A/N As usual anything italicized is a flashback.
Just borrowing the characters except for Ana and Aisa.
All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 8
Ana rushes into the cave and pauses at the sight of the room being filled with an ever deepening red glow. She simply smiles and closes her eyes as the glow encompasses her and the entire room. A softly whispered, "This is more than I ever expected. More than anyone ever expected." Her eyes still closed, she steps further into the room and extends her arms outward. The pulsating ebb and flow continues to swirl around her and to deepen in color.
Her eyes open as she steps over to and pulls forward Emma's red thread, from the moment she was born, letting her finger trace along its surface. She can feel the throbbing in the thread that is strong with life. As she continues to follow the thread, it begins to lighten in color until it is a light red. Where the color changes is another thread that branches off to a node.
Touching the node, it enlarges and allows Ana to watch the scene where the three year old Emma is returned to the foster care system by the first of many foster parents. The node disappears as she resumes tracing the thread that is once again darkening in color and then lightens again.
Rather than touching the node, Ana smiles at the memory of the first time she meant Emma in the pouring rain. The stubborn determination in that five year olds body made her ache with the knowledge of what Emma was yet to endure. Shaking her head to dismiss the melancholy thoughts, she resumes tracing the thread. Each time the thread darkens, becomes knotted, thins to the point of breaking and then lightens, represents a time where Emma had been with a foster family and then had been given up.
Finally she comes to a spot on the thread where the thread darkens, knots upon itself, lightens and then the knot unravels as it once again turns red. But this time the red never lightens nor does it thin to the point of breaking as it has before. For this is when Emma discovered she was pregnant and the knot in this part of the thread is tighter and larger.
Then instead of the gradual change in color, this one is abrupt from dark red to a very light red. And for once the thread is so thin that the lightest of touches would have broken it and ended Emma's life.
She touches the thread that branches off from this change in color and what she observes would have made anyone's heart break. Emma lies in a prison hospital bed after having given birth to her son. She watches as the nurse lays the squirming bundle in Emma's arms and the exhausted woman lovingly kisses her son's head and whispers something to him that not even the nurse can hear but Ana can.
"Know that I will always love you and only want what's best for you and that at the moment is not me."
Ana watches the tears streaming down Emma's cheeks as the nurse removes the baby boy from her arms leaving a devastated young woman in her wake as the baby is whisked out of the room and out if her life forever.
Surprisingly, Ana wipes tears from her own eyes before she continues to follow the thread through the ups and down of Emma's life. But the color that remains is a very light red and the knots that occur at each relationship are large and extremely loose.
When Henry re-enters her life, the red begins to change and the slow progress as the red further intensifies is so subtle that, other than Ana and her daughters, the mind would have had problems deciphering when the change began, only that at some point it had changed.
Emma life thread is wrapped around the node where Henry re-entered her life but wrapped even tighter around the same node is another much darker life thread that reflected Regina's heart, black and dark. So dark in color, it is like a black hole that instantaneously absorbs everything around it.
Regina's thread was reacting in a way that Ana had rarely seen for it had shifted in its direction and now began to run parallel to Emma's thread. Usually the red thread meant that two people are destined to meet one another and help each other when certain situations arise. And when the two people meet, their threads remained separate and distinctive.
Yet this situation was vastly different for these two women were separated not only by distance but also time. Their respective threads tangled and twisted and turned, and formed knots with every relationship, among the many threads they came in contact with, but the most challenging was the amount of time the threads were forced to endure before finding each other. They stretched unlike anything seen before, and Ana had seen everything, but their respective threads never broke ensuring that the two women would meet.
Ana studied the two threads she held in her hand. It was easy to follow their path as they intertwined around each other, for not only were their colors so different, but also the feelings they generated were polar opposites. Regina's dark one secreted anger, a need for revenge, utter hatred and a hurt that was so agonizing in its potency, that a person with a weak heart would have already succumbed. The darkness that swirled around Regina's ravaged heart, offered an end to all of the pain that she was enduring, if the heart would simply give into the darkness.
