DISCLAIMER:: do not own ouat or any of its characters. just borrowing for purpose of creative expression. no profit obtained.
A/N:: sorry for the delay. thank you to all those of you who are still with me. please read, review, and enjoy.
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-Chapter 10: Correcting Age Old Mistakes-
The bedtime story had been going on for weeks, but neither child seemed to ever tire of it, so once more, their father found himself in the chair at their bedside, their attentive little faces focused solely on him, ready to hear what happened next to the ill-fated love of the two Princesses.
"While the mayor's wife was leaving him, our other heroine was busy at her parent's house, dropping off her young son with them for the night so she could be available should the other woman have need of her. As she always did, her mother interrogated her about whether she was dating, as mothers are wont to do. And as she had learned many years before to do, she expertly dodged her mother's questions, giving half answers to avoid the truth, that she was in love.
She was finally able to stave off her mother's advances and slip from the house to return home to her own home. But little did she know what waited for her there."
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"You're home late." Carmen looked up from her place by the stove when Emma trudged in, looking like she'd just been put through the ringer.
"I had to drop Henry off. He's staying with my parents tonight. You know how my mom is. Just dropping him off became an afternoon-long interrogation of my life and an examination of the decisions I've made."
Carmen raised an eyebrow. "Why leave junior with them? Hot date?"
Emma made her way into the kitchen, breathing in the smell of the food cooking. Lobster tail. "No, but it seems you do. We expecting company?"
They had an agreement between them that they never splurge on anything that wasn't necessary. Lobster tail wasn't exactly prosciuto di parma, but it was far from cheap.
"I had some news that I was hoping to share with him, but he got a call and had to go."
Him. Carmen had been dating a mystery man for over three years now. Emma hadn't met him yet, nor had any of their other friends or even Carmen's parents for that matter. If Carmen weren't one of the most honest people she'd ever met, she would entertain the idea that she was making up this mysterious boyfriend. "What news?"
Carmen paled, looking sick and uncertain before she finally walked over to her purse and withdrew a slim sheet of paper, tri-folded expertly. She took a deep breath and handed it to Emma.
Emma raised an eyebrow but said nothing as she unfolded it. She scanned the contents of the printout, which seemed just basic medical jargon, until she came to one particular line. Test Results: POSITIVE. It was there, in all caps, just to make sure the reader had no way of missing it. "Are... are you sick?"
"What?! No." Carmen snatched the letter back defensively. "Worse." She frowned. "I'm pregnant."
Emma's first gut reaction was one of elation. Carmen had always wanted kids, an entire brood of them. But then she registered the dismay on her friend's face. "Why is this bad news? I thought you wanted kids."
"I do... It's just..." Carmen trailed off, shoving the letter back into her purse as if she couldn't wait to get it out of her sight.
Then the realisation dawned on her. "He doesn't." Of course he wouldn't want kids with her. The man, whoever he was, wouldn't even be seen in public with her.
"He..." Tears trickled down Carmen's cheeks. Emma barely ever saw her best friend cry. "He's married Emma."
And the ugly truth came out. It all made sense then, the secrecy, the sneaking around. Carmen was seeing a married man. She was carrying the child of a man who, to acknowledge it, would therefore also have to acknowledge his infidelity to his wife. Ninety-nine percent of unfaithful men would not do such a thing. The odds were heavily against her.
Emma reached for her best friend, pulling her into a tight hug. "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this. Single motherhood can be a blessing, just look at me and Henry; we did alright for ourselves."
Carmen nodded against her shoulder. "He doesn't love his wife but he won't leave her." She pulled back to look at Emma with tear stained cheeks.
"He's a bastard then. If you don't love someone, you're only hurting them more by staying." She thought of what the mayor's wife was doing, possibly right this very second, and was glad that she was part of that ten percent that would leave their spouse for their mistress.
A knock sounded at the door. She pulled away from Carmen who busied herself with grabbing a wad of tissues and trying to make herself somewhat presentable.
