Well, I was honestly not expecting this chapter to go this way. But hey, that's what happens I guess.
So sorry this wasn't posted earlier, but I had a pop-up migraine come out of nowhere. It hit me like a freight train and I passed out for like 4 hours. Oops.
Also: This chapter has over 100 followers! Excuse me while I go squeal and perform my happy dance ;) Thank you so much for reading this story. You guys are all wonderful humans and I want to hug each and every one of you!
And now for what you're here for; the next chapter.
The rest of the ride is fairly relaxing for Regina. She gets a call from Henry about 20 minutes outside of Storybrooke; he informs her that he called his other mother and she wasn't that upset when she saw them this morning. Regina rolls her eyes because she knows the blonde better than that, but allows her son to believe the lie. He also says that Emma had mentioned she had called and texted Regina but that nothing was answered and she had explained that she hadn't turned her phone on yet. She smirked at this when her son put together the pieces and said, "Hey wait, if your phone was off, you couldn't talk to me." Regina had laughed aloud in the quiet car and glanced in the rearview mirror to see her son had crossed his arms in the SUV behind her. She explained that she had only turned her phone on when they had left Portland because she wanted to be accessible if he needed to call her and she had spent the ride talking to his grandmother, Kathryn, and then Granny. While it wasn't a complete lie, it certainly wasn't the whole truth; but Regina let that slide because she didn't need a lecture from her teenage son on avoiding his other mother. He merely hummed like he knew she wasn't being completely truthful but said nothing else because she informed him that his grandparents would be coming to help set up the furniture this evening. He had laughed and told her she was better off calling Marco because he had heard all about their attempts with that during the second curse. She just chuckles and says if all else fails, she and Zelena can just use magic. They talk for a while and Regina can tell that Henry is itching to get back to learning about his aunt's history so she tells him she will contact his grandparents when they reach the town line-as well as Granny, who she tells him is coming for dinner. When they end the call Regina suddenly feels her anxiety coming back but before she can truly lose her cool, her phone rings again. She feels her fear spike because she's called back all but one person and she has already decided she cannot speak to this person. However, when she looks down at her phone's screen she sees Henry's name pop up.
"Yes Henry?" she asks, confused because they had just hung up the phone.
"It's not Henry," Zelena says from the other car.
"Oh, Zelena," Regina says with relief.
"Yes? Are you alright?" Zelena asks, suddenly concerned with her sister's change of tone.
"I'm fine. I thought you were someone else." Regina takes another deep breath; those sessions with Archie obviously helped more than she thought since she using his techniques far more often than she would ever admit to.
"Emma?" Zelena questions softly.
"Mhmm," Regina confirms with a nod she knows Zelena can't see.
"Well it's just me and my problems," Zelena says lightly, trying to redirect the conversation.
Regina chuckles. "It won't be as bad going back into town," she says. She can tell that Zelena is weary of reentering the town even if she hasn't said it. "It will be okay."
"Ok," Zelena says, still sounding unsure.
"Keep your foot on the break and just ease over the line."
"Ok," with a sigh, Zelena adds, "It will be okay." Regina can't tell if who she is saying it to, but before she can ask, Zelena chuckles and says, "Your son is bouncing in his seat right now. Who knew stories from Oz were so exciting?"
"Yes, and I'm sure the candy you both thought you snuck into the car with you isn't helping," Regina says with a raised eyebrow.
Zelena nervously chuckles and whispers, "Busted."
Regina smiles when she hears Henry groan in the background. "I will let you get back to story time, but there will be consequences when we get home."
"Ooooh, Henry, you're in trouble," Zelena says to her nephew.
"You too Zelena. You should not have been corrupted by a teenager," Regina chides.
Zelena harrumphs into the phone and then says, "Whatever," acting like a moody teenager herself, "I'm hanging up now Regina."
Regina chuckles and says, "Goodbye Zelena."
By the time Regina hangs up her phone for the final time she knows that they're only a mile from the town line. She glances into the rearview mirror and can't help the smile that graces her face when she sees Roland still gripping tightly to his new stuffed monkey and green blanket-to match his room of course, he had told Regina when he asked if he could get it. She could not say no to this little boy; especially when he gave her the puppy eyes-she was definitely a sucker for the puppy eyes. She looks to the other side and sees Robin still sleeping soundly in her seat.
Finally, they make it to the town line. Regina slows her Mercedes and inches across the town line. As soon as her body makes its way across the line she takes a deep breath; feeling her magic rush back to her, flooding her with its power. She pulls over to the side of the road and looks up to see Zelena stopped on the other side of the line. She opens her door and steps out of the Mercedes. Keeping it running and leaning against the open door, she smiles encouragingly at her sister.
