A/N: I know, it's been forever. I'm sorry. I recently got promoted at work, and while that's wonderful, it also meant that I had to go through a four-week training process that left me with absolutely zero energy or time to write. I'm also right at the crunch point of preparing for a con that I staff, and I'm a Dept. Head, so what little time I have left is getting sucked up by that.
I'm afraid the delays are going to continue until probably early to mid-March, when hopefully things will calm down at work enough for me to get some serious writing done and re-build my buffer. I hope you bear with me, and I am terribly sorry about it all.
All that said, I did manage to churn this chapter out two days before I leave for con, so I'm rather pleased with myself about that. I do hope you enjoy it, and drop me a line if you choose.
My un-ending love and gratitude to those who leave reviews, follow, or favorite this story. Seeing your notifications always brings a smile to my face and feeds the muse.
A thousand thank-yous, as always, to killer-elephants for being my beta.
Enjoy,
~M
...
Chapter XIII: Just One Kiss is What You Need Right Now
The hardest part, Emma decided, was the waiting. She was a Hunter well-accustomed to moving fast, to keeping her possessions few, her bullets numerous and her Bug well-stocked with whatever she might need, should circumstances necessitate she have to just get up and go. She was not used to having to wait. There were only so many times she could reassemble her gun, check her ammo, and argue with Regina about how long getting ready was actually taking. Not that she didn't enjoy that last one far more than she really had any business doing, screaming at the vampire while she blurred around the manor doing ...whatever it was she was doing.
"Look, Regina. I get that you can't just go running off, but how long does it really take to throw some bags of blood in a cooler? Some vampire bitch has our son! She could be-"
The Queen actually slowed to visible speeds for a half second, snarling at the blonde before rushing off again. Her voice carried through the walls of the house easily enough. "Do you really think I don't know that, Miss Swan?! Do you honestly think I don't spend every second we're away from him knowing that my..." her voice seemed to freeze in her throat, as if she had to stop and swallow before continuing, "...that Cora is probably doing unspeakable things to him, just because he's my son?"
"All the more reason we should be out there right now! I know vampires, and I know how they get in hives. Henry-"
There was a blur of motion, and suddenly the Queen was directly in front of her. To her credit, Emma didn't jerk back, though she did blink a bit when Regina was very quickly directly in her space and nearly shoving her back into the nearest wall. She'd been crying, Emma could tell, and she felt her throat close over at the sight, but whatever sympathy she felt was lost when her own back hit the wall.
Looming ever closer, the Queen snarled, "Let me stop to spell this out for you, Miss Swan: Whatever you think you know about vampires, forget it. This isn't some fledgling Queen out for blood and a good time. This is Cora. She is old and she is cruel and I am intimately aware of what she's capable of." The amount of pain in her voice sent shivers down Emma's spine. "I'm also aware that she's obviously been planning this for a long time. She knows I know this, and she also knows that I'm coming with whatever resources are at my disposal."
Emma swallowed, but finally succeeded in wrenching herself away, forcing the vampire away with a single, powerful shove. Thrust back, Regina seemed to collect herself, taking a moment to close her tear-stained eyes and run a hand through her hair.
"Do not forget, Miss Swan: she wants us to find him."
"Yeah, but in how many pieces?" Emma muttered, tugging on the sleeves of her jacket and flipping her collar before storming away. "I'm leaving at dawn," she announced without turning around. "With or without you. Your majesty."
Regina watched her exit for half a moment, closing her eyes and allowing fresh tears to fall. It did little to block out the screams ringing in her mind- Daniel's, her own, or Henry's, she couldn't be sure.
. . .
Outside Storybrooke
Cora's footsteps resounded grimly through the halls of her Hive, echoing less and less until finally they became lost in a cacophony of whirs and clicks and burbles from behind one of the many doors. Opening it, she stepped inside. Her eyes adjusted almost instantly, pupils blowing wide to take in the muted tones and odd lighting. They settled on her quarry shortly thereafter: the man in the white coat bent over a table probing his newest 'patient' with some tool or other. It didn't look like he'd noticed her entry.