Yet Regina's battered soul fought until the darkness was too powerful and to save itself, as well as what remained of her heart, so it allowed itself to be shattered into fragments. But these fragments were not ready to concede complete defeat to the darkness and managed to hide themselves in the one place the darkness would not expect, the void where the decimated soul once resided. And from these hidden spots, the soul fragments waged a war designed to protect a portion Regina's heart so there would always be a chance of healing this so badly fractured, darkened heart. These fragments simply had to survive and survive they did.
The fragments rejoiced when Henry entered Regina's life because in this one action, as simple as it appeared to be, created a breach into the darkness that surrounded Regina's darkened heart. It appeared as a thin line of color, though small, it was there. This line of color gradually grew bigger the longer Henry was in her life.
The red in Emma's thread had intensified in color when Henry re-entered her life to the point it was slightly darker than when she had given birth to the little boy. But once the dark thread began mirroring the creation of every knot, twist and turn, the red was deepening in color. The feelings it put forth were of determination, stubbornness and most importantly its capacity to forgive, to give hope and to not only let love in but to love in return.
Each knot on Emma's thread had a smaller thread that branched out and connected it to the mirror of itself on Regina's thread. Some of the threads were so minuscule that their mere existence appeared to be threatened by something as gentle as a soft puff of air. Others were thicker. The connection of these threads to the larger threads allowed the black to seep into the red. With every successive knot the red gradually began to push back on the black until only a very thin line of black kept the red from entering Regina's black life thread.
Ana held both threads in her hand and could feel the life that was pulsating in both of them. Regina's dark thread was fighting desperately to forestall the menacing invasion of the red, but it was quickly losing ground. The red had breached the thin barrier and was entering Regina's dark life thread until the breach abruptly closes before Ana's disbelieving eyes, but more amazing was that a pocket of Emma's life thread remained inside Regina's.
"What happened?" Ana touches the point of the breach and a node appears displaying Regina and Emma crushed together against the door. In the need to discover what caused the breach to close so unexpectedly, she watches what happens.
Regina smiles to herself when she feels not only the pressure on her wrists relax but also the weight pinning her to the door ease. For one of the few times in her life Regina reacts to a situation rather than taking the time to analyze it and then formulate a plan that would ensure her victory. She uses the slight freedom to surge forward, crashing her lips into Emma's.
Surprised at the feel of Regina's soft but demanding lips against hers, Emma deepens the kiss, hearing a moan of frustration and not sure whether it's her or Regina has Emma suddenly pulling her head back breaking the kiss. In that moment, she studies the slightly parted, damp lips that are just begging to be kissed again and subconsciously wets her own lips. Her eyes reluctantly look away from those enticing lips, up over a flushed face to find those brown eyes have darkened to a molten chocolate color unlike anything she has seen before. Those eyes that before had only shown contempt and amusement at Emma's many failed attempts at challenging the Mayor authority, as well as distrust, now showed desire and need. There was also something else that Emma could see warring in Regina's eyes, anger and a fear of being rejected. And this heady combination was making Regina tremble in Emma's arms. But the spark of desire was winning and as it flared when their eyes meant, it drew Emma in like a moth to a flame and she willingly flew towards the heat that was freely being offered.
And even though it felt like a lifetime for Emma to make these observations, in reality it took less than a breath of air before Emma surged forward capturing Regina's lips in a heated frenzy of need. Her hands release their grip on Regina's wrists with one hand quickly sliding up her back and tangling itself in the soft hair that she had always wanted to feel gliding over her fingers. The other hand slides around Regina and with a quick tug, pulls them both away from the door. Each woman's moan is swallowed by the other as their heaving bodies slammed into each other creating sparks everywhere they touched.
