Chapter 21
"Remember, she's going to fight dirty anyway she can. Watch her elbows and her nails. They may be regulation short, but she'll scratch you if she can get away with it," Emma briefed Regina in the locker room.
Everyone else was waiting outside the doors for them, except for Kat who begrudgingly returned to selling raffle tickets. Regina was already dressed in Emma's fighting gear. Her hair was too short for a ponytail so Emma had slicked it back out of her face, which was now also void of make-up. She had kept relatively silent while dressing and preparing. Listening and nodding to Emma's instructions, but not really responding.
"Babe?" Emma got her to look up, "You okay? Nervous?"
"No, not at all," Regina took a deep breath through a sad smile. "There is something I've needed to tell you, though. I just didn't want to distract you further from your fights. Especially after what we learned about Kat and Hope yesterday."
"What is it?" Emma sat down next to her and wrapped an arm at her waist.
"Remember how you told me about that family that was going to adopt you until they found out you were gay?" Regina met her eyes as she nodded. "Lily was the one that told them. She also prevented at least one other family from adopting you."
"What?" Emma's face morphed into a childlike hurt that broke Regina's heart.
"I ran into her and the bitch actually bragged about it, like she did it all for you. She admitted that it was because she wanted you for herself, though. Even before you two were an item." Regina let her wife process the information.
Emma didn't cry, she didn't even turn red with anger. She shook her head, "It doesn't matter."
"What?"
"It doesn't matter anymore. Back then I would have beat her ass for it, sure. But if things had been any different, I might not have been at Jo's place long enough to become close to David. I wouldn't have been at his wedding, and then we might have never met." Emma cupped Regina's cheek this time, pouring all of her love through sincere eyes, "Then where the hell would I be?"
With gloved hands, Regina took Emma by surprise and cupped her face, pulling her in for a deep hard kiss. Careful not to jostle her arm, she held on tightly until they both needed to breathe. Leaning their foreheads against each other, they were silent for a bit until Regina spoke.
"Emma, let's adopt them both," she said with all sincerity.
"What?" Emma pulled back, her smile trumping her confusion.
"Kat and Hope," Regina released a nervous laugh. "I think we should adopt them together."
"Baby, you're about to-."
"I know I'm about to go out there and beat your ex-girlfriend with all the pent up anger inside of me for what she's done to you, and how she's mocked us." Regina stopped Emma from interrupting her, "With a clear and focused mind, of course. But this clear and focused mind, along with my heart, knows we need to keep those girls together. I want them in our family, Emma."
Emma's grin deepened her dimples. "Yeah?"
"What do you think?" Regina asked nervously.
Emma kissed her lips softly, "I think we're going to need bunk beds."
Regina's eyes teared, "Really?"
"Yes." Emma nodded, pulling her wife into a tight hug and kissing her neck.
The door opened and Henry poked his head in, "Moms? You guys ready? It's showtime."
"Ready?" Emma kissed her wife's forehead.
"As I'll ever be," Regina nodded. "Time to put that smug bitch in her place. For the both of us."
"That's right," Emma grinned happily at her. "I love you."
"I love you too."
If Regina was at all nervous about her fight with Lily, she sure didn't show it. Lily was already in the ring when Regina walked up with Emma and Colton, Jeremy and Henry behind them. The crowd was going wild, welcoming her to the ring.
Emma stood by her as the referee checked her gloves and mouth for cheats. When he moved to check Lily, Emma gave her ex a sly grin. She knew her wife would not walk out of this ring unscathed against Lily, but she was confident Regina would hold her own. She had trained her wife well over the years after all.
Violet's voice came over the speakers this time, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the time has come for our final bout for the Commonwealth MMA Charity Tournament. We are pleased to announce that with the added donations over the course of the weekend, we have exceeded our goal by seventy-five thousand dollars!"
Regina and Emma shouted in cheers with everyone. Pointing and waving to the teenagers in the stands who were pointing back at them.
"We've also had an anonymous donner come forward that has promised to match every dollar donated this weekend, doubling the amount going to St. Joseph's! Thank you everyone that has donated to such a worthy cause. Rather in your time or money, this event would not have been possible without you!"
The entire center again boomed with applause and cheers.
"Now, in our right corner, fighting in the white shorts and top with gold trim. Coming to us from New York and Boston. NYPD Women's Boxing League Champion, Lily Stohn!"
The crowd booed loudly, and Lily just gave a cold smile as she lifted her arm in the air.