His 'patient,' however, was another story. Skin blistering around each band of silver holding him down, paler than normal and no longer filled with the brimming vibrancy as when he'd first arrived, Henry nevertheless glared at her with all the steely determination he could muster. Her grandson said nothing, though that was to be expected considering the number of tubes and needles sticking out of his mouth and throat. Cora approached the table with a smirk, and ran her fingers through the boy's matted hair almost affectionately. He jerked away, the motion causing a metallic crunch as needles collided. Henry hissed in sudden agony, his eyes closing as tears began to trickle down the sides of his face to pool on the wood below.
Only then, when the dials on his machines began to jump and the beeping quickened, did the man look up. Seeing who was intruding, he set down his tools hurriedly and let out a small sigh of aggravation. "I can't work if you keep interrupting me, you know," he groused.
Cora only raised an eyebrow, leveling him with a look that said he was little more than a bug in her eyes. "My ears must not be working properly," she said, fangs gleaming as her lips raised in a sickeningly sweet smile. One of her hands rose between them, gloved fingers lightly reaching to part the lapels of the white coat, pulling it back to lightly trace over his chest, directly above where his heart. The organ began to pound rapidly. Frantic. "Would you like to say that again, Doctor?"
Swallowing to quench his suddenly dry throat, the Doctor forced a smile of his own. "...Apologies, your majesty. Always a pleasure to see you here. What can I help you with?"
A quick pat to his chest and then the hand retreated, finger curling in a beckoning motion as Cora stepped around the table to the furthest corner of the room. With all of the various noises from the wide assortment of contrivances, she found it unlikely her grandson would be able to hear them, even with his abilities.
As soon as the doctor was near, her smile grew positively vicious. "Well?"
Wringing his hands together before stripping off his thick gloves, he looked away. It was the first clue that what he had to tell her would not make her happy. "I'm afraid it doesn't look good. My preliminary tests were favorable, but with further study..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "I thought perhaps if we extended the procedure, prolonged it in several sessions over a period of days... but he just doesn't have enough blood, your majesty." He cringed, eyes darting around to see if there was any way to escape from should she decide to lunge. But nothing came.
Her hand was merely beneath her chin, eyes over her shoulder to look at the small boy on the table. "That's disappointing," she mused, almost like an afterthought. "Ah well. Continue with your experiments, Doctor."
He blinked, thinking that perhaps it was his ears that had misheard this time. "Your majesty?"
She didn't turn back, keeping her attention glued to her grandson and beginning to walk towards him again as she spoke. "Simply because he won't do doesn't mean we should waste this golden opportunity, does it, Victor? After all, the original target is on her way. We might as well... practice."
. . .
Storybrooke
While her preparations were as rushed as Regina could make them, some delays, unfortunately, were unavoidable. Chief among them being who the hell she was going to leave in charge of her town while she was gone. Sidney's betrayal had left her leery of leaving a vampire in charge, even one of her own. And with Kathryn dead, she found the number of people she actually considered to be half-way competent was woefully small. And made even smaller when her first choice flat-out refused.
"Like hell you're leaving me behind," the old werewolf said gruffly as she poured herself another cup of coffee.
Sighing in exasperation, Regina was about ready to throw her hands into the air and be done with it. Instead, her gaze simply hardened while she held the steaming cup of blood Granny had insisted on shoving at her. "Eugenia," she began warningly, "My options are limited, and I don't have the time to argue this with you-"
"No one's arguing, your majesty. I'm going with you and so is Ruby. You're going to need wolves with you anyway to sniff her out." When Regina would have interrupted again, Granny's cup hit the counter with sense of finality. "Don't think you're the only one who has a score to settle with Cora."
