Chapter Three (cont.)
"Snow Falls" SQ Rewrite
~So We Will Hide Behind Hostility~
Apparently Prince Charming was her father.
And a man who was currently in a coma at the hospital happened to be that same person. No name, no family that claimed to know him, and no response from him
How had this conclusion been made? In the storybook, Prince Charming had a scar on his chin. The man at the hospital had the same exact scar in the same exact place.
So her father was in a coma. Okay, sure.
Unless he'd been in a coma for twenty eight years, she highly doubted this guy was her father.
And that's what had led her to her conversation with Mary Margaret. She did feel the kid was taking this a bit too far, and she devised a plan of showing him the fairytales were simply just fairytales.
Henry believed that if Mary Margaret ("Snow White") read to this coma patient ("Prince Charming"), then he may remember who he was and possibly wake up. True loves would be reunited, she would have finally have her parents back in her life, and they would all live happily ever after.
She really didn't mean to sound so sarcastic, but all of it was too much for her at this point. She had to show Henry what was true without hurting him, even if that meant playing along for just a while longer.
So that meant Mary Margaret was going to read the story of how Prince Charming and Snow White fell in love to the coma patient during her volunteer shift at the hospital today. Then tomorrow, the three of them would meet at Granny's for breakfast and Mary Margaret would give a report on what happened. That John Doe did not wake up. And hopefully, just hopefully, that would be enough to prove to Henry that the curse was not real.
Emma couldn't help but laugh at the last thing Mary Margaret said.
"Well, I suppose I'll get ready for my date. I guess I'll have to do all the talking."
She was sure Mary Margaret wouldn't ever forget the awkwardness of this so-called "date".
She left the loft and walked outside on to Main Street. And of all the people who could spot her, it had to be Regina. Despite having texted her back last night, she still wasn't so sure she wanted to talk to her just yet. She tried to pretend she hadn't seen her, picking up her pace and hurrying away as casually as she possibly could.
"Hey! Wait up."
"Shit." Emma stopped and turned around, waiting for Regina to approach her. "Yes?"
"Staying at Mary Margaret's after all?"
"No. I was just stopping by."
"Oh. Well, that's quite alright, I guess." It was obvious Regina was disappointed that she hadn't taken up her offer to stay at the loft. "What were you two chatting about?"
"None of your business."
Regina shook her head in confusion. "Oh?"
"Look. You've dug up dirt on me before. You clearly have power over everyone here." She put her hands on her hips. "Why don't you go make a few calls and figure out what we were talking about? I dare you."
"Emma, I thought…"
"Thought what?"
"Well… Last night. I thought we were trying to move past this."
"I didn't commit to anything. I just said I would think about it."
Regina looked down and shrugged. "I assumed you wanted to start over."
"You should probably stop assuming then."
She let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, Miss Swan. I don't want to be this way, but you leave me no choice." She locked her gaze on her, staring at her with piercing brown eyes. "Continue to be hostile to me. Mark my words, Miss Swan. If you are up to no good…" She looked her up and down, as if that would give away any hint of what she had discussed with Mary Margaret. "I will find out. And you will regret it."
"So we're down to threatening each other now?"
"It appears so."
"It appears so." Emma stuck her hands in her jean pockets. "Well…"
"I should be going."
"Yeah. You should."
Regina gave her a curt nod and marched away.
Emma shook her head.
Unbelievable, that woman.
Although, she really hadn't given her a chance. She did tell her she would think things over, and instead of being rational, she let her walls build up around her. Just like she always did.
She began to walk down the street, in the opposite direction that Regina had taken off in.
And so this is what it has come to.
We'll hide behind hostility because that's easier than dealing with these damn complicated feelings we have for each other.
Things had certainly not gone as planned the next day.
John Doe woke up. Mary Margaret was just about to finish the story when he reached out and took her hand. She insisted that it happened, despite Dr. Whale saying that she had imagined it. That next morning, Mary Margaret seemed just as excited as Henry about the possibility of John Doe waking up. She was even all for reading to him again, hoping that maybe after all of these years, he would wake up from the coma and be able to return to the life he had been living before ending up in the hospital. Whatever life that may have been.
When they arrived at the hospital, John Doe was missing. The report was that his IVs were ripped out, but it didn't appear to be because of a struggle. Of course, that didn't mean he hadn't been forced to leave. When Regina walked out of his room, Emma immediately believed she had something to do with it. She had threatened her that she'd find out what her and Mary Margaret were up to. Maybe this was to get back at her? If it was, the mayor was stooping pretty damn low to put someone else's life in danger to piss her off.
Regina claimed to have found him on the side of the road years ago with no ID and brought him to the hospital. She had signed off as his emergency contact after the incident, and that meant she was called whenever something out of the ordinary happened to him.
Emma didn't buy it. For all she knew, Regina was the very reason he was in the damn hospital in the first place.