Regina growls in frustration for a number of reasons. She wants to comb her fingers through those blond curls, moaning at the thought of that silky texture caressing the heated skin of her fingers but is frustrated by Emma's ponytail. She wants to feel Emma's flushed body against her equally aroused body without any barriers separating them. But mostly she wants to continue to feel the blazing inferno of need that this infuriating woman has ignited within her, a desire that she had long believed she was incapable of ever feeling again.
Regina barely hesitates before she is responding to the feel of Emma's lips on hers. The soft moan that erupts from her is primal in nature and has Emma responding in kind. Hands clutch trying to pull their bodies even closer as hips begin to grind against each other with neither woman breaking their passionate kissing except to breath. Even then only a quick gasp of air is followed by groans as their lips are deprived of the others contact. Moans of pleasure fill the air when their lips resume their exploration of each other.
So lost in their kissing and their bodies sliding against each other in an attempt to get even closer, neither Regina nor Emma hear the lock on the door release and open. Only with the sound of hands and knees slapping onto the floor do they break the kiss and turn to find Archie staring at them with a look of amazement. Still lost in the sudden explosion of feelings, neither can find the words needed to answer, so they simply glare at him.
If Archie thought Regina and Emma were angry with his unplanned intrusion then the anger that was roiling off of Ana would have had him turning to ash. "Of all the incompetent…." She stops her rant, tilts her head to one side as she continues to still observe the scene in the garage. "Perhaps this was for the best."
Regina is the first to regain her senses and moves to take a step away from Emma, which draws a confused look from the blonde. She puts a hand to her disarrayed hair and quickly puts it into some semblance of order before throwing her shoulders back and turning to glare at the man still sprawled on the floor. Archie should have felt thankful that Regina had no magical powers otherwise he would have been nothing more than a scorched mark on the floor of the garage. And in her most Mayoral voice designed to make even the most stalwart of people tremble in fear, "Would you care to explain Dr. Hopper, exactly what you were doing outside that door?"
Sheepishly Archie peeks at Emma and swallows heavily at the equally angry but also shocking look on her face, but he's not sure which emotion is directed at him and which one is for Regina. "Um… I….I was walking by and heard arguing. And when I touched the door it just," he shrugs his shoulders, "opened."
Regina steps closer, her anger barely held in check at both the untimely and timely interruption by Archie. Her mind is warring with her body and with difficulty her mind forces the flood of emotions that kissing Emma had released and locks them behind her carefully crafted barriers that allowed little of those kind of emotions to escape.
Her growl of, "Do you really expect me to believe you just happened to be walking by when Miss Swan and I…."
"Were kissing."
Regina's head swivels so fast that it's a wonder she didn't get whiplash from Emma's comment. Her eyes narrow at the desire she still sees on Emma's face before turning back to Archie. "…Were discussing her disappearance and reappearance."
Not able to help himself, Archie chuckles. "Is that what they call it?"
At the snarl that erupts from Regina and her hands curling into fists has Emma quickly moving forward and placing herself between a furious Regina and the still cowering Archie. She grabs Regina's wrists and steps forward, forcing Regina's arms back behind her. With each struggle by Regina to free her hands only results in Emma tightening her grip until she is hugging the furious Mayor.
Annoyed that Emma is keeping her from Archie, she turns her scowl towards Emma, who simply does nothing but refuses to release Regina no matter how hard she glares at Emma. Not even a snarling growl of, "Miss Swan!" convinces Emma to release Regina from her arms. Though she is carefully to not let her amusement, at the present situation she finds herself in, to be seen by the seething woman in her arms.
Never breaking eye contact with the angry, yet beautiful woman in her arms, Emma quickly says, "Archie, leave now."
The sound of Archie getting to his feet and the door starting to close is barely heard by the two women who are staring at each other. A softly said, "I won't say anything," is heard right before the door closes leaving the two women alone in the heated and tense atmosphere that abounds inside the garage.