She made sure Carmen was ready before opening the door a few inches and peeking out to the landing. Standing there, fidgeting slightly, was Regina.
When she caught sight of Emma, she smiled, a radiant beautiful thing. "Hey."
Emma opened the door wide, concern and uncertainty crossing her face. "Hey." She stepped aside so the older woman could enter the flat, closing the door behind her.
"Mrs. Mills!" Carmen's jaw dropped. "What are you doing here?"
She was probably shocked to see Regina out of the house, Emma thought.
"I'm actually here to see Emma." She looked at the blonde, smiling brightly again. "I did it."
Emma felt her heart stutter happily. "You mean...?"
Regina nodded, still smiling.
Emma's breath left her and her heart took flight. This was actually happening. Regina was hers. She let out an exhalation that was something between a whimper and sigh before she surged forward, putting her hands to either side of Regina's face and kissing her deeply.
Regina's arms wrapped around Emma's neck. She pressed her body into the younger woman's, never once breaking the kiss. It wasn't until she heard an object fall to the floor that she remembered they had an audience. She drew back from the kiss just in time to see Carmen stooping to pick up the fallen box of tissues.
Emma smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Car..."
Carmen held up her hands. "No, no, don't let me stop you." Some of her colour seemed to be returning.
"I just had to come tell you." Regina's eyes were back on Emma. "I told him I wanted a divorce. He... he's going to let me go. Without a fight. Can you believe it?" She hugged the blonde hard.
Carmen cleared her throat. "You two should celebrate. There's two very expensive lobster tails here that are almost done." She was smiling now, her mood exactly the opposite of what it had been mere minutes before.
Emma raised an eyebrow. "But what about you?" She was confused by the sudden change.
Carmen waved it off, gathering her purse. "You two have more of a reason to celebrate than I do. I'll just stop by Granny's or something while I'm out."
"Are you sure Miss Ocean? I don't want to wreck any plans." Regina looked between the two roommates, finally just realising she may have been interrupting something.
"Nonsense. You two enjoy. It's on me." She made for the door.
Emma watched her go, puzzled by the change in her demeanor. That is until arms slid around her waist, hands stroking the small of her back. She turned her attention back to Regina, a smile slipping onto her face.
"Where's Henry?" She glanced around, finally noticing the distinct lack of a two year old. There was evidence that he lived there but no sign of the little boy she loved so much.
"He's staying with my parents tonight. I wanted to be available just in case you needed me."
Regina grinned wickedly. "So we have the place to ourselves?"
Emma nodded with a smirk as she leaned in to sample the other woman's lips once more.
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Regina Mills was in her bed, naked and wrapped around her as she slept soundly. Emma wished, as she often did when in Regina's presence, that she could freeze this moment and store it away for safekeeping. What was this woman doing to her? Everything just felt right when she was around as if Emma was finally travelling at the speed of the world after a lifetime of lagging behind. Regina brought to her a clarity she'd always lacked. And now she was hers. Really hers. How did she get so lucky?
"Sleep." Hot kisses and a mouth sucking languidly at her neck let her know that Regina hadn't been as asleep as she'd assumed
"I can't."
Regina raised her head, looking down at the blonde in concern. "Why not?"
Emma shook her head. "It's nothing."
Regina was not so easily deterred. "Emma Swan, it is not nothing. Why can't you sleep? Tell me."
Emma blushed. "Because... because the more time I sleep, the less time I have with you." There, she said it. She turned her face to the side and buried it from view against the pillow.
Regina felt her heart melt just a little. She leaned down, kissing and nipping at the blonde's clavicle before moving her mouth lower to the valley in the center of her chest.
Emma unburied her face, glancing down her body. "What are you doing?"
Regina shrugged with a coy smile. "If we're going to be up anyway, I might as well keep us well occupied." She returned her mouth to Emma's skin.