Unbeknownst to her, Henry had grabbed his aunt's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Zelena smiles at her nephew and eases her foot off the brake-barely-but enough that they inch forward. Slowly, ever so slowly, the rented SUV crosses the town line and Zelena's eye blow wide as her magic rushes back through her veins. She closes her eyes and allows herself to bask in the feeling. The power that returns to her makes her feel stronger than when she was outside Storybrooke and causes a smile to break out on her face. She pulls up next to Regina and rolls the passenger window down.
Regina steps up next to the passenger side and leans against the open window, "Well?"
Zelena smiles and brings forth a green orb of energy into her palm, "Perfect."
Regina chuckles as Henry says, "Cool!" Regina smiles at her son's enthusiasm knowing that a few years ago he was so against magic he would have been disgusted with this blatant use of it. She puts her hand on his cheek and smiles at how far they've come. "Mom?" he asks when he sees a far-away look in her eyes.
She clears her head by shaking her head and smiles again at her son, "Sorry dear, just thinking. How was your ride?"
Henry knows that his mom is changing the subject but he allows it and says, "Aunt Z is so cool! She lived in the Wizard's place while she was in Oz. Did you know that Oz is set up just like the Hunger Games?"
"I'm sorry?" Regina asks as her eyes grow wide and she turns to her sister.
Zelena shrugs, "I still do not understand that reference."
"Mom!" Henry exclaims to get his mother's attention again. "Remember when we read the Hunger Games and how the districts were so horrible but the Capitol always had money and all the good stuff? That's how Oz was. Or is. I'm not really sure," he ends with furrowed brows as he turns to look at his aunt.
Zelena gives a tight smile and shrugs, "I haven't been in Oz in a while but while I was there nothing was changing. Except for Dorothy," she adds as she crinkles her nose in distaste.
Henry shrugs and turns back to his mother, "All of the people who were outside the Emerald City live in poverty like from the Middle Ages but the city itself is flourishing with electricity and technology."
"Wow," Regina says with raised eyebrows.
"Isn't that like your castle back in the old world?" Henry asks.
Regina's eyebrows raise even higher-Henry didn't know they went that high-and she said, "Well not really. I mean, obviously, the residents in the castle lived better and the royals were always above the rest of the population but there was no electricity in the Enchanted Forest. The peasants lived hard lives-much harder than here in Storybrooke-what with indoor plumbing, health insurance, and civil rights," she mutters out.
"Still salty I see," Henry says with a smirk. Off of Regina's confused look he just laughs and says, "Your attitude. It's salty."
Regina raises both of her eyebrows moving between offended, confused, and angry that her son spoke to her that way. "Excuse me?"
"It's a saying, Mom. When you're salty about something you're angry. You're definitely still upset that the peasants don't respect all that they have here compared to the Enchanted Forest," he mocks with a grin, "or at least they didn't," he adds at the end.
Regina just rolls her eyes, "Very well, Henry. You keep your lingo to a minimum, alright?"
Henry chuckles and shakes his head, "Ok Mom." He pulls out his phone and starts typing.
"And if any of this conversation makes its way to your friends you might just find them in possession of some interesting pictures of you when you were younger."
His fingers pause above the keyboard and glances up at his mother, "You wouldn't," he calls her bluff.
She just smirks and leans in through the open window, "You have no idea what I'm capable of."
Henry gasps and his eyes grow wide, "Mom. That's not funny."
Regina just shrugs with a smirk and stands back from the car. "I'm going to call your grandparents and Granny and they will meet us at the house. What shall we do for dinner?"
"MOM!" Henry says as he sits forward and looks at his mom, "You can't use those pictures against me. You're my mom."
She laughs and squeezes his chin between her fingers, "Of course I am Henry. It's my job to embarrass you."
"NO! Your job is to love me unconditionally," he pouts.
"And I do." She kisses his cheek and leaves a red lipstick stain, "But I have to get some laughs somehow. It's this or me learning your lingo, dear."
Henry narrows his eyes to see if she's bluffing. He huffs and leans back against the seat, folding his arms in front of him. "Fine. No one will know."
"Don't pout darling." She pinches his cheek affectionately, "Let's go home," she says to Zelena and Zelena can't help but smile. Home has never sounded so amazing. Her home she grew up in with her parents in Oz was dark and full or terror. Her home in the Emerald City was full of anger and envy. Her home in the Enchanted Forest was Regina's as well but she was still filling it with anger and envy. Her first home here in Storybrooke-the farmhouse-still has a lot of anger left within it and she never wants to think about her home beneath the hospital again. But this home? The home on Mifflin Street? This could be exactly what she and her daughter need; a home full of love and laughter and family. That's exactly what they need.