"In our left corner, fighting in place of injured fighter, Emma Swan-Mills. Wearing black shorts and top with a red trim, and coming to us from Storybrook, Maine. She is also a head board member of the Joanna Briggs Foundation and the Boston Fight Club. This is her first appearance and first fight in the ring. Please welcome Regina Swan-Mills!"
The teens from St. Joseph's began chanting 'Long live the Queen!' loudly as she stepped into the ring.
"And now, the moment we've all been waiting for. I've always wanted to say this. LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUUMMMBBBLLEEE!"
Emma lifted one of Regina's gloves with a squeeze, leaning forward to kiss her head. "She's not used to fighting a south paw, babe, and you're ambidextrous. That's a hell of an advantage so change it up as much as you can. Kick some ass, babe."
Regina winked at her wife before turning to meet Lily in the center of the ring with the referee between them. They listened to him repeat the basic rules, and tapped gloves.
"Your first fight. It's nice to know that I get to be yours and Emma's firsts. I promise not to hurt you too bad, princess." Lily blew her a kiss.
Regina ignored her and readied her stance, palms open and out at her shoulders. When the referee gave the go, her eyes stayed focused on Lily's. The woman's eyes were jumping all over the place, letting Regina know precisely where she would attack first. She easily blocked Lily's first couple of punches, seeing surprise in the woman's eyes at her speed.
When Lily's leg kicked to her right side, Regina caught it under her arm and twisted her body down onto the ground with it still clasped in her grip. She was about to tighten her hold on the leg when Lily slipped away and stood.
Regina didn't hesitate to jump to her knees, knowing Lily would try to kick her while she was down. Sure enough a foot came toward her head, and Regina was able to block it with her right arm and land a hard punch to Lily's stomach with her left, stunning her.
Emma and Henry cheered loudly from the side as the hit knocked Lily off balance. Regina was on her feet quickly and kicked out with her left leg, connecting solidly with Lily's ribs. Before she could throw another kick, however, Lily was charging toward her trying to tackle Regina to the ground.
Regina took advantage of her out stretched hands, and grabbed hold of one of Lily's arms. Using the woman's own momentum to throw her over her shoulder and onto the mat. The crowd's reaction at the old school wrestling move was met with loud applause just before the bell rung ending the first round.
Regina sat in her corner with Henry and Emma, looking at the board to see who had taken the point for the round. Regina's name lit up with the first score, sending the spectators into another flurry of cheers.
"That was so badass, Mom!" Henry took her mouth guard and gave her some water, bringing the bucket up for her to spit into.
Emma wiped the sweat of her face with a towel, "You're doing great, babe. Great defense when she went after you on the ground. Keep watching for those cheap shots, too."
The warning knock came and Emma and Henry cleared away for the second round. Lily came out swinging this time, throwing wild punches and kick combinations. Regina was able to block some of them, but took a hard punch to her side. Lily stayed too close for her to attempt any kicks, so Regina dropped into a leg sweep, knocking her to the ground. She tried using her position to drop a kick onto Lily's stomach, but her leg was caught.
Knowing Lily's talent for leg locks, she quickly swung her free leg up and kicked the woman square in the face. Using the same momentum to move away from Lily and get to her feet.
Lily was only stunned for a second before she too was on her feet, this time with a bloody nose. She moved forward with a kick, and Regina grabbed her leg again. Only this time, she didn't see Lily pivot on her foot and swing her arm around.
Lily's elbow connected with Regina's forehead before extending her arm, making it look like a legit back handed punch instead of an illegal elbow thrust. Regina began to bleed right above her left brow, and while she was pushing the blood away, a hard kick connected with her stomach, knocking her to her knees.
Before Lily could connect with another kick, Regina spun out of the way. Quick to her feet, she danced around the ring, trying to control the breath that had been nearly knocked out of her, and playing keep away as much as she could. She received a couple more side shots just before the bell rang.
Regina walked as steadily as could to her corner. Lily knocked her shoulder into Regina when passing her, causing the crowd to boo. The monitor showed that Lily had taken the point for that round and the hisses continued.
Once seated, Henry took her mouth guard again and gave her water. Emma cleaned her wound and pressed cold metal to the swelling spot. She slathered the wound with ointment, her worried eyes not meeting Regina's.
"I'm alright," Regina promised. "She's allowed one round, Emma."
Emma finally looked at her with a chuckle, shaking her head as she made sure Regina's wound would not bleed. Regina caught her wife's worried expression return and gave her another reassuring smile. A thought seemed to cross Emma's features.
"Babe. Don't let this go another round." Emma's frown turned into a knowing smile, "Do the thing."
Henry's smile grew too, "Yeah, Mom. Do the thing."