Dark eyes furrowed in confusion for the smallest of moments before comprehension dawned. "...Of course. I'd nearly forgotten." Slightly shaking hands lifted her cup to her lips. She drained the contents in a single motion, licking her lips when she was finished. Regina wasted a few more precious seconds with her hand lightly circling the rim of her empty cup. "...You realize that Cora's hold will be as strong as ever?" Granny silently nodded. "And you're prepared, I hope, for what might have to occur?"
"We're coming with you," she said stiffly, and that was all the acknowledgment she was going to give.
Sighing, Regina nodded her head and stood up. "Very well. At dawn then, Eugenia."
The old wolf looked a bit surprised at the easy acquiescence, but shrugged off her confusion with a raised eyebrow. "You sure that's wise, tracking a full day in sunlight?"
Regina nearly laughed. Easier, perhaps, than blinking back the tears that had threatened every moment since she'd realized who took her son. She patted Granny's had condescendingly. "Your concern is touching, dear. I'll be fine, and we're certainly not waiting an entire day to get my son back." She smiled with a hundred different emotions, and rose from her seat, leaving the empty cup of blood behind. Shrugging, Granny just shook her head and took the cup to the back to be washed. She had her own preparations to make.
Sighing as she left the diner, Regina headed glumly towards the next person on her short list of people to leave in charge of her town. Thankfully, Maleficent was all too happy with her promotion, even temporary as it was.
. . .
In the scant hours remaining before dawn, Emma didn't sleep. This wasn't surprising to her: she never slept during the night, after all, and anxiety for Henry coupled with a proclivity for nightmares would hardly produce the best environment for sleeping. She wasn't all that surprised, either, to find a light on in Regina's study when she walked past the half-open door. Unable to prevent herself from glancing inside, she saw the Queen lit dramatically in silhouette, standing in front of the lit fireplace completely motionless. And that did surprise her. With all the running around Regina had been doing of late, it was odd to see her so still. Deathly still.
She opened the door further and slipped inside before she could think better of it, plopping herself down on the couch. She was ready, and obviously, so was Regina. So if she wasn't going to sleep, and Regina wasn't going to sleep, then at least they could wait and not-sleep together.
For a long time- how long, Emma couldn't be sure- they didn't speak. The wood cracked in the fireplace, casting the room in a glow too warm and merry for the circumstances. She sighed quietly and watched it burn, occasionally allowing her glance to wander over Regina's backside. There was something in the Queen's hands, she noticed after a while, and the vampire was staring down at it intently, occasionally allowing her fingertips to wander over its surface. It was the only movement she was making. Eventually, Emma stood, finding no reason not to as Regina obviously knew she was there, and approached to get a better look.
She'd thought it might be the old daguerreotype of her and Daniel, but a closer look revealed it to be something much more recent. Henry's crooked smile stared back at her, wrapped safe and loved in Regina's arms. She had to smile herself, seeing it. "I've always liked that photo," she said quietly, as if nothing else were going on. "He looks so happy."
Regina's thumb caressed over its surface again, and she seemed to sigh, lifting her head from staring at the image and moving to place it, reverently, back in its place on her otherwise perfectly appointed mantle. "He was," she murmured softly. "We both were."
A moment passed, awkward and stilted. Emma felt she should do or say something, perhaps apologize for her rudeness earlier, but no words would come. Instead, she hesitantly reached out a hand, uncertainly placing it on Regina's shoulder in what she hoped was some kind of comfort. "...We're going to get him back, Regina." She'd said it before, but was all she could think to say. She'd never had occasion to be a very comforting sort of person. And she'd never have pictured herself trying to offer solace to a vampire. The situation was almost laughable, in a weird way. But she wasn't laughing.
Regina said nothing. She barely even turned her head to glance at the hand touching her. Slowly, the Hunter made to pull it away.
"Emma." The use of her name was enough to give the Hunter pause, and her hand stilled, poised on Regina's shoulder. The Queen continued to stare ahead, at the photo or the fire or a combination of the two. "Why is it the heart?"
Brow furrowing, she only looked at the vampire, leaving her hand where it was and giving an involuntary squeeze. "...Regina?"
