*Flashback*
Emma knew eventually the day would come. The day when she had to talk about Neal. Regina had brought him up. It was sudden and Emma had changed the subject right away. Regina hadn't pushed her, and realized that Emma wasn't ready for that conversation. But the thing was,Even if they had just became an official couple, Emma knew Regina was the one.
Emma wanted Regina to know about her past. All of it.
"Can we talk?" Emma asks popping into Regina's office on her lunch break. "I brought you a kale salad from Granny's."
"Of course we can." Regina smiles. "Come sit."
Emma and Regina get the desk situated for their lunch. Emma was seated across from her girlfriend so that they could talk easier. Once they begin eating, Emma decided to start talking.
"He was a thief." She says. When Regina looks at her in confusion she goes on. "Henry's dad. That's how we met-I tried to steal the car that he had already stolen-he was a thief."
"Oh...uh...okay." Regina says in surprise. "Um, how old were you when you met?"
"I was seventeen. Young and stupid." Emma answers. "We fell in love-at least that's what I thought it was. We were trying to get the money to go to Tallahassee and settle down. But he tricked me."
"Emma, what happened?" Regina asks sounding concerned.
"He framed me for stealing a case of watched." Emma explains. "I was sent to jail...which is where I found out I was expecting Henry."
"That's horrible." Regina gasps. She gets up and moves to comfort her girlfriend. "Emma, he was a jerk."
Emma nods tearfully. She hadn't expected this to be so hard. Neal had broken her heart and she had never let anyone in since then. Telling Regina this made her feel vulnerable and afraid. She was wearing her heart directly on her sleeve.
"Emma, honey look at me." Regina encourages. Emma looks up and Regina places a hand under her chin. "I love you, and I promise you that I will never let anything like that happen to you again."
"You won't have to worry." Emma says with a tearful chuckle. "Neal doesn't even know about Henry. And he never will."
Regina leans in and kisses Emma's forehead. Regina knew Neal was a touchy subject, but hearing Emma's story made her hate the guy. She could never imagine hurting Emma like that.
"Does Henry know?" Regina asks, realizing that their son would be devastated to hear this. Emma shakes her head.
"He hasn't asked about his father. But when he does I'll think of something to tell him." Emma assures the mayor.
Emma felt better knowing that Regina knew the truth. She didn't have to bear her past alone anymore. She had someone who would love her no matter what baggage and damage she came with. She realizes; she had never felt that way with Neal-or anyone actually. And, to her surprise, it didn't scare her at all.
11:
Preparations for the wedding had started. Emma and Regina didn't want to wait. They wanted to be married as soon as possible. Asking Snow to help had taken a weight off their shoulders. She was good at keeping things structured, even if they didn't agree on all of her ideas.
"You guys could have it in the forest where Emma proposed." Snow suggests.
"Too cliche." Emma vetoes. Snow rolls her eyes at her daughter but crosses the idea off her list.
"Would your backyard be big enough?" Snow means this as a joke, but Emma and Regina share a smile.
"That's perfect!" Emma exclaims.
"Regina?" Snow asks, partially hoping for a veto. To Snow's dismay, Regina nods in agreement with Emma.
Snow had been surprised by their decision to have a small ceremony. She had been to Regina's first wedding and couldn't imagine anything grander. It was hard for Snow to understand that those memories were awful for Regina. Snow still didn't know the horrors that happened behind closed doors between her father and step mother. As much as Regina had once hated Snow, she refused to give the girl such horrific images of the the father she so desperately adored.
"What kind of flowers?" Snow asks, breaking Regina away from her thoughts.
"Red and white roses." Regina grins.
Regina and Emma had a plan that they hadn't told anyone else. It was their first decision about the wedding they'd made. Emma would wear a white dress and carry a red bouquet. Regina had decided against wearing white again so she would wear a red dress with a white bouquet.
"Perfect." Snow approves.
Gold had left town for unknown reasons and was due to return soon. His departing made Emma and Regina worry. They wanted to know what he needed in New York. They didn't trust the man and figured no good could come from this secrecy
"Focus on the wedding." David tells them. "I'll handle Gold."
"No offense, but you can't take Gold without magic." Regina reasons.
"She's right, David. He's far too powerful. But for now, he isn't here, so we shouldn't worry." Snow replies.
"We need to be prepared." Emma says dismissively. "In case of some ambush."