Emma cupped her hands around Regina's face and brought it back up until she was close enough to lean down and kiss her. "I love you Regina." Their faces were only centimetres apart, giving her a clear view straight into expressive brown eyes.
Regina could feel her lips tingling at their close proximity to Emma's. They longed to kiss her, just as her hands longed to touch her. Her entire body, heart included, yearned for this woman. "I love you too." She barely touched their lips together in an almost non-existent kiss. "You and Henry mean more to me than I could ever say."
There were a million things Emma could say in that moment, a thousand borrowed lines she could utter, each more overly-sentimental than the last, and none of them would even come close to satisfying the swell of emotion that roiled through her. So she chose not to speak, her breaths whispering across Regina's lips as she searched her eyes for an identical speechlessness. Finding it, she closed that bare sliver of space between them and kissed her again. Her legs wrapped up around the other woman's waist, pulling her closer in an express invitation to melt into her. And Regina did.
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Edward tensed at the sound of the doorbell. Regina had been gone for a little over an hour and he had been waiting for this moment to arrive. Cora somehow always knew everything, her eyes and ears were everywhere in this town. It was what had made her so key in getting him elected to his position. He hadn't known at the time that what had started out as a simple deal, marry her daughter- who was as beautiful a woman as her mother was powerful- and she would ensure he'd win the campaign, would mean selling his very soul to the devil.
He had known the second Regina left, with her his excuse for speaking with Cora to discuss whatever urgent matter was plaguing her today, that his mother in law would show up on his doorstep unannounced. It was why he hadn't bothered to change out of his work attire. He had, however, removed his tie- he hated the things-, and he could practically see her frown of disapproval now. She wouldn't comment, but he had no doubt she'd file it away in her head on the mental list of offenses she kept for him. Cora's memory seemed to know no end, and her ability to recall events and conversations word for word was part of what made her such a formidable force. Blackmail was made easy when one's brain served as a digital recorder.
Sighing, he moved out of the parlour, scotch in hand -he'd need it to face the coming hour- and opened the front door.
Standing on the front stoop was not Cora, and for a moment his shock rendered him frozen. In part, his surprise derived from the fact that he never associated Carmen with his house; they were two separate parts of one life. On one hand he was the mayor, proud and powerful. That life was here, evident in the lavishness of his surroundings. But on the opposing hand, he was just Edward, carefree and comfortable, the man he would have been had he made other choices, better choices perhaps.
He had thought this was the life he wanted, but then he'd met his sister's roommate by chance. He'd been strolling out of a meeting with the port captain, mentally patting himself on the back for a job well done and she'd been there, standing alone, leaning against the railing over near the spot where the boardwalk gave way to the collection of waterfront warehouses that made up Storybrooke's industrial section, singing softly to the wind. He would have sworn he didn't know his heart was beating until that moment. The voice, that singing, it spoke to him, like a memory that his mind just couldn't quite recall. He'd been thoroughly enamoured from that first glance. And she'd looked over at him and smiled for the briefest moment before she recognised who he was, seeing the title rather than the man, and with a frown she had walked quickly away, heading straight back towards downtown and the flat she shared with his sister.
He'd spent the next several months of his life doing whatever he could to bring himself closer to her. He'd hired her to teach his wife, a risky measure, but in the end, it had brought them closer. He had insisted she retrieve her monthly paycheck from him personally, at his office in City Hall. Originally she had ignored any chance at conversation, giving clipped if mildly polite answers. But slowly, his persistence began to break through the repellant outer crust and find the woman inside. A woman who seemed so fragile and sweet but adored horror movies and bad greasy Chinese takeout, who was so good at singing but couldn't dance to save her life, who cared about fashion but not enough to give up her secret stash of what she called "lazy clothes". It had taken time, investment, to get through the wall she put up for his sister's benefit, but once he managed to get through it, she had easily agreed to their secret affair. When Carmen loved, she did so with her whole heart, a personal belief she'd claimed to hold her entire life. The guilt of it was never far from her conscience though; it lingered at the fringes of their relationship, always there to leave a bitter aftertaste. But he'd endured it, because he loved her.
