"She remembers nothing since she was fifteen fucking years old! What the fuck? Seriously?" Emma exploded, not in anger, not even directed at anyone in particular but just in general. "She never married the king, she never became the Evil Queen, she never saved my mother! She never cast the curse she never adopted Henry! Holy FUCK!
Holy fucking fuck! Her mother is DEAD. Her father is DEAD. Her beloved Daniel is DEAD! She is in another universe with strangers and FUUUUUUCK she never fucking learned magic! We can't get home! FUCK! Fucking FUCKING Fuck!"
She was pacing during her meltdown as Xena and Gabrielle sat on their bed silently watching her walk back and forth listening to the vulgar rant. "Jesus fucking Christ what the fucking shit am I going to do?"
Xena took a breath to answer as if it were an actual question posed but was cut off by the Sheriff in another mindless rant, "FUCK! I can't open the portal on my own! I have magic, but Regina is the one who knows about it! She just uses it, and I provide the juice she needs to get whatever it is done we need! FUCK!" Emma slowed to a stop when her breathing became more erratic, she started to hyperventilate grasping at her chest when she realized she wasn't getting enough breath. Gabrielle jumped up and guided her to sit, pushing her head down between her legs.
"Deep. Slow. Breaths. Emma, you need to calm down." The blonde head nodded furiously under the bard's hand as she repeatedly tried to suck back wind.
Gabrielle continued. "She is awake. She has some memories. That is a good start. We will get the rest back, and if not, we will find another way to get you two home. For now Emma, we need to take this one day at a time, get her healthy. Did she eat?" The blonde nodded again. "Good. Okay, and she is asleep?"
Another nod.
"Good. Okay, go back to the healer hut and get some rest. Try not to give her too much detail on how much time has passed, the mending of the mind is delicate we mustn't rush it, Emma."
The blonde sniffled but nodded once more.
"We will stop in tomorrow morning and get her out of there and into your living quarters."
The blonde nodded but didn't move. "Her mother… was a monster and that little girl that is in that hut? She is the devoted daughter to the woman who used her for her own ambitions and put her on the path to becoming the Evil Queen." She sat up showing the large tears as they rolled down her face. "I hate Cora. I hate her. She sold Regina into servitude as a teenager. Married her off to the king to be some sort of prize, a trophy wife he could bed. That situation twisted that sweet little girl that is in that hut into a raging hate-filled murderer. Her father stood by and let it happen. How can I set aside my feelings about that, when she looks up at me with those big brown eyes and asks about her parents?"
Xena stood. "You just will Emma. It's what's best for her. Any major shock and we could never recover our Regina." Emma took a deep breath, wide-eyed and nodded. "Right. I can do this. FUCK! Okay, see you guys in the morning." At the door, she turned, "Thank you for saving her." Emma sheepishly looked at the two women who had quickly become her friends, "And thank you for letting me rant. I'm sorry."
Most of the town volunteered for the search party, and David put his grandson Henry in charge of his own sector, much to Henry's surprise and elation. Finally being trusted with something as big as this, he couldn't be more proud of himself.
The brunette boy carefully organized his team to cover the area he was assigned, printing them each off maps and putting together little backpacks with water, flashlights, and trail mix bars. They had colored rope to mark areas searched and flags to mark any clues the missing women could have left behind. The boy had thought of everything, David took prideful note of how the young man was organizing his team and made suggestions to the other team leaders to follow Henry's lead.
After a couple of weeks of finding nothing, Snow White was starting to lose hope in ever finding the missing women, let alone finding them alive. They searched the woods to the best of their ability, and if the women were out in the elements for this long, they would surely have perished. These hopeless thoughts prevented the Princess from participating in the search that her grandson and husband continued to push forward with.
Henry answered the door and was greeted by Ruby's trademark wide red smile and a box of freshly baked doughnuts. "Are these for me?" He asked with excitement. He loved bear claws as much as his mother did and David and Ruby let him eat as many as he wanted as of late.
Ruby came in passed the boy and set the box down on the counter. "As many as you can stuff into your teenaged mouth kid." She grabbed his cheek and squeezed it playfully then asked, "Where's Grandma?"
"Where do you think?" He gestured his thumb over his shoulder toward the bed his grandmother had barely gotten out of in weeks. The brunette nodded her head towards David who had answered his phone upon her arrival and headed back towards her friend.