They'd gone to see Belle but she told them not to worry. She tried to assure them that Rumple wasn't doing anything wrong. Even if they trusted Belle, they knew Gold had lied to her before. None of them would put it past him to do it again. No matter what scenarios that had conjured in their heads, none of them could imagine how much Gold's return would change their lives.
Regina was sitting at her desk going over some budgets when Emma comes in. She looks completely panicked. Regina's heart falls, wondering what could be wrong. Regina is prepared to take down whoever made her fiancee cry.
"Gina...I screwed up." Emma cries.
Regina rises from her desk and ushers Emma to the sofa. She urges Emma to explain what's going on. The mayor promises she'll understand whatever it is and help Emma get through it.
"It's Henry's dad." Emma finally says. "He's here."
"Oh." Regina realizes, remembering the few conversations that involved Neal Cassidy. "And Henry thinks he's dead."
"He's going to hate me." Emma whimpers. Regina squeezes her hand tightly.
"No he won't." Regina assures. "He's going to be mad, but he WILL forgive you. Henry loves you, Emma."
"I never should have lied." Emma sniffles.
"What is Neal even doing in Storybrooke?" Regina asks.
"Oh I forgot to tell you the best part." Emma replies sarcastically. "Neal is Gold's son. Henry is Rumplestiltskin's grandson."
Regina gasps in surprise. Their son's family tree was even more complicated than she thought. How was he going to react the this news?
"We'll figure this out." Regina promises.
"Together?" Emma adds, because she's afraid. She doesn't want to lose Regina and her insecurities are at an all time high right now.
"Together." Regina confirms pulling Emma close to her. Together was how they were going to do everything for the rest of their lives.
Once Emma had slipped about Henry to Neal, he'd demanded to meet him. That was when Emma went to Regina. Her talk with her ex made her need her fiancee. Together the two mothers decided that they would sit Henry down and explain things to him. After retrieving him from Mary Margaret and David's loft, they drive him home in near silence. Afraid to say something that would throw thing off.
"Okay, you guys are acting weird." The boy comments when they enter the home. "Seriously, what's going on?"
"Henry, honey, sit down." Regina tells him. He listens and waits as his two moms sit across from him at the kitchen table.
"Do you remember when you asked me about your father?" Emma asks the boy. Henry nods.
"He was a fireman." Henry's voice is full of pride. Emma feels a twinge of guilt in her gut.
"That wasn't really the truth." Emma admits. She takes a deep breath and looks to Regina who gives her a nod of encouragement. "Henry….he-your dad-is alive."
"What?!" Henry exclaims. "Why would you lie to me about him, Emma!?"
"Because, Henry it's really complicated." Emma answers. "I shouldn't have lied, but that's not the point. The reason I'm telling you the truth now is because Neal is here. It turns out he is Rumplestiltskin's long lost son."
"My dad is here?!" Henry asks growing hopeful. "Does he know about me? I want to meet him!"
"Yes, he know about you. He would like to meet you as well." Emma explains.
"That's great!" Henry smiles before remembering that he's made at Emma. "We have a lot of time to make up for, after all."
Regina hates that Henry is so angry at Emma, and she felt like it was time for her to step in. Emma and Henry were so close, and Regina didn't want them to lose that.
"Henry, Emma did what she thought was best for you." Regina tells her son. "I think that if you were able to find it in your heart to forgive the Evil Queen...you can forgive Emma too."
Henry knows his mom has a point. Emma had always put him first. That was the reason why she gave him up in the first place-for his best chance. Even though she should have told him the truth to begin with, Henry knew Emma had to have had her reasons. She didn't lie to intentionally hurt him.
"Okay." Henry sighs. "I'm still mad, but I can forgive you. Just don't lie to me again."
"Deal." Emma smiles. That definitely went better than she'd anticipated.
Emma had been shocked to learn that Neal was engaged. He wanted Henry to meet his fiancee, Tamara. Both Emma and Regina were skeptical about this idea. Henry, however, begged them. He wanted to know everything about his dad and his moms didn't want to deny him that. They agree, but under strict stipulations. The most important thing they'd decided on was that until the decided otherwise, they would be present when Henry was around this women. Especially since Tamara knew nothing about Storybrooke's secrets.
"Henry are you sure you want to do this?" Emma asks as they approach Neal's hotel room door. "If you feel wierd I can talk to your dad." Henry rolls his eyes, ignoring Emma's question, and knocks on the door.