To make matters worse, Emma was wearing one of Regina's shirts that day. Henry had brought her the shirt at breakfast, thinking he could help her out since she was living out of her car. She hadn't asked about where he had gotten the shirt until after she put it on, but she had a pretty good feeling she knew whose it was. Since she had borrowed a few of Regina's clothes before, she knew what they smelled like. And there was no mistaking the familiar scent. Still, she didn't want to disappoint the kid, so she wore it anyway. After her run-in with Regina the previous day, she didn't think she would see her today.
Yet she also knew from the last couple of days that Regina always seemed to find her when she didn't want to be found.
So before Regina left the hospital, she made sure to let Emma know that she'd noticed she was wearing one of her shirts. "Enjoy my shirt. Because that's all you're getting." She strode away after that, taking Henry with her.
She hated to admit it, but she was in fact enjoying her shirt. It took her back to her first two nights with Regina, being close to her, breathing in her scent…
It was making her long for something she couldn't let herself have. She knew she should change the shirt to get those thoughts out of her head, but life didn't let her do that. She needed to locate John Doe, and with a little help of the hospital's security tapes, they found out he had walked out on his own four hours ago, heading out a door that led to the woods.
Emma, Graham, and Mary Margaret went for the woods after that, searching for John Doe. Henry showed up after a while, and no matter what Emma did, the kid would not budge and go home. Regina had decided to leave as soon as she brought him home, which she found highly suspicious. She bet she was out in the woods looking for John Doe as well. She had no idea why. The security tapes didn't show she was in his room at all before he left, which could very well prove Regina had nothing to do with John Doe's escape. Something still didn't add up, though. Somehow she could be connected, but she wasn't sure what those connections were yet. And she was determined to figure out those connections.
Despite being slightly worried of how Regina would respond when she returned home and found Henry was not there, she succumbed to letting Henry stay with them. He insisted that John Doe was looking for Mary Margaret, and she needed to let him find her. Emma assumed this was coming from the story of Prince Charming and Snow White, so she decided this would be another opportunity to allow Henry's imagination run wild, and maybe if things didn't happen the way he expected, he would let it go. And hopefully, after enough times of seeing that reality didn't play out like the fairytales, he would realize there was no curse.
It was just going to take some time.
After Graham found John Doe's bloody hospital bracelet stuck in a bush, they agreed to split up to cover more ground. Emma went off on her own while she had Henry go with Graham and Mary Margaret. She was having no luck with her search so far until she heard a rustle in the woods. She looked around her, hoping to spot out John Doe between the trees, but she was instead met with someone grabbing her forearm.
She knew whoever the person was, it was not John Doe. The grip was too strong, and for a man who'd been on feeding tubes for years with constant supervision by hospital staff, she knew he would not have such strength. She immediately went into defensive mode, panicked that the stranger would try to hurt her. She had been on many chases before and put herself in dangerous situations as a bail bondsperson, but the woods weren't really her thing. The idea of someone attacking her in the middle of the woods with no one around her seemed more terrifying to her.
"Hey! Help…"
"Shut up!"
Of course. She should have known. It was Regina.
The mayor pulled her closer and loosened her grip on her arm. "It's me."
Emma shook off her hand and turned around abruptly. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She said each word slowly and harshly. "Retrieving my son." She took a few steps away from her, bumping into her shoulder on purpose as she walked away.
So she must have come home to an empty house. Quick trip out.
Or maybe she had been spying on all of them and saw Henry join the search?
Emma shook her head. As much as she didn't like Henry thinking John Doe's escape had something to do with the Snow White fairytale, she didn't want Regina to take it away from him. Especially if it could help him to get to the real truth in the long run.
"Regina, stop."
She stopped and turned to look at her.
"Don't. Don't go after him."
"Why not?"
"Don't ruin it for him. Let him have this one. He's with me. He'll be okay."
"Hm." Regina glanced around her. "I don't see him around. Way to go, Miss Swan. You've lost him."
"We split up. He's with Graham and Mary Margaret."
Regina folded her arms across her chest, clearly not convinced that she shouldn't go after Henry and take him home.
"Please. Just let him have it."
"I thought we couldn't trust each other anymore? Why should I let you two go around chasing John Doe together like a pair of bandits?"
"It's not like we're in the business of stealing anything, Regina. We're helping find someone."
"Oh, that's right. Your other pastime."
"I thought you'd be happy."
"And why do you care about making me happy?"
Shit. There I go again.
Why should she care about her happiness after what she did to her?
But the answer was simple.
Because you still have feelings for her.
"I… I don't know."
Regina let her arms fall to her sides. "That's what I thought." She turned away again.
"Regina!"
"What, Miss Swan?" she asked bitterly, reluctantly spinning around to face her.
"I'm serious. Let Henry help us. Even if it has to do with the stupid book."
"So you're fueling his imagination? Exactly what he doesn't need."
"He's ten."