Regina looked across to Lily who was ignoring her trainer and glaring at them. Her lips curled into a wicked smile, "Is it allowed?"
"Oh, it's allowed." Henry nodded excitedly, "But not a lot of people have successfully executed it in competition. Not even Ma."
"Hey," Emma smacked his arm.
"It's true!" Henry laughed as the warning knock came. He popped her mouth guard back in, "Show 'em who's boss, Mom."
"You can do it," Emma kissed her, moving to follow Henry out of the ring.
Lily met Regina in the middle of the ring again, "This is where it ends, princess. I don't plan on a fourth or fifth round."
Regina smiled slyly, "For once, we are in agreement."
"Fight!" The referee sounded.
Lily began throwing wild punches again, and Regina easily backed away from them, making Lily follow her around the ring. Only one punch landed near her ear, and Regina bounced away to shake it off.
Lily did not give her long to recover before coming in for another round. Succeeding in blocking her punches, Regina was able to land a couple of hits with her left to Lily's jaw, making the woman visibly falter. In her dazed state, Regina quickly spun her body into a roundhouse kick that connected with Lily's head. It didn't knock her down, but clearly disorientating further.
When Lily fumbled forward with a wide punch, Regina grabbed a hold of her hand. Using Lily's bent knee, she propelled herself swiftly up, and wrapped her legs around Lily's head.
For a split second, it looked like Regina was riding on Lily's shoulders. With her legs locked around Lily's head, Regina flipped her body forward into a roll, sending Lily's body into a spin that landed her hard on the mat, unconscious.
The entire room was silent as Regina slowly got to her feet, watching Lily carefully for retaliation. It was Henry and Emma's yell that had everyone jumping to their feet hollering in amazement at what they had just witnessed.
The large screens around the center played the final move on repeat, showing Regina using Lily's own momentum against her and flipping her like a rag doll onto the floor. Emma and Henry jumped into the ring.
"You did it!" Emma screamed.
Regina took out her guard and pulled Emma to her for a hard kiss, making the crowd cheer harder as confetti dropped from the rafters and colored lights bounced everywhere.
The locker room shower, though spacious, was not meant for two people, but Emma and Regina didn't care. They had finally made it to the private room after what seem like hours of talking to press and fans after the fight. Emma had waited patiently for Regina to strip and get into the small stall before locking the door and stripping down to join her.
Now she had Regina pressed against the tiled wall under the spray of warm water. She was on her knees sucking Regina's clit and fucking her hard with her good hand. When she knew Regina was close, she got to her feet, kissing her hard and continuing to move inside of her until Regina came hard.
"I love you so damn much, baby." Emma said, kissing her and pulling gently out. "You were incredible out there. So fucking hot."
Regina shut off the cooling water, and wrapped her arms around her wife's neck. Kissing her slowly and deeply. When she felt Emma wince, she jumped back.
"Are you okay?" Regina looked her over before running naked to grab Emma's discarded sling. "You shouldn't have taken this off."
"I'm alright, love." Emma conceded to putting the sling back on, not wanting to mention she'd just have to take it off again to get dressed.
Regina's worried eyes softened at Emma's loving smile. She took a deep breath, "I won."
"Yeah, you did." Emma cupped her cheek. "My wife kicked some ass. I knew you would."
Regina rolled her eyes with a scoff, "Did you really have any doubts?"
"Nope. None whatsoever." She kissed her softly again before biting her lip shyly, "Baby? About what you said before the fight."
Regina grinned happily, "You mean about the girls?"
Emma's dimpled grin shone, "Yeah. The girls. Were you serious?"
Regina nodded, "Completely."
"It's what I want too." They shared giddy grins, and kissed again, "Alright, we need to get dressed. My nipples can cut glass right now and it's not 'cause you're naked too."
They dressed quickly and gathered their things to meet the others. When they exited the locker room, the cleaning crew had already done an amazing job of cleaning out the bleachers and stands. The trophy and prize ceremony would be held at a big party later. Spectators were lingering everywhere, and when they spotted Emma and Regina, they all began applauding again.
"Give it up for Queen Regina!" Jeremy shouted loudly.
Regina blushed at the attention and shook hands with more people that wanted to congratulate her, and took turns with each St. Jo's teen. Emma hung back and let her wife have the well-deserved spotlight.
"Ma!" Emma turned to see a frantic Henry and Violet running toward her. "Ma!"
"What's up, Kid? Where's the fire?" Emma looked to Violet for a calmer answer, but the girl looked like she was going to cry. "Vi? What's going on?"
"It's Kat, Ma."
"What about her? Is she okay?" Emma worried.