"Hey captain depressie, did you get up today?" the wolf asked with a teasing smile. She sat down on the edge of the woman's bed and rubbed her back. Snow grunted in response, and Ruby knew she wasn't getting anywhere with her friend that day. "Okay sweetie well, Henry is going to come down with me to the station, he said he wanted to go over some maps Emma has of the mine shafts, do you need him home at any specific time?"
The brunette shook her head but didn't say anything more to the wolf on the matter.
"Ruby?" David called from the other room, and she bent down and kissed her friend's temple before getting up and going to see what was needed of her.
"What's up Charming?" She asked taking a seat at the counter and helping herself to one of Henry's bear claws.
"So that was Leroy. The dwarves are down at the mine sealing the place off, so no one goes down there. The place is still unstable. Two more shafts collapsed this week alone."
"Yeah?" Ruby asked after swallowing a large bite of deep fried awesomeness.
"He said the ground opened up and ate Emma's bug."
Ruby choked on the next bite she was swallowing, and David circled the island and whacked her back a few times to help her clear it. "What?" she asked once she could.
"That's what he said, I don't know exactly but he said the ground went back to normal after the bug disappeared, it sounds like a portal maybe?"
"What if Emma and Regina got sucked into one of those things and is in the Enchanted Forest?" Ruby exclaimed entirely too loud.
David shushed her, his eyes darting back towards his wife. "We don't know that. I don't want her getting her hopes up only to fall further than she already is!"
"Do you really think she could fall much further, David? Jesus look at her! I put her in those clothes three days ago man!" Ruby quietly barked back.
"Yeah well, she doesn't listen to me." He folded his arms in defense.
"I don't give her a choice, David!" Ruby threw her hands in the air exasperated.
"Yeah well…" He stumbled, not being able to think of a rebuttal quick enough.
"What Charming?" She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a challenging look.
"I hate seeing her like this, but I don't know what else to do," he scowled.
"Your coddling her isn't helping her," she accused.
"You're right," he relented softly.
"And she… I… I'm right?"
"Yes. I love her too much. I'm truly grateful you come around," he held sincerity in his blue eyes.
"I love her too David. I don't want to lose her." She was still pissed, but she knew this was exactly the reason why he couldn't take care of her friend right now and the fact that he knew it too deflated her a bit.
They stood in uncomfortable silence, with nothing more to say on the matter, until Henry came back downstairs ready to go with Ruby. "Got everything you need kid?"
He nodded and smiled, "And then some!"
"Alright well," looking in David's direction, "I'll bring him back when Tink comes in to relieve me."
"I'm going to post an announcement for folks to contact the station if they witness," he quickly glanced towards Henry's direction, and the boy was flipping through his phone seemingly not paying attention to either adult. David also knew looks could be deceiving especially when it came to his highly curious grandson, "anything out of the ordinary," he finished. "So expect a higher call volume tonight."
"Great," the wolf said humorlessly. "Alright well let me know if you hear anything more about, you know, whatever. Anything." Ruby shrugged her shoulders and grabbed another doughnut on her way to herding Henry out the door.
"So what were you two not talking about exactly?" Henry asked as they walked down the stairs.
"Come on, I'll explain in the car," she said with a smirk and a shake of her head.
Regina slept through the night, and Emma woke her with breakfast in bed, much to the woman's surprise. "They have such strange foods here Emma, nothing at all like home!" Regina's wide, curious eyes dissected and inspected every mouthful of her breakfast.
"So I was thinking you'd like to get out of the healer's hut today and maybe you'd feel up to taking a bath?"
Regina blushed at the insinuation, and Emma held up her hands in her defense before the woman could speak, "That is not a hint! I just thought you'd feel a bit better if you could clean up some. Gabrielle has permitted us to use her private baths. It's pretty cool."
"You mean for me to take a cold bath?" Regina asked confused by the blonde's vernacular.
"No no, it's heated by an underground something, I don't really understand how it works, Eponin tried to explain it to me but, yeah, no it is definitely hot though."
"Oh." The brunette's features were soft and sweet, and Emma couldn't help thinking this is what Regina would be like if it weren't for her mother.
