Life With Mom And Dad
Emma Swan sat in the hospital office, empty save for the table and the chair she was seated at. It was one of those times that she was thinking about her life in the past four years. Four years ago she was a convicted felon who was doing skip-tracing work getting paid way under the table. The strangest thing she saw was bursting open a door and finding a 378-pound bail violator pleasuring himself with an empty Coors bottle. Took awhile and a lot of what went into said bottle for her to get that picture out of her mind.
Since then, she has seen ogres, zombies, flying monkeys (almost married one), mermaids, spinning hats...the list goes on.
And let's not forget the family tree. Mom and Dad: Snow White and Prince Charming. Best friend, (not so) Little Red Riding Hood...
Not to mention her foster mom is the Ice Queen...or as Emma calls her, the Dairy Queen.
Speak of the devil: "Hey, Emma."
"Hey, Sarah...or should I call you Ingrid?"
"Whatever you want, kid." Henry would have a field day if he found out the origin of Emma's pet name for him. The older blonde maneuvers behind the sheriff and plants a kiss on top of Emma's head, then sits next to her. "Paperwork...?"
"Basically for Regina, but I have to fill out form for everyone else because I'm the sheriff or I'm the closest to the next of kin...how's Gina?" Even though all Regina did was faint, the concern was evident in Emma's voice and demeanor.
"Doc says that Regina's resting. Seeing your dead mother come back would be quite a shock. By the way, Gold's resting too...they had to give him a sedative."
Emma let out a small snort, "I would have loved to have been there to see that."
"Actually," Sarah replied, "Mr. Gold was quite sedate. He was just stunned. Belle's with him right now. As for Cora, Neal, and Zelena...we don't know." The concern on the Ice Queen's face was genuine. Like Sarah, Zelena was an outcast. It didn't take long...this afternoon, in fact...for Sarah to feel a kinship with the Wicked Witch.
As for Neal, things had definitely changed for Emma. She she still has feelings for the father of her child, as well as for the pirate she was connected to for some time. But Regina is Emma's true love, and, as much as Emma loved the two men, she loved Regina more and she would always come first.
Emma did smile at Sarah's explanation of the former Rumplestiltskin's condition...the one thing that the sheriff never describe the man with no first name is was "sedate."
Then Emma stopped, put down her pen and looked at the older blonde. "Sarah..."
"Yes...?"
"Why...?
It was a question out of the blue, and maybe one that Sarah feared. But her foster daughter needed a response. She deserved one. Sarah started with the answer that she rehearsed over and over...that she wanted a family that would love her, a family with powers, a family...
"Not that, Dairy Queen." Emma used that name playfully as a mom would use a child middle name. But Emma wasn't laughing. She wasn't mad either. She just wanted to know. "why didn't you just...ask?"
Sarah looked out into nothingness, the turned and and ice blue eyes looked into ocean blue ones. Her answer was almost a whisper. "I was scared, kid."
Emma just looked at Sarah with the greatest of understanding.
"I was hated for so long because of...because of what happened that I didn't think that I would be accepted." Sarah took a long breath, and continued. "So, I came up with my wacky, (air quotes) evil ice queen plan. Deep inside, I knew it wouldn't work. So I confessed. And I asked."
Emma smiled that big goofy smile of hers. Sarah had her answer long ago. That was just confirmation. "Dairy Queen...you will always have a home here." Sarah smiled back and hugged foster daughter and kissed her on the cheek.
Then Emma had to let a bit of snark fly: "Besides...if it wasn't for you, what would Gina and I do when we're sitting on the couch watching 'When Harry Met Sally. Again."
On that one, the Dairy Queen had to let out a big laugh.
It was during the laughter that Dr. Whale and the Blue Fairy walked in. They were not smiling.
Emma and Sarah settled and looked at the other pair. Emma simply asked "...so?"
Whale took the easier answers first: "I do have good news, Regina's resting."
"Sarah told me that,' noted Emma.
"Good," replied the doctor, "There's more good news. We examined Neal and Cora. First they are Neal and Cora. DNA test confirmed it. And because of magic whatever caused their initial deaths have been healed. We're going to keep all three for observation, but the prognosis for all of them is excellent."
"Yessss!" Emma made a victory fist pump, then held on to Sarah's hand. Both women were beaming at the news, momentarily forgetting that in Storybrooke, there was always that other shoe waiting to be dropped.
"Well, as Zelena says 'wicked always wins!'" Emma was using the catchphrase of her lover's sister in celebration.
"Maybe not." Blue always seemed to have a way to throw water on things.
Smiles had now turned to quizzical looks as Blue started to fill in the spaces: "Zelena...had to exert a lot of magical energy to pull off what she did. We thought it was impossible to bring the dead back, but she did it. It was a true miracle. But it came at a cost."
Gold's own catchphrase started running through Emma's brain as Whale continued for Blue: "For magical beings, such as Blue, and Regina...and you Emma, magic is as much a lifeblood as human blood. It can be replenished, but if you use too much too fast...Zelena expended almost all of her energy doing what she did."
Emma: "Meaning..."
Whale: "She is unconscious right now, almost a coma state. And unless there is a miracle happens, Zelena will die within the next six hours..."
TBC
And with that, I wish you a pleasant Thanksgiving. There are a couple of stories that I am working on, and I'll be adding chapters to those soon. I'll try to get back to this in the next week or so.
Before I leave, I just want to explain that this does not follow canon at all. I am disappointed in how canon is going on TV, and writing these stories, as bad as they are, are the only things I can do to make it right for characters who deserve it.
Thanks to all who liked, but I really would love to see some public comments.
The usual disclaimers.
Happy Thanksgiving.
