A/N: Greetings friends, I know that last chapter projected hardly any warm fuzzies. I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but some unfortunate circumstances in my own life caused me to change what I was writing- so I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you much breathing room. Just remember the night is always darkest before the dawn. This chapter is also going to be a bit shorter than previous chapters, but another update should come along soon.
Thank you so much for reading and please feel free to review. Even if it's anything like, "cool, you suck, good job, this story is Scheisse," hearing back from people is always helpful for motivation.
Post Script: I would like to thank Giacomo Puccini for writing Madama Butterfly. Thanks for ripping my heart out and crushing it in my face, ya operatic asshole of the gods.
A strange whistling noise howled through her ears as she stood paralyzed. She watched Regina run to Henry's side, hoist him into her arms, and start moving as fast as she could towards the farmhouse. It was like it had all happened in slow motion. Replaying the scene over and over in her mind she didn't even notice the group of people approaching her until a pair of large hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into an embrace.
"Emma!" came her father's voice as he wrapped his arms around her. He pulled back keeping his hands on her shoulders and surveyed his daughter, "Are you okay? Where's Henry? Where's Regina? What happened?" Emma remained silent and looked around to see Ruby and Robin standing nearby with anxious looks. Ruby moved in closer and placed a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder making her flinch.
"Em?" she whispered, "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I killed him," she croaked- her voice like a rusty squeeze box. Ruby's hand flew from Emma's shoulder and covered her mouth while David gently cupped Emma's face forcing her to look in his eyes.
"Who?" he asked nervously as he searched his daughter's eyes. Emma looked into her father's eyes and it was too much to bear. Her face contorted and she fell to her knees, sobbing. David couldn't believe what was happening, and in that moment chose not to. He knelt besides his daughter and wrapped his arms around her while Robin and Ruby took off for the farmhouse. Charming sat on the field holding his shuddering daughter and tried to remain as optimistic as possible, but from what Ruby's told him- he wasn't sure even he could find the hope in the situation if what Emma says happened actually occurred. He began to think the worse before Ruby came running out of the house and crouched next to David and Emma.
"He's okay," she breathed with an encouraging smile, "He's alive, Emma." The blonde's head snapped to look at Ruby and then the farmhouse. Before any more could be said, she jumped to her feet and ran towards the house, the others on her heels. She ran through the door and around a corner where she saw Robin standing outside of a door at the end of the hallway. She moved to push by him and enter the room, but he held her back and pointed at the crack under the door. A glow of silvery light gleamed from under the crack of the door moving up and down in waves. The group paced outside the door, waiting for Regina to emerge. After a few minutes, the light stopped and the door clicked open.
Regina opened the door and stepped out looking completely spent. She looked around the room at the people standing around her, her eyes dwelling for a sharp second on Emma. "He's fine," she said allowing everyone to exhale loudly with relief. "But he needs a lot of rest, so I'd appreciate it if everyone left for a while," they each nodded and slowly began to file down the hallway, "Except you," said Regina- her voice suddenly sharper. David turned around and saw Regina staring at Emma, cold flames licking her pupils as the blonde stood before her, head bowed. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was safe to leave them alone- but his gut told him everything would be all right. So he turned on his heel and followed Robin and Ruby out of the farmhouse.
When they heard the front door click, Emma turned to Regina- uncertain as to what to say.
"Regina…" but before she could say anymore, the brunette grabbed her fiercely and pushed her against the wall, pressing her shoulder hard into the wall with one hand and holding the blonde's face in a tight grip with the other.
"I am sick of your shit, Emma," she said fiercely, "When are you going to learn that all actions have consequences? It's one thing to cause harm to yourself, or even me, but quite another when your actions start impacting our son," her grip on Emma's face tightened, her fingers sinking into the blonde's cheeks as she held her head steady so their eyes met evenly, but the blonde's eyes drifted away, "Look at me," Regina said firmly, "Look at me, Emma," the blonde's eyes snapped up, "I did not kill my sister, it was Rumpelstiltskin," Emma flinched, "Emma, I did not kill my sister- and I'm not going to kill you. I'm not even going to hurt you. The path you are on right now is lonely and dangerous. You are a mother, what you do and say will impact your child. So if you don't want to recognize the darkness you are allowing into your life and let me help you fix it, then you are not only going to ruin your life, but Henry's as well. He loves you, do you hear me? Our son loves you. So if you wont let me help you for yourself, then let me help you for Henry's sake. Do you understand?" She waited for the blonde to slowly nod her head before releasing her and taking a couple steps back while Emma raised her hands to her cheeks and rubbed the sore spots from Regina's fingers.