Zelena and Henry take off toward the mansion. Regina looks into the rearview mirror to see both children still sleeping. Roland will never sleep tonight she thinks with a grimace but she just couldn't bring herself to wake him 5 minutes before they got back to the house. She pulled out her phone and dialed Snow. After informing her of their arrival into town and Snow says that she'll get Neal ready and they'll all be over shortly. Regina smiles and then dials Granny. Granny informs her she'll be over as soon as she makes sure her waitresses' are set for the dinner rush. Once she's off the phone with both of them she is about to get back into her car when she sees a car approaching her. Well that's strange, she thinks, who is driving out of town? Her heart sinks when she sees it's the police cruiser. Not now. Not now. Not now. But she straightens her back and turns her body to face the cruiser, leaning back against her open door.
The cruiser pulls up on the opposite side of the road and parks before the blonde sheriff exits the car. "Regina," she murmurs quietly; so quietly that Regina thinks she might have imagined the whole thing.
She blinks her eyes and says, "Sheriff," in the coldest voice she can muster.
"How was your day?" Emma says as she slowly approaches the Mercedes. It's almost as if she's approaching a wild animal.
Regina mentally rolls her eyes at how skittish Emma seems, like she expects Regina to lose it and start throwing fireballs. "It was fine," she responds, "but I'm sure Henry told you all about it when you spoke earlier."
Emma stops halfway across the road and puts her hands in her pockets, "Not really," she answers Regina's unasked question, "he just said you guys went out of town for some baby stuff."
Regina merely nods and wraps her arms around her middle. She's not sure if she's holding herself together from herself or from the awkwardness that is this conversation.
Emma sighs, "I want to apologize, Regina." Regina stiffens even further and looks into Emma's eyes as she says, "I wasn't thinking straight and I should have been more aware of your situation."
"My situation?" Regina scoffs, "You know nothing about my situation Miss Swan. My Soulmate died. Do you not understand? He is never coming back. He doesn't even get the chance to move on because Hades threw a magical crystal at him and obliterated him. He didn't go to the Underworld; he didn't move on; he's just nothingness now. Half of my soul has been torn away. You know nothing about my situation," she repeats as she clenches her arms around her middle tighter.
"I know," Emma says as she looks down, "I mean- as your friend I should have been more aware of what was going on. But instead I got wrapped up in Hook coming home." She pauses and looks at Regina with those damn puppy eyes; the same look that allowed Henry to get away with almost everything when he was a young child.
Regina rolls her eyes, "Are you waiting for me to forgive you? To tell you that everything is all right? That we're okay?"
Emma looks down and whispers, "No, but I want to know if it's possible for you to forgive me."
Regina sighs, "We share a son. We will obviously be spending time together in the future. I'm sure eventually it won't hurt like it does right now but right now I just don't know."
"Come on Regina, let's just start over. I want to be there for you. That's what friends do; they help their friends get over heartbreak. I know it's not a sorority or a slumber party and we won't braid each other's hair or anything but I want to be there any way I can. Any way you'll have me."
Regina throws her hands up in the air and wants to say, what do you want from me? I need to grieve. I don't grieve in the presence of others. You of all people should know this. Wasn't it you that was saying how unique and special we were because we understood each other? Understand this: it's not easy for me. My Soulmate was murdered right in front of me by my estranged sister's True Love. I watched as my soul shattered. I watched him melt away to nothingness and then I watched my sister kill her own True Love to save me. I have so much going on inside of me I can barely breathe. But the worst part? The people I thought I could trust; the people who should have been there for me; they were too busy ready to start celebrating the return of your precious pirate. I understand to an extent your mother because she's Snow White and she's always wanted to focus on the good instead of the bad, but she's a fairy tale character. You're from this world. You know about heartbreak more than anyone else in this town. You're supposed to be my best friend, my co-parent; but you were too wrapped up in your own little world with your slime-bag pirate boyfriend to realize your friend was hurting. It took a teenage boy-our teenage boy-to make you see straight. But she doesn't say any of this.
Instead, she notices that as soon as she throws her hands up in the air, Emma flinches. Regina suddenly feels the air between them burn with magic. This stops her in her tracks. "What are you doing?" Regina asks as she drops her hands and studies Emma.
"What?" Emma asks, standing back upright and Regina feels the levels of magic recede.
"Did you think I was going to harm you?" Regina asks, hurt flashing across her face; only for a moment, but Emma notices it and flinches again when she realizes she's hurting Regina all over again.
"No, of course not, but it was gut reaction I guess. Maybe a result from being the Dark One?" Emma supplies trying to catch Regina's eye.