"Hey Henry! Emma, Regina." Neal greet opening the door.
The threesome enter the room. They spot a woman sitting on the sofa-Tamara. Emma gets a bad vibe almost immediately. She keeps her mouth shut, though. Now wasn't the time to say something.
Emma and Regina are mostly silent while Henry bonds with his dad and gets to know his future step-mother. After an hour, Emma's bad feeling is even worse and she makes an excuse for them to get going. Once they're home and Henry is watching TV, Emma pulls Regina to the kitchen. Relieved to get this off her chest.
"Something is up with Tamara." The blonde blurts. "And I swear this isn't a jealous ex speaking. I dont care that Neal is engaged...I'm crazy inlove with you-"
"Emma, I know." Regina cuts the blonde off softly. "I felt it too...the whole soulmate thing I guess."
"What do we do?" Emma asks.
"You can't do anything." Regina reasons. "I'll do some digging and see what I can find. We don't want Neal to get the wrong idea so in the meantime we just keep Henry's interactions with Tamara as limited as possible." Emma nods in agreement.
They'd get to the bottom of this. They both knew something with this woman was fishy, even if they had no proof. Emma and Regina wanted to protect their son. If something was wrong; they'd find out.
It had been a few days and the suspicions had only risen due to Regina's investigation. She had followed Tamara a few times. The last time Regina had trailed the mysterious woman, Tamara had met up with a man in a black hoodie. Regina couldn't see his face, but she knew this could only be bad.
Emma became worried for Regina's safet. Whoever this person Tamara was meeting with-it clearly wasn't good. Regina was risking too much, so Emma made her promise she'd stopped. Regina agreed….until she got the note.
Meet me at the docks at 7:10 tonight. Tell anyone and Henry will suffer.
Emma was picking Henry up from Neal. She was a little uneasy when Regina hadn't gotten home at her normal time. It was nearly 8:30 now, but Emma knew sometimes Regina would stay late if she got busy with paperwork. Being the mayor was a tough job, and Emma tried not to get too worried. She just wished Regina would call and tell her that she was okay so this feeling in Emma's chest would go away.
"Emma." Neal says in a breath. "Tell me you've seen Regina."
"She hasn't gotten home from work yet." Emma tells her ex.
"Oh no." Neal gasps. "There's something you need to see."
Neal quietly leads Emma past Henry. Neal didn't want to worry the boy so he allowed him to watch TV. Emma makes a mental note to talk to Neal about Henry's technology allowance. Neal pulls Emma to the bedroom and starts to rummage through Tamara's purple suitcase. He pulls out an envelope and thrusts it at Emma.
Emma gives Neal a confused look but opens the envelope anyway. Inside were all pictures of Regina. Emma gasps. Someone had been following Regina and taking photos of her. Suddenly it clicks in Emma's head.
"Neal," She asks in a shaky voice. "Where is Tamara?"
"She never came home either."
Regina wakes up and realizes two things. The first thing was that she was strapped down and there was a cuff on her wrist. The second was that she had a killer headache. She tries to remember the events leading up to this. She had been leaving her office. She remembers rummaging in her bag for her phone. She'd wanted to call Emma and tell her she was on her way home. She recalls that somebody had grabbed her and hit her in the head with something. That was all Regina could remember.
"You're awake." Tamara's voice says. "Greg! Get in here!"
Regina hears heavy footsteps on the concrete. A man enters the room, just barely in Regina's line of view. Something about him seemed oddly familiar. She didn't recognize the name 'Greg', but she knew she had met this man before. She just can't place when.
"Hello, Regina." Greg smile. Regina shivers.
"W-who are you?" The former queen manages to asks, attempting to hide the fear in her voice.
"You don't remember?" Greg asks in amusement. Regina shakes her head. "Well, then your memory must be as bad as your lasagna."
Suddenly Regina realizes why Greg was so familiar to her. Flashes of an innocent child's face run through her brain. She has a churning in her gut. She can't tell if it's from fear or guilt.
"Owen." Regina gasps.
"Very good-your Majesty." There's that taunting grin again. "I think it's time you and I had a little talk."
A/N *HIDES* I'm sorry to the people who didn't want Neal or wanted to wait till after the wedding but I got this idea and had to roll with it! Also due to this I have changed the end and I think there might be a sequel but I haven't decided. Let me know what you think because this was very impromptu! -Kaila :)