10: Don't you see it?

Jennifer dropped Henry back at Emma's late that afternoon. He'd had a great time, kept boasting to Emma about how Jennifer had let him pull out one of the stitches. Of course she had shown him the proper technique and was monitoring him the entire time, but he was still ecstatic. Emma gaped at her for a moment, quite at a loss for words, before nodding. Henry just grinned.

"That's...great, Henry." She stumbled ridiculously.

Then he~to Jennifer's surprise~launched himself at her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight, his eyes squeezed shut. "Thanks for letting me hang out with you today." He said into her shirt. Jennifer didn't know how to respond to that. Her arms were out wide, her mouth gaping open, eyes wide as she looked at Emma helplessly. Then, as quickly as it began, Henry was off of her and had disappeared into the house. Emma sputtered out a chuckle at Jennifer's stupefied expression. Jennifer mouthed a confused what? to Emma who just shrugged. When they were in the entryway alone, Emma turned to her with a small smile.

"Thanks for letting Henry tag along, Jenny. It really meant a lot to him. He sees you as an aunt." Her smile was warm and motherly. It made Jennifer uncomfortable. This wasn't Emma. And it was so awkward being here when the two of them were~fighting sounded so juvenile but~fighting. Sure, they'd been making friendly conversation, but the dinner Emma invited her to the other night had been a nightmare. The blonde must have known it too because Jennifer wasn't invited again.

It was probably the fact that she ended up talking to everyone but Emma for the majority of that night because they had nothing to talk about without bursting into accusations and yelling which, they had silently agreed, didn't need to become a public spectacle. And when questions turned to them and how they met and when Henry asked why they lost contact the room was awkwardly silent. It was a stretch to say they were feuding, but the only reason they were still so cordial was because it was easier that way to avoid the elephant in the room.

They wanted to make it work. Really, truly she could tell that both of them wanted to bandage old wounds. But they were both stubborn as hell and as immovable as a mountain. When either of them wanted something by god they dug in their heels and got it.

So Jennifer would like to avoid talking to Emma for the moment; at least until they could talk on level ground. But her curiosity was insatiable, and she couldn't bear not knowing anymore. So she set aside their differences for one small moment.

"Emma, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah."

"What happened with Henry and Regina?" Emma's face fell, but Jennifer barely noticed. "Why is he living with you and not her? I mean, yes you're his mother too, but, Emma, I went to get ice cream with her and Henry the other day and…" She shook her head. "She was just so heartbroken to see him sitting with me and not her. When crap as trivial as where you sit determines your love for someone, it's serious, Emma."

"It's complicated."

"Well, then, explain it to me." Emma sighed.

"Look, Regina's not...the warmest mother. She hurt him. Not physically. But she...distanced herself. She didn't understand that she was being cruel."

"Does she now?" Jennifer asked, genuinely invested. Emma's explanation broke her heart. She felt for Henry, but she also felt for Regina. For a woman who had to fight for something as basic as her son's affections, she couldn't imagine then having him taken away by the woman who had no legal right to him. Granted, both Emma and Regina were at fault for Henry's beliefs about his adoptive mother, but she didn't blame either of them. All Regina wanted was love though it seemed like she had gone about it in the wrong way. And Emma was 28 when she met Henry. She was a new mother with a ten year old son. All she knew was that she cared for him and wanted to protect him.

"I don't know." Emma admitted. "But we're trying to give her chances to prove it."

"It doesn't seem like you are."

"Well, you don't know Regina like I do, okay? Six days isn't enough time to know a person. She did a lot of bad things before you came. Besides, it's not like I'm stopping Henry from seeing her. He left on his own free will."

"That's my point! Any mother~even someone as bad as you say Regina is~would understand by that point that they screwed up somewhere. She's gotta be trying to fix it. I can't imagine any mother just letting their child go like that. Whatever chances you're giving her they're not big enough."

"How would you know? You've known her for six days, Jennifer. I've known her for two years. Mary Margaret's known her all her life. This isn't new behavior from her. She's a hard woman to trust." Jennifer sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. She could feel the tension in the air, thick and suffocating. In fact, she was nearly ready to rip Emma's throat out, and she could see that Emma felt the same.

"I just...you didn't see her in the diner. She looked about ready to cry and I...I just hate that Henry hates her so much. I look at her, and I see you or me wanting foster parents to love us when they don't. Maybe I don't have the whole story, but that is a face of a woman who wants to be better for her son."

Emma's contorted expression softened at that. Of all things, she could understand wanting to be loved.

"All I'm asking is that you give her a better chance. She's a leper in this town when she shouldn't be I'm telling you."

. . .