"When you kill a vampire." The Queen's voice was oddly detached-sounding, like she was simply being metaphysical. "It's the heart that you go for. The heart serves no cardiopulmonary purpose at all in a vampire; it doesn't beat. But if you sever the spinal column or the brain, those are regenerated; it's only the heart that's vulnerable. Why is that?" She turned then, the hand on her shoulder acting as a pivot, her body twisting to look at the blonde with empty eyes. For the first time, she truly looked lifeless.
It was unnerving, and Emma wanted to look away from them. But she stared straight back, shaking her head. "I don't know." She wasn't good at this. Part of her was still anxious to get going, knowing that Henry was out there alone. The rest of her was steadily growing worried about his other mother.
"Neither do I," Regina sighed, and her body turned to the fire once more, her hand shaking as it braced her form against the mantle.
Silence reigned again, until Emma gave a small sighing 'huff.' Regina wasn't going to anyone any good acting like this, lost in her own thoughts and worry and grief. Emma would have to get her out of it, somehow. Slowly, her hand traced a little higher along the other woman's shoulder. "This is about Cora," she surmised, and took Regina's silences as affirmation. "Tell me what she did to you."
The answer was automatic and almost robotic, the vampire still seemingly entranced by the fire, cut off from feeling. Or trying to keep them buried. "She killed my lover, Miss Swan. Isn't that enough?"
"...Regina." Emma's voice was entreating, trying to understand. She was no stranger to hurt, but the way Regina was talking and acting, she seemed... broken. Lost. Regina had always seemed so strong, until Henry had been taken. Not even the attack on her precious town had affected her this badly.
On the mantle, the vampire's hands were clenching the wood so hard that paint began to dig under her fingernails. When she spoke again, her voice was so quiet Emma thought she was almost imagining it. "That kind of pain... you think it would go away, after a while. You think that there has to be some limit- only so much you can lose, before it just... stops. But it doesn't. And soon the pain becomes all-consuming, and you start to forget about the happiness and joy and good times that came before. Everything becomes so dulled, so overwhelmed by the pain that you start to think that nothing can possibly be worth it all. You close everything off, and swear to yourself that no matter what happens, you won't let yourself be hurt like that ever, ever again." The room had grown cold, even with the fire, and it's light no longer seemed warm and inviting. It was sickly and green. Chilling. Regina's voice had lowered to match, and it broke.
A giant knot had formed in her throat while Regina was speaking, and when the vampire stopped, Emma could think of nothing to say. But her hand was still on Regina's shoulder and she stepped closer, placing the other on the opposite, running up and down the forearms in a silent plea to say 'I'm here.'
Regina was looking at the photo again, a small, far-away kind of smile on her face as she look at Henry's grin. "But you can't do that, either. Something so unequivocally... good happens, and you think that 'finally, this is what it's all been for. This is worth it.'"
Lightly, Emma took the hands in her own, pulling them away from the splintering wood digging into Regina's fingernails. She wrapped Regina in her arms without a word and just held her. She could think of little else to do. Maybe it was enough, just to be here. The vampire didn't seem to need her to talk, anyway.
Dark, soulless eyes glanced down at her hands, and then followed the tanned arms attached until Regina had fully spun around, finally once again looking directly at her. "...Daniel wasn't the first, Emma," she whispered, her voice cracking under the strain of her emotion, "Only the most recent in a long string of things she has done to rip out my heart."
Regina buried her hands in the fabric of Emma's shirt, digging her fingers into her arms instead of the fireplace. "She's taken everything from me. I can't bear losing it again." She couldn't bring herself to meet Emma's eyes.
It hurt, those claws in her arms, but she gave no complaint. "Hey." Swallowing the thickness in her throat, Emma brought her hands up to almost caress the sides of Regina's face and forced the dark, empty eyes to meet her own. "You're not going to, Regina. We aren't losing anything else. Ever again. We're going to get our son and kill this bitch who took him from us, okay? And then we're coming back here and we are keeping that wall up and our friends and family safe, and she... no one will be able take anything from you, ever, ever again." Repetition, she thought, might be the only thing she had at her disposal. If she forced Regina to focus on the positive, to drill the good thoughts into her head force those happy memories to resurface, maybe it would be enough to keep the bad ones at bay. At least for a while.