"It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does!" Emma exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air in disgust. "Do you remember being ten? Closing your eyes and pretending? Imagining a world where things actually made sense?" She gave Regina a serious look. "I do. I did it all the time. I imagined a life where my parents were there for me and that they loved me and we were a perfect family."
"Did you think it was real?"
"I wanted to believe it was."
"That's the difference. You saw reality, as shitty as it was. And I did, too." Regina sighed. "Yes, Emma, I did pretend things as well. All kids do. And they all want to believe it's true. But Henry's past that. He thinks fairytales are reality."
There was that pain flashing in her brown eyes.
You saw reality, as shitty as it was.
That's when she saw it. Quick and subtle, but unable to be missed by her.
Emma would never forget those sad eyes from the first night she met Regina. It was one of the very many things that had connected her to the woman. It made her heart skip a beat thinking about it now.
"I know."
"Do you understand why I want to stop it then?"
That pain showed again.
It was more than Henry taking the fairytales too far. And whatever it was, it had something to do with her past. Emma just couldn't pinpoint what it might possibly be.
"Yes, but… It's not that simple." Against her best judgment, she reached out to take Regina's hand. She felt the need to comfort her. "Maybe we just need to play along for a bit. Let him ride it out. That's what I tried earlier. It didn't exactly work, but I'm going to keep trying. I want him to see reality, too, Regina. We just have to be patient."
Regina's face softened, and the pain disappeared from her eyes as she gazed longingly into hers.
"Go home, Regina. Pretend like this never happened. Like you don't know Henry snuck out."
She gave her a disbelieving look.
"Please, Regina. Just go home." Emma took a few steps towards her. "Do it for me." And she knew she should have stopped it at that, pulled her hands away from hers, kept up that hostility they had tried so desperately to hide behind, but she didn't. She leaned closer to her, just inches from her lips. Regina didn't hesitate with meeting her for the kiss, and their eyes both flickered closed as they engaged in the moment.
The kiss was different from all the ones they'd shared during their recent four nights together. This time, it meant something. Just like their first kiss.
Emma smiled as she leaned away. She noticed Regina was smiling, too.
"Do it for Henry."
"Okay," Regina said quietly. "For Henry."
"Exactly."
They took a few steps away from each other.
Emma didn't realize the words that left her mouth when she said them. "I'll see you later."
"You will?"
That's right… Why would she be seeing her later? They were done with each other. They wouldn't be spending time together any time soon.
But she was kidding herself if she believed that to be true.
She put her hands in her jean pockets and shrugged nervously. "You're right. What am I saying? I'll, uh, see you around."
"Yeah. Around. Um… Goodnight." Regina took a few more steps backward. "Emma."
She grinned quickly, but put on a serious expression when she spoke again. "Goodnight, Regina."
Regina gave her a small nod and left the same way she had come.
As soon as she was out of sight, Emma let herself smile again.
Admit it.
You're going back to her tonight.
She headed back to the spot where she had split up with the others.
But not to spend another meaningless night with her.
I'm going to tell her I want to start over.
She only had a few moments to think about the conversation she would have with Regina later before she was brought back to the forest.
"Emma! Emma!"
"Henry?" She ran in the direction of his voice, worried about his frightened tone. "Henry!" It didn't take her long to find him, and Graham was following close behind. Henry stopped quickly in front of her.
"Kid? What's up?"
"We found him! We found him!"
Emma looked from his panic-stricken face to Graham's concerned expression.
"We found him at the old Toll Bridge. It isn't good."
"Oh…"
"Help's coming. I called an ambulance."
She hurried after the two of them to the scene. When they came into the clearing, she saw Mary Margaret crouched over John Doe's body by the river, speaking words to him that she was unable to pick up from where she was standing. Graham began to walk over to Mary Margaret and Henry tried to follow, but Emma held him back, pulling him close to her chest. He hugged her tightly.
"Is he going to be okay?"
She wanted to tell the kid yes, but in this case, she wasn't so sure.
When she said she wanted Henry to see reality, she hadn't meant this. If John Doe ended up dead, the man Henry thought was Prince Charming… That would be more devastating than him not waking up after Mary Margaret read to him. It would completely crush Henry, and Emma never wanted it to play out that way.
So she didn't answer his question and instead pulled him closer.
"Henry, don't look. Okay?" She covered his eyes. "Don't look."
She held her breath as Mary Margaret started performing CPR.
Please wake up. Please.
After a few seconds, Mary Margaret backed away, waiting.
Come on. Please.
And then something happened. He let out a breath and coughed up water. She lowered her hand away from Henry's eyes, and he looked towards John Doe.
"She did it. She did it! She woke him up!"
"Yeah, kid. She did."
Emma felt herself ease up a bit.
Thank you.
Now just to get John Doe to the hospital safely. And hopefully there wouldn't be any surprises waiting for them when they arrived.
Hope you enjoyed!