Regina, on the other hand, was trying not to feel the shame she felt for misunderstanding the royal who sat on the side of her bed. Her mother's voice loudly boomed within her. She tried hard to remember the conversation she and Emma had the previous day about the status of royalty in this strange kingdom, but the uncomfortable shame she felt was ever present.
Emma pulled herself out of her own thoughts and focused back on the brunette. "So, yes?" A timid nod was her reply. "Great!" Emma reached for the girl's hand to help her off of the cot. "I hope you don't mind, but we are sharing a hut. You can have the bed, and I'll ask someone to bring in an extra cot for myself…" She trailed off when she saw the horrified look in her friend's eyes. "What is it?"
Regina took a breath clamping her lips together between her teeth and shook her head. Emma turned to face the brunette and lifted her chin so the woman would have no choice but to look her in the eyes. "Do you not feel comfortable sleeping in the same room as me?"
Regina shook her head, and her eyes glassed up as if she were about to cry.
"Okay sweetheart, it's okay, I'll sleep here if you feel more comfortable."
"Noooo! Em-maaaaa!" the brunette whined in the cutest way imaginable and made Emma chuckle. "Okay you're going to need to tell me what's wrong sweetheart, I can't read your mind," the blonde said with a warm smile and a worried crinkle in her brow.
Regina looked down breaking eye contact with the mesmerizing green eyes that seem to study every detail of her always. "You're a royal. It is wrong for you to sleep upon a cot."
Emma should have expected that this was the issue, but was nonetheless blindsided by it. "Oh, well you're ill kiddo. You need your rest so you will get better." She put her arm around the smaller brunette and led her out of the hut towards their accommodations.
Once they were in their shared hut, Emma led the girl to the bed and had her sit down. She went around the room and pulled out items Regina would need for her bath and laid them down next to her, including the Amazon outfit they purchased. She brought back two large white fluffy towels and added them to the pile she was making.
"What's this?" Regina asked curiously fingering the leather skirt.
"Those are your clothes unless you'd like to get back into some pajamas? But... I thought we could go for a walk after you're done with your bath?" Emma asked hopefully. Fresh air, exercise, good food, she'll remember in no time!
"But I'll be nude in this!" she exclaimed looking at the cut up pieces of leather. "I would never wear something so revealing Emma, Mother wouldn't allow it."
Emma knelt so she looked up at Regina who had insisted on keeping her eyes lowered in the presence of a royal and gently said, "Oh kiddo, there is a little thing that goes under it, no one can see anything, I promise."
Regina held up the skirt to her hips and then lifted a questioning eyebrow toward Emma and complained, "It barely covers half of my thigh!"
"There are no men here sweetie. You have nothing to be modest about. All the women in this village wear these. It's like traditional or whatever."
"I may be only 15 Emma, but I know things about the world. I know just because they are not men, doesn't mean they won't care to look at a half naked girl!" Regina's features turned beet red, and Emma nodded trying to buy herself time to think of a good response.
"You're pretty smart, huh kid? How do you know about that kind of stuff hmm?" Regina looked away, and a tear slid over her cheek.
"Hey, it's okay. It's just you and me here." Emma got up and sat on the bed next to her friend then put her arm around the trembling girl.
"You obviously don't know my mother, Emma. She knows all. She sees all," the girl whispered as if Cora could hear them.
"She can't hear us. There is no magic in this place."
"No magic?" Regina's face turned from fear to astonishment. "How is that possible."
"I don't know, it just is. I swear." Regina looked skeptical. "Look," Emma swept her hand around in the same way she had seen Regina do a thousand times to summon a fireball and sure enough nothing happened.
"You know magic?"
Emma nodded her lie to the woman. It's not really a lie, I have magic, there isn't magic here, and her mother can't hear her.
"So relax kiddo, no one is listening in on our conversation. It is just you and me." Emma patted Regina's knee to accentuate her point, "You don't have to tell me though, it's okay."
Regina sat quietly for a few moments and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "There was a girl in a nearby village I was friends with when I was young. Her father had business with Daddy, and he would bring me along, and I would play with her while he worked."
Emma smiled and felt her heart fill with love as she got an unexpected glimpse into her friend's past.
"She always wanted to play dress up and brush my hair and one day she kissed me, like how a boy would kiss a girl." Regina fidgeted and added for Emma's clarification, "On my lips, that is."
Emma swallowed hard, uncertain of what to say to the unexpected admission. "Did you… kiss her back?"