Emma releases Regina's hands, takes a step back and holds her hands out trying to placate the angry woman. She backs to the door, never breaking eye contact and makes sure the door is locked. Satisfied that no other unexpected visitors will be entering, she leans against the door, studying the still seething woman before her, who is looking everywhere but at Emma. Looking closer it's not only anger she sees but also what remains is a healthy dose of desire and surprisingly she can still see a flash of fear in Regina's eyes.
She buries the question of asking Regina about her fear and simply asks, "Happy or upset?"
Confused by the rash of emotions that are still erupting within her, her angry brown eyes meet Emma's surprisingly calm green eyes. "I'm not sure I know what you mean?"
Emma leans further into the door. "Are you happy or upset that Archie interrupted our," as she lifts her hands and uses her fingers to make air quotes, "Little discussion?"
Regina's snort of dismissal at Emma's question isn't unexpected nor is her attempt at changing the subject to the topic that Regina wants. "Miss Swan, the only discussion that I wish to have with you is where you have been for the last two days? Now would you care to explain?"
Emma has learned a few things from studying the mercurial woman that stands before. Not that she would ever admit, to anyone other than herself and even then only on rare occasions, that there was something about the mayor that intrigued her. Scratch that, it was the woman that was hiding behind the protection of the Mayor's facade that Emma was drawn to, the woman that cared deeply for Henry and yet seemed so fearful of losing him to the point that she was suffocating the boy with her controlling nature.
And yet Emma was drawn to this woman that refused to let anyone in behind her carefully constructed walls. Who, on occasion Emma would catch, but only because she was studying her, a glimpse of longing in those brown eyes, a longing to be asked and welcomed into a community activity not as the Mayor but simply as Regina, the mother of Henry.
A snide, "Miss Swan," has her setting aside those thoughts for another time.
And instead of pushing Regina about the kiss, knowing that at the moment that was not a topic open for discussion, she simply shrugs her shoulders and answers the question. "I was in a cave. Or at least I think I was."
Emma counts to herself, one, two, three and there it is, Regina's quirk of her lips and the slight rising of her right eyebrow that signifies her amusement at the absurdity of Emma's feeble attempt to explain where she has been. "Really Miss Swan. Is that the best excuse you could come up with?"
"It's the truth."
"I see. While you try and come up with a better reason for your absence, I need to go and call off the search. I'm sure everyone will be by the Sheriff's office at some point to welcome you ho…back." Rather than calling out Regina on her slip of the tongue, she remains leaning against the door, but at Regina's pointed look, she unlocks the door and steps away.
As Regina opens the door, Emma's question stops her. "What about you Regina?"
Questioning brown eyes, that first glance downward and then up taking in all of Emma before meeting Emma's eyes, "What about me?"
Emma steps closer until their bodies are almost touching. Her voice softens, "Are you elated or sad," and manages not to smile as Regina leans closer until Emma's voice caresses her face, "that I'm back?"
Regina trembles and swallows heavily from the question. She can't stop from reacting and once again Emma is given a glimpse of Regina's longing, the spark of desire mixed with fear before they are hidden behind the coolness of the Mayor's mask. "For Henry's sake, yes, I'm happy that you have managed to drag yourself back after your little vacation."
Regina grabs the door handle to exit the garage but hesitates slightly before resuming her movement and leaving. And if she had looked back, she would have seen what her slight hesitation had created, a smile so radiant that it lit up Emma's entire face.
Mary-Margaret and Ruby are following the old gravel trail towards the lake. In various places they can see where the gravel has been overturned revealing the dirty side. Ruby stops to pick up a broken twig. "Well somebody has been this way recently and they weren't walking."
Mary-Margaret looks around as if the trees and the birds could tell her if that person had been Emma. "Why would Emma come here?"
Ruby tosses the twig to one side. "Maybe she just wanted some alone time and how more alone can you get than here?" Mary-Margaret nods and the women resume walking.
"Mary-Margaret, do you believe in magic?"
Mary-Margaret glances at Ruby. "Of course not. Why would you ask that?"
Ruby shrugs her shoulders. "Just something Regina said has been bothering me."