Jennifer was walking down the sidewalk that night just trying to pass the time, just wandering. She had her hands stuffed deep into her pockets to block out the chill in the air. It was wet out, and the air was crisp and smelled of thick, heavy dirt. Heels clicked up ahead of her, and she looked up to see Regina walking towards her. A black trench coat was tied tightly around her waist; her hair blew in the breeze, and her nose was red. "We meet again." Jennifer called down the empty sidewalk, a smile lightening her pensive features.

"Seems we do. What a...coincidence." Regina finally decided on as she eyed Jennifer. The red pea coat and big, curly hair looked good on her.

"Yeah, this has gotta be the third time this has happened, right?" Jennifer chuckled. "Maybe it's a sign."

Regina was a good sport and chuckled halfheartedly along with her. "Maybe." She shrugged as they stopped in front of each other. "You know, Miss Alexander, I've been meaning to thank you." Regina was quite sincere, though the words nearly stuck to the back of her throat. She hated admitting weakness, and not being able to go it alone was certainly a weakness to Regina. The difference here was that she actually wanted Jennifer to know how much her thoughtfulness meant to her more than she cared about her dignity. The last time she felt remotely humble must have been when she was a girl, before the Queen. And now Jennifer was bringing it out of her again...Regina shook her head dismissively, rather embarrassed at the display of emotion. "For what you did at Granny's with Henry. I don't...talk with him like that very often anymore."

"Not a problem. Henry's a great kid, you know. You raised him well."

"Thank you." They stood in silence for a moment before Jennifer glanced down at her shoes. Regina traced her movements, watching curiously as Jennifer's gaze returned to Regina's.

"I stopped by the garage this morning. Apparently my car's almost fixed."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it." Regina dispensed pleasantly.

"Yeah, I was thinking that before I go we could grab a drink, talk."

"About?" Regina asked, genuinely curious. The question threw Jennifer off guard for a moment, and her mind went blank. Did Regina think this was a business transaction or something? Shit. She hates me. A blush shot to her cheeks. Why would someone like Regina want to spend time with her if she didn't have to, anyway? Stupid. Not knowing what else to do, she gave Regina an awkward half shrug.

"Nothing...in particular. You're Henry's mom. I'm kind of his family." She winced. That was one hell of a turn off. "Sort of. We could get to know each other. I mean I'm sure this isn't the last we'll be seeing of each other now that I know where Emma lives. Besides, Henry's kinda grown on me. But if you're busy or something...I mean…" She trailed off. She was sure that her face was as red as a tomato and as hot as the surface of the sun.

Regina just stared at her for a long moment. Jennifer's stomach did a violent flip. She swallowed, her throat warm and thick. Then~to Jennifer's shock~she nodded. "If you'd like."

"Really? Oh. Um, okay. I'll see you...later, then." Jennifer supplied, half a smile on her stupid face.

"Goodnight, Miss Alexander."

When Jennifer had gone, Regina nearly throttled herself. If you'd like? All Regina had wanted for six days was for Jennifer to leave town, and now she was inviting her to stay for a drink? It confused her all the way to Emma's apartment. It confused her as she walked up the stairs, and it baffled her as she knocked on Emma's door.

"Regina!" Emma exclaimed as she answered it. "I'm glad you're here. We've decided to just tell her tomorrow. Well, I'm going to tell her."

"Good. The sooner the better." And in the meantime she'd be damn well sure to keep Cora a secret from everyone. It'd be too messy, and it'd set Regina back months in her effort to win Henry. So she skipped over the perfect opportunity to tell Emma and continued on. "We only have three days until the protection spell disintegrates. And she needs to believe in magic for all this to…work. I suggest you fill Henry in as well. He's going to find out eventually."

"Wait, three days?" Emma hissed. "How is she supposed to believe in three days?" Regina glared at Emma as if to say I don't fucking know.

"You're the Savior, Miss Swan. Do something...savior-y."

. . .

She nearly slapped herself silly walking back to her hotel room that night. Making a fool out of herself like that. God fucking fuck. She kicked a rock down the sidewalk with unnecessary force, a hand tangled in her curly locks. How stupid could she be? How distracted must she have been by everything in this stupid town not to have realized?

Regina was as transparent as a window when it came to Henry. But everything else was locked and guarded. She should have known. She shouldn't have assumed. No, of course Regina didn't realize Jennifer was nearly asking her out because she doesn't fucking like women.

"Liking someone doesn't mean they feel the same way, Jennifer." She scolded through her teeth.

And she did like Regina. She was alluring and powerful and mysterious and beautiful. Absolutely, thoroughly gorgeous whether she realized it or not. She had a sort of pull to her, a gravity. And Jennifer cared about her if her argument with Emma was anything to go by. It figures that she would do something like this. She's always been prone to getting her heart broken.