Regina nodded as shame filled her face with crimson blush and a tear slid over her cheek.
"Hey, it's okay. That's okay you know?" Emma rushed to try and let the woman feel less embarrassed over the admission.
"No it isn't, Daddy caught us, and he told mother." She lifted a shaky hand to her upper lip and slid her finger over the scar that wasn't her only permanent reminder of that day.
"He told her?" Emma exclaimed in shock, "Did she…" shaking her head as if her ears didn't want to know the answer to the question her mouth was asking, "Did she hurt you?"
Regina didn't answer, but instead, her body trembled with fear as the all too recent memories of that afternoon came rushing back to the brunette.
Emma wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled her into the safety of her embrace. "Okay kiddo, okay… shhhh… it's over. You're safe, here with me. You're safe Regina. Okay?" She tucked the dark-haired woman under her chin and rocked and soothed her. Emma held herself together as she felt her heart pound with the rage she felt. She had been privy to some messed up abusive situations in foster care, but they never lasted long. She would get hurt too badly, and someone would notice, and she would get removed from the home.
Cora was Regina's mother. There was no social worker to come to young Regina's rescue. Emma felt sick to her stomach but breathed through it so she could be strong for her queen. She may not be able to change things for Regina in terms of going back in time and ripping that evil bitch's throat out, but she could protect the girl the Queen used to be right now today. She can make that girl feel safe and secure.
"Are you not disgusted by me Emma?" the small voice asked into her collarbone.
"What? No! None of that was your fault! Your mother is a…" She hummed the string of derogatory curse words she had loaded and ready for the likes of Cora Mills. "And your father!" Emma bit her tongue, clenched her jaw and shook her head trying not to say what she honestly thought of the cowardly man who was supposed to protect his daughter from the witch who happened to give birth to the girl.
"No, are you not disgusted by what I told you?"
"About Cora? Of course! But I'm not disgusted by you sweetheart! She's the one who…"
"No, about kissing the girl, like she were a boy."
Emma pulled back and looked at the woman with confusion stitched across her face. "God no. Why would you think…" Emma closed her eyes and realized that Cora was the one who educated her daughter on the rules of royals and to this girl, Emma was a royal.
"Listen to me, okay? Whatever Mommy dearest told you about practices and beliefs of royals is simply untrue. Some women kiss women like men kiss women. A lot of them. All over the place. There are even men who kiss men."
Regina scrunched up her nose at the prospect and Emma chuckled lightly. "It is perfectly natural, and the people who do that are born with the desire to do that, just like people who like kissing the opposite sex. Those people have a desire to do that, they didn't choose to one day, it is apart of who they are, and they can't change that about themselves."
"They can change that," Regina argued softly.
"No kiddo, they can't."
"I am with Daniel now. He loves me. He is going to take me away from Mother and her rules and her punishments."
Emma couldn't help the look of heartbreak on her face as she read between the lines of what young Regina was telling her. She swallowed thickly and nodded in agreement to what Regina was trying to tell her. "Okay, some people like to kiss both boys and girls too."
Regina's head snapped up, and dark brown eyes fixated on Emma's face, looking for signs of deception. A soft voice asked tentatively, "There are?"
Emma nodded. Regina seemed lost in her own thoughts taking in this information handed to her by, for all intents and purposes, was a virtual stranger to her.
"I know you have no reason to believe what I am saying to you over your mother, you don't even remember that we are friends, but I wouldn't lie to you."
About this.
"And I promise, what we talk about, stays between us. Okay?" The brunette nodded her head and wiped a stray tear away. She had quite a bit to think about.
"You don't have to wear your amazon outfit if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I'm sure I can get you a dress like Maggie, the healer woman, had on if you want."
Regina shook her head and turned to pick up the leather outfit that was apparently hers. "I don't want to cause trouble. I'll wear this, thank you, Emma."
You're nothing but trouble Emma Swan!
"Regina! You are not trouble, do you hear me?" Emma realized by the look in the brunette's eyes she had said the words meant to comfort the girl, far too harshly and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, I just mean, anything you want Regina, it is not a bother. I want you to feel comfortable."
Regina looked as though the harsh words had been a scolding. She nodded her head silently, and Emma closed her eyes and internally chastised herself for letting her past get in the way of progress with Regina.