"Everything Regina says bothers me."
"Why?"
A perplexed Mary-Margaret quietly answers, "I don't know. It just does."
"What if Henry's book is real?"
Mary-Margaret shakes her head in disbelief at her friends words. "Ruby, fairy tales are nothing more than stories that were made up to scare people and to try and explain the unexplainable. But why are you suddenly so interested in Henry's book and if I believe in magic?"
Ruby crosses her arms as if she was protecting herself from the cold but continues to walk. "Back in the Sheriff's office Regina said something odd."
Mary-Margaret wraps an arm around Ruby hugging close as they continue to walk. "What?"
"She said, we should all be thankful magic doesn't exist. Because I can't imagine her being able to control the power that comes with using magic."
"Okay. And why does that bother you?"
Unbeknownst to either woman, Ana has stepped out of the trees and is walking right behind them. Mary-Margaret's arm falls free as Ruby stops, tilting her head to one side as if she had heard something. She glances over her shoulder and if she had been able to see Ana, she would have been inches from her face. As it was, she saw nothing but gravel and the trees on either side of the trail.
Mary-Margaret grabs Ruby's arm. "Did you see something?"
Ruby shakes her head, "No, but I thought I heard and felt something?"
Nervously Mary-Margaret looks around. "What was it?"
Ruby continues to look around and listen but all she hears are the birds in the distance. She turns and looks back along the trail. "I don't know, but I think it's gone now."
The two women resume walking with Ana, sporting a huge smile, following them.
"Now where were we? Right Regina knowing about magic."
A thoughtful look crosses Ruby's face as she asks, "If magic doesn't exist then how would she know about how much power comes with using magic?"
"An educated guess."
Ruby looks at Mary-Margaret as if she had just moved to town and didn't know anyone by making that statement. "An educated guess? We're talking about Regina and Regina doesn't guess."
An exasperated, "Come on Ruby, do you really believe that that kind of magic exists? Because if you do then you also believe that Regina could be the Evil Queen in Henry's book," startles both women when it bursts forth from the usually more quiet Mary-Margaret.
Ruby hesitates and with a hint of fear in her voice quietly says, "I think both might be true."
Before a dumbfounded Mary-Margaret can answer, her cell phone rings. She looks at the phone and sighs with relief that it's only a text message from Regina and not a call. She quickly reads it and a smile appears on her face. "The search is over. Emma's back."
Ruby pumps one fist in the arm and hugs a surprised Mary-Margaret. "Did it say where she's been?"
Coughing from the intensity of Ruby's hug she huffs out, "No, Regina just said she's back."
The women turn around, both sporting smiles, and begin walking back down the trail towards the road. "Mary-Margaret where did you get Henry's book?"
Mary-Margaret glances at Ruby trying to understand why her friend just doesn't let the subject of magic go away. "I found it in a box of books that had been left outside my door."
"Do you know who left it?"
"No. There was a note that said I would know which book was the best for which student. And when I say the book I knew it was for Henry. Why?"
"It just seems odd that right after Henry gets the book, he goes in search of his birth mother and then brings her back to town. When was the last time that you ever remember anyone coming to town, much less staying? And I mean other than Emma."
"I don't know." Mary-Margaret nervously twitches her fingers before wrapping her arms around herself. "Now I want to read Henry's book."
A surprised Ruby grabs Mary-Margaret's arm and pulls her to a stop. "You haven't read it."
Mary-Margaret refuses to meet Ruby's eyes and answers, "Just the beginning and then I gave it to Henry. It didn't feel right when I started to read the book."
"I think we both need to read that book."
"And then?"
"I don't know."
Ana is still following the two women, in fact she was so close that she could place her arms on both of their shoulders and that was what she did. The laughter that erupts from Ana was deep and boisterous from Ruby and Mary-Margaret's reaction even though they couldn't hear it. They each reach up to pat the other one's arm that is around their shoulder only to find nothing.