Regina scoffs, "Oh please. Not everything can be blamed on you being the Dark One when you don't want to take responsibility. It's alright," Regina says with a shrug, "you think the Evil Queen is going to come out to play." She tries to pretend it doesn't hurt her that this woman-of all people-should know better than to be scared of her. Hell, this blonde wasn't afraid of her when she was in her prime Madam Mayor mode; but now? Now that she's gone through her redemption but she's hurting, Emma's suddenly terrified the Evil Queen will make a comeback?
"Well, you did become the Evil Queen over heartbreak the first time."
Regina's eyes grow wide in offense and then narrow in anger at the blonde, "And why do you think that was Miss Swan? It's not like I jumped into bed with the darkness the first chance I got. I fought and fought until I had no fight left in me. I'm much stronger than I was back then." She takes a menacing step forward and her heart clenches when she sees Emma flinch backward. She doesn't let this show though, instead she keeps going, "I will not become that person again. I have a son; I have a family; and they will not just sit by and allow that to happen. I will not allow that to happen. Not again. Never again."
"I- I know that Regina. I guess it's just a gut reaction."
"Enough with the "gut reaction". It's getting old," Regina says with a roll of her eyes, "We all know all your gut tells you is when to have your next meal. You think we're going to go back to where we were? Our friendship is going to magically fix itself? We worked hard to get to where we were. It wasn't a walk in the park and I'm disgusted that you think we could just go back to that. That my feelings could just be blown off as nothing and we could fawn over your perfect little relationship and make goo-goo eyes at him when he walks by and giggle when he smiles at you. That's not our relationship Miss Swan. It never was."
"Regina-" Emma starts by Regina holds up a hand.
"Enough," she says, sounding exhausted, "Just. Enough Emma," she whispers.
Before Emma can start again a small voice calls, "Gina?"
Emma might as well have been invisible at that point because Regina immediately turns her attention to the small boy in her backseat. She leans down and pokes her head into the car, "Yes Roland?"
"You angry?" he asks, clutching his new blanket tighter and glancing out to look at Emma standing in the middle of the road looking like a kicked puppy.
She gives him a tight smile, "Of course not dear, I'm just tired after such a long day. I didn't have a chance to nap like you did." Her smile turns more genuine as the little boy laughs, "How about we head back so we can help Henry and Zelena unpack?"
Roland nods. "Granny coming?"
Regina chuckles at how taken the small boy is with Granny already, "Yes dear, Granny is coming and Snow is coming with her baby and husband to help us set up our new furniture and toys."
"Toys?" the little boy perks up and is practically bouncing in his seat, causing Regina's smile to widen as she nods.
"My parents are coming over?" Emma asks quietly from behind Regina.
Regina turns around and says, "Yes. Your mother has left me a dozen messages in the last few days and when I called her back she offered your father as the brawn to move our belongs from the vehicles inside the house."
"Well, you're probably better off asking Marco to set things up. It didn't go so well when we set up Neal's crib," Emma says, trying to make a joke.
Regina doesn't take the bait. She doesn't want to magically forgive the blonde. She's hurting and she's hurt that someone supposed to be her friend would want her to do such a thing. Why would she want to brush away my feelings? Regina doesn't have time to dwell on that topic. Instead she merely says, "So I've heard. Now I will be heading home Miss Swan. Good evening."
"When do you think we can sit down and talk about Henry's new schedule?" Emma calls out before Regina can sit in her car.
"He can text you," Regina murmurs as she sits down in her seat.
"Regina?" Emma calls out before Regina can shut her door. She sees the brunette pause and softly asks, "Were you ever planning on calling me back?"
"Yes," Regina answers quietly as she shuts the door to her Mercedes. Hoping Emma will just leave this conversation alone. But of course, when has this blonde ever done what Regina wanted her to?
"When?" Emma asks just as quietly.
"I don't know Emma," Regina practically whispers. If Emma wasn't paying such close attention, she wouldn't have even heard the response. "Perhaps when it doesn't hurt so much." And just like that, the brunette shifts her car into drive and eases her Mercedes onto the road. She doesn't look back to see the lost look on Emma's face as she's left alone in the middle of the road right at the town line. She can't see that look; she'll go back and apologize and she knows that's wrong. This back and forth with Emma isn't healthy. Perhaps she was right in believing they needed more time, but she should have told Emma that instead of blatantly ignoring her; that never works with her. Stubborn fool always comes looking when I do that Regina scolds herself. She gives a tight smile to the young boy staring at her from the backseat and turns her eyes back to the road. Damn I could use a drink.
Whew! That was a lot more draining than I thought it would be. And here I wanted to end this chapter with Zelena and Henry leading the way back to the mansion ;) instead you get some major angst. Now I'm off to bed darling readers. I unfortunately have to be a functioning member of society tomorrow and make some adult decisions. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Always feel free to review with what you're thinking; if you're loving or wishing I'd take it a different direction. I love your feedback.
Goodnight dears!
-IrishBella