"Ma, did you know Hope was Kat's little sister?" Henry was trying to catch his breath.
"Yeah, Miss Bell just told us earlier today," Emma nodded. "Did something happen to one of them?"
"Kat got word from one of the other kids that Hope was being adopted," Violet filled in. "She ran out of here before we could stop her."
"We've looked everywhere. Around the building, the bathrooms, even the parking lots, but we couldn't find her. None of the other kids know where she went, or at least they wouldn't say." Henry looked frantic, "Ma, she looked really upset."
"Okay, listen to me. We need to think outside the box," Emma looked around the room, catching Regina's worried eyes. A thought flashed through her mind, "I know where she is."
"What? Where do think she's gone?" Henry asked worried.
"Same place I'd of escaped to," Emma thought out loud. "Listen, you two wait until Regina's free and let her know what's going on, but tell her not to worry. I know where to find her."
"Okay, Emma," Violet nodded emphatically.
"Oh, see if you can find Miss Bell, too. Tell her what's going on and take her to your mom right away, got it?" Emma received double nods.
Henry stopped her, "If you don't find her, you'll let us know?"
"I promise, kid. If she's not where I think she is, we'll all go looking for her together, okay."
"Alright," Henry nodded.
Emma turned and ran for the elevators. Running up the top stairs, she exited the roof access door, and looked around the massive graveled landing. "Kat!?"
She walked around to the other side of the air conditioning units, still not spotting her. "Kat!?"
"I'm up here, Emma."
Emma looked up to the short second landing and spotted Kat sitting on the ledge. She walked over to the small ladder and stopped, looking up at Kat then down at her sling.
"You mind coming down here, Kat? I kinda can't do ladders at the moment," Emma tried a soft laugh.
"If it's all the same to you, Emma. I'd rather stay here." Kat didn't look at her, but continued to stare at the city lights.
Emma just nodded and leaned against the wall below the girl. They sat in silence for a long time. Emma was hoping the girl would open up to her, but decided to break the ice.
"You know I was only two or three years old when I got shipped here to Boston," Emma began. "My records say I was born in California, and that I was adopted right away. A Family took me in that got really emotional when they picked me up, and even talked about giving me their surname. I don't know why those details were in my records, but I guess the social's thought it was important. Just like when they wrote that the couple brought me back for being a crier."
Emma looked up, but Kat was still not acknowledging her.
"That was just the first out of what would end up being fifteen times that I was moved around, before I landed in my final foster home at sixteen," she paused. "Thing is I never knew my parents, so it's not like I had a real idea of what I was missing being in the system. I can't imagine going through all of that knowing I was in that situation because my parents were killed."
"I see someone's read my records," Kat said bluntly. "How'd you know I'd be up here?"
Emma released a heavy sigh, "Cause I did my fair share of rooftop thinking when I was your age, Kat. I used to climb up to the roof of my foster homes to clear my head. Enjoy some damn silence for once."
Kat gave a short chuckle at that. Neither of them spoke for a while. Just enjoying the cool breeze and the city lights.
"I remember feeling like I had just gone to sleep and woken up in a nightmare," Kat began quietly. "I couldn't understand what happened. Why my parents were all of a sudden just gone, and not only were we not going back home, but Hope and I weren't staying together either. We had to leave our friends and everything we knew behind, and got pushed into this cold and ruthless city. When Hope and I got sent to separate homes, I… I was in hell."
Emma heard a low sob and a sniffle, but said nothing hoping she'd continue.
"When they brought Hope to St. Jo's I was so happy," Kat's voice shook. "I hadn't seen her in almost two years and we couldn't write to each other. I knew we were on borrowed time and the chances of staying together were slim. I just didn't think she'd be taken away from me again so soon."
"Why didn't you ever tell us she was your sister?" Emma asked gently, not wanting Kat to think she was angry.
"One of the socials told us not to tell anyone. They said we'd have a better chance of getting adopted if we didn't mention we had siblings in the system too," Kat shook her head and began to cry in earnest.
Emma wanted to comfort the girl. She wanted to tell Kat of their intentions, but Regina and she hadn't had the chance to speak to Tina. She didn't want to make promises to this poor girl without knowing if she could follow through with them.
"Listen, Kat." Emma turned to look up at her, "Henry and Vi were really worried about you, and I really don't want you getting into trouble. Can you come back down with me? Please."
Kat seemed to contemplate as she blew her nose on a tissue, and wiped away her tears. She stood silently and climbed down the ladder. Emma threw her good arm around the girl's shoulders and led them back toward the access door and the elevators.