Dark eyes brimmed with tears, as if Regina were finally allowing herself to give free reign to her emotions. The hands on Emma's forearms tightened even further, and her eyes squeezed shut before blinking back open. It was obvious she was struggling heavily with whatever she was about to say. Slowly, the words spilled out of her lips. "...She's my mother, Emma."
The Hunter sucked in a rapid breath. "...Shit."
Regina's head ducked. Tears were falling in silvered tracks down her cheeks, unfettered and unnoticed. She was too used to them. But Emma noticed. Her mind was whirling with the revelation, the fresh layer of pain from knowing that Regina's life had been ripped to shreds so many times; that her current mental fragility was all the fault of the woman who should have loved her the most. She wanted to apologize, to shake her head and let loose her own sobs at the horror of it all. But pity was not what Regina would want, and certainly not what she needed. Instead, Emma focused on those tears. They needed to stop. Unwilling to pull her hands from those of Henry's other mother to brush them away, she leaned forward, slowly. Giving Regina plenty of time to pull back if she so chose.
She did not.
Emma's lips brushed over the path of her tears, her breath moving against the tracks as, hesitantly, she pressed them to slick skin. As Regina's had done only hours before, Emma's tongue lightly dragged over the expanse of the vampire's cheek. This time, there was no sudden gasp of shock as memories were shared, no hiss as thoughts not their own jumped between minds.
Regina's lips only parted ever so slightly, and when the Hunter drew back just a bit to stare into wide, dark eyes, she could feel the rush of air when Regina quietly breathed out her name, questioning, but not stopping her.
The blonde smiled at her, allowing her gaze to drop to Regina's parted lips. The moment stretched, both women barely even daring to move. Slowly, Emma leaned in. Regina let her. Their lips brushed together, the barest hint of pressure, so slight it may well have been nothing at all.
The doorbell rang, and Regina snapped backward, lurching away from Emma's lips as if in pain. Surprised by the sudden movement, Emma let out a small yelp of shock, her hands automatically releasing their hold on the vampire.
Still looking stricken, Regina glanced towards a shuttered window, her brow creased as her magic fluttered within her, pulsing to life is sudden staccato. As it did every morning. "Dawn," she said, almost angry at the sun for daring to rise.
The doorbell rang again. Emma shot a glare in its direction and ran a hand through her hair, expelling a ragged sigh. "I'll get it," she offered dryly. Reluctantly turning away, she gave one last, lingering look over Henry's other mother, drinking in the sight of her. Looking a bit shell-shocked, Regina's arms were wrapped around her midsection, protecting herself. The business suit she was wearing had seen better days, rumpled and creased in all the wrong places
Emma cleared her throat, offering an awkward, wry smile before walking away. "...You should probably change into something less... Queen-y." She got to the door just in time to watch Granny's fist rise to pound insistently against it.
Wiping all evidence of her tears away, Regina set her lips in a grim line of determination and gave herself a once-over in the mirror. Groaning at the state of herself, she headed up her stairs to quickly change, giving a last fleeting look at Emma's backside before vanishing around the corner. Her mind allowed the words Emma had said repeatedly to echo in her thoughts. They would win. They had to win.
Opening the door to the resolute faces of the Alpha werewolf and her granddaughter, the blonde watched the reflection of Regina in one of the many hall mirrors. She watched for a bit too long, and Ruby, seeing her line of sight, gave a knowing smirk.
Emma rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let them in, throwing on her leather jacket from where she'd left it beside the stairs, quickly re-checking the location of all her guns. She shoved all thoughts of Regina away, at least everything that didn't have to deal with Henry. That almost-kiss, she decided, was only one of many things they would figure out later. After their son was safely returned.
After they'd killed Regina's mother.