. . .

Jennifer knew something was wrong the second she walked into Granny's the next afternoon. Emma had called that morning and asked her to meet her for lunch. It didn't sound good on the phone, and now it didn't look good in person either. Emma was sitting in a booth with two tall glasses of lemonade in front of her.

Jennifer slid in across from her and slowly pulled the lemonade toward her. She eyed Emma suspiciously and had a horrible feeling that this was about their feud. "Bribes don't work on me you know."

"This isn't a bribe." Emma drawled as Jennifer drank her lemonade and raised her brow.

"What's going on then?"

"I just needed to tell you something. It's about the town."

"If you're gonna tell me that they all have boundary issues then I already know. You should have seen the way they stared at me the first day."

"No, I know about that, trust me, but that's not what this is about. It's, well..." Emma took a breath and wiped the condensation from her glass. When her gaze met Jennifer's again her eyes were full of secrets. "Storybrooke isn't like anywhere else. Do you remember when we were little, and you used to read me fairy tales?" Jennifer nodded. "Well, it's like that."

"Like all happy and gooey and crap? Because I don't believe that." Emma shook her head, and Jennifer frowned at the blonde's serious expression. "Well then what?" Jennifer asked, her voice rising in concern as she leaned forward.

"This is going to sound really strange."

"I can deal with strange. Lay it on me."

"Fairy tales are real." And Emma winced, waiting for the backlash that was sure to come. Jennifer looked stunned when Emma finally glanced at her. Then she blinked and almost chuckled.

"Like the ones when we were little?" Jennifer joked, reminiscing on Rapunzel and Cinderella. Emma nodded but then winced.

"Well, sort of."

"Okay, wait are you being serious right now?" Jennifer asked as if waiting to be shown where the hidden cameras were.

"Look, I know you don't believe me but it's true." She declared. There was a moment in the silence when Jennifer almost laughed. Then she shook her head and looked up at Emma.

"Magic and princesses and dragons? Is this a joke? You think I'm that gullible? Fuck you, Emma."

"I'm telling the truth! I've seen it!" Emma quickly pulled a large brown book from the seat next to her. "Jenny, listen to me." She instructed. "There's this book. It's a book of fairy tales." She turned it so Jennifer could see the cover. Once Upon a Time, it said in faded gold lettering. "Except all of them are true."

There was a moment of silence. Jennifer looked from the book to Emma then back again with a doubtful and critical eye. She sat coldly, opposite Emma's frantic eyes. Hesitantly, she hooked her fingers around the cover and slid it towards her. Just paging through the book she could tell that these were no ordinary fairy tales. "It's not very Disney is it?" Jennifer mumbled as she flipped another page.

"Because Disney isn't real." Jennifer glanced up at Emma over her lashes.

"So you're saying that only these fairy tales are real. Nothing else?" Emma nodded, and Jennifer hummed. After a few more questions she had pieced together the rest. Everyone in Storybrooke was a fairy tale character and had been cursed to this town by the Evil Queen from Snow White. "So, you're the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming then?" Jennifer asked skeptically, and Emma nodded again.

"Mary Margaret and David." She clarified and eyed Jennifer to make sure she wasn't losing her. In reality, Emma had lost Jennifer a long time ago~she just didn't know how to react. She didn't know how to process this.

"This is insane." Jennifer stated ever so calmly. "You need to see a doctor."

"I'm not crazy." Emma hissed lowly, her eyes dark.

"I never said you were just...Emma...how do you expect me to believe in any of this? I'm a doctor. I believe in science not magic."

"I was skeptical too, but it's true. Look, do you wanna know why we don't trust Regina with Henry anymore? It's because she's the Evil Queen."

"Emma."

"Don't Emma me!" She exclaimed animatedly before exhaling forcefully from her nose to try and calm herself down. It was insulting that Jennifer thought she needed to see a psychiatrist. Her own damn sister. "I think you should talk to Regina."

"Regina? Is she going to explain to me why you're the same age as your parents? Or better yet is she going to teach me how to cast spells and poison apples?" Jennifer taunted rather harshly.

"Ask anyone in this town, Jennifer! This isn't some...prank!" Emma practically spat, her blood boiling. The lights in Granny's just barely flickered. Emma felt her heart racing in her chest. Her voice got dangerously low. "I wouldn't lie to you, not about something like this."

Jennifer slid the book back to her and stood up, ready to leave. "I don't think you're lying to me, Emma."

"No, you just think I'm crazy." She called as the door to Granny's slid closed behind Jennifer.