"I know you told me never to come here, but your wife, she showed up at my place, and..."
He held up a hand to cut her off. "It's alright. Come in."
She stepped inside, stepping across the threshold of the door, one she'd crossed many times before, but never under quite these circumstances. Somehow she felt more exposed here than she ever had before. In all the time she'd been teaching piano to her boyfriend's wife, this place had never seemed so uninviting. The empty space inside felt so detached, the person who lived here not caring to show any of themself in the decor.
The front door closing behind her caused her to jump a little as she turned around to face Edward. "I didn't mean to show up unannounced, but there's something you need to know, and I have to say it now, before I lose my nerve."
Edward gestured towards the parlour. "Let's sit down." He reached a hand forward, intending to cradle the small of her back and direct her into a room she'd never been allowed into before. It had always been primarily his domain and even Regina steered clear of it most days.
She stepped beyond his reach and shook her head. "No. If we go in there, you'll offer me a drink and we'll fall into that comfortable routine we've established. I'll conveniently forget what I need to say. You know me well enough now Edward; when I have a thought, I need to get it out before I let it drift away."
"Alright. What is it you need to tell me?" He ran a hand through his hair, sighing.
"I..." Carmen shifted from foot to foot nervously. Now that the time had come to utter the words, her nerve seemed to leave her in one fell swoop. This would change them, and despite her best intentions, she had grown to like what they had between them. It was comfortable, easy. "I'm having a baby." She nearly choked on the last word. She hadn't really let it process until this moment, as if telling Edward suddenly made it real.
All the breath seemed to rush out of Edward and his lungs felt as if they were incapable of function. A part of him, a very small part, had always craved a proper family, a wife he could truly love and children, maybe a dog and the white picket fence too. But that had all gone out the window when Cora Mills sunk her talons into his life; he'd given up many dreams to become what he thought he wanted.
The longer the stunned silence persisted, the more Carmen's stomach twisted in knots. She'd be lying if a part of her, the hopeless romantic in her, had longed to be wrong, that Edward would actually be happy to be having a child. But the look of shock that seemed to be permanently stuck on his face told her that when he did speak, it was probably going to be words that would sting, no matter how much she thought she'd prepared herself for them. "Say something."
"I... I mean, are you keeping it?"
She nodded, slightly offended that he'd thought she wouldn't. He knew how much she loved children. Of course, loving them and actually wanting to have your own were not quite the same thing. "The circumstances aren't ideal..."
"That's an understatement."
"But," she said forcefully, "I want children, and I'm not going to waste this chance just because I'm going to be a single mother. Just look at Emma; she is a great mother and she did it all on her own. I'll have support; I'm not asking for anything from you." She shrugged. "I just felt like you deserved to know."
"Don't I get a say here?"
Carmen's cute face fell into a frown. "No, actually you don't. Unlike you, I don't follow the Cora Mills agenda. So, despite this inconvenience, I am deciding what to do with my body." She tried to step around him to get to the front door.
He grabbed her arm. "That's not what I meant."
She looked at the hand wrapped around her upper arm and then raised her glare to meet his gaze, looking lethal despite the significant physical advantage he had. A million possible insults were on her tongue but she held them back for the moment, giving him the opportunity to either explain or to let her go, before she would let him have it.
"I meant don't I get a say in whether I get a role in this child's life? You've taken up the banner of single motherhood without even asking me if a child is something I want." He released her arm.
"You've told me before that a family wasn't part of your plan Edward; don't play stupid."