"Can… can I see him?" asked Emma shifting her eyes toward the door to Henry's temporary room.
"No," said Regina flatly, "He's asleep. It took a while for me to heal him and it exhausted his body so he'll be out for a few hours. Besides, I expect we have a few things to discuss."
"Yeah," said the blonde unenthusiastically.
"Follow me," said Regina turning around and walking towards the kitchen. Emma looked back at Henry's closed door before following Regina down the hallway.
….
"So, where do we start?" asked the blonde thumbing her mug of fresh coffee. A long sigh came from the brunette seated at the opposite side of the table.
"At the beginning, I suppose," muttered Regina. Emma gave a short laugh.
"Oh man," she said running her fingers through her hair, "When even is the beginning? This whole thing has gotten so big and complicated I don't even know where to start," she took a long drink of coffee and stared out the window. Regina sat back and sipped her own coffee, she knew Emma would speak when she was ready.
"This last year in New York was like a dream," sighed the blonde- her eyes fixed on the window, "A really, really good dream. Sure I still had the memories of my childhood and young adult life, but other than that everything was just so- simple. No magic, no curses, no constant threat of impending doom," she laughed a little, " One day I was just a mom with a job, going to boring PTA meetings, signing field trip forms, and parent-teacher conferences. The next I'm a Savior of an ungrateful town, the daughter of the most famous couple in fairy tale history, and surrounded by magic," she ran her hand through her hair and took a long swig of coffee.
"I get back to Storybrooke and there's another curse, my mom's pregnant, and there's a wicked witch turning dwarves and merry men into flying monkeys," she let out another small laugh with a hint of sadness, "Everyone kept telling me that I had to fix everything because I'm the Savior, but when I look back at it… I didn't fix anything," she paused and shifted her gaze from the window to look straight at the brunette, "you did," Regina raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You're the one that broke the curse, not me," Emma answered with a hint of jealousy, "With Henry. So, I suppose I did need to come back so Henry could be here. Just had to be the delivery girl for everyone else's happy endings, I guess."
"You can't be serious," said Regina shaking her head and looking at Emma in disbelief, "Is this really what you've been thinking the entire time?" When Emma replied simply by returning her gaze to the window and sipping her coffee, Regina sat up in her seat gaining the blonde's attention, "How can you not see the love that's all around you? Henry loves you, your parents love you, even that dim-witted pirate loves you- and you sit here thinking nobody needs you?" Regina sat back completely baffled by the blonde's blindness, "You truly don't realize what you have, do you? There was a time I would have begged to have even half as many people that love you feel the same way about me, but when I needed it the most- I had nothing. And here you are journeying down that same path I took years ago, completely disregarding all the love you have in your life. And Emma, I care about you too much to watch you do this to yourself."
Her mouth snapped shut. She had meant every word, but didn't mean to say the last part out loud- not yet, at least. Sipping her coffee, she picked off some imaginary lint from her sleeves hoping to seem like what she said was completely natural given their relationship. It wasn't. And Emma caught it.
Did she just say… no… thought Emma as she eyed the brunette. She eyed Regina, noticing her nervous mannerisms as she failed to play off her word-slip casually.
"Did you just…"
"No," said the brunette all too abruptly, "I simply meant to express that you are Henry's biological mother, thus, your well-being has some degree of emotional significance to a shared party," Emma continued to eye her suspiciously, "Yes, Miss Swan, I care for your well-being," she exclaimed. Emma couldn't suppress the slight smile that tugged at her lips.
"So, you…"
"I need a break," said the brunette sharply. She rose to her feet and took her coffee out to the porch leaving Emma sitting in the kitchen.
Regina Fucking Mills, she thought to herself as she watched the brunette saunter out the door with her trademark sway. Emma sat back in her chair and contemplated Regina's words- aside from the shocking post-script, Regina's words were incredibly difficult to swallow. Mulling the facts of her in her brain, Emma started to recall all of the swift smiles, loving gazes, kind words, genuine laughs, and heart-warming embraces she has encountered since her return to Storybrooke. Perhaps Regina is right and she hadn't given her family enough credit.
Emma knew she was always too quick to push people away, and the people she ended up shoving from her life always seemed to be the people who wanted to get the closest to her. Henry, her parents, her friends- none of them looked at her like she was some kind of foreign material or unsolvable case. The looks in their eyes were always of genuine curiosity and excitement to simply be in her presence. Perhaps Regina is right after all, she does have people in this town that love her… but how are they ever going to forgive her for what she's done?
Then there's Regina… she thought as she stole a quick glance out to the porch.