Ruby looks at Mary-Margaret and then down to her hands that are no where close to resting on her friends shoulder. Mary-Margaret does the same before meeting Ruby's confused eyes.
"Um did you…."
"Yeah I did….
Both women look forward, then over each others shoulder and then in unison behind them. And as they turned to look back down the trail, Ana, who was standing directly in their line of sight if they could see her, whispers, "Believe."
A gentle breeze appear out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the two women. Each looked at the other, their eyes wide in shock and disbelief, for they each thought they had heard the word believe being being carried on the breeze.
The looks that manifested on Ruby and Mary-Margaret's features as they nervously continued to look around had Ana laughing harder. And just to play with them further, she whispers, "Magic."
Mary-Margaret and Ruby's eyes widen further as confusion, surprise and fear war on their features when another gentle breeze seems to be carrying the word magic to their ears. They look at each other, grab each others hand and begin running down the trail leaving Ana howling with laughter as she watches in amusement as they try to get away as fast as possible.
Regina stands in the Sheriff's office looking at but not seeing the map that represents the search for Emma. Her hand comes to rest where the cave would be if it was marked on the map. A sigh echoes in the quiet room as Regina contemplates everything that has happened in the last hour and how, if she allows it, these changes could effect her.
Regardless of how hard she tries to ignore what's happened, the ache in her chest refuses to go away. She lifts her right hand to stare at Daniel's ring before kissing it. The feelings she had felt for him were intense but they were nothing compared to the storm of emotions that Emma had begun the moment they first meant. She had buried this weakness, yes she dared not see it as anything but a weakness, under sarcasm, snide and biting comments all designed to drive her nemesis from her life, Henry's life and as far away from this town as possible.
And yet nothing seemed to work. Emma fought back with her own biting and snide comments. She refused to accept that what Regina wanted Regina got no matter what it cost. She stood her ground but was also able to admit that she was wrong. After all revealing Mr. Gold was behind setting fire to the Town Hall is what got her elected Sheriff. And as much as it pained Regina to admit it, a very small spark of respect was lit on that night.
Each new tactic Regina tried was thwarted by Emma or by pure luck. Emma thought that she had the upper hand when she had brought up the alleged misappropriation of funds that resulted in the playground being built for the kids at the town meeting and rather than giving in, Emma found away to make it work and come out with even more support from the town, even though no one would dare actually voice this support. Needless to say the support was there and Regina knew it was there, not that it bothered her in the least. She was the Mayor after all.
Yet a part of her looked forward to the inevitable clashes that had become the norm between the two women. In fact, though if pressed Regina would deny the allegation, that at times she had deliberately created a situation knowing, and perhaps needing, the resulting argument that was bound to happen. Why did she feel this unexplainable need to argue, clash and, dare she admit it, simply be in the presence of the irritating blond Sheriff? The last time she felt this overwhelming desire to be near someone was when she was with Daniel. But Emma was no Daniel. In fact she was his polar opposite in every way except for his capacity to love.
"Oh Daniel. I know you told me to love again and I did. I let a little baby boy into my life and I loved him like the child we wanted to have. But …." The sound of someone approaching the office has the Mayoral Mask slipping quickly into place. She turns just as Mr. Gold enters the office with his peculiar little smile that always made him seem he was amused by something only he knew about.
"Madame Mayor, The Sheriff not back, yet?"
Every time she was near him Regina felt like she needed to take a scalding hot bath and scrub all of the slimy residue that she always seems to feel all over herself after any encounter with him.
Her Mayor Mask firmly in place, she answers with a curt, "She's back. Was their something you needed?"
He tilts his head to one side studying Regina with his little impish smile. "No. Just wanted to welcome the Sheriff home." He turns to leave, pauses and looks back at Regina, " As I'm sure...you already have." He turns and exits the room leaving a perplexed Regina staring after him.
"A rather annoying little man, isn't he?"
Regina spins to find Ana leaning against one of the jail cells watching her.
"Who are you?"
TBC