"I'm not. A family was never part of my plan. Regina had never shown any interest in our marriage of two, let alone expanding the number. And I wasn't going to force her. She may have had no choice in our marriage, but I wasn't going to make her be a mother, to bind her even more to me than she already was. It wouldn't have been fair. I just figured a family was never in the cards. She seemed content. But now, hearing how she talks about Henry... well, it would seem the problem in our equation was each other. She loves Henry; there's a glow about her when she talks about sharing him with Emma, about being a mother to him alongside my sister. She's getting what she wants. And I'm glad." He sighed. "Honestly, I was getting tired of the charade. But now, maybe her and I can both get what we want. Maybe it's not too late to reverse bad decisions and allow everyone to end up happy, or some semblance of it."
Carmen closed her eyes, her head and her heart at war. He was saying all the right things. He wanted this baby. But... there were more obstacles here than she really wanted to admit. "But what about your career? The citizens of Storybrooke won't be happy when they find out their beloved mayor is not only getting a surprise divorce because his wife's leaving him for his sister, but he is also having a baby with his mistress, his sister's best friend. It sounds like the premise of a soap opera or a Lifetime movie."
"Maybe it's time I left politics behind."
"Cora Mills won't like that." Carmen knew she wouldn't like any of this, and part of her feared for them all.
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"We'll have to think about how this is going to work." Regina steeped the tea, watching the colour of the water darken. Now that they'd satisfied enough of their appetite for each other, they'd convened in the kitchenette of the flat. Regina had snagged Emma's satin bed robe to clothe herself, leaving the blonde without, but the younger woman didn't seem to mind; she was sitting on one of the barstools on the other side of the island in nothing but a pair of sleep shorts, her upper half bare and exposed for anyone to see. Regina would never have felt that confident in her own home; even if Edward weren't around, somehow her mother had eyes everywhere. But not here, Emma's flat was a safe haven even beyond her mother's reach.
Emma had known this discussion was coming. She'd been thinking it over in the back of her mind as Regina had napped peacefully curled against her. There weren't any solutions that were entirely comfortable. "I could get a bigger bed. You could move in here, with Henry and I. Carmen wouldn't mind. I know it's not a lot of space, but I have a little bit of savings and I could save more for us to get our own place. It may take awhile, but..." She trailed off, feeling self conscious. Regina was accustomed to a more lavish lifestyle; it was stupid to offer her room, that she already shared with her toddler, to a woman who normally had a whole house to herself, and a big one at that.
Regina set down her cup and came around the island.
Emma watched her approach, the tops of her cheeks reddening slightly. Regina's expression was giving her nothing. She swivelled to face the brunette.
Regina's hands came up to her waist, to the loose knot in the sash of the robe. She undid the tie. The robe parted, revealing the smooth bare flesh of her body. Her arms slid around Emma's neck as she leaned in and brought their mouths together. She hummed contentedly into the kiss. Her body moved forward of its own accord, trying to climb onto the stool with Emma, but there was no room and all that resulted from it was one of Emma's thighs slipping firmly between her legs. She pulled back just a fraction of an inch, smirking as she searched green eyes that were dazed and unfocused from the kiss.
Emma finally came down from the high and looked straight into Regina's eyes. Her gaze slipped down to those smirking lips a moment before she wiped the smirk off them with another kiss. Her thigh pressed up, seemingly of its own accord, and into Regina.
Regina gasped before she pulled away, one hand seizing Emma's, their tea, ready for consumption by now, but long forgotten by either woman. She tugged insistently at Emma's hand, leading her towards the staircase and her room at it's top.
Emma let herself be led without objection. Let them get lost in each other for now. She knew they had acted without thought of where to go from here, jumping from a ledge into fog so thick they couldn't see if another ledge was there to catch them. The moment they were forced to face the consequences of their love was when the fairytale would end and the real work would begin. The struggle was just beginning; she could feel it just on their heels.
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"I think that shall be enough of our story for tonight children."
The faces of his children, already weary and fighting sleep, still managed to force a pout, but he would not be subdued. He stood, killing the light and bid them to rest well until the next morning.