And Emma definitely wants Henry but I suppose she is scared of whether she could do it or not.
"I see it in the way you look at him. In the way you care about him. In the way you protect him." I start to sound more like my younger self and that scares me and thrills me at the same time.
She takes a step towards me with the desire swirling in her green eyes. Her mouth, inches from mine, teases with warm breath. Her body leans towards me connecting our chest which move up and down in sync.
"Okay," she whispers and her breath hot on my skin weakens my knees. "I'll save him. Let's get on with it."
And just like that she is gone. Out of the closet. Leaving me to catch my breath and slow down my overspending heart.
Yeah...I wanted them to kiss but no. Emma doesn't. Or does she?
